Weather

[billy.pilgrim]

Could be. Sort of a suspension. Of course, I've never understood how depriving a student from learning helps their education. Like the companies that use suspension as a disciplinary action for absenteeism. "OK, Phred, you need to understand your absenteeism is really bad. You've got a job here and we need you to do it. When you're out, you hurt your fellow workers and it's hard to keep up productivity. In fact, we need you here so badly that we're going to send you home for three days..."

Could be that virtual participation without the in-class background would be disruptive to the lesson plan and to the learning of those who followed the rules and kept up.

[GoCubsGo]

[neoplacebo]

I wonder hoe big her grin is while she's reading about Texans receiving electric bills in the thousands of dollars. I read about one Texan yesterday who says she got a $600 bill for four days of electric service. This is the face of de regulation of public utilities placed in the hands of private entities. The voters can fix this if they abandon their stupid and stop believing GOP nonsense.

[O Really]

I wonder hoe big her grin is while she's reading about Texans receiving electric bills in the thousands of dollars. I read about one Texan yesterday who says she got a $600 bill for four days of electric service. This is the face of de regulation of public utilities placed in the hands of private entities. The voters can fix this if they abandon their stupid and stop believing GOP nonsense.

I saw the articles about the huge bills, but I don't understand how that works. How can you get charged $600 for four days, or$7,000 in one guy's case. Makes no sense, but Texas...

[GoCubsGo]

Photo OP Ted.
Disgusting.

Ted Cruz is being mocked over photos showing him loading bottles of water into a car as he seeks to rebuild his reputation after the Cancun vacation debacle

[Vrede too]

Beto should have organized a reception

He's been busy.

As Cruz headed to Cancun, Beto O'Rourke made welfare calls to suffering Texans ...

... On Wednesday and Thursday, as Cruz made and then abandoned a trip to Cancun, his former Democratic rival Beto O'Rourke was running a phone-bank effort to contact older Texans.



...

If I was a Texan I would be calling out by name every prominent person who supported Teddy over Beto.

[neoplacebo]

I wonder hoe big her grin is while she's reading about Texans receiving electric bills in the thousands of dollars. I read about one Texan yesterday who says she got a $600 bill for four days of electric service. This is the face of de regulation of public utilities placed in the hands of private entities. The voters can fix this if they abandon their stupid and stop believing GOP nonsense.

I saw the articles about the huge bills, but I don't understand how that works. How can you get charged $600 for four days, or$7,000 in one guy's case. Makes no sense, but Texas...

From what I understand of it, some utility customers had chosen some sort of "variable rate" billing option.....I guess sort of like a variable rate mortgage in which if the shit hits the fan, so does your mortgage or power bill.

[O Really]

I wonder hoe big her grin is while she's reading about Texans receiving electric bills in the thousands of dollars. I read about one Texan yesterday who says she got a $600 bill for four days of electric service. This is the face of de regulation of public utilities placed in the hands of private entities. The voters can fix this if they abandon their stupid and stop believing GOP nonsense.

I saw the articles about the huge bills, but I don't understand how that works. How can you get charged $600 for four days, or$7,000 in one guy's case. Makes no sense, but Texas...

From what I understand of it, some utility customers had chosen some sort of "variable rate" billing option.....I guess sort of like a variable rate mortgage in which if the shit hits the fan, so does your mortgage or power bill.

Yeah, theoretically a plan where if you're running your A/C when it's 100 degrees and everybody else is, then the rate is higher, under the theory that if you know the rate is higher you might be more willing to risk heatstroke for your family and dogs. Understood. But wouldn't there be some top limit? Under what logic can they justify a rate that results in a bill of thousands? I've gotta think that won't hold up.

[Vrede too]

Extreme Cold Killed Texans in Their Bedrooms, Vehicles and Backyards

These Three Siblings (and Granny) Died Tragically in Texas’ Deep Freeze. It Didn’t Have to Be This Way.

Photo OP Ted.
Disgusting.

