D.O.G.E.
Is A Wonderful Concept, And Here Are Some Ideas To Get It Started. FEMA probably just
wrote its own obituary with the revelation that a FEMA official in Florida told workers to "avoid
houses with Trump signs" in the wake of Hurricane Milton, leading to loud calls for defunding the
agency. The truth is that emergency disaster relief should not be handled by yet another
agency with large layers of bureaucracy. Instead, states should be able to request emergency
disaster relief funds directly from Congress, with the appropriations then used to purchase
necessary resources and materials, ideally from private vendors who can compete for the
contracts. This would lead to increased efficiency and better prices for the taxpayer.
This would also allow the government to engage in strict accounting to ensure federal funds go
where they are supposed to go.
Florida
Sues FEMA Officials Over Hurricane Helene, Milton Failures. The state of Florida is
suing current and former federal employees personally for allegedly ignoring storm victim
households solely because of their political affiliation. Florida Attorney General Ashley
Moody sued current and former Federal Emergency Management Agency officials for "conspiracy to
discriminate" against Florida hurricane victims because they expressed support for President-elect
Donald Trump. According to whistleblower reports, FEMA workers in Lake Placid were directed
to ignore storm victims in households that displayed Trump signs or flags.
FEMA
[is being] sued over revelations agency deliberately ignored homes of Trump supporters.
FEMA's disaster of its own making keeps getting worse. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is
suing current and former Federal Emergency Management Agency officials, claiming they "conspired to
interfere with the civil rights of Trump voters" in the state by withholding aid in the aftermath
of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The bombshell lawsuit follows alarming revelations its
workers were given orders to avoid dozens of homes of Trump supporters in Lake Placid in a shocking
display of political favoritism. The scandal came to light after FEMA fired agency supervisor
Marn'i Washington, who later claimed that systemic discrimination at the disaster relief agency was
"colossal" both in Florida and beyond and alleged she's been made a "scapegoat" by the agency.
Concerns
Mount as FEMA Selects Oscoda Airport for Massive Emergency Hub. Oscoda Township, a
small Michigan community, has been selected by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a
key emergency staging area for northern Michigan, with plans to house 350 semi-trailers of
emergency equipment at the local airport. The FEMA emergency hub, established to serve six
counties in the event of an "emergency," has stirred a mix of interest and concern among
Americans. This announcement was made during a recent Oscoda Township board meeting on
October 28, where Supervisor Bill Palmer confirmed the news of FEMA's selection of Wurtsmith
Airport for this controversial initiative. "The airport was just notified that FEMA has chosen
the airport facility as a stationing hub for Emergency Services. They will be bringing in
some 350 semi-trailers with equipment to park on the base," Palmer said.
How
High Does The FEMA Scandal Go? Until the Daily Wire uncovered concrete evidence that
the Federal Emergency Management Administration was telling relief workers to avoid
Trump-supporting homes, the press was happy to take FEMA's word and debunk accusations of political
favoritism. Now that the FEMA employee at the center of the current scandal is saying that
she's a scapegoat and that the problem is far deeper and wider, will the mainstream press ignore
this too? In the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, FEMA came under attack for its
seemingly sluggish response to devastation in heavily Republican areas of the Southeast.
Poppycock, responded the press, regurgitating talking points from the agency. But then the
Daily Wire got hold of messages from a FEMA supervisor telling workers to "avoid homes advertising
Trump" in Lake Placid, Florida, when going door to door to find those who qualified for financial
aid. It also had screenshots of reports from workers saying they were "not able to access
property," with a note "Trump sign, no contact, per leadership." FEMA issued a response and
fired the supervisor, saying her actions were in violation of the agency's "core values and
principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation." And that is where the
mainstream press is happy to let the story rest.
Biden's
FEMA weaponization — far worse than even Trump suspected. It didn't start
with this year's hurricanes: Team Biden's weaponization of FEMA — discriminating
against the "wrong" disaster victims — goes back years. And it's not all on
lower-level bureaucrats: The orders came from the top. Yes, FEMA axed Marn'i Washington
in the face of damning evidence she told subordinates to skip outreach to homes with pro-Trump signs
after Hurricane Milton, which led to at least 20 homes getting skipped in October and early
November. But Washington says she was just adhering to agency policy, and her supervisor OK'd
her order: It was no "isolated" incident, as Biden's FEMA folks claim. An ex-FEMA
official backs up that claim, telling The [New York] Post that bypassing Trump-backers has long
been an open secret at the agency, as part of a larger policy of discrimination under
Biden's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion directives.
FEMA
Supervisor Who Allegedly Directed Staff to Avoid Homes With Trump Signs Claims it Was a Widespread
Practice. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) supervisor accused of
directing workers to skip hurricane-ravaged homes in Florida with Trump signs, claimed in an
interview Monday that the policy was widespread and that she was being scapegoated.
[Advertisement] Marn'i Washington was fired on Saturday after whistleblowers told the Daily
Wire that at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags were passed over at the end of October into
November due to the guidance, depriving them of the opportunity to qualify for FEMA
assistance. She had worked for the agency since 2019. [Advertisement] According to
internal FEMA messages obtained by the Daily Wire, Washington directed workers to "avoid homes
advertising Trump" as they canvassed Lake Placid, Florida looking for residents who could qualify
for federal aid. This happened in Highlands County, "a deep-red area located in south central
Florida that backed Trump by 70 percent on Tuesday," the Daily Wire reported.
FEMA's
Targeting of Trump Supporters Makes the Case for Less Government. At a time when
Americans worry — for good reason — that the apparatus of the state is used
to punish the political enemies of those in charge, a government employee just got caught doing
what many people fear has become common practice: politicizing the use of government power. A
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) official who ordered workers to deny assistance to Trump
supporters affected by Hurricane Milton powerfully bolstered the arguments of those of us who want
government kept small and out of the way to minimize the danger it represents. "More than
22,000 FEMA employees every day adhere to FEMA's core values and are dedicated to helping people
before, during and after disasters, often sacrificing time with their own families to help disaster
survivors," FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell noted in a November 9 press release. "Recently,
one FEMA employee departed from these values to advise her survivor assistance team to not go to
homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Trump."
The
FEMA supervisor who told workers to avoid Trump homes was scapegoated. Last week, the
Daily Wire revealed that FEMA workers in Florida received instructions from their supervisor,
Marn'i Washington, telling them to avoid houses with Trump signs. Over the weekend, FEMA
self-righteously apologized and let everyone know that it had fired Washington. Now, though,
Washington has gone on the Roland Martin show to explain that what she did is standard FEMA
operating practice. Listening to her muddy use of language, the real question is whether
those Trump supporters are actually dangerous or if they just give FEMA workers the "sadz," an
institutional attitude that's not Washington's fault. In the video below, you can hear
Washington, a FEMA reservist who also had a day job (from which she was fired, too), explain that
she doesn't have any specific evidence about dangerous Trump voters. Instead, for privacy
reasons, FEMA records will just record that a certain community was dangerous. That's why if
there are too many hostile encounters, FEMA workers will just avoid a whole neighborhood —
and Trump signs were associated with this level of hostility. Washington added that she didn't
even vote in this election, admitting that she was too busy, although she implies that she's
non-partisan (which may, of course, be true).
FEMA
outrage reveals weaponized government — and points Trump toward reform.
One of President-elect Donald Trump's first orders of business must be to de-weaponize the federal
government. One episode from Florida illustrates why. Not long ago you might have
charged me with paranoid conspiracy theorizing if I had told you that federal disaster relief
workers were deliberately keeping Trump supporters from receiving government assistance. But
they were, and a FEMA supervisor has been fired for it.
FEMA
Official FIRED for Avoiding Trump Supporters Spills ALL the Tea on FEMA Higher-Ups.
Well well well, this does not sound good for FEMA. [...] Case in point, the FEMA official who was
fired for avoiding homes with Trump signs ... well, she was't exactly acting alone. And she's
spillin' the tea. Watch: [Tweet with video clip] If you watch, she's
convinced she has done nothing wrong and is just following protocol WITHOUT actually understanding
how eff'd up that protocol really is. Not to mention she just gave up all of FEMA proving
they do indeed show political preference when helping Americans after a disaster. At least
they did under Biden/Harris. Marn'i Washington allegedly told FEMA workers in Florida to skip
houses with Trump signs out front after Hurricane Helene. "Avoid homes advertising Trump," she
wrote in a "best practices" memo to employees, a copy of which was obtained by Daily Wire,
reportedly reinforcing this with a verbal order.
The
question not being asked. By now, you may have already heard about what happened down
in Florida and may well have happened elsewhere. It turns out that personnel working for FEMA
knocking on doors to see if people were eligible for federal funds were told to skip the homes of
obvious Trump supporters. [...] Plus, the individual responsible for that, Marn'i Washington, has
been fired from her position and the case has been referred to the Office of Special Counsel.
That means she faces potential prosecution for her actions, which should most definitely
happen. However, while people are focusing on what happened — and for
understandable reasons — I can't help but ask the question no one else seems to be
asking. Why did she think she could get away with it?
FEMA's
final insult: They hate us. They really, really hate us. It raises
questions as to what the culture was like at FEMA that they could have a supervisor comfortable
enough to hand out that kind of order in writing and employees writing back that that was exactly
what they did to 20 damaged houses? How far up did this go? Where else was it
employed — North Carolina? Hawaii? Northeastern California? Most of
those places have a lot of Republicans and Democrats during the North Carolina disaster gloated
that they would be unable to vote, which didn't happen. Why did this wretched, malevolent,
hate-filled person think she could get away with it, hidden from public view until a whistleblower
came forward? Oh, sure, now they claim it was just one bad apple among their rescue
crews. Nothing to see here, move along. FEMA claimed they transfered their employee
from operations in Florida to some place else. But why is this person still employed at all?
Whistleblower
Says FEMA Ordered Workers to Purposely Skip Houses Displaying Pro-Trump Signs in Aftermath of
Hurricane Milton. A whistleblower has come forward with text messages revealing FEMA
ordered relief workers to purposely skip over homes in Florida displaying Trump signs in the
aftermath of Hurricane Milton. According to internal messages obtained by The Daily Wire,
FEMA discriminated against Trump supporters in need of help in the aftermath of the most recent
hurricanes that passed through the Southeast. Hurricanes Helene and Milton slammed into
Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and other states in September and October. Flooding and
strong winds from the powerful storms caused a lot of damage in Florida and North Carolina.
FEMA
Workers Working Hurricane Milton Aftermath Ordered to Bypass Houses With Trump Signs.
FEMA is supposedly constituted to provide help to Americans in the event of disaster, natural or
man-made. They are funded and their personnel are paid by taxpayer dollars, which one would
think that fact alone should ensure that said help would be provided without condition or
qualification. Unless, of course, a disaster victim has a Trump sign on their house. It
seems that a FEMA supervisor in charge of the recovery workers in Lake Placid, Florida, ordered
them as a "best practice" to skip houses with Trump signs, per a Daily Wire exclusive: [...]
Update: FEMA
official who allegedly told workers to avoid Florida homes with Trump signs [has been] fired.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency supervisor accused of ordering her subordinates to skip
Florida homes with Trump campaign signs has been fired. Marn'i Washington was sacked for
telling disaster relief workers in Lake Placid, Fla., to "not go to homes with yard signs
supporting President-elect Trump," FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said Saturday. "This is a
clear violation of FEMA's core values and principles to help people regardless of their political
affiliation," she said, adding, "This employee has been terminated and we have referred the matter
to the Office of Special Counsel.
FEMA
'horrified' after confirming workers directed to 'avoid homes' with Trump signs in
hurricane-ravaged Florida community. A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
supervisor told disaster relief workers in Florida to "avoid homes" with signs supporting
President-elect Donald Trump, the agency confirmed Friday. The FEMA official —
Marn'i Washington — conveyed her edict both verbally and in a Microsoft Teams chat used by relief
workers canvassing Lake Placid homes ravaged by Hurricane Milton last month, according to the Daily
Wire. "Avoid homes advertising Trump," Washington wrote in a "best practices" memo to
employees. The order was the second bullet point in a list instructing workers to not go
"anywhere alone," practice "de-escalation," stay hydrated and to "follow the rules."
FEMA
Supervisor Who Ordered Staff to Avoid Homes with Trump Flags Is Relieved of Duty.
FEMA official Marn'i Washington ordered her staff to avoid assisting homes with Trump flags in
their yards following the aftermath of a recent hurricane in Florida. Marn'i wanted them to
suffer for their support for Donald Trump. A whistleblower came forward with text messages
revealing FEMA official Marn'i Washington ordered relief workers to purposely skip over homes in
Florida displaying Trump signs in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. According to internal
messages obtained by The Daily Wire, FEMA discriminated against Trump supporters in need of help in
the aftermath of the most recent hurricanes that passed through the Southeast.
The Editor says...
When was the last time a black female supervisor was fired from a government job (which she got
because she was a black female)? This almost never happens! And it wouldn't have
happened this time, except for the whistleblower.
Elon
Succeeded Where FEMA Failed. Robby Starbuck, a right-wing activist who loves to troll
the left, lives on a 12-acre farm in Tennessee, about four hours from the area that Hurricane
Helene ravaged last week. After the storm hit southern Appalachia, a friend told him that
hurricane victims were struggling to connect with the outside world. "So many people were
worried that their family members might have died and they couldn't get in touch," Starbuck told
The Free Press. The hurricane has been the worst since Katrina in 2005, with 230 deaths so
far, and damages estimated between $30 billion and $47 billion. There were people
trapped in flooded homes — or whose homes had been destroyed by the
hurricane — and had no way of communicating with anyone who might be able to rescue
them. They needed help. So Starbuck told two of his employees in Tennessee to drop
everything, head to nearby Home Depots, and buy every Starlink receiver the stores had.
Starlink is part of Elon Musk's SpaceX, and the small panels, which retail for about $300 each,
allow people to connect to the internet via the 6,000-plus satellites that SpaceX rockets have
launched into space over the years. It takes only 20 to 30 minutes to set them up, after
which users can access Starlink's Wi-Fi via phone or laptop.
