We requested $900 million for Hurricane Matthew recovery, but will receive just $6.1 million — less than 1% of the resources we need. pic.twitter.com/IR0qUi2SZX
Fox’s response over the 24 hours after correspondent Chad Pergram posted about a GOP fact sheet debunking a falsehood Fox had pushed provides an instructive case study about how the network functions. https://t.co/vpsVZWYJyTpic.twitter.com/pz13LJRSrU
Over the past 10 days, I have been proud of how our mountain communities have come together to help one another. We have seen a level of support that is unmatched by most any other disaster nationwide; but amidst all of the support, we have also seen an uptick in untrustworthy sources trying to spark chaos by sharing hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and hearsay about hurricane response efforts across our mountains.
While it is true, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to Hurricane Helene has had its shortfalls, I’m here to dispel the outrageous rumors that have been circulated online:
Hurricane Helene was NOT geoengineered by the government to seize and access lithium deposits in Chimney Rock.
Nobody can control the weather.
Charles Konrad, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southeast Regional Climate Center, has confirmed that no one has the technology or ability to geoengineer a hurricane.
Current geoengineering technology can serve as a large-scale intervention to mitigate the negative consequences of naturally occurring weather phenomena, but it cannot be used to create or manipulate hurricanes.
Local officials have confirmed the government is NOT seizing Chimney Rock.
There was no “special meeting” held in Chimney Rock between federal, state or local governments about seizing the town.
Local officials are NOT abandoning search and rescue efforts to bulldoze over Chimney Rock.
Chimney Rock is NOT being bulldozed over.
Rutherford County emergency services personnel are going to extensive lengths to search for missing people, including in debris by using cadaver dogs to locate any remains of individuals trapped in the debris.
Just as every other community in Western North Carolina, Chimney Rock officials are focused first and foremost on recovery efforts, followed by plans to rebuild in the future.
FEMA is NOT stopping trucks or vehicles with donations, confiscating or seizing supplies, or otherwise turning away donations.
FEMA does not conduct vehicle stops or handle road closures with armed guards – all road closures are managed by local law enforcement who are prioritizing getting resources to their fellow community members.
FEMA has NOT diverted disaster response funding to the border or foreign aid.
Disaster response efforts and individual assistance are funded through the Disaster Relief Fund, which is a dedicated fund for disaster efforts.
FEMA’s non-disaster related presence at the border has always been of major concern to me, even before Hurricane Helene, and I will continue to condemn their deployment of personnel to the southern border, but we must separate the two issues.
FEMA is NOT going to run out of money.
FEMA officials have repeatedly affirmed that the agency has enough money for immediate response and recovery needs over the next few months.
Secretary Mayorkas’ statement indicating otherwise was an irresponsible attempt to politicize a tragedy for personal gain.
In the coming months, Western North Carolina is going to need more disaster relief funding than is currently available to assist with recovery efforts.
I’m confident that supplemental disaster relief funding, which I am already involved in the process of creating, will be considered in the House once we return to session in mid-November.
FEMA cannot seize your property or land.
Applying for disaster assistance does not grant FEMA or the federal government authority or ownership of your property or land.
The FAA is NOT restricting access to airspace for Helene rescue and recovery operations.
Nobody seeking to fly resources into Western North Carolina will be prohibited from doing so by the FAA or North Carolina Emergency Management so long as they coordinate their efforts with NC Aviation.
If you are looking to conduct an airdrop of resources but don’t know who to contact for approval, please reach out to my office and we will share that information with you.
FEMA is NOT only providing $750 to disaster survivors to support their recovery.
The initial $750 provided to disaster survivors is an immediate type of assistance called Serious Needs Assistance that may be made to individuals in need as soon as they apply for FEMA assistance.
The $750 is an upfront, flexible payment to help cover essential items like food, water, baby formula and medication while FEMA assesses the applicant’s eligibility for additional funds.
This award is just the first step of a longer process to provide financial assistance to disaster survivors in need of federal support.
As an application moves through the review process, individuals are eligible to receive additional forms of assistance for other needs such as temporary housing, personal property and home repair costs, etc.
