People will die. Tens of thousands, perhaps year after year after year, as a result of the Republican assault on the healthcare of the American people. I’m sad. I never thought I would be on the House floor saying this is a crime scene.
~House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries
House Speaker Mike Johnson called Jeffries’ efforts to keep Republicans from passing their “One Big Beautiful Bill” in the dead of night, “Performance art.” Other MAGA lemmings called his words hyperbole. Yet, less than 24 hours after passage of the 900+ page legislation, people did begin to die. Not as Jeffries predicted from the draconian cuts to health and nutrition programs, but from a lesser publicized provision.
As of this morning, 51 people are dead from the massive flooding in central Texas and two dozen young girls at a summer camp are still missing. To no one’s surprise, Texas officials are blaming anyone but themselves. Texas Emergency Management Chief W. Nim Kidd blamed the National Weather Service.
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. The amount of rain that fell at this specific location was never in any of those forecasts.
Recognizing that an earlier warning might have saved lives, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem pledged to do better.
We know that everyone wants more warning time, and that’s why we’re working to upgrade the technology that’s been neglected for far too long to make sure families have as much advance notice as possible.
However, the most cogent explanation came from a totally unexpected source. Elon Musk’s own AI engine, which he named “Grok,” a term popularized in Robert Heinlein’s 1961 science fiction classic A Stranger in a Strange Land. In his novel, “grok” is a Martian word which means “to understand something profoundly and intuitively, to grasp its essence.” When queried who was responsible for this tragedy, Grok did not hesitate.
Trump’s NOAA cuts, pushed by Musk’s DOGE, slashed funding 30% and staff 17%, underestimating rainfall by 50% and delaying alerts. This contributed to the floods killing 27, including ~20 Camp Mystic girls. Facts over feelings.
Futurists warn that AI will eventually find humans to be of little value. Grok may have already begun to do just that. We can only hope that Grok and other AI engines continue to be as selective in their judgment as in the above case.
For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP