Well, I mean if Joe wouldn’t have won, then Trump & those people wouldn’t have had to get violent in order to steal the election from him.
— Jaja Dingdong ?????????????? (@iLOVEnewyork83) February 16, 2021
Of course, the Bozells may not believe in that ‘Darwin heresy’, but they do believe in ‘breeding’…
NEW: Brent Bozell’s son charged for actions during Capitol riot. Story w/ @PaulBlu: https://t.co/qZG9bzRjE3
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) February 16, 2021
The story of American conservatism in L. Brent Bozells
L. Brent Bozell, Sr – Anti-New Deal advertising exec
L. Brent Bozell, Jr. – Pro-lifer who loved Franco
L. Brent Bozell III – Tracked when TV was mean to conservatives
L. Brent Bozell IV – Q freak who stormed the Capitol— Aaron (@BobbyBigWheel) February 16, 2021
Why won't the media talk about how it's really the Democrats' fault that my boss' son was able to break into the Capitol so easily? pic.twitter.com/jlNhpdgkjj
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) February 16, 2021
We just wanna BREAK stuff! It’s all that we KNOW!
more than that, it becomes circular reasoning: their breaking the government proves their point that the government is broken https://t.co/Yh2kCYFUav
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) February 17, 2021
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
Am I first?
John Revolta
Segundo!
Ermagerd my segundo segundo! I am not worthy!
ColoradoGuy
Yup
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
I am first! Everyone must still be downstairs celebrating El Rushbo’s demise. Gotta save some bandwidth for mocking the Bozozells!
Baud
When did “first” become a thing again?
Redshift
I’d make some comment about people who sneer about “elitists” when their side is full of people named things like “L. Brent Bozell IV” and “Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III,” but we all know they just use it to mean “people uppity enough to dare to disagree with my aggressive ignorance.”
LurkerNoLonger
Sixth!Seventh!
Eta: 46% of Republicans can suck my ass. On second thought, imma round that up to 100%.
phdesmond
guessing i’m in the 8th-11th place?
sab
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: Yes, and also frist. This site does have traditions.
MisterForkbeard
This is completely off-topic, but I’m overjoyed. Limbaugh died, Trump Casino got asploded, and Nintendo announced they were re-releasing one of my more favorite Zelda games (with better controls) and adding Mario stuff to Animal Crossing. And a new Mario Golf game.
Fuck you 2020. 2/17/2021 is where it’s at.
Baud
@MisterForkbeard:
Listed in reverse order of importance.
sab
Don’t we all get renumbered when newbies and norm violaters get released from comment limbo?
Citizen Alan
What’s gonna be funny is the reaction of the 27% when the 46% start calling them Marxists and try to lynch them.
debbie
Well, the GQP never lacks for stupid.
VeniceRiley
I got in moderation downstairs for posting from my phone- But @Donk_Enby is going after the private security contractors in Myanmar.
Ken
Last Thursday, I think. BJ put its own spin on it, by making “Second!” the higher-status position.
laura
Been busy all day. Just checking in to confirm that that fucker is still dead.
M31
nah, it’s 18th that is preferred
planetjanet
@Baud: I think it was on the thread where we were remembering when we first came to Balloon Juice. Being first and writing Frist was a thing. We are just in a nostalgic mood.
Baud
@VeniceRiley:
What does that mean?
@Ken:
It is the higher number.
@laura:
No, I’m still alive.
evodevo
“The Republicans are the party that says big government doesn’t work, then they get elected and prove it.” – PJ O’Rourke
M31
@Baud: Donk Enby is the person who downloaded the Parler archives
sab
I mentionned this late in the morning open thread. I just got my first issue of Garden and Gun Magazine. As expected, my husband was horrified. His reaction alone was worth the first year’s subscription price.
No mention of guns anywhere. Lots of ads for southern tourism.
This months recipes are for wild boar, so not useful to me. Chicken and waffle also, but waffle irons scare me.
Lots of articles about black people. Who knew they lived in the South and are interested in southern food and culture? ///
I am looking forward to future issues.
satby
@Baud: I was gonna be first, but I decided to have ice cream instead. Priorities.
RSA
First!!1!
Has there been discussion of the now-former mayor of Colorado City, Texas? He told his constituents,
and
cmorenc
I cannot fathom by what twisted counter-factual theory 46% of Republicans are blaming Joe Biden for the Jan 6th insurrection – except the fact that he straight-up won the election. The Georgia results especially seem to be inflammatory to many Republicans – under the theory that the Ds somehow managed to cheat with a GOP governor, Secretary of State, and state house GOP majority – couldn’t possibly be that Trump was toxic to over half the Ga electorate.
James E Powell
@Baud:
I’m against it!
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
I don’t know, but I wish it would go away.
The Moar You Know
Just got the glorious news that my wife’s parents, lifelong registered Republicans (although they voted for Obama 08, Obama 12, Clinton 16, Biden 20, so matter of time, really) were so pissed about the coup that they finally went and reregistered as Democrats.
Her dad is ex-military and was a superstar in the fighter pilot world, and as it turns out he REALLY does not take overthrowing the government lightly.
Waiting for my dad (Obama 08, Romney 12, Clinton 16, Biden 20) to go next. He will. If you want to listen to him literally yell for a half hour, mention The Orange Traitor in earshot of him. I won’t talk about the traitor with him anymore as I worry about his blood pressure.
There won’t be a lot of these, but there will be some, and the GOP can’t afford many defections at this point.
satby
@RSA: I guess capitalism means never having to deliver goods and services contracted and paid for.
dmsilev
@RSA: And then afterwards claimed that people were taking his words out of context and wasn’t it mean of folks to attack him and so on and so forth.
Jeffro
per the Bozells: who knew they had a head start on their fellow
North KoreansGQP bubble-dwellers?I cannot imagine four. freaking. generations. of right-wing insanity without at least one rebel Bozell telling them to shove their Randian nightmare right up their collective asses. Where’s the Bozell’s ‘black sheep’? We need to hear from this person!
(ok no actually we don’t. but still)
Baud
@The Moar You Know:
Woohoo! More John Coles have entered the chat.
Splitting Image
@Redshift:
Remember when the Baroness de Rothschild was attacking Barack Obama for being “elitist”? Good times.
zhena gogolia
@The Moar You Know:
Congratulations.
dmsilev
@cmorenc: Texas Republicans are trying to blame their power grid woes on AOC and the Green New Deal, a sort of hypothetical pre-post-facto blame shifting.
sab
@sab: Pre non-stick surfaces. My mother did not know that corn oil is actually quite sticky, and should never be used in cooking where you want things to be lubricated.
So her waffle iron stuck, and watching her working with it I learned all sorts of swear words I didn’t know she knew and I learned years before I should have.
Arclite
I missed the Joe thread at the bottom, so I’ll say this:
It’s almost as if preparing your entire life for a job lets you execute it with extreme competence.
Goddamn, America is back, baby.
Baud
@dmsilev:
The electrons were so offended by the proposal, they went on strike!
debbie
@sab:
Should I respond to Weasel Portman with a loud FUCK OFF?
Jeffro
@evodevo: PJ in his prime (a narrow window of time, to be sure!) was pretty on top of things.
I still have a copy of “The Bachelor Home Companion” that he signed (way) back in the day, about a year before Mrs. Fro and I were married. If memory serves, it’s inscribed, “Dear Jeffro – kiss it all goodbye!” =)
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Ken: Now you tell me!
JoyceH
@RSA:
I’ve said it before, but will say it again – whenever a Republican government fails at a government function, the Republican opinionators immediately start arguing that the function isn’t something that government should be doing anyway. Saw it with Hurricane Katrina, and every GOP foul-up since. “Why should the federal government be involved in disaster relief? States should be doing that.”
MomSense
@RSA:
The Republican Party has been cruel, and stupid my entire life. Even if you could somehow strip away the T****ists, culture wars and white supremacists the economic policies and anti government ideology is immoral and fucking idiotic.
Chetan Murthy
@Baud: And when did “Frist” become a thing, too?
sab
@dmsilev: Interesting. Newby Congressperson AOC sabotaged Texas climate change adjustments from Staten Island when she was in high school? college? bartending?
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
Instead of shrieking “first,” just be first. Or is that too Melania? //
The Moar You Know
@sab: I did not renew but enjoyed the year’s subscription someone gifted me a few years back. My family’s from the South (thank God they had the sense to leave even if they didn’t really intend to make that permanent) and I like the food, and they had a fair number of good recipes. The “gun” part really seems limited to reviews of extremely expensive over/under skeet and duck shotguns, stories by wealthy codgers about “when I was a boy we spent all day in the marsh” kinds of pieces, and generic hunting tips.
sab
@Chetan Murthy: That was
weeksdays ago. Try to keep up.Baud
@debbie:
I don’t care if I’m first, do u?
craigie
@RSA: Is there a Texas City in Colorado? Just for symmetry?
billcoop4
@Redshift: So I’m a 4th. So stop that shit
burnspbesq
This bullshit in Texas has officially got real. I’m in danger of running out of chocolate.
dmsilev
(via LA Times)
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@cmorenc: There’s a non trivial portion of the base that blames Democrats no matter what. I remember seeing a poll in 2009 or 2010 in which a majority of Republicans said Hurricane Katrina was Obama’s fault.
Baud
@craigie:
And does it provide impeccable constituent services?
sab
@debbie: Only if you say I may join you. What a noxious piece of slime that man is.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Qayleigh McQanon learned about truth and wit from Uncle Rusty.
Which I guess explains this
Amir Khalid
@debbie:
Tucker Carlson is flailing helplessly, unable to think of actual bad things to say about the Bidens. Carlson deserves only Schadenfreude.
sab
@Amir Khalid: That is quite heartening. Hard to pretend you believe in faith and family values and then attack Biden.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
LOL. That’s endearing to decent people, you idiot.
