The Federal Emergency Management Agency is a Department of Homeland Security outfit tasked with stabilizing and assisting communities after a disaster. In the wake of Hurricane Helene, the Biden-Harris agency has come up short, leaving some hard-hit communities to pick up the pieces all alone.
Critics have reviewed possible political factors that may have undermined the agency and its ability to adequately respond to this deadly disaster. After all, the FEMA website indicates the agency's top strategic goal is to "instill equity as a foundation of emergency management" — signaling a possible subordination of utility to ideology.
The X account End Wokeness shared a video Sunday from a March 2023 disaster preparedness meeting indicating ideology has indeed infected FEMA's core considerations.
FEMA emergency management specialist Tyler Atkins — a manager of the Office of Resilience's "Resilient & Ready Seminar Series" who refers to himself as "they" — notes at the outset of the viral video that "LGBTQIA people and people who have been disadvantaged already are struggling. They already have their own things to deal with so you add a disaster on top of that, it's just compounding on itself."
"And I think that is maybe the 'why' of why we're having these discussions," added Atkins, referencing the broader topic of preparedness and mitigation considerations specific to non-straights.
A woman identified on-screen as Maggie Jarry, a senior emergency management specialist at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said, "There are a couple of things intersecting in my mind here. One is the culture of emergency management as an organization, as an industry in the United States specifically, not abroad."
After taking a moment to excuse her cat's interruptions, Jarry noted, "The shift that we're seeing right now is a shift in emergency management from utilitarian principles — where everything is designed for the greatest good, for the greatest amount of people — to disaster equity."
The apparent federal push away from helping the greatest number of Americans to prioritizing help for specific types of favored Americans was driven by the Biden-Harris administration, particularly by President Joe Biden's June 25, 2021, DEI executive order.
According to FEMA:
Underserved communities, as well as specific identity groups, often suffer disproportionately from disasters. As a result, disasters worsen inequities already present in society. This cycle compounds the challenges faced by these communities and increases their risk to future disasters. By instilling equity as a foundation of emergency management and striving to meet the unique needs of underserved communities, the emergency management community can work to break this cycle and build a more resilient nation.
The agency added, "Proactively prioritizing actions that advance equity for communities and identifying groups that have historically been underserved or disproportionately affected by disasters is critical for their resilience."
Disasters and crises, therefore, present federal bureaucrats with opportunities to refashion the country — in their view — into something more equitable.
According to FEMA's 2022-2026 strategic plan, "Diversity, equity, and inclusion cannot be optional; they must be core components of how the agency conducts itself internally and executes its mission."
This apparent obsession with groups' immutable characteristics and sexual preferences would explain why in the same disaster preparedness meeting, Reilly Hirst, a financial management specialist at FEMA, spent time concern-mongering about the possibility that illegal alien transvestites — those for whom Kamala Harris would have taxpayers fund sex changes — might be misgendered in shelters.
Responding to the video, Elon Musk wrote, "Saving American lives should be priority #1."
One user noted, "DEI ideology is a societal scourge."
FEMA is presently working hard to combat what its chief Deanne Criswell has characterized as "dangerous narrative[s]" regarding its bungled hurricane response. It's presently unclear whether it will be similarly vigorous when preparing for and responding to Hurricane Milton, now headed for Florida.
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Mercury One, a charity founded in 2011 by Glenn Beck, has teamed up with the United Cajun Navy, a nonprofit organization, to deliver critical supplies and perform search-and-rescue operations in the areas devastated by Hurricane Helene.
In a Friday post on X, Mercury One announced, “We have 50 helicopters now doing SAR & Air Drops. We have delivered over 10 tons of supplies to those in need.”
'Don’t depend on the federal government,' he remarked. 'They’re not here to help you.'
The United Cajun Navy thanked Mercury One for helping it double its “Cajun Wing” squad from 25 helicopters to 50.
Mercury One began delivering supplies to those in North Carolina on Monday.
“It’s not about the government’s power. It is about the power of the people. Thanks for doing more when the government does less. We are with you, Hurricane Helene victims & we are doing everything we can to help you,” the charity stated.
On Thursday, Mercury One said it had already delivered 18,000 pounds of critical supplies this week. The charity continues to collect donations to deliver goods to those in need.
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Blaze News’ Julio Rosas spoke with individuals on the ground in the disaster areas.
John H. Kinard III, a Tennessee pilot and veteran with Aeroluxe Aviation, told Rosas that he and his team saw the devastation in North Carolina and decided to help. He explained that the federal government has done essentially nothing.
“There is a complete and utter lack of federal government response,” he said. “I’ve seen nobody on the ground.”
“Ivanka Trump came yesterday, talked to us. Elon Musk’s guy’s been here talking to us. Glenn Beck is here now talking to us,” Kinard told Rosas. “I’ve seen no one from the federal government to help out at all. Nobody.”
