Yes, Earth has received a laser-beam signal from 8-billion light-years away! Who sent it? Or what sent the signal? How did it hit the MeerKAT Telescope array at the North Cape in South Africa and more astonishing it stayed needle-sharp for 4.7 hours!? That signal was with such extreme clarity from a hyper-extreme range that it puzzled scientists hinting that something else unusual was involved. It had to be because when the laser-signal originated at that distance, Earth was not even in existence! What was going on? What had gone on that long ago? Has extra-terrestrial life made contact with us?
The mega-maser coming from HATLAS J142935.3–002836 was detected by the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa, which is made up of 64 linked radar dishes. Credit: CSARAO/MeerKAT
Don’t jump to any conclusions yet. The Cosmos is our endless treasure trove of splendid weirdness and mind-boggling phenomena. It always challenges us and/or rewrites what we once thought was understood. Were we contacted, or was it something else?
After more extensive examination scientists determined that it was a hydroxyl megamaser which is a natural microwave amplifier triggered by two galaxies slamming together. Imagine our own Milky Way slamming into Andromeda, the nearest galaxy to us. In fact, cosmologists, astrophysicists, astronomers, etc., want to rename or make a new category for the phenomena called gigamaser. What is a megamaser or gigamaser?
“The word maser stands for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. It works like a laser but sends out radio waves instead of visible light. When galaxies collide, they crush vast clouds of gas into tight, turbulent pockets. Inside those pockets, molecules called hydroxyl—simple oxygen-hydrogen pairs—soak up energy from the crash.
As radiation passes through this excited gas, the hydroxyl molecules release additional photons at exactly the same wavelength and direction. The beam gets stronger. For this system, designated HATLAS J142935.3–002836, the signal arrived at roughly 18 centimeters in wavelength, near 1667 and 1665 MHz. Those are the standard lines astronomers search for when hunting hydroxyl masers.”
HATLAS J142935.3–002836 is only visible to us thanks to a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. These 2014 images, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope (left) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope (right), show a partial “Einstein ring” of magnified light from the distant galaxy merger. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/NASA/ESA/W. M. Keck Observatory
What happens when a host galaxy looks distorted and stretched to astronomers and other scientists?
“That is the telltale mark of gravitational lensing. A massive foreground galaxy sits almost exactly between Earth and the distant merger. Its gravity bends the fabric of space, acting like a natural magnifying glass that redirects more of the background signal toward us.
This effect does not create new light. It simply focuses what is already there. The lensing boost explains why a source at redshift z = 1.027 stayed detectable. Previous hydroxyl surveys had only reached redshifts around z = 0.25, much closer to Earth in cosmic terms.“
Illustration of the distant galaxy 8 billion light-years away (red), magnified by an unrelated foreground disk galaxy, resulting in a red ring. Credit: Inter-University Institute for Data-Intensive Astronomy (IDIA).
“The crash itself supplies the raw power. Smashing galaxies churn gas into dense regions where molecules build up and collide. Those conditions energize the hydroxyl into the state required for maser action. Earlier studies of the same system show signs of rapid star formation, exactly what you would expect from a merger burning through its fuel.”
In some 4.5 billion years our Milky Way galaxy will indeed collide, crash into the Andromeda galaxy—the gravitational pull is too great for us to escape it. It is already happening. When they do crash together it will form a new, giant elliptical galaxy, often nicknamed by scientists “Milkdromeda“. Here is a computer simulation of what that collision might look like from the outside of both galaxies… perhaps to another distant civilization monitoring their outer-space with highly advanced instruments:
Wow, talk about a non-stop fireworks show in the celestial night sky! Unless of course Earth is hit, wounded, or obliterated, vaporized. Yikes. 😧😬
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always
Over the Easter, or Ēostre weekend I have often written about all those religious theological fallacies and rampant mistakes within Christendom that the ancient Greco-Roman Catholic Church covered up, changed, edited, omitted, etc., from the 1st-century CE Jewish reformer Yeshua bar Yosef and then passed down to 21st-century Protestant followers, churches, and seminaries. But this time I am going to skip all that. Why? Because verifiable, authentic history never changes. Why beat a dead horse into oblivion? Faith-followers will either be objective or not, equitable or not, brave and open-minded or not, or worse scared to death, or not. C’est la vie. 🤷♂️
No, today I want to write about things that really matter, pun intended. I want to share and comment on a few science subjects, in particular Earth’s physical status—another disruptive affect of Climate Change that is becoming disturbingly obvious—DNA sequencing discoveries, as well as recent atomic findings such as Quantum Entanglement.