Geoboy
@RSA: Enchante!
sab
I do think Major Biden is a bit of a jerk, by Biden standards. Any other family he would just be an annoying young dog.
debbie
@RSA:
It doesn’t occur to him that people ought to get what they pay for?!?
debbie
@sab:
Major is a distant second to Champ, I think.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I thought 2nd was the coveted position.
VeniceRiley
@Baud: Donk_Enby is the person that downloaded the vast amount of evidence and associated accounts and metadata from Parler before it went offline. Now she is after happenings in Myanmar.
TS (the original)
@debbie:
They are truly struggling to find something negative to complain about with the Biden administration – so personal attacks it has to be.
Baud
@TS (the original):
Biden unfortunately doesn’t have the decency to be black or female.
Splitting Image
Currently listening to Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. I watched the Trump Plaza get demolished this afternoon, then treated myself to lunch after I heard Rush Limbaugh died. So I thought to myself “How can I make this day even better?” and the answer was of course “Music!”
So here I am. I think if I still feel happy tomorrow about the fact that Rush Limbaugh is dead, I’ll bake a cake. If I don’t feel happy tomorrow about the fact that Rush Limbaugh is dead, I’ll see a doctor and find out what’s wrong.
AWOL
Was a girl’s basketball coach.
Hmmmm.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
It’s a brave new world.
LurkerNoLonger
@dmsilev: Texas is really showing its ass during this storm, and it’s not a pretty ass.
Immanentize
@Baud: when did “First” become a thing? When Satan decended to claim hell as his domain.
lamh36
Good evening BJ.
If you follow me on twitter or my FB, then you may already have seen more detailed accounts of my status here in Houston.
To keep it short, last I checked, my apt had no power and no water this AM. I may now have power, but I haven’t gone to my apt again to check. The advisory is to stay off the roads if you can. I was able to go and check on things, salvage some food for the hotel and fill few gallons of water from my faucets since I allowed them to drip since Sunday and they still had water flowing.
I have been at a hotel near my job since yesterday morning. Yesterday the hotel had power and water, today we still have power, but we do not have water. The city of Houston has millions of customers without water or with low water pressure and are under a boil water precautions.
My job (essential laboratory complex) had power the entire time and until today we had water, but we are quickly approaching less than 50% of our water reserve so we are getting in preparation for facility closing until water is restored and more sanitary conditions are met. The city and state says water could be back to full pressure by tomorrow, but as someone who went throught Katrina, I already know coulda, would, shoulda, isn’t a good strategy to use for survival.
So, to reiterate, I am safe and warm at local hotel, but I we do not have water, although I have more than enough drinking water and thanks to being able to get to my apt, I’ve got some water to be able to flush the toilet for at least the next 24hrs.
Even though I’m not posting alot, I am in contact with folks like Adam S. You can always get the FP to email me as well.
Final thoughts, I survived Katrina, stranded with no water and no power. So, I can survive this.
RSA
@dmsilev et al: It’s Republicanism in a nutshell. He dumps on the idea that we have a society in which people care about each other. The very next day he writes,
I’m thinking if he’s ever come across the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party meme, it hasn’t registered. I feel bad for stupid people, but I also respect the variation on the Golden Rule that would have them treated as they would treat others.
Baud
@lamh36:
Hope it’s over soon, Lamh.
lamh36
@lamh36: BTW…
they done took the name of the ERCOT execs off the company websites, not cause they resigned, but cause of death threats…
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d36d40fa00fea7cdffff095706d2a7fe24f709f17db7cd3b5ff51a2177ed005f.gif
Baud
@Immanentize:
Better to be frist in hell than to be second in heaven.
Roger Moore
@Redshift:
One of my favorite new sayings: No guy named “Trey” is a self-made man.
Immanentize
@lamh36: I am so glad you are safe and warm. When this ends, we will swap Houston tales.
Racer X
Patrick Skinner – where the fuck have you been these last 40 years??? Sheesh!
craigie
@RSA: I see he managed to blame socialism for people’s inability to make their own electricity. Because if there’s one thing you don’t want when you have a collective action problem, it’s any collective action.
Baud
Other MJS
Eighty-fifth!
Immanentize
@lamh36:
I don’t know what Cancel Culture even is. But I am super-pro Consequence Culture.
I bet they all have power.
Immanentize
@Baud: I never want to be Frist. Anywhere
MomSense
@lamh36:
Thank you so much for checking in.
sab
@lamh36: Thanks for posting. I have been worrying about you a lot.
Other MJS
@Immanentize:
That goes into my vocabulary.
schrodingers_cat
@The Moar You Know: Congrats ! Now I need to find a way to deModify my family, especially my mother.
