“Nothing happens in a vacuum in life: every action has a series of consequences, and sometimes it takes a long time to fully understand the consequences of our actions.” ~Khaled Hosseini
Have you ever heard of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club? It was an exclusive and secretive retreat at a mountain lake in St. Michael, Pennsylvania, near the community of South Fork. The members of the club were primarily 50+ extremely wealthy Pittsburgh industrialists and their families. (The club was disbanded in 1904.)
The club owned the earthen South Fork Dam and an associated reservoir. The reservoir behind the dam was named as Lake Conemaugh by the club. It was about two miles long, approximately one mile wide, and 60 feet deep near the dam. The lake had a perimeter of seven miles and could hold 14.3 million tons of water. When the water was "up" in the spring, the lake covered more than 400 acres. The South Fork Dam was 72 feet high and 931 feet long.
Despite being both well-designed and well-built when new, the dam had a history of negligent maintenance and alterations. Between 1881 when the club was opened and 1889, this dam frequently sprang leaks and was patched, mostly with mud and straw.
The earthen dam failed on May 31, 1889, causing the Johnstown Flood that killed more than 2,200 people downstream. An estimated 14.3 million tons of water from Lake Conemaugh were released, which created devastation along the valley of South Fork Creek and the Little Conemaugh River and the dozen miles downstream to Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Just google the Johnstown Flood and there are dozens of references. The first time I learned about the flood was when I saw the PBS, American Experience Episode: The Johnstown Flood.
This is a short documentary that I found on YouTube…
My brother and sister-in-law lived in Midland, Michigan. Their town was also flooded due to dam failures in Sanford and Edenville. It happened during the Covid lockdown. People were sheltered together in various locations having to wear masks and social distance. My brother’s house sat higher on a hill. Although they had to evacuate and the water came awfully close, their house was spared — their neighbors weren’t quite so lucky.
Tragedies happen… just as we’re seeing in the Texas Hill Country. Mother Nature can be rather cruel — I know — I lived through Hurricane Helene.
But sometimes it’s not Mother Nature that is causing the cruelty — it’s man’s negligence, selfishness and/or greed. Case in point the Johnstown Flood was caused by the negligence by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. The club was found to have neglected maintenance on the earthen dam and performed some ill-advised alterations. Despite some years of claims and litigation, the club and its members were never found to be liable for monetary damages.
The Midland flood was caused due to outdated infrastructure and poor soil strength. It was concluded that blame for dam failures in Sanford and Edenville cannot be placed on any one individual, organization or group. Investigators point to the overall system which the four dams and its parties were operating in. This system spans the 100-year life span of the dams, and includes dam financing, construction, operation, upgrades and regulatory hurdles. Essentially, the report says all of those factors contributed to the dams failing.
We’ve got bridges, roads, subways, trains, airports and other infrastructure that are outdated and need to be improved. Climate change is horrifically impacting our infrastructure as well. I-40 experienced a major collapse in the Pigeon River Gorge near the Tennessee border due to Hurricane Helene. While partially reopened, full restoration is expected to take several years. There are still lane closures and traffic shifts.
Where is the funding for these things? Just look at the GOP’s Big Beautiful Bill:
Positive: Air Traffic Control Modernization: The bill allocates $12.5 billion to modernize the air traffic control system, a key component of transportation infrastructure.
Negative: Low-Carbon Transportation Materials Program: The bill rescinds $1.9 billion previously earmarked for projects that encouraged the use of lower emissions materials in transportation construction, like concrete and asphalt.
Not sure: The bill also includes provisions for border security and infrastructure, such as physical barriers and technology upgrades, which indirectly impact transportation and infrastructure. However, the exact funding figures for these are not explicitly stated as transportation and infrastructure funding.
While there doesn’t seem to be much funding for bridges, there is more than enough for walls.
Consequences. Every Action (or inaction) causes a reaction.
