Thursday, February 18, 2021

Let them eat icicles.


It's interesting to listen to the reaction from the public at large and the media to the death of Rush Limbaugh. Really interesting. I mean I know that we shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but we shouldn't be hypocrites, either. 

Personally, I am not going to say much about the death of the racist xenophobic blowhard who became a darling to conservatives all over this country. But I am reminded of an old Jamaican proverb: Gawd nah sleep. Which translated means: God is never sleeping. 

Anyway, it's been snowing again here in Philly. Mother Nature must be making up for these past few winters when things were relatively mild. (Memo to self: Invest in a very nice snow-blower for next year.)  I am going to count my blessing, though, I mean I could be living in Texas. You have to feel for those poor people down there. (Yes, even the Cowboys fans.) People have been without power in freezing temperatures in the Lone Star state, and the images coming out of there have been frightening. The word Dystopian comes to mind. 

What's scary is that the republican politicians who have been running that state for years are solely to blame for the suffering of their citizens. They have privatized their power grids and put cronies in positions of power and influence on matters having to do with energy in that state.  Then, incredibly, the the governor of that state went on FOX VIEWS and lied about the cause of the winter crisis. He literally blamed the problem on "the green new deal" and windmills.   In case you haven't been paying attention, there is no "the green new deal" as yet, and windmills work just fine in some very cold countries, including Canada and Sweden. 

But as despicable as the actions of the Texas governor was, it pales in comparison to what a former republican governor had to say about the suffering of the citizens of his state. 

 “Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business,” 

Oh, and let's not forget Ted Cruz, a man who decided that this was a good time to take a vacation to sunny Cancun, Mexico, while the people he is supposed to be serving suffer under horrific weather conditions and misery.    

What is wrong with these heartless people? And what is wrong with the people in Texas who vote these people into office?  

I will close this blog post with the words of one particular mayor in Texas who has now resigned. 

“No one owes you or your family anything; nor is it the local government’s responsibility to support you during trying times like this! Sink or swim, it’s your choice! The City and County, along with power providers or any other service owes you NOTHING!

Only the strong will survive and the weak will perish. Folks, God has given us the tools to support ourselves in times like this."

That, my friends, is the right-wing governing philosophy in a nutshell. 

  




55 comments:

Anonymous said...

Climate change/Global warming is a leftist hoax.

Anonymous said...

“I will close this blog post with the words of one particular mayor in Texas who has now resigned.”

When you’re too right-wing for fucking Texas, that’s really saying something.

If government isn’t supposed to help anyone even in a public emergency, then what the hell is government for? Why have one at all?

Since this mayor basically admitted that his job is to do absolutely nothing, ever, that made his salary look like one of those taxpayer-funded handouts for the lazy that he shames people for receiving. So, really, he had to resign to avoid accusations of being a hypocrite.

Anonymous said...

Cold as hell all over the country and snowing. Kind of shoots holes in the global warming narrative the sparklefarters fantasize about......

Anonymous said...

“Cold as hell all over the country and snowing. Kind of shoots holes in the global warming narrative the sparklefarters fantasize about......”

No, it doesn’t. Global warming refers to an increase in average temperatures — average over both territories and time. It’s not the temperature occurring at any given moment in any given place. Climate and weather are two very different things.

Jesus, try reading a goddamn book.

Gambler2 said...

Anonymous said...

Cold as hell all over the country and snowing. Kind of shoots holes in the global warming narrative the sparklefarters fantasize about......

4:00 PM
------------------
Severe weather is usually a symptom of climate change. Continue to deny; your opinion is irrelevant. Sorta like the commercial that says "Shingles doesn't care."

dinthebeast said...

The damn fool actually couldn't spell "perish" and instead spelled it as "parish", so presumably the brain-wizard was trying to warn Texans that if they weren't sufficiently bull headed and ignorant enough, they would turn into counties in Louisiana?
One of the long predicted effects of climate change is the warming of the upper atmosphere causing the jet stream to move farther south than the track it is usually constrained to, unleashing the "polar vortex" it usually holds back down into the lower latitudes, exactly as it is doing right the fuck now, and to a somewhat lesser extent, did last year.
I hope Sandra Fluke is having a nice day.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

field negro said...