Volunteer
Miners Rebuild Highway, Residents Say Federal Aid Arrives Too Late. Coal miners from
West Virginia, known as the "West Virginia Boys," have stepped in to restore Highway 64 in Chimney
Rock, North Carolina, after Hurricane Helene devastated the area. The miners rebuilt the
2.7-mile stretch in just three days, allowing displaced residents to return home. Robin
Phillips, who fled during the storm, expressed gratitude for their efforts. "I haven't been
able to access my home since the hurricane, but the West Virginia boys brought the road back," she
said. Phillips and her husband, who operate a campground, will now be able to return to
assess the damage. While the miners' work was swift, many residents are unhappy with the
Biden-Harris administration's delayed response. Federal agencies like FEMA and the DOT
visited but did not take over the project. Logan Campbell, a volunteer from Mississippi, said
that while agencies talked about long-term plans, the miners completed the job.
After
dumping cash into migrants, diversity, FEMA failed an answer nearly half of calls from hurricane
survivors. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is short on
resources after spending hundreds of millions on migrant services and "equity" programs, failed to
answer roughly half of the phone calls made by survivors of Hurricanes Milton and Helene.
Between Oct. 14 and Oct. 20, days after Milton hit Florida on Oct. 9, FEMA received
900,000 calls from survivors, but failed to answer 47% of them, Politico reported. The large
number of missed calls was partially attributable to staff and resource shortages at the
agency. FEMA, however, spent nearly $1 billion on providing services to illegal migrants
and allocated $12 million for a grant program designed to increase equity in disaster responses
by making greater investments in communities with high concentrations of racial or sexual minorities.
It's
the Great Reversal, Not the Great Reset. [Scroll down] Also of note is the
existence of over 700 detention camps that have been built across the United States over the last
twenty-plus years to provide "national essential functions" in the event of "catastrophic
emergencies" under the control of the President and the Department of Homeland Security (of which
FEMA is a part). These facilities have been used sporadically in response to natural
disasters. Still, watchdog groups point out the likelihood of these facilities being used to
detain American citizens for resistance and alleged crimes against the state, similar to what
happened to many J6 attendees who acted in good faith of their First Amendment rights but ended up
being incarcerated.
The Editor says...
The FEMA camps are not being used for the incarceration of violent illegal aliens, or Chinese invaders, or
Venezuelan/Mexican gangs (Tren de Aragua, MS-13, et al), or Middle-eastern Muslim terrorists. They are
apparently reserved for those who step out of line and raise their objections about stolen elections,
replacement workers, mysterious fires, license plate readers, a national ID card, face recognition machines,
and the elimination of cash. In other words, FEMA is not on your side.
U.S.
House committee launches investigation into alleged misuse of FEMA money. Republican
members of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security have launched an investigation into the
alleged misuse of Federal Emergency Management Agency funds by Department of Homeland Security
Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. DHS, which has oversight of FEMA, has directed that billions of
dollars of FEMA funds be used to pay for food, housing, transportation and other services for
illegal border crossers.
Video
of 14 CBP Agents Moving a Log 15 Feet Is Exactly Why We Need Trump's Gov't Efficiency
Commission. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) posted a video to X on Thursday
promoting efforts, alongside their friends at FEMA, engaged in disaster cleanup. It is a
demonstration of government efficiency at its absolute best. Or maybe not. They were
promptly ratioed into oblivion for the effort. Worried about hurricane cleanup in Florida
after Hurricane Milton? Fear not. These folks are on the case! "Along with our
partners at @FEMA, we will continue with disaster recovery as a result of Hurricane Milton," the
video is captioned. "The safety of the American people is our top priority." It's hard to
believe somebody on the CBP social media team thought this was impressive enough to post.
Feast your eyes on the ragtag group of armed federal officers, which has been assembled to tackle
this gargantuan task — Using 14 people to move one log — one log! —
roughly 15 feet: [Tweet with video clip]
FEMA
gets mocked into oblivion over video showing hurricane relief efforts. The Federal
Emergency Management Agency was mocked and ridiculed on social media after U.S. Customs and Border
Protection posted a video meant to promote the agency's hurricane aid efforts. The video
shows government workers lined up to clear out logs from a residence as a chainsaw can be heard in
the background. "Along with our partners at @FEMA, we will continue with disaster recovery as a
result of Hurricane Milton. The safety of the American people is our top priority," the tweet
read. The video quickly went viral on social media after critics pointed out that having 14
government workers standing around to clear out logs was one of the least efficient ways to get the
work done. "And every single one of these people is drawing a full salary, pension benefits and
medical benefits. While getting almost nothing done. Imagine that," responded author
Mike Adams.
FEMA
temporarily pauses aid in parts of NC over reported threats. The Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) temporarily paused aid in parts of North Carolina this weekend after
alleged threats targeted the agency's personnel aiding in recovery efforts following Hurricane
Helene. Ashe County Sheriff Phil Howell said in a statement Sunday that FEMA personnel in
North Carolina's "mountain region" were targeted by threats, prompting FEMA to take precautionary
steps and temporarily pause aid operations at other FEMA sites. Neither Ashe County nor its
surrounding counties were targeted by the threats, Howell said. "Out of an abundance of
caution, they have paused their process as they are assessing the threats," Howell said in a
Facebook post Sunday morning. Ashe County Emergency Management said Sunday that FEMA staff
would not be taking applications in a couple of towns, adding, "It is our understanding that all
FEMA reps in NC were stood down due to threats occurring in some counties," noting "we have not
received any official correspondence on this issue from FEMA."
FEMA
Is a Bureaucratic Disaster Area. Thanks to the terrible destruction Hurricane Helene
and Hurricane Milton wrought on millions of Americans in the Southeast, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) has been continuously in the headlines for two weeks. Former
President Donald Trump claims that FEMA has been slow to respond to the disasters, especially in
the mountains of western North Carolina where the storms hit thousands of people living in
high-altitude rural isolation especially hard. Trump claims that a big part of FEMA's laggard
response is due to the fact President Joe Biden's administration diverted hundreds of millions of
tax dollars from disaster relief to providing free food, shelter, and other assistance to the
millions of illegal immigrants who have flooded across the nation's open borders since
February 2021. Biden claims that Trump is un-American and unfit to return to the Oval
Office because FEMA is not screwing up as the former chief executive claims. Then there is
Biden's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Majorkas, who chimes in that FEMA
has enough money for disaster aid efforts today but not for tomorrow. Speaker of the House
Mike Johnson (R-La.) points out that Congress just last month provided FEMA an extra $20 billion.
The
Truth About FEMA and Government Waste. Contrary to false media narratives, FEMA does
provide support to illegal immigrants amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. Their own
statistics confirm this. This is part of a significant expansion of the role that FEMA has
assigned to itself, which reflects a broader trend of government agencies being totally out of
control. [Video clip]
Somewhat related: The
National Guard Loaded A C17 With Hurricane Victim Supplies For A Kamala Photo Op With No Intention
Of Actually Giving It To Any Victims. The NC National Guard allegedly loaded an
entire C17 with supplies just so Kamala Harris could stage a photo-op for Hurricane Helene without
the intention of the supplies being used. The accusation came from Aerial Recovery members
Jonathan Howard and Charlie Keebaugh on Shawn Ryan's show. "I had a squadron commander from
North Carolina reach out to me... They had to a C17, full of supplies just to take a photo op for
Kamala... and they never sent the bird." "They did a photo op and with the intention of
never sending [aid]... it was just a photo op." [Video clip]
Helene,
Government's "Total Fail" During a Major Disaster. Yes, it's happening.
Following Hurricane Helene, we are witnessing a total failure in the government's response to a
major disaster. Reports on NBC, as well as hundreds of others give us some insight as to some
of the problems people across western North Carolina are facing. With roads, bridges, water
pipes, and electrical lines washed away, FEMA is telling us they don't have the money to "Git er
done." It seems the money has gone to aiding immigrants at the border and providing weapons for
Ukraine. Desperate families are still waiting for word about missing loved ones, days after
the flooding disaster in Tennessee, and North Carolina. Expect politicians to fill the slots
in the mainstream media to spin the reality on the ground into a tale of "we are getting the job
done[.]" The fact is, they are not.
FEMA's
Ridiculous New 'Hurricane Misinformation' Website Needs Some Serious Fact Checking.
How do you know when you're being lied to by the political left? Well, yes, when their lips
are moving, but also when they scream "Disinformation!" Such is the case with Biden-Harris's
FEMA, which has announced a new website to address what they're calling "hurricane disinformation."
The translation of that nonsense little phrase being that they were caught with their pants down after
Hurricane Helene, whether accidentally or deliberately, and it's all the fault of disinformation. [...]
Imagine how the people of storm-ravaged North Carolina will feel when, in the face of the disastrous
response by the federal government, they hear that FEMA is wasting time and resources on a rumor
website. They know the truth about FEMA. Forget misinformation; we're dealing with criminally
bad mismanagement here.
FEMA
contracts out its home inspection services to BlackRock, and a front company? Pay no
attention to the global investment corporations that are vying for access to the natural
resources — like lithium — in North Carolina's landscape, and the
shadowy business with no substantial presence in the marketplace, whose agents are running the
property valuation operations! Confused? Allow me to explain. On the FEMA
website, one can navigate to a webpage that discloses the recipients of certain federal FEMA
contracts, and what services those contractors provide; here's an explanation of the relationship
between FEMA and the private sector: [...] If you search for the private companies with contracts
for the "Housing Inspection Services" function, you'll see two contracts, one to "WSP USA Services,
Inc." and the other to Vanguard Inspection Services. [...] Regarding Vanguard Inspection Services,
it's got all the markers of a front company; as far as I can tell, it looks as though VIS exists
solely to do business with FEMA.
Could
the Hurricane Response be Election Interference? Election 2024 is weeks away.
Donald Trump still holds a 2-point lead nationally over Kamala Harris according to the latest
Rasmussen Reports polling. J.D. Vance wiped the debate floor with Tim Walz, despite election
interference by Vance's pant-suited debate opponents from CBS News. [...] Apparently, there is no
money for hurricane victims, especially those in the red portion of western North Carolina.
Would government resources be more readily available if the flooding was in the Research Triangle
of far bluer Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill? Or some other Democrat stronghold? Rural
western North Carolina is home to Hillary Clinton's "deplorables." Why else would they be left
to struggle and die with little government effort? Is this the latest Democrat ploy at
election interference, not stuffing the ballot box but changing the voter mix, increasing Democrat
voters via illegal immigration, and decreasing Republican voters by letting them die? [...] What is
the circumstantial evidence of hurricane election interference? It is beyond incompetence,
instead a deliberate effort to hamper rescue efforts.
How
exactly did FEMA acquire all the money it's spent on illegals this year? If you're
confused as to how in the world FEMA acquired all the funds it's been using to feed, clothe, and
house the millions of illegal aliens that have poured into the U.S. during the Biden-Harris
years with American tax dollars, while ignoring the American people, you're not alone.
The agency had the better part of a billion dollars to dump into sheltering illegals (just this
year alone), but it's out of cash for hurricane emergency efforts? And, the $750 payment, if
you can even get it, is a... loan?!
Franklin
Graham's Samaritan's Purse Is Putting FEMA to Shame. Dr. Phil McGraw praised the
work that Franklin Graham's relief organization Samaritan's Purse is doing to help the victims of
Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. It is putting the Federal Emergency Management Agency's
work to shame. "Let me tell you, these [Samaritan's Purse] guys don't have meetings to fill
out forms to plan a meeting to get something going. They have verbs in their sentences.
They have springs in their step, and they're out making things happen," McGraw said. "FEMA,
all these other people are talking, thinking. No, not Samaritan's Purse. They're out
doing things," he added.
Citing
the Biden-Harris admin's own FEMA facts isn't misinformation. In a perfect storm of
Democratic nonsense, White House chief flack Karine Jean-Pierre blew off factual info around
Federal Emergency Management Agency spending and foreign aid that her own employers released as
"misinformation" before stomping off in a huff. What more proof does America need that labels
of mis- and disinformation have nothing to do with whether any statement is true or false, but only
whether it's helpful or harmful to the political project of the left? Fox News' Peter Doocy
posed Jean-Pierre (Joe Biden's newest "senior adviser") a simple question: Why does the Biden
administration have close to $157 million ready to go for Lebanon aid but has to go hat in
hand to Congress for extra funds for FEMA to deal with Hurricane Helene damage?
Harris-Biden
Admin Turned FEMA Into a DEI Experiment — and Hurricane Victims Are Suffering for
It. If ever there was an ironclad example of the failures of Diversity, Equity, and
Inclusion (DEI) practices in Kamala Harris' America, the devastating government response to
Hurricane Helene should leave no doubt. And it's about to grow ever more apparent.
[Advertisement] The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) focus has shifted towards
emphasizing DEI over immediate disaster response efficiency under the Harris-Biden
administration. Hurricane Helene victims are suffering because of it. Hurricane Milton
victims are about to as well. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a whole has
endured stunning ineptitude through the DEI-fueled hiring of Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Mayorkas has been, in an understatement, a complete and utter disaster. Under his watch, the
door to the southern border has swung wide open — over 10 million illegal
immigrants have entered the country, including 1.8 million known "gotaways" who slipped past
Border Patrol. He also had his hand in the multiple security failures involved in the
assassination attempts against Donald Trump, reportedly ignoring "repeated requests" for stronger
Secret Service protection for the former president. It should come as no surprise.
These are the kinds of things that tend to happen when hiring based on which demographic boxes an
individual checks off instead of their capability or knowledge.
Sheriff:
Helene Survivors Cannot Apply for $750 Because They Do Not Have a Phone or Computer.
An exasperated South Carolina sheriff slammed the Biden-Harris administration's offer to Hurricane
Helene survivors of $750 in "immediate" relief funds, arguing it was nothing compared to what they
gave Ukraine and because it requires access to the internet — which residents in the
worst-hit areas still do not have. "That lady that's running for president talks about the
$750. Heh — what about all that money you give to Ukraine and all these other people who
really want to kill us and don't want to do anything to help us. Why don't you just give that
money to them, that's who you want to give it to to be begin with," Spartanburg County Sheriff
Chuck Wright told FOX News contributor Sara Carter in a video she posted to X on Tuesday.
