These pens are full.
Winter storm disaster declared, but climate for price gouging - and power outages - fails to materialize https://t.co/bPXzIVCX5n #TexasFreeze #TexasWeather #TXLege #Txwx
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) February 4, 2022
Takeaways after the storm:
— Doug Lewin (@douglewinenergy) February 4, 2022
1) Texas got lucky. The weather wasn't that bad, more like '14 or '18 than Feb '21 or '11 so demand stayed below projections
2) Even so, gas output dropped
3) Renewables significantly overperformed
4) Thermal power plant outages were low
1/𧡠#txlege
Yes, there were outages, but it was mostly of the icy wire and wind variety. Austin got the cobblestone frozen streets and is boiling water until tomorrow night; there were some mad truckers on I-10 in the Hill Country, but none of those things are going to tip Governor Helen Wheels' chair. Thus Beto's message shifted to ... PTSD.
O'Rourke starts his "Keeping the Lights On" tour in El Paso. "We are so grateful that y'day was relatively mild compared to last Feb.," he says, "but there's a reason you are seeing record sales of power generators ... that so many people had a traumatic reaction" to the forecast
— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) February 4, 2022
There's a fresh talking point, but O'Rourke probably doesn't want to go there.
Wind power has unexpectedly come to the rescue in Texas as a winter storm taxes the state's power grid https://t.co/xC7xwNlUVR
— Bloomberg Green (@climate) February 4, 2022
In case you want to relive the 2021 freeze, '9-1-1: Lone Star' devotes four whole episodes to last year's grid collapse while ignoring all of the real-life drama. https://t.co/BSuifkFTgD
— Texas Monthly (@TexasMonthly) February 5, 2022
Tough break for Beto. He was met with derision at his rally last night in Denton County, and his supporters clashed with some counter-protestors.
I’d just like to personally thank Texas Republican House Representative @JaredLPatterson for sending out-of-town fascists to my community to terrorize and assault people, myself included. pic.twitter.com/4hl5COow2J
— Jessica Rae Luther Rummel (@Kali_Ma_TX) February 7, 2022
I suppose that will be my segue to the Tex-Cons behaving badly.
This is bizarre.
— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) February 4, 2022
Watch the entirety of the television story (including video of the funeral in question) and try to identify the part where Harris County Judge @LinaHidalgoTX is disrespectful or disruptive. Manufactured outrage, it seems https://t.co/NWsz03qEKR #Txlege
Texas butterfly sanctuary shutting after immigration-linked threats from Trump backers https://t.co/P2kojb2xoj pic.twitter.com/TMyJ454i6R
— CBS Sunday Morning π (@CBSSunday) February 3, 2022
NEW: A Texas parent is attempting to get a biography about Michelle Obama removed from Katy Independent School District’s libraries. The parent says the book makes “white girls” feel “ashamed,” shows the Republican Party as having “bad values,” and portrays Trump as a “bully.”
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) February 5, 2022
Trump changed who wields power in conservative politics, @axios says.
— Bob Garrett (@RobertTGarrett) February 4, 2022
The Kochs' Americans for Prosperity, led in TX by @gcollinstx, wants to be relevant. But @MQSullivan, @TexasScorecard seized on a #Dreamer flub to try to stop it, I wrote:https://t.co/RqOYdtZd6H
2/3 #txlege
Once again however, Texas Democrats couldn't leave the embarrassment to Team Red.
Just in the past election cycle, @RepSylviaGarcia//@LaCongresista received $14,000 in donations from healthcare corporations funding opposition to #MedicareForAll, including Pfizer Inc. (PhRMA). Call her office and let her know that you support #M4A: 202-225-1688 // 832-325-3150 https://t.co/MtGrkF2yFz
— Harris County Medicare for All Coalition (@HarrisCountyM4A) February 4, 2022
I met the incumbent in person today while HC Young Dems were deliberating about us. I asked him a question about I-45, but he wouldn’t respond. Then he sat as far as humanly possible away from me for the remaining 5 minutes. pic.twitter.com/DCcwTcJfyI
— Molly Cook for Texas Senate (@MollyforTexas) February 6, 2022
And for the record let's note that the corruption is often bipartisan.
From 2020 through 2021, Harris County commissioners relied on vendors for 79% of their contributions while simultaneously steering 93% of engineering, architecture, surveying and appraisal work to firms who contributed. https://t.co/Mti1PP5mX0 #HouNews
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) February 4, 2022
I take it that those bloggers who focus exclusively on Houston and Harris County won't be mentioning this story, so let me remind them -- and you, dear reader -- that El Franco Lee, RIP, died in office a few years ago with a million bucks in the bank, and the biggest complaint I read was how little he did to help Democrats down the ballot in all his years on commissioners' court.
Yeah. The corruption is also non-partisan, unless someone knows what this guy's politics are.