It's called "climate change" MAGA person.

mike from iowa said...

Global warming isn't the cause of this cold, it is climate change.

Paradoctor said...

The climate has manifestly changed. Expect annual polar vortices from now on. It's time to winterize, Texas!

Climate non-change is a rightist hoax.

Paradoctor said...

If the mayor owes the people nothing, then the people owe the mayor nothing.

Social Darwinism isn't fit, so it will be naturally selected against.

dinthebeast said...

So Ted the fuck Cruz has blamed his decision to bail on the crisis and fly to Cancun on his daughters.
Truthfully, though, in a crisis, Texas was doubtlessly better off not having to deal with Ted the fuck Cruz.
I mean, sure, the US senator from the state has powers to assist in the handling of crises and disasters, but he's Ted the fuck Cruz, and they voted for him over Beto O'Rourke, who is actually trying to organize resources for those affected by the crisis, so I just have to assume that Texans didn't want any help from their US senator.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

Anonymous said...

Hey, check out this lovely footagefrom the deregulated-energy paradise known as Texas.

Remember, Texans are cool with their pipes bursting and their ceilings collapsing and their living rooms turning into ice skating rinks, as long as it keeps those meddling feds out of Texas’ business. According to Rick Perry, anyway.

Freedumb!

mike from iowa said...

Red state guvs would gladly let poors eat icicles if they could save a few bucks in food stamps and give the wealthy another tax cut.

mike from iowa said...

I have seen dead Ailes and Scalia
dead Limpaw, too,

soon joined by Dole
with my sincerest fuck you.

And i say to myself, what a wonderful world.

Gambler2 said...

Interesting Article at https://www.alternet.org/2021/02/trump-qanon/

The link between Trumpland, QAnon, evangelical culture, and child-sex predators

Ben Gibson, a failed Republican congressional candidate who shared QAnon content on social media, was arrested in December on four counts of child pornography. A few months earlier,
was arrested on first-degree murder charges for allegedly killing his girlfriend's 10-month-old daughter. Investigators found that Jennings had plastered the QAnon associated #savethechildren hashtag all over his Facebook wall, interspersed with rants about killing pedophiles.

https://kfor.com/news/oklahoma-city-saveourchildren-advocate-jailed-accused-in-babys-murder/

Gambler2 said...

"We don't heed no stinkin' government regulations" is the motto for some people in Texas and other states. To that I say, "the parts of Texas that have heat, light, and water are on grids that are regulated by the feds."

dinthebeast said...

So Heather McGhee just solved a mystery for me. I always kinda wondered why Republicans hated the idea of raising the minimum wage so much. I mean, I know they are assholes, but this makes no strategic sense. They hate welfare and food stamps and the big corporations paying $7.25/hr have their employees on the dole to make ends meet, thereby subsidizing their own bottom line with tax dollars.
As low of an opinion of Republicans as I have, it still didn't seem likely that they were really that dumb.
So it turns out that they hate the idea of raising the minimum wage because of racism.
Poor white folks start to feel solidarity with poor colored folks when they share basic aspirations for a normal life and realize that they share the same hardships that could be easily overcome were they only paid a living wage for their labor.
That makes it harder to control their votes and spending with zero sum bullshit fueled hate for people who look different than they do.
That sort of makes sense to me, as I've been saying for years and years that I have much more in common with poor people of color than I ever will with white people who have more money than I do.
Heather McGhee has just written a book about the costs of maintaining racism in our society, and who pays those costs. Hint: it's not all paid by the folks being discriminated against, white folks routinely shoot themselves in the foot to maintain their racist attitudes and behaviors. The costs are in the trillions.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

PilotX said...

Just as predicted, people have to die to show that Republican and conservative ideology just doesn't work. Just like we'll have to deal with global warming because dimwits refuse to understand or care about the consequences. After four years of trump they can even deny reality with alternate facts. I don't have too much hope for this country.