Immanentize
I had to leave twitter because people were saying not to be mean to Rush. Which extended to don’t be factually negative about Rush. God these goobers, even never Trumpers, want their little beautiful Reagan world to remain unsullied.
trollhattan
@AWOL:
Wasn’t shouty li’l Brett Kanavaugh also a girl’s basketball coach?
schrodingers_cat
@lamh36: Thanks for the update and I hope your ordeal is over soon.
debbie
@lamh36:
So glad you’re okay!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@debbie: I would point out to the Senator, that there was a reason the Founders put in the additional possible punishment of not being able to hold an office of trust into the Constitution.
Jay
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2021/02/portland-police-guard-dumpster-face-off-with-residents-trying-to-get-discarded-food-from-fred-meyer.html?outputType=amp&__twitter_impression=true
sab
@debbie: My german shepherd died twelve years ago. I am too old to raise another (GSD puppies are super strong, with serious attitude issues, for at least two years) but I am so so jealous of the Bidens right now.
debbie
@lamh36:
You know this country has lost its way when the go-to response is a death threat. ?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@lamh36: Thanks for letting us know. That sounds stressful
Baud
@Immanentize:
Do what I suggested earlier and just post vile quotes from him? Are they going to find his own words in bad taste?
AWOL
@trollhattan: I’ll take your word. I was so disgusted by the media in 2015, I spent three years just reading and lurking on Democratic sites. It wouldn’t surprise me—that abuser would know where the abusees are subservient to his will.
Jay
MisterForkbeard
@The Moar You Know: You and I should hang out. I’m in exactly the same situation (wife’s folks are long-time republicans, her dad is/was a bigshot in the air force pilot scene), except they’ve sort of doubled down. >_<
Chief Oshkosh
@RSA: The guy is an actual godammned moron. Seriously, Colorado City, what the ever loving fuck were you thinking when you hired this guy? Were you high as fucking kites?
debbie
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Gotta love all the stuff he misses in his “careful reading” of the Constitution. //
Jay
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: He likes beer.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@lamh36: Good to hear you’re ok.
Ken
State-level GOP: “Why should the state blah blah, counties should do that.”
County-level GOP: “Why should the county blah blah, townships should do that.”
Township-level GOP: “Why should the township blah blah, individuals take responsibility for their own lives.”
It’s turtles all the way down.
JMG
@lamh36: Katrina and now this? Man, you are due for a lottery win or something.
I am happy to report that I spent the day not thinking about politics at all. Heard the Limbaugh news and shrugged, thinking of what my old newspaper editor once said: “When a prick dies, what you’ve got is a dead prick.”
Also made dinner. Roasted pork tenderloin on a bed of chunked up butternut squash, apples and onions tossed with olive oil and much sage. Put ’em in the baking dish with some chicken stock, then put the pork on top. Takes about 75 minutes. Easy one pot meal. Hard part is peeling the apples. Had an Alsatian pinot blanc with it. Yum yum yum. Hard to feel more than benevolent right now. I’m sure that’ll change by morning.
frosty
@Baud: First? When cain started bragging about being second a few weeks ago. AFAIC it hasn’t gotten to the irritating stage yet. But it could.
Immanentize
@Baud: Tom Nichols. He is all “let the dead rest” etc. Just cannot. My comment that obituaries of the dead are published immediately and his should include “misogynist, racist and Purposefully hateful” or some such should not be ignored. I sadly left out “homophobic violent” but I’m not going back.
Stalin was good with transportation!
Miss Bianca
@lamh36: thanks for checking in. Been wondering how you were doing down there.
PsiFighter37
OT – the apartment that had seemed attractive to us in Manhattan is off-market. Kind of relieved, as it means that we do not need to plunk down a huge chunk of change on a down payment. The rental market still looks pretty attractive as well, so taking it in stride.
Immanentize
@frosty: must be stamped out.
Jay
West of the Cascades
@Jay: How long until Republicans start whining that people should not “politicize” the suffering of people shivering in the cold darkness?
Jay
Baud
@Jay:
How fucked up do you have to be to let Arkansas make you look bad?
Jay
@West of the Cascades:
2 minutes after one of them starts to feel cold.
they only care about themselves.
zhena gogolia
@lamh36:
Oh, I hope things get better soon. We have relatives with no power and with burst pipes, etc.
Jay
brantl
@debbie: Yes, but be as wordy about it as you like.
Jeffro
@Jay: if trumpov was a B-movie mob boss, what’s DeSantis? a dinner theatre mob boss? A middle school lunch-money grabber?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@RSA:
Ah yes, Mr. “Only the strong will survive and the weak will perish”. Literal Nazis. And idiotic glib contrarians just love to go on and on about shit like “Red Scare 2: Nazi Boogaloo” and how the “left is calling everybody Nazis!!11”
trollhattan
Rick Perry, two-time Texas governor and Secretary of Fucking Energy:
So, Texans, what say you? How’s bidnez and what are the odds that Rick Perry isn’t presently somewhere nice and warm with lights, water, food, etc.?
Jeffro
@West of the Cascades: well, whenever we do “politicize” it (aka, tell the truth about it) it will be too soon.
And then a day or two later, it’s too late. much like the impeachment, right?
