Democratic strategist and former Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel once stated that “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” That philosophy seemed to be the playbook for the media and pundits immediately after the flood in Texas as many rushed to claim that it was caused by Trump budget cuts to the National Weather Service (NWS). From George Stephanopoulos to Rosie O’Donnell, the hoax was spread that there was an understaffing at the NWS that may have caused these deaths. It did not matter that it was an easy matter to confirm or that the underlying claims of understaffing the NWS team were false.
The weaponization of such tragedies has become commonplace in American politics. Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer has repeated the false claims. Previously, Schumer bizarrely attempted to blame the crash of a Mexican ship in New York and air accidents around the world on Trump cuts.
There are legitimate reasons to question whether cuts to agencies like the NWS might impact key programs, such as weather warning systems. There are also questions about whether long-standing forecast modeling failed to capture the severity of this particularly storm. However, basic honesty and decency would demand a modicum of inquiry before blaming the NWS for a failure that caused mass deaths, including a large number of children.
Indeed, the rush to claim that the tragedy was caused by understaffing can make it more difficult to find any real failures in the system. It is also possible that this was a convergence of weather systems that happened so fast (and late at night) that few citizens could take meaningful action. Some reports indicate that the river rose by 20 feet in only 45 minutes.
Nevertheless, many rushed to take political advantage of the tragedy. Grant Stern, the executive editor of Occupy Democrats wrote on X “It only took 9 days for Trump’s cuts to the [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] to kill dozens of children in Texas when Tropical Storm Barry landed this week.”In reality, the NWS had extra personnel working the storm and issued the first warning 12 hours before the flood. Moreover, even assuming that the cuts to the NWS might impact warning systems, they are not even scheduled to take effect until next year. While there were retirements and resignations early in the Trump Administration, there is no evidence that those departures are impacting weather warnings, let alone this emergency. However, the media pounced as the death toll rose.
Even after the Administration refuted the false claims, they were still being promulgated by the press. On ABC’s This Week George Stephanopoulos ominously declared “We’re also learning there were significant staffing shortfalls to the National Weather Services offices in the region.”Whatever “shortfalls” are being reported “in the region”, they did not appear to impact the early warning given 12 hours earlier or the fact that there were extra, not fewer, staffers working the storm.
Again, none of this mattered. Politicians and pundits, such as Hakeem Jeffries and Adam Kinzinger, joined the chorus to suggest that cuts would make this a repeated failure.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) told CNN Sunday the NWS should be investigated. “I don’t think it’s helpful to have missing key personnel from the National Weather Service not in place to help prevent these tragedies.”
As parents mourned dead children, commentators rushed to lay the losses at the feet of the Administration. Ron Filipkowski, the editor-in-chief of MediasTouchNews, wrote “The people in Texas voted for government services controlled by Donald Trump and Greg Abbott. That is exactly what they (sic) getting.”
Rachel Bitecofer, assistant director at Christopher Newport University’s Wason Center for Public Policy declared “What has happened to the girls at Camp Mystic is EXACTLY what one of the country’s best meteorologists, John Morales, warned would happen. Trump’s cuts to the NOAA & NWS have critically impacted storm prediction nationwide.”
Rosie O’Donnell, who famously fled the United States for the safety of Ireland after the election, added to the false narrative:
“What a horror story in Texas. When the president guts all of the early warning systems and the weathering forecast abilities of the government, these are the results that we’re going to start to see on a daily basis.”
There are obvious familiar aspects to the news coverage. It takes very little for the media to seed a false, viral story. It quickly enters the echo chamber and is repeated on countless social media sites. When it is finally debunked, the media just shrugs and walks away.
Whether it was the false story about agents whipping migrants in Texas or the photo op claim in Lafayette Park, false stories were disproven only to have a collective shrug from those who spread them.
Heading into the presidential debate, the White House and the media attacked Fox News and other outlets for “cheap fake” videos designed to make the President look confused and feeble. For months, politicians and pundits insisted that Biden was sharp and commanding in conversations even after Special Counsel Robert Hur cited his decline as a reason for not charging him criminally.
On MSNBC, Joe Scarborough stated “start your tape right now because I’m about to tell you the truth. And F— you if you can’t handle the truth. This version of Biden intellectually, analytically, is the best Biden ever. Not a close second. And I have known him for years…If it weren’t the truth I wouldn’t say it.”
When the truth came out after the election loss, reporters ran around claiming that they were shocked by the fact that Biden was indeed mentally and physically diminished. By that point, it did not matter. Biden was out and the truth could be reported in a slew of belated books and articles.
Yet, some media outlets have refused to acknowledge false stories even after they were debunked. At the Washington Post, columnist Philip Bump previously had a meltdown in an interview when confronted about past false claims. After I wrote a column about the litany of such false claims, the Post surprised many of us by issuing a statement that it stood by all of Bump’s reporting, including false columns on the Lafayette Park protests, Hunter Biden’s laptop, and other stories. That was long after other media debunked the claims, but the Post stood by the false reporting.
Many media outlets pushed such stories because they knew that their readers want the claims to be true — and will not be outraged (or even convinced) when the stories are later debunked. Notably, when the New York Times recently ran a confirmed story that was negative for the Democratic mayoral nominee in New York, liberal readers and pundits were outraged.
Once again, we need to see what went wrong in Texas to try to avoid such tragedies in the future. However, the NWS appears to have done its job with adding extra staff and reportedly issuing the first warnings 12 hours in advance. We need to look at precisely when those warnings were issued during the critical period and what information they conveyed. The hair-triggered response of the media to weaponize the tragedy should also be reviewed. However, it is far more likely that there will be changes to emergency procedures than any serious change to journalistic practices.
Although politicians strive not to let a crisis go to waste, why not pursue due diligence and consider ‘WEATHER MODIFICATION’ as presented by the state of TX @ https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/weather/
There’s also an issue of timing. The warnings were issued when everyone was asleep. Flash flood watches are generally ignored and the forecasts were for isolated flooding and just 6in of rain. By 4:15 am NSW issued a flood emergency when there was little time to evacuate or plan for anything especially since it was the holiday weekend.
Experience cannot be replaced with more staffing when you fire the most experienced forecasters.
Texas suffered a tragedy that could have been minimized at the very least if there were more experienced staff.
Wrong george. Quit your dang lying. They were fully staffed and sent out warnings.
You are the typical libs. LYING is all you know.
DustOff,
The NWS-Austin/San Antonio issued a Flood Watch Wednesday for several counties, including Kerr County; the NWS San Angelo also issued a flood watch for several counties.
The Texas Division of Emergency Management also issued warnings on Wednesday, and activated state emergency response resources through 10 state agencies.
“According to the National Weather Service, heavy rainfall with the potential to cause flash flooding is anticipated across West Texas and the Hill Country beginning tonight and is expected to last a few days. Texans are encouraged to monitor local forecasts and avoid driving or walking into flooded areas,” TDEM said.
At 1:14 am on Friday, the NWS Austin/San Antonio issued a “life threatening flash flooding” warning.
Clearly someone knew what they were doing.
Unfortunately, someone at the Mystic Camp did not heed the warning.
You said “unfortunately,” I would say tragically. 😔
Fully staffed does not mean there was competent or experienced forecasters. They issued warnings. When everyone was asleep. Constant warnings of “flood watches” are ignored, especially when they issue them with the same warning tone. People tend to ignore them if they issue constant warnings only saying there’s a “flood watch” in effect. People get complacent when they keep getting information that isn’t serious when the format and audible warning tones don’t change.
Wrong.
They attended weather school and graduated. With a degree comes a degree of competency to perform the job as expected.
There where two different NWS offices that issued warnings and the Texas Division of Emergency Management and activated state emergency response resources through 10 state agencies as I stated both on Wednesday and Thursday. Does that sound like the actions of incompetent people? They issued the “life threatening flash flooding” warning when it became applicable. It was someone in charge at the Camp Mystic camp who did not heed the warning that so many lives there were lost. As I pointed out, the people at the Mo-Ranch Camp did heed the warnings made by the NWS and the Texas Division of Emergency Management, and moved several hundred campers to higher ground.
The rest of your idiotic comment only goes to prove it was someone at Camp Mystic who did not heed the warnings. That is on them. Not the NWS or the Texas Division of Emergency Management. When I hear the NWS warning tones come across the radio, I stop and listen. Then I act accordingly. That is what someone with critical thinking, logic and common sense does.
