The fact that it is a Christian camp (Laura Bush was a counselor there) makes it easier for them to get away with it...it's God's will after all *gag*
The couselors wrote the girls' names on them "just in case".
This photo will change in the media to Artwork, girls in white gowns, with angel wings and halos in soft lighting. Instead of children savaged by the flood, and only identifiable by a name sharpied on a body part.
Yes! I've already seen enough. "God called her home" quotes. It sickens me! No. God didn't. If anyone believes in God, then they must also believe God has also asked for humankind to provide good stewardship of God's creation, not its destruction. Greed murdered these girls. God didn't "need another angel."
This was a flood, a natural disaster. All the usual flood warnings were issued, but in the nighttime, many didn't get them. The rapid rise also made it impossible for some to escape.
Let's start with Kerr County local government voting against a county alert system because it would be "too expensive."
And Texas voting against FUNDING county alert systems out of their surplus (although Abbott always has money to waste on sending asylum seekers to Denver in January.)
Explain to me how an alert system is more expensive than burying 280 Texans.
You have to connect the dots. The funding wasn't there for a county alert system because Texas officials wanted to keep more of the money for themselves! It ALWAYS comes down to money.
I suspect that many of these parents really also don't think that their god needs another angel. But for all the rest: the religion that those parents adhere to is just fine with it. I went to a "revival" one time (about 52 years ago) in Dallas, at the behest of my brother who would have send his daughters to that camp if he'd lived in the right state. And this is the message, literal and unvarnished, that I heard:
"Many of you ask why a loving God would allow bad things to happen to his children. The answer is this: every human is so sinful that they deserve even worse than whatever happens. Anything better is by the grace of God."
This is what you're dealing with.
(I have to put in a plug for my novel, because I have to get that message out. It deals with some of this in a way that I hope might be helpful to some.
This is messed up. You don’t know the religious identity of any parent’s, nor are you positioned to judge how they use that religion in grief. If it’s your discomfort with it - deal with that on your time. My cousin, while yes calling her now-deceased daughter (in the photo she gave no permission to release) an Angel now with The Lord, does not believe divine intervention caused the flood. She is an OB/GYN in a state making that job *exceptionally* hard. She can distinguish science from her religion, ffs.
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should"
Natalie said it better in a few words than I can. I have no doubt there are "good Christians" in the world, many of them. I also have no doubt that that preacher meant what he said, and 10,000 people lapped it up, and I'm very glad there were no mind-meld practitioners around or I'd probably have been dead soon after.
I know what I lived. And I wouldn't change a word of what I wrote.
You know, misappropriating The Chicks here is REALLY telling. They were victims of a cancel culture based on things they said publicly about their anti-war stance.
For you to posit yourself as a VICTIM here is utterly unthinkable, unacceptable, and tacky. You judge while you live in blue-state CA. You leave NO room for nuance. The Chicks hate you for using them to desecrate the lives of dead children. And I might too. Fuckin MAGA shit.
You bring these girls shame and idgaf WHAT you think you know, it’s a life you got to live. These girls did not. Shame on your for blaming these victims. Fucking “dressed like that they’re asking for it” ass mentality. Fuck your rape-coded messaging. And, once more for the idiot I’m talking to: FUCK YOU. My cousin was kinder and gentler than you could even dream of being right now. Outdone by a fucking 8-year old. That takes some nerve.
I don't plan on replying to most of this, as it is pretty clearly not going to change anything. I would ask you to just consider looking at my comment and trying to find where I blamed *anyone* for *anything.*
I did blame a religion. For a lot. A religion is not a person.
It takes a special breed of person to look at a river that rose to unthinkable heights and blame the people ALONG IT.
who did you blame when Helene hit western NC? Over 100 died. Wanna guess how many of those killed were practicing Christians? Or do you just do it when it’s only children and you can blame their parents.
I lost family in the floods. Of course it’s easy. But I’m almost not JUST angry.
And the thing is: my friends and neighbors didn’t vote for this. The assumptiveness and high-lofted ‘why don’t you just have conversations with people we perceive as opposition’ is the problem.
And frankly, 4.2mil dem voters in TX is likely higher than the number your state sent, barring NY, CA. Maybe you should spend some time understanding the gerrymandering and voter suppression that is in place and come on down, be a friend and neighbor, and help US out.
We’re exhausted. And we’re tired of the victim blaming.
My father, b1930, said his generation inherited a world in a political mess and my generation would inherit a polluted world (as children we breathed the exhaust from leaded gasoline, for example). We leave the next generation a world that’s being trashed politically and environmentally.
The demise of American expertise and compassion was scheduled, planned, executed by agents of chaos in the Soviet rubble pile running Russia into the ground as it pushes propaganda through American greedy media and polezni duraki all the while Krasnov claims he doesn't know.
I don't share your opinion, have a university degree in Russian language and Soviet studies, so I have my own, informed point of view, but thanks anyway.
I thought the slaughter of white first graders at Sandy Hook would have moved the GOP to act. But they are Squid Game ghouls.
