Atkins said FEMA called her to arrange an inspection of her house on the Broad River rendered uninhabitable by the storm, but that they never showed up because the road was closed — the very same road The Post successfully traversed on its way to Bat Cave.
The road is treacherous, but navigable. It’s littered with downed power lines, and whole sections have collapsed. One portion of Highway 9 is entirely washed away, forcing traffic to navigate a huge chasm through someone’s front yard....
Well, then, it wasn't just misplaced rectitude about a "road closed" sign. It's more important to avoid new accidents that require emergency services than to move forward with the inspection of damage that has already occurred. The Post headline is needlessly inflammatory.
Posts
173 comments:
I'm so old, I remember when the press criticized the federal government over slow responses to hurricanes. (But I guess that's only when a Republican is in the White House...)
Even worse - dont they know the road-closed sign by the Bat Cave is fake!? It drops right down when you drive up to it!
JSM
With the election coming, they MUST rush to complain about the damage before all information is in. Don't let a tragedy go to waste is their motto.
Why are these residents yapping, Biden said they were “happy”. He responded earlier with “What storm”?
The actual headline talks about relief supplies, not just damage inspections.
An "emergency" response agency should have vehicles capable of getting to the people who require emergency assistance.
so in essence, theyre on their own
Wait, you're telling me a government entity built around emergency response cannot handle getting supplies to an area that is difficult to get to, but civilians can? Doesn't the government have helicopters? Humvees? Jeeps? Fuck, civilians have jeeps that can go anywhere! Heck, civilians have been using mules and horses to deliver supplies, but one difficult to access area is a no go because little fema couldn’t get around a road closed sign? BTW, your excuse making for FEME is week. They are meant to take risks. That's the whole point!
I'm sure the federally mandated EVs limit how far the FEMA agents can travel from their Raleigh and Charlotte offices
I say this as Hurricane Milton heads directly toward my area, Sarasota/Bradenton. FEMA has been shown over decades now, to be nothing more than what most of our Government is: A fully bureaucratic entity that exists as a jobs program for those who love to be in charge of people and rules. It has, over time, shown itself to be incapable of much outside of showing up- often late- and creating large staging areas. Then finding out how to get things done by watching civilians who take action and actually get things done.
There are reams of first hand accounts now, of FEMA or local authorities (wannabe FEMA employees) halting the progress of those first civilian pilots and ground help, from getting into the isolated areas to find people in need.
When hours mattered, those in 'leadership' positions got in the way.
This is the difference between Florida under Gov. DeSantis, and much of the rest of the country, and most certainly Washington DC.
DeSantis already had Florida moving on recovering from Helene. And now he has his teams and those from out of state, coordinating and getting ready for the crap show about to hit us directly. We won't be looking to FEMA when this hits. We'll be looking to each other, our neighbors, our State and local people to help us. Leadership matters, and it is contagious, spreading to all those from the top on down.. Which is why Florida works, even when hit hard.
If the people who are supposed to be the emergency relief can’t do it, who can?
(Insert “what do you say you do here meme”)
"The Post headline is needlessly inflammatory." Not if the job of The Post is to sell newspapers and advertising.
Inflammatory Sells!
It would be pleasant to have emergency responders actually prepared for emergencies. At minimum, don’t act to prevent private citizens. I am not sure that “needlessly inflammatory”. Is quite right. Perhaps the inflammation is quite necessary to inform change. I would say the citizenry is doing a fine job of getting inflamed on their own. We can send a floating dock to Gaza but can’t send a 4WD vehicle up a road in the USA? That kind of contrast leads to auto-ignition of citizens’ passion
all this Government Incompetence shows HOW IMPORTANT it is that we vote Trump out of power!
If the Democrats had won the 2020 election... NONE of these HORRORS would be happening!
They are only here, because of That Darned TRUMP!
Once he is voted out of power this year, our national nightmare can start to end; and we as a people can reunite!
VOTE TRUMP OUT OF POWER!! 8 years was MORE THAN ENOUGH!
NO person deserves 12 years and a third term!!
Only a FELON like Trump would even try it!!!
so, you're OPPOSED now? to early voting? interesting!
YES!
The Post headline is needlessly inflammatory
qu'ils mangent de la brioche…
“FEMA called… they are running out of hurricane relief.”
You’ll have to call the Jerk Store.
I remember when federal agencies like the postal service had pride they could deliver in any circumstances. Now a sloped roof or a rutted lawn is too much and they turn back.
Wonder if the half billions dollars thrown away in Gaza for the dock woulda made it down the trough the Chimney Rock? lol.
Piling on with Oso and temujin and cacimbo-
The article may be inflammatory, but not needlessly.
The past 5 years has been a series of slaps in the face to any American who still believes that the federal government is a force for good.
The covid response, the A'stan rout, the management of the money supply, the migrant invasion, public education, healthcare, the wars in Ukraine and Middle East, just off the top of my head. Deterioration everywhere.
It is most needful that the American voters get inflamed, and act to protect their own interests. I hope that voting the rascals out will be enough, but at this point I'm not optimistic.
