Post

In areas hit by Texas floods, officials were sent over $5 million in federal ARPA funds in 2021. They didn't want to spend it on flood warning systems due to their disdain for Biden - and didn't send it BACK because it might go to a blue state, and "values that we in Kerr county don't agree with."

The Reddit thread links to a number of direct transcripts of these Kerr County meetings. Here's the one where Judge Kelly brings up California and "values that we in Kerr County don't agree with." legacy.co.kerr.tx.us/commcrt/minu...

In a 2016 discussion, Commissioner Baldwin said, dismissing the idea of updating warning systems: "The thought of our beautiful Kerr County having these damn sirens going off in the middle of night, I'm going to have to start drinking again to put up with y'all."

From a 2016 Commissioner's Court Regular Session: "Mr. Hewitt: Sirens did not seem to get very much support. The thought was that sirens are better for tourists than local residents. The sirens would only be beneficial for someone that's not familiar with the area, and wouldn't know what to do."

Yes, it appears that Kerr County legally could have used ARPA funds on flood warning systems - other communities in the U.S. did. They just didn’t seem to want to. bsky.app/profile/fain...

so they bought the cops some new radios? I'm so damn jaded that's the only read i can come away with "first responder emergency radio system" upgrade

cool screenshot, bro

Law enforcement communications came first over public safety. Coooooool.

"Texas really said we’re going to send you alerts over the same channel we use for flood evacuations and tornado warnings every time a policeman is sad and so everyone stopped listening to them" bsky.app/profile/samt... "when copaganda kills"

Texas Republicans during the power grid failures: regulations to require the national anthem at sports games "Texas spent more time fighting LGBTQ civil rights than fixing their power grid. How’d that work out?" "A Texas-size failure, followed by a familiar Texas response: Blame California"