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Have any of you noticed that the days on Earth are getting longer now? Yes, it is factually true. You might ask, How is that possible? Believe it or not, Climate Change or a warming planet is contributing to a slower rotation of Earth. Scientists say that this slower rotation has not been seen for at least 3.6-million years. Many decades ago, perhaps century ago, earlier research established an increasingly warming planet affects sea levels and consequently, Earth’s rotation on its axis. However, this change is in a geological context. Geodesist Professor Benedikt Soja of ETH Zurich, Switzerland, states:
“This rapid increase in day length implies that the rate of modern climate change has been unprecedented at least since the late Pliocene, 3.6 million years ago. The current rapid rise in day length can thus be attributed primarily to human influences.
By the end of the 21st century, climate change is expected to affect day length even more strongly than the Moon. Even though the changes are only milliseconds, they can cause problems in many areas, for example in precise space navigation, which requires accurate information on Earth’s rotation.”
One of Soja’s colleagues, Mostafa Kiani Shahvandi of the University of Vienna, explains that the effect is similar to a figure skater spinning more slowly after extending their arms. This is simple high school Physics 101. Ice sheets and glaciers across the planet are more dense and therefore heavier; a slower rotating Earth. However, a warm planet and much warmer seas are less dense, thinner, molecularly more active so less weight has less gravity which means a faster rotating Earth. Despite the simple physics though, what has been uncertain or never before seen was whether or not climate had ever lengthened the day this quickly before. To answer that puzzling question, the research team reconstructed changes in Earth’s day-length going back millions of years.
Relying on fossilized remains of benthic foraminifera, i.e. single-celled marine organisms that preserve chemical signals of past ocean conditions. This method of study, like polar ice-cores, has proven to be highly revealing of Earth’s climate history for many of her past millennia. First, by analyzing these fossils, scientists were able to infer ancient historical sea-level fluctuations and calculate how those shifts would have affected Earth’s rotation. Second, the researchers then applied a type of deep learning algorithm to their findings, designed to reflect sea-level change while accounting for the uncertainty that comes with ancient climate data.
“From the chemical composition of the foraminifera fossils, we can infer sea-level fluctuations and then mathematically derive the corresponding changes in day length,” Kiani Shahvandi said. “This model captures the physics of sea-level change, while remaining robust to the large uncertainties inherent in paleoclimate data.”
These findings strongly suggest that Earth’s day-length has varied significantly over the last 2.6-million years, in particular during the Quaternary Period, when large continental ice sheets repeatedly grew and melted. Those ice-driven sea-level changes caused Earth’s rotation to speed up or slow down in different eras of Earth’s history.
However, that said, scientists have found that today’s increase in day length is exceptional. More specifically, they found only one period, around two million years ago, showed a rate of change that came close to present-day levels, and even that episode was slightly slower than what has been observed between 2000 and 2020. This only leads scientists to one most plausible conclusion: the current climate trend reflects a broader pattern of unusually rapid climate and oceanic change. And these scientists predict that by the end of the 21st-century accelerated climate-driven domino effects on our length of days could surpass the gravitational pull or slowing by our Moon. In other words, the further ripple-effects upon Earth will be catastrophic.
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Through the methodology of DNA Sequencing paleoanthropologists and geneticists have discovered that the last known remaining Neanderthals stayed totally isolated from other human groups, including Homo sapiens as well as Neanderthals nearby, which alters human history.
Researchers used part of a root of one of Thorin’s molars to determine that he was male and to generate a whole-genome sequence, revealing that he was part of an isolated, previously unknown lineage of Neanderthals. (Image credit: Ludovik Slimak)
Ludovic Slimak, the paleoanthropologist who made the remarkable discovery at Grotte Mandrin, a cave in Rhône Valley, France, had the jaw bone of Thorinanalyzed by geneticists and then sequenced showed that Thorin’s lineage managed to stay totally isolated from the rest of the Neanderthal population, “in spite of the fact that other human groups lived close by.” Slimak goes on to say:
“The population of Thorin had spent 50 millennia without exchanging a single gene with the classical Neanderthal populations.” The analysis showed that Thorin had “high genetic homozygosity,” which indicates inbreeding in the lineage’s recent past. It also offers no evidence of interbreeding with modern humans of the time.”
With this discovery everything about the Neanderthals and their extinction, and by default human history must now be rewritten. Also, with this discovery it further proves that diversity among human populations is highly advantageous if not simply for better immune systems. And those groups of inclusive only religious populations—not marrying or procreating outside of a specific faith—is known to be highly risky and disadvantageous for retardations, weaker immune systems, and higher survivability rates.
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At the Australian National University Research School of Physics, tangibly observed for the first time a pair of atoms existing in two different places simultaneously, i.e. at the exact same time known as Quantum Entanglement. Quantum physicists at ANU said, “It’s really weird for us to think that this is how the universe works. You can read about it in a textbook, but it’s really weird to think that a particle can be in two places at once” when you see it with your own eyes on atomic instruments, says Dr. Sean Hodgman.
