The government hates you.
I'm not exaggerating, and this story should convince you of it. It's all about one thing:
Enter Ryan Tyre, a private citizen, trucker, and disaster-relief volunteer. Because of the numerous reports that the government has done very little to help those who are currently dying alone in the mountains after Hurricane Helene ... 👇
... Ryan decided to tell his own story about trying to deliver aid to the Florida Keys several years ago.
I'll unpack this link below 👇
Tyre doesn't know from firsthand experience what is happening in North Carolina. But if it is anything like how they handled Hurricane Irma in 2017, this is what is happening.
In the FL Keys with Hurricane Irma, after Texas got hit with Harvey, we finished our efforts in Texas and were the first citizen team to make it to Key Largo. The federal agencies had US1 shut down just South of Key Largo and wouldn't let anyone in or out, even though the road was okay to pass. We explained to them that we had boats, Jet skis, food, water, chainsaws and fuel to bring these people. They didn't care and wouldn't let us in.
It was night by that point and you rarely saw the lights of vehicles in the distance on the individual keys, meaning the emergency response teams from FEMA weren't even working, it was all quiet.
If you aren't familiar with the Florida Keys, this is the perfect nightmare. US 1 is the only highway on the island chain. It is literally the only road in and out of the lower keys. The feds had complete control of the highways and they wouldn't let supplies in.
Ryan explains that he and his team had boats, so they put in and went by boat to the lower keys and landed on private property and began to unload supplies that a happy Key resident who had ridden out the storm was elated to see.
We started offloading supplies on the shoreline and helping to get them into what was left of his house.
During that process, he explained to us that FEMA had set up a command center at a local high school on the island, but that they weren't doing anything to help the residents, not even bringing them WATER!
Instead, he explained that they were driving around using a loudspeaker, telling people to stay in their homes. They weren't even helping the home owners with supplies.
The government was literally, according to Tyre and residents of the Keys, doing nothing.
Now, I'm sure, they had their busy work. They had their command center. They were surveying the area. But people were hurting, their homes were destroyed, and they were completely ignored by the feds for bureaucratic reasons.
I was skeptical at first while he was telling me all of this, but then he said something that broke my heart....
He told us that the people of the keys were all in despair, because they had just seen, weeks before, the overwhelming support for Texas with Hurricane Harvey, by the citizens of this country. He, and his neighbors on all of the keys, felt like Americans had forgotten about them completely, because at this point, FIVE DAYS after landfall, all they had seen was FEMA, and they were of NO HELP ...
The ONLY communication they had was from a local radio station on Sugarloaf Key, that was broadcasting on AM to the surrounding keys ...
He insisted that we get into his waterlogged truck and that he would take us to that radio station so that we could go live on air, to tell the citizens trapped in the Keys that we, the American people, were there to help and that the government was trying to stop our efforts.
And that is exactly what we did.
The Florida Keys are so isolated, so separated from the mainland. It has to be similar to how the people of Maui felt after the fire, and the way those in tiny mountain communities in The Carolinas and Tennessee feel now.
They are totally alone.
Tyre and his team were finally allowed to move a little further south to Marathon and from there they set up with the local sheriffs and authorities who were very excited to have the help, unlike the feds.
Tyre and his team had semi-trucks full of food, water, and hygiene supplies. He was told that all the supplies would be turned back by the feds.
Why?
THE REASON they gave us, was that these donations were not from companies on their 'preferred vendors list' and that they would not accept them or give them to the residents of the keys impacted by the storm.
It was at that point that I realized, this is ALL ABOUT MONEY.
I told you.
These 'preferred vendors' are getting part of the money being released by the state and federal govt for each disaster. In turn, some of the 'vendors' make it on the list because a friend gets them on the list, and in return for getting ridiculously outlandish amounts of compensation for the services they render, they give kickbacks.
So accepting outside donations, even though they are on location and can help people NOW, they would rather let people suffer so they can get their kickbacks.
Say the feds have a vendor contract with Pepsi/Dasani. They won't allow you to hand out Kroger or Publix water to people who are dying of thirst because that violates said contract.
Tyre and his team understood that the trucks would be sent back, so he worked to make sure they were diverted to the local command centers, offloaded, and used to supply people immediately while the feds waited for their buddies to show up.
We also delivered supplies down to Big Pine Key. We helped establish the tent city on Big Pine Key. Big companies like Titos Vodka and Whelen just kept bringing trucks full of everything that was needed. When FEMA FINALLY started handing out boxes of canned goods (limited to one per household), we were filing cars full of food and supplies for people and pets.
People were wanting to help. They were begging to help. And they did more than FEMA ever dreamed of doing. The federal response hurt more than it helped because of all the stupid red tape.
There is so much more to the story in the Keys and further from there in other storms we worked - the common theme though, is that the federal government always tries to keep citizens from helping and the local authorities, the ones that live and work in the area are always happy to have outside help.
The government wants complete control of the situation. They care more about making sure their friends profit from suffering than serving people in need.
Elon Musk gave the understatement of the century in response to this story.
Burn it all down. Rebuild it from scratch.
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
