The Blue Country Gazette is the successor to the Rim Country Gazette, reflecting our evolution to a nationwide political blog for readers who identify as "blue," liberals, progressives, and/or Democrats. Our mission is to provide distinctive coverage of issues during a time of extreme polarization in the U.S. We strive to provide side-stories and back-stories that provide additional insights and perspectives conventional coverage often doesn't include.
CPAC ends with an ignominious fate for the GOP's Golden Cow. Hauled to a ramshackle warehouse for the special rate of $19.95, only to be dusted off and reincarnated again next year. (Notice the bottom of the statue. It is clearly plastic.)
For a crowd that pretends to stand for “personal responsibility,” the
right-wingers and so-called conservatives who make up the Republican
Party sure seem to have a weird aversion to admitting their own
mistakes.
This latest fiasco in Texas is just one of nearly daily examples. Somehow we’re supposed to believe that New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was probably about five years old when the modern Texas power grid was
put into place, is responsible for millions of Texans suffering without
power this week. Somehow we’re supposed to blame the complete lack of
winterization of the same power grid—a task solely within the control of
Texas’ Republican legislature and governors for the past two decades—is
failing because of the “Green New Deal,” a law that doesn’t exist now and has never existed. Somehow renewable energy, which supplies a measly 10% of all Texas power plant consumption, is at fault.
Sen. Ted Cruz jaunts off to Cancun, leaving his Texas constituents to
fend for themselves without power in subzero temperatures. But it’s not
like he’s responsible: No, he’s blaming his kids.
This is really quite the pattern lately. Let’s start in reverse order, shall we?
Thousands of people wearing Trump garb and using Trump flags as
weapons assault the U.S. Capitol. Most of them are caught on film and
boasting about their insurrection on social media. Upon arrest, most of
them claim they were lured into attacking the Capitol by Donald Trump.
As a result, five people die.
Who does the conservative media say caused the riots? “Antifa!”
Trump gets his ass kicked in the 2020 election. Could it have been a)
because of the hundreds of thousands of dead Americans?; b) because he
showed not a shred of empathy?; c) because he was the most criminal,
racist, misogynistic, incompetent president in American history?; d)
because he had no achievements to speak of that helped the American
people?; or e) all of the above?
No, it was “Election fraud! Stop the Steal! Dominion!”
Over 500,000 people in this country, more than any other, die from
the novel coronavirus. Trump was president for the vast majority of
those deaths, and his lackeys were in charge of coordinating a federal
response.
Who is responsible? “China! The World Health Organization!”
Who should get the blame? “Andrew Cuomo!” Why? Because New York nursing homes!”
Would that have changed anything about the federal response? “Didn’t you hear me? Andrew Cuomo!!!”
Meanwhile, unemployment, hunger, and evictions skyrocket as
businesses close. Could it be because of Trump’s gross mismanagement of
the worst pandemic ever to hit the country? “No, it’s the Democratic governors!“
Why? “Because they should have left their businesses open!.” Wouldn’t that have doubled the number of deaths? “No! Hoax! Flu!”
Trump is impeached. Is it because he tried to extort a false story
out of Ukraine to damage Joe Biden? And that was akin to bribery? And he
tried to cover it up?
No, it’s because of “Hunter Biden. It’s all on a laptop somewhere ... We’ll get back to you.”
Millions of people protest in the streets of America for Black Lives
Matter. Why are they protesting? Maybe because of bad, violent, racist
cops? “No, it’s Black people’s fault cops use so much force!
Portland! Blue Lives Matter! Portland! Antifa! Look, they broke a window
in Portland?”
Republicans get hammered in the 2018 midterms despite gerrymandering
the entire country. Was it because a) of Donald Trump; b) they had no
ideas except tax cuts for mega-corporate CEOs; c) Donald Trump; or d)
Donald Trump? “No, none of those reasons, and to prove it we’re going to double down on Donald Trump!“
It goes on and on. Global financial collapse? “It was all the fault of poor Black people buying houses they couldn’t afford!”
