quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
https://x.com/greg_price11/status/1841648660335218852

And $8.7 billion to Israel this past week.
https://thedefensepost.com/202...us-military-aid/amp/
It’s long past time to care for Americans with American tax dollars first.

My daughter lives in Asheville and attends ABTech.

It took until Sunday mid-day to hear anything.

She's alive, and our Asheville family have bugged out to family in the Eastern part of the state.

Our TR (Greenville area) family have a house still, barely. They're a bit better prepared though and are doing fine on their preps for such events.

For those with family they haven't heard from, my heart and prayers go out to you. It was a long weekend for us.

Glad to hear she's okay. My son finally responded. He's been busy and has had intermittent cell signal and power. He works all day at the base, then he volunteers helping afterwards, sleeps, and starts it all over again.

I certainly hope that every voter riding the fence keeps this in mind come November; the democRATs don’t give 2 shits about the people, unless it’s people they value. Every single pol running for office needs to make their disdain for the actual citizens of this country crystal clear. Americans in dire need overlooked in favor of invading hordes of illegals being given billions of their tax dollars collected by the government. It’s NOT THE GOVERNMENTS MONEY. It is OUR money.

quote:

It’s long past time to care for Americans with American tax dollars first.

Yes. I agree. But not by handing out $750 checks (or whatever amount) like candy.

Government can only do so much, and then get out of the way. Florida is much more effective than FEMA.

It’s a good news-bad news situation. Now that FEMA has occupied the territory, assistance from other states and from independent volunteers must follow FEMA’s federal rules. That’s the pro/con of getting the feds involved. Once they are in, they’re all the way in, and they brook no competition.

In any case, on balance, it was good news for disaster victims. FEMA’s resources are orders of magnitude greater than what Florida can provide. It would not have happened, or it would have happened much more slowly, had Governor DeSantis not made Joe Biden look feeble and slow.

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com...rue&utm_medium=email

I hope that the people in the hard-hit areas are given an opportunity to vote.

The Government Will Not Save You
Erick-Woods Erickson
Oct 4




A lot of people who think the government is a mess are upset that it has been slow to respond to Helene. Of course it has. What did you expect?

In fact, it was FIVE DAYS after the storm struck that Joe Biden really mobilized the government. The Southern Baptist Convention was already on the ground while the flood waters were still raging.

The government is not going to help you.

You think FEMA is a mess? You’re damn right it is. You do not need to imagine maliciousness when the government that got research showing COVID doesn’t spread well outside decided to shut down beaches. You do not need to imagine maliciousness when the government that got research showing COVID mostly does not affect kids chose to shut down elementary schools. You do not need to imagine maliciousness when the government cannot deliver the mail competently, which is an Article 1, Section 8 responsibility, unlike disaster relief.

Besides, these people are fools, and a dementia patient leads them.

Pete Buttigieg and the Biden Administration have hindered private aviation’s ability to rescue people and ferry supplies as needed because Buttigieg et al put their trust in Uncle Sam’s man boob. Meanwhile, in North Carolina, neighbors are helping neighbors. Towns are rallying. Private helicopter pilots are defying threats of arrest to rescue people. Private pilots are shuttling supplies as needed. Baptists and Mormons are working together as first responders.

The question should not be about the government stopping citizens' private charity but about the response of those citizens and communities to the government trying to stop them. After all, the government is ultimately beholden to the people.

Joe Biden's government wants people to rely on the government. After all, Democrats believe the government is the only thing we are all a part of. They forget about the community. We are all part of one. And our local community is what will help us through hard times. The local communities of North Carolina will provide more help than FEMA. The state government of North Carolina and its neighbors will provide more immediate resources and do more heavy lifting than the federal government and that is by design and how it should be.

FEMA has prioritized equity for relief distributions, and it’s still looking for underserved non-white communities in the mountains to help first.

FEMA and the feds should be a last resort. These disasters are best recovered at the state level, with an assist from the Feds. Local and state disasters are not, after all, in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.

Currently, however, some people on social media profit from rumors, unsourced allegations, and lies. My personal favorite is about Chimney Rock, NC, where the feds have purportedly told people they’re going to leave the bodies in the street and let them rot, then bulldoze the town and take the land. Seriously — that allegation had over 2,000,000 views on Twitter.

