National, Regional and Local News

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Re: National, Regional and Local News

#166

Post by mmmm8 »

shtexas wrote: Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:45 am Many thanks.

I realize that many have it worse. At least we got power in intervals. There are some melting snow to flush their toilets.
Just to add to Jazznu's tips, you can also "insulate" your windows if there is any draft coming in by putting towels at the bottom or even by using packing tape (there's weather-proofing tape as well but I think you can't really get to the store or get deliveries at the moment).

Fill your bathtub with hot water to keep the bathroom warmer and also just in case you might lose water.

Keep the stove on when you have electricity to raise the temperature (but not if you're asleep in case something glitches and a fire starts)


Looks like temperatures are going to get better by the weekend and you're looking to be back in the 70s next week!
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Re: National, Regional and Local News

#167

Post by JazzNU »

shtexas wrote: Thu Feb 18, 2021 1:45 am Many thanks.

I realize that many have it worse. At least we got power in intervals. There are some melting snow to flush their toilets.

Just because others have it worse, doesn't mean what you're having to go through is okay. One of the things about when we go through this up here, is there is an end in sight. Roads are being cleared. And most times, 24 hours in, there is a date for power restoration along with there being somewhere you can go - a family or friend's house in another area, a hotel, somewhere. With so little snow removal equipment and just not being equipped for the temps, it seems just terrible in Texas and Louisiana right now. Like, I was watching the Weather Channel and I saw what I think is a somewhat busy intersection and it was part of the blackout. That just rarely happens here even several hours into the ice/snow event, if there's an outage of length, a generator is running those lights by then.

I have family in Dallas, they are on what appears to have been a better rolling blackout rotation than you for most of the last 48 hours, a little more regimented. But her son, it's not nearly as clear a rotation like you. But another cousin in Austin just has nothing, not rolling, and had to get to his son's house when it was clear nothing was coming back on and he has no idea when it will be back on as of last night. Seems like a real mixed bag down there. But my family down there has the advantage of being from somewhere up here north, so snow and cold weather isn't foreign to them. One cousin in Dallas moved just in the last 2 years and is really happy she didn't toss all her snow equipment and winter clothes.

Feel free to complain. I totally get it. Power outages suck, but they are just so much worse in cold weather. Hope you're staying warm.
Last edited by JazzNU on Thu Feb 18, 2021 6:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: National, Regional and Local News

#168

Post by shtexas »

We haven't had any more shut-offs. Warm now. I got a knock at the door because one of the duplexes across the street had a broken water pipe. This guy was actually going up and down the neighborhoods with his water key to turn off any residences with water gushing. No one was home over there and he wanted to let someone know he had to shut it off to prevent further damage.

There are a lot of helpful people like that. When we had that tornado on 2019, a giant tree (from that same duplex) fell across the road, blocking it. Suddenly, two trucks pull up and out comes their equipment to cut it up and clear the road. There are people who actually live for that stuff and I am thankful for them.

On another note, I am thankful for politicians like Beto, who set up a system of volunteers to call senior citizens and provide them rides to warming centers and a hot meal if needed. CancunCruz could learn from him there is always something you can do.
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Re: National, Regional and Local News

#169

Post by ti-amie »

In a better world Cruz flying off to Cancun would end his career. The Repubs have gerrymandered so viciously that even if someone like Beto wins the popular vote Cruz could conceivably win.
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Re: National, Regional and Local News

#170

Post by JazzNU »

Awesome! So glad you're warm now. I hope there are no more issues.


Your terrible politicians need to answer for all this when it's over. Rafael leaving for a damn Mexican vaca in the middle of all this is just beyond.
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Re: National, Regional and Local News

#171

Post by ti-amie »

He's blaming his daughters!



Image

Let's see his round trip ticket. Congratulations to the travelers who scooped all of the major news organizations.
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Re: National, Regional and Local News

#172

Post by ti-amie »

“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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Re: National, Regional and Local News

#173

Post by shtexas »

You can't make this stuff up.
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Re: National, Regional and Local News

#174

Post by ti-amie »

Whataboutism at its finest.

Sen. Ted Cruz confirms he flew to Mexico as Texas grapples with power outages caused by severe weather

By
Felicia Sonmez,
John Wagner and
William Wan
Feb. 18, 2021 at 1:34 p.m. EST

Sen. Ted Cruz confirmed Thursday that he traveled to Cancun, Mexico, as millions of Texas residents were without power amid blackouts from the freezing weather.

In a statement, the Texas Republican said he flew with his daughters Wednesday and would be returning Thursday amid an uproar and calls to resign over the family trip.

“With school canceled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon,” Cruz said.

Photos that rapidly circulated on social media overnight showed a man who could be the senator at an airport and on an airplane. In some photos, a gray face mask was visible that appeared to be similar to one that Cruz was wearing at President Biden’s inauguration.

According to the social media postings, Cruz appeared to be in the Houston airport, preparing to board a United Airlines flight from Houston to Fort Lauderdale with continuing service to Cancun.

In Texas, more than 3 million customers were still in the dark Wednesday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide. As of Thursday morning, that figure was about 500,000.

