Weather...Fuck it.

[Abraham Smashington]

everyone just needs to move up here. yeah the winters suck and yeah the summers suck and yeah the mosquitos suck but we make some awesome hot dishes and will help you shovel your cars out of the snowbanks

[BillyG]

So back in the 70s we said WE ARE TEXAS WE HAVE THE OIL AND GAS WE DONT NEED AMERICA! And voted to deregulate power, and also stopped municipalities from running utilities. I remember when Houston Lighting and Power got dissolved and we have a billion fucking power companies now. And we disconnected ourselves from the national grid, so that federal oversight is basically impossible.

So why is it failing? No preparation, no winterization (including in the northern Texas plants where it BLIZZARDS AND FREEZES EVERY FUCKING YEAR) and where our wind plants are. And why not? Because the state legislature GOP props up ERCOT (the "reliability" committee responsible for our grid) so they can happily be criminally negligent and suffer no consequences. This is also why our water supplies are failing (I have no water and that issue is going further across the area) because it's just private companies that pay off the GOP at the state level. So no prep even though they knew for 10 days to be ready.

https://twitter.com/torilarnedtv/sta...406769152?s=21

What this tweet is saying is that ERCOT is asking the state to be allowed to price gouge us because the price of electricity should reflect the scarcity, and right now it's VERY scarce. Fucking criminal.

Rob I get what you're saying about oh look everyone else getting this weather, but it's not that. Texas is not just not prepared from a personnel and equipment issue, there is real time criminal negligence that is causing people to die as I type this up. Almost 2m people are without power in Houston. Our house was fucking 39 degrees before we got power back, and if you aren't lucky enough to get a break to heat your home today you will be dropping below freezing indoors today. And this is in Houston. It's even worse in Austin, DFW, panhandle. Hundreds of thousands of people are without water or under boil notice due to refusal to winterize the water systems. Tonight we have another freezing rain/ice storm/snow storm hitting the state, and the current number of about 5m people without power in the state will go up because there's going to be your standard winter damage to power lines and such that require repair.

I want out of this failed fucking state. It's ran by criminals and this could all have been avoided.

[Abraham Smashington]

Jesus man. BURN DOWN THE GOP.

Hearing how shitty Texas is from a Texan flies in the face of all of these fucking celebs who are saying CA is the devil and TX is the savior and I don't know what to believe anymore.

I'm starting to think that the midwest is indeed the best place to live just because we're not on a coast that can flood/fall into the ocean and we have no earthquakes or anything like that. Just a bunch of passive aggressive people.

[Matt]

This tweet from Ted Fuckwit Cruz back in August hasn't aged well:

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1...320380419?s=21

California is now unable to perform even basic functions of civilization, like having reliable electricity.
Biden/Harris/AOC want to make CA’s failed energy policy the standard nationwide.
Hope you don’t like air conditioning! https://t.co/UkKBq9HkoK

[BillyG]

Texas hates California....until all the California companies open new HQ in Texas and bring in a shit load of money. Or when their power companies come to Texas engineering and gas firms to make money in California. A very common and fucking ignorant slogan around here is "Don't California My Texas" which politicians will use while trumpeting the opening of a new tech office from Apple or Oracle or Salesforce. Fuck this fucking place.

There is no fucking coincidence that half of the people without power in Texas are in Houston. Houston holds the keys to flipping Texas blue. Every dead person in Houston is a boon to the GOP politically. And they run ERCOT so they can say where to turn power on and off!

And those utilities not being run by municipalities? Texas got internet categorized as a utility after ATT and Comcast paid them off, so now rural communities can't run their own proper internet like they are in so many other states.

[BillyG]

This tweet from Ted Fuckwit Cruz back in August hasn't aged well:

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1...320380419?s=21

Cornyn has similar tweets from about a year ago, and saying Californians are happy to move to Texas because we have "unlimited" electricity.

[Ingrid]

I'm starting to think that the midwest is indeed the best place to live just because we're not on a coast that can flood/fall into the ocean and we have no earthquakes or anything like that. Just a bunch of passive aggressive people.

This. Say what you will about the Midwest, cause lord knows we bitch about it too, but I’m pretty content staying here. The cost of living, at least here in Ohio, is pretty awesome, too. We’ve got the property. We’ll build a tiny house for you to stay in until you find your own homestead

[Ingrid]

Jokes aside, stay safe guys.

[BillyG]

Neighbors got their water going by boiling snow and pouring it onto the intake valve. We are about to give that a try. Widespread water pressure issues, and city claims there's no problem on their end. So either like 75% of the city has frozen pipes or the city is lying. The pipes in my dad's house burst and flooded his bathroom.

[BillyG]

Sprinkler water line burst, but we are now getting some water draining into the kitchen and hall bathroom. Called a plumber to see if we can possibly get the sprinkler line fixed and have water tonight.

[Abraham Smashington]

jesus man. :/

[BillyG]

Word is coming out now from Texas Agriculture department that our food supply chain is going to be fucked (it already was due to covid) because ranchers/farms don't have power to store and process goods.

[BillyG]

We are almost there. Maybe. One more freeze tonight. Local electric provider in Houston says no more blackouts, but the county judge says expect them through Monday. No idea on water. We haven't had water since Monday night. My sister actually closes on her new house outside of town at noon and if she has power and water we are going to shower there this afternoon. I got a couple crates of water yesterday. Some paper plates and forks. The house is disgusting. It smells. Everything is dirty. Dishes everywhere. One local restaurant had water and was serving. Took us an hour to get the food, but we ordered and waited in the car for some catfish and fries and queso.

This is so fucking miserable and I am even more worried about hurricane season. We are making a completely over the top hurricane prep list this year. And I don't think we can stay here unless the state leadership flips and flips soon. That sentiment seems widespread.

[Abraham Smashington]

move to the midwest. Get shocked with winter once and then mostly get used to it.

[BillyG]

I could live in Chicago but Sarah didn't like it there. I think she would change her mind though. At this point we are hoping for more freedom with our WFH arrangements, and we would move to a college town in PNW or east coast.