Free Republic

Where did all the money go? “Your guess is as good as mine,” David Montoya, the inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, says of $700 million in missing taxpayer money that Louisiana homeowners were given in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to elevate and protect their homes from future storms. A new report released from the inspector general’s office shows that more than 24,000 homeowners who received grants of up to $30,000 to elevate their homes either misspent or pocketed the money. “The fact of the matter is that the money they received was for a...

Underwater doesn't even begin to get at the heart of Maurice Corkery's predicament. "This was my summer home," the Delaware County plant manager said of his little rancher on Third Street in Ocean City, N.J., flooded with its foundation cracked - totalled, really - by Sandy. "I was trying to think of a time line," he said. "It's been so long. I'm so screwed up. I haven't seen any money. Where is the money? All they do is talk about it." [snip] "It seems like people who are responsible and have paid for coverage are the losers," he said. "The...

WHAT IS CAMP FEMA? Homeland Security graduates first Corps of Homeland Youth October 7, 2012. Vicksburg. The federal government calls them FEMA Corps. But they conjure up memories of the Hitler Youth of 1930’s Germany. Regardless of their name, the Dept of Homeland Security has just graduated its first class of 231 Homeland Youth. Kids, aged 18-24 and recruited from the President’s AmeriCorp volunteers, they represent the first wave of DHS’s youth corps, designed specifically to create a full time, paid, standing army of FEMA Youth across the country. http://campfema.com/ http://www.training.fema.gov/ http://educationviews.org/homeland-security-graduates-first-c... http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/dhs-graduates-first-class-in-fema-camp-corps-is-this-the-2012-hitler-youth-corps/question-3278039/?page=5&link=ibaf&q=what+is+the+fema+youth+corps%3F

News reports that the federal Department of Homeland Security is stockpiling billions of rounds of ammunition have prompted many Americans to ask: Just who is the government preparing to go to war with? To radio talker Mark Levin, the answer is that “our society is unraveling” and DHS is preparing for “the collapse of our financial system, the collapse of our society and the potential for widespread violence, looting, killing in the streets, because that’s what happens when an economy collapses.” Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin agrees, saying, “We’re going to default eventually and that’s why the feds are stockpiling...

The state’s quick adoption of FEMA’s advisory flood maps was sharply criticized Monday by Democratic state senators who said some residents will needlessly spend tens of thousands of dollars to raise their homes to standards that could be eased. Calling the requirements adopted last month by the Department of Environmental Protection "insane," Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex) asked scientists at a hearing in Toms River if the maps are "scientifically valid." At least two scientists — who testified before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee — declined to answer, but Stewart Farrell, director of the Coastal Research Center of the Richard...

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is asking those affected by Snowstorm Nemo to check on their neighbors and follow the direction of local officials as the Northeast corridor begins to dig out from under the massive blizzard. "Everyone has a role to play in the response to this winter storm," said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate in a statement released Saturday morning. "Follow the direction of your state, local and tribal officials, and if you are told to stay off the roads, stay home, and when it is safe, check on your neighbors or friends nearby who may need assistance or...

In what may be the first full digital storm panic, federal, state and business officials worried about the snow headed for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast have taken to Twitter warn that a potential disaster is coming.

A nationwide flu outbreak could be a sufficient excuse to call up the National Guard Rapid Response Parallel support module to take control of a “national emergency” with possible declaration of martial law protocols. According to a North Carolina police lieutenant, in some three to six months declarations of martial law could be made throughout the nation. In a two part radio broadcast aired by a Virginia pastor, Lieutenant McCoy has attracted the attention of more than 20,000 listeners. “We’re in huge trouble,” he says as he calls up memories of white, granite gravestones all over Europe; gravestones marking the...

You didn't hear about all that? Plenty more cause-to-suspect the intentions of this vile regime where that came from, and do keep in mind that the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution was intended to protect the populace from the actions of a tyrannical government-it wasn't meant for hunting, or even stopping stage-coach robberies- it's there primarily to defend Liberty from precisely the type of megalomaniacal leaders we find ourselves saddled with today... Powerful CA Senator Diane Feinstein has come right-out and stated her end-goal as confiscation of ALL guns in this country... President Obama has twice called for a 'Civilian National Security Force'...

