Tornados east of Houston decimated towns, hundreds-ft. tall trees littered along roads like toothpicks

April 17th, 2019 Bethany Blankley

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The National Weather Service in Shreveport conducted in depth investigations throughout the day on Sunday while they surveyed the damage from two tornadoes that decimated areas in four Texas counties: Houston, Cherokee, Rusk, and Nacogdoches.

The path of one tornado that crossed a roadway Saturday afternoon in Alto in Cherokee County:

Photo courtesy of Texas Game Wardens

The first tornado touched down just southwest of Alto and was rated an EF-2 with top winds at 120 mph. It was on the ground for two minutes, traveled less than a mile, and was over 400 yards wide. This tornado killed two boys in the backseat of a moving car.

The second tornado was rated an EF-3 with top winds estimated at 160 mph. This was a long track tornado that touched down southwest of Alto and stayed on the ground for over 40 minutes and covered nearly 30 miles. It was 880 yards wide. This tornado killed one person.

Before and after pictures of a home in Alto TX that was destroyed by the tornado this weekend. pic.twitter.com/WThKR3yNhE

— Erin Allbright (@ErinAllbright1) April 14, 2019

Lives forever changed. 💔 #Alto #tornado damage! 📸: Emma Whittington #txwx #etxwx pic.twitter.com/0Ow91IeaK9

— Alberto Romero (@ARomero_WX) April 14, 2019

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He said it on his first Inauguration Day. He said what this long fight is about. He said who it's about. He's pointing at it in that picture. On Monday I wrote a quick little piece that surprisingly caught the attention of at least one significant political voice in Louisiana. Surprising because really the only reason I put it out was to show just one example of Trump's decade-long insistence on doing things by the book. Basically, the article showed that the guts of "DOGE" were already in place because of an Obama era decree. Here is the actual Executive Order from Trump, dated January 20, 2025. And here is the relevant section of a very short document:

So anyone claiming "conspiracy theory!" on this, there you have it. In Trump's own words. In an official Executive Order. He even kept the initials. Now where the conspiracy theories do indeed come in is where people in the X comments start surmising the reasoning behind it all. One example is that Obama has been a white hat the whole time, seized by the good guys sometime during his second term and forced to implement certain seeming-destructive measures so that the contrast could be set for Trump and the American people's witness of it all. Sort of like the Hegelian Dialectic I've explored so often. Someone (I think) even interpreted the article as me tying Trump to Obama in a nefarious way. I don't personally believe that there is enough information or pattern recognition to claim either of these--particularly the first, that Obama was always a good guy. I think it is more likely that these measures were put in place, just as they had been by every uniparty government official over the years, as small, silent stepping stones to the whatever it was Hillary Clinton was going to lead us to. It is a good guess that we got a glimpse of that planned totalitarian control in the COVID/vaccine psyop that has actually become a boon to every single American willing to see it. --To see how it is they get us. How they've always gotten us. He posted this yesterday. Judging by his pattern and style, not to mention his masterful and hilarious troll game, I'd guess he's inviting people to do a little digging on George HW Bush, which is interesting timing alongside this JFK assassination thing with Rep Luna. Do you remember when he said the most important things he conveys are in the ramblings, the randoms, the "weaves," as he called them?

Of course I could be wrong on some or all of this today. The fog of war is thick, and no one knows everything. It is why I frequently entreat my readers to follow narrative patterns and how those patterns are being disseminated to the public and how they are impacting the American response. I don't even trust Trump 100%. I certainly do not trust in full the two-dimensional pixelations on the screen someone I don't even know is telling me is important--and that applies to both negative and positive messaging. Cull the messaging from the messengers; avoid lionizing said messengers just because Trump chose them. Because as we should be noticing by now, he often chooses people not because they are worthy or good, but because such a spotlight is the best method of exposure. What does the Art of War say? Never interrupt your enemy when he is hanging himself. Well, it seems to me sometimes Trump simply gives them that little nudge toward the gallows. We should have learned this with many a Republican along the way--they will draft onto Trump's coattails as long as it benefits them. But notice what happened with a lot of them in 2020. This is one reason why I wrote the article on Rep Anna Paulina Luna and the all-important task force last week and then followed it up with a Facebook post today. Check it out:

This all may be on the up and up, sure, and we just have to wait weeks or months to see anything materialize while we forget it all yet again. Or, this all may be about the type of organic exposure to the American people that DOGE is doing more directly. Two cousins of the same info dissemination op to the American people. We already know that Linda McMahon was chosen to be Secretary of Education for the precise reason of putting herself out of a job. We already know that the life expectancy of DOGE is 18 months. And we can find a delicious plot twist in the fact that one Joni Ernst is the head of the DOGE committee in Congress:

Read the comments. Without getting too far afield, but I have to mention it, this ties in to the Ukraine-Russia story I've been covering since 2022, a story some people still cannot wrap their head around because it is forcing them to juxtapose the dirt being exposed on Ukraine with the new alliances being formed between Trump and Russia. And since cognitive dissonance is so strong, some people bypass the mental pain of change and simply stick to their old (false) narratives by completely denying, repressing, or rejecting one half of the juxtaposition. I've seen it first hand in social media comments. And these are not from "woke leftists" either. They're from beloved conservatives who have been lied to and hoodwinked just like the rest of us. The caveat is real: Do not trust in full what those screens present. Do not trust in full anyone in Congress or the courts. Do not trust in full the DC hero team assembled by Trump. Do not trust in full Donald Trump. Do not trust in full even me, especially when I take a more direct, opinionated analysis on something. I have steered away from that approach for a long time now because none of us knows it all. What we can know is a little self-training on perception and a higher altitude of thinking. I invite you to a similar mindset, at least occasionally to hold yourself in check, that embraces skepticism, strategic theorizing, and a distrust of conventional narratives--even those posed beyond the left and by what has evolved into the trusted alt-right media. At the same time, I recognize that we need different styles of political writing because there are well-meaning citizens working on different levels of this information war. And yet still, the truth is the truth is the truth. And some trusted conservative voices are likely leading us astray on certain issues while earning our trust by agreeing with us so passionately on the low-hanging fruit involving gender insanity. I know, when you have to hear said insanity for so long from the Rachel Maddows of the world, it feels good to finally hear an intelligent, famous voice confirming your values. But don't you know that can be part of the trick as well when it comes to much, much more important issues? The devil is in the detail. And the devil is much smarter than you and me. And so, in my final take today, amidst this fog of war, with the knowledge at my disposal right now, and having observed his style in earnest for eight (maybe just five, eh...) years now, it is my still-developing belief that Trump purposely endorses candidates and makes appointments based on reasons beyond the simple binary. I don't think he always bases it on good and bad; I think he bases it on us--on what will best expose the truth to us. I believe it wise if we recognized his planned dismantling of so many federal agencies as a tell that maybe he is using disposable characters to perform the destructions. And if they are disposable, what might that say about them? What might that say about Trump's reasons for putting them in the spotlight? What might that say about our new hero Elon Musk, the one I have admittedly and frequently praised because of the information battlefield he opened up in his purchase of Twitter? Whatever happened to Vivek Ramaswamy? What about former superhero Dan Crenshaw? The fog of war is thick. No one knows it all. It is a good posture to enjoy the winning, yes, but also to keep a close eye on the very real possibility of tomorrow's defeat. It is the safest route to avoid celebrity idolatry, whether that be in Hollywood or in DC, and instead turn ourselves and our families more in earnest to God.

May everyone named directly or referenced indirectly ask forgiveness and do penance for their sins against America and God. I fight this information war in the spirit of justice and love for the innocent, but I have been reminded of the need for mercy and prayers for our enemies. I am a sinner in need of redemption as well after all, for my sins are many. In the words of Jesus Christ himself, Lord forgive us all, for we know not what we do.

Jeff LeJeune is the author of several books, writer for RVIVR and The Hayride, editor, master of English and avid historian, teacher and tutor, podcaster, and creator of LeJeune Said. Visit his website at jefflejeune.com, where you can find a conglomerate of content.