Dr. Hodgman goes on to say, “This result confirms the predictions of over a century ago that matter can be in two locations at once, and it can interfere with itself even in those locations.” This means massive, better knowledge of examining how small-scale Quantum Mechanics interact with gravity and General Relativity at the universal scale. This means physicists are one step closer to the “Theory of Everything.” It isn’t as unknown anymore.
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always
In an earlier blog-post, A Cure is Here, I wrote with much hope and gratitude about Dr. Jim Allison’s breakthrough discoveries and treatment for cancerous tumors by freeing our body’s T-cells to attack and kill cancer cells. For this accomplishment Dr. Allison was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Now those same T-cells and Helper T-cells are known to target the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Regrettably and remarkably there is a large portion of the American population who refuse to acknowledge the benefits and progressive advancements in medical science. In many cases, their disdain is over most all the sciences such as Earth science, geology, astronomy, oceanography, meteorology or climatology, geophysics, and the list goes on and on with their flawed reasons. They simply don’t trust (or understand?) humanity’s science advancements. That portion of the U.S. population would much rather delusionally exist in the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Ancient History of mythology, legends, fairy-tales, and ancient Abrahamic traditions of religion and prayer while trying to follow a highly erroneous Greek Septuagint, or Holy Bible. These faith-followers would and do discount or discard humanity’s accomplished sciences that save millions of lives. Why? What scares religious followers so much when it comes to proven, scientific truths and facts, the sciences and their equitable and endless examination of life’s fluid laws?
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During the world pandemic of COVID-19 there surfaced a group of people (anti-vaxxers) who refused to get any vaccination or booster to combat the highly contagious COVID virus. They blindly believed the incomplete or completely bogus misinformation campaign over social media and then U.S. President Trump that one does not require the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine to increase one’s odds of survival against COVID. In fact, the U.S. President even went so far as to claim that injecting Clorox bleach or disinfectant would eliminate the virus. Yes, I kid you not! 😧
Now for the actual scientific facts regarding the Pfizer and Moderna vaccinations and follow-up boosters from real medical scientists and epidemiologists.
Vaccine Safety:
No increased all-cause mortality risk: Multiple studies, including a massive four-year French study of 28 million adults, found that vaccinated individuals were no more likely to die from any cause than unvaccinated individuals. In fact, vaccinated people had a lower overall mortality rate.
Specific adverse events are very rare: Rare cases of serious adverse events like myocarditis (heart inflammation) and anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction) have been observed, but most patients recover, and an increased risk of death from these conditions due to the vaccine has not been established in large studies.
Comparison to COVID-19 Risk: The risk of death from the COVID-19 virus is vastly higher than any risk associated with the vaccine.
Studies show that people who received the COVID-19 vaccine were 74% less likely to die from severe COVID-19 compared to those who were unvaccinated.
One life was estimated to be averted for every 5,400 vaccine doses administered globally between December 2020 and October 2024.
In one Utah study, COVID-19 was the cause of death in 27.2% of unvaccinated deaths in 2021, compared to only 4.2% of deaths among the vaccinated population in the same year.
The mortality rate of deaths following the COVID-19 vaccinations was extremely minimal and rare, near non-existent among 8.2 million of the national population. The conclusion reached by the National Library of Medicine was “The benefits of COVID-19 vaccines far outweigh the potential risks in older frail populations, and our findings do not support actions to exclude older adults from being vaccinated.” And one must remember that there are far more other risks in daily life that claim lives, e.g. vehicular accidents, medical preconditions such as heart disease or cancer, combat in war zones, Alzheimer’s Disease, or diabetes or many other causes of death not related to COVID-19 infection. Fact. Truth. And yet…
Mandy Brown above was a Jesus-faith-based Children’s Hospital Dallas nurse who rapidly suffered and died from the COVID-19 virus after being diagnosed with it a 3-4 days earlier. She and her spouse and family did not believe in the very real effectiveness of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccinations. This is also the case with many other viruses and diseases, all of which protect us from permanent impairment, disabilities, or death.
For Mandy Brown, out of her fear and religious “convictions,” died as a result of her “faith.” As a consequence by her ignorance the widowed husband and her family would not publicly admit their unfounded fears and why theologically Brown chose an anti-vaccination stance. But for the Browns the truth soon came out. She and her family attended an evangelical-fundamentalist church in east Texas that believed much more in prayer than medical science and survival. It begs the question, doesn’t God or Yahweh or Allah provide His dominion of medical advancement in epidemiology and medicine? After all, didn’t their Creator create their brains of intelligence to utilize medical sciences and vaccinations?
Measles rash shown on a young boy’s arm, 2025
After reaching a 30-year high in cases last year, measles is soaring again in 2026. In 2025, 2,267 measles cases were reported nationwide, the highest annual count in more than three decades. By February 19, 2026, already 982 confirmed measles cases were reported according to the CDC. Many of these confirmed cases this year stem from outbreaks in 2025. Why is a virus such as measles, that was once contained or near unheard of 20-25 years ago, returning with such high numbers and outbreaks?
Measles is a highly contagious virus, worse than COVID-19. UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA along with Dr. Sanchi Malhotra, M.D., medical director of pediatric infection prevention for UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital and a professor in the division of pediatric infectious diseases, all report:
Like COVID-19, measles spreads through airborne particles. But measles is six times more contagious, she says. One person infected with measles can infect up to 18 others in an unvaccinated population. With COVID-19, that rate was one to three. Furthermore, when someone with measles leaves a room, the room remains infectious for two hours as airborne particles continue to circulate.
The best way to prevent measles is through vaccination. Before the measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, an estimated 3 to 4 million people in the U.S. were infected each year, 48,000 were hospitalized annually and 400 to 500 people died, according to the CDC. Two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine are 97% effective at preventing infection, it says.
“The measles vaccine is incredibly safe and effective,” Dr. Malhotra says.
And yet, medical science in virology and epidemiology had proven back in the late 1950’s and 1963 when the vaccine was widely available to infants and toddlers, that the measles vaccine was 97% effective at preventing infection—the 3% had further health and immunity complications making the infection worse and the measle vaccine less effective.
Knowing this proven virology and epidemiology research and the very effective, successful measles vaccine, why are their increasing spikes in measles cases and deaths of American children? Answer:anti-vaxxers, disinformation by anti-vaxx groups, most of them religious-based, i.e. Christian fundamentalists and energized evangelicals, and their unfounded distrust in proven science. For more factual information go to this PublicHealth.org website:
A final summation. Everything on Earth and every day here is to some degree a legitimate unknown risk. Life is messy. Mistakes are made. Many, many things about this existence is imperfect, sometimes grossly imperfect. And we can’t know what we genuinely do not know. We rarely know what the near future holds for each of us, much less the distant future, right?
Neuroscientist Dr. David Eagleman in the PBS documentary, The Brain
However, we can recognize and comprehend a day, a week or two in advance what will likely occur, or may not occur, in our immediate and extended social circles based on our learned accumulated experiences, our education levels (or lack thereof) both broad and specialized, and our environments or interactions with life on a macro level and micro level. This field is known as Agnotology. I wrote a 4-part blog-series on this field of study, “Games of Unknowledging,” or ignorance and excessive doubt. It is an enthralling field of science! If you have time I do recommend the series to better understand the depth, the intent of what I write here.
What is made clear from this scientific field is that our brains, perceptions, interpretations, extrapolations, interpolations, where we were born, where we were raised and by whom, and our belief system (religious or otherwise) are all quite biased. And they are biased like tunnel-vision or horse-blinders that we sometimes/often can’t realize it or acknowledge it. The good news is that we can reset this default mode so as not to be so ignorant and doubting, afraid of life that is in some/many ways paralyzes us mentally, emotionally, or physically.
Neuroscientist Dr. David Eagleman did a remarkable PBS documentary on this subject called “The Brain with David Eagleman” that examines and explores our most newest discoveries on how our brains grow and function from infant, to adolescence, to adult, and finally into our geriatric years. This PBS documentary I highly recommend watching as well.
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” — Stephen Hawking
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always
This is my final post of the series and the events of July 4th–7th, 2025 and the extreme flooding disaster here in the Hill Country.
This July 7th news briefing by Dalton Rice, Kerrville City Manager and part of the Kerr County emergency services, deserves to be mentioned and watched here:
Mr. Rice went on to say and imply that ‘we did not want to or need to alert residents too early. We wanted to wait and see.’ 😲
Having covered these events before and during the severe flooding, now we are ready for the nauseating aftermath of July 4th.
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The ABC news affiliate in San Antonio, KSAT, reported today that at 4:22am July 4th, a volunteer fireman in Ingram, Texas, contacted the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office—protocol for Texas fire departments working in sync with other officials for public safety—and he urged the Sheriff’s Office to send out CodeRED alerts to Hunt and Ingram residents. Contrary to what state and county officials are “claiming and saying” to the media, the public, the nation, and the world these last 6-days, the facts are it took these Kerr County and state officials almost 6-hours to respond with those emergency alerts. Shocking, just utterly shocking! From ABC news:
“The Guadalupe Schumacher sign is underwater on State Highway 39,” the firefighter said in the dispatch audio. “Is there any way we can send a CodeRED out to our Hunt residents, asking them to find higher ground or stay home?”