Just a few days after Hurricane Sandy devastated parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, the New York Times' Paul Krugman crowed triumphantly about the federal government's response to the disaster. "[A]fter Katrina the government seemed to have no idea what it was doing; this time it did. And that's no accident: the federal government's ability to respond effectively to disaster always collapses when antigovernment Republicans hold the White House, and always recovers when Democrats take it back." What a fairy tale. Mature adults understand that earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters are an unfortunate fact of life. They...

President Barack Obama has signed into law a $9.7 billion bill to pay flood insurance claims from Superstorm Sandy. … The House has yet to act on a larger, more comprehensive Sandy aid package. Republican leaders did not bring the bill to the floor before the last session of Congress adjourned. …

Swedish toddlers could be protected from urinary tract infections if their parents took a leaf out of Vietnam's potty training book and cut short the use of nappies, a Swedish research study infers. Professor Anna-Lena Hellström at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg has previously studied the link between diapers and UTIs, more specifically how children who cannot completely empty their bladder run a higher risk of infection. She has now turned her attention to potty training in Vietnam where toddlers as young as three months go diaper-free. "Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine you could start that young,"...

Nearly two months after homes in Staten Island, NY were devastated by Hurricane Sandy, residents say they’re still struggling with red tape as they try to get the government to help. … Victims are shuffled from one desk to another for registration, an identification check, and one-on-one interviews—then referred to something called a “Mitigation Desk,” a FEMA official at a local Disaster Recovery Center explained to MRCTV. …

A few days ago, I posted this blog: Doomsday Preppers are Socially Selfish. The role of a blogger is to foment discussion an it certainly appears that’s what I did. I very much appreciated most of the 150+ comments – except perhaps the ones that called me ‘stupid’, ‘nuts, ‘arrogant’, ‘ignorant’ – and a few personal emails that were much more graphic. I wrote this for the emergency management community, who pretty much misunderstood what I was saying. Social media is certainly powerful and I had no idea this would be so controversial. FIRST .. let me offer a heartfelt...

I'm all for people pitching in to rebuild after a hurricane. But should the taxpayer be subsidizing the rebuilding, especially when an area has proven to be disaster-prone? New York Times: ******** DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. - Even in the off season, the pastel beach houses lining a skinny strip of sand here are a testament to the good life. They are also a monument to the generosity of the federal government. The western end of this Gulf Coast island has proved to be one of the most hazardous places in the country for waterfront property. Since 1979, nearly a dozen...

How do you know when government is broken and rife with incompetence? A good indicator could be when Federally managed workers with the Federal Emergency Management Agency are lining up for food handed out by an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Occupy Sandy. Last week, FEMA shut down its New York centers set up to respond the devastation caused by superstorm Sandy because of… bad weather. This left a disaster aid void that was filled by independent volunteer groups, including Occupy Sandy. Many residents in the region reported feeling abandoned by the Federal helpers sent to aid them....

Hurricane Sandy hadn't even touched down when liberals started blowing kisses to FEMA, or Federal Emergency Management Agency, the federal disaster relief agency. A New York Times editorial declared that the impending storm proved that the country needs FEMA-style "Big Government" solutions more than ever. Salon, New Republic and other liberal outfits heartily agreed. Why do liberals love FEMA so much? Certainly not for its glorious track record. Rather, FEMA has been a great vehicle for expanding the welfare state. FEMA's tragic missteps after Katrina earned it well-deserved disgrace. The Times blames those on the Bush administration, whose anti-government philosophy...

Jersey City small business owners tell FEMA they need grants, not loansBy Terrence T. McDonald / The Jersey Journal updated November 15, 2012 at 11:29 AM **SNIP** But that’s not helpful, said Wayne Lyons, 52, owner of Soul Flavors Restaurant on Grove Street. The restaurant was closed for five days because of Sandy, which caused floods that destroyed equipment in the restaurant’s basement, Lyons said. Lyons said he was hoping for grants instead of loans, saying the federal government “bailed out Wall Street,” so they should bail out small businesses. FEMA declined to comment.

It’s been two weeks since Hurricane Sandy killed 113 people, wiped out portions of towns, and knocked out power to millions. It has also been two weeks since Barack Obama pledged, “No bureaucracy. No red tape.” However, according to multiple public and private sources, unions and union-related red tape are causing workers from out of state to be turned back, as well as workers contracted by FEMA, as well as tons of supplies, already in New York and New Jersey to sit idle—at a cost of millions to taxpayers. It has already been well publicized though the Daily Caller how...