PilotX said...

https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/global-climate-202101

One of the warmest Januaries on record with massive sea ice losses on both poles.

Anonymous said...

Famous Colored Folks Dropping Dead After Covid Vaccine - First Hank Aaron now... Karen Hudson-Samuels worked for more than 4 decades in Detroit - Former Detroit news anchor dies after getting COVID-19 vaccine, husband says

mike from iowa said...

Aaron did not die of covid vaccine or any covid related disease, liar.

mike from iowa said...

Dear magat racist wasicus...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/15/upshot/why-does-louisiana-consistently-lead-the-nation-in-murders.html

All former slave owning states consistently have higher murder rates than non slave states. Karma? Kismet?

Gambler2 said...

-Doug in Sugar Pine

1:00 AM
-------------

February 19, 2021 at 11:08 am EST By Taegan Goddard 0 Comments

Just published: The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee.

Michelle Goldberg: “McGhee’s book is about the many ways racism has defeated efforts to create a more economically just America. Once the civil rights movement expanded America’s conception of ‘the public,’ white America’s support for public goods collapsed. People of color have suffered the most from the resulting austerity, but it’s made life a lot worse for most white people, too.”
https://politicalwire.com/2021/02/19/what-racism-costs-everyone/#disqus_thread

Paradoctor said...

Gambler2:
Pedophile QAnoners? But of course!
I predict that some of them will also be Satanists.
50-50 on cannibals.

PilotX said...

“Former Detroit news anchor dies after getting COVID-19 vaccine“

Got some bad news, we’re all gonna die after getting any vaccination.😬

Gambler2 said...

Paradoctor said....

50-50 on cannibals.

12:41 PM
-------------
I don't know Paradoctor. Most of the people I know that use pot are nice people. LOL! I think pedos would be more into meth.

Gambler2 said...

PilotX said...

“Former Detroit news anchor dies after getting COVID-19 vaccine“

Got some bad news, we’re all gonna die after getting any vaccination.😬

1:06 PM
-------------
Yes we're all gonna die eventually, and I'd rather die quickly from a vaccination than linger for weeks on a ventilator and then die.
The anti-vaxxers are really, really busy minding other people's business.

Gambler2 said...

Some people expected better behavior from Ted Cruz because he attended Harvard. But you can't make a silk purse out of a pig's ear even if you send it to Harvard. LOL!

According to what I have heard on the news, plenty of Texans are extremely upset with Cruz and other Republicans in their state. Maybe 2022 is the year Texas turns blue?

mike from iowa said...

Quackanons have been pushing the story Biden signed exec order to lower age of consent for all kids to age 8.

mike from iowa said...

Quackanon magats are turing bears in Alaska into pervertsd.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alaska-woman-using-outhouse-attacked-bear-below-n1258348

mike from iowa said...

Florida guv orders flags to fly at half mast for Rust Limpaw. Ought to make POC real happy.

Anonymous said...

There are some valid concerns that people have about cancel culture. The possibility of Jesus getting cancelled is not one of them:

Fox News Anchor Bill Hemmer Warns Cancel Culture Could ‘Come After Bible Characters Next’

Gambler2 said...

Anonymous said...

There are some valid concerns that people have about cancel culture. The possibility of Jesus getting cancelled is not one of them:

Fox News Anchor Bill Hemmer Warns Cancel Culture Could ‘Come After Bible Characters Next’

8:24 PM
--------------
LOL LOL LOL The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

dinthebeast said...

From Blue Girl's Twitter feed:

Mike Henriksen
@MikeHenriksen
·
Feb 18
A white guy kills a man with his car. A Native grabs a shield & refuses to leave a protest. First is facing 90 days in jail. The Native is facing 17 years in prison. This is what people are talking about when they say "two different justice systems". How about we start listening.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

Anonymous said...

"Fox News Anchor Bill Hemmer Warns Cancel Culture Could ‘Come After Bible Characters Next’

8:24 PM
--------------
LOL LOL LOL The sky is falling, the sky is falling!"


