AM Show Hr 3 | From Flash Flood Alley to Capitol Chaos

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Our little podcast is the podcast that could, the little engine that could. You know, when we started, it was just a simple rebroadcast of our show, and they would take it over and put it on this new podcast platform. I didn't think anything of it. Before long, we started hearing from people all over the country where we don't air on the radio in the town where they are. And I would say, well, how are you hearing us? Did you find us online? And they say, no, I was on a podcast. Or, as happens for more than anything else, somebody sent me an email, say, hey, check out this podcast. He's from Houston, talks a lot about Texas, but talks about national stuff, and I think you'll like him. And that's how our little podcast grew to be one of the top in the country. It's pretty cool. And so we have show sponsors on the radio. We have show sponsors on the podcast. One of them's a good buddy of mine. His name is Ray Breyer's. And he owns the Pipeyard Inc. And what he does on his cell phone is people call and go, hey, I got a 118 mile pipeline going through Louisiana into Mississippi. And he says, all right, let me go check it out. He goes out. He rips that pipe out of the ground all the way. And he goes off and sells that to somebody else who needs the pipe. It's a beautiful process. And people call him all from our show, from our podcast, all over the country. Thepipeyard, inc.com. 409-788 pipe. 409-78 pipe. Talk to Ray, the pipe ma'amma, good buddy. Turns out, at least according to my urologist, that all that talk about taking testosterone is bad for your prostate. That was based on one study that's been debunked. But you know what? Don't trust me. Do your own reading. Cross-reference. Learn more. Go to fixmylowtie.com. That's synergenics. That's who I use for my testosterone replacement. It makes me energetic. It makes me happy. I lost some belly fat out of it, which was really nice. And yes, it does that too. FixMylowtie.com. Our newest show sponsor here on the podcast, and it is enterprise foundry.com. They pour all grades of ductile and gray iron. Don't you love saying that, Ramon? Castings up to a thousand pounds. Nobody does this on American soil anymore, but they do. They specialize in low to medium volume, in-house pattern shop for fast, low-cost tooling, and they love the Michael Bari Weiss Show, and they share our values, and you want to do business with people like that. EnterpriseFoundry.com. It's that time. Lock and load.

is on the air. longest government shutdown in American history over Minnesota's governor Tim Walz is very, very excited. He talked about it on his podcast. Hello America. You're listening to the number 12 most popular podcast just out of Canada. And we are tickled pink to have you. Your hands say his name. Timmy Wallstone window games. Super excited today. If we celebrate good times, come on. The government is back open after 43 days of darkness. Time for a walls of plight. So Republicans, you can shut up because the shutdown is over. No thanks to you. Now, I did have my assistant Bruce take a poll, and you know I love a good poll, and the results show that white males are blaming Democrats for the shutdown. Ridiculous. Listen, it's a well-known fact I'm the voice of the white American red-blooded male. You know, the manly man. So allow the old ball coach to explain this in terms you'll understand. Like any good football coach, you got to be good at the peas and cues. You see, the Democrats, we moved the baseball right down the field and hit a touchdown. We grabbed the ball, laid it up for a home run. The Democrat, you see, we shot a triple and made more runs than those Republicans. So you Republicans, you can burn dust and eat my rubber. Woo! Feels so good to be a man. Oh, look at that. Times to get away from me. Going to miss my petty. Tudan.

They'll take on projects. They'll volunteer. They'll prepare for a marathon. They'll travel. They'll build businesses. So the challenge of politics is you have to keep it top of mind for Americans all the time. Because if Americans are not obsessed with politics every moment of every day, they won't keep giving money to it. They won't keep feeding the beast. And if you've ever made the mistake of making a political contribution, you know they're going to hit you for the rest of your life. You're going to get mail. You're going to get email. You're going to get text messages. They're never going to stop because there's two types of people. People who give multiple times to politicians and people who've never given before and will never give again. They're not a contributor. The person they're going after. is the person who is prone to write a check. Because if you've made a donation before, you're a person comfortable making a donation. It doesn't make you rich because it can be small donations. But you're a person who is willing to do it. And if you're a person who's willing to do it, that's where all the energy is directed. You're the one. You're the one that they want. And you're not going to give money if you haven't seen them in the news. If there is not some issue. That's the reason highly polarized politics is good for everybody in the industry. People, can't we all just get along? No, because then you won't contribute. They have to keep you on edge. Well, well, well. Lucky you. The Michael Bari Weiss Show continues. This must be your lucky day.