When white folks REALLY figure out their whiteness will not protect them from the cannibalism of corporate vampiric greed and their puppet politicians doing their bidding, when the pitchforks wake up and get woke, then maybe they’ll see through the propaganda and gaslighting media pointing at Black and brown folks (culture war) and realize it’s a class war… and unpack their own ignorance and see how their racism boomerangs back on that ass. These spiritual infants better evolve quick for such a time as this
Texans KNOW this is (as a judge said) the most dangerous river valley in the United States. That's one of your own local officials -- not some outsider.
Maybe you don't put kids camps and RV camps in a place called Flash Flood Alley?
Maybe you monitor river levels remotely 24x7.
Maybe you use that money to improve your warning systems.
They were using a GODDAMN PHONE TREE in 2025.
I was driving through Illinois in 2019 and I got a tornado alert on my cell phone.
I didn't have to sign up -- the local county hit everyone - residents and passing motorists with a warning.
Now tell me why Texas doesn't have that for the Hill country?
Because just like with school shootings people in the local communities put their focus and money into different priorities. We could end school shootings by having heavily armed and highly trained police in every school but we don’t want to spend that kind of money so everyone just takes their chances and hopes it isn’t their kids school that gets shot up next.
We do the same thing with disaster preparedness, we mostly do the bare minimal and hope we don’t have the bad luck to get hit. My own community is currently doing the same thing with a much higher likelihood of disaster. We have a levy the federal government has deemed unsafe for decades yet the community routinely votes against dealing with it. The price tag associated with it would destroy the community in a variety of ways so everyone votes against it and hopes nothing happens or their property is safe from a 100 year flood so they don’t think it will be an issue. Of course if it’s a 500 year or 1000 year flood that’s a different story. Then there’s the fact that a sizable portion of the population lives in places that would only get hit by a flood of biblical proportions. Take money out of your grocery budget so the people who live close to the river where you couldn’t afford to live can be protected against a flood is a hard sell.
No government could ever be prepared for the variety of possible disasters; school shootings, mass shootings, terrorism, toxic chemical spill, disease outbreak, winter storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, flash floods, other floods, fires, toxic gas, nuclear fallout, the list of possibilities is nearly endless. It’s up to local communities to decide which of these disasters to prioritize and fund and which to chance. Given the number of people who sent their kids to these camps and who were otherwise in the area it does not seem that they were concerned with the safety or conditions. If they weren’t it’s unlikely the rest of the community was. If the community isn’t worried about something then why would a government, the entire point of which is to be representative of the needs of the community, care about it?
All the safest and most productive land was in use long ago. A growing population means that we will be building not just recreational areas but entire cities on land that is far more dangerous than we would like. I watched them build tens of thousands of homes in areas that I knew were flood zone from when I was a kid and I watched them build thousands of homes in a forest I knew was going to burn sooner or later even as a kid. Both of those communities have been hit by small scale tragedies that were utterly predictable and the response was to rebuild everything right where it was and make a few adjustments. Sooner or later a 100 year or 500 year or 1000 year flood is going to hit and the results are going to be catastrophic but also entirely predictable. When you run out of prime real estate you have to build in more dangerous locations and when you build in a floodplain sooner or later it floods and when you build in an overgrown forest sooner or later it burns.
There are always lessons to be learned in a natural disaster but that’s different than an ability to prevent or mitigate one.
All that money wasted on “heavily armed and highly trained police” who SAT OUTSIDE AND LET KIDS DIE.
Right now, your explanations all seem to be “let's not do anything because it's useless.”
Except no other developed country has our deaths from gun violence because they regulate gun ownership.
So yes, there are PROVEN ways to reduce gun deaths. We're not doing them.
And given that the NRA is not saying word one about gun owners protecting their brown neighbors from being illegally snatched off the streets by masked men claiming to be ICE, it doesn't seem gun ownership was ever about protecting the Constitution.
As for the rest of your list, bullshit.
Of course, you can reduce deaths from those causes. We can rebuild our community civil defense groups to start with. We can not build chemical factories on known flood plains or in residential areas. We can fine tune early warning systems.
There have been FOUR “100 year floods” in the last two years.
If your community wants to play Russian roulette with your levees, do us all a favor and self insure.
Why should the rest of us bail you out when you won't do anything to save yourself?
Right now your arguments are boiling down to “We can't do anything because we're all going to die anyway from some terrible disaster.”
Well, if that terrible disaster strikes, money is going to be worthless anyway, so spend it now and save lives today.
Since you seem to believe there won't be a tomorrow.
No my argument is that there are too many things to do them all so we do what we can but when that fails in the face of a natural disaster it’s a tragedy and not the fault of anyone. Again I’m not saying lessons can’t be learned but that’s different than placing blame or responsibility on someone.
There is no safe place to build chemical factories. Even the best technology fails at times and its most likely to fail in natural disasters.
Because of the unwillingness to address the levy those properties cannot be insured against flood damage and are not protected by FEMA and other federal relief. So yes it is absolutely a risk we are taking and if you don’t think your community is taking similar risks in other areas you’re lying to yourself.