Also, two nearby camps, heard the warnings and ended their summer sessions on Thursday. The day before the storm. People in charge there, applied some critical thinking, logic, common sense and likely had some experience in risk management and made the correct decision.
“two nearby camps”
What was the second one?
Sam,
Camps Rio Vista, and Sierra Vista.
Thanks.
UF: Thanks.
Now we’re picking at nits.
While you are correct that people ignore watches (and I might add alerts to that list), it’s only when a warning has been issued is when people take notice. And not just for flash floods, but for any other calamities such as tornadoes. But that’s the only thing you are correct on.
Other than that, you are simply an idiot who seem to be incapable of reading the freaking article presented to by Professor Jonathan Turley. Especially in the last paragraph. 🤦♂️
“However, the NWS appears to have done its job with adding extra staff and reportedly issuing the first warnings 12 hours in advance. We need to look at precisely when those warnings were issued during the critical period and what information they conveyed.”
But how effective can it be? The folks who tune into George or listen to Rosie do so exactly for the reasons they blame Trump for anything they can get away with.
Part of the problem was timing: sleeping people aren’t likely to hear texts. A good old fashioned siren, to be used sparingly, so people don’t ignore it, would at least awaken folks so they know to check their texts.
For those who are making political hay of this tragedy, one wonders: Do they not understand that the rain is neither red nor blue? Are their memories too short to remember that weather-related tragedies happen during Democrat as well as Republican Presidencies? Are they even capable of compassion during this tragedy?
For those denigrating the race and / or faith of the victims, one wonders: Do they not understand that, at the end of the day, we are all members of one race, the human race? Are their hearts so full of hatred, jealousy, and bitterness that they have no room for compassion during this heart-breaking tragedy?
If you are in charge of a camo and there is a flood warning, you don’t just go to bed and hope nothing happens.
Who was it that said “The media is the enemy of the people”?
Every fascist.
Name some. In actual fascist regimes, the media is controlled by the government. Here, our media simply willingly prostrates itself to the Democrat party.
Excellent article by Professor Turley today. So now all the world of faux media are experts on the weather patterns of the Texas Hill Country. Especially the Mouth from Ireland Rosie O’Donnell. Most would hardly even know where it is or even what the topography and weather patterns are like and how incredibly complex they are (far more complex than the life of the communist candidate in NYC).
Very dry sort of area north of San Antonio and west of Austin. Very hilly (hence the name), and almost rock like soil in many areas with weather patterns that form quickly and very common to have flash floods, usually centered around the Guadalupe River but not always. Life or death can be dependent on which side of a hill you live on. Those little streams that run through it can turn into raging rivers in minutes. Actually the Guadalupe rose 25 feet in 45-60 min and then rose another 5 feet. The land is almost scoured of anything downstream. The flash floods can extend to San Antonio, where I got caught in 2 different ones over the years. The aftermath of those flash floods are truly startling. Generally seems very quaint and peaceful but you can be lulled into a false sense of security weather wise.
The Mystic Campground had been there for decades without much incident but that is no guarantee. Also the population has risen as Texas has grown and that means more are at risk. And the Hill Country is very popular and much growth has occurred there. I had parents and an older sister who lived in San Antonio since 1985, I have visited my late sister in law and brother in law who lived in Johnson City (in the heart of the Hill Country) since 1976 and have driven all over the area through the years, and visited many towns and places.
Spent about a year cleaning up the estate of my sister in law in Johnson City in 2023-2024. Interesting area but you really always have to be aware of the weather. Terrible tragedy.
Texas has floods, especially flash floods. It’s a matter of life. I do hope they can come up with some findings that will be useful for prevention in the future
Sorry about the Travelogue but it is an area I know well. I suspect there are others on this blog who know it even better than me.
GEB
Much like Texas, Arizona has these issues to.
I was in Texas in the 1970’s when they has a flash flood. It was shocking the amount of water and heavy objects throw around in what was a empty and dry river bed.