Absent the will, it wouldn’t matter if they had Abrams tanks.
I must know a hundred guys (and 99 women) who would think nothing of rendering help in a situation like that. Would, indeed, enjoy the practical challenges involved. That’s the chasm between Julia-style statists and normal people.
The emergency happened where the road is open and there is no emergency. FEMA's confusion is understandable.
It is just yet another example of the fate of the people who must suffer the tyranny of the bureaucracy vs. the people who perpetuate it.
Wait, you're telling me a government entity cannot handle getting supplies to an area that is difficult to get to, but civilians can? Doesn't the government have helicopters? Humvees? Jeeps? Heck, civilians have jeeps that can go anywhere! Civilians have been using mules and horses to deliver supplies, but one difficult to access area is a no go because little fema couldn’t get around a road closed sign? Your excusemaking for FEMA is weak.
My great grandfather was a mail carrier in White River Junction, Vermont. On my wall is a picture of the great flood of 1927, with him standing in downtown, nearly hip deep in water delivering the mail…with a smile on his face.
FEMA couldn't take affirmative action to transition from safety to risky in order to be equitable and inclusive. Is that a triple hate crime? Was Diversity (e.g. class bigotry) a motive?
Same with homelessness. Remember how Reagan was responsible for every homeless person in the country. Every time a homeless person died, this was “Reagan’s America.” Now, not so much.
The Post headline is needlessly inflammatory.
What a horrible take, from someone who clearly is never affected by hurricanes.
We pay for FEMA $20 billion a year to pre-position supplies like potable water and food in disaster predicted areas. They did not do this.
We pay FEMA for emergency response teams who's SOLE PURPOSE is to go into disaster areas and conduct emergency rescue operations.
THEY HAVE NOT DONE THIS.
We pay FEMA $20 billion a year to pass out funds to those affected. People are currently routinely being DENIED relief funds because FEMA was unprepared for this hurricane in this region - despite it being predicted days in advance.
There are currently a quarter-MILLION people still without power in this region 8 days after the storm. We pay FEMA to coordinate with power companies to PRE-POSITION equipment and supplies in planned effective areas to respond immediately to electricity outages.
THEY DID NOT DO THIS.
FEMA/FAA is actively preventing some parties from conducting rescue and supply operations. In face, Elon Musk had to PERSONALLY APPEAL to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeig to allow disaster helicopters with critical infrastructure equipment to reach the scene. Only until AFTER called out on X did the federal government respond.
The headline isn't inflammatory ENOUGH.
Our government IS NOT FUNCTIONING and it's time to call them out. More hurricanes are on the horizon and there needs to be an accounting made of all the money we have provided to very highly-paid FEMA employees sitting on their fat asses a thousand miles away.
Maybe you have to be there to feel some empathy for the plight of these forgotten people.
Huh? Emergency response but not if the road is closed? I hope I never have to rely on those people.
Flooding is an unprecedented phenomenon caused by climate change. FEMA was unprepared to mitigate Diverse (pun intended) carbon footprints.
They dont have helicopters airplanez or we gave them all to ukrsine
"It's more important to avoid new accidents that require emergency services than to move forward with the inspection of damage that has already occurred."
Yeah, fuck 'em.
"It's more important to avoid new accidents that require emergency services than to move forward with the inspection of damage that has already occurred."
This is the opposite of that famous photo of Anderson Cooper in waders, standing in chest deep water, and his cameraman on dryland a few feet away. Here The Post can get trough, but Federal Emergency Responders can't. What a joke.
“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help." - Ronald Reagan
Perfect!
Not in my lifetime.
And the media critized W for a response that was orders of magnitude greater than Helene, despite the two being roughly comparable in damage and availability of resources. This is from an Army officer involved in the Katrina response (he also makes a number of other good points, especially about why Active Duty rather than National Guard response is usually preferable in a disaster area)
Let’s compare Katrina with Helene. In Katrina, a three-star general was placed in command, along with the two-star commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division, with a full Airborne Infantry Brigade task force of the 82nd, a corps-support logistics command of thousands of soldiers, a signal battalion, a combat support hospital, robust Army engineer assets, and countless other support units. All of these units were on standby orders days before Katrina hit.
In contrast, a week after Helene hit, a tiny 1,000-troop Airborne Infantry Battalion task force of the 82nd (one-third the size of a brigade) was given a warning order under the ground command of a mere one-star general. These forces are without the medical, engineer, corps-level logistics, signal/communications, and Division/Army HQ command and control capabilities that defined Katrina support.
How about the Marines? In Katrina, they sent 2,600 Marines, under the command of a two-star Marine Division commanding general. For Helene, near as I can tell after extensive web research and quizzing my followers on X, the USMC has not been tasked to send a single damned Marine.
Reminds me of how slanted roofs are a no-no for the Secret Service.
Anybody who has been pay attention for the last four years knows the Harris-Biden administration is hopeless.
"It's more important to avoid new accidents that require emergency services than to move forward with the inspection of damage that has already occurred....The Post headline is needlessly inflammatory."
Professor. When it comes to the home inspection, perhaps it can wait. But bringing in supplies? That is a basic part of Emergency Response.