It’s been two weeks since Hurricane Sandy killed 113 people, wiped out portions of towns, and knocked out power to millions. It has also been two weeks since Barack Obama pledged, “No bureaucracy. No red tape.” However, according to multiple public and private sources, unions and union-related red tape are causing workers from out of state to be turned back, as well as workers contracted by FEMA, as well as tons of supplies, already in New York and New Jersey to sit idle—at a cost of millions to taxpayers. It has already been well publicized though the Daily Caller how...

The post-storm housing — a refugee camp on the grounds of the Monmouth Park racetrack – is in lockdown, with security guards at every door, including the showers. No one is allowed to go anywhere without showing their I.D. Even to use the bathroom, “you have to show your badge,” said Amber Decamp, a 22-year-old whose rental was washed away in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. The mini city has no cigarettes, no books, no magazines, no board games, no TVs, and no newspapers or radios. On Friday night, in front of the mess hall, which was serving fried chicken and...

Just imagine for a moment what would happen if George Bush’s FEMA Director “Brownie” had suggested homeless African American victims of Katrina be relocated to an empty Louisiana prison. I’ll wait while you try to stop laughing and compose yourself. Whether it would have been a good idea or a TERRIBLE INSULT would have made no difference; it would never have even been discussed. Paternalistic liberals could not sleep at night knowing this was going on. They would much rather “their” Black people sleep in tents….. than sleep in a well-lit warm and safe former prison. “Oh the inhumanity of...

Breaking on Fox. $120M in FEMA money sent to help NY/NJ has disappeared.

FEMA has already dispensed close to $200 million in emergency housing assistance and put 34,000 people in New York and New Jersey in hotels and motels. Still, city and state officials have not laid out an official plan with specifics to move the homeless into long-term housing in an already congested area.

A winter storm battered the Northeast coast Thursday after cutting power to at least 115,000 homes and dumping record snowfalls in the New York City area. The National Weather Service warned of wind gusts as high as 60 mph along the coast, “minor to moderate” flooding from storm surges, and more snow, particularly in New England, early Thursday. More than 600,000 people were without electricity as a result of superstorm Sandy and the new storm. NBCNewYork.com reported that more than 198,000 Long Island Power Authority customers, 55,000 Con Edison customers in New York City and Westchester County, 197,560 Jersey Central...

Volunteers and disaster victims have taken rescue, recovery and security into their own hands on New York's storm-ravaged borough of Staten Island, where they say FEMA has forgotten them. Already without power for more than a week in the wake of superstorm Sandy, hard-hit residents of the borough's South Shore braved a nor'easter Wednesday night, many -- perhaps hundreds -- huddling in condemned homes and ignoring orders to evacuate out of fear looters would take what little Mother Nature has left them. "FEMA packed up everything yesterday and left the area," said MaryLou Wong, whose home in the Midland Beach...

A FEMA disaster recovery center in a Hurricane Sandy-ravaged corner of Staten Island that was supposed to provide shelter, food and assistance to hurricane victims Wednesday morning went MIA, posting a sign saying that they were closed due to the approaching nor’easter. A printed paper sign taped to the front door of on the center at 6581 Hylan Blvd. at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday read “FEMA Center Closed Due to Weather.” The front doors of the disaster recovery center, which is housed inside the Mount Lorretto Catholic Youth Organization, were unlocked, but there was no staff anywhere in sight for at...

(AP) - Government leaders are turning their attention to the next crisis unfolding in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy: finding housing for potentially tens of thousands of people left homeless. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it has already dispensed close to $200 million in emergency housing assistance and has put 34,000 people in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area up in hotels and motels. But local, state and federal officials have yet to lay out a specific, comprehensive plan for finding them long-term places to live, even as cold weather sets in. And given the scarcity and...

Hurricane-relief Guardsmen tossed out of armory - for Victoria's Secret show The Victoria’s Secret show must go on — even if it means kicking out hardworking men and women in uniform. Dozens of National Guardsmen, and Army and Air Force personnel who have been sleeping at Manhattan’s Lexington Armory in between hurricane-relief shifts are being booted — to make room for Victoria’s Secret models in anticipation of Wednesday’s runway show. About 300 uniformed personnel have been bunking down at the armory at various times since Sandy hit. But their numbers will be reduced to 60 by Wednesday for the event,...