Elon
Succeeded Where FEMA Failed. Robby Starbuck, a right-wing activist who loves to troll
the left, lives on a 12-acre farm in Tennessee, about four hours from the area that Hurricane
Helene ravaged last week. After the storm hit southern Appalachia, a friend told him that
hurricane victims were struggling to connect with the outside world. "So many people were
worried that their family members might have died and they couldn't get in touch," Starbuck told
The Free Press. The hurricane has been the worst since Katrina in 2005, with 230
deaths so far, and damages estimated between $30 billion and $47 billion. There
were people trapped in flooded homes — or whose homes had been destroyed by the
hurricane — and had no way of communicating with anyone who might be able to rescue
them. They needed help. So Starbuck told two of his employees in Tennessee to drop
everything, head to nearby Home Depots, and buy every Starlink receiver the stores had.
Starlink is part of Elon Musk's SpaceX, and the small panels, which retail for about $300 each,
allow people to connect to the internet via the 6,000-plus satellites that SpaceX rockets have
launched into space over the years. It takes only 20 to 30 minutes to set them up, after
which users can access Starlink's Wi-Fi via phone or laptop.
FEMA
Says "Disinformation" is a Problem — What Disinformation? The Disinformation About
the Information. Politico has written an article about FEMA Administrator Deanne
Criswell, saying disinformation about the federal government response to Hurricane Helene, "is
absolutely the worst I have ever seen," Criswell told reporters on a Tuesday morning call.
"It's creating distrust in the federal government, but also the state government, and we have so
many first responders that have been working to go out and help these communities," she
added. However, if you go read the article fraught with pearl-clutching and protestation, you
might curiously discover there is not a single citation for any claimed "disinformation." It
is very odd to see FEMA and by extension Politico in their defense, claiming that massive
disinformation is running rampant, and yet they do not cite a single example of the disinformation
they claim to exist.
FEMA
sets up a 'rumor response' webpage to set the record straight after all the scrutiny of its
response to Helene. When enough of the public harbors such deep distrust for our
federal government that our federal agencies feel compelled to establish official "rumor response"
websites to try to convince the people that they're not corrupt and incompetent, I'd say it's game
over, and there's no road to redemption. You've blown it. Obliterated everything.
Nuked your last shred of credibility. In light of mounting accusations against FEMA as
bumbling the response to Hurricane Helene beyond all comprehension, the disaster relief agency took
it upon itself to create a fact-checking website, to battle the "rumor" mill — despite
what those conspiracy theorist MAGA haters are saying, FEMA takes its mission seriously, and is
adeptly handling the emergency response!
No
Hurricane Help from the Feds. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is tired of
people criticizing its slipshod response to Hurricane Helene. So what if FEMA is more
concerned with prioritizing "disaster equity" for "LGBTQIA people" than delivering crucial help for
distressed citizens without identity issues? So what if Department of Homeland Security
saboteur Alejandro Mayorkas used the agency's budget to relocate illegal aliens across the U.S. and
no longer has sufficient resources to assist Americans in dire straits! FEMA head Deanne
Criswell says that telling the truth about the agency's ongoing failures and likely fraud is
"dangerous." Dangerous for whom? The Americans who have died during the greatest
flooding event to hit southern Appalachia this century? Or dangerous for the bureaucratic
blob that increasingly appears to have "expertise" in nothing but doling out endless American misery?
FEMA
Whistleblowers Say [the] Agency [is] Wildly Mismanaged. Whistleblowers at the Federal
Emergency Management Agency have come forward in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene to accuse the
agency of misappropriating funds and generally mismanaging its responsibilities. This is
according to a letter sent by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to Homeland Security Secretary
Alejandro Mayorkas, whose department includes FEMA. FEMA has come under fire for its response
to Hurricane Helene, which ravaged North Carolina, Georgia, and other states and left over 200
dead. Mayorkas said in an interview Wednesday that FEMA "does not have the funds" to address
the rest of the hurricane season. Gaetz wrote in his letter, which he also posted on X:
"Numerous whistleblowers came forward to my office this week to sound the alarm on FEMA's severe
mismanagement issues, which have left first responders on the ground to assist with Hurricane
Helene recovery efforts without deployment orders." Gaetz said FEMA's mismanagement impeded
the federal government's response to the hurricane.
FEMA
Doled Out Millions Pushing 'Equity,' Prioritizing 'Underserved Communities' Leading Up To Hurricane
Season. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in May 2023 launched a
$12 million grant program designed to increase "equity" in disaster responses by making
greater investments in communities with high concentrations of racial and sexual minorities,
documents show. FEMA's 2023 Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant Program sought to
disburse multi-million dollar grants designed to bolster disaster preparedness "equity" for what it
called "underserved communities," a label later defined in grant documents as "populations sharing
a particular characteristic, as well as geographic communities, who have been systematically denied
a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social and civic life." Examples of these
groups cited in the FEMA documents include African Americans, Hispanics, Middle Easterners, LGBT
people and people living in rural areas, among others.
Special
ops vets form 'Redneck Air Force' to ferry aid into NC mountains after feds come up
short. Hundreds of special operations personnel in North Carolina have formed their
own homegrown rescue and supply operation in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene after they grew
tired of waiting for the federal government to get its act together. The [New York] Post
found an all-volunteer operation being run out of a Harley-Davidson dealership with ruthless
efficiency and military precision. "Who's FEMA?" ex-Green Beret Adam Smith derisively
responded when asked about the agency's presence on the ground since the deadly storm ravaged the
rural western part of the state.
Recent
Events Force Us To See The Reality Of Today's Democrats. As millions of Americans
picked themselves up and surveyed the extraordinary damage wrought by Hurricane Helene, they
discovered, to their horror, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, an agency specifically
set up to help American citizens and communities recover from natural disasters exactly like
Helene, was almost out of money. And it wasn't because the agency wasn't given any
money. No, FEMA didn't have any money to help Americans who had lost everything, were waiting
to be rescued, or were hungry and thirsty because, through fancy bookkeeping, the Biden / Harris
administration spent $1 billion in the last two years providing housing and other services to
illegal aliens. Literally, a program specifically created to help Americans recover from
disasters was drained almost dry, leaving it with few resources to help Americans recover from
disasters because it had spent all the taxpayer dollars sent its way on services for people who had
come into the country illegally.
Hurricane
Helene Exposes a Deep Betrayal of America. Americans across several states are
suffering and attempting to survive under unimaginably harsh conditions, without food and water, in
that aftermath of Hurricane Helene which tore across ten states in the Southeast last week, leaving
a path of destruction in its wake. And a week later, these people have found that they are
largely on their own, as all the real help that has arrived has come through the efforts of
individuals and nonprofit groups such as Samaritan Purse, Mountain Mule Packers Ranch, Save Our
Allies and Aerial Recovery, which has exposed the fact — to anyone who didn't already
know — that the Biden regime doesn't [care] about them, as Biden and his minions have
engaged in not just dereliction of duty but the worst betrayal of the American people ever
witnessed, since the birth of the nation.
The
opposite of truth is not just lies, it is chaos. [Scroll down] Adding
insult to injury, FEMA has been turned into a DEI experiment with predictable results.
Mayorkas has stated that millions of dollars of FEMA funds and resources have been spent on
migrants, and the agency is essentially broke! The hurricane victims are simply out of luck
despite the lies that White House spokesperson, Karine Jean Pierre, tells to the contrary.
Most people will believe the hundreds of clips of victims telling the truth. FEMA is AWOL.
It seems that this administration has been using FEMA money, $1b of it, to care for the millions of
illegal migrants the Biden/Harris administration has ushered into the country. Their
horrific, seemingly purposeful but surely negligent response to the devastation throughout the
southeast wrought by Hurricane Helene is more proof of their utter failure to do right by
Americans. While the empty-headed newsreaders on the Sunday news shows claim that any tales
of FEMA not being present and providing needed help are untrue, the folks on the ground tell of
FEMA confiscating donations, of threatening to arrest citizens offering help, etc., their stories
are clearly and sadly true. These victims who have lost everything are being helped by
civilian volunteers for water, food and escape, not FEMA.
The Editor says...
Please do not trivialize one billion dollars by calling it "1b" unless you're writing a text message and don't have much room.
FEMA
broke, impotent, or disgustingly biased? If you thought the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) was specifically and exclusively tasked with providing relief and succor
to American citizens who have been the victims of natural disasters, you probably also believe in
the tooth fairy — or that Epstein killed himself. Au contraire. Homeland
Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently admitted that "FEMA does not have the funds to make
it through the season." This begs a question. Why? I was keen to guess. One
reason is that FEMA spent more than $650 million this fiscal year providing housing and
services to illegal aliens. I did guess. Correctly! That's right, FEMA spent the
better part of a billion dollars so far this year providing non-emergency aid to
non-citizens via the Shelter and Services program. Sorry, western North
Carolinians! Too bad you don't have a house, belongings, or a pot to tinkle in anymore!
Hope you find the rest of your family members! We'd love to help, really, but we're just
tapped out at the moment!
FEMA
Abandons Devastated NC Town Residents — Agency Refuses to Drive Around 'Road Closed'
Sign. In the wake of Hurricane Helene's wrath, residents of the tiny town of Bat
Cave, North Carolina, are facing a devastating reality — they've been left to fend for
themselves. FEMA, the federal agency tasked with disaster relief, has all but abandoned the
community, citing a "road closed" sign as the reason for their absence. As the town continues
to pick up the pieces, it's clear that this is yet another example of Biden's government failure,
and local residents are none too pleased. Chelsea Atkins, 38, a health researcher originally from
Buffalo, NY, shared her frustration with FEMA's incompetence in an interview with the New York Post.
Did
Biden-Harris Divert FEMA Funds For Luxury Migrant Apartments With Flat-Screen TVs?
FEMA's entanglement with the Biden-Harris administration's disastrous open southern border policies
by diverting storm relief funds ($1.4 billion, according to NYPost) for illegal and legal
aliens may have undermined the federal agency's ability to effectively manage emergencies, such as
the Katrina-like disaster unfolding in the US Southeast. [Tweet] Homeland Security Secretary
Alejandro Mayorkas dropped the bombshell last week: FEMA "does not have the funds" to see
Americans through the rest of this Atlantic hurricane season. The federal agency drained the
funds by prioritizing taxpayer funds for illegal and legal aliens versus US citizens as the
Biden-Harris globalist team rolled out the red carpet to anyone, even terrorists, via the open
southern borders.
Here's
One Reason Why FEMA Is Doing Such a Terrible Job. You have probably seen many of the
same videos I have, in which North Carolina residents are begging for help and wondering where FEMA
is. Aside from funding migrants, that is. It seems to be doing a fine job at that,
exhausting the funds that should be going to help Helene's victims. [Tweet with
video clip] Why is FEMA so awful? Or, should I say, why other than the fact that
Alejandro Mayorkas, the most destructive man in America, is in charge of it? [Tweet]
According to FEMA itself, it's #1 priority is no longer responding to emergencies but promoting
Diversity, Equity, and inclusion. [Tweet with video clip] As victims are suffering
and dying in Appalachia, FEMA is focused on trans migrants of color who may feel uncomfortable
getting help from religious organizations. [Advertisement] We can't have a Christian or a Jew
helping somebody unless they usher men into women's bathrooms. Seriously. [More
tweets] FEMA is, as with every bureaucracy under the Harris/Biden administration, obsessed
with microaggressions, affirming fetishists, and distributing benefits by race. Kamala Harris
herself has said that disaster aid should be distributed by race in order to promote equity.
Resurfaced
video shows FEMA exec talking about prioritizing LGBTQ hurricane victims as Milton barrels towards
Florida. A FEMA disaster preparedness meeting about 'focusing efforts on LGBTQIA+'
victims has resurfaced following the agency's response to Hurricane Helene. In a virtual
meeting from March 2023, FEMA Emergency Management Specialist Tyler Atkins alarmingly said the
agency was prioritizing LGBTQ people because they are 'already disadvantaged.' 'They already
have their own things to deal with. So you add a disaster on top of that, it's just
compounding on itself,' Atkins, who uses he/they pronouns, told the panel.
Kamala's
'Katrina' response is exactly how communism is supposed to work. Everyone is rightly
infuriated by the Harris/Biden administration's vote-buying efforts with billions of dollars in
handouts while actual taxpaying citizens are suffering and dying. But what they don't realize
is that this is the way it's supposed to work. [...] The problem for the far left is that they've
lied so much about everything else — Russian collusion, Biden's fitness for office, as
well as the myriad and often repeated lies about Donald Trump, no one except the hardcore far-left
believes them anymore. The other big problem for the far left is that we have reports on the
ground that instantly eviscerate their lies. We have the video report from Glenn Beck of FEMA
just arriving on the scene days late where no one can find them. And instead of handing out
essential supplies like food and water, they are set up to start processing red tape. We also
have a video of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas after Hurricane Helene: FEMA
doesn't have enough funding to last the hurricane season. So, it should be obvious that this
is part of an overall plan or dark-sided ideology.
Kamala's
Katrina Catastrophe. Hurricane Helene witnessed a predictable pattern. Biden
stayed at the beach; Kamala pretended to be on the phone; and Trump characteristically flew in with
supplies, organized a charity drive, and convinced Elon Musk to rush in 500 Starlink internet
terminals, followed by FEMA blocking Musk's and everyone else's efforts. Blocking Starlink is
essential to concealing FEMA's perfidy. Success will be measured by how many Republicans can
be kept from voting. The House, on break until November 12, should be recalled to begin
hearings. [...] The failure to rush aid to Georgia, supposedly won by Biden in 2020, confirms that
Kamala's polling there reveals her impending loss. Private helicopters substitute for missing
government rescue flights. Because FEMA's assets were diverted to migrants, and the
devastation is so vast, Kamala's political bleeding has only begun as the death toll mounts.
Devils
Prey On Angels. The government, especially the federal government, is a bully.
Their bluff and bluster is an illusion that only works on the peaceful and law-abiding, who are
inclined to do the reasonable thing and would do so in the absence of any government at all. [...]
FEMA threatens with force they don't have, citing laws that don't exist. It's hollow bluff
and bluster to be pushed aside, scoffed at and ridiculed. They can wrap themselves in their
communist rags and preach their power and superiority to the people, but those words are hollow and
meaningless to a people determined to do the right thing, the honorable thing. Fascism is the
government working with corporations to rule over the people. In this case, they have done
the unforgiveable, importing slave labor at slave labor prices bolstered by FEMA funds, welfare,
while taking American jobs, something noticeable in the rising job market and decline of
unemployment, figures derived from mythical unemployed and illegal immigrants filling the spots
denied to Americans.