If you think Uvalde was a highly trained police department that explains a lot. My point was that we should have police officers inside of the schools. Not ready to respond to but already inside the buildings and notice I used the plural and not the singular. There were zero officers inside that school when the incident started. Is that how banks and government buildings work? No. There is full coverage from open to close with no gaps.
Didn’t you know we were supposed to take drastic political action to stop underwater volcanoes from erupting and to stop solar flares from hitting the planet since those drive climate far more than our carbon emissions do?
This is simply an attempt to weaponize a tragedy to make a political point which isn’t surprising, it’s what the left does because they don’t have logic, reality, or reason on their side. Emotional appeal to ignorant people is the only game they have and it’s easier to do when your followers lack scientific and historical literacy.
I’m guessing there likely were some sorts of flood mitigation strategies that could have been taken that weren’t, but anywhere in the world that will be true, you can’t take all the steps to prevent everything. Sometimes you deal with what is opposed to preparing for what might be and you pay the price for that. My community is at high risk for a devastating flood due to an inadequate and outdated levy system, but the people who live here continually vote against doing anything about it because the price tag is too high and would destroy the community as we know it due to a combination of unbearably high tax burden and a loss of most of the services the local government currently provides. We are risking the future to maintain our present and we understand it but it’s the choice we’ve made.
This is a tragic natural disaster and shame on those who would try and manipulate it for their political gain.
Did you read the IOP paper? Because that’s not the killer argument you think it is.
And yes, volcanic eruptions have an impact on climate.
Usually they cause “years without a summer” or “little ice ages” — from your own links.
So which of our recent volcanic eruptions would you like to blame for higher than normal temperatures?
From the Cambridge link:
While this effect is far from enough to offset the effects of global temperature rise caused by human activity, the researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, say that small-magnitude eruptions are responsible for as much as half of all the sulphur gases emitted into the upper atmosphere by volcanoes.
When I asked for facts, I assumed you understood you couldn’t just google and drop in links without reading them.
My point is that a thousand things that we don’t understand and haven’t studied and can’t control have a huge impact on climate. We haven’t had any major volcanic eruptions in a very long time. One massive eruption and we are looking at catastrophic global cooling and we are overdue for multiple massive eruptions. A couple of massive solar storms will impact temperatures in ways we couldn’t mitigate if we forced the entire population back to pre-industrial living. Underwater volcanic activity is under studied and not understood.
Climate science is junk science because we haven’t been able to accurately measure temperature or precipitation or anything else you use to objectively study climate until very recently. Almost all climate science is based on modeling which is only as accurate as your inputs. We do not understand everything that impacts climate therefore our models cannot be accurate. This is why we went from “we are headed for a mini ice age” to “the planet is over heating” to “climate change”.
What we do know is that in preindustrial human history the planet has been born warmer and cooler and that while disruptive humanity survived and adapted as did other life on the planet.
The idea that the planet is homeostatic and that climate is homeostatic and that humanity is driving climate is nothing but hubris. Forces far more powerful than humanity shape the climate and no matter our efforts things beyond our control will have greater impacts than our best efforts.
And yes modern scientific papers often have conclusions that basically ignore their findings and historical evidence because if you want to get published you have to find some way to support the global warming narrative. But it’s just that, a narrative that’s built on junk science and greed.
Billionaires are multiplying under their ,"enormous unbearable tax burden." You've been fooled my friend. If taxes aren't stopping billionaires and you're suffering unbearable tax burdens you might want to revise your tax structure.
There aren’t any local billionaires and most of the millionaires are asset rich and cash poor, selling off the ranch to pay the taxes on it defeats the purpose of having a ranch. Our county is poor. Our public services are already stretched to the max and local small businesses are starting to feel the pinch in people’s wallets. Fixing the levy would require a significant increase in local taxes and we haven’t yet figured out a way to tax the billionaires three counties and two hundred miles away. The cost of living is already higher than the nearest big city. Taxes increase to the point necessary to make the feds happy and our town will die like the factory towns of the Midwest. People will simply move away to where the cost of living is lower and the opportunities more abundant. The tax structure could absolutely be revised but the motto of this entire part of the state is “this is the way we’ve always done it and it was good enough then so it’s good enough now”. The Yellowstone caldera will blow before the tax code gets significantly changed. That said even if someone struck gold and suddenly money was pouring in flood mitigation would be near the bottom of our priority list. Below better funding for our school district, police department, parks department, and preparation for blizzards and wildfires both of which are far more likely and common than a catastrophic flood. There is only so much money to go around and people have to prioritize where it goes and then tend to prioritize day to day issues as opposed to once in 50 or 100 years issues.
This was a flood, a natural disaster. All the usual flood warnings were issued, but in the nighttime, many didn't get them. The rapid rise also made it impossible for some to escape.
I don’t see anyone here blaming any of this on politics. When tragedies happen, sentient people want to figure out how to prevent them from happening again. That is unless they live in a Cult that manipulates them into believing that they have no control over their lives and that some higher power controls everything. We have over centuries acquired much knowledge and skill to help improve our quality of lives. Many people desire very much to put all of the knowledge and skills to good use to improve the lives of all of us. There is a faction of evil in the world that have no concern for other people and want all the earth’s resources for themselves. In a constitutional republic those evil people use our freedoms to their advantage to gain power thru “politics”. If you see politics in this situation you might want to ask yourself if you haven’t bought yourself a boatload of snake oil.
