cfinn

[cfinn @cfinn12]

@AngryCitizenxx God does not hate you! There is a purpose to every soul. We are not promised the length of our life. What did your baby teach you while here? God loves the questions. And at some point you will hear the answer. 💞

[Desirée Townsend @Cheering4Change]

Senator Mitch McConnell has now been hospitalized for three weeks. The gravity of this situation cannot be overstated, especially given that his wife, Elaine Chao, appeared in China just days after his hospitalization to meet with high-ranking Chinese officials. The question now is about national security: if Senator McConnell has been unable to independently perform his duties, what safeguards exist to ensure classified intelligence briefings, defense appropriations information, or other sensitive congressional matters could not be accessed, discussed, or shared by individuals operating behind the scenes? And given the timing of Chao’s meeting with China’s vice president, what exactly was discussed?

[cfinn @cfinn12]

@NancyH_60 Squirrels and rabbits also!

[cfinn @cfinn12]

@NancyH_60 Fox, coyote, geese, heron, owl, ducks, hawks, lots of smaller birds...oh yes, and beaver right out my backyard. I have seen a bald eagle fly over too.

[cfinn @cfinn12]

@LUFC1992_v2 Thank YOU for sharing your trip experiences, excitement and curiosity for our beautiful country! Safe travels home! 😊

[cfinn @cfinn12]

@MZHemingway ...lit up like the Fourth of July 🎵🎶🎵

[cfinn @cfinn12]

@McAdooGordon Yes, we loved it. 🇺🇸 Pretty full theater this afternoon and applause at the end.

[cfinn @cfinn12]

@DaveEDanna Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸

[Keli Rabon @KeliRabon]

One year ago, around this time, I was speeding across Texas, fighting back tears and streaming live news coverage on my phone, trying to get to my sons at Camp La Junta in Hunt, TX.

There had been a massive amount of rain overnight, and I woke up to a text saying they were without power and cell service.

Little did I know that just hours earlier, 119 people in that small county (139 total) had lost their lives in an unfathomable flood.

My 7-year-old, Brock, fresh out of Kindergarten, had one full day at camp. My 9 yr old, Braeden, was in a different cabin. Around 3 AM, Brock woke up on a soaked mattress. The Guadalupe River had already risen nearly level with his bottom bunk. His teenage counselors lifted the little boys to the top bunks.

Within minutes, that still wasn’t high enough.

In the pitch black, freezing water filled with debris, gasoline, branches, snakes—everything you can imagine—kept rising. The boys were moved higher, into the rafters and onto the tops of the shower stalls, just trying to stay ahead of the water.

Little did they know those bunk beds and vaulted ceilings would be a key reason they survived—while 27 girls at Camp Mystic, just minutes away, did not. They had followed orders to “shelter in place,” but the girls simply ran out of room.

Back at Camp La Junta, about 60 boys were trapped in a triplex of three cabins. The oldest counselor was maybe 18. There was no prior camp safety training, barely any cell service, and no clear plan. Their 911 calls were answered occasionally, but help wasn’t coming.

By then, the whole area was overwhelmed, and Kerr County was wholly unprepared. Some 911 calls weren’t just being routed to other counties - they were even forwarded to the local library. At 4 AM on July 4th, no one was there. It was kids saving kids.

The cabins started breaking apart. Windows, doors, and even a wall crumbled as the water ripped through. One teenage counselor couldn’t handle the terrified screams of the little boys anymore and took his chances in the flood. He survived—but it was a choice no kid should ever have to make.

A small cabin with young staffers inside tore off its foundation and slammed into the triplex where Brock was, like a bowling ball hitting the bumpers, before miraculously being stopped by a tree.

Their security guard, brand new to the job, had taken refuge in the Dining Hall. As the building fell apart, she was pulled into the river. She grabbed a Gatorade cooler and held on for dear life, colliding with vehicles and barbed wire as the thick, freezing water tore off her clothes and broke her finger in a surreal, incomprehensible ride downstream. When she finally managed to grab onto a tree more than a mile away, she stumbled through the dark and the storm until she found a home. Nearly naked, she rang the doorbell of a stranger who took her in.

The worst of the terror lasted only a couple of hours. The nightmares have lasted much longer.

Now, my sons fear the sound of heavy rain. They instinctively scan rooms for higher ground or emergency exits. And that’s just their piece of the trauma. So many others lost lives, homes, their entire sense of safety.

As a family, the boys & I will never forget the July 4th Floods. We’ve advocated for help and change - not just because of what my kids went through, but because of what that entire community endured: a natural disaster full of manmade failures.

I hope you will never forget either.

[cfinn @cfinn12]

@nickitruesdell @AngelStudiosInc We really enjoyed it!

[cfinn @cfinn12]

@BethNetherland @carolmswain Yes, applause at the end when we watched too. ❤️

[cfinn @cfinn12]

@TrimpeChristine Yes, I have been making this distinction for awhile now. My group text to family said it this morning and yep, most responded with Happy 4th! 🤦

[cfinn @cfinn12]

@DaveEDanna My theory is this is to eventually replace social security and/or education loans. Historic either way!

[cfinn @cfinn12]

@annbauerwriter Oh my list for this year. Im reading The Count of Monte Cristo now.

[Rapid Response 47 @RapidResponse47]

.@VP: "You will hear a couple small but loud voices today speak obsessively not of our national greatness, but of our national imperfections... They will tell you that America is just another country where the weak struggle against the strong, and if they acknowledge that there is anything to be proud of in our history, they’ll say it’s the fact that sometimes the powerless have won a zero-sum battle. They’re wrong..."

"What I’d ask you to do, my fellow Americans, on our 250th birthday, is to reject the two dimensional view of your fellow citizens, and reject the two dimensional view of your country. Reject that America is a place for zero-sum thinking, because it is not. Our history is one of people carving a great civilization out of the wilderness. Reject the view of your nation that sees only its sins, but not its grace and its greatness." 🇺🇸

[cfinn @cfinn12]

@k_ovfefe2 We watched it this morning then listened to VP speak in NY. Both well done.

[cfinn @cfinn12]

@tarafaul503 Toby Keith

[Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 @TulsiGabbard]

250 years ago our founders enshrined the fundamental truth that “all men are created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among those, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as the bedrock of our nation. It's up to us to uphold our God-given freedoms, and to stand firm against those who seek to undermine them. Have a safe and happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