Extreme Temperature Diary- Friday January 2nd, 2026/ Main Topic: ‘New Year’s Eve Massacre’: Trump Administration Makes Deep Cuts at FEMA as Climate Crisis Accelerates – Guy On Climate
Dear Diary. As far as Republican mentality goes since before the time of Ronald Reagan during the 1980s, central government should be drowned in a bathtub. Everything done for the public besides military defense should be left up to state governments. Trump and his cronies are just continuing that line of thinking via policy. The line of faulty logic behind this is that society and people in general will prosper more if money and resources ‘trickle down’ from those who will become wealthier via less federal taxes.
This is nonsense looking at history. During the first Gilded Age from about 1870 through World War I and the 1920s we saw a great disparity between classes. Human greed from robber barons didn’t permit much money from tickling down to the poor. It was only after Franklin Roosevelt was elected because of the advent of the Great Depression that federal programs were implemented that greatly alleviated suffering. This meant that upper classes were taxed more, who have been fighting to undo what FDR in the 1930s and Lynden Johnson and Richard Nixon implemented during the 1960s and 1970s.
One such program is FEMA or the Federal Emergency Management Agency. I ask, would it be better if every individual state took care of natural disaster victims? I seriously doubt that. A couple of CAT4/5 hurricanes hitting say Louisiana or Florida would strain those state government budgets such that most people would not get much help. Then again maybe Republicans want an everyone for themselves society such that if you get hit be horrendous weather or wildfires, too bad. This is madness considering that climate change is producing an increasing number of deadly natural disasters.
Here is more Trump madness to start of the new year:
‘New Year’s Eve Massacre’: Trump Administration Makes Deep Cuts at FEMA as Climate Crisis Accelerates | Common Dreams
 The FEMA Colorado Task Force 1 navigates the Guadalupe River on a boat as search for victims continues on July 18, 2025 in Center Point, Texas. (Photo by Brenda Bazán / The Washington Post via Getty Images)
‘New Year’s Eve Massacre’: Trump Administration Makes Deep Cuts at FEMA as Climate Crisis AcceleratesA former FEMA official said that the agency “can’t do disaster response and recovery without” the employees being terminated by the Trump administration. Brad Reed
Jan 02, 2026
The Trump administration this week made abrupt cuts to the top federal disaster response agency, even as US communities face increased threats from natural disasters caused by the global climate crisis.
Independent journalist Marisa Kabas reported on Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA) “has begun issuing termination notices” to staff at the agency’s Cadre of On-Call Response and Recovery (CORE) that are effective as of January 2.
A FEMA staffer who spoke with Kabas described the terminations as “The New Year’s Eve Massacre,” and explained that “the driving force behind all CORE employees is supporting and enacting the mission of preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters.”
A Thursday report from CNN added some additional details to Kabas’ reporting, including that the decision to issue the layoffs was made by Acting Administrator Karen Evans, who was appointed to the role after former Acting Administrator David Richardson resigned in November.
One former FEMA official bluntly told CNN that the agency “can’t do disaster response and recovery without CORE employees” that are being laid off by the administration.
The former FEMA official added that regional agency offices throughout the US “are almost entirely CORE staff, so the first FEMA people who are usually onsite won’t be there,” which will mean that “states are on their own” when it comes to disaster response.
CNN also reported that there is anxiety among remaining FEMA staffers that these cuts could just be the start “of a larger effort” by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “to shrink FEMA, potentially axing thousands of workers in the coming months who deploy during hurricanes, wildfires and other national emergencies.”
President Donald Trump has been targeting FEMA for potential termination for nearly a year now, and he said shortly after being inaugurated last January that a goal in his second term would be “fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA or maybe getting rid of FEMA,” while emphasizing that individual states should bear the cost of responding to natural disasters.
“I think, frankly, FEMA’s not good,” the president said. “I think when you have a problem like this, I think you want to go, and whether it’s a Democrat or Republican governor, you want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling FEMA.”
The Trump administration’s deep cuts to FEMA come as the intensity of natural disasters is only projected to increase thanks to climate change.
According to a report published on Tuesday by the Yale School of the Environment, 2025 was the second hottest on record and was only surpassed by the previous year.
“The last three years have been, by a wide margin, the hottest ever recorded,” stressed the report. “Each of the last three years has measured more than 1.5°C warmer than preindustrial times, putting the world at least temporarily in breach of an international goal to limit warming below that level.”