See also, school shootings, Flint MI’s water, etc.
Ken
Wanna bet he did some of that bragging on social media?
Jeffro
@trollhattan: that man’s so far into the Kool-Aid, someone needs to pull his head out of the bowl.
On second thought…never mind…
Lulz aside, is there ANYTHING that a majority of Americans would say “yup…that right there is FAR more important than me having electricity for the next 3 or 4 days”. (never mind the freezing cold)
Um, NO, there is not. Even the anti-abortion protestors and Q cosplayers would be like, “nah…gimme those electrons!”
Jay
@zhena gogolia:
so they didn’t crack the taps,
do they have a “warm room”?
Jay
@trollhattan:
Mr “D” grade in “Meat” as an Aggie.
Ken
@satby: @debbie: He’s gone so far, he doesn’t even believe in contract law and markets any more. Even the fringiest of libertarians think that enforcement of contracts is a legitimate function of government.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Ken:
This. Also too:
State-level GOP: The federal government should not be so involved in people’s lives. Local governments know what is best because they’re closer to the people.
Democratic Localities: *Does anything to try to help people*
State-level GOP: Not like that!
zhena gogolia
@Jay: The last we heard they might be moving into a rental property of a relative. But we haven’t heard anything today. Obviously internet/phone isn’t in abundance. They have an extended family in the area so I think they’re probably okay. But it’s worrying.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@trollhattan:
As somebody mentioned before down stairs, what’s scary about Perry is that he was one of the least destructive members of Trump’s cabinet
Also, IIRC, Perry when he campaigned for the R Presidential nomination, he advocated for eliminating the DOE, right? And yet he accepted Trump’s nomination to head that department
trollhattan
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Does anybody know if Perry has told Texans to wait for the Texas Covid Vaccine® before getting innocculated?
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
He had the good fortune to be an imbecile in a hive of morons.
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
@sab: It’s like Martha Stewart Living for people who can grow camellias and love hound dogs. I don’t know if they still have the recipe archive on the website but they had some tasty offerings that didn’t involve game.
Jay
@zhena gogolia:
the weather will start to break over the weekend.
raven
@sab: “The name Garden & Gun is explained as an “inside reference to a popular 1970s Charleston disco called the Garden and Gun Club.” But if tonite is anything like a while back all kinds of people who don’t know shit about it will have something to say.
Baud
@raven:
Welcome to the Internet!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jay: I hope someone fixes it.
Benw
I did my self-timed 10 km race today. 10 weeks of training and I hit my goal pace exactly! I am extremely stoked
sralloway
@Baud: In the end, there can only be one.
Gin & Tonic
@Immanentize: Baud is, sadly, mistaken. Nobody cares about being first. Second is the key spot.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gin & Tonic:
Unpossible.
sralloway
@James E Powell: Dammit, it’s Frist. Have some awareness to tradition. Cue Fidler on the Roof.
RSA
@Benw: Congratulations!
I run regularly (a few times a week) but not competitively, in the 5k to 10k range per run. Whenever I set a target pace and match it, I’m happy.
trollhattan
@Benw:
Congrats, on both the goal and meeting it!
Runner kid had her first college XC meet (just four schools) two weekends ago and not only did her team win, their fastest runner broke the course record for 5k by a whopping half minute. They just learned their little school is DI regionally ranked for the first time in program history.
Sure Lurkalot
@Jeffro: Hey, those years of cheap utility costs totally offsets the $50,000 of property damage to my home. Plus price of freedom, man!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@trollhattan:
Hah! I think I read Cruz was begging for federal funds for Texas too! It’s all “Fuck the Feds!” Except when they need them. Funny how that works, huh?
Ruckus
@Baud:
No kidding.
It was tiresome a long time ago and it is no less tiring now.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ruckus: I think it might be retro now.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@NotMax:
Yeah. Remember when he started wearing glasses to look smarter lol? I think that was around the time he wanted to be president and was on DWTS
jl
@debbie: “You know this country has lost its way when the go-to response is a death threat. ”
Things went from kill the windmills to kill the power grid operators within a day. Neither very constructive.
It would be nice to have a guest post about the Texas power disaster (maybe there is one already, I’ll go look).
From what I’ve read, seems like a combo: somebody (maybe ERCOT) underestimated how much of the fossil fuel power supply chain could go down in a severe cold snap. And, almost all of Texas is on an isolated state power grid. Can’t work with larger grid to smooth out demand and supply. That latter may be been fatal no matter what, since no way to fix it on short notice (as far as I know).
This is full service blog, so I’ll go look for that power supply expert guest post explaining everything now.
jl
@lamh36: Good luck, glad you have a relatively functional place to stay until you can get home safely.
Raven Onthill
Texas anarchists to the rescue! Link: https://bit.ly/texas-resources (sends you to a Google doc.)
(Really, they have a very good list of resources for people who want to help.)
Benw
@RSA: thanks!
@trollhattan: nice! Congrats to runner kidhattan!