what they have found out. Okay, thank you everybody who have responded to Michael Barry's poll about is you or is you not circumscribed. And it turned out 94% of the Israeli men's and Canadians and the United States and all the Arab countries is circumscribed. Everywhere else, they don't even care. I don't know how to feel about it. What do you think, what's it? I don't know. I don't even know where my Virginia start and end, girl. Oh, my God. The families of multiple campers and two counselors at Camp Mystic who died in the July 4th flooding have filed suit. Against the camp, saying gross negligence and reckless disregard for safety led to a, quote, self-created disaster, end quote, that claimed the lives of 28 people total, the story from ABC News. It's going to be clip number eight, Ramon.

This morning, the families of children and counselors who died in the historic July 4th flooding at Camp Mystic in Texas are suing the camp and its owners for negligence. 25 young girls and two teen counselors were killed when the Guadalupe River rose more than 20 feet in less than two hours. Now the families of five of the girls and two of the counselors insist the tragedy was avoidable. Camp is supposed to be a safe place. In one of three lawsuits filed yesterday, the families say the girls died because a for-profit camp put profit... Over safety, the lawsuit accuses Camp Mystic of housing the girls in flood prone cabins to avoid the cost of relocating them and of failing to create or practice an evacuation plan. It claims that even after a flash flood warning, the staff spent time moving equipment instead of children. SEAL's life ended not because of an unavoidable act of nature. But because of preventable failures. A lawyer for the camp said keeping the girls in their cabins was the right thing to do. Do not take nine-year-old girls who weigh 63 pounds on average into raging flood waters. They're going to get washed away. In a new statement, a camp lawyer calls the flood unprecedented, saying no adequate warning systems existed. The camp saying it empathizes with the families, but disagrees with several accusations.

Well, July, August, September, October, November. It's been four months now. I put off this conversation when it was fresh, because it was so fresh and so raw. And more information is coming forward now, and I think it's probably a time to begin to have this conversation. I know some people I've noticed. That some people will say right after this happened, well, don't start asking questions. It's inappropriate. It just happened. Let people grieve. Fair. Those same people that now when you ask the question, hey, let's talk about what was done. Let's talk about children died. You've got to ask questions. I'm sorry that upsets people that you ask questions. But the same people who said, no, no, it's too early. It's disrespectful to the deceased. Okay, I'll respect that. Those same people now say, what's done is done. Why are you digging up the past? That's a technique you use to prevent ever asking questions. Some people don't like to confront difficult issues. I'm the opposite. I want to get in there and wallow around in it. I want to discuss every different angle. I want to talk it through. Maybe you save a child's life in the future. Maybe you save the camping industry. Maybe you give people some relief. Maybe you at least bring some sense of closure. But that's what you do. That's what civilized people do. They don't just pretend that it didn't happen. So we're making a movie. I have a smaller role than Sean Welling, who is the filmmaker. Lee Majors is the narrator. And it's about the heroism of the kids and those who did. do everything they could. And I think everybody involved did everything good to save the children. It's just a question of whether everything was done ahead of time. And these are healthy questions. And Sean Welling, the filmmaker, is a long time friend of mine for almost 25 years. And he wanted to interview me for the film. Fine. And he does not agree with my opinion on the issue, which is that I suspect. That insufficient effort was taken to ensure the safety of these kids. And I don't mean that day necessarily, although I'd still like to learn more about that. But that these camps were in a location where flooding is sufficiently likely. That doesn't mean every week, even every year. But the likelihood was high enough that balanced against the potential. For deadly results, probably was not the best idea. Probably not the best thing to do. This wasn't but for putting it on this space, this camp doesn't exist. Those camps were cashing in, which is fine. I want everybody to make as much money as they possibly can.