It is not true.

How do I know? I asked my friend who lives in Chimney Rock who survived the disaster.

Lots of people are showing drone footage, claiming no one is coming to help the locals. Well, someone is there—bulldozers and dump trucks are working. You can see them in the very footage used as proof no one is there to help.

It is probably not FEMA, but it is not supposed to be. Despite the branding, FEMA is not actually a first responder and never has been. We’ve only been conditioned to think FEMA comes first because of Anderson Cooper’s outrage about the incompetent state and federal response to Katrina on CNN in 2005.

The Southern Baptists always show up first.

Americans show up first. They are first in and last out, as they should be. The government is not malicious. The trolls are preying on many people’s existing distrust of government to sow more discord and division. If it sounds super outrageous online, it just might not be true.

You want to hate Joe Biden and his administration and the trolls are preying on your desire to hate, feeding the furnace of hate with half-truths, distortions, and lies. They prey on the paradox that conservatives hate and distrust the government but think the government should show up and competently help. You see this thing on Twitter that kindles your rage about the government’s handling of the disaster response, it just might not be the whole truth.

What is true is that Americans will take care of each other, with or without the federal government. And this, my friends, is another reminder that we should not grow the federal government for Republican purposes. We should gut it and encourage people to rely more on their local communities and states.

In his pamphlet, “A Simple Way To Pray,” Martin Luther said of the line “Give us this day our daily bread,” in the Lord’s Prayer, that we should reflect on it praying, in part, “Grant to every estate-townsman or farmer-to be diligent and to display charity and loyalty toward each other.”

We get our daily bread not directly from God, but from the farmer who grows the wheat, the harvester who harvests the wheat, the petrol man who makes the gas to fuel the combine and truck that goes to market, the grocer who sells it, and the relief operator who buys it and delivers it to the mountains to those in need. It is the body of Christ working and the people in communities working who are going to provide relief and rescue.

The government will not save us. FEMA will not save us. We will save each other.

“[S]eek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Je 29:7). (2016). Crossway Bibles.



https://ewerickson.substack.co...rue&utm_medium=email

The truth is that FEMA and other Federal bureaucracies have been dysfunctional for decades under all administrations.
Remember Katrina? While the incredibly corrupt administration of Ray Nagin made things even worse, the Fed's didn't exactly cover themselves in glory.
All of these huge government agencies quickly turn into lifetime employment for most of the employees and their designated mission becomes secondary.

They should rely on the National Guard and the regular army. They did a great job after Katrina.

quote:

They should rely on the National Guard and the regular army

Everybody should learn to rely on themselves first. Anything the government tosses in should be a bonus.

And anybody at any level of government who attempts to prevent people from helping each other should be immediately strung up and left in public view as a warning to others.

quote:

Everybody should learn to rely on themselves first. Anything the government tosses in should be a bonus.

^^^^^^^^^^
Agreed. You do need the National Guard to direct traffic and hand out supplies. They rather enjoy the duty as they are helping their neighbor. The criminal element is more easily coralled as they police and generally overwhelmed

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
They should rely on the National Guard and the regular army. They did a great job after Katrina.

The 82nd Airborne was on the ground on NOLA within a few days after Karina.

Remember - at first it was thought that NOLA fared much better than expected because Katrina veered off the expected course and hit the coast east of NOLA much harder.

The flooding of the lower 9th ward happened in slow motion as the levees failed and the water deepened until people were stranded, and of course the breakdown of law and order.

With Helene the damage was instantaneous. There was NO delay in understanding how bad it was. The first order of business HAS TO BE search and rescue, and the only way to do that is helicopters.

FEMA is not an airborne search and rescue agency. They are logistics - food, water, trailers, etc. And they do not move fast.

State and federal governments should have activated all available search and rescue helicopter teams ASAP. Given the proximity of the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, they should have been activated immediately. The National Guard was activated quickly, but I do not think they have the assets needed, certainly not enough. It might take a day to get the 82nd in the air but they could have been rescuing people on Sunday or Monday the latest. Many people who survived the storm will die or are already dead due to isolation and lack of medical care, food, and clean water.

quote:

Remember - at first it was thought that NOLA fared much better than expected because Katrina veered off the expected course and hit the coast east of NOLA much harder.