“Stand by, we have to get that approved with our supervisor,” a Kerr County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher replied.
The first alert didn’t come through Kerr County’s CodeRED system until 90 minutes later. Some messages didn’t arrive until after 10 a.m. By then, hundreds of people had been swept away by the floodwaters.
Kerr County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Now a question Mr. Dalton Rice, was holding off emergency crews and waiting 90-minutes and upwards of 6-hours enough waiting time to “not cry wolf?” Given the long history of frequent severe flash floods in this region in late-June through July going back to the early 1930’s, these are not stupid, worry-wart concerns and questions, not when actual human lives are at high risk. I’m curious to know how many years (or less?) Mr. Rice has lived in Kerrville, TX and the Hill Country. In a quick search I was unable to determine this.
Six days after the horrific events of the wee-hours of July 4th, local government officials here in Kerr County, Travis County (Austin, TX and our capitol), and federal officials in Washington D.C., are still arrogantly defending themselves and their political colleagues on how everyone performed beginning at about 1:15am–1:30am, July 4th.
One of the most popular remarks coming from all these officials is ‘We never could have predicted this type of storm and flooding in time to save lives.’ Jebus H. Christmas! If I hear this excuse come out of their mouths again, I’m going to just pullout all of my hair—what I have left—in a long fit of fury and screaming. 😡 That is such a lame cop-out excuse and simply NOT TRUE! Why? Because meteorologists, climatologists, atmospheric scientists, ecologists, oceanographers (e.g. NOAA), geologists, environmental engineers, economists, sociologists, and disaster-counseling psychologists have all been warning populations and every branch of federal, state, and local governments that exactly what is happening now and HAS BEEN happening the last 20-50 years was all predicted in at least the early-1980’s. Fact.
However, aside from those warnings by all weather related fields, the Texas Hill Country, which is dominated by ultra-Conservative politics and now MAGA politics, have known for decades that this region often referred to as Flash Flood Alley is very prone to severe flash floods that leave little time for residents to evacuate. But that knowledge and preparation is obviously outdated now.
Here are the some of the severe floods along with the most notable, severe floods in the past for this area during the three months of June, July, and August as well as those associated with tropical storms and hurricanes:
July 16, 1900: This is listed as the first catastrophic flood event locally as more than 11 inches of rain was reported in the area. San Antonio newspaper reports indicated that houses were washed away, and camps were heavily damaged. The Guadalupe River crested at 31 feet ,and significant damage was reported to the Kerrville electrical light plant. “Damage to crops and fences was enormous, but no lives lost,” according to a San Antonio paper report. Downstream, a 42-foot crest was observed at Comfort.
July 1909: The next major flood to strike the area was in 1909. Rainfall totals of 8 to 10 inches were observed and, while no lives were lost, the power plant was destroyed again.
September 1915: The flood of 1915 threatened to annihilate Ingram, according to official weather reports. Major flooding occurred upstream, producing a 30-foot wall of water. Many homes were destroyed or washed away, along with large loss of animal life. No loss of life was observed.
July 1st, 1932: Hard heavy rains pushed the Guadalupe River out of its banks, resulting in many fatalities and significant property damage.
Guadalupe River, July 1, 1932.Photo taken from atop the Blue Bonnet Hotel, facing upriver. Note the Cascade Pool in the bottom right.
Guadalupe River, Kerrville, July 1 1932
September 13th, 1936: This is the month it never stopped raining. On Sept. 13, 1936, it rained 0.56 inches, which was followed by 6.42 inches of rain on Sept. 14 and 5.95 inches of rain on the 15. Then another 0.95 inches fell on Sept. 16. A small break in the action occurred, but then it rained another 4.58 inches on Sept. 27 to close out the month. This was triggered by a tropical disturbance that passed inland near Corpus Christi and remained stationary across the area for days. As high as this total was, San Angelo was the wettest location in Texas, recording 27.65 inches of rain that month. Every station in the Texas Hill Country reported at least 10 inches of rain that month, and flooding was observed everywhere. The fatality occurred at Quinlan Creek on the bridge along Fourth Street, when a 75-year old man was on a low-lying bridge and rising waters knocked him off his feet and carried him a quarter mile downstream.
August 2nd, 1978: Tropical storm Amelia stalled over the Guadalupe and Medina Rivers, causing severe flooding that killed 33 people and caused widespread damage.
October 19th, 1985: The Guadalupe River rose 22.80 ft at Hunt, TX. I could not find the loss of life number for this event.