Politics are an essential element to everything human. It can’t be avoided.
“Politics refers to the activities associated with making decisions in groups, or the processes of power relations within and between societies. It encompasses the ways people organize and govern themselves, including the distribution of resources, the setting of rules, and the resolution of conflicts. Essentially, politics is about how we live together in groups and make collective decisions.
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
Decision-making in groups:
Politics involves the processes through which groups, from small communities to entire nations, make decisions.
Power relations:
Politics is inherently linked to power, including how power is gained, maintained, and exercised. This can involve individuals, groups, or institutions.
Distribution of resources:
Politics often involves deciding how resources like wealth, land, and opportunities are allocated.
Rule-making and governance:
This includes the creation and enforcement of laws, regulations, and social norms. "
Conflict resolution:
Politics also addresses how disagreements and conflicts are managed and resolved”
“Political behavior encompasses the study of how individuals and groups think, feel, and act in relation to politics. It explores various aspects of political engagement, including public opinion, political participation, voting, and the influence of factors like media and political ideology. This field draws on insights from political science, psychology, sociology, and other disciplines to understand the complexities of political behavior.”
It just so happens that another name for people in power who’ve lied about science and prioritized lining their pocketbooks over the lives of their constituents all belong to a political party called the Republican Party so they can all pretend it’s “just” politics. If you believe that you must have a medicine cabinet full of snake oil. 💩💩 to call it politics when it’s about our freedoms, safety and security being stolen by lying greedy bastards.
I know everyone keeps lumping all white people in their phraseology, but MAGAs are not all white people and not all white people are MAGAs. Some of us are definitely "woke" and fully recognize the danger of the GOP and are protesting in every way we are able and are not racist.
None of this had to happen. It's not like it hasn't happened before.
Read the obituary of Buster Baldwin of Kerr County. The list of his accomplishments proves the community was able to raise money and prioritized many things ahead of safety. He was the voice that said spending $50,000 to try and mitigate the risk was too much to spend.
And read about the 1987 flood in a community called Comfort. Same river.
I find it very interesting that if Capone were walking the streets these days, I would have more faith in his sense of community spirit (soup kitchens) than I do Republicans.
Those white girls have nothing to contribute the transactional coffers of the ruling class, so they are relegated to pawns in the political blame game. Sadly, their families will experience the meaning of "not all your kind are your kin" as their whiteness, and willingness to put brown bodies on the altar of white supremacy, will not protect them from the consequences of this regime's greed for everything.
This was a flood, a natural disaster. All the usual flood warnings were issued, but in the nighttime, many didn't get them. The rapid rise also made it impossible for some to escape.
Did you even read this piece? The whole point is that everything our government has turned a blind eye to in order to maximize profit has led to this moment. Yes, natural disasters happen. But this tragedy should open your eyes to the real impact our governments negligence can have on our lives, our children’s lives. Politics is intertwined with EVERYTHING we do and everything we use to survive.
The fact that it is a Christian camp (Laura Bush was a counselor there) makes it easier for them to get away with it...it's God's will after all *gag*
The couselors wrote the girls' names on them "just in case".
This photo will change in the media to Artwork, girls in white gowns, with angel wings and halos in soft lighting. Instead of children savaged by the flood, and only identifiable by a name sharpied on a body part.
Yes! I've already seen enough. "God called her home" quotes. It sickens me! No. God didn't. If anyone believes in God, then they must also believe God has also asked for humankind to provide good stewardship of God's creation, not its destruction. Greed murdered these girls. God didn't "need another angel."
How did greed murder them?
Nobody was murdered.
Greed played no role.
This was a flood, a natural disaster. All the usual flood warnings were issued, but in the nighttime, many didn't get them. The rapid rise also made it impossible for some to escape.
Let's start with Kerr County local government voting against a county alert system because it would be "too expensive."
And Texas voting against FUNDING county alert systems out of their surplus (although Abbott always has money to waste on sending asylum seekers to Denver in January.)
Explain to me how an alert system is more expensive than burying 280 Texans.
You have to connect the dots. The funding wasn't there for a county alert system because Texas officials wanted to keep more of the money for themselves! It ALWAYS comes down to money.
I suspect that many of these parents really also don't think that their god needs another angel. But for all the rest: the religion that those parents adhere to is just fine with it. I went to a "revival" one time (about 52 years ago) in Dallas, at the behest of my brother who would have send his daughters to that camp if he'd lived in the right state. And this is the message, literal and unvarnished, that I heard:
"Many of you ask why a loving God would allow bad things to happen to his children. The answer is this: every human is so sinful that they deserve even worse than whatever happens. Anything better is by the grace of God."
This is what you're dealing with.
