Tag Archives: Texas deep freeze

DC riot

Cruz needs to grow a spine

(Photo by Bryan Thomas/Getty Images)

A most interesting thread has appeared in many of the critical comments about Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

It’s that he doesn’t have a spine. He is gutless. A coward, even.

He most recently blurted out a fundamental truth, which was that the 1/6 insurrection was the act of domestic terrorists. Then the GOP base loyal to Donald Trump — the insurrectionist who incited the riot — got all fired up; it blamed Cruz for abandoning the MAGA mantra, whatever the hell it is.

Cruz then ventured onto the Fox News program hosted by Tucker Carlson to walk it back. Cruz said he misspoke. Carlson wasn’t buying it. Cruz stumbled over his clumsy feet. He looked and sounded predictably pitiful.

The other time that rivaled Cruz’s latest exhibition of spinelessness was when he jetted off to Cancun while Texans were freezing to death in February. He came back when the crap hit the fan and then he sought to blame his decision to flee the state on his daughter, who wanted to get away with Mom and Dad. Ridiculous!

The guy is one of two men who represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. It’s no surprise to regular readers of High Plains Blogger that I detest him. He serves his own interests over all else. He doesn’t give a sh** about me, my family or my friends.

He wants to be president. My question is this: Do we really want someone without an ounce of integrity or courage to represent us on the world stage? Hell no!

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

environmental news, State news

Texas feels the shame

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas continues to take its lumps over the near-disaster we experienced a week ago.

You see, a state that has prided itself on its ruggedness, its independence and its know-how is being pounded over the failure of an electrical grid that was supposed to carry the state through the worst weather imaginable.

It sure didn’t do the job.

Indeed, now we hear that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas was about four minutes away from a total collapse.

As Ezra Klein wrote in the New York Times: Second, it could have been so much worse. Bill Magness, the president and chief executive of ERCOT, said Texas was “seconds and minutes” from complete energy system collapse — the kind where the system needs to be rebuilt, not just rebooted. “If we had allowed a catastrophic blackout to happen, we wouldn’t be talking today about hopefully getting most customers their power back,” Mr. Magness said. “We’d be talking about how many months it might be before you get your power back.”

How does Texas save its face? How does it recover from this mess, which darkened electrical output for 4 million Texans?

One thought might be to join the two other major electrical grids and give up this notion of Texas running its own grid. ERCOT already is suffering from resignations of seven board members, all of whom quit in the wake of the power failure.

It doesn’t make me feel at all good about my adopted home state.

As Klein writes: It wasn’t even the worst cold Texas experienced in living memory: in 1989 temperatures and electricity generation (as a percentage of peak demand) dropped even further than they did in 2011. Texas hadn’t just failed to prepare for the far future. It failed to prepare for the recent past.

Opinion | Texas Is a Rich State in a Rich Country, and Look What Happened – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Let us demand some actual leadership from our, um, leaders on this matter.

Yes, we’re a rich state. However, we seem to suffer from a poverty-level absence of bright ideas on how to prevent a recurrence of what we all endured. No one likes freezing.

local news, State news

Get back to work, Ted

(Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

OK, I just have to get something off my chest.

Ted Cruz is a worm, a snake, a weasel. The U.S. senator from Texas now has come clean on a report that he flew off to Mexico while the state he represents is undergoing a historic natural weather trauma.

He said today he flew with his daughters to Cancun because he wanted to “be a good dad.” He said his family in Houston has suffered, too, losing power and water right along with the rest of the state.

His children wanted to go on vacation with friends, as their school is shut down.

Ted Cruz flew to CancĂșn as millions of Texans endure power outages | The Texas Tribune

Look, Sen. Cruz, you get paid a six-figure salary to be on the job when your state needs you. I believe we need our senators and our members of Congress on the job imploring the federal government for help. I understand Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn have communicated with the White House on what they need and Cruz — who said he would return today to Texas — vowed to work hard.

He damn well better get back to work.

The Cruz Missile hasn’t exactly distinguished himself lately, helping lead a Senate challenge of the 2020 presidential election results and then voting to acquit a disgraced — and twice-impeached — former president after watching him incite a riotous mob to storm the Capitol Building.

Stay on the job, Sen. Cruz, and earn that salary we’re paying you.

State news

Take off the mask, Ted

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

What you see with this brief blog post is a picture of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz waiting to board an airplane.

It’s reported the junior Republican senator has jetted off with his family to Cancun, Mexico. Why is this a big deal? Because the state he represents — that would be Texas — is enduring the effects of a historic winter storm.

Millions of Texans are affected adversely by the storm. Pipes have frozen; the power has gone out; local water supply has been compromised; politicians are sniping at each other over who’s to blame; Texans are angry, miserable, hurting.

Cruz now reportedly is basking in the sun down yonder in Mexico while his state is suffering grievously.

If I were Ted Cruz — and I thank God I am not — I would have issued a press release to deny that the picture is me and that I am not vacationing in Cancun … were that the case.

His silence regarding this matter speaks volumes. Ted Cruz is shirking his duty.