Billy Wagner
KPRC Channel 2 News had a story this morning on City of Kerrville emergency management employees texting conversations the day before, the day of, and the day after the deadly floods a few weeks ago. On the day after, two employees, including the Kerrville city manager, referred to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in their text messages as “Homeland Barbie.” Really! The day after a couple of hundred folks are missing and dozens have been found dead, and they are calling a key federal response official “Homeland Barbie.” I am shocked that the two employees still have a job this morning.
The original story first ran on KSAT in San Antonio and here it is: Kerrville city manager referred to Kristi Noem as ‘basically homeland Barbie’ after flooding media briefing, texts show.
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Chron E-Board member Joe Holley has a column today on the editorial page on the Hill Country flood response and here is a part:
“Right now, we must focus on the recovery of those still missing, then rebuilding communities in flooded areas,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a press release on July 10. “In the coming year, and into the next regular legislative session, we will gather all the facts and answer the many questions to which the public demands answers.”
Patrick is right about the committee’s mission and purpose. What he didn’t say is that lawmakers have ignored their duties and obligations as representatives of the people of Texas.
It’s an old story, says Jim Blackburn, a Rice University professor who specializes in environmental and flooding issues. For years, Texas leaders have focused more on cleaning up after disasters than on preparing for them, he told ProPublica/Texas Tribune.
“It’s no secret,” Blackburn said, “that the Guadalupe is prone to flash flooding. That’s been known for decades. The state has been very negligent about kind of preparing us for, frankly, the worst storms of the future that we are seeing today because of climate change, and what’s changing is that the risks are just greater today and will be even greater tomorrow, because our storms are getting worse and worse.”
Here is the entire column: Texas wasn’t ready for flooding. Now Virginia Hollis, 8, is dead.
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I was at the Team Store this past weekend and they had Billy Wagner jerseys on sale. One jersey with the gold star and the other a 2025 City Connect version that Wagner never wore. Wagner wore the number 13, and his number will be retired by the Astros on Saturday, August 16 versus the Orioles. Billy Wagner Bobbleheads will be given away that evening and his number 13 jersey the day before, on Friday, August 15.
I did not know that now that Billy Wagner is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, there are now only two pitchers in the Hall of Fame who are under six feet tall, Billy the Kid and Whitey Ford.
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I had to take the featured photo Saturday night at Daikin Park where Julia Morales was in the Space City booth. I also picked up a Yordan bobblehead.
I don’t know what to say other than to say we got swept. It was a bad look for sure. We got way too many players dinged up and there is no cavalry on the horizon. The Nationals are in town for three.