(I have to put in a plug for my novel, because I have to get that message out. It deals with some of this in a way that I hope might be helpful to some.
https://www.bedazzledink.com/hannas-ascent)
This is messed up. You don’t know the religious identity of any parent’s, nor are you positioned to judge how they use that religion in grief. If it’s your discomfort with it - deal with that on your time. My cousin, while yes calling her now-deceased daughter (in the photo she gave no permission to release) an Angel now with The Lord, does not believe divine intervention caused the flood. She is an OB/GYN in a state making that job *exceptionally* hard. She can distinguish science from her religion, ffs.
"Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
...
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should"
Natalie said it better in a few words than I can. I have no doubt there are "good Christians" in the world, many of them. I also have no doubt that that preacher meant what he said, and 10,000 people lapped it up, and I'm very glad there were no mind-meld practitioners around or I'd probably have been dead soon after.
I know what I lived. And I wouldn't change a word of what I wrote.
You know, misappropriating The Chicks here is REALLY telling. They were victims of a cancel culture based on things they said publicly about their anti-war stance.
For you to posit yourself as a VICTIM here is utterly unthinkable, unacceptable, and tacky. You judge while you live in blue-state CA. You leave NO room for nuance. The Chicks hate you for using them to desecrate the lives of dead children. And I might too. Fuckin MAGA shit.
You bring these girls shame and idgaf WHAT you think you know, it’s a life you got to live. These girls did not. Shame on your for blaming these victims. Fucking “dressed like that they’re asking for it” ass mentality. Fuck your rape-coded messaging. And, once more for the idiot I’m talking to: FUCK YOU. My cousin was kinder and gentler than you could even dream of being right now. Outdone by a fucking 8-year old. That takes some nerve.
I don't plan on replying to most of this, as it is pretty clearly not going to change anything. I would ask you to just consider looking at my comment and trying to find where I blamed *anyone* for *anything.*
I did blame a religion. For a lot. A religion is not a person.
Whelp, Natalie was a better writer than you. And you should really be listening to her/the chicks more recent albums for something to land.
Here’s my original contribution:
FUCK YOU.
and I mean it. And I don’t take back a word of it.
I’m very sorry to hear of the death of your cousin’s daughter. 💔 such a horrible tragedy. ❤️🩹
Have you checked out gaslighter?!
Because you are the human equivalent of throwing kerosene on a piddling bonfire.
Funny that I’ve met maines and Marty a few times and I really think they would spit in your face without hesitation.
It takes a special breed of person to look at a river that rose to unthinkable heights and blame the people ALONG IT.
who did you blame when Helene hit western NC? Over 100 died. Wanna guess how many of those killed were practicing Christians? Or do you just do it when it’s only children and you can blame their parents.
Can’t WAIT to review that novel.
It's easy to be angry with us.
It would be more productive to be angry with your friends and neighbors who voted against doing anything that might have lessened this tragedy.
I lost family in the floods. Of course it’s easy. But I’m almost not JUST angry.
And the thing is: my friends and neighbors didn’t vote for this. The assumptiveness and high-lofted ‘why don’t you just have conversations with people we perceive as opposition’ is the problem.
And frankly, 4.2mil dem voters in TX is likely higher than the number your state sent, barring NY, CA. Maybe you should spend some time understanding the gerrymandering and voter suppression that is in place and come on down, be a friend and neighbor, and help US out.
We’re exhausted. And we’re tired of the victim blaming.
The Christian God is a demon.
Let the church say AMEN.
»»»God didn't "need another angel."'
Are you implying that Christians believe angels are dead humans? They are not.
Angels are entirely separate entities from humans.
My father, b1930, said his generation inherited a world in a political mess and my generation would inherit a polluted world (as children we breathed the exhaust from leaded gasoline, for example). We leave the next generation a world that’s being trashed politically and environmentally.
And admittedly, by parents of girls, NO PHONES were allowed, not even with counselors in cabins with them. WTF is that 😳
Omg
Brilliant, heart-breaking analysis of America's 'rapid unscheduled disassembly'
The demise of American expertise and compassion was scheduled, planned, executed by agents of chaos in the Soviet rubble pile running Russia into the ground as it pushes propaganda through American greedy media and polezni duraki all the while Krasnov claims he doesn't know.
I don't share your opinion, have a university degree in Russian language and Soviet studies, so I have my own, informed point of view, but thanks anyway.
Spasibo
Fuck all the way off, comrade.
That is why it’s called life. It is not nice or fair. Just Life!
Thanks for the answer to a question I didn't actually ask. /s
This was devastatingly spot on!!
I thought the slaughter of white first graders at Sandy Hook would have moved the GOP to act. But they are Squid Game ghouls.
When white folks REALLY figure out their whiteness will not protect them from the cannibalism of corporate vampiric greed and their puppet politicians doing their bidding, when the pitchforks wake up and get woke, then maybe they’ll see through the propaganda and gaslighting media pointing at Black and brown folks (culture war) and realize it’s a class war… and unpack their own ignorance and see how their racism boomerangs back on that ass. These spiritual infants better evolve quick for such a time as this
What do you expect the government to do?
you can’t outlaw the weather any more than you can outlaw personal protection.
The world has never been a safe space. It’s dangerous.