Similarly to Newton’s Third Law of Motion, we are seeing firsthand the consequences of the incredible incompetence and policies as well as the horrendous budgetary priorities of this current Trump administration:
Erratic economic policies are making it difficult for businesses to plan for the future. Small businesses struggle under Trump’s tariff whiplash: ‘I’m so angry that my own government has done this to me’
Affordable housing is a problematic issue in this country. Imagine the consequences of the 50% tariff on copper to construction costs. While the metal is used in a variety of products ranging from machinery and electronics to household goods, the biggest use the country makes of it is for building construction.
Two days after deadly Texas floods, FEMA didn’t answer thousands of calls from flood survivors, because of call center contracts that weren’t extended. FEMA leader is a no-show after deadly Texas flooding.
“Kristi Noem is loyal to Trump. But perhaps it was too much to ask that someone who executed her own puppy was going to understand the humanitarian necessity of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” (source: Trump’s Cabinet of Incompetents)
Anti-vaccine messaging and distrust in federal health agencies have contributed to measles cases in the U.S. reaching a 33-year high and at least three deaths.
It’s estimated that unless the abrupt USAID funding cuts announced and implemented in the first half of 2025 are reversed, a staggering number of avoidable deaths could occur by 2030.
In immigration detention, deprivation of freedom, isolation, uncertainty, abysmal conditions, inadequate medical care and mental health services put lives in jeopardy. What we’re seeing now in the inhumane detention centers is a heightened degree of cruelty. Jesus Molina-Veya, a 45-year-old citizen of Mexico in ICE custody, died in his cell at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, GA. While an official cause of death has not been released, an ICE spokesperson has called the death “an apparent suicide.” (There have been multiple deaths reported and we have no idea about what has happened to the immigrants sent to the gulag in El Salvador or to Sudan.)
There have been some pretty grim consequences from the actions of an administration where stupidity and cruelty are the policy.
The Mar-a-Lago Club is just a kindred version of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club.
“It is not reassuring, at a time of man-made and natural disasters, that the president is spouting gobbledygook and his maladroit cabinet members are spinning out.” (source: Trump’s Cabinet of Incompetents)
Thought for the day in honor of his birthday…
“It's the quality of the ordinary, the straight, the square, that accounts for the great stability and success of our nation. It's a quality to be proud of. But it's a quality that many people seem to have neglected.”
~ Gerald R. Ford
Must Read Articles:
From Science to Diversity, Trump Hits the Reverse Button on Decades of Change
It should come as no surprise that Mr. Trump would try to undo much of what President Joseph R. Biden Jr. did over the past four years. What is so striking in Mr. Trump’s second term is how much he is trying to undo changes that happened years and even decades before that. At times, it seems as if he is trying to repeal much of the 20th century.
Orange Lotus: How the Trump Show Outwits Reality
We live not in a reality show but in reality itself, where decisions have consequences. The deadly weekend flash floods in Texas Hill Country were as ominous as they were horrific. When we learned of the climbing death toll, including some two dozen girl campers at the beloved childhood nirvana of Camp Mystic, it was impossible not to think of Musk and Trump’s thoughtless, ill-planned hacking away at the professional expertise in government agencies like the National Weather Service. Six hundred NWS staffers were dispatched, including the warning coordination meteorologist in the Austin-San Antonio office, who took the DOGE buyout last spring.
The children who died at Camp Mystic, like the many more kids who will likely suffer from the disastrous turn against vaccines, and the 4.5 million children projected to die globally as a result of the USAID cuts, won’t come to life again in Trump’s next season. They’re gone for good. The essential truth of long-form television is that even the best series – Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Sopranos – can only end, effectively, with mass death and unanticipated disaster, as events turn evilly against their own makers. They rarely achieve even the dignity of tragedy. Does even the most addicted viewer really believe that the Trump series will be blessed with a better ending?
Diego’s story isn’t exactly a Horatio Alger tale—he didn’t go off to an elite university (or even a community college) or found a successful tech company or tell his story to Oprah. But one of his children is in college now, and the other might go that way, too, after high school. And do you know who else went on to higher education? All of those doctors and nurses who took care of his wife while she was undergoing cancer treatment, a medical workforce that is notably immigrant-heavy. “It wasn’t just Caucasian doctors,” he recalled. “There were a lot of Asian doctors. A lot of immigrants.”