Mayor Bloomberg’s Response to Sandy Leaves Many New Yorkers Out in the Cold The mayor has brilliantly stage-managed his handling of the storm, but outside the city’s affluent precincts numerous angry residents feel abandoned by his administration as days have passed and help has remained distant, writes Harry Siegel. “Are you from OEM? Or FEMA?” “No, we’re from Brooklyn.” That was the exchange when, after nearly six hours, the volunteer group I spent Sunday with finally managed to deliver supplies— flashlights, blankets, winter jackets, baby supplies, and pet food—to Staten Islanders who’d been rocked by Hurricane Sandy. On television, New...

The Obama administration's strategy of prepositioning supplies for quick distribution in disasters apparently has fallen short on meeting the demand for drinking water in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.   "The agency [FEMA} appears to have been unprepared to distribute bottled water to Hurricane Sandy victims when the storm hit [last Monday]," Breitbart News reported over the weekend.

VIDEO

Taking a break from the campaign and posing for photo-ops with FEMA and other non-players in the recovery effort in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, while insisting that because of his leadership the entire country is behind the recovery efforts.(1) He wanted to show the country that he was taking charge and told the reporters on hand “There is nothing more important than us getting this right” Doing nothing is not getting it right and that is what this administration is doing while claiming success. One reporter in a moment of clarity asked Mr. Obama about the fear, suffering,...

I don't know about you, but I can't wait for this election to be concluded. Maybe it's because I live in the New York City metro and we've been force-fed a dose of "real life"--right up in our face--this week, maybe its because we all need to focus on genuinely important priorities, but for whatever reason I have "2012 Fatigue." As I pen these thoughts the candidates are in the midst of making their closing arguments. President Obama is manically trying to defend turf in Colorado, Virginia, and Florida, and Governor Romney is surging with an expanding map in Pennsylvania,...

It would be dark soon at the Coney Island Houses, the fourth night without power, elevators and water. Another night of trips up and down pitch-black staircases, lighted by shaky flashlights and candles. Another night of retreating from the dark.

STAMFORD, Conn., Nov. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- More than five million bottles of water will be arriving this weekend and early next week in New York and New Jersey communities hard hit by Hurricane Sandy. Approximately 100 trucks will be converging on the region from Nestle Waters North America (NWNA) plants in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas and Maine, where employees are working tirelessly to meet the acute needs of storm victims. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the New York Office of Emergency Management made the request for bottled water to meet immediate need in the region.... Nestle Waters...

US Government Invited Brazilian Psychic to Avert Sandy By Julio Severo After Superstorm Sandy, everybody knows what happened: tragedy. What many ignore is what happened before: spiritual tragedy. According to Istoé, a major Brazilian magazine, Brazilian psychic Adelaide Scritori had travelled in a hurry to the Caribbean Islands by invitation from the US government and an insurance company in New York. Her purposed mission was to weaken Superstorm Sandy. Adelaide Scritori Her husband, who is also the spokesman for Coral Snake Chief Foundation in Brazil, said that her mission was a success, because without her intervention the superstorm would...

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, it seems to be pretty clear that residents of New York City and the surrounding areas could use all the help they can get. However, a Davisburg man said some people in the area are more interested in “protecting their turf” than in distributing those supplies to the masses. Mike James, an independent trucker, said he and three other truckers were told to haul a load of transformers to the city to replace equipment anticipated to be lost in the storm. James, two men from Holly and a Flint man arrived in the city...

Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc across the Eastern Seaboard, from North Carolina to New England, knocking down power lines, and flooding coastal communities. Hardest hit were New York and New Jersey, leaving more than a million residents without power and many without homes.   IBEW members from throughout the country are pitching in to restore power and fix damaged infrastructure. “Devastating,” Wall, N.J., Local 1289 Business Manager Edward Stroup, III, says about Sandy. Stroup represents workers at Jersey Central Power and Light – a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. – which provides power to more than 1 million central New Jersey residents....

But the key question is does it have enough for flood damage? Sandy has flooded thousands of homes in its devastating path, and estimates are that damages will in the billions of dollars. FEMA, which runs the federal flood insurance program, has to pick up the tab. But FEMA already owes $18 billion to the Treasury Department, thanks to Hurricane Katrina. Currently, insurance experts say FEMA's flood insurance program has access to funds totaling $3.8 billion, much of it in loans. If flood claims exhaust the fund, Congress may have to step in with additional taxpayer money. That will add...

