Hurricane Relief Workers Forced to Evacuate Due to Threat of ‘Armed Militia’
Government officials were forced to flee a North Carolina county amid reported threats of armed civilians out “hunting” for hurricane relief workers.
On Saturday afternoon, the Washington Post reports a U.S. Forest Service official sent an email to several different federal agencies warning “National Guard troops had come across x2 trucks of armed militia saying [they] were out hunting FEMA,” the government body responsible for overseeing emergency response management.
The
message, which has been confirmed as authentic, added that incident
management teams “have been notified and are coordinating the evacuation
of all assigned personnel” in Rutherford County.
While
it’s understood that officials had been given the all-clear to return
to the area by Sunday afternoon, similar threats were reported in Ashe
County on Sunday, such that the local Sheriff’s office warned FEMA had
again been forced to “pause their process” while an assessment of the
risk was carried out, Axios reports.
These incidents offer the starkest evidence yet of the havoc caused by the rampant spread of misinformation as to the origin of Hurricanes Helene and Milton and the nature efforts to contain the damage caused.
Other
tinfoil-hatted pundits have suggested the weather was somehow
engineered as part of a conspiracy to provide political cover to
megacorporations engaged in lithium mining, as well as spreading fake
reports of citizens being deliberately abandoned in the rubble.
Donald Trump
has also fanned the flames, pushing unfounded allegations that the
Democratic Party is deliberately withholding disaster relief from
Republican voters, and that emergency funds have been diverted to
undocumented migrants.
With FEMA already having been forced to set
up a “rumor response” page on its website, the recent reports of
militias roaming the hills in North Carolina is sadly not the only
evidence of ways in which these disinformation narratives are adversely
affecting the emergency relief efforts.
“It’s terrible because a
lot of these folks who need assistance are refusing it because they
believe the stuff people are saying about FEMA and the government,” Riva
Duncan, a former Forest Service official based in Asheville, North
Carolina, told the Washington Post.
“And it’s sad because they are probably the ones who need the help the most.” [SOURCE]
This is absolutely the way to deal with the FBI. These agents are “thugs with badges,” and they do not have your welfare at heart. They’re looking for ways to trap you, to frame you, to destroy your life. And for what? A year-end bonus, a pat on the back pic.twitter.com/CjgCSJl0KI
The
document is claimed to be a sworn statement penned by a staffer at ABC
News. It was first published Sunday by an X account with the name 'Black
Insurrectionist.'
The document, said
to be a sworn affidavit signed by a notary public the day before the
debate, says the network gave Harris questions ahead of time while
agreeing to a series of other preconditions to give the vice president
an advantage over Trump.
Also prohibited at the debate were inquiries about Harris' stint as California
Attorney General, as well as those involving her brother-in-law, Tony
West, the document shows. It includes several other stipulations, as
well as redactions obscuring the supposed staffer's identity.
A
statement from ABC did not address the specific claims, instead saying:
'ABC News followed the debate rules that both campaigns agreed on... No
topics or questions will be shared in advance with campaigns or
candidates.'
The unverified document, said to be a sworn affidavit signed by a notary
public on September 9, has sparked controversy with its bevy of claims
A statement from ABC did not address the specific claims, instead
saying: 'ABC News followed the debate rules that both campaigns agreed
on... No topics or questions will be shared in advance with campaigns or
candidates'
The document, which describes containing a
seal from the notary public that is not actually visible, says it was
written by a New York resident.
'I
have worked for ABC news for over 10 years in various technical and
administrative positions,' it reads, before stating that the
staffer 'observed significant transformations in the nature of news
reporting at the organization' within that span, as well as a 'shift
from unbiased reporting to a model influenced by external factors.'
The
purported staffer, who says they are not a supporter of Donald Trump,
states that the intent of the affidavit is solely to 'address concerns
regarding perceived biases within news reporting within my employer's
debate.'
It was purportedly penned by a staffer who has worked at the station for
some ten years, during which time they said ABC's style of reporting
has become increasingly troublesome
The document goes on to cite 'promises
made [that] the candidates would be held to firm discussions regarding
their proposed policy stances and that the debate would not deteriorate
into an ad campaign,' where 'candidates would simply make blanket
statements without specific policy or explanation as to...'
The end of that sentence is redacted, along with several others.
The
next section offers some purported insight into the political landscape
of the ABC office, where the writer claimed employees were 'looking for
a fair and honest debate' while questioning 'the clear biased [sic] that is well known throughout the company.'
It
specifically mentions ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis,
as well as C-suite staffers at the station and its connected companies.
'It
is common knowledge that Debate Moderators as well as Chief Executive
Officers of my employer are well known not to support Donald Trump,' the
section reads.
'This led to several employees speaking up in regards to how fair the debate was going to be.'
