IN THE HEART OF TEXAS TO BOOT

eh... for all we know this was a planned vacation. And there isn't much Ted can do, but wait for the sun to come back... which it will tomorrow.

Stu is right, this situation could have been mitigated if we'd forced the power companies to prepare for the worst... but as with many things... we didn't.
Delivery lines for fuel froze up, and apparently even the actual generators weren't winterized to withstand sustained sub-freezing weather.
The failure of the green sources was from the same cause. Although after 19 BILLION dollars of subsidies you'd think they would have plenty to be ready. As it is they only make up 9% of our available power.

Compounding our issues are 4 million new residents in the last 10 years, and most new homes use electric heat (gotta be green!).

Also... it's hard to expect our power companies to expand capacity with conventional sources, since they will be outlawed before the new facilities would pay back the investment.
Forcing the energy providers to be "green" will cause many more events like this in the future.
I can't wait to see how folks react when they get rolling brown-outs like California when it's 110 degrees.

Terry... do you have pipes in the attic like my ex in-laws did? I thought that was crazy, but apparently it was common in Houston back in the day.
Good luck!

Its up to 24 here! WOOHOO like spring breeze!

 

Yup pipes in Attic...home was built in 1982.

 

It's a bad look when leaders, like Senator Cruz, bug out for better climates in a disaster, I get it that he wasn't going to be able to make power come back on and he wasn't going to help with busting pipes and all sorts of things but it is still a bad look and he'll get much well deserved criticism.

 

So the photo was probably taken by another Texan also heading to Mexico. If I'm Cruz's spin doctor I claim that he was doing the best to reduce power consumption by relocating.

 

Truthfully if I could have gotten on a plane and gone to visit my sister for a week in Vero where it's 70+ degree's I'd have done it. But that wasn't an option for me and I'm also not a politician. He did nothing illegal or immoral it was however poor judgement.

From an opinion on CNN.

In politics, there are a few unwritten rules that every good politician adheres to. Don't compare any situation to Nazi Germany. Don't get out of step with your party base. And perhaps most importantly, when things go sideways for your constituents, don't go on vacation.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz broke that rule this week when he and his family were spotted hopping on a plane to the resort town of Cancun, Mexico, amid a devastating winter storm and subsequent power grid failure in his home state that has left millions in dire straits.
"I can't believe I have to say this, but: if you're an American pol whose state is enduring a crisis of Katrina-like proportions and instead of going to help your constituents in even a basic, performative sort of way you FLY TO ANOTHER COUNTRY'S BEACH TOWN, you're doing it wrong," tweeted Sonny Bunch, a conservative commentator living in Texas.

That is, of course, exactly right.

 

Cruz is self-serving in many ways.... and his actions and words usually prove it.

 

Ted Cruz has been a tireless advocate for the people of his state IMO and I accept his explanation for his less than 24 hour trip.

 

I'm a Cruz fan but this was ill advised.

 

Certainly bad optics.

 

And the optics are that ABC spent almost 4 times as much time on the Cruz story than on the Cuomo one. Of course then next stage of the media's deceit will be praising Cuomo for his contribution to keeping the Social Security system solvent.

 

2 different issues.

Cuomo was the lead story on the Fox website, I haven't watched their cable show. CNN has been all over Cruz.

1) is the media treatment of Republicans vs Democrats.

2) Cruz shouldn't have gone and is paying the price from a PR standpoint. The media used to get on Ronald Regan when he went to the Western Whitehouse, they got on George Bush when he went to the ranch at Crawford. They never cared that that Obama played more golf than Trump or that Clinton stayed on Martha's Vineyard at the home of wealthy donors.

No doubt what Cuomo did was terrible, probably illegal and it involved more than just him. If it were a Republican there would be calls for his impeachment, jail, etc. But that's the media climate we are in these days.

 

Cruz is one of the biggest "Stop the Steal" lie perpetrators in the Senate..... so he invites media criticism from any media other than far extreme right.

 

Whoa, Terry. I come to this board only to read what's posted with no desire to engage. However, IMO there are times when it's appropriate to call attention to factual information for the sole purpose of setting the record straight. Your comment below jumped up and bit me on the nose:

I knew instinctively that wasn't the case, but I couldn't cite actual numbers, so I searched for factual information and found an article in the Insider, which contains the following information as of the July 12, 2020, date of the article:

You're welcome.

 

I never paid too much attention to the amount golf a President played, preferring to watch how hard and effectively he worked when not playing golf. Trump was the hardest working President I have ever seen and no one comes close. And Golf Digest ranks him a solid #1 in golf as well, passing long time pole setter JFK. Their top five Presidential golfers were Trump, JFK, Eisenhower, Ford and FDR ( until polio got him at age 39 ). I think what made Obama's golf seem egregious to some that it appeared that when he wasn't golfing, he was on extended Vacays at one 5* resort or home or another or was hosting Hollywood parties in the White House. I never heard Obama and hard work used in the same sentence.

 

Besides Trump owned golf courses.

 

I don't really care if a President goes to his ranch, or other home that he might declare the Western White House like Regan, or the Texas White House like Bush's Crawford Ranch and chops wood, clears brush or rides his 10 speed, or in Clinton and Obama's case play golf or jog to a MacDonalds for a burger. Those guys are on duty 24/7/365 and while in office they get paid beans for the responsibility, time, etc that they do...no CEO in America would work for the money the President makes. Now the media cares and depending on their view being liberal or conservative are either outraged or it's no big deal.

 

Hear that Dave?....Perfect job opportunity for ya.

 

When Bush was at the Crawford ranch he often was hosting foreign leaders much like Trump did at his Mara Lago. The ranch had the communications setup necessary to keep a president in touch. Like many of the media who dumped on him, he was working from home. That was not the case with the president who was at 5 star resorts. Additionally Obama would spend weeks vacationing in Hawaii . I read where the Bushes didn't leave for Texas until after Christmas so that their Secret Service personnel could spend the holiday with their families.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...6f20a2-1469-11eb-bc10-40b25382f1be_story.html

How Trump fused his business empire to the presidency

Trump’s Businesses Raked In $1.9 Billion Of Revenue During His First Three Years In Office

All the President's Profiting

Trump's properties have raked in more than $8 million from US taxpayers and the president's supporters since he took office