Staten Island resident John Tabacco told Neil Cavuto this morning that Staten Island is still alone. ** There is no federal help. ** The feds just drive by with their clipboards. ** We just found three more dead people in the pile this morning.John Tabacco on the situation in Staten Island: “This morning we’re distributing stuff here and we’re helping people dig out and we hear the sanitation guys scream out that there are bodies in the pile. Everybody jumps on the pile and starts pulling away debris. And, unfortunately, probably not reported right now, it was probably an hour...

Obama at FEMA: "We still have a long way to go"By Lucy Madison/ CBS News/ November 3, 2012, 12:42 PM President Obama on Saturday acknowledged the nation has "a long way to go" in the aftermath following Superstorm Sandy, but pledged the administration will be putting in a "120 percent effort" to ensure the impacted regions get the assistance they need. Mr. Obama, speaking after a briefing about ongoing recovery efforts at the FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C., emphasized his commitment to restoring power, pumping flooded areas, removing debris, and attending to the needs of those impacted by the storm,...

<p>FEMA's vaunted "lean forward" strategy that called for advanced staging of supplies for emergency distribution failed to live up to its billing in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.</p> <p>In fact, the agency appears to have been completely unprepared to distribute bottled water to Hurricane Sandy victims when the storm hit this Monday. In contrast to its stated policy, FEMA failed to have any meaningful supplies of bottled water -- or any other supplies, for that matter -- stored in nearby facilities as it had proclaimed it would on its website. This was the case despite several days advance warning of the impending storm.</p>

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has placed a rush order of two million meals to be delivered to Floyd Bennett New York Harbor Parks, and Lakehurst New Jersey. The solicitation was placed at 2:30 pm EST on 2 November 2012, with a response time of no later than 8 pm on the same day. The solicitation was amended less than four hours later for providers to provide a quote of four million meals, preferably of the self-heating variety. The request is for self-heating Meals Ready to Eat (MRE) with a 13-month...

FEMA's vaunted "lean forward" strategy that called for advanced staging of supplies for emergency distribution failed to live up to its billing in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. In fact, the agency appears to have been completely unprepared to distribute bottled water to Hurricane Sandy victims when the storm hit this Monday. In contrast to its stated policy, FEMA failed to have any meaningful supplies of bottled water -- or any other supplies, for that matter -- stored in nearby facilities as it had proclaimed it would on its website. This was the case despite several days advance warning...

Now that we have watched the politicians patting each other on the back for their first day response, taking photo ops with the afflicted, and jetting off to their warm homes, it is time to begin the evaluation process. The biggest question I have on my mind as the government scrambles to bring in supplies is this. We knew this storm was going to hit the East Coast for five days. How many supplies...food, gas, water, and blankets...did FEMA move into place BEFORE the storm hit?

Union halting power repair crews is top Democratic donorPaul Bedard - Washington Secrets November 2, 2012 | 12:36 pm The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, cited in news reports for halting nonunion repair crews from helping to restore power in superstorm Sandy's New Jersey-New York path, is one of nation's top union donors to Democrats, a group President Obama last year praised in a visit to an IBEW training Center. The Center for Responsive Politics, a public political spending watchdog, said IBEW has the nation's fifth highest spending political action committee, doling out nearly $2.3 million, 97 percent of which...

I've seen an estimate that there is/was up to 300 million gallons of water in NY subway system. Katrina? "The unwatering team successfully removed 250 billion gallons of water from Orleans, St. Bernard and Jefferson parishes after Katrina " http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2012/10/new_orleans_corps_employees_jo.html Sandy, though wide, was not Katrina... FEMA ain't close to handling a large storm.

The federal agency has received praise from politicians and storm survivors alike for being prepared before the storm and responsive immediately afterwards - two things the agency was not when Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast in 2005. ......."FEMA is a very different organization than it was during Katrina," says Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. Lieberman chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which helped spur post-Katrina reforms at the agency. Those changes, Lieberman says, have proved themselves during Sandy. "[FEMA] was proactive, and it didn't used to be. It doesn't wait for the storm to hit, it...

Two days after President Obama flew into storm-ravaged New Jersey on Wednesday for a 90 minute photo op with Governor Christie, parts of the state have descended into what one local resident calls "an apocalyptic vision." On Friday, in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, this New Jersey resident described the situation there: New Jersey right now is experiencing an apocalyptic vision. Gas lines are a mile long. Hundreds are standing in line with gas cans. Fights are breaking out. Police and national guard have been called out. I've not had power or taken a shower since Sunday. Pray for...