Katrina?“It was that Black mayor’s fault! He should have used the schoolbuses!”
Just once, I’d like to hear a conservative say, “Man, we really f*cked up, or “Totally our fault,folks,” or “We made a big mistake here.”
But that may never happen. Because being a member of the “personal
responsibility” party means you’re never, ever responsible for anything.
Old white guys, old white guys, and more old white guys. Where's "Little" Marco Rubio when you need him? Or the renowned brain surgeon Dr. Ben Carson? Or that breath of fresh bigotry and sedition Marjorie Taylor Greene?
"And the inevitable comparisons to the Old Testament story of the
Israelites worshiping a false idol in the form of a golden calf spread
across social media faster than you can say 'Moses.'” See image of perhaps the most famous stupid Trump supporter below...
The Capitol insurrection was less than two months ago, and in that
time, Jacob Chansley—who calls himself the “Q Shaman” and helped lead a
violent takeover of the Capitol in a furry Viking hat and face paint—has
come around to repudiating Donald Trump, even as Sen. Mitch McConnell
has come around to embracing Trump.
It’s time to stop saying “I never thought I’d see this,” because everything is possible now ...
… including Republicans erecting literal golden idols of their slovenly god-king.
If God doesn’t flush Orlando down a fucking sinkhole this weekend, then Sodom and Gomorrah deserve a huge
apology. Of course, we’re not here to praise Donald Trump, but to bury
Taco Bell sporks in our rheumy eyeballs if he somehow becomes a viable
political force again.
Back to that former MAGA and QAnon adherent who is apparently calling
bullshit on Trump’s shtick. Of course, he’s only doing so to stay out
of prison, but hey, it’s something.
“QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley claims that former PresidentDonald Trumpused social media and "public propaganda" to "effectively groom" his followers into believing conspiracy theories.
Chansley, also known by his stage name Jake Angelli, argued that he
was one of millions tricked by the former president in a motion seeking
to secure his pretrial release on Tuesday. Chansley is facing a
potentially lengthy prison sentence for his alleged role in the deadly
January 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol. Chansley insists that he believed
he was "lawfully answering the call of the President" at the time that
he andmany othersillegally entered the building.
Tricksey hobbitses! Theys makes us hates Nancy with their lies, precious!
Filthy Bagginses!
In the motion, Chansley’s lawyer Albert Watkins argued on his client’s behalf, writing: “For
years during the Trump administration, the president honed and
routinely utilized his mass communication means to effectively groom
millions of Americans with respect to his policies, protocols, beliefs
and overwhelming fixation on all matters conspiratorial.”
Gee, ya think?
Watkins continued: “Months before the 2020 presidential
election, former President Trump heightened his public propaganda such
as to alarm, alert, and amass his supporters and cause them to be
concerned about an inevitable voter fraud being perpetrated upon the
United States of America and, in turn, theft of our nation, loss of our
democracy, and the seating of a falsely/fraudulently elected individual
other than former President Trump.”
Yeah, this was obvious to most people sitting around
their living rooms in pelts and Viking horns on Jan. 6, but apparently
Chansley was a little less savvy than his fellow cosplayers.
So there you have it. Republicans in Congress and elsewhere are now
officially more far gone than a man who calls himself the “Q Shaman.”
I never thought I’d see … ah, fuck. Never mind.
But seriously, God: Do what you gotta do. And just so you know, we’re using low-flow sinkholes now, so you may have to flush 15 times.
What can we say about this buffoon that hasn't already been said?
Trump and Mohammed bin Salam share a wink and a nod. By the time this picture was taken, Trump had been sitting on the report showing bin Salam was a murderer for almost a year.
In October of 2018, Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi stepped into a Saudi embassy
in Istanbul to deal with what was supposed to be routine paperwork
related to his upcoming marriage. His fiancée was waiting outside. He
never returned.
Though it took months for the details of the story to emerge, it was clear almost from the beginning that Khashoggi has been the victim of Saudi usurper—and friend to both Donald Trump and Jared Kushner—Mohammed bin Salman. When more of the story did emerge, it could not have been more disturbing. It showed how bin Salman dispatched a murder squadto intercept Khashoggi,
beat him, torture him, dismember him, and then murder him … in that
order. When the journalist was dead, a member of the team that had
killed him donned his clothing and walked around Istanbul in an effort to plant a false trail. Finally, it seems that Khashoggi’s remains were burned in an oven specially created for that purpose.
I have no information to go along with this, but …
As the horrific details emerged, Donald Trump continued to stand by bin Salman.
Trump refused to sanction the “Crown Prince”—who inserted himself into
that position after conducting an internal coup that saw multiple
members of his own family either killed or sent into exile. Trump also refused to produce a required report about the murder, saying he had a “right to refuse” the clear letter of the law.
There may be no better signal of how President Joe Biden is returning
justice to America’s foreign policy than this: On Thursday, the White
House will finally release the report. And it clearly shows bin Salman
is responsible for the murder of American resident Jamal Khashoggi.
As CNN
reported on Wednesday, court documents from a civil suit filed in
Canada included documents explicitly showing bin Salman’s orders to send
the hit team after Khashoggi. Those documents show how the
murder squad—which came prepared with bone saws and other tools to both
torture the journalist and take his body apart when it was all over—was
dispatched using a private aviation company that bin Salman took over
just months before. This private fleet of planes gave bin Salman the
capacity he needed to get a 15-man team in and out of Istanbul without
having to line his bloody killers up for seats on a commercial aircraft.
It’s just one more piece of evidence in an case that was already definitive in showing how bin Salman ordered the hit against Khashoggi,
arranged the gruesome details, and gloated over his success. After
which Trump and Kushner refused to hold him to account, with Kushner
advising the crown murderer to just lay low for a bit until the press
got distracted by other events. Trump certainly did not allow the murder
of a U.S. resident journalist to get in the way of making enormous arms sales to bin Salman.
But as NBC News reports,
Thursday will see a big shift in the relationship between the United
States and the man currently calling the shots in Saudi Arabia. That’s
because the U.S. will release a report that clearly shows how bin Salman
approved and directed the murder of Khashoggi.
According to NBC’s sources, this is not a new report. This is the
report that Trump refused to release in 2018. That means that this
report isn’t just a condemnation of bin Salman, it’s also another strong
condemnation of Trump.
Trump knew all along that his pal bin Salman was a raging murderer.
But then, Trump didn’t care, just as he didn’t care that bin Salman
oversaw a growing number of executions each year, with hundreds of
people being beheaded, hung, or crucified for defying his reign. For one
thing, Trump likes seeing people executed. For another, bin Salman “pays in cash.”
Trump doesn’t consider bin Salman a bad guy just because he seized
control illegally, chased down members of his own family, carried out a
brutal proxy war in which thousands of children have died, and went to
enormous lengths to carry out the murder of a journalist that included
cutting off the man’s fingers one by one. Trump considers bin Salman a
role model.
But he’s not a model of what anyone should consider a just leader or a reliable ally. As Reuters
reports, the report—which has until now been hidden behind a Top Secret
stamp applied under Trump—makes clear bin Salman’s complicity in the
torture and murder of Khashoggi. The release of the report signals
not just that the United States holds bin Salman personally responsible
for this death, but that the nation will be reexamining its
relationship with the government in Riyadh and their horrendous record on human rights.
Bin Salman still has plenty of leftover U.S. bombs for attacking more
civilian areas of Yemen. He’s also unlikely to ever face justice for
the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. But at least the United States won’t be hurrying back to kiss his feet any time soon.
