comment: >
  
  Where did I say it wasn't? It's a universal problem that affects power grids and is disproportionately affecting Arkansas by the same data source from the article. 
  Local jurisdictions trimming back trees across thousands of miles of Texas roads is also not the topic being parroted in comments.
context: Governor Abbott - Sorry there's no power, we spent the money for upgrades to the grid shipping migrants around the country. >
  
  How can they not feel warm after a burn like that? >
  
  Because they have no power, so no internet. 🤷🏻‍♂️ >
  
  Sooo what you’re really trying to say is it’s somehow Al Gore’s fault. >
  
  ☝️this guy gets it >
  
  I mean, if they had just left Jimmy’s solar panels on the roof this all could have been averted. >
  
  Had jimmy put them up there we wouldn't have needed to spend the money to take them down.
  It's Jimmy's fault. >
  
  But... Jimmy did put them up there. That's how they were able to take them down.
  Or do you mean if Jimmy had personally installed them himself? >
  
  (Think they may have dropped a "not" along the way. Happens to the best of us.) >
  
  “Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business.”  - Rick Perry >
  
  Maybe they should impeach the people who keep doing this to them. >
  
  Or at least stop voting for them. >
  
  I recently saw that Texas is gerrymandered intentionally so that Republicans can't lose even though most of the state's registered voters are Democrat. >
  
  Last election my district was squarish, then we nearly voted blue. It's noodly now. It feels like one of those Turkish ice cream vendors. I just want my damn ice cream >
  
  Our freedom grid is performing exactly as expected after operators did absolutely nothing to fix the problems we knew about from the last storm.
  EDIT: For those pointing out the difference between this and previous storms, one of the recommendations from ERCOT after the near grid failure 2 years ago was improving redundancies in substations to prevent widespread outages and keep them localized.
  Literally nobody did this, Austin Energy indicated only 5% of that work has been completed, which has driven the current outage situation with people being without power for 2 days now.
  30% of Austin has been without power for 2 days now, including me.
  People in areas which experience regular icing have redundancies and systems in place to prevent long outages.  Those people also tend to have generators available. >
  
  This exactly - if Texans don't give a shit about their failing grid then I don't either >
  
  Fuck the 47% of us who voted against Abbott, right?
  The people impacted by this outage are mostly in Austin which absolutely did not vote for Abbott.
  We give a shit, the grid operators don't - they make crazy money when this happens because the price of energy skyrockets. >
  
  Less than 50% or we wouldn't be having this conversation >
  
  47% voted against Abbott in the last election.
  TX is fairly evenly divided, but gerrymandering has given the GOP a significant advantage in our legislature which is of course where the laws and regulations surrounding this issue are written. >
  
  As a fellow blue dot in a red state I can understand that frustration. Watching the great salt lake dry up and "praying for rain" seems on par with how things are ran there >
  
  But they owned the libs by electing Abbot again. >
  
  Not all of us, but I guess fuck us right? >
  
  Yes, unfortunately. Fuck us all. >
  
  Beto still did a heck of a lot better than Wendy Davis or Lupe Valdez.
  Always makes you wonder if his position on guns was the final straw. >
  
  I think it was, but I get why he had it. Dude was from El Paso and then that shooting happened. That's when the rhetoric changed from him. >
  
  They're not freezing to death though... >
  
  oh is it that time of the year for Ted's cancun trip? >
  
  Just go to cancun bro >
  
  ~angry Ted Cruz packing noises~ >
  
  Like a shitty high school football coach, Texas just keeps running the same play over and over again and expecting different results. Fuck ‘em. >
  
  Considering that the only viable alternative is to face reality, I don't have very high expectations. >
  
  This will be fixed if they elect Abbott again, surely, >
  
  Fucking owning the Libs, errrrryday! >
  
  Man they wish not having power or heat was going to be the biggest problem. They are about to get slammed with a large bill for it as well lol. >
  
  If you want basic necessities like working infrastructure, stop voting Republican. >
  
  But I can either vote to make my life better or vote to upset the libs, it's no contest. >
  
  Texas has more important things to do, like making sure women are not getting abortions in the state. A functioning power grid is something that can wait. >
  
  Doctors can’t perform abortions if there is no electricity. >
  
  It's almost like they should upgrade to a federal grid system. But you know, keep voting in people that don't care about you.. >
  
  It's hard to care about this ongoing tale of self-harm, they're getting what they paid for. >
  
  Vote suppression is a thing but fuck all the blue/minority voters in urban areas fucked over by the Texas GOP, right? >
  
  "Everything is someone else's fault" is such a trite and predictable stance on Reddit. >
  
  Go look up vote suppression in Texas especially when it comes to large minority and blue areas in Texas like Houston.
  It's very much a thing and refusing to acknowledge it is just stupid. >
  
  I didn't say it wasn't real, it just isn't the driving force behind these policies or Texas being primarily a right wing crapheap. >
  
  A state that's gone over 40% blue regularly? Sure. >
  
  So it's "over 40% blue" but also those voters are suppressed.
  Pick a story. >
  
  “Those” voters aren’t the ones suppressed - there a lot of people that don’t or can’t feasibly vote my guy >
  
  I hope everyone in Texas is safe and can find a way to stay warm during this difficult time. It's heartbreaking to hear about all the people without power and heat. Stay strong Texas! >
  
  Thank you for having a basic level of human decency. You can't win as a blue/minority in Texas most of the time. Blue voters in other states just shit on us for "not doing enough" or whatever. >
  
  
  Uh huh. >
  
  So there's plenty to crap on Texas about, especially with their power grid fiasco, but:
  
  Unlike the 2021 blackouts in Texas, when hundreds of people died after the state’s grid was pushed to the brink of total failure because of a lack of generation, the outages in Austin this time were largely the result of frozen equipment and ice-burdened trees and limbs falling on power lines. The city’s utility warned all power may not be restored until Friday as ice continued causing outages even as repairs were finished elsewhere.
  
  This isn't a Texas power grid problem. This is VERY common throughout the south with winter storms where they are more commonly ice than snow. Ice causes lines to fall and equipment to freeze over. >
  
  Maybe cut trees that might fall on power lines? >
  
  Deforestation advocating, HELL YEA >
  
  lmao the Redditor you responded to is talking about cutting back the branches hanging over the lines >
  
  Well that's a given in itself, it was a joke brother >
  
  Elections have consequences. >
  
  Electrons have consequences. >
  
  Electricians have consciences >
  
  I'm one of those frustrated Texans. I spent the last two days on a 48hr shift getting soaked in freezing rain and trying not to crash my ambulance on mostly untreated roads only to get home this morning and find out I had no electricity and it'd been out long enough that my hot water isn't hot anymore.  Now they're saying I won't have power back until 20:30 tonight.  I just want to take a shower and cook some hot food >
  
  Sorry to hear that,  try to keep warm and get some rest.  The weekend is looking up so hang in there.  Yeah, days like this. >
  
  Thank God Abbot spent tax payer money on humanitarian human trafficking to send illegal immigrants to DC to protect them from the cold winters hitting Texas now since the Texas grid is pretty crappy and totally not vulnerable due to climate change. >
  
  Shouldn't this be in r/leopardsatemyface >
  
  You voted for this TX. Live with the consequences. >
  
  Elections have consequences. Vote better. >
  
  Don't blame me, I voted for Beto. >
  
  Is this Texas the state that has its own power grid? >
  
  I wonder how many people got to the bottom of the article where it stated that it wasn’t a power grid problem this time. It was trees covered in ice knocking down power lines. >
  
  No one here read the article. Reddit would only read it if they wanted to dismantle the headline. This one fits groupthink well. >
  
  Can you explain to me how trees falling on power lines isn't a power grid issue?