A university official at Texas State Univ used money for bone marrow registry to support his extramarital affair. @McGeeReports began asking questions, and then Texas State scrubbed the employee from the university website and otherwise clammed up.https://t.co/0UDuRhlfzg
— Rebekah Allen (@rebekahallen) February 2, 2022
One last political item.
Congresswoman @AOC will travel to San Antonio for a Feb. 12 rally with @GregCasar and @JCisnerosTX. https://t.co/Uo0XoYe0fq #TXLege #TX2022 #TX35 #TX28
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) February 5, 2022
None of these three people, as it turns out (scroll down), meets the definition of 'progressive'. But if the Congresswoman who leads the Squad is successful in adding a couple of new members, do you think they will finally be able to accomplish something? Beyond tweeting platitudes, I mean.
A couple of COVID updates, since I haven't posted anything in awhile.
According to NYTimes and other Covid trackers we’ve now hit 80,000 deaths in my state of Texas. The last 25,000 almost all those who refused vaccinations despite their availability, a devastating and totally unnecessary loss of human life
— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) February 4, 2022
“We’ve had kids with Covid and we’ve had staff with Covid. Nonstop. It is not getting better. I don’t think they’ll close no matter what.” https://t.co/DLxEgyddAq
— World Socialist Web Site (@WSWS_Updates) February 5, 2022
And the environmental updates. First: there was a consequence of the freeze in Texas City.
π₯Massive flaring event in Texas City due to power outage. Temperatures continue dropping and homes are left without heat as emissions rise. π₯#riskmanagementplan #texasfreeze2022 #EnvironmentalJustice #AbbottFailedTexas https://t.co/qfETRHHED5
— Fenceline Watch (@FencelineWatch) February 5, 2022
Gaps in tracking industrial pollution before, during and after a natural disaster *ahem*#TexasFreeze adversely impacts marginalized communities. https://t.co/S9Mj77oNa7 #TXLege #TexasFreeze2022 @TCEQ
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) February 5, 2022
We already knew that the TCEQ -- under sunset review -- isn't monitoring emissions before and after winter storms, hurricanes, and the like. This bureaucracy doesn't need reform; it needs to be abolished, reimagined, and reconstituted with actual environmentalists, not government toadies.
This is very likely an intentional release. And this "mitigation is largely achievable at low costs" is not true.
— Methane Hunter (@TXsharon) February 3, 2022
Most methane emissions are intentional and part of the design. Mitigation of other emissions will take constant maintenance and repair.
STOP Permits. https://t.co/0c9hRxcYI3
And the social justice news: to mark Black History Month, Retro Snacking is tweeting some newspaper articles from the past regarding Texas lynchings.
The Texas Ranger sent to quell the possible disturbance in Mansfield did not find it necessary to have the school remove the effigy of an African American hanging above the school’s entrance #txlege pic.twitter.com/1fEYaCy4N2
— Retro Snacking (@Retrosnacking) February 4, 2022
Powerful piece by @mollyhf on the racism and humiliation endured by Mexican Americans in Texas and across the Southwest.https://t.co/BlWZQMvDFz
— robert lopez (@LAJourno) February 3, 2022
DHS and Border Patrol are working together to eventually deploy Ghost Robotic's "dogs" on the border, in particular desert terrain.
— Jack Herrera (@jherrerx) February 2, 2022
Terminator dogs will supposedly act as a "force multiplier" for CBP in patrols and interdiction. https://t.co/rFp6ITp3Ak pic.twitter.com/ekgmb6Juih
Last, the calm-me-downs.
Snow in Austin, February 8, 1967. That was a Wednesday & the 29th day of the 60th Session.
— Texas Capitol History (@TXCapHistory) February 3, 2022
Ben Barnes was Speaker, Preston Smith was Lt. Governor, and John Connally was Governor.
According to the journal, Barnes appointed committees on Day 3 of session. #txlege pic.twitter.com/x7snYv4ZAH
TEXAS TV PIONEER: Former TV news anchor and LBJ-family insider Neal Spelce spins intriguing yarns in new memoir https://t.co/lHGjIzoE82 via @statesman
— Michael Barnes (@outandabout) February 6, 2022
Iconic River Oaks Theatre dramatically rescued by Houston cinema chain https://t.co/Jq2oiQ1pzd
— CultureMap Houston (@culturemap) February 2, 2022
The John Cornyn Houston Office Protest celebrated its fifth anniversary Tuesday https://t.co/GaLINnZSsg
— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) February 2, 2022
In 1841, the price for a one-way fare on the Tarbox & Brown stagecoach between Houston and Austin was 15 dollars and the journey took three days.
— Traces of Texas (@TracesofTexas) February 6, 2022
Shown here: stagecoach stopped at La Grange in 1865. pic.twitter.com/SYawTOHysQ
No comments:
Post a Comment