“To be honest, it just pisses me off. This is our country. We should be being taken care of, priority one, instead of all the other countries,” he continued. “It enrages everybody here.”
“There’s about 100, 150 volunteers here at this site, 90% are retired military,” Kinard added.
Over a two-day period, Kinard estimated that the group of volunteers he was with dropped off roughly 100,000 pounds of food, water, and medicine.
“This area the most needs construction crews,” he told Blaze News. “They need road clearance and people to rebuild the roads. A lot of the roads are completely destroyed. When I say, ‘completely destroyed,’ they are gone.”
Kinard said he wants the rest of the country to know that “normal, everyday Americans make the difference.”
“Don’t depend on the federal government,” he remarked. “They’re not here to help you.”
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Hurricane Helene has wrought havoc, killing at least 215 Americans and leaving thousands homeless. Entire communities, such as Chimney Rock, North Carolina, are in ruins. Many citizens remain stranded, powerless, and in desperate need of supplies.
When reading speeches in some of the affected states this week, President Joe Biden signaled an understanding of the disaster's impact — noting in Raleigh, for instance, the "historic proportions" of the damages. However, a passing encounter with the press upon his return to the White House Thursday revealed the Democratic president has at best a sporadic grasp on the reality of the situation.
"What do the states in the storm zone need, Mr. President?" a reporter asked Biden.
"Sorry?" responded the 81-year-old president, who had just finished off celebrating former Jan. 6 committee member Liz Cheney's supposed "physical courage" in endorsing Kamala Harris.
"What do the the states in the storm zones — what do they need after what you saw today?" said the reporter.
"Oh, in the storm zone? I'm wondering which storm you're talking about," said Biden. "They've got everything they need. They're very happy across the board."
Biden's apparent confusion regarding "which storm" was at issue as well as his characterization of those affected by Hurricane Helene as "happy" prompted concerns and outrage.
'My grief today is unfathomable.'
One user responding to the video on X noted, "This makes my blood boil! Our families are suffering. The death toll is going to be shocking. The missing need to be found!!!!"
"Oh, everyone impacted by Helene are happy, across the board. Oh. Good to know. Getting everything they need. Oh. Good to know," wrote another user, ostensibly in disbelief over Biden's remarks.
While Americans have showcased compassion, courage, and resilience throughout this ordeal, it's clear that happiness is far from ubiquitous.
A user on X who goes by A.P. Hill Legacy Foundation shared his firsthand account of challenges on the ground in North Carolina, noting that people "have no driveways, no power[,] no food. People are dying. Grown men crying and hugging me for giving them $100."
'Harris says Joe Biden is completely fit to be president.'
"People were crying telling me that they watched a women [sic] and her 3 children be washed away in the flood and they cried the entire night because they couldn't help them," said the X user. "Another man told me that his son is a paramedic and one of the bodies he found was his best friend. I hugged them and cried."
Meghan Drye of Asheville, North Carolina, made clear to Fox Weather earlier this week that she was anything but happy, having just lost her parents and her 7-year-old son Micah to the storm.
"My grief today is unfathomable," said Drye, emphasizing she's been sustained since then only by prayer. "I'm sorrowful. You know, I feel broken."
The tearful mother added while in the embrace of her weeping sister, "I'm so proud of my son because in his last moments he wasn't screaming for me. He was screaming, 'Jesus. Jesus save me. Jesus, I hear you. Jesus, I'm calling upon you.' In his wildest dreams and everything that he wanted to be was a superhero, and that was his goal in life. And instead, he's my hero because he reached for something past flesh, past human, past anything that even grown adults, I think, would reach for. My son called out to the one God Almighty. And I think at that moment, he was rescued."
Critics seized upon Biden's confusion as more evidence that Kamala Harris hid disqualifying decrepitude from the American public.
The Virginia GOP wrote, "Remember: Kamala Harris says Joe Biden is completely fit to be president. She is either a liar or hopelessly oblivious. Either one is disqualifying."
The Mississippi GOP tweeted, "This is what Kamala Harris & the media covered up."
The Trump campaign narrowed the blame down further, writing, "THIS is what Kamala covered up."
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United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, announced on Wednesday temporary flight restrictions "near or around rescue and recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene."
Buttigieg stated, "Our goal is to make sure that funding is no obstacle to very quickly get people the relief that they need and deserve."
'This is biblical-level devastation. This is apocalyptic, the things that we see out there.'
"There's also some safety issues that come up," he continued. "For example, temporary flight restrictions to make sure that the airspace is clear for any flights or drone activity that might be involved in helping to allow those emergency responders to do their job."
The Transportation Department posted a video of Buttigieg's comments, adding, "Drone pilots: Do not fly your drone near or around rescue and recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene. Interfering with emergency response operations impacts search and rescue operations on the ground."