On which of these failures does FEMA get your sympathy? Not showing up for the inspection, or not delivering supplies and leaving is to the locals. Both?
Do you not believe the quoted local Chelsea Atkins? Why would she lie?
They have helicopters. They rent them and sub-contract US pilots. Here is a video from someone ON THE GROUND near Ashville reporting that the FEMA helicopter are PARKED on the GROUND, blocking a runway. That's after FEMA shut down the private rescue efforts of local people out of this airport.
https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/1843062024345129313
The "news" isn't happening on ABC. It's happening on Twitter.
What people not employed by FEMA on the ground are actually doing (This gentleman is a volunteer first responder in western NC who has been posting on his blog occasionally since the hurricane hit)
Today I moved seven generators and an oven. Two of the places we could use a truck and a trailer to reach, including to a mule farm with very little need for electricity at all. One we could still reach with the trailer, but only detached from the truck and attached to a Polaris Ranger instead. It only carried two, so I rode in the trailer holding on to the generators as we bounced over the mud trail, secure in the knowledge that I had tied the rescue knots lashing them to the frame myself. The last one we had to reach with just the Ranger, so I had to deadlift the generators into it to ferry one by one. We left the third guy with the truck.
Well, then FEMA needs to rename itself, Althouse, to Federal No Risks Taken Management Agency.
"but that they [fedgov] never showed up because the road was closed"
[from movie script]
Patton, "What's holding up this column?
- I don't know, sir.
Patton, Come on! Move it! Pull up over there.
What's going on here?
- Sir, it's these mules!
Patton, Jackasses! You let a whole column get stalled and strafed
on account of a couple of jackasses?
What the hell's the matter with you?
Now dump 'em over the side and clear this bridge!
Well, if you do, I'd suggest that you start looking for them at the Mall. Because that's where Alejandro Mayorkas, head of FEMA, was yesterday, buying a $3,000 suit coat.
Someone snapped a photo of him. But of course it's not ABCNews or CBS reporting this. It's random citizens on Twitter doing the job they won't do.
https://x.com/hodgetwins/status/1842733582697054307
You know what would help? Haitians!
Reminds me of when Patton's advance got stalled at a "No Left Turns" sign.
So, once there’s a road closed sign, how can we ever get the road open again? It probably has to stay closed for eternity - or until the sign falls down.
If we’re ever invaded we should just put up a lot of road closed signs. Problem solved.
Ann Althouse said...
"Well, then, it wasn't just misplaced rectitude about a "road closed" sign. It's more important to avoid new accidents that require emergency services than to move forward with the inspection of damage that has already occurred. The Post headline is needlessly inflammatory."
No, it wasn't. Because...
"Atkins said FEMA called her to arrange an inspection of her house on the Broad River rendered uninhabitable by the storm, but that they never showed up because the road was closed — the very same road The Post successfully traversed on its way to Bat Cave."
If the Post could get through, so could FEMA. Normally, I'd say we shouldn't ascribe to malice what is better attributed to incompetence, but in this case, an exception is warranted.
One can only imagine how the "credentialed elite" reacts to problems in Bat Cave, North Carolina. Giggles? Sneers? Schadenfreude? Utter indifference?
There used to be FEMA press conferences where they’ll tell us the state of things, what they’re doing about it, when to expect changes and when is next press conf. Where are those? We’d have less theorizing/worrying/instability if we could get answers.
Extremely weak logic on your part, Althouse. Isn't the whole idea of "Emergency Management" to, you know, get to people in places that have been devastated by an emergency? Hurricanes, earthquakes, explosions, etc. tend to mess up nice tidy roads. If FEMA doesn't have people and equipment capable of getting to such places, then it needs to get such people and equipment ASAP. Otherwise, as Temujin correctly pointed out, they're nothing but a job program for squishy bureaucrats who will only work under fastidious work rules.
It's unbelievably shocking and disgraceful that FEMA is unwilling and unable to help these people. That headline isn't inflammatory enough.
I find it interesting how FEMA describes its 20,000 employees- they are all, apparently, managers. All chiefs and no indians.
Because that's what we need RIGHT NOW ! More Inspections of the Damage !
I'm really glad that Elon bought Twitter.
I bet that if you took a picture of the 20,000 FEMA employees they all pretty much are as physically capable as this FEMA employee.
Looking at FEMA's leadership photos, one can see that it has a thrilling level of diversity. However, don't believe that DEI has anything to do with the current FEMA incompetence.
The 3 stated goals of FEMA:
Goal 1 - Instill Equity as a Foundation of Emergency Management
Goal 2 - Lead Whole of Community in Climate Resilience
Goal 3 - Promote and Sustain a Ready FEMA and Prepared Nation
All 3 goals described by the usual government gibberish that are Harris level word salads. Nothing to see here folks.
It wasn't the wash-out that deterred FEMA. They wouldn't have gone up there even before the storm because that road was sloped.
We now understand that the Democrat Orwellian term "protecting democracy" no longer means protect the "will of the people", it means protecting gov't bureaucracies and bureaucrats. No matter the level of waste, incompetence, or corruption these unelected institutions are now more important to democracy, than the people.