^^^^^^^^^^^
Not quite. Katrina was dead on the MS/La line. NOLA had an engineering failue, the MS.coast got a 28 foot storm surge. After landfall the NOLAs levees broke and flooded the city.There was plenty of search and rescue as families were trapped in the attic. The MS coast got hit with the right front quadrant which is the meanest part of the storm

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:


And anybody at any level of government who attempts to prevent people from helping each other should be immediately strung up and left in public view as a warning to others.

That’s best piece of advice ever.

The government forgets that it’s the hired help, not the master.

My co worker who lives just outside Chimney Rock sent me a short video of the devastation in her area.

^^^ Able to post?

I would like to but she and her family are in the video and I don’t want to invade their privacy.

Link

North Carolina Republican Pleads To End Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories About Helene Disaster Recovery

ARepublican senator in the North Carolina legislature has issued a public plea for people to stop spreading conspiracy theories about the disaster recovery efforts in areas ravaged by flooding from Hurricane Helene.

In a Thursday afternoon Facebook post, state Sen. Kevin Corbin, who represents the state’s westernmost area, asked his followers for a favor: “Will you all help STOP this conspiracy theory junk that is floating all over Facebook and the internet about the floods in WNC.”

Corbin listed several examples: “FEMA is stealing money from donations, body bags ordered but government has denied, bodies not being buried, government is controlling the weather from Antarctica, government is trying to get lithium from WNC, stacks of bodies left at hospitals, and on and on and on.”

Since making landfall last week and churning inland, the storm has killed more than 200 people across six states, with more than 70 of those deaths in Asheville and western North Carolina alone. But on social media, right-wing influencers have described an even more gruesome scenario, with a federal government that’s not just indifferent but actively hostile to lifesaving efforts by private citizens.

The country singer Jon Rich, for example, told his million-plus followers on X, formerly Twitter, that a friend in law enforcement reported to him they had already “used over 500 body bags, and there are bodies in trees, mud, cars, houses, everywhere,” and that the federal government had provided no support.

In fact, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state National Guard troops have deployed in the storm-torn areas to perform search-and-rescue operations, restore electricity and distribute food and water. Storm victims are also eligible to apply for cash assistance.

A lesser-known influencer claimed in a viral post on X the storm suspiciously tracked inland and “took out a dam protecting rare quartz and lithium mines and now FEMA is stealing donations, rescue teams are being denied access, drones aren’t allowed to fly over, and the $ residents get went to illegals.” (The National Weather Service correctly predicted the storm would devastate western North Carolina.)

Another viral post claimed the storm was a “land grab” by the federal government. “People are being told they no longer own their homes and have to vacate immediately,” wrote X user @theKanehB. “No more help going in by civilians or they will be arrested.”

Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) suggested in one post on Thursday that the storm’s track suspiciously aligned with voting patterns, as though it could hurt Republicans in the upcoming presidential election.

“Yes they can control the weather,” Greene wrote in a followup. “It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.

Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, claimed Monday that government officials were “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas” and that the Joe Biden administration spent down FEMA funds on housing for undocumented immigrants. The White House on Friday called it a lie.

“Unfortunately, our country has seen the dangerous consequences of peddling falsehoods,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in an email to reporters. “In fact, disinformation of this kind can discourage people from seeking critical assistance when they need it most. It is paramount that every leader, whatever their political beliefs, stops spreading this poison.”

State Sen. Corbin said in his Facebook post that FEMA was on the scene, as were National Guard soldiers and power company workers. And he suggested that conspiracy theories have been harmful since they have taken up lawmakers’ time as they try to coordinate relief.

“Please don’t let these crazy stories consume you or have you continually contact your elected officials to see if they are true,” Corbin wrote, adding that one of his senate colleagues had received 15 calls on Thursday asking him to stop a variety of nefarious plots. “I’m growing a bit weary of intentional distractions from the main job …. which is to help our citizens in need.”

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) suggested in one post on Thursday that the storm’s track suspiciously aligned with voting patterns, as though it could hurt Republicans in the upcoming presidential election.

“Yes they can control the weather,” Greene wrote in a followup. “It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.

Failed, decades old experiments in cloud seeding do not indicate an ability to create (and control the path of) hurricanes! Just shut your stupid mouth, you dolt. Damn, this is so stupid!