Fortunately, if you cancel Jesus, he comes back three days later.

Flying Junior said...

Doug,

I heard about The Sum of Us, Heather McGhee's book on Fresh Air.

I agree. It was like a veil was lifted. All of this incomprehensible crap about people pulling their own weight. Makers and takers. It all flipped in the 1950s with the advent of desegregation.

So now they're all programmed to think that they built their own lives from scratching in the dirt and good old-fashioned American ingenuity.

Now, I get it. In Mission Beach, we still have The Plunge a beautiful public pool one block from the shore. I think it used to be filled with saltwater. It was built in the 1920s. California ain't so bad. It's not exactly a libertarian paradise. I guess we can all be happy Eisenhower built the super-highways in the 1950s. Trump's ideas for infrastructure revolved around toll roads.

Sixty years later we're still fighting for universal healthcare, the right to a free education, the right to find a good job, a living wage... All these things. And it's the same old people preventing any forward progress.

Anonymous said...

More grim news from the Texas power-pocalypse. Millions have obviously been suffering in miserable conditions for days, and when the power returns, a sizeable percentage of them will also be rendered homeless from all the damage done to their houses after their pipes froze and then burst. Plumbers are going to be very busy in Texas for months.

But authorities are now counting an increasing death toll. Some people have expired due to hypothermia, while others have died from carbon monoxide poisoning from the indoor fires and gasoline-powered generators they were using to try to avoid hypothermia.

Many Texans have died because of the winter storm. Just how many won’t be known for weeks or months.

Does Rick Perry still think Texans are totally willing to put up with these conditions in order to keep those dastardly federal utility regulators out of their hair?

mike from iowa said...

That wasicu Doug is talking about is Attorney General of Northern Mississippi (aka South Dakota)

He struck a pedestrian on the shoulder of the road and claimed he hit a deer in the middle of the road, was never tested for alcohol until over a half day later, compromised the accident scene with the sheriff that night and again the following morning when he found his deer lying in plain sight.

mike from iowa said...

Last updated: February 20, 2021, 13:18 GMT
United States
Coronavirus Cases:
28,604,576
Deaths:
507,756

Friday's body count 2624, nearly the same as Thursday's body count.

Anonymous said...

Devin Nunes efforts to sue everyone on Earth for defamation (including an imaginary cow) have met another setback, as a judge has chucked out his lawsuit against CNN, which had pointed out Nunes' likely involvement in Trump's Ukraine smear scheme against Biden.

I don't know why he bothered. Republican voters apparently don't give a crap about Trump's attempts to cheat his way back into office, so it can't have hurt Nunes too much if they found out he helped with the cheating.

Gambler2 said...

LOL! I wonder what happened to that troll who kept posting "Trump 2020. Does anybody out there know?

Anonymous said...

“LOL! I wonder what happened to that troll who kept posting ‘Trump 2020.’ Does anybody out there know?”

No earthly idea, but my neighbor has already hung a Trump 2024 flag, so it’s clear that for some people, no lessons whatsoever were learned from the last four years of epic failure.

mike from iowa said...

Texass guv A-Butt is right in line to get Texass some socialist bailout monies for magat's energy disaster. Capitalismm's failures always rely on socialist bailouts.

Gambler2 said...

Anonymous said...

No earthly idea, but my neighbor has already hung a Trump 2024 flag, so it’s clear that for some people, no lessons whatsoever were learned from the last four years of epic failure.

7:32 PM
----------------
True. I wonder if the people in Texas have learned that they must force their utility providers to weatherize?

Wesley R said...

Republicans talk some good some good shit but they can't govern.

Anonymous said...

"True. I wonder if the people in Texas have learned that they must force their utility providers to weatherize?"

Wingnuts' belief in the free market is really nothing short of a religion. They think that supply and demand will magically meet ALL of society's needs, and regulation is virtually never necessary. Government shouldn't have to force businesses to do the right thing; they'll do it on their own because that's what (supposedly) brings in the highest profits.

This is wrong. There are numerous situations where greed will actually incentivize businesses to do bad things, which is why regulation is needed.