The Texas Democratic Party called on Cruz to resign over the incident. In a statement, party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said Cruz “is proving to be an enemy to our state by abandoning us in our greatest time of need.”

“Ted Cruz jetting off to Mexico while Texans remain dying in the cold isn’t surprising but it is deeply disturbing and disappointing,” Hinojosa said. “Cruz is emblematic of what the Texas Republican Party and its leaders have become: weak, corrupt, inept, and self-serving politicians who don’t give a damn about the people they were elected to represent. They were elected by the people but have no interest or intent of doing their jobs.”

A Democratic super PAC, American Bridge, also called for Cruz’s resignation.

“Senator Cruz should do his constituents a favor and stay on the beach instead of getting paid by taxpayers to do a job he clearly has no interest in doing,” the group’s president, Bradley Beychok, said in a statement.

Cruz was first elected to the Senate in 2012, narrowly beat former congressman Beto O’Rourke (D) to win reelection in 2018 and is widely considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate. He ran unsuccessfully for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016 and, after being among Donald Trump’s sharpest critics during the primaries, went on to become one of his staunchest defenders in Congress, helping to spearhead efforts to challenge Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.

While outrage at Cruz was mounting online, his former opponent, O’Rourke, highlighted his own efforts to assist Texans during the crisis.

“We made over 151,000 calls to senior citizens in Texas tonight,” O’Rourke said in a Wednesday night tweet. “One of our [volunteers] talked to a man stranded at home w/out power in Killeen, hadn’t eaten in 2 days, got him a ride to a warming center and a hot meal. Help us reach more people, join us tomorrow.”

In an interview Monday with San Antonio-based radio host Joe “Pags” Pagliarulo, Cruz said he was fortunate not to have lost power at his Houston home. He urged his fellow Texans to stay home because of the danger posed by the storms.

“This storm is dangerous, and there’s a second storm expected to hit this week, which will make things even worse,” he said. “So if you can stay home, don’t go out on the roads. Don’t risk the ice.”

Cruz added that he had spoken over the weekend with a meteorologist who said the combination of storms could lead up to 100 people in the state losing their lives this week alone.


“So don’t risk it,” Cruz said. “Keep your family safe, and just stay home and hug your kids.”

Cruz has also previously criticized Austin Mayor Steve Adler (D), who in November hosted a wedding and then traveled to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, as coronavirus cases surged across Texas.

“Hypocrites. Complete and utter hypocrites,” Cruz said in a December tweet, referring to Adler and other Democrats who had flouted guidelines on travel and large group gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rates the risk of covid-19 in Mexico at level 4 — the agency’s highest level of warning — and says on its website: “Travelers should avoid all travel to Mexico.”

If people must travel for work or family reasons, CDC officials say passengers to Mexico should get tested one to three days before and wear a mask at all times during their trip.

New rules put in place by the Biden administration require all passengers on planes returning to the United States to have a negative coronavirus test result before boarding their flight.

According to CDC guidelines, once Cruz returns, he should stay home for seven days to quarantine, and get tested three to five days after traveling. If he chooses not to get tested, he should stay in quarantine for 10 days to avoid possibly infecting others.


Cruz is just the latest in a series of public officials apparently caught breaking rules and vacationing in ways they shouldn’t during the pandemic.

During Thanksgiving, Deborah Birx, coronavirus response coordinator for the Trump White House, told Americans to “be vigilant” and pleaded with them to limit celebrations to “your immediate household.” But the day after Thanksgiving, Birx traveled to a vacation home in Delaware along with three generations of her family from two households, the Associated Press reported.

That same week, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock (D) tweeted out advisories asking constituents to “stay home as much as you can,” “avoid travel” and “host virtual gatherings instead of in-person dinners.” Half an hour later, Hancock got on a plane to visit family in Mississippi.

“It was unwise, it was hypocritical, it was a mistake that I deeply regret and deeply apologize for,” Hancock told local news outlets.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpos ... story.html
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Re: National, Regional and Local News

#175

Post by JazzNU »

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Re: National, Regional and Local News

#176

Post by Suliso »

Completely unconnected to this asshole, but I was just wondering if a former president (let's say Obama) goes for a vacation abroad (let's say to Mexico) is he able to take his secret service protection with him or those perks end at the border and he has to arrange any assistance if desired privately? Any of you know?
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Re: National, Regional and Local News

#177

Post by ponchi101 »

It varies depending on the person. Obama can't go anywhere without a Secret Service detail. Cruz most likely can go abroad without one.
The Secret Service decides on an individual case. It is also based on info from intelligence offices gauging how much of a risk the person is.
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Re: National, Regional and Local News

#178

Post by ti-amie »

Here's our hero on his way back to Texas... /s

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Re: National, Regional and Local News

#179

Post by JazzNU »

Former presidents take Secret Service detail everywhere, including when they travel abroad.

Cruz is not a Secret Service protectee.
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Re: National, Regional and Local News

#180

Post by Suliso »

JazzNU wrote: Thu Feb 18, 2021 7:15 pm Former presidents take Secret Service detail everywhere, including when they travel abroad.
I thought so although I guess it would require a permission from the receiving country. I think it's also possible to specifically refuse this protection, Jimmy Carter didn't use it anywhere the last 20 years or so.
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