Harris
Touts $157M for Civilians in Lebanon While Many Helene Victims Wait for Relief.
Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday touted that her and
President Joe Biden's administration was sending $157 million in humanitarian aid to civilians
in Lebanon, after announcing just $750 for the immediate needs of individual Hurricane Helene
victims. She even added the $157 million infusion would bring the total U.S. support to
Lebanon in one year to "over $385 million." For perspective, the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) announced on Oct. 4 it has provided $45 million in disaster relief thus
far: $23 million to people in Florida; $17 million to North Carolina; and
$4.5 million to South Carolina. This is while thousands of Americans lost their homes,
businesses, belongings, pets — and in some cases family members — due to
Hurricane Helene wreaking destruction across the nation's southeast last weekend, and are only
getting $750 in immediate assistance. Hurricane victims can apply for a range of additional
aid from FEMA.
The
Propaganda Press at Work: Shielding Doug Emhoff and FEMA's Failures.
[Scroll down] All that is one side of what the Regime Party is about. Another side
has been on view these last several days as the destruction and human misery left in the wake of
Hurricane Helene has haltingly become public. As I write, the official death toll of that
disaster is somewhere around 300. Reports from people on the ground say it is much higher,
probably around 2000. Quite apart from the human toll exacted by the storm, there are two
things to note about the response of our government and the Propaganda Press struggling to control
what reports leak out about that response. First, notwithstanding the efforts of the
Propaganda Press to keep a lid on the facts, it is now widely known that FEMA, the chief federal
agency in charge of responding to such disasters, has failed miserably. What initially
sparked public outrage was Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas's statement that, sorry,
but the agency was out of money. He'd love to help but the "funds" were not there. That
was quickly followed by the news that, over the last 18 months or so, the Biden-Harris
administration had spent some $1.4 billion to house, tend, and cater to illegal migrants (and
how many billions have been siphoned off to Ukraine?). Hundreds of thousands of those migrants were
salted around the country, especially to vulnerable counties in red states, where they were provided with
cash stipends and housing at taxpayer expense. I note that Mayorkas, as head of the HSS, is also
in charge (under "Border Czar" Kamala Harris) of that porous figment, the Southern border.
Heroes
and Zeroes. Under this Administration, FEMA, designed to aid citizens in emergency
situations like hurricanes, has as its priority aiding millions of illegal immigrants. Three
months ago, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas assured us that FEMA was well-funded to see us through
the hurricane season. This week he said they were broke. Broke because over the last
two years they stripped out of their funds almost $2 billion for illegal immigrant aid and
left Florida, the Carolinas, and Georgia without the disaster relief taxpayers funded for it.
Reports from the field are shocking — not only is the government not making relief crews
and funds available, but they have been blocking relief by individuals and religious groups,
confiscating private donations, blocking private helicopters (including Operation Airdrop with
volunteers from Texas to Maine) from rescuing stranded citizens and dropping relief supplies
including foods and medicine. They've interfered with the distribution of Skylinks donated by
Elon Musk and other private donors to communities stranded by flood waters and washed-out roads.
[...] Electricity will be hard to provide in the area for months. Among other reasons. there
are insufficient supplies of needed replacement transformers, which the Administration shipped to Ukraine.
KJP
Claims It's 'False' FEMA Used Funds for Illegal Immigrants. That's Not What She Was Saying in
2022. As Townhall has been covering, the Biden-Harris administration's response to
Hurricane Helene has been just awful. Unsurprisingly, White House Press Secretary Karine
Jean-Pierre has offered poor defenses, including when it comes to FEMA's shameful failures.
According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the agency is out
of money for hurricane season, though illegal immigrants have received assistance, and the agency
has been focused on "equity." [Advertisement] During Friday's press briefing,
Jean-Pierre was confronted about how "former President Trump is accusing the Biden administration
of using FEMA funding to support undocumented migrants," with the reporter wanting to know "how is
the White House responding to that?" Jean-Pierre sought to deny Trump's point, emphasizing "it
is a false statement," as she hid behind a fact-check from The Washington Post. [Tweet]
KJP
slammed after Hurricane Helene over mixed messages on whether FEMA resources [were] used for
migrants. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is facing heavy criticism
after sending mixed messages on whether the Biden-Harris administration has been using FEMA
resources to support migrants last week. Jean-Pierre flatly denied that FEMA resources were
going to migrants in a press conference last week, but she stated the opposite when asked about the
issue in the fall of 2022. "Former President Trump is accusing the Biden administration of
using FEMA funding to support undocumented migrants. How is the White House responding to
that?" a reporter asked during a Friday press conference.
It's
time to abolish FEMA. When Hurricane Helene ravaged the Southeast recently, horror
stories of ineptitude by federal government agencies abounded. Slow response, permission
paperwork, turf battles, bureaucratic regulations, and shocking incompetence were evident ([links
to examples]), especially by the Transportation Department and by FEMA. Repeats of Lahaina and
East Palestine. Rather than add to the chorus of criticism, here is a proposed solution for
FEMA's recurring history of incompetence: abolish FEMA and remove the federal government from
the picture except as the funding authority. The practical effect would be to put the money
where it helps (not into another federal agency). To truly help Americans victimized by
disasters, we should privatize the emergency response logistics by contracting the responsibility
and authority for quick emergency response to organizations like Samaritan's Purse and
others. These organizations should be tasked to set up regional quick response centers that
are stocked with water, food, clothing, temporary shelter, generators, portable laundromats, etc.,
and are ready to mobilize at first warning. These organizations responded with aid
days before "disaster areas were proclaimed," and FEMA mobilized itself.
FEMA
cranks up its spin and gaslight operations. For a government agency that's
floundering its hurricane response and running out of money after spending nearly a billion on
illegals, it sure does spend a lot on public relations operations telling us all how capable and
competent it is in the wake of Hurricane Helene and its devastation. [...] [T]here have been many
stories of FEMA blocking aid to the needy in order to be the big dog on the bureaucratic
block. Pilots say they don't have FEMA "permissions" is but one example. Aid groups not
working with "approved vendors" is another. There's more than one way to block aid, after
all. But FEMA, see, wouldn't dream of blocking aid from the private sector headed for the
needy. As far as the "border related issues," which of course, is not about the border, but
about the aiding and abetting of unvetted foreign nationals who are illegally crossing the border
into the U.S. and getting massive FEMA aid from its "shelter and services" program as a result,
FEMA would have you think the billion dollars or so they've shelled out on illegals has nothing to
do with their blown budget for the hurricane season, which as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro
Mayorkas noted, was unlikely to be enough for the hurricane season.
Rep.
Nancy Mace Exposes FEMA's Lies, Introduces Bill to End Wasteful Shelter and Services
Program. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) announced on Friday [10/4/2024] that she has
introduced legislation aimed at terminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA)
Shelter and Services Program (SSP). Mace blasted the program as a colossal misuse of taxpayer
dollars that prioritizes illegal immigrants over American disaster victims, and her bill proposes
redirecting all unspent SSP funds to aid Americans struggling to recover from natural disasters
like Hurricane Helene. "It's unacceptable for Americans to grapple with the catastrophic
aftermath of Hurricane Helene while the federal government remains fixated on spending hundreds of
millions on a program sheltering illegal immigrants instead of helping our own citizens," said
Representative Nancy Mace.
FEMA
[is] an Even Bigger Disaster Than the Storms Themselves. [Scroll down]
Well, first, we just learned that the Biden-Harris administration diverted funds intended for
hurricane disaster relief to help illegal aliens. Since we can count on having hurricanes
each year, this was a Capital B "Bad" decision. [...] Helene is far and away the worst hurricane
to do so much inland damage in the 21st Century. We can count on these murderous Atlantic
mega-storms occurring every year, and if diverting funds from American disaster relief to support
in high style millions of people who don't belong here isn't a crime, it should be. [...] FEMA
exists to help American citizens and legal residents survive and recover from emergencies, natural
or man-made. FEMA was called into action after 9/11, just as they were called into action
after each hurricane since the agency's inception. Overall, with a few exceptions, they have
botched each disaster recovery effort, caring more about bureaucratic red tape than they do for the
human lives they are saving ... or losing.
SpaceX
Engineer In North Carolina Has Dire Warning: Biden-Harris' FEMA "Actively Blocking Shipments"
For Relief. A shocking firsthand account from a SpaceX engineer in storm-battered
North Carolina reveals that Biden-Harris' Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) blocked
shipments of critical goods for relief efforts into the region. There have been numerous
reports this week of FEMA actively hindering relief efforts in the western part of the state,
including threatening private helicopter pilots with arrests for conducting rescue missions.
We also learned that the Biden-Harris administration drained FEMA funds to support illegal aliens,
prioritizing non-citizens (future voters) over American citizens. Around lunchtime, Elon Musk
shared a dire message from one of his SpaceX engineers on the ground in the storm-ravaged
state. Musk said, "FEMA is not merely failing to adequately help people in trouble, but is
actively blocking citizens who try to help!"
The
Hurricane Relief-Industrial Complex Is Getting People Killed. I knew I smelled a
stink badger in the perfume aisle when the Mockingbird media myrmidons weren't descending on the
areas Hurricane Helene ravaged and weren't writing much about the storm either, despite the brutal
stories of death and survival on X. [...] I just went to CNN, and most stories were dedicated to
brainwashing CNN's dwindling audience that Trump is a ghastly hobgoblin. Their most prominent
story on the storm was "fact-checking" Trump's statement that the Biden-Harris administration was
getting "universally negative" reviews on their hurricane response efforts, like this one: [Tweet]
It
Wasn't Just FEMA Funds Biden-HARRIS Got Tricksy With. The wrath of Hurricane Helene
and the path of utter, unimaginable suffering and destruction left in her stormy wake is going to
be with us for years upon years. What will also, hopefully, never be forgotten is the
Biden-HARRIS regime's complete incompetence in preparing for the storm and handling even the
tiniest aspects of its aftermath. What will also hopefully live long in infamy re the regime
is how their agency tasked with handling events of such magnitude — the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) — performed so badly from the outset and yet cried poor mouth so shortly
afterward. That revelation caused a general sense of astonishment on top of the outrage
building in the face of their seeming indifference.
Here's
One Reason Why FEMA Is Doing Such a Terrible Job. I have long thought that one of the
hallmarks of an advanced economy is built-in resilience to shocks to the system. As with so
many things these days, that resilience has eroded to the point that, except in certain areas of
the country like Florida, it hardly exists. You have probably seen many of the same videos I
have, in which North Carolina residents are begging for help and wondering where FEMA is.
Aside from funding migrants, that is. It seems to be doing a fine job at that, exhausting the
funds that should be going to help Helene's victims. [Tweet with video clip]
The
Democrats' War on Western North Carolina. Over a week has passed since western North
Carolinians were struck by the raw devastation of Hurricane Helene, an event more catastrophic than
any military attack. And what response have they received? A stunning admission from
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that FEMA "does not have the funds" to assist
Americans through the remainder of the Atlantic hurricane season. This, despite spending more
than $1.4 billion to support illegal immigrants since late 2022. It sparked outrage:
Where is the support for the citizens of North Carolina in their hour of dire need? Even more
troubling, as of October 2024, the United States has spent a staggering $175 billion on
aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February 2022, covering military, economic,
and humanitarian assistance. Meanwhile, in January 2016, the Obama administration
shipped $400 million in cash to Iran as part of a $1.7 billion settlement over a
decades-old arms deal.
Comparing
Helene To Katrina Suggests Americans Are Left To Die Because Democrats Run The White House.
The devastation wrought across the American Southeast by Category 4 Hurricane Helene last week has
naturally drawn comparisons to the 2005 Hurricane Katrina response. As a veteran of military
logistics, I can confirm that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' response to
this round of mass suffering has been orders of magnitude worse than federal actions taken after
Katrina. In August of 2005, I was a U.S. Army colonel serving on the Army staff in the
Pentagon. Before Hurricane Katrina was even nearing landfall, I was detailed as a shift
officer in the National Military Command Center (NMCC) for hurricane support operations. As a
career logistics officer, this was the culmination of a noncombat mission I had been associated
with since I was first commissioned: disaster relief and humanitarian support operations. [...] As
you can imagine, I have been grossly disappointed with the delayed and inept nature of the federal
response. Why did this happen? Why did our military — the actual "muscle" of
federal disaster response, as FEMA is a mere coordinating staff agency — sit largely on
the sidelines for Helene?
Weaponizing Hurricanes.
The nation is witnessing an attack on the people of North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida,
but no more vividly than in the devastated towns of North Carolina. This is an attack by the
federal government, DHS especially, who control the budget of FEMA. FEMA who treats illegal aliens
as celebrities, lavishing them with gifts and preferential treatment while it turns its back on the
very people who have filled their coffers. Did your RINO representative (like mine, Ronnie
(RINO) Jackson in Texas) know this when they voted for the CR, or was this response intended to
cover for failing to pass the CR and it seemed like a such a good plan to increase FEMA's budget to
pay for illegals that they let it run, even though the CR should have covered it? Where did
that money go? Disband FEMA. If it failed in this instance, it has no purpose
whatsoever. Crush it.
Biden-Harris
Admin Claims FEMA Is Out Of Money. Here's Where The Money Went. Homeland
Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is pleading with lawmakers to send the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) more money after the disaster relief agency emptied the coffers to provide
services for illegal immigrants. [...] According to the government's website, FEMA has spent more
than $1 billion "to provide humanitarian services to noncitizen migrants following their
release from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)" under the "Shelter and Services Program"
just within the last two years. The agency allocated nearly $364 million to the program
in the fiscal year 2023 and $650 million for 2024. "Over the last 4 years the
Biden-Harris admin has steadily transformed FEMA — the agency responsible for responding
to natural disasters like Hurricane Helene — into an illegal alien resettlement agency
that emphasizes DEI over public safety," reported America First Legal, a conservative
non-profit. AFL published a series on online posts outlining where FEMA spent tax dollars
meant to assist Americans in the aftermath of major storms and hurricanes.
