In an uncommon (these days) act of objective journalism, James O’Keefe, the founder of Project Veritas and now the CEO of OMG Media, has gone to Western North Carolina to investigate. He went to see who was telling the truth about the situation there: the federal government or the people struggling to survive in tents in freezing temperatures.
This isn’t the first time FEMA has been accused of not aiding the survivors of a disaster. The accusations of cold disinterest to downright negligence were also present after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Superstorm Sandy in the North Eastern states, and the terrible wildfire that ravaged Lahaina on Maui, Hawaii.
In each case, the story was the same. Victims of the disasters criticized FEMA’s lackluster responses and were accused by the media of spreading “harmful misinformation.”
He wrote about his investigation on X.
“We don’t want to have an epidemic of people freezing to death,” a resident declared during the Buncombe County Commissioners meeting, voicing frustration over the slow pace of disaster relief in North Carolina. Another resident added, “I’ve never seen the lack of public officials coming out and actually trying to help,” reflecting the sentiment of abandonment felt by many in the community. Despite the mainstream media’s narrative of assistance, a resident revealed, “FEMA money runs out, and all the help I’ve seen has come from people out of state.” One FEMA employee even admitted, “Every delay means another night that a child sleeps in a car.”
@OKeefeMedia Group investigated these concerns, visiting FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers across the state to uncover the reality of Hurricane Helene relief efforts.
Here are the videos he has released so far. You can judge for yourself.
Part 1:
“FEMA doesn’t want these people.”
OMG INVESTIGATES FEMA – Part 1: “FEMA Doesn’t Want These People”: North Carolina Residents Still Stranded as @FEMA Fails to Deliver Aid After Hurricane Helene pic.twitter.com/nECcY5Z8QA
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) December 5, 2024
Part 2:
O’Keefe Calls FEMA’s Mysterious ‘HAL’ Robot-Like Representative for Answers on Disaster Relief Response
OMG Investigates FEMA – Part 2: O’Keefe Calls FEMA’s Mysterious ‘HAL’ Robot-Like Representative for Answers on Disaster Relief Response pic.twitter.com/p7PiCeJZ6T
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) December 6, 2024
Part 3:
O’Keefe Sneaks Into Emergency FEMA Locations, Exposes Empty Disaster Recovery Center
OMG Investigates FEMA – Part 3: O’Keefe Sneaks Into Emergency FEMA Locations, Exposes Empty Disaster Recovery Center pic.twitter.com/q2mIOYZLnb
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) December 11, 2024
Who is helping the Helene victims?
The people who are actually helping are volunteers from across the country. They’re organizing the donations of campers and RVs, transporting them, and setting them up on peoples’ land, completely free of charge.
If you feel moved to help, the groups I recommend are:
What do you think?
How do you still feel hope when it seems like your own government cares more about the welfare of people in Ukraine, Lebanon, and Africa than it does suffering American citizens?
Do you believe O’Keefe’s reports, which are in line with the “conspiracy theories” put forth by locals? Or do you think the government is doing its best?
Let’s discuss it in the comments section.
23 Responses
Obviously, those FEMA mutts are doing NOTHING of actual help and don’t want to be exposed as THIEVES taking a salary for no production.
The FEMA staff would be more comfortable in their own homes. They should GO home, give those tents and trailers away to North Carolinians, and rip off the taxpayers in greater comfort.
You are partly right. The FEMA mutts should go home; without a job.
I live in the Brushy Mountains of NC and we were less impacted by Helene but still had over 3 feet of water suddenly rushing down our driveway from what is normally asmall meandering creek. A group from our church has been making supply runs from donations we collected to harder hit areas and have spent time on the ground helping remove trees and debris, clearing roadways and around houses. Many faith based groups are on the ground daily doing what they can and government as usual just gets in the way and slows down the progress these organizations could do. Samaritan’s Purse has been doing yeoman’s work. Pray for wetsern NC, eastern TN and northern GA.