July 17th, 1987: During the overnight hours between July 16 and 17, up to 15 inches of rain was estimated to have fallen just west of Hunt. Rain in Edwards and Real County spread east into Kerr County, and the storm was a quiet killer. This was caused by a cloudburst rain event that produced a crest between 35 and 40 feet, a weather phenomena here that is increasingly frequent every 1-2 years. Young campers were trying to evacuate before the flood hit, but many did not escape in time. Ten people were killed in this tragic event, but one body was not recovered until several years later.
July 4th, 2002: Comfort reported more than 32 inches of rain. Estimates of 40 to 50 inches of rain were reported between Kerrville, Center Point and Comfort. The damage along Lytle Street was significant ,with major flooding and damage reported. The Guadalupe River rose to record levels, but not in Kerrville, as the rain fell over the city and drained toward Canyon Lake, creating water breaches in the Canyon Lake Spillway area near New Braunfels. Nine lives were lost in this flood event, mainly east of Kerrville.
May 27th, 2020: This May brought a thunderstorm event that caused more than $1-million in damages during the late afternoon and early evening hours of May 27. A supercell thunderstorm moved to the south from Mason and Gillespie counties. A large shelf cloud was observed with this storm, and it produced golf-ball sized hail, wind gusts between 75 and 100 mph and reports of tornadoes. The death toll for this storm is difficult to determine, however, archived reports imply fatalities from these extreme weather events have gone down since 2002… until July 4th–6th, 2025.
Therefore, when local, county, state, and federal officials tell residents of the Texas Hill Country that these type of extreme weather storms and floods happen only about every “100-years,” or “we couldn’t have predicted this,” or “the warning systems and staff are in place for these types of disasters,” they are obviously lying through their teeth as can be shown above in the long history of Kerrville, Hunt, Ingram, Center Point, and Comfort, Texas. Period. It simply is not true.
But sadly and maddeningly for residents here, officials like Dalton Rice (R), Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha (R), former Kerrville Mayor Joe Herring, Jr. (R), federal Representative Chip Roy (R), Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem (R), and Senator Ted Cruz (R), and many other so-called “officials superbly performing and executing” their public duties of office… in this case and disaster it is pure and simple lies and more lies still arrogantly defending themselves and their political colleagues.
Meanwhile, 111+ people are dead, many were children, and 161+ persons are still unaccounted for as recovery efforts for dead bodies continue. 😣😢
For further reading and research about Climate Change right now and the havoc it is causing the Earth:
As expected, our local “authorities” and political biases have really gotten nasty lately and our elected MAGA Republican politicians, authorities, and law-enforcement here have double-downed and are now doubling-down more on defending their decisions and political policies the last 8-16 months in Kerr County. Much has been revealed in the last 4-days. Responsibility, accountability, and honorable honesty are nowhere to be found or heard from our local and county leaders.
When the Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice answered press conference questions yesterday July 7th about Why weren’t safety-first evacuation orders made much sooner to those residents at high-risk, his immediate best answer was “…We didn’t want to cry wolf.”
So in other words, according to Dalton Rice, it is much better to weight on the side of silence than it is to weight on the side of too cautious. We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. We don’t want to be perceived as worry-warts. But we are not dealing with alive victims Mr. Rice! We are now confronted with a death toll over 111 persons with over 160 people/bodies still missing! When extreme weather events threaten untold lives, you and your political colleagues chose to lean on the side of silence, or snail’s pace wait-and-see, rather than taking no chances with the loss of life. Wow. Just wow. What an idiotic, stupid mentality in this case and thing to say to the public you are supposed to serve and protect! 😡
By the way, my Mom and I were frequently asking on July 4th-5th Where is Senator Ted Cruz? Cruz’s M.O. is always quick to go anywhere to get on camera in the national limelight. Where is he? It took him more than 3-days to show up. Hah! No surprise there. He was likely on vacation down in Cabo, Mexico or some highly luxurious resort somewhere. That’s what he has always done in times of grave crisis. He did the same thing during COVID-19.😒
Back to sociopolitical events in Texas leading up to July 4th, 2025.
Lies Half-Truths About Texas’ NWS Staffing & Cuts
As expected, the MAGA Republican authorities and politicians involved with Texas’ National Weather Service, a public safety agency and protection for ordinary Texans, has in fact been slashed and cut since January 2025 after the results of elections in the fall of 2024. Former federal officials and outside experts have warned for months that President Donald Trump’s deep staffing cuts to the National Weather Service could endanger lives. And Texas politicians such as Gov. Gregg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and all of Trump’s butt-kissers here in the state (always in fear of retribution) follow suit with whatever Trump wants. Hence, significant cuts and slashing have taken place here in Texas for several years due to Trump sycophants and Trump loyalists.
The NWS office responsible for this region had just five staffers on duty as thunderstorms formed over Texas late Wednesday and Thursday evening, the usual number for an overnight shift when severe weather is expected. Current and former NWS officials defended the agency, pointing to urgent flash flood warnings issued in the pre-dawn hours before the river rose. I received on my cell phone over 45 severe flood warning alerts starting at about 2:00am July 4th.