President
Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and
second gentleman Doug Emhoff participate in a moment of silence at
sundown in the South Portico of the White House Feb. 22, 2021 in
Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday, the official number of U.S. deaths from COVID-19 recorded at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) dashboard is still hovering just below 500,000. However, several other tracking sites have cleared that awful number by a considerable margin. So on Monday, President Joe Biden held a memorial for the half a million Americans who have lost their lives to this disease.
With a Marine Corps band playing “Amazing Grace” and 500
candles blazing beneath the South Portico, Biden used his own
experience with loss to speak directly to a nation where far, far too
many are grieving."I know all too well that black hole in
your chest,” said Biden. “You feel like you're being sucked into it. The
survivor's remorse. The anger. The questions of faith in your soul … I
know it's hard. I promise you, I remember."
Biden’s incredible empathy and sincere emotion was extremely moving,
and may be one of the most vital aspects of moving forward in a nation
where, for many, the real cost of this pandemic has still not hit home.
After all, the most deadly month of this pandemic was not a year ago, or
even six months ago. It was January. And despite (thankfully) declining
numbers, February is likely to finish just behind last December in
terms of American deaths.
Things are getting better. But things are still awful. Which is why other news is so, so welcome.
Biden’s memorial to half a million lost
It took almost exactly one month to go from 400,000 dead to 500,000.
However, with falling rates of new cases and dropping hospitalization,
there’s a good chance that the total number of American dead in the
pandemic will come in at fewer than 700,000. Possibly even below
600,000. Those are still hideous numbers—almost exactly matching the
1918-1919 flu pandemic. But they are certainly a break from where the
nation appeared to be headed in January.
25 million free masks going out to food pantries and community centers
On Wednesday, COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients stepped in
front of cameras at a White House briefing to say that the
administration is going to be sending out 25 million free masks and
making them available to Americans who may have some difficulty in
finding this basic item of personal safety.
The masks will be “high quality” washable multilayer masks that meet
the current CDC recommendations. The White House will distribute these
masks to more than 1,300 community health centers and over 60,000
community food pantries beginning in March.
"Masks are widely available in many different shapes and sizes,” said
Zients, “but many low-income Americans still lack affordable access to
this basic protection. That's why we're taking this important action to
keep Americans safe … These masks will be made in America, and will not
impact availability of masks for health care workers." The estimate is
that this action may provide masks to as many as 15 million Americans
who currently don’t have masks, or don’t have a mask that meets CDC
guidelines.
Johnson & Johnson vaccine meets experts on Friday
Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine was submitted to the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) for a potential emergency use
authorization (EUA) at the end of January. Since then, experts both
inside and outside the agency have been reviewing the data, looking for
evidence of effectiveness as well as reviewing any concerns over safety.
On Friday, the FDA’s panel of outside experts will get a final
presentation from Johnson & Johnson scientists, following that up
with a discussion session. At the end of that session, they’ll have a
vote on whether to recommend the drug to the FDA. The votes in favor of
both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccine were overwhelming (though not without
drama as last-minute concerns over age limits on Pfizer’s vaccine
brought the whole process to a temporary halt). Based on the available
data, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is likely to be just as
enthusiastically approved, but … it’s not a sure thing. After all, the
experts are privy to more information that has been covered in public so
far, and the efficacy of Johnson & Johnson’s offering has been
rated in a different way—one that looks at moderate and severe
cases rather than the overall rate of infection—from other vaccines.
In any case the hearing should be informative, and Daily Kos will be
listening in. If the expert panel gives this vaccine the thumbs up, the
FDA can be expected to authorize its use within a few days. That could
mean a third vaccine starts to roll out as soon as next week. That’s
good. And considering that this is a single-shot vaccine with very
reasonable storage requirements, it’s even better.
Enough vaccine for herd immunity by spring
AsBloombergreports, Johnson & Johnson says they are prepared to ship 4 million
doses immediately following FDA authorizing an EUA, and another
16 million doses in March. At the same time, both Pfizer and Moderna
have increased their rate of production.