As a survivor of Hurricane Michael, a CAT 5 storm in the Florida Panhandle, I can attest that the feds and FEMA were the LAST to show up and did nothing for us. They told us to pull our car over to a local elementary school and they would load a box of MREs and bottled water into the car. This was WEEKS after the storm. If we relied on them, we would have died of thirst. The responders who made a difference were the faith based organizations. There were NO foreign charities to be found and the feds were beyond useless. And for this, we pay taxes. This Government is beyond corrupt. They are evil.
Long ago, many foreign countries tried to help us with Hurricane Katrina and our arrogant government turned them all down. Some of that would have been REALLY helpful. So 2024, the rest of the world probably daydreams of helping us, but they know better than to offer.
What has happened to FEMA? When Ivan hit NW Florida they were right on it with in days,passing out MREs and taking damage reports and issuing checks so people were able to get by on until the real help got here a few days later.The FEMA people were friendly and open about what was coming next in the way of help,they were great.This was under Governor Jeb Bush,a Republican,need I say more.
You might add that his brother was President at the time, not Obama or Biden.
A very telling response of FEMA was when they brought their own hurricane proof portable office to NC. When disaster strikes they come first.
Same like Congress. The have their underground bunkers but where’s ours?
Now you see how it wokes with them?
No, Daisy. The sociopaths in power don’t “[care] more about the welfare of people in Ukraine, Lebanon, and Africa than it does suffering American citizens”. They care about the money they can launder through these operations and the power it can purchase for them.
thank you, I’ve been saying the same thing to everyone else. See Mike Benz or Ron Paul for how that works. Or read Miranda Devine’s book on the Hunter Biden Laptop.
A perfect example of our government gone rogue. Money laundering is their only objective to strengthen and maintain party power for powers sake. this has been a systematic takeover of our country brought on by the apathetic way to comfortable populace, yes it is our fault for giving the evil the keys to the world. Can it be fixed ? If we wake up and demand accountability and consequences. We only have one shot at this and we better make it good.
F)ascist E)vil M)onsters in A)merica
No matter how much you hate your government, you don’t hate it nearly enough.
Thanks for the O’Keefe videos. They are concise and hit the nail on the head. I hope that millions of people are reached and that they demand action and accountability. I am amazed at the attitude of these FEMA representatives. How absolutely uppity they are. How would they feel if the tables were turned and they were the ones desperate for a warm bed and a decent meal? (Not to mention clean water)
Most of the people here in Western North Carolina are “salt of the earth” and would help a neighbor in need. It is a crying shame how they are being treated. Some have been told that they cannot rebuild on land that has been in their families for generations because it’s now in a floodplain. How absurd. The chance of this happening again in a thousand years is minuscule. Unless of course the guys at the “weather warfare department” decide that we haven’t had enough yet.
Thank God for the charity of strangers and the hard working volunteers. They are the ones who are making a difference. They are the ones who continue on in the face of freezing weather and incredible obstacles.
By the way, JD Vance paid a visit to Fairview , just east of Asheville, last Friday which helps to draw attention to the situation.
Also, the town of Chimney Rock, which was very hard hit, will open for visitors one day only this Saturday the 14th from 10 am to 4 pm. However, the only way to access Chimney Rock and Lake Lure is by N.C. Hwy 9 from Columbus and U.S. 64/74A from Rutherfordton. There is still no access from Hendersonville and Bat Cave as the road was completely washed away and could take considerable time to restore.
the group of people being told not to rebuild are sitting on land that BlackRock wants to purchase due to a very profitable lithium mine nearby.
FEMA would be a great place for DOGE to begin its work.
Alert: John Ward of the Appalachian Channel with John Ward has issued a warning about Rosalie Toro of Camp Rosebud in Rutherford County North Carolina. If you have sent a check to help her, stop payment immediately. She is a scammer and has pocketed thousands of dollars given by people of good heart who thought that the money was going to shelter victims of Helene.
See his video posted on Thursday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCH47gUflrs
This is not the first instance of thieves taking money and supplies intended for victims of the hurricane. Just last week, generators were stolen from the LOCKED Asheville city bus garage and early-on in the relief efforts Fruitland Bible College in Hendersonville was absolutely looted in a single night. Just as Jesus said that the poor will always be with us… apparently, the rats that victimize the poor will also be with us. So use caution, donate to trust worthy organizations and volunteers that you know are actually walking the walk. Trust your gut. It’s your early warning system. If something seems off, fishy, then pause and redirect those funds to groups that you know are honest and responsible.