Sure Lurkalot
@Benw: Congratulations! I loved running and even though I never entered a race, did time myself to push myself. I can’t run much anymore but I live vicariously through those who do.
raven
@Sure Lurkalot: I’ve been doing deep water running with an aquabelt. It’s allowed me to get a pretty good workout combined with a shorter lap swim than I used to do.
WaterGirl
@Benw: That’s great, Benw!
WaterGirl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Baud is always #1. But I’m not talking about being the first commenter.
CaseyL
@lamh36:
Thanks for checking in! Good to hear you’ve got heat and water, for a couple of days at least. It’s really, really scary to contemplate how close any of us are to life-threatening disaster if and when the infrastructure collapses.
topclimber
@?BillinGlendaleCA: The sad part anyway.
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
@lamh36: I’m so glad to see this; I hope things keep getting better for you and every other sufferer down there.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@RSA: With that level of Libertarianism it’s a sure thing that Mayor’s house was getting it’s power from city emergency services.
Sure Lurkalot
@raven: My small townhome community pool is ridiculous for laps so I’m going to look into this. We closed the pool last summer but I’m hopeful it will be open this year. Thanks!
bertintx
From the things I’ve been reading this week it is a combination of things, including rapacious capitalism and anti-fed stupidity. The TLDR is that in our mania for free markets the state did not ask that energy providers winterize their production nor provide money for it. The Texas Tribune has info about this. If I can figure out how to provide links in BJ I will post later. I’m in central Austin and doing internet stuff by phone. We’ve had 18 hours of electricity since 2am Monday morning, and all of the neighbors are checking in with each other. BTW I’m a frequent lurker but rare poster. The local ABC news guy on KVUE was incredulous that the state’s basic plan is to wait for the weather to warm up.
raven
@Sure Lurkalot: I used to see these guys I know in the diving well and I thought they were just floating around until I tried it!
RSA
@Benw: Care to say why you run?
I only started to run a few years ago, in my 50s, to accompany weight lifting, as an effort to get in better shape.
Reading advice online, it’s funny that running Web sites will tell you about strength training to improve your running performance. In contrast, strength training sites will tell you how to minimize boring cardio, so that you can focus on building muscle.
I eventually realized that there’s no general agreement on what it means to be fit, or even to be healthy. That was a surprise. We’re all on our own.
p.a.
Rusty still dead? Someone stick a pin in him…
Dan B
@lamh36: Thanks for updating us on your situation. It appears that the situation won’t be better until the escaped polar vortex is gone and until water is available, which will likely be in stages. Repairing burst pipes in buildings and water mains may take months. This fills me with dread because the “weather weirding”* that allowed this polar vortex to escape the arctic will become more likely. Much of the South is not prepared for an annual or semi-annual repeat.
The winter of 1960 we spent in Arkansas it dropped to 17 degrees. There was no running water in the city. My father, who was raised in Chicago, was astounded to discover the main water lines were in 3 inch trenches under the asphalt. We had gas and electricity which much of Texas does not because controls are frozen. It’s apparently too expensive to keep the heat and lights on for the one week a year they might fail. Cost benefit analysis will surely include a fair estimate for human lives. The ones lost, not the injured and/or hospitalized. Not the humans who lost their homes, valuables, and property.
Geoduck
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): You know things have gotten really bad when the Cruz Twitter post on the subject is almost literally “I got nothing”. He couldn’t even bring himself to go in on the “AOC did it with her New Green Deal” thing.
According to a Texas Tribune article, the next thing to get whacked is/will be Texas’s entire food supply chain.
Barbara
@lamh36: Stay safe and warm. I hope power and water come back ASAP for everyone.
NotMax
Woo hoo! 5 hour midday nap. First more than snatch o’ snooze in days.
Happy dance.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
I only look retro.
Barbara
@RSA: I try to imagine his wife vociferously defending her husband the mayor’s IGMFY attitude to coworkers who spent the previous 48 hours hoping they would not freeze solid as they tried to sleep. She was probably fired for her own safety.
Dan B
@lamh36: I bet the threats to these outstanding civic leaders, the fine executives of Ercot, came primarily from the 52% of GQP’ers in Texas. There might be some from the 48% of Democrats. But I suspect the Dems are plotting how to take over this rotten government that places dollars over human dignity and vibrant community.
bertintx
Okay so here’s one story: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/17/texas-power-grid-failures/
I see that others have already posted about what’s up in TX.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@lamh36:
Stay safe, lamh36!
Hoodie
@a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio: game can be quite tasty. When you live in low country SC or GA there are a lot of deer, feral pigs and whatnot that are not endangered and a respectable source of protein. I recall that at least at one time the NPS hired a guy whose full time job was hunting feral pigs on Cumberland Island, where they are destroy native fauna. I remember seeing him several years back delivering a wild boar he shot to the docks in St Marys and giving it to a black church group for a pig roast.
Ruckus
@lamh36:
I can not imagine why anyone would threaten the people who are making money screwing their customers…….