We are watching it in real time with FEMA. But we know public schools, public universities, the Secret Service, the IRS, the CIA, the FBI are all polluted with the same virus. To ensure their survival, and the fruit they eat from the ripe tree, they now promote propaganda, censorship, and voter fraud.
Just wait until the US has to fight its next self-inflicted ground war and our DEI dress-wearing colonels are leading our troops in battle and a "road closed sign" stops a rescue effort.
I've said it before. A Trump victory this November is a mere speed bump in our decline. Our children and grandchildren will live in a socialist utopia after we are gone. Sadly, I hope they are brainwashed enough to not realize it.
There is a cat 4 storm headed to one of the most populated areas of Florida. FEMA is taking criticism already, Trump and Vance are already in discussion with DeSantis on how to react to the next storm, while the Feds and the incumbents are still behind the curve in reacting to the last one. You know those "events" that decide who wins or loses an election?
You can't control these "events" from the editor's office of the NYT or the WaPo, but I suspect Harris's campaign people don't grasp that fact. If I was Harris, I would be sure to be seen standing next to Jim Cantore handing out generators and water bottles. Instead, she'll be avoiding explaining why her Border Czar was buying a $3000 coat instead of spending time on the front line showing people he cares about them.
"Hahahahaha! *flappy hands* Next question." I see that hand on the meter moving to 'R'.
Stupid leftists forget how they acted during Katrina.
You are just evil and terrible and at your cores completely dishonest people.
An inflammatory headline from the NY Post? No way.
Here's a picture of the sign.
"It's more important to avoid new accidents that require emergency services than to move forward with the inspection of damage that has already occurred."
Really? Emergency services are already required. Isn't that what FEMA is supposed to provide? Or maybe not... from the FEMA website:
Objective 1.1 - Cultivate a FEMA that Prioritizes and Harnesses a Diverse Workforce
"The agency will continue to build a workforce that includes the many identities, races, ethnicities, backgrounds, abilities, ages, cultures, and beliefs of the people it serves. It will actively recruit individuals from underrepresented communities. The agency will also invest in professional development for all FEMA employees to foster an environment in which individuals feel safe, valued, and empowered."
"Feel safe"? Well, there you go- no doing dangerous stuff like providing relief to disaster areas, I guess.
Maybe the FEMA should state that they are triaging requests for help. The time and resources spent to navigate broken-up road may be better spent with simpler, more accessible requests. This would not be a popular policy, but would be more honest and direct than "We ran across a 'Road Closed' sign."
Really, the biggest flaw in the story is that they didn't bolster their words with photographs or videos to show the context. That's going to become the underlying theme in this disaster. We've seen pictures of the devastation, or more probably the worst and most compelling parts of the devastation. But what is going to rule the day here, where the damage is so far out of the norm, are the stories that are bolstered with visual evidence, so that the reader can grasp context.
I suspect this type of thing is the real reason behind FEMA creating a whole department to 'Fact Check' stories like this, make it easy for them to dismiss. I think many of us suspect 'damage control'. But I think it's premature to label this 'inflammatory', when they've stated that the reporters actually just drove around the sign and reached the objective. It's just incomplete. Show us the pictures of the treacherous conditions, then. Did the reporters chance something truly hazardous to get through, or are the FEMA workers just a bunch of weenies with shiny boots?
Meanwhile, private citizens are putting the big government organization to shame, and it's shining a light on a group that appears to think their primary purpose isn't to help, but to control help. In a situation like this, being in charge is an authority that is exercised by 'leadership demonstrated', not 'leadership thwarted'. Coordinating people that have appeared on-scene to help can be easily done with the right attitudes, but not by bureaucratic puffery.
So, I have been trying to estimate how many people might have died in North Carolina and Tennessee by looking at before and after videos of the damage. I grew up in an identical environment in eastern Kentucky and have experience with flash flooding a magnitude less damaging that what was seen from Helene- had such flooding occurred in Pike County, Kentucky I would have guessed he dead would be in the thousands just based on the housing where the residents would have never believed the water could reach so quickly. I hope the people there got to higher and more stable ground very early on Friday morning but, if they were complacent Thursday night/Friday morning thinking 30-40 feet above the creek/river was safe enough, the death toll could easily be in the 5 figures.
If there were any fema vehicles you would see them instead you have tumbleweeds
Suggest we start with Texas, New Mexico, Arizona.
Well said! DeSantis is the best governor in the US and has proved it over and over again during the four years we have lived in Florida. BTW, we moved here from NC, and the current shitshow up there is precisely why we left.
FEMA called, they want their chicken back.
Nice!
Coordinating people that have appeared on-scene to help can be easily done with the right attitudes
Yep. Coordination is pretty much FEMA's job, and it seems that they are completely unfamiliar with the folks whose job is fixing things.
Again, from the perspective of someone who rode out the storm and (only) three days of aftermath in east-central Georgia; if FEMA was waiting until the roads were cleared of downed power lines and downed trees, they would never show up.
You know what other vehicles you aren't seeing in any of the photos of the disaster areas hardest hit by this storm?
