Dear Congress: Helene Victims Need Help Now

October 4, 2024–Dear Congress: Helene victims need help now.

Could you please tear yourself away from campaigning and go into a special session to make FEMA actually do its job? Or let the US Military help secure Americans in mortal peril?

I realize that nothing is more important to you than making the world safe for re-election, and you don’t get kickbacks and massive donations from ordinary Americans, but occasionally your constituents need help, too. After all, you weren’t elected just to service lobbyists and special interests and party hard enough to make Diddy blush, right?

I know a special session is a great inconvenience and imposition on your valuable “cameo appearance in my district so I can pretend to care about you little people” time, but the videos coming out of North Carolina and Tennessee are making people angry. Even worse, they’re making people question just what you’ve been doing up there in DC, and we all know you don’t want that!

People who are trying to help Helene victims are reporting that FEMA is actively interfering with their efforts to help their neighbors and fellow Americans. We're being warned on X that FEMA is confiscating essential supplies and donations, including food. Helicopter pilots are being told they can’t fly supplies in, or dialysis patients out, and at least one pilot was arrested for “interfering” when he returned from a food drop. And the military is reportedly being hamstrung by orders from higher up. There’s a rumor that local units have been told they can’t go help in Tennessee and North Carolina because they’re on standby to deploy to the Middle East to help bolster security for “our greatest ally” when WWIII kicks off.

Friday’s New York Post cover trumpeting the $1.4 billion FEMA has spent on migrants hasn’t helped, either.

Secretary Mayorkas’ claim that FEMA is out of money isn’t sitting well, when “newcomers” are still getting lavish benefits and the red carpet treatment from one end of the country to another. Those 150+ hotels in NYC filled with migrants, the Venezuelan gangs causing problems in multiple cities, and all those Haitians coming in via the CBP 1 app? People are starting to ask inconvenient questions, and they’re not being particular about which party deserves the most blame.

$1.4 billion just from FEMA for migrants. Another $8 billion for Ukraine, $8.7 billion for Israel and $560 million and change for Taiwan, just in the last couple of weeks? $7,000 for every illegal is an oft-quoted figure, and that doesn’t compare favorably with Kamala’s $750 per household.

Guess what? To get that $750 you have to apply online—in areas that have no power, no cell service, and internet only thanks to Elon Musk and Starlink. Also, you have to qualify, so if you have homeowner’s insurance, sorry. If you’re not “low income,” sorry again. Remember that video of Kamala saying disaster relief has to be distributed in a way that supports “equity?” It’s baaaack…

The video making the rounds on social media Friday about the $5 million in cash found in the home of a member of Zelensky’s government hasn’t helped, either.

Helene is a crisis of biblical proportions, and more hurricanes are on the way. FEMA is actively obstructing the recovery efforts, and the military is standing around waiting on DEI-approved orders.

That may not be the reality, but it’s the perception—and in cases like this, the perception IS the reality.

Ugly words are being tossed about. Words like “treason” and “vote them all out.”

Yeah, I knew that would get your attention.

I know it’s a HUGE imposition this close to the election, but could you please go into special session and fix this mess? Because Americans are hurting, and other Americans are getting angry, and some are even looking to history for answers.

FYI, it’s not the American Revolution they’re looking at. It’s the French one.

Thanks in advance for doing the right thing!

***

Note: House.gov and Senate.gov are good places to go to find and contact your Representatives and Senators.

Dr. Bill Chitwood is a retired Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatrist who does political consulting and media relations. He is the author of Beyond Maga, available on Amazon under his pen name, Doc Contrarian. He can be found on Substack and social media as @DocContrarian.

Opinions expressed in the Alabama Gazette are the opinions and viewpoints of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Alabama Gazette staff, advertisers, and/ publishers.