Author: rosenjoe1@hotmail.com

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Trump was warned that National Weather Service cuts would kill people. Did he listen?

Ex-weather bosses sent haunting letter warning Trump cuts could lead to deaths weeks before flood

In the weeks leading up to the devastating floods in Texas, five former directors of the National Weather Service sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump warning that continued cuts to the budget would result in the deaths of people.

The five former directors wrote the letter in May. “The proposed budget for fiscal year 2026, just released by the White House, cuts the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by close to 30%” they wrote.

“While details aren’t yet available if earlier indications hold true, this budget would essentially eliminate NOAA’s research functions for weather, slash funding for next-generation satellite procurement, wrote the letter in May observations,” it added. “Even if the National Weather Service remains level funded, given the interconnectedness of all of the parts of NOAA, weather forecasting will also have impacts. We cannot let this happen.”

“NOAA’s satellites provide vital information about the formation and pathways of storms. NOAA research on severe storms has paved the way for tools we now use every day, such as Doppler radar and storm modeling advancements,” it continued. “NOAA Corps pilots fly into hurricanes to bring us real-time information on these increasingly severe storms. And data from ocean buoys adds breadth and depth to our understanding of the interaction between the atmosphere and the sea.”

“These proposed cuts come just days after approximately 300 National Weather Service (NWS)employees left the public service to which they had devoted their lives and careers,” continued the statement. “That’s on top of the approximately 250 NWS employees who were fired due to their probationary status in new, often higher-level positions, or took the initial buyout offered by the Trump Administration in early February.”

Continues…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/ex-weather-bosses-sent-haunting-letter-warning-trump-cuts-could-lead-to-deaths-weeks-before-flood/ar-AA1I32Pu?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=8f5f547cb1b24a329c277e8e5dbed907&ei=24

Then, there’s this:

NWS’s San Angelo, TX office was missing a senior hydrologist, staff forecaster and meteorologist in charge

As Floods Hit, Key Roles Were Vacant at Weather Service Offices in Texas

___Texas officials appeared to blame the Weather Service for issuing forecasts on Wednesday that underestimated how much rain was coming. But former Weather Service officials said the forecasts were as good as could be expected, given the enormous levels of rainfall and the storm’s unusually abrupt escalation.

The staffing shortages suggested a separate problem, those former officials said — the loss of experienced people who would typically have helped communicate with local authorities in the hours after flash flood warnings were issued overnight.

The National Weather Service’s San Angelo office, which is responsible for some of the areas hit hardest by Friday’s flooding, was missing a senior hydrologist, staff forecaster and meteorologist in charge, according to Tom Fahy, the legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees Organization, the union that represents Weather Service workers.

The Weather Service’s nearby San Antonio office, which covers other areas hit by the floods, also had significant vacancies, including a warning coordination meteorologist and science officer, Mr. Fahy said. Staff members in those positions are meant to work with local emergency managers to plan for floods, including when and how to warn local residents and help them evacuate.

That office’s warning coordination meteorologist left on April 30, after taking the early retirement package the Trump administration used to reduce the number of federal employees, according to a person with knowledge of his departure.

read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/05/us/politics/texas-floods-warnings-vacancies.html?smid=url-share

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About those Trump tariffs: They are all for show, no substance. But we knew that.

According to a White House insider who is deeply involved in talks with U.S. trading partners, Donald Trump’s tariff threats are not to be taken seriously because they are just a “theatrical show” being put on by the attention-obsessed president. According to a report from Politico, as Trump’s 90-day window on getting trade deals done before onerous tariffs are put in place looms, there is no real urgency at the White House which has negotiators and even some White House staff taking a dim view of the proceedings.

Politico’s Daniel Desrochers and Megan Messerly are reporting, “Foreign officials, trade experts, lawmakers and even some White House allies have expressed a nihilistic view of the July deadline, questioning whether a deal with the Trump administration means anything at all given the president’s penchant for using tariffs as leverage to get his way.”