I encourage you to remember that everything you see on Facebook, X, or any other social media platform is not always fact. Please make sure you are fact checking what you read online with a reputable source.
With my warmest regards,
Chuck Edwards Member of Congress”
But we have Steve Scalise and the Wall Street Journal spreading the lie!
— David Limbaugh – DavidInMidTn on Threads (@david4potus2020) October 9, 2024
And others
GOP Rep. Greg Steube and Maria Bartiromo use lies about FEMA to push the great replacement conspiracy theory that has inspired numerous right-wing mass shooters. The height of irresponsibility. pic.twitter.com/g2XNwzbQ72
The MAGA maniacs are going all in on increasingly deranged conspiracy theories about Hurricane Milton. @lehmannchris has the surreal details.https://t.co/kBSyndB8O6
Meteorologists at @NHC_Atlantic are trying to save lives before Milton hits. Heroes at @FEMA are helping Helene survivors rebuild. Government agencies are getting the word out. But the people who most need to read FEMA's "rumor response" page… are the ones who won't believe it. pic.twitter.com/agz3Axrfox
During a visit to Georgia on Monday, Trump said of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp: “He’s been calling the president, hasn’t been able to get him.”
It was immediately clear that Trump’s claim was false. Kemp, a Republican, told reporters earlier Monday that he had spoken with Biden the day prior — and that it was Kemp who had initially missed a call from Biden, not the other way around.
Monday: Trump cites baseless ‘reports’ about anti-Republican bias in the North Carolina response
In a social media post on Monday, Trump said of North Carolina: “I’ll be there shortly, but don’t like the reports that I’m getting about the Federal Government, and the Democrat Governor of the State, going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.”
It’s unclear what “reports” Trump might have been getting, but there was no apparent basis for the underlying claim that the Biden administration and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper were maliciously abandoning certain communities out of partisan bias. Trump provided no evidence when a reporter pressed him later in the day.
Thursday: Trump falsely claims the Biden-Harris response had received ‘universally’ negative reviews
Trump wrote in a social media post on Thursday that Biden and Harris “are universally being given POOR GRADES for the way that they are handling the Hurricane, especially in North Carolina.
That wasn’t even close to accurate. Though the Biden administration’s response had certainly received criticism, it had also been praised by various state and local leaders — including the Republicangovernors of some of the affected states and the Democratic governor of North Carolina, plus local leaders including the Democratic mayor of the hard-hit North Carolina city of Asheville.
Thursday: Trump falsely claims Harris spent ‘all her FEMA money’ on housing illegal migrants
At a campaign rally in Michigan on Thursday, Trump claimed that “Kamala spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal migrants, many of whom should not be in our country.” He added in an election-related conspiracy theory, saying, “They stole the FEMA money, just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them this season.”
This is false.
First, there is zero basis for Trump’s suggestion that the Biden administration is running some sort of scheme to get undocumented immigrants to vote illegally in the 2024 election. Voting by noncitizens is a felony.
Second, there is zero basis for claiming that FEMA disaster assistance money was stolen — by anyone, let alone Harris personally — for the housing of migrants.
Congress appropriated $650 million in the 2024 fiscal year to fund a program that helps state and local governments house migrants — and instructed US Customs and Border Protection to transfer that $650 million to FEMA to administer the program. But this $650 million pot is entirely distinct from FEMA’s pot of disaster relief funds; as the Department of Homeland Security, the White House and independent observers noted this week, they’re just two separate things funded separately by Congress.
Congress appropriated more than $35 billion in disaster relief funds for fiscal 2024, according to official FEMA statistics.
Friday: Trump falsely claims $1 billion was ‘stolen’ from FEMA for migrants and has gone ‘missing’
Though Trump’s Thursday claim about FEMA money and migrants had already been debunked by Friday, Trump repeated the claim to reporters at least twice on Friday — and then said it again at a Friday night town hall event in North Carolina.
Saturday: Trump falsely claims the federal government is only giving $750 to people who lost their homes
At a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump strongly suggested that Americans who lost their homes in the hurricane were only being offered $750 in federal aid.