During a Wednesday press briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas claimed that the federal government lacks the funds to fully respond to such disasters, Blaze News previously reported.
"We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting. We do not have the funds," Mayorkas remarked.
America First Legal reported that the Biden-Harris administration's Federal Emergency Management Agency blew a significant portion of its funding on illegal immigrants.
"The Biden-Harris FEMA spent over $1 BILLION on funding illegal aliens," AFL stated.
Many have expressed frustration and dissatisfaction with the federal government's disaster relief response for American citizens residing in areas devastated by Hurricane Helene.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) torched the administration for its lackluster efforts to help Americans, particularly those living in rural areas.
Kemp told WRDW, "When the first emergency declarations came down, there was only 11 counties in that. A lot of people were outraged, including me, because there was such devastation in up to 90 counties."
"So we called the White House. We spoke to the president's chief of staff, the FEMA administrator and said, 'Look, you're sending the signal that you're not paying attention to some of these rural communities,'" he continued.
At least 200 people have been confirmed dead.
"It was a massive storm, and we're dealing with things statewide, even the metro-Atlanta area had record flooding. We had mudslides. We had to evacuate people below lakes and ponds up in the northeast part of the state, so we've been dealing with it," Kemp told the news outlet.
Tim Kennedy, co-founder of Save Our Allies, recently told Fox Business that FEMA is getting in the way of his team's rescue efforts.
"Where is the federal response and the plan?" Kennedy questioned.
When asked whether FEMA was on the ground, he responded, "I mean, they're present. They're in the way. They're directly interrupting our ability to conduct missions and operations."
Kennedy explained that he had attempted to place a couple of people in a hotel earlier this week, but he was unable to do so because federal employees had booked all of the rooms.
"This is biblical-level devastation. This is apocalyptic, the things that we see out there," he added.
On Thursday, Blaze News' Julio Rosas joined Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) in Swannanoa, North Carolina. Rosas noted that a group of veterans and locals had banded together to provide relief to those in need, making deliveries with civilian helicopters, UTVs, and ATVs.
"When I asked about the feds response, one guy said: What response?" Rosas posted on X.
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Blaze Media national correspondent Julio Rosas joined Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) in North Carolina this week to assess the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and distribute supplies to those in need in small communities outside Asheville.
Aerial footage showed destroyed buildings, fallen trees, washed-out roads, and severe flooding in some areas.
'These people have taken a serious hit.'
On the ground, Blaze News spoke with individuals at Broad River Fire & Rescue.
“Probably about two inches of water in here,” one individual on the fire rescue team told Rosas, referring to inside the fire station. “And in two minutes, it was to my knees. And I looked outside, and it was chest-deep.”
The man explained that as the water rose, he retreated up the stairs to the second floor of the fire station. “The doors buckled, and the water came through,” he explained.
The rush of water moved a pickup parked at the front of the department halfway down the building, the emergency responder explained. He stated that one of the fire trucks was totaled by the flood.
“It was unbelievable,” he continued. “I’ve been here my whole life, and I’ve never seen anything like it. My grandmother talked about the 1916 flood, and from what she told me, this is on the order of that.”
Another individual on the fire rescue team stated that there was nearly six feet of water in the fire department bay.
“You can see the water mark on the wall,” he remarked.
When asked what he would like Americans to know about what is going on in the area, he told Rosas, “Just communities planning together, helping each other. Families helping families.”
“These smaller communities, a lot of the families will band together. They share their food, their water,” he added.
Another volunteer, Mike Cannon, who has 40 years of rescue experience, told Rosas that he arrived on Sunday morning.
“Words can’t describe it,” he stated. “This is the worst one I’ve been to. We’ve been to Harvey and Hurricane Florence, Tropical Storm Irene in Vermont. And those are our benchmarks, but I’ve never seen devastation like there is here in North Carolina.”
“They’ve got a lot of resources both in state and out of state and federal,” Cannon said. “But I guess my thought process on this is that there are lots of areas that are completely cut off that are gonna take a long time for help to get into them. And the power grid does not look good around here. I would imagine that that’s going to take some time to repair and these people are going to need a lot of help.”
“I know they’re probably resilient, like a lot of people are, but these people have taken a serious hit here in their personal lives and their property,” he added.
He noted that the landslides in the area were like none he had ever seen before.
“Just a recon flight in this one fire district that we’re in, I counted over 125 landslides yesterday and I stopped counting,” Cannon said.
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Hurricane Helene has killed hundreds of Americans across six states, obliterated entire settlements, and left multitudes of citizens homeless, hungry, and exposed in the dark.
Help is badly needed. The trouble, according to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, is that the Federal Emergency Management Agency lacks the requisite funds.
During a press briefing Wednesday, Mayorkas told reporters, "We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting. We do not have the funds."
