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CURRENT EVENTS July 6 - *
- Thread starter nycfan
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- Replies: 229
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- Politics
1moretimeagain
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I wonder if this ends up exceeding the Helene death toll. Very similar with the rapid flooding in the middle of the night - with virtually no warning that the flooding would be that bad (although Helene had a little more warning - just no one could envision it would be that bad in Western NC).
StrangePackage
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It's been a little triggering, honestly. Seeing the reports makes my skin itch.
My heart breaks for them. To lose children like that, I can barely imagine the sorrow.
1moretimeagain
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I’d guess these deaths are from a much smaller area than Helene, but the death total is quickly catching up to Helene.
lawtig02
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Both are unspeakable tragedies, but this one seems even more inexplicable to me for some reason. Helene was a major tropical system that moved over an enormous area. This was an extremely heavy but highly localized thunderstorm. I know the Hill Country is vulnerable to this, but it’s still shocking what loss of life we’re seeing.
It’s compounded by the fact it happened on Fourth of July. That is a very popular camping area that time of year, and a tent would be just about the worst place to be in a flash flood.
lawtig02
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True.
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I hadn't thought about the holiday weekend having such an impact. Thanks for that perspective.
Many rivers in the Texas Hill Country have limestone riverbeds…….the Guadelupe is one of those.
That means the riverbed is essentially concrete……similar to those concrete “canals” or “rivers” running through Southern California - movies like to show vehicles racing in them (when they’re dry).
That area in Texas is called “flash flood alley” for a reason.
No houses, mobile home parks, camps, or campgrounds should be allowed in those (or any) flood plains.
That means the riverbed is essentially concrete……similar to those concrete “canals” or “rivers” running through Southern California - movies like to show vehicles racing in them (when they’re dry).
That area in Texas is called “flash flood alley” for a reason.
No houses, mobile home parks, camps, or campgrounds should be allowed in those (or any) flood plains.
Mulberry Heel
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So basically a non-answer to the actual question. About what I would have expected from somebody like Abbott.
1moretimeagain
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The text provides Trump’s full answer on Ukraine. For the remainder of the one minute video, Trump complained about the 2020 election.
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I think Governor Abbott would have had a good deal more to say on this matter and who should be blamed for what happened had the occupant of the White House had a "D" after his name or if it were Attorney General Abbott and the Governor had a "D" after her name. If the words that come out of one's mouth would be flipped 180 degrees if the person being commented on had been of a different party, then those words are not worth listening to.
SnoopRob
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When the story of the rise of fascism in the US is written, I think the Dubya administration, the general public's rejection of it, and Dubya's Evangelical supporters' reaction to that rejection of Dubya will have a major chapter (or 2) in that book.
A lot of Evangelicals felt like Dubya really was their president...he was a fellow Evangelical, he talked a lot like them (however realistic it was), and he very much put his faith at the forefront of this campaign. When the entire political establishment judged his presidency as a failure, I think a lot of them took it as a rejection of themselves and Evangelicalism. At that point, I think a lot of them started down the road they eventually trod with Trump, that if the political mainstream wouldn't take them seriously, then they'd find someone that the mainstream had to take seriously that would give them what they wanted.
This story also reminds me of David Frum's famous quote: "If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject democracy."
I would tweak the statement a bit for the majority of (white?) Evangelicals (plus other Christian conservatives):
"If Christian conservatives become convinced that they can not follow conservatism and Christ, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject Christ."
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—> 
JCTarheel82
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They've also abandoned conservatism in most respects.
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“… RJ borrowed a kayak, life vest and flashlight. He started to kayak to the cabin where the couple’s daughters and RJ’s parents were staying. It was about 100 feet below and he reached about halfway when, RJ said, a swell knocked him into a post.
“I shined a flashlight out there, and I could see it was white water, and I’ve kayaked enough to know that that was gonna be impossible,“ RJ said.
He could see an entire cabin had been detached from its foundation and was stuck against the side of the cabin where his daughters and parents were staying.
“There were cars floating at me and trees floating at me. I knew if I took even one stroke further, it was gonna be a death sentence.”
… [finding shelter with several other families on higher ground at 3:45 am]
That was when he checked his cellphone and saw a text sent at 3:30 a.m. from his daughter Brooke. Receiving the text alone was a miracle in the area, where he usually couldn’t get cell service. It said, “I love you.”
Annie, 43, who worked at St. Rita Catholic School, which both girls attended, received texts from both Brooke and Blair timestamped at 3:30 a.m. that said, “I love you.”
… At sunrise the water had finally receded enough for RJ to go back to the site. Only a half-dozen of the community’s 20-some cabins were still standing. The others had been ripped from their foundations, leaving only their tile floors. The cabin where Blair, Brooke and their grandparents had been staying was completely washed away.
Blair and Brooke’s bodies were found and identified about a dozen miles from the cabin. Their grandparents remain unaccounted for as of Sunday afternoon.…”
SnoopRob
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I disagree, but I guess that depends on how you define "conservatism".