But in the meantime, I think there is a duty incumbent upon you when you do this to create the most safe place for these children should this happen. Sean and I got into a, I'll call it a spirited discussion. But he had the whole film crew there. So there were probably 12 people in the room with us. And, you know, I'm barking at him because I'm pretty passionate. Anyway, I'd like to, I'm sure many of you have thoughts from what happened on that day. 713-999-9-9-1,000. Every single one of them. To your ears, this is the Michael Bari Weiss Show. A lawsuit has been filed. By some of the families of the campers who perished in the July 4th flooding at Camp Mystic. Campers and their counselors, two of the counselors, Chloe Childress, who was 18. She was set to go to the University of Texas, as was her friend Catherine Furuzzo, 19.

We have mutual friends with both of those families and some of the kids as well. It's just regardless how all this turns out. Lawsuits, liability, blame, responsibility, changes. It just breaks your heart. It breaks your heart for the families because you never, you know, you send your kid to camp and you never expect it. That'll be the last time you see them. My heart goes out to those families. That's in the evil I would wish upon someone. Even that one is too much. That is a pain. I cannot imagine having to suffer. Elena, you're up. Hi, Michael. How are you? I'm good, dear. How are you? I'm all right. We have a birthday in common. I called you Monday and said happy birthday. I don't know Ramon told you, but we have a mutual birthday. He doesn't tell me anything. Okay, well, happy belated birthday. It was Monday for me too. I'm a little bit older than you, but happy birthday anyway. Thank you. My thoughts, excuse me? I said thank you. Okay. My thoughts on this is how come only little girls died, not the little boys, and how come there wasn't a life vest anywhere around those places where the children were sleeping? That's my question. How come it was just little girls? They took the little boys out. They saved the little boys, but not the little girls. And there was no life vests anywhere around. Do they even own life vests at the cabins? You know. Alaino, one of the things that surprised me the most in all of this is that life vests are the cheapest thing. Now, I don't know if that would have saved the girls. I know it would have increased the likelihood that they survive. It strikes me that being in a flood zone like that, that would be the sort of thing that you would have available. And even as fast as those floodwaters were rising, you could stage those in each unit. You referenced how can they save the boys and not the girls. It was a different camp that the boys were at. And I think there's a lot that goes into some of that, but most of it, I think, is just the camp mystic location because the girls who died were all in a particular part of camp mystic. It wasn't every girl that was at camp mystic. It was girls that were in a particular cabin based on who they were moving and when they were moving. But, you know, one of the things that has come up in my conversations, and I've had a lot of them, since then about this is several people have made a statement to me something of the effect of, well, yeah, you can go back now and think about should they have life vests or should they this. And my point is, under a standard of law, let's talk about the legal liability before you talk about the moral liability because you've taken in these, you've taken in little girls. So we don't need the law to be involved to have a conversation about what's right and wrong, right? We don't have to have that. Several people have said, well, yeah, you can go back now and say they should have done this and they should have done that and should have done this. The legal standard would be, is it reasonable to assume that there was a reasonable likelihood of flooding? Well, you don't have to have flooding every week, every month, every year, every decade for there to be a reasonable likelihood of flooding. You look at the new houses that are being built off Braeswood or Southmore.

or along the bayou anywhere in Houston. And you look at how they're building those houses up. Well, we don't flood that often. But you know that the flooding likelihood is possible. I was not aware there was a flood in, I think 87. I was not aware. Ramon, were you aware that this area is known as Flash Flood Alley? I had no idea. In fact, Partly because of the movie and partly because I've been fascinated by this, I have been reading and talking to people involved in this. The firefighters along that region, they would tell you, flooding is very likely. And the thing about it is, this thing looks like at a water slide, it looks like those, you know, the twist and turn things that bring you down. It's like it funnels the water into a channel. It's a hard rock siding as I understand it. So this thing, it is as if if you wanted to create an element of flooding that would rise fast and move swiftly, this would, if you designed it, that's how you designed it, if that was your goal, which of course nobody would. Because now it's going to fill up faster because it's all a V cut through there. It's going to fill up faster, and it's going to move faster, and it's going to funnel everything into that. That's the path that the water is using to exit, just the way we have bayous here. And they know this. It's called Flash Flood Alley. If you'd never had a flash flood there, if you'd only had a flash flood, oh, about the era of the Alamo, it wouldn't be called Flash Flood Alley. And these are the sorts of things that a lawsuit will discover and a story will be told. And it should be told. Now, I have noticed I have received some unkind, remote unkind. What are you eating? Honey? Is that the honey I gave you? Who gave us that? Somebody brought that to us. Somebody made that at their house. See if it says it on there. trip it's in it's out of brendham somebody brought me that and then i gave it to you and you hurt my feelings by trying to give it away to emily and she told nondita who told me oh what saving your life why you had a cough oh you're oh i see okay all right good all right i'm glad you're not on the microphone because i don't hear you cough so i've heard some comments that were most unkind may i say from families of campers over the years. Not campers there now, mind you, but campers over the years. And there is this idea that, well, we don't want to question what happened at Camp Mystic because we don't want to close Camp Mystic. Well, neither do I. I'm not trying to close Camp Mystic. But there is this idea that there must be loyalty to the cause. Okay, so we're just going to sacrifice babies. To the loyalty to the cause? This is the same mindset in the Catholic church that just kept moving pedophiles. Because, well, we don't want to hurt the church. This is the same mindset at Penn State that protected Joe Paterno and that idiot. This is the same mindset. Prepare for a complete meltdown. With more of the Michael Bari Weiss Show.

