What I Think About What Other People Say (WITAWOPS)

This week marked the tenth anniversary of this conclusion made by the U.S. government against the government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).  Let me say this again:  one branch of the federal government found, a decade ago, that another branch of the federal government was jeopardizing 16 species of endangered or threatened salmon in Oregon and the orcas. Image by freepix.com This is not an environmental group or group of activists accusing FEMA. The determination was made in April 2016 by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. NMFS is charged (by Congress) with recovering marine-related endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). The US Fish and Wildlife Service manages terrestrial, freshwater, and avian endangered species. What does jeopardizing mean? Jeopardizing does not mean that the NFIP (an insurance program) is actively wiping out the species. Rather, it means that the program in ...

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is, I believe, off-track. We are subsidizing (socialism) flood risk using a mid-20th century insurance framework (ancient) against 21st century climate change (reality), local politics (not national), and changing hydrology. FEMA is not actively constricting or guiding development away from high risk areas, despite this being an objective of the law. The NFIP is deeply in debt. Flood water does not care about your mortgage, zip code, income, skin color, generation, or party registration. It only cares about gravity, volume, and contours. Image generated by ChatGPT, March 2026 The NFIP is next in my series of things that surprised me about FEMA. FEMA is the Federal Emergency Management Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). I quit FEMA in March and wrapped up 20 years working for the executive branch of the government. See why in my  earlier post .  Flooding Every year, we experience flooding. It’s a global problem...

Update : March 25, 2025: I was wrong, at least partially. Today, FEMA surprised me by publishing a Notice of Funding Opportunity (call for proposals) on grants.gov for the BRIC program. It's for $1 billion covering Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025. The project cap is now $20m. Proposals are due July 23, 2026. Let's see if I was wrong on all my predictions.  Published March 10, 2025: This is my first opinion post on things I learned while at FEMA. Apologies to the States and Cities in advance. I do not believe that the mitigation grant program, the way you expect it, will be re-instated.  Despite the lawsuits, court decisions, supposed wins, and Congressional interest on the topic of FEMA’s mitigation grants, I think it’s over. Image by Freepix What Others Say For a backgrounder on this contentious topic, see this  article . Here are some of the recent headlines, all titled against FEMA. In one sentence, FEMA cut off funding. Multiple states sued FEMA in July 2025, “won” in Dece...

FEMA Out. 20 years of Federal Service Over. Wow. The week I left the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ended up being quite a week for FEMA and DHS with the firing of Secretary Noem. In retrospect, its been a 410-day roller coaster since January 20, 2025! Surprisingly, FEMA outlasted me. I incorrectly assumed that it would be erased the way USAID was — the place where I spent a decade of my professional life. See my earlier USAID obituary . But FEMA may still follow USAID into institutional grave, another victim of this administration. Disclaimer: the views expressed in this post are solely my own, published under my first amendment rights, and may not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Government or any of its current or former federal agencies.  Image generated by ChatGPT Two Decades of Service I'm out after serving the executive branch of my country of adoption for twenty years. First was a decade with t...

I live in King County, Washington. The county hosts the cities of Seattle, Bellevue, and Redmond, along with 33 other incorporated cities and towns. Ask anyone. King obviously refers to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. After all, its easy to find following type of comment: King County, Washington's largest county, is the first county in the nation to be named in honor of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), the celebrated civil rights leader and advocate of nonviolence.  We see his silhouette on our buses, our government buildings, and the county flag.  Image courtesy of freepik.com But wait a minute Think about this. The county pre-dated Dr. King. Therein lies the irony. For over a century and a half, our county was actually was named after a man who stood for everything Dr. King spent his life trying to dismantle. Yes, for sure. The county has been "King County" since it was created in 1852, When the Oregon Territorial Legislature carved out this land. They n...

I take on Bill Gates after a two month WITAWOPS hiatus, I checked the blog statistics and found that, surprisingly, it is active. I don’t know why the uptick in traffic this month (see the graph below), but you all have inspired me to start writing again. Lets talk about climate change. Which means I have to start with this: The views expressed are solely mine, published under my 1st amendment rights. They may not reflect the views of the U.S. Government or any of its past, present, or future agencies. Someone sent me Bill Gates’ recent (October) blog post, Three Tough Truths About Climate , in which he appears to argue that we should spend money on malaria and malnutrition and not on climate change. My gut reaction, before reading the post, was shock. Save people from malaria (which Gates and others have been fighting for decades now, in fact, the U.S. military has been conducting research on it in Kenya for over decades. See their latest post “ 20 years of Army research yields hope f...