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Brad Reed
Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
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Here are some “ETs” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
3 studies:
1) January’s infernos in Los Angeles killed >440 once you factor in the smoke (official toll: 30).
2) Wildfire smoke kills 40,000 Americans a year, which could increase to 71,000 by 2050.
3) Canada’s wildfires in 2023 significantly worsened childhood asthma across the border in Vermont. — Dr. Jeff Masters (@drjeffmasters.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T18:50:27.135Z
I highly recommend the 2023 book, "California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline", by LA Times environmental reporter Rosanna Xia, on sea level rise issues for California. There's a great discussion about how hard it is politically to do managed retreat from doomed coasts. — Dr. Jeff Masters (@drjeffmasters.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T17:09:14.458Z
"It’s easy to feel powerless about #climate chaos. Here’s what gives me hope. I’ve spent six years writing about environmental justice. The uncomfortable truth is that we’re not all in it together – but people power is reshaping the fight."
www.theguardian.com/environment/... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T11:21:41.010Z
And if you’re thinking, “I’m just one person, what difference can I make?” my pinned post has you covered: — Katharine Hayhoe (@katharinehayhoe.com) 2026-01-02T04:05:58.201Z
And my free newsletter has a “what you can do” section every week! — Katharine Hayhoe (@katharinehayhoe.com) 2026-01-02T04:07:33.910Z
— Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T11:32:54.115Z
COLD & SNOWY EUROPE! Brutal cold across N. Europe (20°C below norm now) will overspread most of Europe soon, with cold dropping into the #Mediterranean, #Italy and the #Balkans. Over the next 10 days heavy snow will fall in spots… 1/ — Jeff Berardelli (@weatherprof.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T13:50:34.569Z
I've got some details on the late December historic Southeast Alaska snowfall in the latest from the Alaska and Arctic Climate Newsletter. #akwx #weather #Snow #Climate @climatologist49.bsky.social
alaskaclimate.substack.com/p/southeast-... — Rick Thoman (@alaskawx.bsky.social) 2026-01-01T21:52:59.777Z
Juneau airport reported 82.0 inches (208.3cm) of snow in December, including 49.0 inches (124.5cm) the last five days of the month. This is the second highest monthly total on record, the only higher amount in February 1965, with 86.3 inches (219.2cm). #akwx #Climate #Snow @spiraledu.bsky.social — Rick Thoman (@alaskawx.bsky.social) 2026-01-01T17:16:17.007Z
China's BYD is set to overtake Elon Musk's Tesla as the world's biggest seller of electric vehicles (EVs)
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T11:20:51.594Z
— Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T12:12:02.575Z
Solar energy to see continued growth during 2026 and an increasing rate of solar farm construction
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T11:20:02.512Z
Trump stop-work order on five offshore wind farms spanning five different states, citing extremely dire national security emergency. Last week, to the surprise of nobody, the administration issued a backhanded admission that no such emergency actually exists.
cleantechnica.com/2026/01/01/t... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T11:18:35.269Z
dnv: Global Energy Transition Outlook 2025
www.dnv.com/energy-trans... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T12:03:29.578Z
Cost ... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T11:37:30.516Z
— Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T11:47:11.421Z
More deregulation ...
Ministers may cut green tech mandate from new homes regulations in England
www.theguardian.com/environment/... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T11:14:59.052Z
Net decline in #nuclear power capacity - 1067 MW
Combined solar plus wind capacity installed in 2025: an estimated 793 gigawatts.
#renewables #climate
ember-energy.org/latest-insig... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T12:00:27.303Z
China’s solar boom powered renewable success in 2025
China installed twice as much solar capacity as the rest of the world combined in 2025.
www.thetimes.com/comment/regi... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2026-01-02T11:22:48.597Z
Winter blooming of hundreds of plants in UK ‘visible signal’ of climate breakdown #Climate — Climate Tracker (@climate.skyfleet.blue) 2026-01-02T05:33:32.823Z
HAPPY NEW YEAR
and one where we choose to make plans for how we can transform our world into one where our ecosystems recover and our societies become havens of communities.
#OurFuture #newyear #photography #nature #climate #plans #howto #wildflowers — How do we solve this? (@how-to-solve-this.bsky.social) 2026-01-01T14:05:22.635Z
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