News remotes.
If Trump was currently President, CNN would be LIVE, 24x7 on the scene, interviewing women about how they can't find FEMA anywhere. Would they not?
News Flash: They have no intention of showing up.
For emergency services, a Road Closed sign should be a signal for extra caution, not stopping.
The graphic showing the path is wrong as well. The path in Georgia went about 150 miles to the east.
Ya know, you could always park the jeep and walk in. Just an idea.
Eventually, someone will have to travel that road if only to repair it. Or must it remain closed forever — to avoid the possibility of accidents?
The Karens on Facebook assure me that not a single Governor was swept away by floodwaters.
Good one.
Yeah there's either thousands of lying local residents and responders on X or...FEMA is lying about their level of assistance.
One thing we can all agree on is that Joe "What Storm?" Biden and Kamala "I got fundraisers to do" Harris are completely disengaged from an ongoing disaster and have been since it hit on September 26. Twelve days and we've heard barely a peep from the co-chief executives. They spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday following the storm lounging on the beach and hobnobbing at fundraisers. Three days people suffered and struggled to survive with NOT a word from our "leaders."
Then on Monday Biden checked in to tell us Trump was lying about him, saying the governors needed help. He bragged about spending "two hours on the phone" as if that's what Joe calls working "around the clock." He didn't order any Army or Airforce or Marine assets to assist. Not for another two days. And then only 500 sent to NC. Less than 5% of the assets deployed for Katrina, which had been on call and stationed for ten days prior to the storm.
The Post headline is not inflammatory enough. The first disaster is the storm. The second and worst disaster is waiting for the Feds to help.
FEMA wasn't originally a first responder to disasters. It was supposed to come in afterwards and dole out money to local governments for repairs and loans to others. There's been a lot of mission creep since Katrina, when LA state and local governments showed their utter incompetence but FEMA and Bush got the blame. Didn't they find that a quarter of New Orleans police officers didn't exist?
Someone made a comment about Haitians. But kidding aside, New Orleans was cleaned up from Katrina mostly by Hispanic immigrants. Not sure of their legal status, but they saw the aftermath as an opportunity to get paid work, maybe even buy some property at cut rates, while the local population waited for government to do something.
If FEMA really is handling the migrants and the disasters, they could just ship the able-bodied migrants to the disaster and let the Hamilton song come true…
JSM
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken this weekend announced that $175 million in emergency relief funds will immediately go to North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida - states with towns completely destroyed by Hurricane Helene.
Just kidding.
That money is going to Lebanon after Israel killed a bunch of their terrorists.
You may hate your government, but you do not hate them enough.
The Media and the liars who ar the corrupt D Party - are lying.
What's next leftists - blaming your broken narrative on Russian dis-info?
the democrat party gives money to Iran (and there for Hamas and Hezbollah) and to illegal border crossers. Then they coordinate the lie. and lie some more.
why not abort FEMA in DC and set up state level units HQ in each state?
That's a joke sewer to get lots of FEMAfare or none at all.
The regulator acts as a governor and the float is actuated by the flow after it has passed through the regulator and before it passes to the interceptor through an orifice plate.
Remember "Don't get stuck on stupid"? Now the FEMA assistant director puts out videos saying "Don't criticize us, it endangers our people." There's a video on X circulating of a FEMA zoom meeting where their biggest concern is how the LGBT community weathered the storm. This is a shitshow of epic proportions. Unfortunately, they are following Harris directive to allocate resources based on "equity" not need.
Jean Pierre- and her loyal ABC, NBC, CBS PRS hacks are circling the wagons on their failures.
How dare you question FEMA!
We can send a floating dock to Gaza
=================
dock unwilling to stay in Gaza!
Yep.
The Post headline is needlessly inflammatory.
Althouse finds excuses for the end of the good old American “can do” spirit, killed by he Biden-Harris administration. RIP
*bang and boom* So True. But shhhh - the media(D - one party state losers) insist your account is treason. or possibly Russian dis-information.
Stay strong Temujin. Milton looks like it will hit Cat 4 as it moves through the US Gulf of Mexico oil production region (expect prices to go up as supply goes down and insufficient strategic supplies no longer exist). Looks like it may degrade to Cat 3 before landfall. I saw the reports of it coming a week ago, so the government should know and be ready.
"Appalachia has gone dark and criminals are pouring over the border but the Homeland Security chief had time to go luxury shopping.
Mayorkas, who was impeached by the House of Representatives earlier this year for his handling of the border crisis, was spotted by the Washington Free Beacon strolling through the mens section of Sid Mashburn, a high-end menswear store, surrounded by security. He appeared to purchase some items at the store, where suit jackets go for as much as three thousand dollars."
Myorkas - the perfect greedy stooge for the corrupt and inept greedy modern democrat party.
Mark writes, "With the election coming, they MUST..."
With the election coming, FEMA MUST make sure western NC has the lowest voter turnout in recorded history.
How to balance risks is difficult, and I'm not an expert. But I will say this reminds me a lot of Uvalde.
They can REALLY avoid accidents if they stay home amirite?