People who didn't live through it can't believe how big Kenny Rogers was in the 80s. That's Kenny and Dottie. And you're probably thinking, yeah, singing a Sonny and Share song. Well, yes, technically. Written by Jimmy Holliday and Eddie Reeves for Ray Charles, who first recorded it in 1971. David, you're on the Michael Bari Weiss show. Welcome to the program, sir. Oh, good morning. I've been listening for about five years. I love you show. Thank you. First time calling in. Welcome. Calling the comment about the Camp Mystic. Yeah. Can you hear me all right? I can hear you great. Okay. I really feel a lot of compassion, and I just hate it for these families that lost their loved ones in this flood. And I don't have any sympathy or pity for the, uh, the owners or the people that, you know, are in charge of making sure that camp was safe for the children because this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Uh, myself, I lost the baby brother. Gosh, it's been a little over 40 years now, but, uh, they lost everyone in the camp group, all the kids, half the counselors, uh, was on the pertin now. It's not the Guadalupe. And it's just a terrible thing to, you know, imagine a 30-foot wall of water hitting your kids and washing them down the river. It's unbelievable. The anguish and suffering those families are going through. And I don't feel any pity. I don't feel any sympathy towards the camp, you know, staff and, well, I mean, you know, not the staff, but the actual people that are running it. They could have taken plenty of precautions. This isn't the first time it's happened. Like I said, it's been a little over 40 years ago, and I lost the baby brother to the same type of thing, and he wasn't alone. Everyone just about in his group was washed down the river. Half the counselors got washed. I mean, it was terrible. David, what camp was that? Excuse me? What camp was that where your brother was? Oh. It's... I can't remember the name of it, but it had to do with Hope Center, I think. But they were camping on the Perdinallis River in the late 70s. You can Google it or whatever and pull it up. Yeah, I will. I'm just, how old were you at the time? Oh, gosh, that was about 10. How old was your brother? Maybe he was seven and a half. Why were you not at the camp? Me? Yeah. I was, uh... I wasn't a very good kid. I was out running the street. And my brother was at camp trying to, you know, trying to do the camp thing. You know, it was a good, safe place for him. And we were going to, my family was pretty dysfunctional. We were going through a lot of things at the time. And it seemed like it was a good place for him to be for the summer. And, you know, I wasn't expecting that it would be the last time I would ever see him. Yeah. I, um... I would imagine that's a lot for a 10-year-old kid to process. David, thank you for sharing your perspective, sir. Darcy, you're up. Go ahead. Hey, Michael. I just wanted to say you made a really great point about how houses are being built along raised by you now and in parts of Houston that are prone to flooding. My husband's family had property on the Freeho River for 35 years. And...