FEMA
Says It's Broke, But Where Did All The Money Go? [Scroll down] While this
is the beginning of the government's fiscal year (it starts on October 1st each year), it
seems that the money has already been spent ahead, or committed elsewhere, or squandered on DEI
programs. $183,000 doesn't look like a lot compared to the millions spent on illegal migrants, but
it is $183,000 that ISN'T being spent to help hurricane victims. Is the "running out of
money" line actual hyperbole on the part of Mayorkas to goose Congress into passing an increased
budget right now, or getting a disaster aid supplemental bill passed (which would allow DHS and
FEMA to get more money without having to budget properly or divert funds), or has he already spent
most of the money just a few days into a new fiscal year? In the meantime, we are hearing
story after story about the failures of FEMA on the ground, and how they are keeping people from
helping their neighbors and fellow Americans in this time of great need.
FEMA
blew out its budget to pay for illegals, now it's using its remaining resources to block aid from
private citizens. Once again, Lahaina comes to mind. It's not just the piddly
$750 being handed out by FEMA to residents in North Carolina and other states whose homes were
destroyed in Hurricane Helene. (A similar amount was handed out to residents of Lahaina,
Hawaii, after their town was destroyed by fire.) It's the lethal incompetence. Just as
cops taking orders from state government officials blocked Lahaina residents in cars from escaping
the inferno — the only survivors were those who defied them and drove through the
blockades — FEMA officials from the federal government are doing all they can to block
the delivery of aid to people in the hardest hurricane-hit rural areas, where people need food,
water, medicine, shelter and everything else and have been completely cut off from
civilization. They're actually stopping them, as if they were trespassers and saying just
trust the government. That might work when people have time, but these hurricane victims
don't have time.
Feds
say there's no money left to respond to hurricanes — after FEMA spent $1.4B on
migrants. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas set off outrage Wednesday
when he told reporters that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) "does not have the
funds" to see Americans through the rest of this Atlantic hurricane season — after the
agency spent more than $1.4 billion since the fall of 2022 to address the migrant crisis.
"We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have," Mayorkas said during a press
gaggle on Air Force One en route to tour damage from Hurricane Helene in South and North Carolina.
"We are expecting another hurricane hitting," he added. "We do not have the funds. FEMA
does not have the funds to make it through the season and what — what is imminent."
Mayorkas
Warns FEMA Lacks Funding for Hurricane Cleanup after Agency Spent over a Billion on Migrants.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned Wednesday that the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, which has spent more than one billion dollars on services for illegal immigrants
over the past year, now has insufficient funds to last through the hurricane season. "We are
meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane
hitting," Mayorkas told reporters. "FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the
season." Hurricane Helene has ravaged the west coast of Florida and several states in the
Southeast, flooding towns, destroying properties, and killing over 160 people. Florida's
Gulf Coast experienced record-breaking storm surge in some areas, with a wall of water many feet
above the normal high tide line crashing onto the land. The Blue Ridge Mountains suffered
major devastation, with at least 57 people dead in and around Asheville, North Carolina.
Biden-Harris
Admin Used FEMA Disaster Funding For Illegal Immigrants. The Biden-Harris
administration took more than a billion tax dollars that had been allocated to the agency
responsible for American disaster relief and used it to offer services for illegal
immigrants. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) allocated nearly $364 million
in the fiscal year 2023 and $650 million for the 2024 fiscal year to the "Shelter and Services
Program" "to provide humanitarian services to noncitizen migrants following their release from the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)," according to the government's website. The program is
run in cooperation with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) "to support CBP in the safe,
orderly and humane release of noncitizen migrants from short-term holding facilities," FEMA's
website reads.
Kamala
Harris finally arrives to Georgia to dole out FEMA's crumbs. About a week after
Hurricane Helene first made landfall in the Southeast, Kamala Harris took a break from her
fundraising events and staged photo ops at the border to travel to Georgia to address the federal
government's response to the storm that ravaged the people of the South. Lost everything to
Hurricane Helene? You may be eligible for a one-time $750 payment for the basics. After
that, you're on your own. (As a reminder, after the fire in Lahaina, Maui residents received
only $700.) [...] And don't forget, the same day that Helene hit, the Biden-Harris administration
announced another eight billion dollars for Ukraine.
Just
one year after its creation, FEMA migrant program nearly doubles in cost. Beginning
in 2023, cities around the U.S. began to receive funds from FEMA to alleviate the orchestrated,
growing, and unaffordable financial burden on taxpayers in regards to the invasion of third world
migrants coming for welfare — it's called the "Shelter and Services Program" and it's
costing us an arm and a leg. For FY 2023, the program cost $363.8 million; just one
year later, the invoice had nearly doubled, shooting up to $650 million. Now, government
officials, from the local levels to Washington D.C.'s are asking for as much as three billion
dollars for FY 2025.
FEMA
program for migrants grows along with border crisis — from over $360M to
$650M. The city of Atlanta received $4.85 million in funding in 2023, the first
year of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Shelter and Services Program for migrants.
In 2024, the city will get $10.89 million in the second year with another round of funding
later in the year to be announced. FEMA's Shelter and Services Program is another indicator
of the growing impact of the arrival of millions of foreign nationals in the US since President Joe
Biden took office. The program provides grants to communities for the expenses they will
incur for handling migrants.
Groups
urge FEMA to treat extreme heat as a major disaster. As the first significant heat
wave of the season sweeps across the country, several organizations are urging the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to classify extreme heat as a major disaster. Tens of
millions of Americans face dangerously hot temperatures this week in a heat wave moving from
Midwest states like Ohio to cities in the Northeast. "It's going to feel like the upper 90s,
may even feel like 100 a couple of the afternoons," said Randi Rico, a WLWT meteorologist.
The Editor says...
[#1] Sometimes the weather in June is quite warm. That is not a crisis or a disaster or an
emergency. There is no need to beg for money from FEMA. The government can't control the weather.
[#2] It "may even feel like 100 a couple of the afternoons," the WLWT weather lady. So what?
Other parts of the country are way ahead of you, in that regard. Deal with it.
I'm
Sure People on the Edge of Homelessness In Lahaina Think It's Nice POTATUS Wants to Rebuild
Gaza. The [Maui] fires destroyed almost than 4000 properties and displaced more than
13,000 people. Immediately after the fires, FEMA, which is still on the ground, had up
to 8000 people living in local hotels because the housing shortage was so severe. As of
March, those numbers were finally coming down. [...] In April more temporary housing was coming
online with an Army Corps of Engineers project in full swing helping out. The money numbers
are staggering. [...] FEMA's emergency housing program is now scheduled to end on Monday, and
remaining residents who've been taking shelter in different hotels are already finding themselves
locked out or scrambling for places to live. They're also taking heat from people who were
willing to sign the FEMA long-term agreements - and give up tourist dollars — and then found
themselves with canceled FEMA contracts out of the blue. In some of these cases, the
government paid up to $8000 [per month] for these places to sit empty until they canceled.
After
bankrolling illegals, FEMA says it will run out of cash for hurricane season. Is
there a such thing as double-entry bookkeeping at the Federal Emergency Management Agency? Or
do they spend on migrants like there's no tomorrow? According to the Miami Herald, FEMA,
which got its budget topped up extra to the tune of billions just a year ago, is once again running
out of money: [...] The Herald noted that Florida's senators, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, foresaw
the scope of the problem a month ago, and noted its impact on Florida's hurricane season, where
it's quite possible the state could be hit by the devastating disasters starting in August.
Ditto that for California and the other western states with their fire season, and the Mississippi
river valley with its potential tornados and floods. FEMA has been saying it's running out of
money and it always gets what it wants from Congress, but amazingly, it always runs out of money
even with the extra incoming taxpayer cash.
Senators
Rip FEMA on Poor Handling of Illegal Immigrant Travel. Key Senate Republicans blasted
the Federal Emergency Management Agency for shoddy record-keeping regarding the transportation of
illegal immigrants throughout the U.S. FEMA distributes grants to nonprofit organizations for
shelter and travel expenses for illegal immigrants, but last month informed The Heritage
Foundation's Oversight Project that it has no documentation about how that taxpayer money has been
spent. "It is becoming clearer every day that the Democrats' open-border catastrophe is not
only being orchestrated by the Biden administration, the American taxpayer is unwittingly being
forced to pay for this invasion," Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, the top Republican on the Senate
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told The Daily Signal. The committee
oversees border and immigration issues. The FEMA admission that it lacks documentation for
expenses comes less than a year after an internal federal audit stated FEMA is responsible for "a
detailed accounting of all program funds."
Where
did all the FEMA billions go? As usual, the Biden White House wants more money.
The latest request is for more FEMA money, with Hawaii's wildfire disaster in Maui being the
supposed culprit. [...] Maybe there are better ways for FEMA to spend its disaster relief money
than by housing FEMA officials in $1,000 a night hotel rooms while the only aid being given is in
those $700 checks. One guy with a FEMA checkbook and a room at the Best Western could do
thatt. But they insist it was on the up and up. But that's probably small
potatoes. Where much of FEMA's money reportedly goes is to "the border" where they provide
housing, transport, communications, medical care, food, and supplies to millions of incoming
illegal aliens, through their NGO buddies on contract. Seems paying for an unguarded border
and subsidizing the business model of Mexico's cartels costs a lot for FEMA, leaving it unable to
respond to other disasters involving actual Americans. While they're claiming Lahaina blew
out their budget, take a look at some of the back-of-the-envelope calculations of what fire victims
actually got: [Tweet with video clip]
FEMA
to Give $363.8 Million to Non-Federal Entities to Provide Shelter for Illegal Aliens.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), under the guise of humanitarian concern, has enacted
the "Shelter and Services Program," funneling $363.8 million of taxpayers' money in the fiscal year
2023 to non-federal entities, claiming to support the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the
"safe, orderly, and humane release" of illegal immigrants.
White
House explains why it turned down disaster relief for Ohio. The White House explained why it turned down
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's request for disaster relief this week in the aftermath of a derailment of a train hauling
toxic chemicals. A Biden administration official told Fox News Digital that it has provided extensive assistance
to surrounding communities following the chemical release earlier this month in eastern Ohio. However, the
official said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the agency that usually provides relief to communities hit
by hurricanes and other natural disasters, isn't best equipped to support the state's current needs. "The Biden
Administration is mobilizing a robust, multi-agency effort to support the people of East Palestine, Ohio. Since
February 3, the Environmental Protection Agency has had personnel on the ground," the official told Fox News
Digital. "FEMA is coordinating with the emergency operations center working closely with the Ohio Emergency
Management Agency."
Hours
After Trump Announces Upcoming Visit to East Palestine, FEMA Reverses Course and Will Support Ohio
Community. The announcement by President Trump with his intent to visit East Palestine next Wednesday,
followed moments later by a reversal announcement from FEMA stating they will now offer support to East Palestine, do
not seem coincidental. The Biden administration, including the EPA, FEMA and Transporation Secretary, was likely
very worried about the optics of getting blasted by President Trump very visibly next week for their lack of urgency and
concern. Moments after Trump announces his visit, FEMA reverses their prior denial of aid.
Suddenly,
Biden's FEMA goes stingy on Ohio? Joe Biden's logic can really be out to lunch when Americans are in
peril. Which brings us to the absolutely bizarre specter of Biden's FEMA emergency management agency turning down
a request from Ohio to help citizens whose city of East Palestine, Ohio, with a chemical oil spill, which has
contaminated the entire atmosphere. When has anyone heard of FEMA turning down any sort of request for a disaster
that affects thousands of people thrown out of their homes by circumstances beyond their control?
Who's
doing what in East Palestine? The train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, is one of the biggest
environmental disasters our country has seen in quite some time. It's surprising to me that initially there was
scant media coverage and the information on the websites for the U.S. EPA, Ohio EPA, and the Ohio governor's office
still leave many questions unanswered. In addition, a 45-minute visit by Governor Mike DeWine and a statement by
the Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg that refers to this train derailment as one of a thousand that occur in a
year, downplay the seriousness of the magnitude of the impacts on the environment and on the residents of the
community. All this leaves people confused and certainly doesn't engender trust.
Biden
Admin Doubles Down on Refusal of FEMA Aid for Ohio Train Derailment. Following the Biden administration's
refusal to provide FEMA assistance in the wake of the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, the White House
has issued a statement attempting to justify the decision. Though the derailment and subsequent "controlled burn"
resulted in a large spill of multiple dangerous chemicals and toxic smoke engulfing the small village and surrounding
area, Biden's FEMA has repeatedly told Republican Ohio Governor Mike DeWine that Ohio is not eligible for disaster assistance.
Biden
Has Sent $196 Billion To Ukraine But Refuses To Give a Dime to Ohio. The Biden administration continues to
lead the world in contributions to Ukraine with nearly $200 billion in tax payers' money promised or sent as aid, as
American citizens suffering from disasters at home are told there is no money for them. The Biden administration
rejected a request for federal disaster assistance from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine following the train derailment
disaster in East Palestine that led to an unprecedented release of highly toxic chemicals, just days after the CDC
edited the toxicology profile for vinyl chloride, massively increasing the lethal exposure level and removing
information about how the chemical affects children[.]
Biden
Administration refusing to help in East Palestine disaster! Governor Mike DeWine dropped a truth bomb a
few hours ago: he has been in contact with FEMA every day since the disaster in East Palestine unfolded, and the Biden
Administration is refusing assistance. Perhaps this is why Mayor Pete has refused to go to the site of the
disaster, and why he has been joking on TV while one of the largest environmental disasters in recent history has been
ongoing. Many people have been astonished at how little attention the MSM has given to the ongoing disaster.
It appears we now know why: the Biden Administration doesn't want it to be a big deal, despite millions of Americans
being affected now and into the future. A million pounds of toxic chemicals have been released into the
environment — including the watershed that serves millions of Americans. The Biden Administration's
response has been "meh, so what?"
FEMA let $3.7
billion in improper payments go out. The Federal Emergency Management Agency did not have controls in
place to prevent over $3.7 billion of improper payments from the lost wages assistance program, a recent report
from the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security found. In 2020, in response to
the Covid-19 pandemic, FEMA took funds from the Disaster Relief Fund for lost wages assistance to "help ease the
economic burden for people who lost work because of coronavirus disease." FEMA partnered with 54 state
workforce agencies to rush $44 billion out the door to people who lost their jobs due to Covid-19.