Those flash floods certainly can come fast. There is a video taken just after 5pm on Friday July 4 of a crossing over the Llano River showing before and after the flash flood arrived. It didn’t say exactly where the crossing is, but the Llano is to the northwest of the Guadalupe and was getting hit by the same storm system. The video was taken from high ground on one side looking down on a placid scene where a road crosses the river. Nothing was happening other than some vehicles stopped on the higher ground on the other side and some people down by the water looking around. The road crossing looked passable at first. It looked like some people were putting signs up to prevent cars from attempting to cross. Then the flash flood arrived and it is amazing to see. It took only about a minute from the first rushing water appearing to it completely covering the river crossing and becoming a raging torrent. Some people who were standing on the roadway above the edge of the river had to quickly retreat back up to where their vehicles were parked on higher ground. From nothing happening to it being a raging torrent took only about a minute. I have lived in the Southwest most of my life and seen flooding after it was going on for some time, but have never seen the start of a flash flood. Really amazing. If you ever see signs saying “do not cross” or anything to that effect, then seriously Do Not Cross. If anyone had been out on that crossing in the middle of the river when the first bit of flood water arrived, they would have been washed away downstream. There was no time to safely get to either side. It happened that fast.
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/time-lapse-captures-fast-rising-river-in-texas-242760773836
“ Moreover, even assuming that the cuts to the NWS might impact warning systems, they are not even scheduled to take effect until next year.”
Wrong. Turley’s claim is misleading. DOGE fired 560 NSW employees and shuttered the Texas office responsible for the region.
Secondly, the saying that there were extra forecasters leaves out the fact that not all forecasters are experienced in predicting the severity of the events. Issuing boilerplate warnings is not the same as the more specific warnings they needed. Usually there are warnings a day or two before potential torrential rains.
Turley even acknowledged that there are valid arguments about Trump’s purging of essential staff at NSW and NOAA. What is left out of the discussion is the firing of experienced forecasters and replacing them with inexperienced forecasters making sure none bring up global warming.
It’s only a matter of time before this is repeated with other events like Hurricanes and now weakened FEMA.
Liar.
Would that be the same FEMA who ignored many Republicans during the hurricanes that devastated many less than a year ago, on a different President’s watch?
What is wrong with that? Rs hate FEMA. Rugged individualism as such.
Oh please, the only hater here is you. If you could round up your dreaded “MAGATs” and put them in ovens, you would. You’re sick.
“It only took 9 days for Trump’s cuts to the [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] to kill dozens of children in Texas . . .”
Here’s how much BS they’re spreading, in their maniacal desire to “get Trump:”
There were in fact flood warnings issued by numerous agencies (including the NWS) — on July 2, two days before the floods. The Hill Country is well-known for devastating flash floods — so much so that it’s called “Flash Flood Alley,” with massive flooding in 1978, 1987, 2002.
That some locals (especially those at the summer camp) did *not* take prudent precautions is their stupidity.
That head-in-the-sand blindness is not new. There are the delusion who say: I’ll just ride out the hurricane, in my trailer. There are homeowners who don’t protect their water pipes, then are shocked when those pipes freeze and burst during a winter cold snap. There are “adults” who frolic in the hot sun all day, for years on end, without wearing sunscreen — then are devastated years later when they get skin cancer.
When you choose to evade reality, you will pay the price.
Sam,
Both the NWS and Texas Division of Emergency Management issued warnings for the region, to include Kerr County, on both Wednesday and Thursday.
The NWS also had five people on duty, more than the standard two, to deliver forecasts for its Austin/San Antonio office covering the region, Jason Runyen, a NWS meteorologist, said.
A near by camp, Mo-Ranch Camp, moved several hundred campers to higher ground. Why did those in charge at Camp Mystic not heed the warnings is the question.
“Why did those in charge at Camp Mystic not heed the warnings is the question.”
A nearby camp, Mo-Ranch, did evacuate — without needing to be told to do so. Zero deaths.
Mystic did *not* evacuate — with now 27 dead.
If I were placing blame, I’d start with that remarkable difference.
Sam. I see george wasted NO time in lying about this. But that’s what libs do!
DustOff,
After reading you comment, I actually read the slow and dumb ones. Yep. More lies and gaslighting.
There were flood watches in effect. Its standard phrasing. There were flood warnings issues around 1 am. When many people were asleep. The more serious warnings were not issued until. 4 am. Mere hours before anyone could get up and get out to safer ground.