“They’re offering them $750, to people whose homes have been washed away. And yet we send tens of billions of dollars to foreign countries that most people have never heard of. They’re offering them $750. They’ve been destroyed, these people have been destroyed,” Trump said. He added, “Think of it: We give foreign countries hundreds of billions of dollars and we’re handing North Carolina $750.”
Trump’s claim is wrong. As FEMA explained earlier in the week on social media andon a web page it created to combat misinformation about the response, $750 is merely the immediate, upfront aid survivors can get to cover basic, pressing needs like food, water, baby formula and emergency supplies. Survivors are also eligible to apply for additional forms of assistance, such as to pay for temporary housing and home repairs, that can be worth thousands of dollars; the current maximum amount for home repair assistance, for example, is $42,500.
During Harris’ visit to Georgia on Wednesday, she said, “And the federal relief and assistance that we have been providing has included FEMA providing $750 for folks who need immediate needs being met, such as food, baby formula, and the like. And you can apply now.” But she added just moments later, “FEMA is also providing tens of thousands more dollars for folks to help them be able to deal with home repair, to be able to cover a deductible when and if they have insurance, and also hotel costs.”
It’s also worth noting that this hurricane-related assistance to individual residents is separate from the hurricane-related assistance the federal government will provide to state governments. For example, the federal transportation department announced Saturday that it was immediately providing $100 million to North Carolina’s transportation department “to help pay for the costs of immediate emergency work resulting from Hurricane Helene flood damage.” Buttigieg added that this emergency funding “will be followed by additional federal resources.”
This is a type of assistance that you may be approved for soon after you apply, called Serious Needs Assistance. It is an upfront, flexible payment to help cover essential items like food, water, baby formula, breastfeeding supplies, medication and other emergency supplies. There are other forms of assistance that you may qualify for to receive and Serious Needs Assistance is an initial payment you may receive while FEMA assesses your eligibility for additional funds. As your application continues to be reviewed, you may still receive additional forms of assistance for other needs such as support for temporary housing, personal property and home repair costs. If you have questions about your disaster assistance application and what you qualify for, contact us at 1-800-621-3362 to speak with a FEMA representative in your language.”
Saturday: Trump falsely claims there are ‘no helicopters, no rescue’ in North Carolina
.@NCNationalGuard members have distributed over 1 million pounds of supplies – including food and water – using vehicles, helicopters and cargo planes to reach all western North Carolina communities impacted by Hurricane Helene floodwaters. pic.twitter.com/KQ1zdit0NF
Trump, criticizing Harris for participating in a political fundraising event in California the last weekend of September, said at the Saturday rally in Pennsylvania: “Kamala wined and dined in San Francisco, and all of the people in North Carolina — no helicopters, no rescue — it’s just — what’s happened there is very bad.”
This claim about North Carolina is false. There have been numerous government and private helicopters and other aircraft involved in rescue and aid efforts in North Carolina, though some residents died before they could be rescued and a significant number of residents have remained missing or stranded for days.
The North Carolina National Guard announced Thursday that its own air assets had “completed 146 flight missions, resulting in the rescue of 538 people and 150 pets.” The Washington Post reported Friday: “The drone of helicopters has become routine across western North Carolina in the wake of Helene. National Guard and civilian aircraft now crisscross the skies of a region where roads and bridges have been destroyed and people are trapped. The helicopters are delivering supplies, picking up people who need rescuing, dropping off firefighters and search-and-rescue crews and radioing for assistance for others who can be more easily accessed from the ground.“
CNN reported Saturday that air traffic over western North Carolina had increased 300% over the past seven days due to hurricane relief efforts, according to Becca Gallas, director of North Carolina’s Division of Aviation. The state said in an official update Saturday: “A total of 53 search and rescue teams from North Carolina and beyond, consisting of more than 1,600 personnel have conducted search and rescue operations during this event. Search and rescue teams have interacted with over 5,400 people, including assists, evacuations and rescues.”
“So how far will his allies go to keep their king happy?”
“This past week, the depths of MAGA mendacity reached a new low when Trump used Hurricane Helene—which devastated parts of Georgia, the Carolinas, and beyond, leading to over 230 deaths—to promote another smear against his opponents: On Monday, he said of Georgia’s governor Brian Kemp, “He’s been calling [Biden]” and “hasn’t been able to get him,” as if Biden has been twiddling his thumbs amid the disaster. This was apparently a bridge too far even for Kemp, a pro-Trump Republican, who eventually debunked Trump’s claim: “[Biden] just said, ‘Hey, what do you need?’ And I told him, you know, ‘We got what we need. We’ll work through the federal process,’” Kemp said, correcting the record. “He offered that if there’s other things we need, just to call him directly, which—I appreciate that.”
Nevertheless, Trump and his allies, including Musk, spent the rest of the week spreading falsehoods about the hurricane response. Few baseless claims were more disturbing than the one that Trump spewed about immigrants and Harris: “Kamala spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal migrants, many of whom should not be in our country,” he said Thursday in Michigan, suggesting that Harris diverted disaster relief for political reasons. “They stole the FEMA money, just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them this season.” It was a “bald-faced” lie, as the White House declared, but it’s one that Trump continued to repeat at least twice this past Friday, despite it already having been roundly debunked.
The big irony here is that it is not Harris but Trump who is guilty of doing this. According to The Washington Post, “In 2019, the Trump administration, in the middle of hurricane season, told Congress that it was taking $271 million from DHS programs, including $155 million from the disaster fund, to pay for immigration detention space and temporary hearing locations for asylum seekers who had been forced to wait in Mexico.” Indeed, Trump, as I pointed out earlier this cycle, has repeatedly accused Democrats of doing things he actually did (see: his claim that Harris heading to the top of the ticket was a “coup”).
Again, Trump lying is nothing new. But the sheer volume of his falsehoods—and the way they’re systematically endorsed by leading members of the Republican Party—has tipped the base into the unreality that the Democratic political establishment is utterly nefarious and partisan. But the actual reality is more boring: The federal government is staffed largely by nonpartisan career civil servants, and it is, rather, Project 2025 that would reshape it into something nefarious and partisan. As another hurricane heads toward Florida, one has to wonder how deadly the consequences of the GOP’s unreality will be in the coming days—not to mention in the next four years if Trump’s government is tasked with relieving the disasters to come.”
Let me explain this on the MAGA Grade Level
CIVICS 101
ALL Revenue and Spending Bills Originate in the US House
“All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.”
When our country first began the Senators were NOT elected, they were appointed. That 17th Amendment thing. House was put in charge of revenue and spending because they WERE elected.
DHS and Immigrants and Spending? Has NOTHING to do with FEMA disaster relief and it was PASSED by a GOP US House. Hint? The Speaker of the House is a Republican.
“The funding can pay the cost of shelter, food, transportation, basic health and first aid, Covid-19 testing and other supportive services to asylum seekers.”
“Federal spending bill to include $800M in grants for cities dealing with migrant crisis The funding can pay the cost of shelter, food, transportation, basic health and first aid, Covid-19 testing and other supportive services to asylum seekers.”
“Thank you to Senator Schumer, incoming Minority Leader [Hakeem] Jeffries, and our entire federal delegation for advocating so New York City gets the help we need and stepping up to address this crisis,” Adams said.” MINORITY LEADER Hakeem Jeffries. GOP controlled the HOUSE when this was PASSED.
Nothing to do with Biden or Harris and had NO IMPACT on FEMA disaster funds!”
“FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund and its migrant initiative are appropriated through separate funding streams. Replenishing the disaster fund requires an act of Congress.”
“FEMA is running low on disaster money, but not because the funds went to housing undocumented migrants FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund and its migrant initiative are appropriated through separate funding streams. Replenishing the disaster fund requires an act of Congress.”
PLEASE LEARN HOW OUR US GOVERNMENT WORKS! The IGNORANCE of CIVICS is Destroying Our Country!
Rumors, misinformation and lies about the federal government’s response to Hurricane Helene have run rampant since the storm made landfall, especially around funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
As a possible Category 5 hurricane bears down on Florida a reminder that Climate Change is Climate Changed and Project 2025 wants to delete the term “Climate Change” from US Government and dismantle FEMA and NOAA!
