What gives, Texas?
18/2/21 12:42![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mahnmut posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
talkpoliticsDramatic warning of the polar regions for the last 30 years having weakened the polar winds to a point that extreme weather events such as the ones currently affecting the US, including places as far south as Texas, are being experienced on a regular basis now, and are more likely to increase in intensity and frequency in the future.
How Climate Change is Driving a Deep Freeze into Texas
And in the middle of all this, DIVERT ALERT! Best response to the situation? But of course. Blame it on the left!
Texas mayor who said residents were owed 'NOTHING' amid outages, record cold resigns
Mind you, he only resigned because of the outrage from the way he phrased it. Not for his policies. He was just too blunt, and that cost him his position. “The City and County, along with power providers or any other service owes you NOTHING!”, he wrote on Facebook. “I’m sick and tired of people looking for a d--- hand out! If you don’t have electricity you step up and come up with a game plan to keep your family warm and safe.”
People tend to get angry when you address them like that. Years of neglect and lack of oversight, this they can swallow. But such words? Nope. In comparison, other elected officials, more sophisticated about navigating the political rapids, have taken a slightly different approach. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News show to suggest that the crisis offered the country an important lesson: Democratic leadership is bad, so it should be avoided at any cost.
“This shows how the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for the United States of America,” Abbott said, offering an obviously polished turn of phrase focused on the well-known Democratic proposal for redirecting the economy away from greenhouse gas emitting energy sources. For some context, about a quarter of the state's electricity generation in 2020 came from wind and solar, according to data from the unfortunately named Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
The thing is, much of Texas' power grid has long been privatized. But sure, let's DIVERT to the New Green Deal. Typical right-wing fear-mongering once again. Because that'll solve everything. Yup. One of the most regressive states in the country, the long-time champion and emblem of conservative policy, has problems - and blames them on Democrats. Hilarious.
It's especially ironic given that Norway produces almost the entirety of its own power consumption via renewables. And that country is partially north of the Arctic circle. But yeah, you know - SOSHULIZM!
Now, I don't claim to be too familiar with the peculiarities of the US states, but my impression is, Texas as a state tries to be as business friendly as possible, while the people are not so much. This is the result you get when a state lowers its standards and oversight to attract businesses at the expense of public health and the environment. And how does the business repay this favor? Well, here's an example. The excuse that company gave for that large explosion years ago that took out most of a town was it was the state's fault for not having regulations to prevent the accident. It's only TX leaders' fault, let's blame anybody but the ones in charge of the company. Especially when you didn't want to comply to Fed regulations because it was claimed it would hurt jobs, so you pushed a certain state hard to lower its standards, and it duly did. Because it's oh so business-friendly.
It's amazing that so many people keep voting against their own interests. It's almost as if a whole portion of the population are brain-dead.
How Climate Change is Driving a Deep Freeze into Texas
And in the middle of all this, DIVERT ALERT! Best response to the situation? But of course. Blame it on the left!
Texas mayor who said residents were owed 'NOTHING' amid outages, record cold resigns
Mind you, he only resigned because of the outrage from the way he phrased it. Not for his policies. He was just too blunt, and that cost him his position. “The City and County, along with power providers or any other service owes you NOTHING!”, he wrote on Facebook. “I’m sick and tired of people looking for a d--- hand out! If you don’t have electricity you step up and come up with a game plan to keep your family warm and safe.”
People tend to get angry when you address them like that. Years of neglect and lack of oversight, this they can swallow. But such words? Nope. In comparison, other elected officials, more sophisticated about navigating the political rapids, have taken a slightly different approach. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News show to suggest that the crisis offered the country an important lesson: Democratic leadership is bad, so it should be avoided at any cost.
“This shows how the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for the United States of America,” Abbott said, offering an obviously polished turn of phrase focused on the well-known Democratic proposal for redirecting the economy away from greenhouse gas emitting energy sources. For some context, about a quarter of the state's electricity generation in 2020 came from wind and solar, according to data from the unfortunately named Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
The thing is, much of Texas' power grid has long been privatized. But sure, let's DIVERT to the New Green Deal. Typical right-wing fear-mongering once again. Because that'll solve everything. Yup. One of the most regressive states in the country, the long-time champion and emblem of conservative policy, has problems - and blames them on Democrats. Hilarious.
It's especially ironic given that Norway produces almost the entirety of its own power consumption via renewables. And that country is partially north of the Arctic circle. But yeah, you know - SOSHULIZM!
Now, I don't claim to be too familiar with the peculiarities of the US states, but my impression is, Texas as a state tries to be as business friendly as possible, while the people are not so much. This is the result you get when a state lowers its standards and oversight to attract businesses at the expense of public health and the environment. And how does the business repay this favor? Well, here's an example. The excuse that company gave for that large explosion years ago that took out most of a town was it was the state's fault for not having regulations to prevent the accident. It's only TX leaders' fault, let's blame anybody but the ones in charge of the company. Especially when you didn't want to comply to Fed regulations because it was claimed it would hurt jobs, so you pushed a certain state hard to lower its standards, and it duly did. Because it's oh so business-friendly.
It's amazing that so many people keep voting against their own interests. It's almost as if a whole portion of the population are brain-dead.