Quote of the day:
“As the Trump-Epstein saga unfolds, incompetence is piled upon bad faith; and conspiracy theories jostle with Trumpist spin. The result: bozos are fighting with buffoons as the ringleader of the whole bangarang looks on. Who could have seen this coming? Other than absolutely everybody.”
~ Charlie Sykes
What I’m reading today…
As Trump Sows Tariff Confusion, Rules of Global Commerce Give Way to Chaos
Six months into his new administration, President Trump’s assault on global trade has lost any semblance of organization or structure. He has changed deadlines suddenly. He has blown up negotiations at the 11th hour, often raising unexpected issues. He has tied his tariffs to complaints that have nothing to do with trade, like Brazil’s treatment of its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, or the flow of fentanyl from Canada. Talks with the United States were like “going through a labyrinth” and arriving “back to Square 1,” said Airlangga Hartarto, the Indonesian minister for economic affairs, who met with U.S. officials in Washington on Wednesday.
The resulting uncertainty is preventing companies and countries from making plans as the rules of global commerce give way to a state of chaos.
Trump Loves ICE. Its Workforce Has Never Been So Miserable.
ICE occupies an exalted place in President Donald Trump’s hierarchy of law enforcement. He praises the bravery and fortitude of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers—“the toughest people you’ll ever meet,” he says—and depicts them as heroes in the central plot of his presidency, helping him rescue the country from an invasion of gang members and mental patients. The 20,000 ICE employees are the unflinching men and women who will restore order. They’re the Untouchables in his MAGA crime drama.
The reality of Trump’s mass-deportation campaign is far less glamorous. Officers and agents have spent much of the past five months clocking weekends and waking up at 4 a.m. for predawn raids. Their top leaders have been ousted or demoted, and their supervisors—themselves under threat of being fired—are pressuring them to make more and more arrests to meet quotas set by the Trump adviser Stephen Miller. Having insisted for years that capturing criminals is its priority, ICE is now shelving major criminal investigations to prioritize civil immigration arrests, grabbing asylum seekers at their courthouse hearings, handcuffing mothers as their U.S.-citizen children cry, chasing day laborers through Home Depot parking lots. As angry onlookers attempt to shame ICE officers with obscenities, and activists try to dox them, officers are retreating further behind masks and tactical gear.
“It’s miserable… the job is mission impossible.”
How Russia Could Exploit a Vacuum in Europe
The Trump administration is undertaking a sweeping force posture review slated for release in late summer or early fall that could fundamentally reshape the U.S. military’s global footprint. If that process results in a significant and swift reduction of U.S. forces in Europe, an outcome that administration officials have publicly suggested is possible, the NATO alliance will become more vulnerable to further Russian aggression. The political signals surrounding the U.S. Defense Department’s force posture review have only increased European allies’ fears that a rapid drawdown is coming… In a speech at his first NATO defense ministers meeting in February, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth underscored the Trump administration’s view that Europe could no longer be a U.S. priority, saying that given the “strategic realities,” European NATO leaders “should take primary responsibility for defense of the continent.”
Tillis Suggests He Regrets Vote to Confirm Hegseth, Calling Him ‘Out of His Depth’
Tillis capitulated to pressure from the White House and allowed Hegseth’s nomination to sail through the Senate. By suppressing his concerns about accusations of excessive drinking and abusing women, among other issues, Tillis was able to temporarily placate Trump and quiet the chatter of a primary challenge.
Kristi Noem Blames FEMA for “Slow” Response in Texas — FEMA Says Delay Caused by Noem Rule
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has called again for the elimination of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, accusing FEMA of a “slow” response to the catastrophic floods in Texas. But FEMA officials say the agency’s response was a direct result of Noem’s own policy, which requires Noem to sign off on any work costing more than $100,000 before deploying personnel — something which she apparently failed to do promptly.
‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will have Americans paying higher prices for dirtier energy
When congressional Republicans decided to cut some Biden-era energy subsidies to help fund their One Big Beautiful Bill Act, they could have pruned wasteful subsidies while sparing the rest. Instead, they did the reverse. Americans will pay the price with higher costs for dirtier energy. The bill slashes incentives for wind and solar energy, batteries, electric cars and home efficiency while expanding subsidies for fossil fuels and biofuels. That will leave Americans burning more fossil fuels despite strong public and scientific support for shifting to renewable energy.
They weren’t famous. They didn’t host podcasts. Their names rarely appeared in headlines... But for decades, they formed the bedrock of American power abroad: career diplomats, analysts, area specialists, language officers – quiet stewards of stability in an unstable world. And this week, Donald Trump fired 1,300 of them.
Taco, the trade that ate itself
This spiralling chain reaction may all seem like an Escher fever-dream, but the underlying point is simple and could come from a Greek tragedy: when you try to predict the future, you risk changing it. Some prophecies are self-fulfilling. Some prophecies are self-defeating. Any prophecy worthy of the name is going to interact with itself, one way or another.
Bondi fires 20 DOJ employees from Jan. 6, Trump documents cases
Attorney General Pam Bondi has fired more than 20 Justice Department employees who worked on cases involving the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol and Donald Trump's handling of classified documents. The firings are part of a massive purge aimed at clearing DOJ of attorneys and support staff who took part in Special Counsel Jack Smith's prosecution of Trump for Jan. 6 and possessing classified documents unlawfully.
The new dismissals bring the total Smith-related firings to about 35.
About 15 more could face termination.
Trump’s Embarrassing Typo in Tariff Letter to World Leader
President Trump’s letter-writing mission to convince world leaders to accept his tariff trade deals has hit an early snag after he misgendered one country’s head of state.
It didn’t go quite to plan. Despite correctly referring to Željka Cvijanović, the Chairwoman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina as “Her Excellency,” the letter to her begins with “Dear Mr President.”
American Measles Cases Just Broke a Dark Record as Outbreaks Surge
Measles cases in the U.S. have reached a 33-year high, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Outbreak Response Innovation (CORI). The center reports that there are now 1,277 confirmed cases across 38 states and the District of Columbia, the highest annual tally since 1992. The U.S. achieved measles-free status in 2000, but the troubling upward trajectory of cases puts that
Anti-vaccine messaging and distrust in federal health agencies have contributed to the nadir. Three people have died of measles-related complications this year, while 155 people have been hospitalized. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that just three people died of measles complications in the period between 2001 and 2024.
$218M In IL Education Funding Paused By Trump Administration Programs
The Trump administration is withholding more than $6 billion in funding already appropriated by Congress that could affect after-school, student support, teacher training, English language, adult literacy and other education programs across the Prairie State.
The pause is part of a review to ensure grants align with President Donald Trump’s priorities, but leaves states and schools in limbo as they budget for programs this summer and in the upcoming school year, introducing new uncertainty about when — or if — they will receive the money.
Trump faces MAGA trust crisis over Epstein debacle
The chorus of MAGA outrage has only intensified since the Justice Department and FBI released a memo on Sunday finding no evidence that Epstein was murdered, had a "client list" or had blackmailed powerful figures. Influential Trump allies are among those who have accused the administration of a cover-up. But even MAGA's most loyal foot soldiers are struggling to explain how top Trump officials could close the Epstein case after promising — for years — that it would expose shadowy global elites.
The Big Beautiful Bill’s Murky Border Security Spending
But in addition to the historic price tag, provisions in the bill make it unclear where large swaths of the money are going. For instance, $10 billion is appropriated to DHS to reimburse “costs incurred in undertaking activities in support of the Department of Homeland Security’s mission to safeguard the borders of the United States.” The provision does not specify a mission, time frame for the reimbursement, nor the subdivision of the DHS being reimbursed. Both ICE and CBP are part of DHS.
Something to read..
The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough
What I am listening to…
What I am watching…
What I read every day…