Because FEMA has so thoroughly dropped the ball (I mean, if you're spending time talking about complainers, and using the words 'misinformation', you've lost), I can suggest non-profits such as Mercy Chefs that are providing sustenance to those in NC that have lost everything.
will FL even be able to cast ballots when no power to Dominion machines?
My understanding is that without the official assessment they will not dsburse the promised $750. So with due respect to you, Mark, and to Althouse there is a need for FEMA to be expeditious in performing these assessments.
I will leave aside the comparison of what FEMA disburses to alleged asylum seekers versus the $750 to American citizens who’ve lost their homes, their belongings, and possibly even their livelihoods to an out and out natural disaster.
This is huge: https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1842988427777605683
Imagine a future not reliant on cellphone towers or telegraph lines to allow communication on any day and especially during a regional natural disaster. Musk has given us that future, and all because he wants such a future on Mars.
GOP NC Sen Budd* on Fox: "Federal coordination. Very slow. Government was caught flat footed. The administration didn't come out of the gate. Look, we're 11 days into this and just now see the 18th Airborne Corps, which has been waiting to make ready order. We were ready for them to be here with them and the 82nd and 101st. And they're here now. We're grateful for them. But it was too slow from the Biden and the governor, and we needed rapid response to be ready for this rather than bureaucratic hand-wringing."
*The FEMA white knight was on here lying about Budd all day yesterday, saying he was "happy" with the response from the Feds. Gee didn't Biden als say the victims were "happy" with the response from the Feds. You guys just repeat the same lies over and over.
Another Lie - Exposed.
if FEMA go in with nametags on do they also announce pronouns to use or is it as open invitation for misgendering + arrest detentions + DenialOfService
Chris writes, "[FEMA emergency responders] are meant to take risks. That's the whole point!"
That's the distant past, Chris. You must be more be empathetic. Today's FEMA can only function under conditions of safety and silence -- no mud, no criticism.
Q : who put up Road Closed sign? What if FEMA has them just so that incaseofneed?
OK watch this video of private responders helping people in NC who have their staging area ruined by a government helicopter. Like the guy says, "If you don't have boots [on] the ground you don't get to say what is a 'lie' and what isn't."
Non-hot-linked URL (same video): https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1843207899637510144/vid/avc1/576x1024/lNFEMEpJTnd75t6w.mp4?tag=16
Q : who put up Road Closed sign? What if FEMA has them just so that incaseofneed?
his bio says brought by parants from Cuba but CA not FL resident
4. Provide funding to NGO's to the tune of billions - for Illegals.
To make my point here are some modern pop culture examples. First, Officer Wiggum from The Simpsons TV show told us years ago that "the police (or FEMA in this case) are powerless to protect you, but not powerless to punish you". Quite so. Second, as Bob Dylan told us way back in the day " the cops (or FEMA) don't need you, and man they expect the same".* The only thing these peeps did wrong was not be a valuable Democratical-Wreckers Party voting bloc or BiPOCs. If they were it would all be different now. And so the Piss Earth reeks some more from the stench of the waste water, tears, and blood that drowns them.
*(Tom Thumb's Blues, 1965)
Somebody should have told FEMA that there was a warehouse up there, full of volunteers handing out supplies without oversight.
FEMA's position is entirely reasonable, and what we should expect from Government. Whoever complained about it may have unreasonable expectations of Government - or may intend to foment chaos by positing an unreasonable expectation of Government.
So how are these people supposed to get the aid they need? Yes, rescue and aid work can be dangerous. It still needs to be done.
Remember... almost all accidents happen within 25 miles of home.
They're good to go.
Like the story about USSS barred from slanted roofs, cut to the Roof Max commercial. https://roofmaxx.com/
OOOOOO! That's scary!
I was inclined to give FEMA a pass on this. I imagined the same logistical problems as applied to Katrina would be applying here, probably even several magnitudes greater given the remoteness of the area and the disaster of biblical proportions. But, these reports from average citizens make me think that they really are dropping the ball in a newly terrible way.
"Road closed" may mean that it's too risky for ordinary civilians in their cars. Doesn't FEMA coordinate with other authorities to find out why the road was closed?
FEMA doesn't have forward scout or pioneer units who go in to check if roads are passible? They should. Maybe they would if they hadn't spent all the money on illegals.
What is wrong with you?
Shocking Images Of Devastation Continue To Pour In From Western North Carolina
some of my favorite NY Post headlines:
Headless Body in Topless Bar
Cloak and Shag Her
Osama Bin Wankin'
and of course the Weiner headlines have their own room...
Can't Keep Weiner Down!
Huma Cuts Off Weiner
Weiner Exposed
Weiner's Rise and Fall
Obama Beats Weiner
I once had something that was needlessly inflammatory, but a topical salve cleared that right up.
I’ll bet 10 kids on dirt bikes could get there.
It's more important to avoid new accidents that require emergency services than to move forward with the inspection of damage that has already occurred
I'm sorry, professor, but you are wrong here.
Their job is "emergency management". Says so, right there in the title.
And that means emergency response.