A disastrous
history. Jimmy Carter in 1979 tried to make sense of disaster relief by establishing FEMA via
executive order. He stated that the new structure would "permit more rational decisions of the relative
costs and benefits of alternative approaches to disasters." Carter was wrong: Presidents kept
reacting politically, and local and state officials kept passing the buck and asking for bucks.
The Secret National Cops. U.S.
Rep. Helen Chenoweth, R-Idaho, questions the use of "traditional tools" as they were wielded in her own
bailiwick. Chenoweth, whose congressional district includes Clearwater County, blasted the FEMA agents for
behaving "like a bull in a china shop." "I understand that FEMA has an important responsibility to
ensure that federal funds are handled consistent with law, but … FEMA has proceeded against a local
government and private citizens in a threatening manner," she wrote to Attorney General Janet Reno. "It
is exactly this type of unnecessary, heavy-handed show of force that feeds the distrust of the federal government."
FEMA's Plan for Mass Destruction
Attacks: Of Course It's True. Let me state for the record that FEMA is moving ahead with
plans to create temporary cities that could handle millions of Americans after mass destruction attacks on
U.S. cities. Though the agency has denied the program to some of our readers and has made misleading
claims about NewsMax's original story to members of the press, the basic facts of the story remain unchallenged.
The
FEMA raid at Orofino, Idaho. At 7 a.m. on July 18th, two employees at
the [Clearwater County, Idaho] flood control center were startled by a group of men
in dark attire and bullet-proof vests and sidearms. According to various accounts,
the frightened employees, thinking they were under assault by a gang of thugs, locked the
door and called the sheriff, Nick Albers. Nancy Butler, a reporter for the weekly
Clearwater Tribune, told Sarah Foster of the Internet newspaper World Net Daily that the
behavior of the FEMA agents was "totally uncalled for." "They didn't just come over
and knock on the door — they came running over the hill at the back of the
building and crawling through the sagebrush. The whole scenario just floored me."
Federal Emergency Management
Agency: Some people have referred to it as the "secret government" of the
United States. It is not an elected body, it does not involve itself in public
disclosures, and it even has a quasi-secret budget in the billions of dollars. This
government organization has more power than the President of the United States or the Congress,
it has the power to suspend laws, move entire populations, arrest and detain citizens without
a warrant and hold them without trial, it can seize property, food supplies, transportation
systems, and can suspend the Constitution. Not only is it the most powerful entity in the
United States, but it was not even created under Constitutional law by the Congress. It
was a product of a Presidential Executive Order. A Presidential Executive Order,
whether Constitutional or not, becomes law simply by its publication in the Federal Registry.
The Disaster Agency. Most Americans had never even heard of
this obscure government agency before syndicated columnist Jack Anderson reported in October 1984 that FEMA had
prepared bizarre "standby legislation" that would, in the event of a national crisis, "suspend the Constitution
and the Bill of Rights, effectively eliminate private property, abolish free enterprise, and generally clamp
Americans in a totalitarian vise." In any self-respecting banana republic, such a document might be
called a blueprint for a coup d'etat. FEMA called it "national security" planning.
COG stands for surprising
assault on democracy. An elite group of former Clinton advisers and former public officials from
both major political parties gathered recently at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., to
announce their proposal to convert the House of Representatives from an elected body to an appointed body in
the event of a national emergency.
FEMA Concentration and Internment Camps:
There over 600 prison camps in the United States, all fully operational and ready to receive prisoners.
They are all staffed and even surrounded by full-time guards, but they are all empty. These camps are to
be operated by FEMA should Martial Law need to be implemented in the United States.
Lists of FEMA radio frequencies used to be common, but #5 in this list is the only one remaining:
[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
Mount Weather Underground
Complex. Just 46 miles from Washington DC, a mysterious and secretive underground military base
exists, located deep inside a mountain near the rural town of Bluemont, Virginia. Here lies Mount Weather,
also known as the Western Virginia Office of Controlled Conflict Operations.
Mount Weather and Underground Bases. Mount
Weather is the self-sustaining underground command center for the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA). The facility is the operational center — the hub — of approximately 100
other Federal Relocation Centers, most of which are concentrated in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia,
Maryland and North Carolina. Together this network of underground facilities constitutes the backbone
of America's "Continuity of Government" program.
Shadow
Government Is at Work in Secret. Deployed civilians are not permitted to take their families,
and under penalty of prosecution they may not tell anyone where they are going or why. "They're on a
'business trip,' that's all," said one official involved in the effort. The two sites of the shadow
government make use of local geological features to render them highly secure. They are well stocked
with food, water, medicine and other consumable supplies, and are capable of generating their own power.
Site R is secure, but it's not
undisclosed. Site R, with its six-stories of underground offices, subterranean water reservoir,
and banks of mysterious antennas, dishes and massive, steel doors, has been a designated backup command
center since it was hewn out of the mountain in 1951.
Disaster
aid boondoggle Hurricane Frances made landfall more than 100 miles north
of Miami-Dade County earlier this year. But that didn't stop thousands of residents
there from getting nearly $28 million in federal disaster aid. Top winds reached only
47 mph in Miami-Dade County during the Labor Day weekend storm, so damages were limited
to some fallen power lines and uprooted trees, according to FEMA and other
disaster-relief officials. Yet residents used their relief checks to buy more
than 5,000 televisions allegedly destroyed by Frances, as well as 1,440 air
conditioners, 1,360 twin beds, 1,311 washers and dryers, and 831 dining sets.
The Editor says...
This is a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment, since Houston is hundreds of miles away from the area damaged
by Hurricane Katrina.
Hundreds
of millions paid to people untouched by disasters. The federal government's
mishandling of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe is only the latest bungling in a national
disaster response system that for years has been fraught with waste and fraud. A South
Florida Sun-Sentinel investigation has found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency in
five years poured at least $330 million into communities that were spared the devastating
effects of fires, hurricanes, floods and tornadoes.
Katrina victims required to use Microsoft
Internet Explorer. It's clear to me that they've engineered a web system that is: (a)
Extraordinarily over-engineered to work under only one browser, and (b) Nonfunctional under that
browser. This, I conclude, is simply another example of FEMA incompetence.
The Secret National Cops: Who
are federal inspectors general, and why are they pointing guns at us? U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth, R-Idaho,
questions the use of "traditional tools" as they were wielded in her own bailiwick. Chenoweth, whose
congressional district includes Clearwater County, blasted the FEMA agents for behaving "like a bull in a china
shop." "I understand that FEMA has an important responsibility to ensure that federal funds are handled
consistent with law, but … FEMA has proceeded against a local government and private citizens in a
threatening manner," she wrote to Attorney General Janet Reno. "It is exactly this type of unnecessary,
heavy-handed show of force that feeds the distrust of the federal government."
FEMA guilty of religious discrimination?
The Alliance Defense Fund is concerned about Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) refusing to help churches
in the aftermath of disasters. Paragould, Arkansas, was recently declared a disaster area after being
hit by a severe ice storm. Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), says
a local church assisted FEMA officials in their relief efforts, but FEMA did not return the favor.
Two more dots connected! FEMA Paid ACORN For Firefighting.
FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, figures in many paranoid fantasies about government control.
Popular fiction often depicts it as a shadowy agency whose sinister operatives are planning to manufacture a
crisis that will give them unlimited power and funding. ... In reality, FEMA occupies itself with harmless and
benevolent activities, such as funding ACORN.
FEMA
grant denied because of 'insufficient damage'. Jefferson County resident Jonathan Stewart said
he laughed in shock after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) claimed the house his family lost in
the deadly April 27 twister was 'not unsafe to live in'. The devastating reality is the
house is now a concrete slab surrounded by rubble.
FEMA Short On Money.
I am quite sorry that people in the path of Irene suffered damage, but they CHOSE to live where they knew a
hurricane (or tropical storm or a flood) could come. So I must ask, "Why is it the rest of the country's
responsibility to make them whole again?"
Update: FEMA
finds $114 million. [Scroll down] Then, suddenly, FEMA told Senate Democrats that all of
their previous warnings were overblown. The agency was able to recover $40 billion from ongoing
long-term projects, and instead of being broke, they actually had $114 million in the bank, just enough
to get them into the next fiscal year. Which is convenient, because that allows them access to all of
next year's budgeted disaster relief spending. Since there is now no need for unbudgeted disaster relief
spending this year, there is now no need for spending offsets. DOE's green energy loan program lives
to see another day. How convenient.
What
is the deal with those FEMA/DHS AM backup transmitters? Back last February, it was reported that
FEMA/Department of Homeland Security was mysteriously constructing prepackaged AM transmitter buildings at various
PEP (Primary Entry Point) transmitter sites across the country as something call "Primary Entry Point Expansion."
These buildings contain a 5 KW Nautel AM transmitter, EAS gear, satellite equipment (the exact equipment list
is undisclosed) and a backup generator all in a shielded (Faraday Cage), prefabricated building placed inside of a
fenced in compound at the station's transmitter site. The buildings are being put in place, but not connected
to anything in the outside world.
Five Reasons Why FEMA Should
Stay at DHS. The FEMA Independence Act of 2009 is currently in the U.S. House of
Representatives. This bill would move the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) out
of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and elevate the agency to cabinet-level status.
The Editor says...
Why make FEMA a cabinet-level agency? So FEMA could be under the direct control of the
executive branch, not the Congress. FEMA is dangerous enough already without the ability
to hide behind executive privilege.
New
Nationwide FEMA Camps Should Raise Eyebrows. In a nutshell, there seems to be a solicitation
of bids occurring for the staffing of FEMA camps within 72 hours of implementation by an order from either
Homeland Security or the president. This situation begs to be investigated, with special consideration
paid to the motives of the present administration. ... Perimeter fencing or barricades is required to be six
feet high, enclosing the camp, with all traffic in or out to be recorded on a daily log and with security
restricting all traffic and access. The contractor shall also provide fencing and barricades around
areas which are "off limits" to occupants.
Prepaing for martial law. As watchmen
begin to expose the people, companies and even lawmakers behind this money and power grab, they could be considered
dangers to the "security" of the United States, or engaging in "belligerent acts." So too could the people
who will protest in anger about the bank holidays, the overnight evaporation of their retirement accounts, and
even the fire sale of national assets to manage the unmanageable and unsustainable debt. Their anger must
be controlled in the name of national security. To be certain, their warnings will not be heard nor will
protests be allowed from a detention facility. You know, the facilities that don't exist?
Party lines are meaningless when the common objective is the revolutionary overtaking of America. The planned re-election of Obama, revolutionary style. [Scroll
down] According to my source, there is talk among the highest levels of the uppermost echelon of the Department of Homeland Security, which
he describes as effectively under the control of Barack Hussein Obama. During this call, he said that the DHS is actively preparing for
massive social unrest inside the United States. He then corrected himself, stating that "a civil war" is the more appropriate term.
Certain elements of the government are not only expecting and preparing for it, they are actually facilitating it," stated my source.
"The DHS takes their marching orders from the Obama administration, from Obama himself, but mostly from his un-appointed czars. And
Jarrett, especially Valerie Jarrett. Don't think for a minute that the administration is doing anything to stabilize events in the
U.S. They are revolutionaries, and revolutionaries thrive on chaos," he added.
The latest from "DHS Insider".
And the preparations are these: DHS is prepositioning assets in strategic areas near urban centers all across the country. Storage depots.
Armories. And even detainment facilities, known as FEMA camps. FEMA does not even know that the facilities are earmarked for detainment by
executive orders, at least not in the traditional sense they were intended. By the way, people drive by some of these armories everyday without
even giving them a second look.
Justice
Antonin Scalia says World War II-style internment camps could happen again. Justice Antonin Scalia predicts that the Supreme Court will
eventually authorize another a wartime abuse of civil rights such as the internment camps for Japanese-Americans during World War II. "You are
kidding yourself if you think the same thing will not happen again," Scalia told the University of Hawaii law school while discussing Korematsu v.
United States, the ruling in which the court gave its imprimatur to the internment camps.
Has
the Dept. of Homeland Security become America's standing army? In 2006, DHS awarded a $385 million
contract to a Halliburton subsidiary to build detention centers on American soil. Although the government and
Halliburton were not forthcoming about where or when these domestic detention centers would be built, they rationalized
the need for them in case of "an emergency influx of immigrants, or to support the rapid development of new programs"
in the event of other emergencies such as "natural disasters." Viewed in conjunction with the NDAA provision
allowing the military to arrest and indefinitely detain anyone, including American citizens, it would seem the
building blocks are already in place for such an eventuality.
Somewhat related: Feds
want to build South Texas lockup for immigrant families. Federal authorities want to
build a South Texas immigration lockup for families after an unprecedented surge in the number of
youngsters pouring across the U.S. border, a federal official said Thursday [9/11/2014]. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement is proposing a residential center in the town of Dilley, about 70 miles
southwest of San Antonio, agency spokeswoman Adelina Pruneda said. "Structures on the site may be
used temporarily to house up to 680 residents while the new facilities are built," she said.
The
Most Dangerous Woman In America — Valerie Jarrett. I was recently speaking
with a friend of mine from Tennessee and began to point out how bad things in this country have
become. Inevitably, the discussion began to center around the subject of unwarranted detention
centers, such as the ones I have identified on this site, including NFL stadiums, NBA and NHL arenas
and shopping malls. And I added that this is on top of the fact that the US already houses two
million inmates, mostly for private profit through the CCA. I told him that DHS had signed
agreements with all of these entities so that Americans could be detained without due process.
My friend rolled his eyes and repeated the national anthem of all sheep, "I didn't know you were one of them
conspiracy theorists". He couldn't hold back the laughter. Subsequently, I spent 30 minutes
showing him the following evidence, in its raw form, and he then he became visibly shaken.