We live in a state with rules and those rules guarantee certain freedoms. When put together, some interpret those collective freedoms as sovereignty and what better way to demonstrate ultimate sovereignty than to build and run your own city?  Source: ChatGPT, 10/9/25 Is there really a substantial difference between the 1980s Oregon desert city of Rajneeshpuram and the 2020s Texas coastal flats city of Starbase? If you need a quick refresher on Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and the city he legally incorporated in Oregon, read my February 15, 2025 post .  What Do I think I believe they are inherently the same and a precursor of more to come. Cities normally grow organically in that people settle, attract people, jobs, arts, and culture, and then eventually incorporate for self-governance. But both Rajneeshpuram and Starbase were born out of visions from their leaders: Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and Elon Musk. There was no natural evolution. Sure, the labels are different: religious leaders...

The Supreme Court added another shovel of dirt on USAID's coffin, now more than 6 feet under (see my earlier  obituary ). This post articulates another of USAID’s many little-known accomplishments in Kenya (read about the first one about thwarting politicians and constitutional change here ). Peace and Security in Kenya: The USAID Approach , is now available in paperback and e-book at your favorite bookstore. Please also ask your local library to order it too. “We found an institution so frail in its structures; so thin on resources; so low on its confidence; so deficient in integrity; so weak in its public support that to have expected it to deliver justice was to be wildly optimistic. We found a judiciary that was designed to fail.” —Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, “Progress Report on the Transforma- tion of the Judiciary: The First 120 Days,” speech, Nairobi, Kenya, October 19, 2011 What Do I Think  The 2007/2008 postelection violence in Kenya was triggered by the “massively ...

Having worked on a number of environmental analyses for airports in the early 2000s, I continue to track interesting cases. I am also exploring the limitations of ChatGPT. Several months ago, I learned (thanks to my teenager) the difference between my writing and ChatGPT’s. More recently, colleagues have insisted that ChatGPT 5.0 is much better. So I am putting it to the test.  Below are two versions of the same story. One is mine. The ChatGPT prompt was: “for my blog, witawops.blogspot.com, write a piece in my style on the dissenting opinion in this case . Leave a comment indicating which is mine and which is AI’s. Disclaimer: the views expressed in this post are solely my own, published under my first amendment rights, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Government or any of its current or former federal agencies. Version 1.0 “Does anyone doubt that this Environmental Analysis would not see the light of day if this project were sited anywhere near the we...

Even Shane knew you can’t run from who you are, and violence—no matter the reason—leaves a permanent mark. Shane is the protagonist of a 1949 book by Jack Shaefer set in 1889 Wyoming. He is the basis of a movie (1953) and TV series (1966) and debuted on stage circa 2023. I saw the play this week in Ashland, Oregon.  This south central Oregon city has a long-standing nexus to theater. Because of its architecture, it became the site of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 1935 and is now among the largest repertory theaters in the U.S., drawing half a million visitors each year. “A man’s got to be what he is, Joey. Can’t break the mold. There’s no living with a killing. There’s no going back from one. Right or wrong, it’s a brand. A brand sticks.” Shane (1953), dir. George Stevens. Joey (Bob in the book) is a young boy who serves as the audience’s eye in the play. However, in the book, Bob is an adult narrating the story from his childhood.  Image by Freepix  What Do I think ...

Staging is a layered, complex, and interesting word.   “ Staging is the fine art of pretending your lived environment has always resembled an IKEA showroom. Sociologists call this ‘false consciousness’; Realtors call it ‘value added.’” “Every home showing is just Hamlet without the swords: you stand in someone else’s kitchen, whispering, ‘To buy, or not to buy?’ while the throw rug takes center stage.” “ Staging : the process of arranging items in a manner designed to suggest functionality, but not actual human occupation. See also: government flowcharts.” ---  witticisms generated by ChatGPT, 9/4/2025 That's AI's wit. The dictionary definition includes the method of presenting a play, a temporary platform, a phase in a progressive disease, and the arrangement of sequential components of a rocket. But in North America, it includes setting up a house for sale with art and furnishings so as to increase the appeal. A.I. now allows one to stage and unstage. A potential buyer ...