The more you try to make it safe, the less safe it becomes.
I live in Texas, you don’t. Stop your virtue signaling.
Then take some responsibility.
Texans KNOW this is (as a judge said) the most dangerous river valley in the United States. That's one of your own local officials -- not some outsider.
Maybe you don't put kids camps and RV camps in a place called Flash Flood Alley?
Maybe you monitor river levels remotely 24x7.
Maybe you use that money to improve your warning systems.
They were using a GODDAMN PHONE TREE in 2025.
I was driving through Illinois in 2019 and I got a tornado alert on my cell phone.
I didn't have to sign up -- the local county hit everyone - residents and passing motorists with a warning.
Now tell me why Texas doesn't have that for the Hill country?
Because just like with school shootings people in the local communities put their focus and money into different priorities. We could end school shootings by having heavily armed and highly trained police in every school but we don’t want to spend that kind of money so everyone just takes their chances and hopes it isn’t their kids school that gets shot up next.
We do the same thing with disaster preparedness, we mostly do the bare minimal and hope we don’t have the bad luck to get hit. My own community is currently doing the same thing with a much higher likelihood of disaster. We have a levy the federal government has deemed unsafe for decades yet the community routinely votes against dealing with it. The price tag associated with it would destroy the community in a variety of ways so everyone votes against it and hopes nothing happens or their property is safe from a 100 year flood so they don’t think it will be an issue. Of course if it’s a 500 year or 1000 year flood that’s a different story. Then there’s the fact that a sizable portion of the population lives in places that would only get hit by a flood of biblical proportions. Take money out of your grocery budget so the people who live close to the river where you couldn’t afford to live can be protected against a flood is a hard sell.
No government could ever be prepared for the variety of possible disasters; school shootings, mass shootings, terrorism, toxic chemical spill, disease outbreak, winter storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, flash floods, other floods, fires, toxic gas, nuclear fallout, the list of possibilities is nearly endless. It’s up to local communities to decide which of these disasters to prioritize and fund and which to chance. Given the number of people who sent their kids to these camps and who were otherwise in the area it does not seem that they were concerned with the safety or conditions. If they weren’t it’s unlikely the rest of the community was. If the community isn’t worried about something then why would a government, the entire point of which is to be representative of the needs of the community, care about it?
All the safest and most productive land was in use long ago. A growing population means that we will be building not just recreational areas but entire cities on land that is far more dangerous than we would like. I watched them build tens of thousands of homes in areas that I knew were flood zone from when I was a kid and I watched them build thousands of homes in a forest I knew was going to burn sooner or later even as a kid. Both of those communities have been hit by small scale tragedies that were utterly predictable and the response was to rebuild everything right where it was and make a few adjustments. Sooner or later a 100 year or 500 year or 1000 year flood is going to hit and the results are going to be catastrophic but also entirely predictable. When you run out of prime real estate you have to build in more dangerous locations and when you build in a floodplain sooner or later it floods and when you build in an overgrown forest sooner or later it burns.
There are always lessons to be learned in a natural disaster but that’s different than an ability to prevent or mitigate one.
Ulvalde proved you a liar.
All that money wasted on “heavily armed and highly trained police” who SAT OUTSIDE AND LET KIDS DIE.
Right now, your explanations all seem to be “let's not do anything because it's useless.”
Except no other developed country has our deaths from gun violence because they regulate gun ownership.
So yes, there are PROVEN ways to reduce gun deaths. We're not doing them.
And given that the NRA is not saying word one about gun owners protecting their brown neighbors from being illegally snatched off the streets by masked men claiming to be ICE, it doesn't seem gun ownership was ever about protecting the Constitution.
As for the rest of your list, bullshit.
Of course, you can reduce deaths from those causes. We can rebuild our community civil defense groups to start with. We can not build chemical factories on known flood plains or in residential areas. We can fine tune early warning systems.
There have been FOUR “100 year floods” in the last two years.
If your community wants to play Russian roulette with your levees, do us all a favor and self insure.
Why should the rest of us bail you out when you won't do anything to save yourself?
Right now your arguments are boiling down to “We can't do anything because we're all going to die anyway from some terrible disaster.”
Well, if that terrible disaster strikes, money is going to be worthless anyway, so spend it now and save lives today.
Since you seem to believe there won't be a tomorrow.
No my argument is that there are too many things to do them all so we do what we can but when that fails in the face of a natural disaster it’s a tragedy and not the fault of anyone. Again I’m not saying lessons can’t be learned but that’s different than placing blame or responsibility on someone.
There is no safe place to build chemical factories. Even the best technology fails at times and its most likely to fail in natural disasters.
Because of the unwillingness to address the levy those properties cannot be insured against flood damage and are not protected by FEMA and other federal relief. So yes it is absolutely a risk we are taking and if you don’t think your community is taking similar risks in other areas you’re lying to yourself.
If you think Uvalde was a highly trained police department that explains a lot. My point was that we should have police officers inside of the schools. Not ready to respond to but already inside the buildings and notice I used the plural and not the singular. There were zero officers inside that school when the incident started. Is that how banks and government buildings work? No. There is full coverage from open to close with no gaps.