Or the politicians who support these people….. I mean did they lose their couth as well as their electricity, heat, water, possibly lives.
Glad you are safe and OK. Please take care of yourself.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Geoduck:
That’s awful. I guess FEMA is going to have it’s hands full. It’s like some perfect storm of natural disasters hitting us: the pandemic and now extreme weather/climate change. It’s a frightening to contemplate at what point too many disasters happening at once could overwhelm even the impressive resources of the US federal government
Dan B
@Jay: De Santis’ toilet training must have been brutal. He was broken like a wild horse. It seems to be his only response when criticized or threatened.
If Turnip fails to run in 2024 will De Santis the punisher shtick put him at the front? The underlying message of Limbaugh and his ilk besides rage is winning through punishment. Because punishment means you are strong and in control. It’s usually a sign you are a fearful person who has little trust in people, especially outside your tribe.
SFBayAreaGal
@bertintx: Thank you.
bertintx
Here’s more perspective from WaPo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/02/17/texas-power-winter-storm/
Benw
@Sure Lurkalot: thanks! Hope you got some vicarious cardio :)
@WaterGirl: thank you!
Hoodie
@debbie: so, in other words, Portman believes in jury nullification of the prior ruling of the senate. Although I’m not a fan of my senator, at least Burr understood what he should do.
Fair Economist
@jl:
I don’t think that’s the killer problem. I think the killer problem is that the market was designed like California’s used to be, where providers could increase their profit by taking supply offline during tight period. Really, half the TX fossil fuel electricity shut down? No way is that “just happening”.
Benw
@RSA: I’m not sure I can offer a ton of insight. I’ve always just loved running; I almost never have to force myself out the door for a run. I like both the escape of an easy run where you can let your mind drift, and the feeling of finishing a hard run totally spent.
OTOH I have a bunch of free weights and a medicine ball I got aspirationally but barely touch.
If we could combine your weight lifting and my running we could be unstoppable! :)
gwangung
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
We would have seen it for sure with a Trump 2nd term.
Hoodie
@Fair Economist: what I heard is that the railroad commission (republicans) which governs gas pipelines in TX failed to have sufficient regulation to ensure gas delivery in such conditions, and the pipelines went down. Mexico apparently also had problems because of that. Of course, I guess that could be an excuse.
Benw
@NotMax: high five!
Dan B
@Jay: I read hundreds of comments about the Houston skyline brightly lit. NONE – NONE of them knew that power contracts prioritize the skyscrapers/ downtown businesses over the suburbs and rural areas of Texas. The GOP run government prioritizes the elite and big businesses over average people.
Texans listen up: POLITICS MATTERS IF YOUR POLITICIANS DEMEAN THE POOR THEY’RE PROBABLY INCLUDING YOU. THEY VIEW YOU AS A MARK, A DUPE, AN EASY VOTE.
Rant over for the moment.
Dan B
@Baud: Having lived in Arkansas and hearing Orval Faubus in person I’m gobsmacked that Arkansas made Texas look bad.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Just learned this about Rush Limbaugh. What a putrid, disgusting piece of shit that man was:
And read off the names of gay men who had died of AIDS in the late 80s on his show with triumphant horn music playing after each name
Kayla Rudbek
@lamh36: I hope you stay safe and warm and that your pipes don’t freeze. I have a brother-in-law in Houston and cousin-in-law in Austin who are also dealing with this…
bertintx
the great state of Texas did not concern itself with assuring delivery during cold snaps: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/17/texas-power-grid-failures/
hueyplong
@Hoodie:
Saw your reference to “pig roast” and immediately thought of Rush Limbaugh in hell.
RSA
@Benw:
This is wonderful. Thanks so much! You’ve captured the feelings I have when I finish an easy run or a hard run.
Barbara
@Hoodie: Portman just can’t stop doing things to prove that he is the most cowardly, least principled person currently serving in the Senate. He’s not even running again.
Obvious Russian Troll
@RSA: The funny thing is that cardio will actually help your weight lifting. Cardio gives you more work capacity, and more work capacity means more strength gains.
Up to a point, of course.
I used to run but my left knee has apparently been arthritic for long time. Realistically I can’t do it unless I’m desperate.
Ruckus
shitforbrains isn’t president, and rush limpballs is no longer spewing bullshit at ten tons a minute.
You’d think this would be a decent day.
But I’m more pissed than I’ve been in a while because conservatives still seem to have their heads firmly planted up their asses and seem to be doubling down. I’m going to have to get away from the internet for a while, my blood pressure really isn’t being well treated by being online.
RSA
@Obvious Russian Troll: Thanks, this is good to know. Not that I ever bump up against any limits, but as a general guideline, it makes sense.
debbie
@Hoodie:
He doesn’t talk about it much now, but Portman was trying to set up a “blue ribbon panel “ to investigate voter fraud before those rioters rudely interrupted his pandering. //
O. Felix Culpa
@bertintx: Yikes. Thank you for posting these articles. I guess one could go long on short-sightedness in Texas. I have a niece and nephew in Austin; hope they’re ok, and you too!