After noting Trump himself was wavering this past week when he told reporters, “We could extend it, we could make it shorter. I’d like to make it shorter,” one insider offered a candid assessment about what is really going on.

“Trump knows the most interesting part of his presidency is the tariff conversation,” they admitted. “I find it hard to believe he’s going to surrender it that easily. It’s all fake. There’s no deadline. It’s a self-imposed landmark in this theatrical show, and that’s where we are.”

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-tariffs-2672734163/

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TX Gov Abbot’s press conference on the deadly flooding turns into Trump pep rally

Before taking any questions, Texas’s governor Greg Abbott, the homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, the Texas senator John Cornyn and the representative Chip Roy opened today’s press conference with long statements of self-congratulation and praise for the response from local, state and federal officials. They also repeatedly thanked Donald Trump in effusive terms.

It was not until reporters pressed for numbers, towards the end of the press conference, that officials began to share the valuable information sought out by the public.

Commenters watching the live feed expressed frustration at the lack of information in the first 25 minutes of the event.

“Quit talking about yourselves relentlessly,” one commenter said.

“Most useless conference!!!” another commenter said.

“Get to the point that matters to us the people of texas,” another said.

Much of the statements from Abbott, Noem, Cornyn and Roy focused on praising their own efforts, thanking Trump and the White House and encouraging people to pray.

“Prayer matters,” Abbott said. Prayers “could have been the reason why water stopped rising”.  (COMMENT:  Yes, and monkeys could fly out of your ass, but it’s not likely, you worthless piece of shit.)

Later during the press conference, in response to questions from the press, the local sheriff confirmed the number of dead had risen to 32, including 18 adults and 14 children.

 

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Georgia MAGAt says flooding in Texas is “FAKE! FAKE! FAKE!”

What kind of person pushes a weather conspiracy theory while some families mourn the loss of loved ones, and others still await news they fear in their souls will tear them apart? The answer is a monster. An evil, unempathetic, inhumane shit. A vile, indecent bastard.

Such is Kandiss Taylor. A MAGA candidate for US Representative from Georgia. This flint-hearted shrike heard the news of the floods in Texas and took to Twitter. Not to offer compassion and condolences. Not even to offer the usual anodyne “thoughts and prayers.” But instead, to offer a barbulous screed so insensitive that even Trump would be loath to defend it.  

Her tweet?

“Fake weather, Fake hurricanes. Fake flooding. Fake. Fake. Fake.”

Even Musk’s algorithms couldn’t let this vile insensitivity pass unremarked. Her untimely and unscientific assertion was soon challenged by “Community Notes.”

Screenshot2025-07-05at4.25.14PM.png

So far her tweet has 248 “likes” — who the fuck are these people? However, as she has also received 1,800 replies she is getting kicked in the ass with the “ratio.” I scrolled through the responses looking for those similar-minded to the petulant pestilence. If there were any callous enough to explain their agreement, they were few. I couldn’t find any in the first 100 or so replies.

Kandiass’s best political strategy would have been to delete the post — without comment, if she’s a chicken. Even zealots have to know there’s a line. However, this self-congratulatory ‘good Christian’ decided to soldier on by reposting her effluence with an invitation to go to her Substack page.
​

Screenshot2025-07-05at4.34.38PM.png

CLICK HERE to see her sad attempt at justifying the unjustifiable. Note: I understand completely those who won’t click because they don’t want her to get the traffic. For them, I can say that it is as you would expect — an anti-science screed wrapped around an attack on liberals.

Here’s a sample:

Now, I’m watching in nonstop prayer what’s happening in Texas. And let me tell you, the patterns, the timing, the scale raises serious questions. I made a post about fake weather, not even referencing Texas directly, and the liberal Democrats lost their ever-loving minds.

“Not even referencing Texas directly”? Oh, c’mon, Taylor. The headlines talk of multiple deaths and many missing due to a flood in Texas. You tweet “Fake flooding”. How the feck are we not supposed to connect those two dots?