As a Texan, I say thank you for this. I had to seek higher ground while camping on the Colorado River just moments before the water consumed our campsite in the 1981 Memorial Day Austin area flood. It was beyond terrifying. Back then you truly were out there in the wilderness (no cellphones, just a radio). Now, people get so many alerts on their smartphones they ignore most of them. I really believe they should have sirens along the rivers because the flood threat is real and happens a lot with the limestone rock under shallow clay soil and hills and valleys so the water runs off and doesn’t soak in. I live around oil/chemical plants and we have a local siren system (mainly for shelter-in-place toxic releases, etc.). They test it every Wednesday at 9 am and it wakes up shift workers sleeping with ear plugs 5 miles away, so it’s loud. The few times we’ve heard it for real, we knew it meant serious business.
I remember in the 1970’s when they had a flooding near Ft Hood (Texas) the damage was out of this world.
In a binary (two party) system the out (of power) party MUST ALWAYS criticize the in (incumbent) party no matter what the truth of the situation is in fact. This reality will never change in our national politics. It’s sad, but true. Had the party roles in this situation been reversed, are we to think that the Republicans would not be acting as the Democrats are at this moment? And the band plays on, the great human comedy continues, and the world continues on it’s merry way…..
Lying is not necessary for either Party. Of note, I don’t remember a single Republican blaming President Biden for the Hurricane Helene during the 2024 hurricane season. I do remember complaints about the instructions of at least one FEMA manager who reportedly told her staff to ignore homes with Trump signs in their yards.
At 4 a.m. local time on July 4, the National Weather Service office issued an urgent warning about the potential for flooding, raising the alarm that the flooding could cause catastrophic damage and posed a severe threat to human life.
The camp site was told to leave. They didn’t
Nice try libs, but you failed again.
Thank you professor for pointing out how MSM lies, gaslights and other pundits just jump on spreading those lies. One of the annony morons tried it the other day and one of the very first comments to this column was another lie, posted by Wally. Now that Wally has been thoroughly debunked will he admit it? Or just as the good professor notes about MSM, just shrug and walk away?
This is why the viewership of the once widely watched news outlets has dwindled to a trickle. The only reason they are alive (on life support) at the moment is the current President. When he leaves office, they will collapse.
There is a vicious competition for who can say the most outlandish thing. They have to feed the 24 hour news machine with something, anything.
If we went back to the old way of reporting, most of the national and world news could be compressed into one or two hours, at the most. The rest is “wash-rinse-repeat.”
As for Hakeem Jeffries, he (like all the Democrats and left-leaning media) get a talking points memo from K Street. They go to the microphone and cameras with their talking points and marching orders and say what they are told to say.
E.M.
Well said. Now, MSM is mostly take the news, spin in to some how make it Trump’s fault, rant and rave about it. Then when it is debunked by facts, they just pretend it never happened or ignore when they get called out. That is why they have no credibility. As I have noted before on the good professor’s blog, I used to listen to NPR from morning to dinner. Then they went all in on advocacy journalism and would spin even the most unrelated news to try to blame Trump for whatever happened.
And…. This hollow demonstration, and all of the rest of this charade of partisan conflict, now stands exposed (by my standards at least) for the dog-and-pony-show it is, and likely has been from the get-go. From the Deep State (or whatever all-powerful, citizen prerogative subsuming term you prefer) same-as-it-ever-was propaganda department comes this whitewashed heap of barnyard dung:
FBI Concludes Jeffrey Epstein Had No Clients, Didn’t Blackmail Anyone, And Definitely Killed Himself
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fbi-concludes-jeffrey-epstein-had-no-clients-didnt-blackmail-anyone-and-definitely-killed
“Deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein and his colleague, Ghislaine Maxwell, were both charged by the Justice Department with sex trafficking—and Maxwell was convicted. But according to the DOJ, the two apparently didn’t have any clients.”
For sure. It seems pretty damned likely (certain, imo) that prominent entities (including both public figureheads and behind the scenes movers and shakers) aligned with both pseudo-parties were on that non-existent client list, so The Powers That Be (identical, evidently, to The Powers That Were) waved their magic wand and declared it vanished. Of course, self-described (albeit deluded) free-thinkers on this blog and elsewhere will defame, dismiss, and disregard the obvious conclusion here because they have been successfully (and quite casually, in fact) been captured by the concocted “us against them” mentality, hook, line, and sinker.
These reprehensible people lie and lie and lie, because they haven’t faced serious enough external consequences for their previous lies, and have no internal conscience evidently.
The only consequence that will cause them to change course is for the public to shun them; to stop consuming their products. The Biden coverup and Covid lies went a long way in that direction.