The home-owners can't get help until FEMA visits their house. Which means it's FEMA's job to visit their house right now.
If the employees aren't willing to face that risk, then they have no business being paid by FEMA.
It's like the Ulvade cops who not only refused to go in and save the kids, but stopped anyone else from doing it, either
Fewer, if one was named Elliot and had a basket on the handlebars.
FEMA called, your refrigerator is running. No, it's not. That's the joke, son.
It's not inflammatory enough. While I respect the host of this blog a great deal, I see a blind delusion has taken root in Democrats, Leftists, Liberals, and Progressives that everything they do is the ONLY true path on every issue. The decades long PR by a compliant and willing media that has puffed up that constituent amalgam has led to this situation. There's not a singular BIG LIE, it's all a BIG LIE now. The NYT and the rest are not working in the best interest of America, and hasn't for quite a while. You are on your own, be prepared as best you can. Minimum 5 days of food and water.
@Greg, I hadn’t made the connection to the Uvalde police, but now that I think of it, you’re right.
Republicans say FEMA is repossessing white farms and giving them to illegal immigrants. FEMA says that's a total lie and in fact they're providing crucial aid to storm survivors. Americans want both sides to just stop squabbling. /S
"Republicans say FEMA is repossessing white farms and giving them to illegal immigrants."
Really? Who says this?
Oh, I see. You think you're funny.
That's a good question. Who exactly should be the responder when there is widespread devastation? FEMA is not structured to handle that role. Who is responsible for pulling people out of trees and preventing looting? Is FEMA more like a third responder, and should we embrace that that is their role? It's not showing up first. I showed up first for a lot of folks.
In some places the National Guard is getting out aid. But in a lot of others it's just locals and volunteers helping out. You wanna see what America looks like? Look at all the people from all over the United States helping out. It's what I love about this country.
I think at this point, under the new administration, we can do without FEMA. The National Guard does a much better job.
I was wondering if the National Guard was deployed. That would seem to be the answer to getting to places Washington bureaucrats fear to tread.
Seems like we definitely need to do away with FEMA being "in charge".
I would ask the victims of tragedies like this to ask themselves a simple question: Are the lies, misinformation and conspiracy theories being propagated by an identifiable source/ political party or not? If the answer is “yes,” wouldn’t it make sense to cease supporting them?
Politicians and their supporters spreading malicious disinformation about disaster assistance to traumatized survivors are little different than those calling in bomb threats to schools and places of worship. Both actions are forms of psychological terrorism, and those engaging in either are as dangerous as they are reprehensible.
First you have to demonstrate that they are, in fact, "lies." Just because Mayorkas and the left claim they are lies does not make it so. The evidence on the ground supports the Harris mucked up story. All the leftists like you are screaming "Lie" but without any evidence to show that FEMA is being competent at all, and that aid is happening because of the government, not in spite of the government.
Hurricane Milton has dropped to 911 millibars. For reference, the lowest on record is 882 millibars, and they think Milton might get close to that.
"Well, then, it wasn't just misplaced rectitude about a "road closed" sign. ...
At what point does risk management say it is misplaced rectitude? IT IS THEIR JOB to take risk when in the EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT Agency.
Nobody except the guy posting above you. Maybe Bich changed his handle again. No Republican says "white farms" in any context. It's only leftists that fret over the race of the farmer.
Yep that's Bich.
Mr. Jupp >
The fact that FEMA and fire authorities have tried to prevent people from rescuing others is not just an indictment of the individuals doing that. It’s not even just an indictment of FEMA and those particular fire departments.
It’s not even just an indictment of the Biden administration.
It shows us two thing that happen in a society where people defer authority to the State on nearly everything.
First, many people themselves become helpless.
Second, the agents of the State become heartless.
The more the State takes sole responsibility for compassion, protection and rescue, the more it becomes a bureaucratic task the agents of the State own.
Their individual morality doesn’t increase in these jobs-it declines. Because it’s just a job.
And the bureaucratic mindset intrudes. Eventually, these people are more interested in protecting their turf than in the reason the job exists in the first place.
Protecting the fact that this is ‘the governments business’ becomes more important than actually saving people.
It begins sensibly enough. There are reasons why a cordon is established around an emergency. There are times where it makes sense to ‘leave it to the experts’. But institutions strip people of individual accountability and judgement.
Preventing someone making the situation worse becomes a hidebound rule that unimaginative people enforce regardless of the circumstances. And then they prevent people helping when those people really can offer necessary help. They then care more about the mere status of being, like them, from the government.
Deferral of all responsibility to the State creates helpless citizens and heartless officials. And this becomes true whether or not the administration at the top of it are malign and psychopathic-it just happens more when that’s the case.
The bureaucratic mind and the psychopathic mind are closely linked. Their priorities are not human priorities. The further a bureaucratic base of power is from the people, the more they begin to behave like psychopaths. Federal officials are more likely to be jobsworths without care for a specific community than non federal ones.