All you have to do is go back and look today at how houses along the Guadalube and the Frio River are being built, just like in Houston, to know that the possibility of flooding is reasonable. And I think that that analogy works really well for this. With that in mind, what precaution do you recommend? Are you saying how they built the cabin structures themselves? Oh, I'm not an engineer, but I don't think the federal government should have given them permission to put cabins for kids of any age, whether they're 17 or, you know, eight in a floodplain. I think that there's a reasonable expectation to not do that. You put your craft cabins. You put your camp fire sites. You put the things that aren't inhabited at night in those areas. That's my humble opinion. Yeah. My hesitation is I wonder, so you can make it so that it's impossible to build if you make it hard enough, and some communities do that. And then you can make it so that anyone can build anything anywhere, and people will be reckless about the way they do that. I don't know. I would really, one of the things I'm looking forward to information coming out about is, so my understanding is that floodwater rose faster than anyone could imagine, just shockingly fast. And yet there were warnings. There were warnings early enough that all things being equal, you could have gotten the girls out of there. on buses, if that was an option. My understanding is there's only one in and out, and that's a low water bridge that washes out fast. So now you're trapped on an island at that point. That's obviously problematic. And we talked about life vests. You know, the question is what is reasonable? And it just strikes me, well, I guess we're going to learn a lot more. One former camper who happens to be a friend of mine wrote, On the subject of Camp Mystic, as a young girl, I went to Camp Mystic and both of my daughters did 20-something years ago. But I will tell you, I'm mad as hell about what happened, and I don't believe all precautions were taken, and I will never understand why the youngest of the campers were on the closest proximity bank to the river. The Eastland family has to have some sort of liability. Because I'm pretty certain there were conversations that occurred and they were aware that this could happen. But I think, oh, because I'm pretty sure there were conversations that occurred and they were aware that this could happen. But I think everybody was just betting on the fact that it just never would, even though they did have a flood back in the late 80s, if I remember correctly. So did they all forget it's a limestone riverbed and water falling on it would certainly not be absorbed? Thank you for doing the movie and asking the questions. I think the families deserve answers. And if this saves one child at a camp in the future, then it is worth it. Well, it's...

It's incredible. You know, I didn't realize how many kids go to camp. I heard from so many people, as I've mentioned this and talked about it. A lot of kids who go to camp. I didn't go to camp as a kid. We didn't send our kids to camp as a kid. But it's a Texas tradition. And I think that's part of it is there's a lot of nostalgia for people, so they're uncomfortable with all these questions being asked. But we owe it to these little girls and their families to ask tough questions. Our little podcast is the podcast that could, the little engine that could. You know, when we started, it was just a simple rebroadcast of our show. And they would take it over and put it on this new podcast platform. I didn't think anything of it. Before long, we started hearing from people all over the country where we don't air on the radio in the town where they are. And I would say, well, how are you hearing us? Did you find us online? And they say, no, I was on a podcast. Or as happens for more than anything else. Somebody sent me an email and say, hey, check out this podcast. He's from Houston, talks a lot about Texas, but talks about national stuff, and I think you'll like him. And that's how our little podcast grew to be one of the top in the country. It's pretty cool. And so we have show sponsors on the radio. We have show sponsors on the podcast. One of them's a good buddy of mine. His name is Ray Breyers, and he owns The Pipeyard Inc. And what he does on his cell phone is people call and go, hey, I got a 118 mile pipeline going through Louisiana into Mississippi. And he says, all right, let me go check it out. He goes out. He rips that pipe out of the ground all the way. And he goes off and sells that to somebody else who needs the pipe. It's a beautiful process. And people call him all from our show, from our podcast, all over the country. Theipyard, Inc.com. 409-788 pipe. 409-78 pipe. Talk to Ray, the pipe man, my good buddy. Did you know that most insurance companies will pay for a man to have testosterone replacement? If he's below 350? Isn't that interesting? You've probably heard that testosterone will, well, invigorate you. Your wife may enjoy that, or she may want to be left alone, but your wife may enjoy that. You may enjoy that. But there's so much more. Let me tell you, more energy, more strength, you feel better. Synergenics. Go get your blood tested. Whether you having a big party coming up, or you want to give a gift of a special drink, specs, wines, spirits, finer foods, cigars, Houston owned and operated, the most knowledgeable staff. in the industry. I go to the Midtown location, but there's one near you. Houston owned and operated, incredibly knowledgeable staff, and nobody has the selection. They do. If they don't have it, in most cases, they'll get it for you. Specks, wines, spirits, finer foods, cigars, and more.