As of Wednesday, the CDC reports that 82 million
vaccinations have been delivered, and 65 million have been administered.
44.5 million Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19
vaccine. That’s 17% of the population over 18 years of age.
But by the end of March, manufacturers expect to have delivered
enough vaccine to treat 130 million Americans. Which would be over half
of the adult population. That’s the kind of number that would begin to
have an impact on the spread of the virus, and places the nation on the
way to the idea of “herd immunity by April.”
In fact, add in the over 10% of the adult population that has already
tested positive for COVID-19 at this point, and herd immunity might even
be achieved by the first of April.
If the vaccine production is maintained as expected, by early summer
every adult in the United States should have at least been offered a
COVID-19 vaccine. Though that doesn’t mean they will have taken it.
California variant carries worrisome mutations
But before the nation starts to celebrate the end of the pandemic—and
certainly before anyone thinks of taking off their mask—there are some
reasons for concern. While most talk of variants has been focused on the
fast-spreading strain from the U.K. or the vaccine-evading viruses from
South Africa or Brazil, it turns out one of the worst might be found
right in the United States.
As The Los Angeles Times
reports, a variant that emerged in California last year already appears
to pack a number of changes to the critical “spike protein” that may
make it more contagious, more virulent, and more evasive for vaccines.
This variant, called B.1.427/B.1.429, appears to be connected with
the huge surge of cases that hit California beginning in November. That
surge led to an increased rate of both hospitalizations and deaths,
showing a strong association between this new variant—now approaching
90% of the infections in that state—and bad outcomes.
It also appears that this variant is more evasive of antibodies
produced by past infection or vaccine. However, California has not
experienced a large number of people becoming reinfected, so it’s
apparently not that evasive. There is also every reason to
believe that while vaccines may be less effective against this variant,
they will remain highly effective.
A big concern is that this California variant could mingle some genes
with the U.K., South Africa, and Brazil variants to produce a new
strain that combines the worst qualities of all three. The best way to
avoid this: wear a mask, keep social distancing, and keep increasing
vaccination rates. Since California has seen a 70% drop in new cases
since the beginning of January, it seems to be working for the Golden
State.
Today’s the day that I’m going to do what I’ve held off doing from
the start—look at the possible range of effects from an unchecked global
COVID-19 pandemic. …
So what does all this really mean? What follows is a back-of-the
envelope analysis of “How bad could COVID-19 really be?" It's going to
be long. It's going to be grim. If you don’t want to take that ride,
please check out now. It’s a lovely, globally warmed winter day in much
of the United States. Plus, there are puppies. Go and find them. But if
you're sticking around, here we go. … Because it means that the number
of deaths from COVID-19 in the United States alone would be (deep
breath) 450,000 to 900,000.
If that makes it seem like I was all too accurate in my assessment … nope. Because here’s what I said next.
Now that I've cranked up the panic-o-meter to 12, let me dial it back
several notches: This is not going to happen. It's simply not.
Governments are moving to prevent the kind of unchecked pandemic that
was seen in 1918. And they've gotten much better at this. Every effort
is being made to slow the spread of the disease, to isolate outbreaks,
and to prevent general exposure. Even in Wuhan, where the infection
began, the case count appears to be less than 1% of the population.
Actions can be extremely effective.
All of the assessments of the situation from a year ago seem
pitifully uninformed and sadly optimistic. We’ve all learned a lot in
the last year. Not much of it good.
What a difference a month makes. What a difference a president makes.
Go figure. For some reason, the Biden nominees facing the toughest
confirmation fights are women of color. And it’s not just
Republicans—conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin more or less tanked
Neera Tanden’s nomination to head the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB), and is publicly hesitating about Rep. Deb Haaland’s nomination
for secretary of the interior.
Tanden, who is Indian American, would be the first woman of color to
head OMB. Haaland, who is an enrolled citizen of the Laguna Pueblo,
would be the first American Indian Cabinet secretary. These are the
nominees Manchin has chosen to in the first case oppose and in the
second case let it be known he has “remaining questions” and is
undecided.