Are you talking about the lier in chief trump again. Stop it, he was a born lier, he couldn’t tell the truth from a snail if he sat tthrough 6 hours of training.
Got to assume from the misspellings and bizarre phrases that English is not your first language. So, where are you really? Lahore, Beijing?
(“he couldn’t tell the truth from a snail” what the hell is that supposed to even mean?)
The Hate Trump crowd are journalistic vermin. Truth be damned so long as Trump can be cast as Orange Man Bad. The Left’s thirst for power when thwarted is an exceedingly ugly thing.
The I hate Trump Media – they simply hate and cannot stand anything Trump. They simply represent the Left Wing Woke Radical Dem party. Meanwhile their ratings continue to drop. It seems the MGM of Main Street Media does not care for they are all part of the Davos Globalist Crowd.
But Fox News hating on D presidents is ok?
There’s more diversity of viewpoints on Fox than the rest of the news channels combined. Try finding anyone to the right of Mao on MSDNC.
Good! The people aren’t falling for this felgercarb anymore and it will just alienate voters even more from the democrats.
(From The Associated Press):
Weather service had extra staffers
The National Weather Service office in New Braunfels, which delivers forecasts for Austin, San Antonio and the surrounding areas, had extra staff on duty during the storms, Runyen said.
Where the office would typically have two forecasters on duty during clear weather, they had up to five on staff.
“There were extra people in here that night, and that’s typical in every weather service office you staff up for an event and bring people in on overtime and hold people over,” Runyen said.
Gordy, I thought that you retired decades ago from being a master in the broadcast arena.
Cuts were made to NWS and NAOA. Did those cuts contribute to the flood tragedy? We need to find out.
They didn’t. See Gordy Thomas’ comment above.
The office respoinsible for the warnings did have staff cuts. Yes there were 5 people on duty that night, what was their training and experience level? You seem to have all the answers.
Already answered elsewhere here. You’re desperate. And pathetic.
From “Axios”:
“The big picture: The storm that’s killed at least 80 people brought federal cuts to NOAA’s NWS under scrutiny after it emerged that two Texas NWS offices were missing key staff at the time, including in San Antonio where a veteran warning coordination meteorologist had taken an early retirement buyout in April.”
It is disingenuous for Turley to accuse Democrats of taking political advantage of a tragedy. There WERE staffing cuts, one of hwich was a “veteran warning coordination meterologist”–it appears that there was a lack of coordination here that could have played a role.
Yet, as I have proven, “a,” singular, one, “veteran warning coordination meteorologist had taken an early retirement buyout in April,” some how was paramount in two NWS offices and the Texas Division of Emergency Management whom issued warnings both Wednesday and Thursday and the Texas Division of Emergency Management activated state emergency response resources through 10 state agencies anticipating increased threats of flooding in West and Central Texas ahead of the holiday weekend.
And as the NWS stated, they had FIVE staff as is per SOP on duty during the storm. Yet you cannot prove that it was the ONE, “veteran warning coordination meterologist”–it appears that there was a lack of coordination here that could have played a role.
What you and leftist Democrats refuse to address is the fact those in charge at Camp Mystic and others did not heed the warnings from two different NWS offices and the Texas Division of Emergency Management when others in the same regions did. Rather, you would try to attempt to blame it all on Trump.
And you fail in the face of the facts.
Own it.
Hey Wally, did you even read the article?
Wally
Read up on that area of Texas. It’s know for sudden weather changes and flooding.
Did you read the article? Evidently not. Try again.
WTF is wrong with you, this is debunked in this very article
You did not even bother to read the good professor’s column. If you did, you would of noted this part, “Moreover, even assuming that the cuts to the NWS might impact warning systems, they are not even scheduled to take effect until next year.”
Did you read this part, “In reality, the NWS had extra personnel working the storm and issued the first warning 12 hours before the flood.”??
Over 500 NWS staff left after trump and musk fired people and offered early retirement. Yes the cuts have already happened. Yes the office in question had extra staffing tha tnight. What was their training and experience level?
Nice try at moving the goalposts. You have absolutely no proof of any connection between what you assert (even if true) and this event. Read the freaking article, there was no shortage of NWS staff. What is wrong with the left? No thinking, all raw emotion, no surprised that you all have mental illness.