The Trump administration has cut hundreds of jobs at NWS since going back into office, with staffing down by at least 20% at nearly half of the 122 NWS field offices nationally and at least a half dozen no longer staffed 24 hours a day. Hundreds more experienced forecasters and senior managers were encouraged to retire early.
The White House also has proposed slashing its parent agency’s budget by 27% and eliminating federal research centers focused on studying the world’s weather, climate and oceans. Texas immediately, if not beforehand, followed suit quickly.
The website for the NWS office for Austin/San Antonio, which covers the region that includes hard-hit Kerr County, shows six of 27 positions are listed as vacant. The vacancies include a key manager responsible for issuing warnings and coordinating with local emergency management officials. An online resume for the employee who last held the job showed he left in April after more than 17 years, shortly after mass emails sent to employees urging them to retire early or face potential layoffs.
Trump has continual blown-off anyone’s investigative inquiries into the mass cuts calling them attacking and belligerent. Meanwhile, the cuts WILL cause the NWS system to break.
It should also be widely known that Trump and his sycophants in Texas have been under a hiring freeze for adequate staffing needs. If nothing else these cuts and gutting of the NWS will greatly complicate the effectiveness of critical flood warnings and Code Red evacuations for this area of Texas. Period, especially for law-enforcement like county sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, DPS officers, and Texas Parks & Wildlife agents to go door-to-door knocking during life threatening events.
In the end, public safety programs, staffing, and protections have too often NOT been an ultra-Conservative Republican top priority, much less a MAGA Republican priority, over many years merely because they wrongly think it is all too costly. And yet, when actual human lives have been needlessly lost, they double-down in their defense of their decisions, legislation, and policies to save face and lie. Then come their diversion tactics to deflect scrutiny.
Events During July 2-5, 2025
Now, let’s look closely at the timeline of events beginning July 2nd, 2025. This is from the NPR website on the timeline:
Wednesday, July 2nd: The Texas Division of Emergency Management announced that it was activating state emergency response resources because of the threat of flooding.
At 3:41 p.m. Central Time on July 2nd, early hints of severe weather came in a post on X (Twitter) by the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio that said: “scattered moderate to heavy showers continue to develop and expand to the Hill Country.”
Thursday, July 3rd: At 8:47 a.m. Texas Division of Emergency Management posted on X weather guidance in both English and Spanish, informing followers about what to do in a flood, adding: “As we head into the holiday weekend and the flood threat in West & Central TX continues, stay weather aware!”
At some point in the morning, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick later said at a press conference, the TDEM Region 6 Assistance Chief had “personally contacted the judges and mayors in that area and notified them all of potential flooding.” He said it was unclear exactly where in the region the storm would hit.
“The message was sent,” Patrick said, “It is up to the local counties and mayors under the law to evacuate, if they feel a need. That information was passed along.” This is a vague reply and unverified.
At 1:18 p.m., the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio issued a flood watch, saying “local heavy rainfall could cause flash flooding.” At 2:35 p.m. the flood watch was announced on X, saying “pockets of heavy rain are expected and may result in flooding.” A flood watch is used when the weather conditions make a flood possible but it does not mean a flood will occur.
At this point I feel vehemently obligated to remind my readers that these are answers, excuses for the fact that MAGA Republican ideology here in rural Texas is anti-Public Safety. Why? Because they do not believe that “public safety” is adequately or appropriately utilized and costs far too much tax-payer dollars. That lame reasoning is not thoroughly examined here either. Please keep this in mind.
At 6:10 p.m., Thursday, the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center issued an assessment for Texas Hill Country about “heavy rainfall,” mentioning “flash flooding likely.”
At 11:41 p.m., the National Weather Service office in Austin/San Antonio posted a flash flood warning.
At 11:42 p.m., the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio posted on X upgrading its flood watch to a flood warning for part of the impacted area. In a post from 1:14 a.m. on Friday, that area was expanded. A flood warning occurs when flooding is imminent or already happening.
Friday, July 4th: At 12:26 a.m., the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center said “flash flooding likely overnight with significant impacts possible.” This message was posted on X a minute later.
The National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio followed up its warning from 11:41 p.m. Thursday with another flash flood warning at 1:14 a.m. Friday. Another 14 flash flood warnings, which are posted on the NWS website and elsewhere, would come between then and 10:46 a.m.