Ted Cruz is being mocked over photos showing him loading bottles of water into a car as he seeks to rebuild his reputation after the Cancun vacation debacle

He posted them himself, couldn't even find a lackey or reporter to play along.

First you abandon your constituents, now they are crisis photo opps to you? Do you have any shame at all @tedcruz ?

Climate/water scientist:



"$4 million"!!!

Other tweets:

Does this make him a crisis actor?

If I have to hear him throw his girls under the bus one more time......

At least he had the sense not to wear his “I’d rather be in Cancun” shirt.

It's a meme: #TedFled



United Airlines says it's investigating the leak of Ted Cruz's Cancun flight information

In order to award the leaker a medal and a raise, I hope.

[Vrede too]

Guess who received more money from oil and gas companies in 2018 than any other senator.

TED CRUZ.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ted-cruz-rec ... 44030.html

[Vrede too]

I saw the articles about the huge bills, but I don't understand how that works. How can you get charged $600 for four days, or$7,000 in one guy's case. Makes no sense, but Texas...

From what I understand of it, some utility customers had chosen some sort of "variable rate" billing option.....I guess sort of like a variable rate mortgage in which if the shit hits the fan, so does your mortgage or power bill.

When a federal regulation dodging utility screws up its customers, not its investors, pay for it. Private profit, socialized risk - ain't US "capitalism" grand?

[O Really]

So they're going to have a lot of people with yuge bills, and a lot more that didn't have power for a few days and realize it could have been them with the yuge bills. If these people vote, are they going to forget about this by election day?

[GoCubsGo]

Guess who received more money from oil and gas companies in 2018 than any other senator.

TED CRUZ.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ted-cruz-rec ... 44030.html

I really didn't think it possible he could be any more slimy.

I was short sighted.

[GoCubsGo]

So they're going to have a lot of people with yuge bills, and a lot more that didn't have power for a few days and realize it could have been them with the yuge bills. If these people vote, are they going to forget about this by election day?

I do think they'll remember all this.

[neoplacebo]

So they're going to have a lot of people with yuge bills, and a lot more that didn't have power for a few days and realize it could have been them with the yuge bills. If these people vote, are they going to forget about this by election day?

I say their tendency to vote against their own interests will hold no matter what. Especially in Texas. Hell, they'd rather have Oklahoma bring them electricity in a bucket than change their ways.

[Vrede too]

So they're going to have a lot of people with yuge bills, and a lot more that didn't have power for a few days and realize it could have been them with the yuge bills. If these people vote, are they going to forget about this by election day?

I say their tendency to vote against their own interests will hold no matter what. Especially in Texas. Hell, they'd rather have Oklahoma bring them electricity in a bucket than change their ways.

Texas has been on the cusp of flipping blue for awhile now. We'll see if this is the final straw. Its electoral votes in 2024 and beyond would pretty much assure Dem wins until the Repugs make major changes.


Book your Mexican Getaway Now!

It really is Ted Cruz' Senate office phone number. And the mailbox is full. Brutally brilliant, Lincoln Project!

[Vrede too]

Republicans be trashy, Ted Cruz doubly so.

He's throwing his daughters under the bus. Pig. Texans are wishing that he'd just stayed in Cancun.

New whiny excuse:

Ted Cruz now blames ‘Trump withdrawal’ for Cancun trip criticism
‘They don’t know what to do so they obsess over my taking my girls to the beach,’ said Texas’s under fire senator

[O Really]

That might be true for some, but he's apparently not noticed that real Texas citizens, many of whom are Republicans, are also pissed at him.

[Vrede too]

That might be true for some, but he's apparently not noticed that real Texas citizens, many of whom are Republicans, are also pissed at him.

Others have made him a laughingstock.



Some good news:

Sea turtles sent sliding back home after cold snap in Texas (00:24 video)

Cool:

Huge ice sheet breaks off Lake Michigan shoreline
A local news outlet in Chicago has captured the moment a huge sheet of ice broke away from a frozen shore of Lake Michigan. Parts of the lake froze earlier this month after an extended cold spell in and around the Chicago area. (01:21 video)

[GoCubsGo]

Cool, hadn't seen that.