@Joseph L. Wiess <—bot bot bot
Didn’t you know we were supposed to take drastic political action to stop underwater volcanoes from erupting and to stop solar flares from hitting the planet since those drive climate far more than our carbon emissions do?
This is simply an attempt to weaponize a tragedy to make a political point which isn’t surprising, it’s what the left does because they don’t have logic, reality, or reason on their side. Emotional appeal to ignorant people is the only game they have and it’s easier to do when your followers lack scientific and historical literacy.
I’m guessing there likely were some sorts of flood mitigation strategies that could have been taken that weren’t, but anywhere in the world that will be true, you can’t take all the steps to prevent everything. Sometimes you deal with what is opposed to preparing for what might be and you pay the price for that. My community is at high risk for a devastating flood due to an inadequate and outdated levy system, but the people who live here continually vote against doing anything about it because the price tag is too high and would destroy the community as we know it due to a combination of unbearably high tax burden and a loss of most of the services the local government currently provides. We are risking the future to maintain our present and we understand it but it’s the choice we’ve made.
This is a tragic natural disaster and shame on those who would try and manipulate it for their political gain.
Care to produce any facts to back up your bullshit?
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/1298/1/012019
Paper on the impact of solar flares and global warming.
https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/sun-space-weather/what-space-weather
Discussion on space weather and its general impacts on earth
https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/effect-of-volcanic-eruptions-significantly-underestimated-in-climate-projections
Relationship of volcanic eruptions and climate
https://www.forbes.com/sites/scotttravers/2025/03/01/the-forgotten-apocalypse-of-ad-536-a-biologists-take-on-the-worst-year-to-be-alive/
Historical example of the massive climate impacts of volcanic eruptions
Did you read the IOP paper? Because that’s not the killer argument you think it is.
And yes, volcanic eruptions have an impact on climate.
Usually they cause “years without a summer” or “little ice ages” — from your own links.
So which of our recent volcanic eruptions would you like to blame for higher than normal temperatures?
From the Cambridge link:
While this effect is far from enough to offset the effects of global temperature rise caused by human activity, the researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, say that small-magnitude eruptions are responsible for as much as half of all the sulphur gases emitted into the upper atmosphere by volcanoes.
When I asked for facts, I assumed you understood you couldn’t just google and drop in links without reading them.
My point is that a thousand things that we don’t understand and haven’t studied and can’t control have a huge impact on climate. We haven’t had any major volcanic eruptions in a very long time. One massive eruption and we are looking at catastrophic global cooling and we are overdue for multiple massive eruptions. A couple of massive solar storms will impact temperatures in ways we couldn’t mitigate if we forced the entire population back to pre-industrial living. Underwater volcanic activity is under studied and not understood.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/tonga-volcano-eruption-raises-imminent-risk-of-temporary-1-5c-breach/
Climate science is junk science because we haven’t been able to accurately measure temperature or precipitation or anything else you use to objectively study climate until very recently. Almost all climate science is based on modeling which is only as accurate as your inputs. We do not understand everything that impacts climate therefore our models cannot be accurate. This is why we went from “we are headed for a mini ice age” to “the planet is over heating” to “climate change”.
What we do know is that in preindustrial human history the planet has been born warmer and cooler and that while disruptive humanity survived and adapted as did other life on the planet.
The idea that the planet is homeostatic and that climate is homeostatic and that humanity is driving climate is nothing but hubris. Forces far more powerful than humanity shape the climate and no matter our efforts things beyond our control will have greater impacts than our best efforts.
And yes modern scientific papers often have conclusions that basically ignore their findings and historical evidence because if you want to get published you have to find some way to support the global warming narrative. But it’s just that, a narrative that’s built on junk science and greed.
So not your grandkids?
Billionaires are multiplying under their ,"enormous unbearable tax burden." You've been fooled my friend. If taxes aren't stopping billionaires and you're suffering unbearable tax burdens you might want to revise your tax structure.
There aren’t any local billionaires and most of the millionaires are asset rich and cash poor, selling off the ranch to pay the taxes on it defeats the purpose of having a ranch. Our county is poor. Our public services are already stretched to the max and local small businesses are starting to feel the pinch in people’s wallets. Fixing the levy would require a significant increase in local taxes and we haven’t yet figured out a way to tax the billionaires three counties and two hundred miles away. The cost of living is already higher than the nearest big city. Taxes increase to the point necessary to make the feds happy and our town will die like the factory towns of the Midwest. People will simply move away to where the cost of living is lower and the opportunities more abundant. The tax structure could absolutely be revised but the motto of this entire part of the state is “this is the way we’ve always done it and it was good enough then so it’s good enough now”. The Yellowstone caldera will blow before the tax code gets significantly changed. That said even if someone struck gold and suddenly money was pouring in flood mitigation would be near the bottom of our priority list. Below better funding for our school district, police department, parks department, and preparation for blizzards and wildfires both of which are far more likely and common than a catastrophic flood. There is only so much money to go around and people have to prioritize where it goes and then tend to prioritize day to day issues as opposed to once in 50 or 100 years issues.
