Let’s Ask Arty uses existing Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to query LLMs about politics in these troubled times.
Query: Did DOGE cuts weaken Texas flood forecasting capabilities?
Yes, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts appear to have significantly weakened Texas’s flood forecasting capabilities, contributing to the tragic July 4 flooding in Kerr County.
The following list calls out the key impacts DOGE cuts had on forecasting and responding to the Texas flood:
- Staffing Reductions: The National Weather Service (NWS) lost nearly 600 employees in early 2025, including critical roles like warning coordination meteorologists. These vacancies disrupted coordination with local emergency managers, delaying evacuation efforts.
- Forecast Accuracy: The NWS forecast underestimated rainfall totals—predicting 4–8 inches in the Hill Country, while actual totals exceeded 15 inches in some areas. This gap was partly due to reduced resources, including fewer weather balloon launches used for atmospheric data2.
- Warning Dissemination Delays: Although the NWS issued a flash flood emergency at 1:14 a.m., local alerts (like Kerrville Police’s Facebook post) didn’t go out until hours later, when the Guadalupe River had already surged over 20 feet3.
- Systemic Vulnerabilities: DOGE cuts also affected NOAA’s broader operations, including climate research and disaster preparedness programs, leaving communities more exposed to extreme weather events.
Even Elon Musk’s AI tool, Grok 3, flagged these cuts as a contributing factor to the disaster, citing degraded forecasting and communication breakdowns.
It’s a sobering reminder of how vital real-time data and expert coordination are when nature turns volatile.
My Input
Texas is a MAGA map of where our country is heading as it relates to climate disasters, science, and religion.
Donald Trump is a climate-change-denying fool and shill of the fossil fuel industry, and Texas consistently carries water for him (to the detriment of its citizens). Well, as the old saying goes, the chickens have come home to roost, and in Texas, they roost over the dead bodies of children swept away by flood waters, incompetence, greed, and, yes, religion.
Texas has a strange history of injecting religion into the climate discussion, with Republican officials in the Lonestar state sometimes linking skepticism of climate change policy with religious beliefs, including the moronically simplistic and scientifically deaf idea that God controls the weather (If that’s the case, God must have been pretty pissed on July 4th, 2025).
In 2011, Governor Rick Perry’s official proclamation for “Days of Prayer for Rain” during a historic drought drew national attention, while Texas government officials have consistently downplayed climate science, even going so far as to sue the EPA over greenhouse gas regulations.
More recently, current Texas Governor Greg Abbot and several state legislators issued public statements indicating skepticism or resistance toward climate change policy, even in the face of increasing climate-related disasters.
Today, I’m waiting for the usual “God works in mysterious ways” suspects to appear on social media channels, in television news reports, and from church pulpits, telling Texans not to ask too many questions, including why a God who controls the weather simply didn’t prevent raging flood waters from sweeping children to a terrifying death.
And what’s worse in my mind is that the “it’s not for us to question God’s plan” madness is strategic — a way to get citizens to trust and submit to a higher power (be it religious or political) and sweep aside the possibility that we humans play a role in our destiny.
Just keep on keeping on.
Nothing to see here.
Why do we continue to put our blood, sweat, tears, blind faith, and money into a faulty, poorly thought-out, riddled with holes and inconsistencies, idea of God? Because doing so keeps us at bay and benefits those in power.
Hey, I’ve got an idea! Instead of relinquishing our destiny to a non-existent entity with zero accountability, let’s put our blood, sweat, tears, money, and good-faith efforts into developing our ability to learn, understand, and implement solutions to problems like climate change.
Let’s shift our approach from relying on thoughts, prayers, and avoiding questions to embracing innovation and action (including reinstating Government funding for key agencies that keep us safe). That way we can mitigate future human loss and suffering from tragedies like the flooding in Texas.
Just a thought.
In the meantime, let’s remember these facts from Arty about Texas politicians and climate change:
- Texas lawmakers have repeatedly blocked bills that would require state agencies to plan for climate-related impacts. Since 2009, legislation mandating climate adaptation strategies has consistently failed to pass committee hearings.
- In 2023, the only climate-related law passed was designed to prevent local governments (like El Paso) from implementing their climate mitigation policies.
- Texas emits over 800 million tons of greenhouse gases annually—comparable to Germany—but has no comprehensive state climate plan.
- Local governments, such as Dallas and Austin, have attempted to fill the gap with climate action plans; however, state-level resistance has hindered broader progress.
- State Representative Matt Krause (2023): Krause criticized federal climate regulations, stating that “man cannot control the climate—only God can.” He argued that climate policies were economically harmful and ideologically driven.
- Senator Bob Hall (2022): Hall dismissed climate science as “alarmist propaganda,” suggesting that weather patterns are part of a divine plan and not influenced by human activity. He has repeatedly opposed incentives for renewable energy.
- General Legislative Pattern: As reported by MIT’s Climate Portal, Texas lawmakers have consistently blocked bills requiring state agencies to plan for climate impacts. Some legislators have described climate advocacy as a “cult,” framing environmentalism as a challenge to traditional values.
These views often coexist with efforts to protect fossil fuel industries and resist federal environmental regulations.
bendingtheneedle 