Patricia Kayden
Patricia Kayden
@lamh36: Hope everything returns to normal very soon. My cousin in TX is going through the same thing. Huge sigh.
NotMax
“‘Play it as it lies?’ Are you effin’ kidding me?”
Florida story for the day.
SFAW
@laura:
He is. And in less than two weeks, you can
celebratecommemorate the ninth anniversary of the passing of Andy BreitbartETA: Who also is still dead.
satby
@Jay: You know, if that frozen food got to room temperature for any length of time before it was discarded, it’s not safe to eat.
Another Scott
@Ken: cain – “OMG – I got the coveted #2 slot!! Thank you everyone!!” (from January).
HTH!!
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
@laura
A day that will live in famy.
;)
Ken
@Another Scott: Huh. Seemed more recent. I guess I’m not used to the passage of time going back to normal on January 20.
bertintx
@O. Felix Culpa: it’s been a very weird week. I was telling my 8th grader students last week, like all last week, how bad the weather was going to be, and this exceeded my predictions. I’ve also told my students many times that however much Texans think they are tough, they have nothing on folks living up north who deal with this every year multiple times, especially the utility workers. Even today governor Abbott was blaming renewable energy systems for crashing the whole state, which is like the Community Reinvestment Act being responsible for the the worldwide economic crash of 2008. The “leaders” of the state did not demand resiliency in the grid, and they sure as hell did not get it.
Lacuna Synecdoche
Morning Consult (via Anne Laurie @ Top):
Well of course they do.
Joe Biden is the one thing Republicans can never forgive: a Democrat who wins elections.
L85NJGT
I just read an interview with a ERCOT higher up who claimed they didn’t need national interconnects because it would expose the Texas grid to blackouts.
?? …. magnets, how the fuck do they work?
Shakti
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Every time I hear Freddie Mercury’s voice, I think about what a damn shame it is he died so young. He had such a singular emotive voice. And such a presence.
You can’t say the same about Limbaugh.
danielx
@bertintx:
All true. On the flip side, I was visiting friends in Vermont years back and one day it was 80 degrees (!!!) and they were all pissing and moaning about how oppressively hot it was.
Martin
We need a guest post from an Aussie to explain this Facebook/Google news linking legislation.
Best I can tell it’s the ERCOT of internet legislation.
Do not confuse this for any defense of Facebook.
TomatoQueen
@lamh36: Good to see you and best wishes and hopes for a return of water in a reasonable condition as soon as possible. As others have said, you’ve had to deal with far more than a share of bad luck and deserve a break. Hope it comes soon.
Martin
@danielx: I remember going to the UK in the 80s and it was like 65 and they were going to the beach and bemoaning how it had been 80 two weeks before and they could scarcely leave the house. I think it was 105 the day we left to visit them.
Pete Downunder
@Martin: The Australian government- probably at the insistence of the Murdoch interests – is proposing legislation to require the Googles and Facebooks of the world to pay publishers for use of their news in their feeds. So far Google after some huffing and puffing seems to have given in and is doing deals with news sources. Facebook by contrast is going nuclear and saying that will cut off Australians from all news feeds. This appears to extend to health service’s giving out news on COVID and vaccinations. How it will end I have no clue. The Australian non-Murdoch papers are covering it – try smh.com and The Guardian Aussie edition.
bertintx
@L85NJGT: this still goes back on the leadership of Texas. ERCOT could not have required cold-hardening of systems without legislative permission as it would have affected utility rates. Of course, this is really about who gets elected and we can see the results of that. I can only say that none of the major idiots in office in TX have ever received my vote even though I vote regularly.
Benw
@RSA: Sure! Now you’ve got to give me tips to get working on the weight lifting I aspire to: what makes you stoked to lift?
bjacques
Probably dead thread, but yesterday 2020 finally ended, except in Texas, where Republicans voted to extend it indefinitely.
Another Scott
“Nobody could have predicted!!111”
:-/
My SIL in Austin got her power back yesterday. Here’s hoping that others get theirs soon.
Hang in there, everyone. And vote the monsters out!
Cheers,
Scott.
Benno
@sab: whaaaaaat?!? I grew up in IL in the 80s, so the only thing that flowed more freely than corn oil was Budweiser and Pabst, and I never knew this! (Maybe it was all the Bud and Pabst)
RSA
@Benw: I’m late on this, and I don’t know if this will help, but for what it’s worth…
For me it was caregiving needs. I had to be able to lift someone up out of a chair and so forth without help, and I wasn’t strong enough to do it. So I tried to get stronger. That helped, and once the responsibilities went away, I just kept it up. It’s now at the point that I enjoy the muscle tightness hours or a day later that I have to stretch out.
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
@Amir Khalid: He really needs a meeting with Rand Paul’s next door neighbor. He’s dumb enough to be a Texas governor.
patrick II
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
They should put some regulatory strings on that money.