General Discussion

Texas, the Flood, and the Very High Cost of ‘Small Government’

You know what’s more offensive than politicizing a tragedy? Refusing to prevent the next one.

Let’s talk about what just happened in Texas. Last Friday, flash floods ripped through Central Texas, killing well over 100 people—including 28 children. It’s the deadliest natural disaster to strike the region in a century. Girls are still missing. Families are still waiting.

The New York Times reported that crucial positions were vacant at the local National Weather Service offices. Meteorologists, hydrologists—people who literally issue flood warnings and work with local authorities—just not there. Why? Staffing shortages. Budget cuts. Millionaire-at-birth narcissists gutting the federal government until it bleeds.

These are the exact people whose job it is to communicate with local emergency managers. AccuWeather’s chief meteorologist said it outright: “Evacuations could have reduced the fatalities—if officials had heeded warnings from both public and private sources.”

Now, after decades of building a world-class forecasting system, we watched it fail. Because it was sabotaged. Not by God. Not by nature.

By the party of “deregulate everything,” of “privatize disaster relief,” of “faith-based emergency planning.”

By the same reality TV performer who sharpied a hurricane path on a weather map in 2019 just took a chainsaw to NOAA, the NWS, and the very people whose job is to save lives before disaster strikes.

By the people who think weather warnings are woke.

By the people who spent last Fall exploiting the horrors of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina to bludgeon a Democratic president.