Kandiass then goes full projection:

“These people [science advocates] are so brainwashed they sound like programmed zombies. They twist and pervert every word, not because they’re right, but because they can’t handle the truth.

Stone-hearted and dumb as a rock.

In 2022, Taylor ran for governor of Georgia. It did not go well. She received 3.4% of the GOP primary vote. Unchastened by her lack of love from the hometown fans, she is now running for a Georgia US House seat in 2026. I don’t think her callous climate analysis will help her.

The AP reported her ambition in February:

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia Republican who ran a fringe campaign for governor under the slogan “Jesus, Guns and Babies” says she’s running for Congress in 2026.

Kandiss Taylor of Baxley announced during an appearance Tuesday on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast that she will seek the GOP nomination in southeast Georgia’s 1st Congressional District.

“I’m ready to go to D.C. and blow some things up,” Taylor said, declaring that Republicans and Democrats alike will support her because “I represent Jesus.”

We have yet to hear Jesus’s response.

Stone-hearted, dumb as a rock, and deluded — the prefect Republican.

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Trump’s tariffs — all a phony show to get attention

According to a White House insider who is deeply involved in talks with U.S. trading partners, Donald Trump’s tariff threats are not to be taken seriously because they are just a “theatrical show” being put on by the attention-obsessed president. According to a report from Politico, as Trump’s 90-day window on getting trade deals done before onerous tariffs are put in place looms, there is no real urgency at the White House which has negotiators and even some White House staff taking a dim view of the proceedings.

Politico’s Daniel Desrochers and Megan Messerly are reporting, “Foreign officials, trade experts, lawmakers and even some White House allies have expressed a nihilistic view of the July deadline, questioning whether a deal with the Trump administration means anything at all given the president’s penchant for using tariffs as leverage to get his way.”

After noting Trump himself was wavering this past week when he told reporters, “We could extend it, we could make it shorter. I’d like to make it shorter,” one insider offered a candid assessment about what is really going on.

“Trump knows the most interesting part of his presidency is the tariff conversation,” they admitted. “I find it hard to believe he’s going to surrender it that easily. It’s all fake. There’s no deadline. It’s a self-imposed landmark in this theatrical show, and that’s where we are.”

Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-tariffs-2672734163/

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Trump’s dementia is on full display yet the media refuses to cover his descent

Digby has a compilation of video clips. Take a look. Each one is another Trump WTF moment. Taken together, you have to ask what it will take before somebody pulls the plug on this ongoing descent into ‘greatness’.

If he was some guy sitting in a bar ranting like this, the bartender would cut him off and call for someone to take him home.

Writing about former President Biden’s decline has become a stock narrative of journalism to the point of becoming a cottage industry. So where is a comparable focus on the far greater evidence that President Trump is in far worse shape?

It would be so easy for the press to do nothing but use his own words to make the case that he’s unfit to serve in any capacity — this is IOKIYAR beyond all reason. But that would be too partisan for them I guess.

Hell — why isn’t the Democratic Party doing it and filling up social media with it?

Nothing to see here — move along. It’s just Trump being Trump.