About all that.
Manchin also voted to confirm misogynist Twitter troll Richard Grenell
as ambassador to Germany under Donald Trump. He now claims he can’t
vote for Tanden because of her mean tweets. A mean Tanden tweet involved
things like calling Sen. Susan Collins “the worst” or saying that
vampires have “more heart” than Flyin’ Ted Cruz. A Grenell tweet
involved comparing Rachel Maddow’s appearance to Justin Bieber and
telling her to “take a breath and put on a necklace,” or describing Michelle Obama “sweating on the East Room carpet.”
It’s not just Manchin, of course. One single Republican could step up
and Tanden would be confirmed, but the same Republicans who spent four
years pretending not to have read Trump’s tweets and voted to confirm
Sessions and Grenell and Kavanaugh are suddenly upset about Tanden’s
tweets. In fact, Sen. Mitt Romney, who is very troubled about Tanden’s tweets, had Grenell as a top aide on his 2012 campaign.
No one is accusing Haaland of mean tweets. Rather, Republican Sens. John Barrasso and Steve Daines have vowed to hold up her confirmation over her “radical” views like wanting to slow global climate change—she’s said one of her policy goals is to “keep
fossil fuels in the ground.” Barrasso and Daines are very upset about
that, but of course their insistence on painting Haaland as radical
isn’t simply about policy. As former Sens. Mark Udall and Tom Udall wrote in a USA Today op-ed, “Were
either of us the nominee to lead the Interior Department, we doubt that
anyone would be threatening to hold up the nomination or wage a
scorched earth campaign warning about ‘radical’ ideas.”
The Udalls are, of course, white men.
“Rep. Haaland’s nomination is both historic and long overdue,”
they continued. “If confirmed, she would be the first Native American
Cabinet member. Her record is in line with mainstream conservation
priorities. Thus, the exceptional criticism of Rep. Haaland and the
threatened holds on her nomination must be motivated by something other
than her record.”
Republicans can drag Haaland’s confirmation process out,
throwing up roadblocks and additional procedural votes, though
ultimately, if every Democrat supports her, they can’t stop it entirely.
(That, of course, is where Manchin comes in.)
There’s a pattern here
even beyond Haaland and Tanden. Of President Biden’s nominees to be
confirmed to date, the closest vote was for Homeland Security Secretary
Alejandro Mayorkas, the first Latino and first immigrant in that role.
Republicans are also threatening to hold up the nomination of Health and
Human Services (HHS) nominee Xavier Becerra, the current California
attorney general and a former House member. Becerra would be the first
Latino to lead HHS. Republicans, after confirming non-doctor Alex Azar
to be HHS secretary under Trump, say that not being a doctor means
Becerra isn’t qualified.
The list goes on. Outside right-wing groups are launching
attacks on Vanita Gupta’s nomination for associate attorney general.
Democrats are concerned that Kristen Clarke, nominated to head the civil
rights division of the Department of Justice, will face opposition.
Gupta is Indian American. Clarke is Black.
”It’s been incredibly disturbing to see a pattern or a trend
emerging where people of color and women seem to be at the bottom of the
list in terms of hearings and getting their confirmations finalized,”
Janet Murguía of UnidosUS told Politico. “It’s highly offensive to see
this foot-dragging going on when we have such an incredible need to put
these different leaders in place in these different agencies.”
And it has to be recognized for what it is. Republicans and Manchin
alike can claim that race and gender play no role in who they find
themselves comfortable with or concerned about, or in who they feel safe
opposing. But their actions will tell the tale.
Just a few of the old white male Republican senators. Wait, where's Cancun Cruz? Oh, that's right he's off playing with his phone during a senate hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
This is a story about Texas millionaires screwing the 99 percent by reversing the message in this banner to "PROFITS before People."