Pictured are some of the purported agreements reached by the two parties
That same section includes 'specific instances related to the debate' that 'raise concerns about procedural fairness.'
The
first was that the Harris campaign supposedly 'received particular
accommodations, including, but not limited to, the providing of a podium
significantly smaller than that used by Donald Trump, and assurances
regarding split-screen television views that would favorably impact
[Harris's] appearance.'
The next
stipulation was that Trump 'would be subjected to fact-checking during
the debate, while Kamala Harris would not face comparable scrutiny.'
It adds how Harris' team supposedly
'required assurances that Donald Trump would be fact checked,'
allegedly 'via multiple communications with the Harris campaign.
'The Trump campaign was not included in the negotiations,' it goes on to state.
It
then claims that 'the Harris campaign was provided with sample
questions that, while not the exact questions, covered similar topics
that would appear during the debate.'
The
document then gets into 'Harris campaign-imposed restrictions on the
scope of questioning,' including: 'No questions regarding the perceived
health of President Joe Biden', 'No inquiries related to her tenure as
Attorney General in San Francisco,' and lastly, 'No questions concerning
her brother-in-law, Tony West.'
West, a
prominent attorney who once worked as the general counsel for Uber,
'faces allegations of embezzling billions of dollars in taxpayer funds,'
according to alleged affidavit.
One post on X featuring the document has been viewed nearly 8million times in a little over 24 hours
Those claims are also unproven and have never been reported.
The
document claims that West, who is married to Harris's sister, Maya,
'may be involved in [her] administration if she's elected.'
The
New York Times recently reported that West is 'a major force behind Ms.
Harris's campaign and its record-setting fund-raising,' and serves as a
'critical point of contact for business leaders and major donors.'
The
document then claims ABC 'employees expressing favorable views toward
[Trump] experience significant concerns about potential retribution.'
The assertion is made before several lines of redacted text.
The purported staffer further claimed to have sent the document to House Speaker Mike Johnson.
'I
have also dispatched a Federal Express package containing this
affidavit, sent on September 9th, 2024, and delivered to my residence on
September 10th, 2024, which will remain unopened for potential
investigative purposes,' the document states.
The document alleges that ABC News gave Harris questions ahead of the
debate, along with agreeing to preconditions to give her a leg up on
former President Donald Trump
The staffer then claims to have 'secretly
recorded several conversations that will prove that the Harris Campaign
insisted upon not only the Fact Checking of Donald Trump, but also
insisted on what questions were not to be asked under any
circumstances.'
'I make these statement under the penalty of perjury and without coercion of any kind,' it concludes.
Despite being unproven, the document has picked up steam on social media, being shared by several high-profile figures.
They
include Senator Ted Cruz, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, billionaire
hedge-funder Bill Ackman, and Elon Musk, with the latter reposting
statements expressing belief in the claims made by Ackman.
Days
earlier, before the documents were shared, Trump himself reposted an
account claiming an 'ABC whistleblower allegedly will release an
affidavit' showing that 'the Harris campaign was given sample
questions.'
Such claims first surfaced
on the account of right-wing influencer and January 6 participant Philip
Anderson last week, two days after the debate.
Despite being unproven, the document has picked up steam on social
media, being shared by several high-profile figures. They include
Senator Ted Cruz, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, billionaire hedge-funder
Bill Ackman, and Elon Musk, with the latter reposting statements
expressing belief in the claims made by Ackman, and Greene sharing an
erroneous report about the person who penned the article dying in a car
crash - before walking it back
That same day, a verified account with the
name 'Black Insurrectionist' claimed it would release 'an affidavit
from an ABC whistleblower' by the end of the weekend. On Sunday, the
account posted the document.
A review
by the left-wing Media Matters of recent activity on the account
mentioned a post last month calling Harris and Tim Walz as 'disgusting
creatures' and their supporters 'the delightful cesspool of humanity we
are fighting here today.'
The account - which joined X in November 2023 - adds that the pair may be 'just plain flat out disgusting pedophiles.'
Another post called for '70 million people to do mass civil disobedience that will halt this country' to avoid a Harris win.
'The
government just does what we want,' it added. The poster did not reveal
how they came in contact with the supposed writer of the document.
ABC News has denied all of the allegations aired in it. [SOURCE]
Here The Telegraph rounds up the key questions that remain for law enforcement.
Trump on course last year
Trump did not have any events listed on his public schedule, while his most recent campaign stops had taken place in Nevada.
How
the Republican candidate’s would-be assassin worked out where he would
be is the “million-dollar question”, according to Will Snyder, the
Florida sheriff whose officers arrested Routh on Sunday.
“It’s hard for me to imagine how he got within rifle range of president Trump,” he told Fox News.