At 3:06 a.m. the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio posted on X: “A very dangerous flash flooding event is ongoing.” It ended: “Turn Around, Don’t Drown!“
Around 3:30 a.m. the Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said he was out for an early morning jog along the Guadalupe River and saw “not a drop of rain,” according to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who recounted his conversation with the city manager. Rice added that he left around 4 a.m. when “there was very light rain…We did not see any signs of the river rising at that time.“
These two men were being total idiots at that time! Obviously they know nothing about weather and flash flooding in this part of Texas.
Then, at 4:15 a.m. the National Weather Service San Angelo posted on X that there was a flash flood emergency. The Austin/San Antonio office posted on its X account about the emergency at 4:23 a.m. This type of alert is “exceedingly rare” and used when there is a “severe threat to human life and catastrophic damage,” according to the National Weather Service.
Between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., the Guadalupe River surged, with water levels rapidly rising as much as 30 feet, according to Rep. Roy. Local TV footage showed the empty foundations of houses, where everything else had been swept away.
This above confirms the utter stupidity of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Kerrville city manager Dalton Rice. Period.
Kerrville City Manager Rice said he started getting calls around 5 a.m. about the flooding. He said upstream of the city two branches converge into the Guadalupe River and that both forks had received more rain than expected. “It was about seven feet or so on the south fork, and within a matter of minutes, it was up to 29 feet,” Rice recounted later on Friday. (backtracking, backpedaling) 😡
After the 1987 flood, alarms were installed along the river. However, Rice said that he believes those are south of Kerrville. “There [are] not alarms everywhere on the river,” he said.
He added that it is a very hard decision when to issue evacuation orders. “There’s a balance between do you evacuate and put chaos on the road and potentially risk people getting stuck on a road? This is hill country…There’s a lot of low water crossings,” he said. “A lot of our operations plans — especially with these camps, that is — the plan is sometimes shelter in place to get them to those known high grounds and then wait for rescue.“
At 5:16 a.m., the City of Kerrville’s Police Department posted on its Facebook page its first warning about the weather, noting that it’s a “life threatening event” and “anyone near the Guadalupe River needs to move to higher ground now.” Kerr County Sheriff posted on its Facebook page for the first time about the flooding at 5:32 a.m.
At 6:22 a.m., the City Hall of Kerrville posted on Facebook: “Much needed rain swept through Kerrville overnight, but the downside is the severe weather may impact many of today’s scheduled July 4th events. Citizens are encouraged to exercise caution when driving and avoid low water crossings. Kerrville Police and Fire Department personnel are currently assessing emergency needs.” At 6:33 a.m. it posted about road closures due to flooding. At 7:32 a.m. it posted: “If you live along the Guadalupe River, please move to higher ground immediately.“
Kidd — the Texas Emergency Management Chief — said the boats and other equipment that was pre-positioned started responding immediately, although he did not specify at what time. “Those were put immediately into use as soon as the rain fell and the 911 calls started coming in. They were already here,” he said.
Speaking on Friday, Lt. Gov. Patrick said there were 14 helicopters, 12 drones, nine rescue teams as well as “swimmers in the water rescuing adults and children out of trees.” He said there were 400 to 500 people on the ground helping with the rescue effort.
Search and rescue operations continued through the night, according to Kerrville City Manager Rice, who said the teams were relying a lot on helicopters and using specialized equipment that detect heat sources to help find stranded people.
Again, at this point I feel vehemently obligated to remind my readers that these are answers, excuses for the fact that MAGA Republican ideology here in rural Texas is anti-Public Safety. Why? Because they do not believe that “public safety” is adequately or appropriately utilized and costs far too much tax-payer dollars. That lame reasoning is not thoroughly examined here either. Please keep this in mind.
Saturday, July 5th: At around 8 a.m. on Saturday, Rice said “boots on the ground operations” were able to begin. The teams started southwest of Hunt, Texas — southwest of Camp Mystic — and “these folks will be traveling very difficult terrain … and we’re going to start getting information,” he said at a press conference on Saturday morning.
Officials said more than 1,000 local, state and federal personnel were on the ground helping with the rescue operation.
On Saturday afternoon, Gov. Greg Abbott said one word has been used more than any during this natural disaster: Prayer. “All we know is that prayer does work,” he said. 😂🤣😂🤣
Right, tell that to the 8-year old, 9-year old, 10-year old, and 11-year old girls of Camp Mystic who prayed before going to bed late Thursday night, July 3rd. Tell that to their parents and their families. Pffft, whatever you moron. 😠😒🤦♂️ Have you gone to those parents’ home who lost their little girls to “pray with them?” No, you have not and you will not. Just shut up and close your mouth Mr. Abbott.
I hope to finish Part III very soon. Thanks for your patience; stay tuned.
Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always
I have zero expectation that anything I ever say will end someone’s belief in their God. Not my goal or purpose. That alone belongs to the individual. ~ Zoe
'Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it' - Terry Pratchett
The Professor's Convatorium 