Here are a few examples

“You know, when I did the 250, there was nothing I could do. It was 250. It was 250. So I can’t see — that was my baby. The country happened to be 250 years old. But what I did do is during my first term, I got the Olympics, and I got the Great Soccer. You know that whole deal, right? I got — we call it soccer. They call it football. I got them both. I got the Olympics. First, I got the Olympics, and I got it. I was president. And I said, you know, it’s a shame. It’s a shame. I got the World Cup, and I have the Olympics, and I did it. And you have no idea. President Obama didn’t want to make a call to the Olympics. You know why? Because he went to Switzerland or wherever, and he said, you know, if a president goes to get the Olympics, you have to have a deal. You have to be chosen. He went there, and he came in fourth, so he hated them, I guess. And he was unwilling to make a call, and they called me up. The Democrats called me up, actually, from Los Angeles, and I said, I’ll do it. I made the call, and I couldn’t get the people off the phone because they were so starved for love, because nobody would call them from — anyway, we made a deal. I got the Olympics. Then we got the World Cup with Johnny. We got the World Cup, and I got them both, and I looked at my people. I said, isn’t it a shame? I got these two, but it wasn’t in the next four years. It was right after that, and the one after that. And I got the Olympics, and I got the World Cup, and we also have 250, so that’s a pretty wild term. But I got these two things that are incredible. Nobody else could have done it. I’m telling you, everybody wanted it. Nobody could have done it. And I said, and I won’t be president, because I’ll be president for four more years, but it won’t be — and then they cheated and rigged the election. They rigged — you know, they don’t even turn off the cameras when I say that now, because now they know it’s true, too. But they knew it was true before. Remember, the cameras used to immediately turn off. You see all those beautiful red lights go off. Now I can say whatever I want, because then they know it’s true. But they knew it was true before. It’s fake news. That’s why they call it. But you know what? This term is much more consequential than if I had done it the more traditional way. This was slightly harder, believe me. It’s slightly more dangerous, because they’re criminals on the other side that tried to put your president in jail and went after him, just like they do in third-world countries. And we all beat em together. We beat em because our level of popularity was so high.”

 

 

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Texas officials blame botched forecasts from National Weather Service for camp deaths . . . after Musk and Trump used “DOGE” to fire NWS experts

Officials in Texas are casting blame on the National Weather Service (NWS) for failing to forecast catastrophic flooding that has killed 24 people.

NWS was among the government agencies targeted by the Department of Government Efficiency in its effort to gut the federal bureaucracy, losing approximately 600 staffers.

After the cuts, the agency—which was already understaffed—began to prepare to offer “degraded” forecasting services, facing “severe shortages” of meteorologists, according to an internal document obtained by The New York Times in April.

“The original forecast that we received Wednesday from the National Weather Service predicted 3-6 inches of rain in the Concho Valley and 4-8 inches in the Hill Country,” said Texas Emergency Management Chief W. Nim Kidd at a press conference Friday. “The amount of rain that fell at this specific location was never in any of those forecasts.”

Sudden thunderstorms dumped more than 10 inches of rain on the area, causing heavy flooding from the Guadalupe River.

Dalton Rice, the city manager for Kerrville, Texas—who also spoke at the press conference—said that the catastrophic flash flooding happened because the skies “dumped more rain than what was forecasted” on two of the river’s forks.

The flooding has killed at least 27 people so far—18 adults and nine children. About 25 young girls from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp that sits near the river, are still missing.

In May, all five living directors of the NWS issued a letter warning that Trump’s cuts “leave the nation’s official weather forecasting entity at a significant deficit … just as we head into the busiest time for severe storm predictions like tornadoes and hurricanes,” the directors wrote. “Our worst nightmare is that weather forecast offices will be so understaffed that there will be needless loss of life.”

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Armed US contractors appear to be shooting Gaza residents lining up for food

Armed US contractors at one of Gaza’s new aid distribution hubs appeared to fire at Palestinians before celebrating, leaked footage has suggested.

Video seems to show machine gun fire in the vicinity of civilians seeking aid, with an American voice shouting: “I think you got one.”

Another voice adds: “Hell yeah, boy!”

The alleged incident took place at a site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by Israel and the US but condemned by much of the rest of the international community.

A former security contractor at one of the sites told the BBC he saw a guard with a machine gun open fire from a watchtower because a group of women, children and elderly people were moving away from the site too slowly.

Another contractor then opened fire, the whistleblower claimed. He said: “A Palestinian man dropped to the ground motionless. And then the other contractor, who was standing there, was like ‘damn, I think you got one’. And then they laughed about it.”

The Associated Press reportedly spoke to two contractors for UG Solutions, who have been sub-contracted to GHF sites, and alleged that there was regular use of live ammunition, stun grenades and pepper spray on Palestinians who posed no threat.

They claimed security staff hired to protect the sites were often unqualified and unvetted, and acted with impunity while heavily armed.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/think-hit-one-hell-yeah-155108766.html