The blame does not rest only with the federal government and FEMA. State governors must request the aid before any can be provided by the feds. Gov. Roy Cooper has failed miserably. He waited too long to send in additional national guard and in requesting IS military assets. Every branch of military has bases in NC and I find it appalling that Cooper waited so long to request their assistance and that they are no longer being utilized. Also, here in eastern NC, the local news barely provides any coverage of the disaster in the mountains anymore and even those reports are few and far between.
My opinion is that this has been a failure from both the federal level and the state level and going by anecdotal reports, from the county level as well, at least from Buncombe County.
As an aside, Asheville (in Buncombe) has a reputation for being a very progressive city. The local government voted for reparations, for example. It’s known for high drug addiction and homelessness. I believe it is one of the test cities for the 2030 agenda 15 minute cities. It is also a declared sanctuary city for illegal migrants. During one of the press briefings right after Helene, a caller from a Hispanic news organization (I can’t recall which one) called in to ask what Buncombe County was going to do with the large illegal population and if they’d receive help/rescue from the county emergency responders.
Hi Carol,
Your points are spot on. First, Governor Cooper {D} is a complete failure and has been from the start.
And second, yes, Asheville is a “woke,” as opposed to “awakened” mess. (because they have confused the past tense of “wake” with the state of being “awake” that often implies spiritual enlightenment, which they don’t remotely possess.)
Your mention of the call-in reminded me of something similar. During an early Q & A session with the Asheville Mayor & Buncombe County Sheriff, which was broadcast over WWNC, a reporter from some liberal rag (I didn’t catch the name — there are several of these tiny tabloids) asked about the looting immediately after the storm and was told that it wouldn’t be tolerated. Then the reporter rephrased the question, stating that these people were starving and thirsty so the thievery was justified. He received his smack-down when he was told again that it would not be tolerated and that “stealing is stealing, period.” That still didn’t shut him up but the moderator firmly called for the next question.
Which brings me to one more comment. The radio was our lifeline for many days. We were isolated from everyone but close neighbors, anyone else had to hike in. We had no electricity or running water, no phone service or internet but Mark Starling, who was trapped at the radio station alone but with back-up generator power, broadcast words of hope and opened the phone lines to anyone who could get through. As the calls for help poured in from those in need of medicine and other necessities, giving out their names, addresses and phone numbers, he asked for responders. The requests were repeated until volunteers would call in stating that they had gone to check and were able to help get the medicine, or food and water or cut that tree off the roof or out of the driveway or transport someone to the hospital. People called in asking if anyone had seen their relatives and others called back with good news “Yes he’s my neighbor and he’s okay” or sad news “That house is gone and we can’t find her.” He announced locations where people could shelter, obtain water, a hot meal, baby supplies, a shower, or internet thanks to the Starlink systems which were quickly shipped in and run free of charge thanks to Elon Musk.
If you ever doubted that you need an emergency battery powered radio with several bands, wonder no more because it might one day be YOUR lifeline.
Yet another confirmation of the government’s wicked negligence and culpable incompetence! I need to be good and angry, because anger – properly channeled – becomes energy for action.
Helene provided an eloquent – TERRIBLE! – object lesson for us all that we must remain diligent and ready to do for ourselves, our families, and our communities. Once this is over – and that’s not going to be for a long time! – we canNOT just go back to sleep!
Again, I’m preachin’ to the choir, I’m sure!
Neither “negligent” nor “incompetent”, rather deliberate. After the noise dies down a bit, anyone awake will see that FEMA is a cat’s-paw for the REITs.
If this is the best that our government can do for the people of this country, it sickens me. These government employees are being paid to do absolutely nothing. Winter is here and people are suffering. I’m thinking that maybe the cutting of wasteful spending starts with FEMA.
We inadvertently got pushed into Asheville, NC this past week coming home from SC. We didn’t exactly remember which towns were badly hit until we drove into this town. Holy cow. It took our breathe away. It looked like a war zone/forest clearing construction site minus the buildings. Just devastating.