On the weekend, I noticed a number of disturbing reports of aid to hurricane victims being blocked by FEMA. Also, FEMA claims that they don’t have the money to help hurricane victims. Did they spend all the taxpayer’s money on illegal immigrants? We’ll see. And finally, I saw people floating theories about why the Democrats might want to block aid to rural voters in Tennessee and North Carolina.

The first article is from Fox Business:

Elon Musk on Friday slammed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), claiming that it is blocking shipments of Starlink satellite internet deliveries in hurricane-ravaged North Carolina.

“FEMA is not merely failing to adequately help people in trouble, but is actively blocking citizens who try to help!” the billionaire claimed on X.

Musk said he had just received a note from a SpaceX engineer, Starlink’s parent company, in Asheville, North Carolina, who said the company has “powered up two large operating bases for choppers to deliver goods into hands. We’ve deployed 300+ starlinks and outpour is it has saved many lives.”

But Musk said the engineer claimed that FEMA is “actively blocking shipments and seizing goods and services locally and locking them away to state they are their own. It’s very real and scary how much they have taken control to stop people helping. We are blocked now on the shipments of new starlinks coming in until we get an escort from the fire dept. but that may not be enough.”

This second article is from New York Post:

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas set off outrage Wednesday when he told reporters that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “does not have the funds” to see Americans through the rest of this Atlantic hurricane season — after the agency spent more than $1.4 billion since the fall of 2022 to address the migrant crisis.

[…]Critics pointed out that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) allocated $640.9 million this year in FEMA-administered funds to aid state and local governments coping with the influx of asylum seekers — though Mayorkas’ office fired back late Thursday, insisting that those funds couldn’t be used for hurricane relief because Congress authorized them specifically for the migrant crisis.

The third article is from Daily Signal:

Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on the deepest red areas of North Carolina. Hundreds are dead and missing in the region. Destroyed roads and bridges and lack of water and electricity will make voting a challenge in a region that contributed a net of 231,000 votes for Donald Trump’s 2020 margin of 74,000 votes in the state.

[…]However, the concern is that measures designed to help voters in hurricane-affected areas might be applied across the state, particularly in densely populated regions that are less affected, creating the potential for partisan advantage. There is a high probability of a sue-and-settle lawsuit on 14th Amendment equal protection grounds brought by the likes of Marc Elias that would argue that loosened voting rules in the West must be applied evenly throughout North Carolina—even in urban areas untouched by the hurricane. This was the same tactic used successfully in 2020 with COVID-19 as the excuse to change election rules.

[…]If Vice President Kamala Harris flips North Carolina, she wins the White House.

The GOP, recognizing these concerns, is mobilizing the state Legislature to push back against some of these changes. However, with early voting fast approaching, the Republican effort faces a race against time. There is also uncertainty about what additional changes may be implemented by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper or the North Carolina State Board of Elections, potentially bypassing the Legislature entirely.

This reminds me of the words of Rahm Emanuel, former Chicago mayor and chief of staff to President Barack Obama: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.”

Indeed. That’s how the Democrats in government often see their responsibilities to the people who pay their salaries.