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Janet Rodriguez's avatar

Once again you have laid it all out. It’s outrageous what passes for governance in our state . I appreciate your ability to put into words with facts and good writing the situations we find ourselves facing. When will we make the changes we need !?

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Linda Hardison's avatar

This is heartbreaking and a clear picture of what will be coming to all areas of the country if our current trajectory is not altered. 😢

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Roger Gray's avatar

Another great piece, Jim. Though I'm still a believer, I think there is a verse these religious cosplay actors have forgotten, if they ever read it. From the Book of James...

"What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."

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Savannah's avatar

amazing quote!

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Mike Pennington's avatar

Exactly what I’ve been thinking about all of this, except didn’t know about the evil Biden money refusal. All of these hacks know there are so many Baptist voters that support them that dropping the “prayer” line keeps their support and makes it stronger. I know, I have a whole family of Baptist church members and members of little Bible study groups that don’t read a news paper or watch anything that might give them pause about who they voted for that might make them have to question their conservative bent brains, but boy they can spend hours dissecting and spinning Bible verses to their views.

I left that faith and prayer nonsense a long time ago. It’s a crutch and a cop out and deep down they know it. At some point as a human you have to

face facts and act on it, not praying or wishing up on a star or whatever.

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John S's avatar

An excellent take on what should have been an easily preventable tragedy. It's hard to fathom why people put their faith in mystical beings and feckless politicians, but they do. As they say after every mass shooting, thoughts and prayers...

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cognomun's avatar

Yup,didn't take long for the politicians to pull out the well worn "Act of God" excuse, a Monopoly's "get out of jail free" card in Life's game. It does sound better than "Act of Human Choice." True, neither expression would stop the flood, but both express who's responsible for what happens after it floods.

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Horsetrackwidow's avatar

That is the best opening line of any essay that I have read. Thank you for capturing all of my outrage over this tragedy so well. Especially the trope that apparently the victims of disaster or illness just don’t pray hard enough. The incompetence of our elected officials and the opening of the state coffers after a tragedy are especially infuriating. Especially when they will use that legislation that should have been passed in the regular session to white wash redistricting. Oops. Too soon for politics.

Thank you for all you do. I love your writing.

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TS Elliott's avatar

I’ll believe they tap that rainy day fund when I see it. Thanks for the great article. It’s up to the rest of us to vote these extremists out and do everything within the law and our power to get Texas back to good. Registered Dems now outnumber registered Rs. We can do this.

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Jill Barrow's avatar

We outnumber the amount of registered Republican voters by 2,000,000. Hhhhhmm...gerrymandering??

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S maltophilia's avatar

They'll tap it when Dunn and Farris want a handout, or new part of the dueling school systems needs a bailout. You won't get any.

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TS Elliott's avatar

Or more border wall :/

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Robin du Plessis's avatar

And it is currently pouring down rain on already saturated ground in the hill country this Sunday morning. Clean up and recovery efforts are on pause while waiting to see how much the clouds let loose and the river rises. Not what we need right now.

Abbott and Patrick should pray for it to stop.

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DeeceX's avatar

"Everything is Political." And your subtitle could have been, "And Nothing Is About Praying or Tortured Football Analogies from a Dude Who's Never Played the Sport a Day in His Life."

God, that sneaky Bastard, made the flood. But a series of clownish, unserious men — all of whom just happened to have a 'R' after their name — turned it into a mass casualty event. We all know it, which is why half on us insist on "not politicizing the tragedy," why which they mean holding anyone accountable.

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Bob Groves's avatar

Jim, you succinctly summarized what I’ve been trying to explain to some of our mutual friends in Michigan. The mix of stubbornness, partisan bias, climate denial extremism, and very short memories is a toxic stew the enabled this tragedy. According to our President you must be evil for chronicling these facts! According to our Governor, you are talking like a loser! We’re glad you continue helping us all talk truth to power!

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Dave Kagan's avatar

I suspect a quick prayer would immediately shake loose the funding if the Tivy Antlers High School football stadium needed to upgrade the lights for the upcoming fall season in Kerr County. Gregg Abbott is simply shameless and despicable.

BTW, Jim, I noticed and appreciated your usage of "she."

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S maltophilia's avatar

Hurricane season is just getting started, and Texas is about due for one. Brace for an onslaught of fots&pairs, as a crippled FEMA will be useless.

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Mick Scott's avatar

There's got to be a way to teach people better.

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Scott Barzilla's avatar

My former high school friend essentially said I was crazy for assigning blame. We can also include the firing of NOAA officials that would have communicated their forecasting. There have been too many of these events in Texas to ignore. Yet, my former friend insists they are all once in a lifetime events. They seem to happen a lot for once in a lifetime events.

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Jill Barrow's avatar

Wow!!! I loved yr piece ! I have lived in this state since 1959 (yup, I'm old😁) & have watched the decline of Tx since Ann Richards. I spent my career as a French teacher in the Tx public school system & just retired a few years ago. Other Txns "of a certain age" (good French expression for older people) understand that every Republican Congress, Governor & Lt. Governor have dragged Tx down. Horrendous cuts in education, itty bitty salaries, waste of funds & resources, ridiculous expectations for state curricula (teachers forced into "teaching to the test" instead of teaching kids to think)- disgusting. And after the pandemic, they wonder why kids can't think. I thank you for yr awesome research (I dug up facts abt the damn Kerr co. mtngs & yr the 1st one who's really written abt the utter failure of MAGA politics in our state.

Has anyone else seen the video w/the little baby whiny man talking abt how glad he was that ICE had picked up the Mexican International Search & Rescue Team members??? I'm having trouble verifying...

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Robin du Plessis's avatar

Jill, I have not seen the video you mentioned. I heard somewhere in this last week that the Mexican teams already had visas.

Yesterday I saw an interview with one of them on KSAT. They even brought their trained dogs. They are true heroes!

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