Wow, so we can put an actual dollar amount on the lives lost. Most of the time karma isn’t so precise.
The bill was rejected so recently, you don't even have to adjust for inflation.
And Poseidon said "hey guys gald and enby pals, want to see the funniest shit this week?"
Insurance does this all the time. From that perspective Republicans are mathematical idiots.
Thoughts and prayers 👍
Thoughts and prayers
On the one hand, I can't imagine the county in question has the type of tax revenue to support $500 million, even if they were the type to have change to raise taxes (they're not). On the other hand, situations in which local governments can't afford essentials is exactly when you're supposed to have larger government (Texas, Feds) step in an subsidize, which of course they aren't willing under GoP rule. Meh.
I don't think the 500m Dollar is for just one county. More likely this is for all of Texas.
I'm reminded of "a libertarian walks into a bear". Right wing folks have a poor model of the world
The poor ones do. The rich ones are well aware that they're protected from consequences.
What forest? I can't see no forest because of all these damn trees!
Why help myself if I have to spend money and do stuff?
Understandable when it comes to wearing pants. Not understandable when it comes to natural disaster warning systems.
Just in case anybody wasn't sure.
🐆🍽️😢
There you go…
Couldn't they just use a system that sends texts or alerts using GPS / triangulation?
A lot of that area is remote or in canyons so cell service is spotty at best.
Edit: that is to say, you need a dedicated system specifically for warnings like this with real power sources, physical alarm devices, and either hard wired data systems, or data systems that are on radio towers high enough up to actually function and function properly in bad weather.
Remote areas and canyons are not the problem this solution addresses. Have you ever heard of tornado sirens or air raid sirens?
The bill would have funded improved disaster alert systems and provided grants for counties to build infrastructure like sirens and radio towers, according to the Texas Tribune.
many residents are believed to have not seen the warnings due to them being issued in the early morning hours, or lacked access to mobile devices altogether.
Yeah, I was trying to tell the poster above why a cell message or triangulated gps signal wouldn't work. This area is remote and needs proper infrastructure with dedicated alarms to function in a safety critical capacity.
There are already tornado sirens in the area around Seguin, so clearly they can afford some kind of warning, but then using budget as the reasons to avoid spending on this kind of thing has always been a bad faith argument.
True, and maybe it would make sense for the county (or a cellphone company?) to invest in strategically located towers so that cell service would be less spotty in general there? Not just for this kind of emergency but also lost hikers etc.
I don't think something of this risk should be left to individual, non-publicly maintained or controlled devices. This is specifically an area where the time to act is short and oftentimes the public is either in the river or river adjacent so they wouldn't have their phone.
That said, there should be better cell service for the reasons you listed, I just don't think it is the solution to the loss of life here.
Good points, both would be good.
But, $GOP$
politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News