Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLETTER FROM TEXAS 'Look What You Did to Us': The Big Chill of Texas Politics
After the devastating freeze, Texans in blue cities blame the state GOP leaders for leaving them in the cold.
By RICHARD PARKER
02/26/2021 02:48 PM EST
Richard Parker is the author of Lone Star Nation: How Texas Will Transform America.
-snip-
As President Joe Biden landed in Houston Friday, temperatures had returned to a balmier 76 degrees or so, but the merciless arctic freeze that crippled the state, knocking out power to as many as 4 million people for several days, has left a trail of damage that will take weeks, if not months, to repair. Economists estimate the total damage of winter storm Uri will exceed $100 billion, placing it on the scale of Hurricanes Harvey and Ike, the second and third most costly in recent U.S. history. The death toll, now hovering around 30 in Texas (80 across all the states hit), seems likely to more than triple to Harvey and Ike levels, too. About 1 million people in South Texas are hungry.
The hardest breach to repair, however, might be between Texans and their elected officials. Over the course of the cascading humanitarian crisis high-ranking Texas politicians didnt exactly cover themselves in glory.
First, Austin falsely blamed renewable energy, even assailing a policy proposal that hadnt even become law yet. One GOP member of Congress sent a letter to constituents with a link to warming centers before closing with a warning that radical ideologies have politicized energy policy at the state and federal level in recent years. Then they went after the utility industry that was once the states pride.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has been anything but reliable over the past 48 hours, said Gov. Greg Abbott, rebuking the independent entity that controls power generation across almost the entire state. Officials managed to skip past their pledge from a decade ago, after the last catastrophic freeze, to winterize their power plants. Then, instead of chipping in, as former Rep. Beto ORourke did, several of the states most prominent Republican elected officials headed out for warmer locales, or at least ones where the power was still on.
And the public, trapped in their flooded, frozen, barren-fridge misery, noticed.
-snip-
full article
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/26/look-what-you-did-to-us-471607
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 744 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (14)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
LETTER FROM TEXAS 'Look What You Did to Us': The Big Chill of Texas Politics (Original Post)
DonViejo
Feb 2021
OP
Thanks to media propaganda there are no long term consequences for the mismanagement
Dustlawyer
Feb 2021
#1
Dustlawyer
(10,493 posts)1. Thanks to media propaganda there are no long term consequences for the mismanagement
and lies these politicians are spreading. In the Cronkite era Americans would have been told the actual facts, no alternate reality BS would tolerated. There never would have been Q movement and Trump would not have become President.
We need to fix this media failure or we are all doomed.
Stuart G
(38,359 posts)2. K and R for all to see...Thank You for Posting This Article..