FEMA Struggling With How To Keep ICE Out of Ice In Winter Storm Messaging

That now-famous image of an ICE agent slipping
and falling on the ice in Minneapolis earlier this
month. FEMA officials have reportedly been
banned from using the word "ice" when 
referring to the giant winter storm now in
progress because the word could generate
mockery of ICE agents. They have a point. 

 Our government has gotten tragically, absurdly silly, and we have the latest examples, thanks in part to our latest winter storm. 

The biggest danger with this storm is ice. Freezing rain is or will be coating trees and power lines from Texas to Georgia to Virginia. 

This will lead to power outages, tree destruction, blocked roads and carbon monoxide deaths from poorly placed or maintained generators are all in play. 

The problem is all that ice out there - as in frozen water - and all that ICE out there - the gestapo-like storm troopers terrorizing people in places like Minnesota and Maine - are ripe for social media ridicule if you put them all together.  

Here's the silliness, as CNN explains:

"Homeland Security officials have urged disaster response staff at the Federal Emergency Management Agency to avoid using the word 'ice' in public messaging about the massive winter storm barreling toward much of the United States, according to two sources familiar with the directive."

CNN says that officials should reference "freezing rain" and not "ice" in their public statements. The fear is using the word "ice" to describe the storm will sow confusion or online mockery.

All I can say to that is, "Oh, honey, there's going to be mockery no matter what you do."

I can agree with Homeland Security officials who think that if FEMA released innocuous statements like "Keep off the roads if you see ice." it would lead to lots of laughs and giggles and pointed arguments and anger toward Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on social media. 

Whether or not FEMA uses the word "ice," I bet there will be memes galore about ICE agents in winter weather, if they're not there already. Mockery is one of the best weapons against tyranny.  I imagine that widely circulated photo and video of that ICE agent slipping and falling on Minneapolis ice earlier this month will get a lot of traction, pardon the pun. 

A FEMA spokesperson denied the "freezing rain" directive and said CNN's reporting is "a desperate ploy for clickbait."

Still, early indications are that FEMA is avoiding saying the dreaded "i" word in their public messages regarding the storm.

Since Thursday, FEMA has posted several statements and pieces of advice regarding the storm on the social media platform X.  None that I could find used the word "ice." However, FEMA did repost a National Weather Service statement that referenced "widespread heavy snow & dangerous ice accumulations."

If only one kind of ice, the kind that falls from the sky or freezes on the ground, was the worst thing we were facing this winter.