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submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/white-house-blasts-idea-that-trumps-cuts-contributed-to-texas-flooding-death-toll

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the local and federal weather services provided sufficient warnings to the Kerr County community before the floods.

“That was an act of God. It’s not the administration’s fault that the flood hit when it did, but there were early and consistent warnings and, again, the National Weather Service did its job”

Leavitt said. She outlined that on July 3, the NWS office in Austin-San Antonio conducted briefings for local officials and issued a flood watch in the early afternoon. That was followed by numerous flood warnings on the night of July 3 and in the pre-dawn hours of July 4, giving a lead time of three hours before the flash flood. In response to a subsequent question about the warnings and why they were issued when people were likely asleep, Leavitt repeated that the offices were fully staffed.

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[-] [email protected] 23 points 2 days ago

"Act of God" is a commonly used term in amerikkka to describe freak weather events or environmental catastrophies such as being destroyed by lightning, a tornado, an earthquake, a wildfire, etc. You'll commonly see it in the terms and conditions for, say, auto insurance.

They aren't literally saying "God did this!"

[-] [email protected] 40 points 2 days ago

They are kinda saying it though

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

it's a euphemism, like saying "the birds in the bees" when really they mean S * X. Do birds have s*x with bees?

[-] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

Not all idioms are euphemisms, the expression is "the birds and the bees," and the suggested narrative of that idiom is not interspecial sex.

In modern English, "act of God" to refer generically to natural disasters is a "term of art" (a sort of jargon) used in legal contexts to insinuate not being liable, but I don't think they are facing legal action to start with even in a case where they fully admit fault, because fault is not the same as liability if you aren't obliged to prevent something. They are using the term with a meaning that is legible to its normal use, but outside of the normal legal utility, so I believe it is reasonable to conclude that they really do want to involve the idea of God even if they aren't going as far as making a fully theological argument regarding the disaster. Hence "kinda."

this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2025
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