Congress recently poured $20 billion into FEMA's disaster relief fund and enabled the agency to draw on the funds with greater ease, reported the Associated Press.
"FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season and what is imminent," added Mayorkas, before concern-mongering about climate change.
President Joe Biden has suggested that Congress might have to approve additional funding for disaster relief. While the DHS might soon enjoy another cash injection, critics have raised the matter of where the original funds went — realizing that much of it was blown helping illegal aliens who have stolen into the homeland under Mayorkas' watch.
'We have a government that not only hates us but wants us dead.'
FEMA's shelter and services program is a prime offender, providing "financial support to non-federal entities to provide humanitarian services to noncitizen migrants following their release from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The intent is to support CBP in the safe, orderly and humane release of noncitizen migrants from short-term holding facilities."
The total funding made available for this program in fiscal year 2024 was $650 million. The funding total in fiscal year 2023 was $363.8 million. Hundreds of millions were previously awarded by FEMA for migrants through the emergency food and shelter program.
Earlier this year, nearly $19.6 million in FEMA funds was used to pay for an illegal alien welcome center in San Diego County.
In response to Mayorkas turning out empty pockets, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) wrote, "This is easy. Mayorkas and FEMA — immediately stop spending money on illegal immigration resettlement and redirect those funds to areas hit by the hurricane. Put Americans first."
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) tweeted, "FEMA spending over a billion dollars on illegals while they leave Americans stranded and without help is treasonous. U.S. citizens are dying. Pray for our country folks."
"'The Biden-Harris FEMA spent over $1 BILLION on funding illegal aliens.' America LAST," wrote Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.).
"Let me translate: 'We are racking up trillions in debt with all the money that our money printer prints that we then take back from law-abiding American citizens like you but we exist to spend it on anything other than helping you,'" wrote Blaze News editor in chief Matthew Peterson.
Elon Musk simply expressed disbelief, writing, "Wow."
"We have a government that not only hates us but wants us dead," wrote Chad Prather, host of "The Chad Prather Show. "The onus is on them at this point to prove otherwise. They won't … because I'm right."
While the DHS continues sinking taxpayer funds into aiding illegal aliens, FEMA will make a one-time $750 payment available to some qualifying Americans in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia so that they can buy food, water, and other supplies.
According to the FEMA website, the agency's top strategic goal is to "instill equity as a foundation of emergency management."
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Elon Musk announced on Wednesday that SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service would be free over the next month for those living in areas impacted by Hurricane Helene.
The company's website states, "Starlink aims to enable anyone impacted by a natural disaster to be able to access internet connectivity."
'Lawfare costs lives.'
"Starlink terminals will now work automatically without need for payment in the areas affected by Hurricane Helene," Musk wrote on X.
He initially announced plans to make the service free on Tuesday, telling his followers, "We are making a system update to allow all Starlinks in the affected areas to work, regardless of payment. Software update hopefully completed tonight. Tomorrow at the latest."
He stated that SpaceX sent "as many Starlink terminals as possible" to the areas impacted by the hurricane, noting that former President Donald Trump had alerted him to the need earlier this week.
On Monday, Trump told his supporters in Valdosta, Georgia, "I just spoke to Elon. We want to get Starlink hooked up because they have no communication whatsoever. Elon will always come through. We know that."
Now, corporate media outlets are accusing Musk and Trump of taking credit for something the Biden-Harris administration's Federal Emergency Management Agency was reportedly already doing.
A Wednesday press release from FEMA stated that the agency sent 67 Starlinks to North Carolina.
"40 Starlink satellite systems are available to help with responder communications and an additional 140 satellites are being shipped to assist with communications infrastructure restoration," FEMA said, noting that one Starlink would be deployed per county.
In a separate X post, Musk stated that Starlink's services would have been more readily available to those in North Carolina if the Federal Communications Commission had not blocked the company's federal grant. Starlink was set to receive an $885 million award to expand high-speed internet access, connecting more than 640,000 homes and businesses. However, the FCC rescinded the award in 2022, claiming that Starlink could not meet the program's requirements. The agency's decision was reaffirmed in December.
Then, in September, the FCC did an about-face and effectively accused Starlink of having a monopoly.
FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel stated that Starlink has "almost two-thirds of the satellites that are in space right now and has a very high portion of internet traffic. … Our economy doesn't benefit from monopolies. So we've got to invite many more space actors in, many more companies that can develop constellations and innovations in space."
Musk wrote on X, "Had the FCC not illegally revoked the SpaceX Starlink award, it would probably have saved lives in North Carolina."
"Lawfare costs lives," he declared.
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The Center for Tech and Civic Life demanded more election funding, citing the disastrous fallout of Hurricane Helene.
They've spent hundreds of millions of dollars on services for illegal immigrants as Americans struggle after Helene.
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