Hurricane Helene caused extensive damage across FL, GA, SC, NC, TN and even into VA. My area in GA had a good bit of wind damage and widespread power outages. 7,903 customers are still without power in my county and there are several counties in GA almost completely without power. We’re under a boil water advisory, a few stores are open, but not running normally, and more gas stations are now open. We aren’t in bad shape compared to hundreds of thousands of other people impacted by this storm, especially those in western NC and eastern TN.
An odd thing happened over the weekend, when one of my sisters called from PA and she was surprised that GA had such an impact from the storm and that millions of people were without power. She said she saw nothing in the news about it up there. Over the weekend America started getting more news about the devastating flooding in western NC and eastern TN – in Appalachia. My sister wondered if there wasn’t much in the national news about this hurricane, because there are Republican governors in FL and GA and the liberal media didn’t want to give them more attention, since we’re in the midst of a presidential election. There’s also that Appalachia is poor, rural white people, who are easily forgotten. I didn’t see much news about SC storm damage either and as I’m writing this SC still has 733,488 customers without power.
The liberal media focus is very strange in recent years and often natural disasters barely get a mention, while they fixate on hyper-partisan dramas. Being this close to the presidential election, a natural disaster in Appalachia must certainly seem like an untimely inconvenience to liberals trying to run the Kamala fake JOY campaign.
The real heart of America is on display in TN and NC, as volunteers from all over the country are pouring in to try to help, and it’s reassuring this American spirit still beats strong.
I’m trying to remain hopeful that my uneasiness with the way the WH has responded so far is wrong, but here are some warning signs that all is not well with the federal response to this disaster.
First, the FEMA director is Deanne Criswell, an Obama administration official, and she is the “first female director of FEMA.” The feminist push for “first female” in the federal government has always been about breaking glass ceilings any way they can, rather than competency. The feminist movement has always been run by far-leftists, so you get lots of high octane rhetoric and little in the way of principled leadership. Let’s hope this “first female director of FEMA” isn’t as incompetent as the “first female director of USSS,” who bungled Secret Service protection for former President Trump.
President Biden’s responses have been few and he had another odd interaction with the media yesterday, where a reporter asked him if he had any words to the victims of the hurricane. Biden’s response was, “We’ve given everything we have.” He sounded confused and unsure to me – as usual. Then late last night Kamala tweeted that she’s been briefed, but none of this displays command of a crisis, leadership or competency.
And then I saw the new FEMA guidelines under the Biden administration – DEI garbage:
These priorities led to delays in response to the Maui fires a few years ago. The chaos and dysfunction within this White House have gotten worse now and their only concern is winning this election and maintaining this charade of a Biden presidency going, as long as they need it. That’s another topic, but I expect them to try to install Kamala before the January inauguration date, regardless who wins the election. I expect Dems will contest a Trump win, install Kamala and refuse to let Trump become president – one way or another. Sounds crazy, but that’s where I’m at.
Now back to this crisis in Appalachia. It’s hard to know yet, if the FEMA response on the ground is inadequate, because it’s hard to get reliable information and a sense of the overall operation. However, the WH and FEMA have been failing completely at their PR and keeping the public informed. So, here we come to another recent bizarre image, that shows Biden is in even worse shape with cognitive decline than a few months ago, when top Dems pressured him to drop out of the race. Biden held his first full cabinet meeting in almost a year and had Jill run the cabinet meeting. Liberal media downplayed this:
I know Dems and liberal media think they can get away with any spin lie they create, but somehow I don’t think Americans will be satisfied with Jill Biden addressing the nation on an emergency response to a natural disaster:
All my instinctive reactions are twitching that something is very wrong with the federal response to this hurricane, but I keep hoping I’m wrong. Americans will still help each other in a crisis, even if our government fails, so ending on a positive note- here’s where you can donate to help the flood victims in TN and NC:
libertybelle diaries 
I used to live in Hendersonville NC, places I once knew are gone. Chimney Rock has been struggling to survive since covid lockdowns, the village is gone now. Asheville (although the city is a liberal scum pit) is under water. I taught in this community, many of my students got “backpack bags” of food and were part of a summer food program and that was the only way these children ate daily. This community is full of poor people. They need help, not equity. Henderson county was 100% without power still yesterday and two elderly women I know don’t have running water in their community. The devastation is unreal.
Thanks for your perspective. About a quarter of my county is still without power, but we only had wind damage. The situation in other counties is much worse, even here. Augusta might not have power restored until the end of this week and I saw reports there’s no water. Trying to grasp the scope of TN & NC with that plus the flood devastation breaks my heart.
You’ve been LB, in my prayers. Hang in there.
I got off with no problems – just a few missing shingles on the roof and I called the roofing guy and am on a waiting list, lol.
“All my instinctive reactions are twitching that something is very wrong with the federal response to this hurricane, but I keep hoping I’m wrong. Americans will still help each other in a crisis, even if our government fails …. … “
And so. We pull together as a Nation. As one.
https://areaocho.com/longshoreman-or-mafia/
God bless and keep this Republic.