National, Regional and Local News

[patrick]

Abbott, Patrick and Cruz probably forgot that Biden delivered on sending help

[ponchi101]

What else is needed for these buffoons to get their butts sued into oblivion? What part of the definition of NEGLIGENCE have they not met?

[JazzNU]

The other fun thing with Cruz is that the area in and around Cancun is in a middle of a COVID surge.

The number of people vacationing in Mexico during the pandemic has been astounding. Doesn't seem to matter what stage things are at here or there, just trying to go on vacation apparently.

[JazzNU]

Someone posted a very long but informative thread about what is going on in Texas on the bird thingie. Long story short they don't believe in government.

The person that wrote the thread doesn't believe in government, or the leaders elected in Texas don't believe in government? I've seen the latter countless times in recent days. "Stop electing politicians to run your government, that don't believe in government" and various variations. Which is valid. I'm just confused about some of the problems they are having in light of being at least somewhat accustomed to hurricanes.

[ti-amie]

Someone posted a very long but informative thread about what is going on in Texas on the bird thingie. Long story short they don't believe in government.

The person that wrote the thread doesn't believe in government, or the leaders elected in Texas don't believe in government? I've seen the latter countless times in recent days. "Stop electing politicians to run your government, that don't believe in government" and various variations. Which is valid. I'm just confused about some of the problems they are having in light of being at least somewhat accustomed to hurricanes.

The so called leaders in Texas don't believe in government. I will post the thread because the person is really pissed off.

[ti-amie]

[ponchi101]

The debasing of gestures that once had real meaning.
Then again, he received that medal from Tiny so by now any gesture done by any government, state or local, is meaningless.

[ti-amie]

futtiguem@futtigue Feb 18
People defending Ted Cruz with (expletive) like "well what's he supposed to do, go out there with a wrench and fix the power himself??" make me want to (expletive) scream until I die.

These people have already accepted the idea that the government cannot and will NOT provide anything except boots and guns. That the state can't or shouldn't respond to a crisis in any way.

futtigue
@futtigue
· Feb 18
Replying to @StevenWillcox2 @SawyerHackett and 3 others
If your argument is that he should not be expected govern or organize a state response during a time when his state is in crisis, then I have to wonder, why does he collect a paycheque at all? What is his function?

So here's a fun story, about trains, Quebec, and the 1998 Ice Storm that (expletive) up power in a number of provinces and states. The point of telling this is not to gloat over Texas, or brag about our superior resistance to the cold. 98 was a tragedy. People died. But,

This should provide an example of what real political action can do - in a time post Katrina, and during Covid and this current storm, where it seems people like Ted Cruz are determined to do notjing but accumulate personal wealth at all costs.

They derailed a effing train. In Boucherville. They laid tracks down in the middle of the street and drove it a kilometer. Deisel electric locomotives are just big generators. They rigged it to provide emergency power to keep people warm and alive.




https://steemit.com/history/@kiligirl/r ... -home-town

This story is inspiring. I was 8 years old during this storm and was only without power for less than 18 hours. But next door in Quebec, some northern towns went a week+ without power, in the worst of winter. And political action in a crisis did this.

Political actors in Texas could do:

- use portable power generation capabilities of ntl guard to run warming centers, provide food

- use nuclear submarines
ground power connections to provide power to coastal areas

- repurpose graders and farm equipment for road clearing

Things they are doing instead

- (expletive)

- going on the news to cry about the green new deal (???)

- going on vacation

I want to be 100% clear here. I don't tell this story to shame Texans for not being ingenious or prepared. Canadians died in 98 too. We could have done more.

I'm recalling this story to show the solutions that the state CAN provide to crises, when they want to.

The key is, when they WANT to. Plenty of First Nations communities in Canada have been boiling their water for years, and it doesn't seem like the federal government here wants to fix it. Trudeau has no problem with the State building other pipelines - when they carry oil.

Anyways, if I said on here what I would like to see happen to Cruz, I probably wouldn't have a Twitter account for much longer.

It's depressing how we have resigned ourselves to the idea that our governments can't or shouldn't DO ANYTHING.

What happens when your Government is held accountable to actually DO something. Things in Texas don't need to be this way. Katrina didn't need to happen the way that it did. Half a million didn't need to die of Covid.

When the power lines were back up. They just drove the loco back up the street and re-railed it. Drove it away. Incredible. How many hospitalized people on dialysis, or requiring assisted breathing, were saved because they still had power that week? How many did this save.

In post-Soviet Russia, nuclear submarines were used TWICE to provide shore power for Siberian
towns. American SSBNs also have ship-to-shore connections. It wouldnt be simple, but what the (expletive) is the point of having a trillion dollar Navy if it cant do THIS (expletive) once in a while.

Want to be mad forever? Remember how quickly Blackwater and the National Guard were put to work to build open air prisons for "looters" during Katrina. But for 5 days at memorial hospital, people took shifts hand-ventillating patients 24/7, wondering where the helicopters were.

How quick, competent and efficient the American military and beauracracy can be during a crisis!... When they want to lock up minorities.

Also, in the early 00s, if I recall correctly there was serious discussion about using an American nuke sub to power a hospital in Guam after a tropical storm, but diesel gensets were flown in instead. Too bad Texas is landlocked. Oh, wait,

ok ok I'm taking a break

He posted more images of the train if you want to see more. Also, there a whole other rabbit hole thread he links to. Enjoy.

[JazzNU]

This is too true. And yeah, if you missed it, he requested a police escort from the airport, taking resources away from those in actual need.

[shtexas]

34 degrees feels like a heatwave. Just hoping the thaw doesn't reveal or cause pipe damage.

[shtexas]

What else is needed for these buffoons to get their butts sued into oblivion? What part of the definition of NEGLIGENCE have they not met?

It's criminal

[skatingfan]

[JazzNU]

That price gouging this extreme is allowed in Texas after a disaster is truly wild. Texas is getting mightily exposed this week on what deregulation really means after months of business leaders like Elon Musk complaining about regulation and saying Texas does it right.

[JazzNU]

Anyone seen or heard from Dubya in recent days? After having a decent 4 years because he wasn't as bad as the epic disaster we just got rid of in the WH, if covered correctly, people will start to remember again how awful he really was. He helped usher in this version of deregulation with Enron and Ken Lay.

[shtexas]

Lovely. I am not on auto pay and am on an averaging system that may help a little.

I went to the grocery today. Decently stocked, but no milk. Stopped by Braums for an ice cream cone and their delivery truck had just pulled up. So, I ate my ice cream in the car and went back in for it. Some people were so rude to the employees there. They treated them like inferiors. It was gross. I don't know how the employees remained courteous. It takes a while to unload, count your inventory and put it out. Anyway, those employees are my heroes today and I will stop by more often.