Another
Blatantly Obvious FEMA Camp Pops Up In Texas! Congressman Ron Paul was asked in 2011
about HR 645 (the bill that authorizes FEMA Camps... AKA Concentration Camps for AMERICANS who will
not comply with the new American Agenda) and whether or not it could lead to Americans being
incarcerated in detention camps during a time of martial law. He responded, "Yeah, that's their
goal, they're setting up the stage for violence in this country, no doubt about it." [...] Every
time you're mocked and slapped with the label of "conspiracy theorist" for saying there are FEMA
(Federal Emergency Management Agency) camps in Amerika, just remind them of a fascinating 4-page KBR
document, Project Overview and Anticipated Project Requirements, which is a solicitation for
bids from subcontractors to provide services and supplies for FEMA camps.
FEMA
Concentration Camps: Locations and Corresponding Executive Orders!. It's not a
conspiracy if it's right in front of your face. The government has no need to hide their intentions.
Every ounce of information you need about them is freely available. I've even posted the entire ARMY
training manual that covers how to get people "escorted" to their camps when the time comes. Sadly,
Americans are SO busy in denial, the government doesn't even have to hide what they are doing.
Within the links below are links to other articles with TONS of information. You could be reading
for hours. This article ought to open your eyes if you doubted.
Louisiana
promises mobile homes safer than FEMA trailers after Katrina. Mobile homes will fill front yards across
southern Louisiana again, just like after Hurricane Katrina, as federal authorities bring in temporary housing for thousands
of people displaced by catastrophic flooding.
FEMA
is using the FOIA to dig itself into a deeper hole. If there were an award for the
least popular federal agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency would probably be a
near-unanimous choice, thanks to the barrage of negative media it received during the
Hurricane Katrina debacle.
Astrodome Radio Station
Blocked. KAMP 95.3 "Evacuation Radio Services", a low-power FM station
for Hurricane Katrina evacuees housed at the Astrodome, is still stuck in limbo. Although
the group trying to organize the station has wrangled three 90-day licenses from the FCC, as
of Thursday [9/8/2005], they were being stymied by a handful of temporary administrators
content to maintain radio silence.
FEMA Strikes
Again! Although the effort was trumpeted in the media as an example of grassroots
ingenuity in the face of disaster, local officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency
have nixed an attempt by Houston activists to set up a low-power radio station at the Astrodome
that would have broadcast Hurricane Katrina relief information for evacuees.
The Editor says...
FEMA's excuses for this action are numerous and each is transparently false. The micro-power
broadcasting issue is all about control. The government can't afford to allow
even one watt of unlicensed broadcasting, because it would open a door that could never
be closed again. The FCC has been fighting this battle for decades.
Clinton's Mythical
FEMA. While making the rounds of the network morning shows, [Senator
Hillary Clinton has] been very hard on the Federal Emergency Management Administration
and, of course, the Bush Administration. She went as far as complaining that Bush
damaged "Bill's FEMA." Naturally, the mainstream media are too lazy to
investigate her politically-charged exploitation of Katrina to not only revise her
hubby's legacy, but also to score brownie points as she eyes a 2008 presidential run.
It's the
spending, stupid. Perhaps you've heard the one about the 700 firefighters from a
variety of states who volunteered to do rescue work following Hurricane Katrina? They sat
in a hotel room in Atlanta for days getting sexual harassment training from FEMA
officials. No joke. Note to Republicans eager to shovel new money at
federal agencies: This is the way government works.
FEMA
to the Rescue. All volunteers, he was told, must complete this class before
being sent into the disaster area. My friend kindly provided me with a copy of the
class schedule. [You won't believe your eyes; political correctness is apparently
far more important at FEMA than actual work.]
Dammable
pork: Dr. Jeffrey Guy, a Nashville trauma surgeon, recruited 400 doctors,
nurses and first responders to help the people in New Orleans. Then FEMA gave them
something to do: fill out 60-page applications that demanded photographs and tax
forms.
Blame
to go around. A team of Indiana firefighters, volunteering to help rescue
victims of Katrina, went to Atlanta, where Federal Emergency Management Agency staffers
told them that their job was to hand out fliers and that their first task was to attend
a multi-hour course on sexual harassment and equal employment opportunity. This is,
astonishingly, standard operating procedure at FEMA. And in other parts of the
federal government….
FEMA versus
Wal-Mart: Many people who think that government is the answer to our problems
do not bother to check out the evidence. But it can be eye-opening to compare how private
businesses responded to hurricane Katrina and how local, state and national governments responded.
Ron Paul on Katrina
Response. Rep. Ron Paul rightfully criticizes how the Federal
Government responded to the Gulf Coast disaster. Furthermore, the Congressman
questions the logic of granting FEMA nearly $52 billion when they have already "failed
so spectacularly."
FEMA criticized for cruise ship deal. On
Sept. 1, … FEMA pleaded with the U.S. Military Sealift Command: The government needed
10,000 berths on full-service cruise ships, FEMA said, and it needed the deal done by noon the
next day. The hasty appeal yielded one of the most controversial contracts of the Hurricane
Katrina relief operation, a $236 million agreement with Carnival Cruise Lines for three ships
that now bob more than half empty in the Mississippi River and Mobile Bay.
Stumbling
Storm-Aid Effort Put Tons of Ice on Trips to Nowhere. When the definitive story
of the confrontation between Hurricane Katrina and the United States government is finally
told, one long and tragicomic chapter will have to be reserved for the odyssey of the
ice. Ninety-one thousand tons of ice cubes, that is, intended to cool food, medicine
and sweltering victims of the storm. It would cost taxpayers more than $100 million,
and most of it would never be delivered.
FEMA Should Be Shut Down. What if there was no
such thing as FEMA? I asked myself that question after reading about the Federal Emergency Management
Agency's bungled efforts to serve the poor and suffering in the area formerly known as New
Orleans. … FEMA's boorish behavior underscores it real purpose, which is always to
spend its budget and get good press doing it, because such activities will reflect well
on the public sector.
In government
we trust. What lessons should we have learned from last summer's deadly and destructive
hurricanes? The primary lesson is that we shouldn't have much faith in a federal bureaucracy like
the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They amply demonstrated their incompetence, but what's our
response? We'll give them more money and more authority. That's not smart.
Audit
of FEMA: Waste, fraud cost millions. Waste and fraud marked the federal government's
assistance programs for Hurricane Katrina victims, with 10,000 mobile homes going unused and scattered
cases of evacuees spending emergency money on nude dancing in Houston, tattoos, casino gambling and a
diamond engagement ring, according to an audit released Monday [3/6/2006].
FEMA
faulted for big hotel bills. The Federal Emergency Management Agency failed to set cost controls
on hotel room rentals for Hurricane Katrina evacuees, an omission that led to "excessive" bills on some rooms,
according to a new oversight report. FEMA was still paying up to $364 a night for some rooms on
Dec. 7, more than three months after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast….
FEMA Wasted Millions of Taxpayer
Dollars During 2005 Hurricane Recovery Efforts. In only six months Congress has spent
roughly $100 billion on costs associated with the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes, most of which was
utilized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as the agency attempted to meet the needs
of thousands of individuals affected by these catastrophic events. However, many of FEMA's
efforts were undercut by the extensive waste, fraud and abuse of the taxpayer money intended to assist
with response and recovery costs.
FEMA
Will Try to Recoup Millions Distributed for Hurricane Relief. Acknowledging that it wrongly
distributed tens of millions of dollars in hurricane relief last year, the Federal Emergency Management
Agency said Friday that it would try to recoup aid from thousands of individuals or families who fraudulently
or otherwise wrongly collected money.
The Editor says...
[Good luck with that. Sounds like FEMA has overestimated itself again.]
FEMA re-bids $3.6B in hurricane
contracts. The Bush administration on Friday awarded up to $3.6 billion in temporary
hurricane-victim housing contracts to small and minority-owned firms, saying it was shifting the money
from four large companies that had not competed for the work.
Senate
panel recommends abolishing FEMA. The nation's disaster response agency should be abolished and
rebuilt from scratch to avoid a repeat of multiple government failures exposed by hurricane Katrina, a Senate
inquiry has concluded. Crippled by years of poor leadership and inadequate funding, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency cannot be fixed, a bipartisan investigation says in recommendations to be released
Thursday [4/27/2006].
The Editor says...
Inadequate funding? Really? FEMA has a budget of $4.8 billion, and a staff of about 6,000
employees.*
White
House opposes Senate call to dismantle FEMA. The White House on Thursday [4/27/2006] signaled
opposition to a Senate panel's call to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the main focus of
criticism for the administration's botched response to Hurricane Katrina.
Senate Panel Says FEMA Is
Beyond Repair. Hurricane Katrina turned FEMA into a "symbol of a bumbling bureaucracy" so
far beyond repair that it should be scrapped, senators said Thursday [4/28/2006]. They called for
creation of a new disaster relief agency as the next storm season looms on the horizon.
The Editor says...
How would that fix anything?
FEMA Wants $4.7M Katrina
Benefits Repaid. More than 2,000 Mississippi residents were notified that they must repay
millions of dollars in federal Hurricane Katrina benefits that were excessive or, in some cases,
fraudulent. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is seeking a total of $4.7 million
from 2,044 people, giving them 30 days to repay or set up a payment plan.
And then, just when the Senate panel recommended dismantling FEMA ... FEMA
goes high-tech for storm preparedness. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has a live video
network to allow officials in Washington to assess disasters and has equipped trucks with GPS devices so the
agency can see when supplies are delivered to stricken areas, officials said Thursday [5/11/2006]. To
better prepare for this year's hurricane season, FEMA has also stockpiled equipment for floods and started a
partnership with the Coast Guard to use its boats when responding to some emergencies.
FEMA Proposals: Much
Ado About Nothing. This month, Congress will likely consider three bills, two in the
House and one in the Senate, that would reorganize or move the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA). None has much merit. These proposals would impose costly,
time-consuming, and unnecessary organizational changes that would add to the federal
bureaucracy and hamper, not strengthen, how the nation responds to disasters.
FEMA extends housing benefits for some
15,000 evacuee families. "This is a huge victory for the evacuees," said Bob Fleming, who oversees
Catholic Charities' assistance program for people displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. … Relieved of
the anxiety of worrying about keeping a roof over their heads, the evacuees can use the next five months to
find jobs and otherwise stabilize their lives, Fleming said.
The Editor says...
If they need another five months to find jobs, what have they been doing for the last 12 months?
FEMA Ordered to Resume Katrina Housing
Payments. A federal judge ordered the Bush administration today to immediately resume making
housing benefits available to thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina. U.S. District Judge
Richard J. Leon said the Federal Emergency Management Agency failed to adequately explain why it ended
the 18-month housing assistance program for people who lost their homes in the 2005 storm.
The Editor says...
After 18 months, it's no longer "housing assistance" — it's just housing. This country is full of
freeloaders who will ride the government gravy train until they are thrown off. Get Judge Leon on the
phone. I can explain it to him.
Judge's order reveals FEMA aid shortcomings.
Those still receiving aid were most dependent before Katrina, mostly single mothers on welfare, while the
rest are back on their feet, said Ronald D. Utt, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a
conservative think-tank. … "A lot of people have simply found it easier to stay where they are, which
are probably places of greater opportunity than New Orleans."
The Editor says...
Notice that the story drips with political
bias: The question is
whether FEMA is dishing out taxpayers' money fast enough, to people who
have no intention of paying it back. On one side of the argument, the article
cites "anti-poverty advocates", and on the other side are "Bush administration defenders"
at "a conservative think-tank". As if the conservatives are in favor of poverty.
FEMA Halts Censorship of Louisiana Church's
Hurricane Victim Outreach. Government officials have told a Louisiana church that its members can
go back to sharing the gospel after providing free barbecues for residents of several post-Hurricane Katrina
trailer communities. Earlier this year, representatives with the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
or FEMA, reportedly told members of Calvary Baton Rouge Church that it could no longer follow the free meals
it served to hurricane victims with voluntary gospel messages and Bible studies.
Audit says FEMA is
squandering Katrina aid. The government is squandering tens of millions of dollars in Hurricane
Katrina disaster aid, in some cases doling out housing payments to people living rent-free, investigators
said Wednesday. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has recouped less than 1 percent of
the $1 billion that investigators contend it squandered on fraudulent assistance, according to the
Government Accountability Office.
Read the official GAO report... Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Disaster
Relief: Continued Findings of Fraud, Waste, and Abuse. FEMA continued to lose tens of
millions of dollars through potentially improper and/or fraudulent payments from both hurricanes Katrina and
Rita. These payments include $17 million in rental assistance paid to individuals to whom FEMA had
already provided free housing through trailers or apartments. In one case, FEMA provided free housing to
10 individuals in apartments in Plano, Texas, while at the same time it sent these individuals $46,000 to cover
out-of-pocket housing expenses. In addition, several of these individuals certified to FEMA that they
needed rental assistance.
1,300
Katrina fraud probes under way. More than a year after Hurricane Katrina, there are about 1,300
ongoing investigations of alleged FEMA fraud in the southern district alone, a federal prosecutor said. …
So far, 92 individuals have been indicted by the federal government in Mississippi's southern district in
the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Of that number, about half have pleaded guilty, and one has gone to
trial.
Woman found guilty of fraud. A
Gulfport woman is in custody awaiting a possible 20-year sentence for conviction of FEMA fraud. Rose Maria
Crosby, 48, was found guilty Tuesday on five counts involving a false statement for disaster-relief assistance
after Hurricane Katrina.
Katrina evacuees say they need
more than extension. A six-month extension of emergency housing assistance will stave off an
immediate catastrophe but will not solve the underlying problems preventing hurricane victims from rebuilding
their lives, evacuees and their advocates said Monday [1/22/2007]. … About 25 evacuees gathered Monday at
a Stafford apartment development for senior citizens to thank FEMA for the extension while arguing that they
need an additional 18 months rather than just six months.
FEMA Calls Rebuilding
Complete As New Orleans Restored To Former Squalor. After an unprecedented 18-month cleanup and
repair effort supervised by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and several state and local government
bureaus, Undersecretary for Federal Emergency Management R. David Paulison announced Monday [1/29/2007]
that the city of New Orleans has been successfully returned to its pre-Hurricane Katrina state of decay and
deterioration.
FEMA
wants more than $300 million in hurricane aid returned. In the neighborhood President Bush visited
right after Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. government gave $84.5 million to more than 10,000 households.
But Census figures show fewer than 8,000 homes existed there at the time. Now the government wants back a
lot of the money it disbursed across the region.