Former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich. (photo: Steve Russell/Toronto Star)
By Robert Reich, Guardian UK
23 February 21
The Lone Star State is aptly named. If you’re not part of the Republican oil elite with Cruz and Abbott, you’re on your own
exas
has long represented a wild west individualism that elevates personal
freedom – this week, the freedom to freeze – above all else.
The state’s prevailing social Darwinism was expressed most succinctly by the mayor of Colorado City,
who accused his constituents – trapped in near sub-zero temperatures
and complaining about lack of heat, electricity and drinkable water – of
being the “lazy” products of a “socialist government”, adding “I’m sick
and tired of people looking for a damn handout!” and predicting “only
the strong will survive and the weak will perish”.
Texas has the third-highest number of billionaires in
America, most of them oil tycoons. Last week, the laissez-faire state
energy market delivered a bonanza to oil and gas producers that managed
to keep production going during the freeze. It was “like hitting the
jackpot”, boasted
the president of Comstock Resources on an earnings call. Jerry Jones,
billionaire owner of the Dallas Cowboys, holds a majority of Comstock’s
shares.
But most other Texans were marooned. Some did perish.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas,
which manages the flow of electric power, exempted affluent downtowns
from outages, leaving thriving parts of Austin, Dallas and Houston
brightly lit while pushing less affluent precincts into the dark and
cold.
Like the poor across America and much of the world,
poor Texans are getting hammered by climate change. Many inhabit
substandard homes, lacking proper insulation. The very poor occupy
trailers or tents, or camp out in their cars. Lower-income communities
are located close to refineries and other industrial sites that release
added pollutants when they shut or restart.
In Texas, for-profit energy companies have no
incentive to prepare for extreme weather or maintain spare capacity.
Even if they’re able to handle surges in demand, prices go through the
roof and poorer households are hit hard. If they can’t pay, they’re cut
off.
Rich Texans take spikes in energy prices in their
stride. If the electric grid goes down, private generators kick in. In a
pinch – as last week – they check into hotels or leave town. On
Wednesday night, as millions of his constituents remained without power
and heat, Senator Ted Cruz flew to Cancún, Mexico for a family vacation.
Their Houston home was “FREEZING” – as his wife put it.
Climate change, Covid-19 and jobs are together
splitting Americans by class more profoundly than Americans are split by
politics. The white working class is taking as much of a beating as
most Black and Latino people.
Yet the white working class has been seduced by conservative Republicans
and Trump cultists, of which Texas has an abundance, into believing
that what’s good for Black and Latino people is bad for them, and that
whites are, or should be, on the winning side of the social Darwinian
contest.
White grievance helps keep Republicans in power,
protecting their rich patrons from a majority that might otherwise join
to demand what they need – such as heat, electricity, water and reliable
sources of power.
Lower-income Texans, white as well as Black and
Latino, are taking it on the chin in many other ways. Texas is one of
the few states that hasn’t expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care
Act, leaving the share of Texans without health insurance twice the
national average, the largest uninsured population of any state. Texas
has double the national average of children in poverty and a higher rate of unemployment than the nation’s average.
And although Texans have suffered multiple natural disasters
stemming from climate change, Texas Republicans are dead set against a
Green New Deal that would help reduce the horrific impacts.
Last Wednesday, Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, went on
Fox News to proclaim, absurdly, that what happened to his state “shows
how the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for the United States”.
Abbott blamed the power failure on the fact that “wind and solar got
shut down”.
Rubbish. The loss of power from frozen coal-fired and natural gas plants was six times larger than the dent caused by frozen wind turbines.
Texans froze because deregulation and a profit-driven free market
created an electric grid utterly unprepared for climate change.
In Texas, oil tycoons are the only winners from
climate change. Everyone else is losing badly. Adapting to extreme
weather is necessary but it’s no substitute for cutting emissions, which
Texas is loath to do. Not even the Lone Star state should protect the
freedom to freeze.