With any institution designed to help, you have to make it as local as possible, and you have to guard against the institutional, bureaucratic mentality. You have to install an ethos not of ‘this is our job’ but one of ‘this is our life’. Not of ‘I’m important because I have this badge’ but ‘I’m here to do what’s right’. People should have the individual capacity to judge an action is plain immoral-like trying to prevent a helicopter pilot from rescuing an elderly couple. That individual awareness should supersede (when it’s this obvious) the learned institutional defence of ‘this is our job’ and ‘let the experts handle this’.
Sometimes the experts are the worst people around, precisely because it’s just their job.
9/11 showed US rescue services at their very best. Those were local firefighters who cared about the place they were in. They were invested in those people and that city. It was all very real to them. FEMA in North Carolina have shown the system at its very worst, with jobsworths protecting their turf, with money spent by the government elsewhere, with the bureaucratic mind in charge and not really giving a shit about the people who need rescue. Because they aren’t their people. They are just MAGA voting ‘hillbillies’ sitting on mineral resources the administration cares more about.
That difference shows. But it would show to some extent by the nature of bureaucracies and the nature of deferring responsibility to the State, even without the administration being insane.
The bich keeps changing handles trying to keep ahead of the crowd.
I thought this was FEMA's job. Of course it's risky and there are hazards. But that is FEMA's job, handling this kind of stuff. If they're not up to the job, why are they there?
@nn, does FEMA want the chicken? Or just the chickenshit?
Once again, the State Fellater lies. No Republican has said FEMA is repossessing farms. FEMA is providing a small amount of aid, some of it confiscated illegally from private donations and private relief efforts.
Dumbass says Americans want both sides to just stop squabbling? That's easy, government can stop interfering with private efforts and concentrate on their own work. That would stop the squabbling immediately.
But government can't do that because it sees itself as superior to the people, who it views as subjects.
Once again, Bich thinks that the Katrina playbook is only for Dems.
"Are the lies, misinformation and conspiracy theories being propagated by an identifiable source/ political party or not?"
The answer is yes: Misinformation is being propagated by the Federal government, the Democrat party, and their mainstream media propaganda organs. The ones Bich the State Fellater supports.
The fact the head of FEMA is now whining about the criticism - and basically calling everybody on the ground a bunch of liars - tells you all the truth you need to know.
If all the issues in North Carolina are lies and easily provable lies; then where are the news crews showing FEMA handing out supplies and people being rescued thanking FEMA? I've been through a few hurricanes, and I've seen those videos. There must be a bunch of them by now. Instead, all we get are photos of board room meetings or press briefings where we are told it is all lies.
The astounding incompetence of the Biden administration, FEMA,, and the MSM boggles the mind. I never imagined they could sink so low.
And we know this piece of human garbage ran with Katrina lies just like he is running with these lies.
These are just evil people.
Well said.
Before the month is over they're going to ask you to hold their beer.
You placed "make them Riot" in quotes. Why?
I saw a video the other day, depicting several "good ole boys" clearing flood-ravaged roads with (their own) huge chainsaws and 6- and 8-wheel ex-military vehicles. They seemed to be moving fast, accomplishing a lot, and even enjoying themselves.
I strongly suspect that the actual US Military has much more capable equipment, logistics and manpower to address the situation. (God help us all if they don't) Why haven't they been fully deployed?
And yes, if you just happen to have a military surplus 8-wheel vehicle available for this sort of thing, you just might be a redneck.
😊
Those locals are just remembering who won WWII. Big mistake.
Personally, I love LLR-democratical Rich changing handles continuously (designed to give pop in readers the false impression of strength in numbers for the New Soviet Democraticals narratives) and tossing out one easily debunked lie after another.
Like kamala-la-la-la-la's campaign implosion, its all a sign of desperation and nowhere else to turn. As the Soviet campaign insiders are leaking everywhere, nothing the stupid gaslighting dems are saying is "moving the needle"! And those are the campaign insiders!
And then the Online Soviet NPC-ers are left to their own devices with the results as you see on this blog!
Nope, The New Soviet Democraticals have nothing left, anywhere, except their massive decades-to-build electoral Cheat Machine.
Will it be enough this time around? This election is already at a place where the volume of New Soviet Democratical cheating required to "win" is off the charts.
In those precincts and counties where the dem Cheat Machine is in full force we may be on the verge of an election where the corrupted Soviet Democraticals will have to claim 200% - 300% "turnout" (unverified harvested mail in ballots with no chain of custody, addresses where supposedly hundreds of people reside, the DOJ/FBI moving immediately against anyone pointing out the irregularities, etc.)
Except hurricanes, blizzards, tornados, earthquakes, and other natural disasters have occurred with great frequency for centuries, AD and BC.
"Climate change" is manufactured misinformation of Davos Folks.
New Soviet Democraticals literally claimed people were eating each other in the Superdome AND claimed GW Bush PURPOSELY allowed the levees to fail to destroy a "chocolate city" during Katrina....and so many other lies.
You’ll have to ask Roy Cooper, boatbuilder.
It certainly has access to them through the military, which is what occurred in the past.
To ask the question is to know the answer.
The Fema head woman was on TV complaining about how the criticism made FEMA employees uncomfortable. I guess Federal workers never have to do anything uncomfortable except DEI sessions.
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