Feds
go after Katrina fraud cases. In her application for federal emergency help, Tina Marie Gilmore
told officials how she watched hopelessly as her two daughters, ages 5 and 6, were swept through the rushing
flood waters after Hurricane Katrina and was so distraught several months later that she couldn't
function — to drive a car or even be in the same room with children. But after mailing her
a check for $4,358, the Federal Emergency Management Agency learned that not only did Winston, 34, not
live in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, but that she didn't have any
children. Even her last name was a fake.
At long last... US to cut Katrina hotel payments.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in charge of the relief effort, has paid evacuees some
$274 million since hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Almost 54,000 families are still living in
hotels and motels in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and Mississippi.
Katrina Aid Used for Luxury
Condos. With large swaths of the Gulf Coast still in ruins from Hurricane Katrina, rich
federal tax breaks designed to spur rebuilding are flowing hundreds of miles inland to investors who are
buying up luxury condos near the University of Alabama's football stadium.
FEMA apologizes for
fake "reporters". The main U.S. disaster-response agency apologized on Friday
[10/26/2007] for having its employees pose as reporters in a news briefing on California's
wildfires that no journalists attended. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, still
struggling to restore its image after the bungled handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005,
issued the apology after The Washington Post published details of the Tuesday briefing.
The Editor says...
Apologies all around, as usual. Big deal. The way to prevent this from happening again
is to fire the people who made this decision. Will that happen? Not likely.
Nothing to see here.
Ever wonder how that audit of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's security controls on its classified laptop
computers turned out? Well, according to the "declassified" report released today [12/26/2007] by the
Homeland Security Department's inspector general, we get to keep wondering.
FEMA
Wins Appeal in Katrina Rental Aid. The Federal Emergency Management Agency can end housing
subsidies for many victims of Hurricane Katrina, an appeals court ruled. Many storm victims now receive
help through a different federal agency, and it wasn't clear how many people would be affected by the ruling.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided Friday that storm victims who apply for rental assistance aren't
legally entitled to a "continuing stream of payments."
Who did the
most to help victims of Hurricane Katrina? The results are recounted in a new paper on the
disaster written by Steven Horwitz, an Austrian-school economist at St. Lawrence University in New York.
While [FEMA] fumbled about, doing almost as much to prevent essential supplies from reaching Louisiana and
Mississippi as it could to facilitate it, Wal-Mart managers performed feats of heroism.
Fraudulent FEMA aid may
exceed $1 billion. After Hurricane Katrina last August, the Federal Emergency Management Agency paid out
fraudulent disaster assistance which may have exceeded $1 billion, according to Government Accountability Office
testimony before Congress Wednesday [6/14/2006].
FEMA still
handing out Katrina cash inappropriately. A Congressional investigation found that the Federal Emergency
Management Agency paid out an estimated $1 billion inappropriately after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but to date has
recovered less than one percent of that amount. Government Accountability Office investigators testified at a hearing
Wednesday [12/6/2006] that in addition, FEMA is still sending out tens of millions of dollars in inappropriate aid payments
through its Individuals and Households Program, which provides rental assistance to people displaced due to natural disasters.
Paulison: Increase
the size of FEMA. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is still far short of its recruitment
goals, but its director, R. David Paulison, says he wants to expand the agency's staffing even beyond
those goals. "It's been a slower process than I thought. It's more difficult to get people on
board in the federal government than at the local level, but we are doing it and we are going to fill this
agency up," Paulison said on Sunday's Meet the Press [8/27/2006].
After
tornado, FEMA disarms town, turns away help. On Friday, May 4 [2006], an F5 tornado wiped
the town of Greensburg, Kan., almost entirely off the map. The Federal Emergency Management Agency,
along with the National Guard and local police from all over Kansas, then systematically kept out relief
workers while they went house to house disarming the residents.
Obama hates white
people and wants them to die. With nearly 1.5 million people in the mid-west without power
during a cold snap, what other possible reason is there that this new "competent" administration and FEMA
would be failing so spectacularly in helping in this natural disaster? ... Of course, I am just aping what
lefty blogs were saying about Bush less than 24 hours after Katrina's hurricane winds stopped
blowing. ... Isn't it interesting that now that we have a Democrat as president that all of a sudden,
disaster relief is a state and local matter and the federal government should stand aside and allow
them to do their jobs?
Kentucky: No Power, No FEMA. When a
million people in flyover country are suffering, and 42 people have died, we don't hear much about it. If this
was New York, Washington, Boston, [New Orleans,] (or if the president had an R after his name) you'd see non-stop reports,
and the press would be roundly criticizing FEMA's absence, and the White House's disregard. Right?
Louisiana
Sen. Landrieu Demands FEMA Resignation. U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu called for the resignation
Thursday of Doug Whitmer, FEMA chief of staff of the Louisiana Transitional Recovery Office in New Orleans,
following a CBS News investigation that detailed cronyism, sexual harassment and racial discrimination in their
New Orleans office.
If there's no public outcry... FEMA
Considers Placing Florida Storm Victims in Foreclosed Homes. The federal government is exploring how to put
Florida hurricane evacuees in foreclosed homes if a Katrina-like storm devastates the region and shelters, hotels and other
housing options are full. Officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it is an effort to find some benefit
in the foreclosure crisis and keep people close to their homes and communities instead of scattering them around the
country, which happened when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and other parts of coastal Louisiana and Mississippi
almost four years ago.
The Editor says...
If the perpetual victims won't vacate a FEMA trailer without a fight, they surely won't let go of a
full-size house.
Ex-FEMA
worker, cousin charged with Katrina fraud. A former Federal Emergency Management Agency employee
and her cousin have been charged with allegedly stealing more than $721,000 in Hurricane Katrina money that was
meant for storm victims.
A Weather Newsgasm. [Scroll
down] In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) became an acronym
for incompetence. ... Americans have been taught that the federal government will always come to their rescue
and it rarely does with any efficiency and usually with a great waste of money and resources.
Section 6A: FEMA trailers, trailer parks and trailer trash
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, some of the most shameless freeloaders moved in to FEMA trailers, and then proceeded to complain
about the conditions in the trailers and the high-crime trailer parks that developed. Some stayed in the trailers long after they
had worn out their welcome. Many of the ingrates later sued the government, claiming injury due to formaldehyde fumes.
Trailer
cash. If FEMA could distribute the fortune spent on trailers directly to those in need of
housing, the recipients might find a much nicer place to live, and even have money left over for home
repairs. … Those displaced by Hurricane Katrina and seeking a temporary trailer don't get to kick the
tires or discuss financing plans, but a look at the ultimate sticker price might make them wish they
could: $59,800.
FEMA trailer dwellers seek toxin tests.
A group of hurricane victims wants a federal judge to order air quality tests in their government-issued trailers
after the Federal Emergency Management Agency postponed its plans to check for hazardous fumes. Federal
scientists were scheduled to start testing for levels of formaldehyde in Mississippi trailers Nov. 2, but
FEMA said it needed more time to prepare.
Here's a real shocker... Some receiving
FEMA assistance not willing to help themselves. What are people who receive FEMA assistance doing to help
themselves? That's the question NBC 15's Andrea Ramey asked those who have been staying for free in hotel rooms
after they moved out of FEMA supplied travel trailers. What she found out is there are some who are doing very little.
The scorching heat puts many at the Quality Inn poolside, but for Gwenester Malone, she chooses to beat the heat by setting her
thermostat to sixty degrees. Malone's room for the past three months, along with three meals daily, have all been paid
for by taxpayers.
Subsidy offered to
get residents out of trailers. Scores of St. Tammany Parish residents still living in FEMA trailers were told
by federal officials this week that a pilot rent subsidy program is available for them to move into homes and apartments.
But those residents, at meetings in Slidell and Folsom, were also told that they may have to move out of the area due to a
local shortage of rental housing units.
Homeland
Security official: Purchase of mobile homes a waste. The inspector general for the Homeland
Security Department said Friday [4/21/2006] that U.S. taxpayers could be stuck with a maintenance bill of nearly
$47 million a year for thousands of mobile homes that sit parked at sites around the country, never having
reached the Gulf Coast to provide temporary housing for survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
FEMA
trailer inquiry broadens. The inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security has
agreed to look into a host of questions U.S. senators have raised about the controversial rebidding of
FEMA trailer contracts along the devastated Gulf Coast, according to documents. Details were not
available about the inspector general's review, which centers on 36 contracts of up to $100 million
each to maintain and ultimately deactivate the trailers in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas.
FEMA Changing Locks on
Trailers. FEMA will replace locks on as many as 118,000 trailers used by Gulf
Coast hurricane victims after discovering the same key could open many of the mobile homes. One
locksmith cut only 50 different kinds of keys for the trailers sold to FEMA, officials said
Monday [8/14/2006]. That means, in an example of a worst-case scenario, one key could
be used to unlock up to 10 mobile homes in a park of 500 trailers.
New Orleans Police Say
Post-Katrina 'Trailer Towns' Have Turned Into Crime Hubs.  The trailers set up
to house thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina have turned into hot spots for drug
dealers, prostitutes and even murderers, law enforcement officials said
Tuesday [1/9/2007]. People continue to live in the trailers as they
wait for repairs or rebuilding of their homes. But police say criminals
can live there at the fringes of society and go unchecked by authorities.
FEMA
trailers being returned in poor shape . Granted that the travel trailers
FEMA has supplied to persons needing a place to live are the best in the world, but many
being sent back from Bogalusa are said to have been "wrecked" by those who lived in
them. Even now, you can drive down some streets and see trailers with windows
hanging loose, screens flapping and doors off the hinges — just like the traditional
houses they are sitting next to.
Landrieu: Make FEMA
turn trailer park info to law enforcement. US Senator Mary Landrieu said
today that the government should make FEMA turn over records of residents of its trailers
and trailer parks to New Orleans police and other agencies investigating crime in the
area. The proposal is part of a 10-point plan she announced in Washington for
fighting crime in New Orleans. Nine killings in the first eight days of the new
year are threatening its the city's biggest business: tourism and conventions, and the surrounding area.
Post-Katrina
trailer towns turn into crime hot spots, police say. The trailers set up to
house thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina have turned into hot spots for drug dealers, prostitutes and even murderers, law enforcement officials said Tuesday. People
continue to live in the trailers as they wait for repairs or rebuilding of their homes.
But police say criminals can live there at the fringes of society and go unchecked
by authorities.
Over
31K still in FEMA trailers. More than 200 [trailers] are still in use in
Forrest County alone — and like thousands of households along the Gulf Coast, Pine
Belt families are facing a looming Feb. 28 deadline to get out of their trailers.
"FEMA is authorized to provide disaster assistance, including travel
trailers, 18 months following the presidential disaster declaration," which
began the day Katrina struck, FEMA spokesman Eugene Brezany explained. [Dorothy]
Smith said making such a deadline would be impossible for her. "I'm just now
getting comfortable in here," she said.
Others are not so comfortable... Katrina Victims
Feel Trapped by Trailers. It was bad enough when Hurricane Katrina chased Carrie Lewis
out of her assisted-living home in New Orleans. Now she fears the rest of her life may be
spent in the isolation of a federally sponsored trailer park.
FEMA to extend housing
aid storm victims. The Federal Emergency Management Agency intends to extend by at least six
months the transitional housing assistance program for Gulf Coast residents displaced by hurricanes Katrina
and Rita. The program was scheduled to expire next month, potentially displacing more than 100,000
households from FEMA-funded trailers, mobile homes and rental units, according to the agency.
Evacuee camp kids worry
schools chief. The leader of Louisiana's largest school system says she believes that up to
200 children in the state's biggest hurricane evacuee camp are not registered in local schools. And
she says the U.S. government — citing privacy laws — is doing little to help officials
identify the youths. East Baton Rouge Parish School Superintendent Charlotte Placide says the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has refused to give school officials direct access to information
about youths in Renaissance Village, a trailer park for families where 1,200-2,000 people live.
Cities try to shut FEMA
trailer parks. Communities along the Gulf Coast are moving to banish the government-issued
trailers that house tens of thousands of people whose homes were destroyed by the devastating hurricanes
in 2005. Those cities and parishes are shutting down impromptu trailer parks set up after the disaster,
telling homeowners they either must show progress rebuilding or get rid of the emblematic white travel
trailers dotted across front yards from Alabama to Texas.
[One] Key opens many FEMA trailers.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Monday [8/14/2008] that it would replace locks on request for residents of travel
trailers issued to evacuees of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year after finding that the same key could open many trailers.
Waste in FEMA trailer
maintenace contracts: The Federal Emergency Management Agency wasted billions of dollars by awarding contracts
for services to maintain and remove emergency trailers for people displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to politically
well-connected and financially risky companies, according to an inspector general's report released Monday [4/23/2007]. The
report, requested by Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) found that FEMA awarded
contracts to companies without determining whether the companies would be able to complete the work and accepted
unrealistically low prices which then later ballooned to almost ten times the original ceiling.
Three and a half years later, people are still living in "temporary" housing. FEMA on board with housing plan for
Katrina victims. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is supporting an Alabama state agency's efforts
to let a handful of Hurricane Katrina victims remain in rent-free travel trailers and mobile homes past a May 1
deadline, a spokesman has confirmed. Under a 2006 policy, FEMA can donate such temporary housing stock to states,
local governments and voluntary organizations to help disaster victims.
Drag your feet long enough and you will be rewarded. FEMA
Offers Katrina Survivors Federal Trailers for $1. The federal government is offering 3,400
survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita who have not found permanent housing a chance to buy the
temporary federal trailers they live in now for as little as one dollar.
Katrina Victims Will Not Have to
Vacate Trailers. Hurricane Katrina victims around the Gulf Coast who were told to vacate their temporary
trailers by the end of May will instead be allowed to buy them for $5 or less, White House officials announced on
Wednesday [6/3/2009].
Years later, Katrina freeloaders find a way to get paid for
the privilege of living in a government trailer. Thousands housed in trailers
after Katrina may get payments. More than 20 mobile home manufacturers have agreed to pay $14.8 million
to thousands of U.S. hurricane victims who said they were harmed by formaldehyde in the trailers.
Document location https://akdart.com/fema.html
Updated November 19, 2024.