“In an op-ed published by the newspapers on Saturday titled, “Shame on Donald Trump for worsening NC’s Helene tragedy with political lies” the joint editorial board critiqued Trump’s remarks for trying to benefit himself politically instead of bringing the community together.
“This is not a situation to capitalize on for political gain. But former President Donald Trump has politicized the situation at every turn, spreading falsehoods and conspiracies that fracture the community instead of bringing it together,” the editorial boards wrote.
According to the editorial board, “the worst examples” of this is a Truth Social post this week in which Trump claimed that the federal government and Democratic state officials were “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas” in the aftermath of Helene.
However, there does not appear to be any credible evidence to support Trump’s claim, with Republican governors in affected states having instead thanked the government for a prompt disaster response.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.):
“The last thing that the victims of Helene need right now is political posturing, finger-pointing, or conspiracy theories that only hurt the response effort.” pic.twitter.com/TIaGjgtavn
THREAD: Today we flew in Chopper9 for nearly 5 hours to get a look at the damage in Western North Carolina. What we saw was devastating. @wsoctv These are some of the images:
“Inside the U.S. city churning out Ukrainian weapons” “The U.S. Army was making 14,000 artillery shells a month prior to the conflict. Now, officials at the plant told Morning Edition that the army is producing 36,000 shells a month, up from 24,000 just six months ago.” “This increase in production has led to more jobs in Scranton, a small city with less than 80,000 people. The city, once a hub for coal mining and small American manufacturing, now relies on the defense installations in the area for good, high-paying jobs.
“We’re all about quality jobs, and that’s a quality organization,” Bob Durkin, the president and chief executive officer of the Scranton Chamber of Commerce said. “So the infusion of additional funding to support is important to us.”
Congressman Matt Cartwright, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee and represents Scranton and other parts of Northeastern Pennsylvania pointed to a $277 million Raytheon contract to illustrate this point.
“It’s not $277 million that stays here. But, you know, it’s a good chunk of it,” Cartwright said. “And it’s important that we keep that work coming.””
“The United States has committed more than $44.9 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration, including more than $44.2 billion since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion on February 24, 2022.” is 5.6% of our Defense Department Budget.”
“A new analysis by the Center for European Policy Analysis finds that congressionally approved funds to support Ukraine this year amount to about 5.6 percent of U.S. defense spending, while resulting in a significant degrading of Russia’s military:” “These sums pale into insignificance when set against a total US defense budget of $715bn for 2022. The assistance represents 5.6% of total US defense spending. But Russia is a primary adversary of the US, a top tier rival not too far behind China, its number one strategic challenger. In cold, geopolitical terms, this war provides a prime opportunity for the US to erode and degrade Russia’s conventional defense capability, with no boots on the ground and little risk to US lives.
The Ukrainian armed forces have already killed or wounded upwards of 100,000 Russian troops, half its original fighting force; there have been almost 8,000 confirmed losses of armored vehicles including thousands of tanks, thousands of APCs, artillery pieces, hundreds of fixed and rotary wing aircraft, and numerous naval vessels. US spending of 5.6% of its defense budget to destroy nearly half of Russia’s conventional military capability seems like an absolutely incredible investment. If we divide out the US defense budget to the threats it faces, Russia would perhaps be of the order of $100bn-150bn in spend-to-threat. So spending just $40bn a year, erodes a threat value of $100-150bn, a two-to-three time return. Actually the return is likely to be multiples of this given that defense spending, and threat are annual recurring events.”
Please LEARN THE FACTS! Please LEARN HOW OUR US GOVERNMENT WORKS!
Presidents SIGN BILLS. They DO NOT WRITE BILLS! US House, controlled by Republicans, have funded everything you are complaining about!
Twitter Shares Heat wave in Europe: ‘National emergency’ in UK as historic temps forecast and wildfires rage “British authorities are issuing dire warnings, as temperatures may reach 104 degrees Fahrenheit in southern Britain,
Twitter Shares We’ve underestimated the ‘Doomsday’ glacier – and the consequences could be devastating Greenland’s glaciers are melting 100 times faster than estimated “Scientists are getting a better handle on