At
a press conference on Monday afternoon, the Interim Director of the
Secret Service said they were examining whether the suspect knew Trump
would be on the course.
What was the gunman’s motivation?
Routh
had voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, yet eight
years later he is suspected of making an attempt on the former
president’s life.
He
became disillusioned with the Republican, referring to him in a 2023
self-published book as “buffoon”, a “fool” and “brainless”. But it is
unclear why he would apparently turn on him so violently, or what he
believed he might accomplish by shooting him.
While Right-wing commentators have claimed Routh is a “radical leftist”, his politics appear to be mudded.
A suited Ryan Routh in front of the Capitol building in Washington (left) and in Kyiv (right)
After voting for Trump
in 2016, he donated to Democratic candidates in 2020, and backed Nikki
Haley’s challenge to Trump in the 2024 Republican primary. A vehicle
outside his home in Hawaii displays an old “Biden-Harris” sticker.
Routh’s politics seems confused and his motivations unknown. Authorities say he is not speaking following his arrest on Sunday.
Why did the gunman have a Go-Pro?
A
Go-Pro was discovered at the scene after the gunman fled, which
authorities said showed they planned to record the assassination
attempt.
However,
it is not clear precisely what the compact camera – usually used for
capturing adventure sports – would have been used for.
The Go-Pro camera, seen left, attached to the fence - Reuters
Would the gunman have kept it to watch the shooting back himself? Or was he planning to upload the footage to social media?
How long had the gunman been in the area?
Routh is registered as living at an address in Hawaii.
By
contrast, Thomas Matthew Crooks – who fired at Trump at the rally in
Butler, Pennsylvania in July – lived a relatively short distance away.
Routh’s movements remain a mystery, at least for the moment.
That
means it is unclear how long the gunman had been in Florida before
taking up position with an AK-47 at the Trump International Golf Club in
West Palm Beach, Florida.
Secret Service and Homeland Security agents check a former home of suspect Ryan Routh - Jonathan Drake
The assault rifle was
found along with ceramic body armour at the scene – something Andrew
McCabe, a former senior FBI official, said indicated “a very high level
of pre-planning”.
But
whether Routh travelled to Florida with the intention of shooting
Trump, or could have drawn up those plans later, is unclear.
The
FBI said at at a press conference on Monday they were in the process of
investigating how long he had been in the South Florida area.
Why wasn’t the gunman spotted by security?
Another
unanswered question is why the gunman was not spotted by the Secret
Service while he lay in wait at the golf course for almost twelve hours.
Officials
claimed that Routh had taken up position at the course in the early
hours of Sunday morning, citing data from the 58-year-old’s mobile phone
that placed it at the treeline from 1:59am to 1:31pm.
Yet
Trump’s security detail only noticed an AK-47 pointing out of the trees
while the former president was playing golf just one hole away.
The Secret Service revealed on Monday that because Trump’s round of golf was not scheduled, agents did not sweep the perimeter.
The suspect had been in the bushes for the 12 hours that corresponded with his phone data, the FBI confirmed on Monday.
The
assault rifle has a maximum effective range of some 330 yards, while
the former president is estimated to have been some 300 to 500 yards
away.
his was “not a long distance” for an AK-47 equipped with a scope, as Palm Beach county sheriff Ric Bradshaw noted.
Moreover, it comes after weeks of scrutiny and criticism of the Secret Service following the attempt on Trump’s life in July.
Law
enforcement will likely be attempting to recreate the steps of the
gunman on the day in question, but have so far not set out how the
individual was able to get so close.
What was in the gunman’s car?
Routh was arrested on the I-95 highway, some 50 miles from Trump’s golf course, in a black Nissan.
The vehicle would have been searched by law enforcement after Routh’s apprehension.
Sources
told CNN that the vehicle belonged to Routh’s daughter, which suggests
that a background check has taken place. Court documents state that the
number plates are registered to a different vehicle that was reported
stolen.
The car in which Ryan Routh was arrested (circled)
The contents of that
car, which have not been made public, could potentially shed light on
the plans on the assassination attempt.
There
is speculation that the car contains maps or other documents that could
reveal what Routh knew of Trump’s movements and the planning that had
gone into the alleged assassination attempt.
Warrants
are out for the FBI to search a number of addresses linked to the
suspect as well as vehicles, cameras and mobile phones. [SOURCE]
Just your average Zen Baptist, admitting upfront to being a (mostly) reconstructed hillbilly.
If you can't understand the attitude or perspective I come from, it's safe to say that we're from different realities.
If you can't start off the conversation with a respectful question about how/why I came to the particular perspective I did, and then find some way that you can relate to it, then I don't have any time to entertain your issues.
Give respect, get respect.
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Website - http://twoshacks.com.
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