Did you catch the shot of Ted Cruz playing on his phone during the Senate hearings on the Capitol assault today (Feb. 23). The guy just doesn't get it on so many levels.
Near the end of his rambling, 75-minute long 2016 "Mourning in
America" speech, then-candidate Donald Trump took a break from pitting
minorities against one another and declaring the United States was
beyond saving to do his best impression of a broken clock and make one
salient point. "The most basic duty of government is to defend the lives
of its own citizens," he graveled monotonously, "(and) any government
that fails to do so is a government unworthy to lead."
But even that notation is overly generous, so let's just be
absolutely clear here: Donald Trump and the modern Republican party have
no actual interest in national security. Absolutely none whatsoever.
Unlike what most people associate with "authoritarianism" and
"nationalism," Donald Trump didn't (and still doesn't!) care about
America or its power any further than he could personally benefit. And
as the GOP has become the party of Trump, it has followed suit, with
leadership more concerned about performative virtue signaling in the
pursuit of profit and power and no interest whatsoever in governing or
making America "great."
True to form, Republicans are using one of Karl Rove's key strategies and accusing their opponents of their own weaknesses.
Sadly and predictably, too many of us feel the need to play
this game by their rules, seemingly unable or unwilling to see that the
Republican Party is a game of Calvinball masquerading as a political party.
Unless we want to concede American democracy to a generation of
fascism, we need to stop fighting battles on the Republicans' terms; reframing the national security debate is a key component to that.
We don't even have to wonder what reframing the national security
debate might hypothetically look like. Instead, we just need take a
glance down to the great state of Texas. A once-in-a-century weather
event—the kind that seem to be happening annually, multiple years in a row—has
left the state devastated. Combined with an unholy blend of corruption,
a total lack of investment in infrastructure, and a complete lack of
leadership, the winter storms have become a ghastly tornado of
failure that might’ve even given Donald Trump a run for his money.
Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas hands out water to constituents in the wake of the power crisis
But this is a perfect example for why Democrats have to seize the
mantle of national security. National security means that we provide for
the people of the United States, and keep their lives as stable as
possible. But it doesn’t mean trillions in defense spending; instead, it
means focusing on keeping kids in school, not bars and college football games.
National security means that, when the very worst does happen, the
people who keep us safe in emergencies will be properly equipped and
ready to take on that fight, instead of being left to hold the line for a government that refuses to care for its own people.
There is no better time than now. How many people do you know ache to
go back to "normal", talking about their plans for "when the pandemic
is over"? They want that stability. They yearn for it. But the problem is that that stability is simply not possible, and will never be possible, under Republican leadership.
We have to take this issue of national security, and its framing, and shove it directly back down the GOP’s throat. Because
the threats are not going away; in fact, a whole mess of them are gonna
get way worse. And the Republican Party is unable and unwilling to do
anything about it.
Democrats must seize this unprecedented opportunity and prove to the
American people that we still stand up to make their lives, and our
nation, as secure as they can possibly be.
exas
has long represented a wild west individualism that elevates personal
freedom – this week, the freedom to freeze – above all else.
![(L-R ) Congresswomen Sheila Jackson Lee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sylvia Garcia help distribute food at the Houston Food Bank on February 20, 2021 in Houston, Texas. - Texans are in need of aid after an unprecedented and deadly "polar plunge" burst pipes and left millions in the US state shivering without power or clean water for days. (Photo by Elizabeth Conley / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ELIZABETH CONLEY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)](https://images.dailykos.com/images/919459/story_image/GettyImages-1231286428.jpg?1613850062 "(L-R ) Congresswomen Sheila Jackson Lee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sylvia Garcia help distribute food at the Houston Food Bank on February 20, 2021 in Houston, Texas. - Texans are in need of aid after an unprecedented and deadly "polar plunge" burst pipes and left millions in the US state shivering without power or clean water for days. (Photo by Elizabeth Conley / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ELIZABETH CONLEY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)")