But anyway, the flaws in this system are not limited to utilities "cheaping out" by refusing to buy equipment that works in cold weather. There is also an overall lack of excess capacity in the system. During times of peak demand, there just aren't enough plants to generate enough power to meet that demand, so even if large parts of the infrastructure hadn't frozen up, there would have been rolling blackouts across Texas. (Homes in Texas are poorly insulated, because it seldom gets bitterly cold, so if the temperature drops to 20 degrees, people have to run their furnaces like crazy to stay warm and electricity demand skyrockets.)

And on top of that, what about the incentive structure that was supposed to prevent all this (but didn't)? Utilities in Texas are allowed to charge customers higher rates during times of peak demand. Because so many providers have gone off line during this crisis, the ones still operating will be charging INSANE rates. Some customers will soon be receiving -- I am not exaggerating about this -- $10,000+ monthly electric bills!!

Why anyone would want to live with such a dysfunctional power grid is anyone's guess. I hope some Texans are realizing that their leaders have been lying to them about all sorts of important things. There has been a lot of deserved mockery over the years of communist economic systems and how they produce bad outcomes. But the libertarian ideal of "pure" capitalism doesn't work in practice, either; it is every bit as much a delusional fantasy as anything Karl Marx ever dreamed up.

dinthebeast said...

Texas gets its natural gas straight from its own wells, and as such, there is a higher concentration of water in the gas as it is shipped through the pipes than you would normally find in a gas service line.
That water froze and baffled the service lines, creating a large part of the crisis, as natural gas fired electricity generating plants couldn't get enough gas to produce electricity, and homes couldn't get enough gas to heat themselves or heat water or cook food.
I'm sure that it costs less money to deliver the gas like that, so I hope that the Texans are enjoying the savings.
There was speculation as to whether any gas service lines burst from the frozen moisture in them, and how much of a fire and explosion danger that might be.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

Field Negro said...

"LOL! I wonder what happened to that troll who kept posting ‘Trump 2020.’ Does anybody out there know?”

No earthly idea, but my neighbor has already hung a Trump 2024 flag, so it’s clear that for some people, no lessons whatsoever were learned from the last four years of epic failure."

Republicans should be very worried about 2024 if the Orange one sticks around.

anotherbozo said...

As usual, Field, you've found the best commentary on the situation. When will voters connect cause with effect? When will they stop being distracted by "cultural" issues like transvestites in bathrooms to check out where their tax dollars are really going and who government is really serving? As Chauncey DeVega keeps saying, Wake up, sheeple.

mike from iowa said...

Quackernon says drumpf returns to the precedency March 4th. Make sure to mark yer calendars so you can be somewhere else that day.

Gambler2 said...

anotherbozo said...

As usual, Field, you've found the best commentary on the situation. When will voters connect cause with effect? When will they stop being distracted by "cultural" issues like transvestites in bathrooms to check out where their tax dollars are really going and who government is really serving? As Chauncey DeVega keeps saying, Wake up, sheeple.

11:25 AM
---------------
I wonder if the a small minority of American voters actually enjoy chaos, conflict, and conspiracy theories. Perhaps their lives are so dull, they crave excitement. Obviously Trump is addicted to conflict and chaos, so some of his followers will be also.

mike from iowa said...

Fake Noize's Larry Cudchewer says power outage in Texas is consequence of electing Biden.

https://www.rawstory.com/larry-kudlow-joe-biden/

dinthebeast said...

So Merrick Garland has announced that if he is confirmed, he will lead a thorough and complete investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators of the insurrection at the capitol, in an independent and transparent manner.
Considering the job he did in Oklahoma City that resulted in the execution of Timothy McVeigh, that is encouraging news.

-Doug in Sugar Pine

Gambler2 said...

Hurray for Merrick Garland!

Gambler2 said...

Oath Keeper Leader Claims She Was Given VIP Pass At Trump's Rally Before Riot

https://crooksandliars.com/2021/02/oath-keeper-leader-claims-she-was-given