Spot On!
How are you blaming this on politics?!
This was a flood, a natural disaster. All the usual flood warnings were issued, but in the nighttime, many didn't get them. The rapid rise also made it impossible for some to escape.
I don’t see anyone here blaming any of this on politics. When tragedies happen, sentient people want to figure out how to prevent them from happening again. That is unless they live in a Cult that manipulates them into believing that they have no control over their lives and that some higher power controls everything. We have over centuries acquired much knowledge and skill to help improve our quality of lives. Many people desire very much to put all of the knowledge and skills to good use to improve the lives of all of us. There is a faction of evil in the world that have no concern for other people and want all the earth’s resources for themselves. In a constitutional republic those evil people use our freedoms to their advantage to gain power thru “politics”. If you see politics in this situation you might want to ask yourself if you haven’t bought yourself a boatload of snake oil.
Politics versus Political Behavior
Politics are an essential element to everything human. It can’t be avoided.
“Politics refers to the activities associated with making decisions in groups, or the processes of power relations within and between societies. It encompasses the ways people organize and govern themselves, including the distribution of resources, the setting of rules, and the resolution of conflicts. Essentially, politics is about how we live together in groups and make collective decisions.
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
Decision-making in groups:
Politics involves the processes through which groups, from small communities to entire nations, make decisions.
Power relations:
Politics is inherently linked to power, including how power is gained, maintained, and exercised. This can involve individuals, groups, or institutions.
Distribution of resources:
Politics often involves deciding how resources like wealth, land, and opportunities are allocated.
Rule-making and governance:
This includes the creation and enforcement of laws, regulations, and social norms. "
Conflict resolution:
Politics also addresses how disagreements and conflicts are managed and resolved”
“Political behavior encompasses the study of how individuals and groups think, feel, and act in relation to politics. It explores various aspects of political engagement, including public opinion, political participation, voting, and the influence of factors like media and political ideology. This field draws on insights from political science, psychology, sociology, and other disciplines to understand the complexities of political behavior.”
This entire essay is literally blaming the GOP for this.
It just so happens that another name for people in power who’ve lied about science and prioritized lining their pocketbooks over the lives of their constituents all belong to a political party called the Republican Party so they can all pretend it’s “just” politics. If you believe that you must have a medicine cabinet full of snake oil. 💩💩 to call it politics when it’s about our freedoms, safety and security being stolen by lying greedy bastards.
I know everyone keeps lumping all white people in their phraseology, but MAGAs are not all white people and not all white people are MAGAs. Some of us are definitely "woke" and fully recognize the danger of the GOP and are protesting in every way we are able and are not racist.
That is not at all the point of this article.
I know that. Good grief. I was remarking on one individual's comment.
I know that. Good grief. I was remarking on one individual's comment.
Terrible facts are that the 1% doesn't care about anyone. It's us vs them. But what they don't realize is mother nature will come for them too.
Thank you for writing so clearly.
None of this had to happen. It's not like it hasn't happened before.
Read the obituary of Buster Baldwin of Kerr County. The list of his accomplishments proves the community was able to raise money and prioritized many things ahead of safety. He was the voice that said spending $50,000 to try and mitigate the risk was too much to spend.
And read about the 1987 flood in a community called Comfort. Same river.
They knew. They knew it would happen again.
They didn't care.
The only innocents are those kids.
They played Russian roulette with these children -knowingly.
I find it very interesting that if Capone were walking the streets these days, I would have more faith in his sense of community spirit (soup kitchens) than I do Republicans.
It is all just too much.
Grandkids...kids...in Flash Flood Alley...with no ... too much
Might be different if it was a white boys camp.
Nope. It's us vs the 1%. White black brown and all others
Overall it’s definitely all of us against the billionaires.
I don't think so, not unless they had US senators for parents.
Nope.
Sad & heartbreaking truth to all of this - every word must have been painful to write Dr. Patton. Sending you hugs & support
This!!! All of this!!!
Those white girls have nothing to contribute the transactional coffers of the ruling class, so they are relegated to pawns in the political blame game. Sadly, their families will experience the meaning of "not all your kind are your kin" as their whiteness, and willingness to put brown bodies on the altar of white supremacy, will not protect them from the consequences of this regime's greed for everything.
How are you blaming this on politics?!
This was a flood, a natural disaster. All the usual flood warnings were issued, but in the nighttime, many didn't get them. The rapid rise also made it impossible for some to escape.
Did you even read this piece? The whole point is that everything our government has turned a blind eye to in order to maximize profit has led to this moment. Yes, natural disasters happen. But this tragedy should open your eyes to the real impact our governments negligence can have on our lives, our children’s lives. Politics is intertwined with EVERYTHING we do and everything we use to survive.
If it won't change for children then ask yourself, what kind of f'in country and world is this?
Actually, the 1% hate eachother the most, and celebrate when anyone dies. "More for me" they think..
“murder by policy” is exactly right, and it’s aimed at everyone
Brava. This should be in the NYT and WAPO. You wove it all together.
I live in Connecticut. This is #FACTS
Well said.