comment: >
  
  Almost like the state should have worked on its power infrastructure when it went down THE LAST TIME IT WAS SNOWY.
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? >
  
  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. >
  
  I’m fully on board with dumping on Texas state government for embracing deregulation to the point that allowed that catastrophe in February two years ago. But this week is not that. The grid remained functional. This was ice causing damage to trees and power lines. As far as I know, that isn’t something Texas voters can change at the ballot box. Your disdain for all Texans is not helpful, nor is it funny. >
  
  Thank you for having a shred of decency. It's like people here have never been to a major city in Texas, looked at a demographic map, or seen voting trends the past decade. >
  
  "That's what they get for electing Abbott!" like every Texas city hasn't been reliably blue for the last decade. >
  
  I bunch of idiots in this thread attempting g to "own the right" because the right likes to "own the libs". >
  
  a lot, maybe the majority, are from downed power lines. there are trees falling over all across town, my neighborhood looks like a tornado hit it. there are lines down in my yard lol. it has nothing to do with what happened last time and Im not sure exactly what could be done to prevent it, this kind of thing doesnt happen often. I was born in texas and have lived in austin like 30 years. This is the only time this has happened on this level, usually its like a tornado taking out a neighborhood lines or something, not all across the area at the same time. >
  
  It's not the grid, it's all local from the ice. It's interesting how many folks are giddy when they hear a Texan is without power. Lame! >
  
  This is why when someone says on the internet “I live in Texas” I apologize to them for that awful situation they’re in. Texas Is a hellhole for the poor and vunerable. >
  
  My in-laws live there, me and wife were talking to brother in law one time ago about how “the power company shut offs power to his property to conserve power whenever they want” and I said that’s the most communist bullshit I ever heard why aren’t they upset about that?, he said “it’s not bad because we have an independent power grid in case the government wants to take over, so I support their decisions”. Can’t win with these people. >
  
  LOL as the government is literally taking away their power.... Smh >
  
  Texan here… shit happens to your power when an ice storm causes a shit ton of trees to break and fall on power lines. Happened in my neighborhood. >
  
  Northern Canadian here... shit happens to your power when an ice storm causes a shit ton of trees to break and fall on power lines AND YOU HAVE NOT DONE A FUCKING THING TO MITIGATE THE SITUATION. >
  
  The ones who voted for their governor can be frustrated all they want; some of those Texans voted for the party who doesn’t care whether they have electricity or not, so those Texans can’t possibly be that upset. If they are, they should take a look in the mirror >
  
  For everyone that voted for Abbott and GOP, fuck you.
  This is your future, the same disappointment of empty promises with no action. Stop voting GOP unless you all are that heartless and dumb. >
  
  Somehow this is Biden’s fault, along with wind energy. >
  
  You get what you voted for >
  
  Better to die free and freezing then, not having freedom and a stable electrical grid. /s >
  
  You get what you vote for. >
  
  Abbott was just re-elected, and he won by a margin. This is the governance Texas currently wants. >
  
  Don’t worry guys, they have shit tons of freedom guns and ammo. They can just continuously shoot at each other to warm up each others house >
  
  Hell has actually frozen over. >
  
  Texas GOP are a bag of dicks, but the statewide grid held up just fine.
  Outages are due to downed lines from heavy icing - mostly tree limbs falling. 
  Most neighborhoods look like a tornado went through them.
  Austin (democratic bastion) has been the most impacted by far. Falls on the city (and Austin Energy) in this case. >
  
  Goddamn, thought the thumbnail was a frozen corpse. >
  
  Ice doesn’t take down power lines anywhere but in Texas?  Amazing. Also false. 
  This isn’t a grid failure. It’s broken power lines. >
  
  Is there another state that has this problem every single winter? >
  
  Happened all the time when I was growing up in the Midwest. We just emptied the freezer onto the patio until it came back on. And it doesn’t happen every winter, it happens every ice storm. There’s no massive outage, which you can confirm by googling. >
  
  I live in Texas. Have most of my life. 
  We experience power outages during the winter and we started to have rolling outages in the summer as well. 
  No need to google.  I'm currently in the middle of it. >
  
  You’re currently in the middle of rolling outages?  Please where?  Bc there’s no report of that happening anywhere. ERCOT has plenty of demand. They’re not recommending any conserving, and not requiring rolling blackouts anywhere in the state. Probably ice tore your wire down and you’re blaming it on rolling blackouts? >
  
  I really hate these karma farming bots reposting top news stories from last year. Oh, wait. >
  
  Not us.  We did just fine.  Lots of ice >
  
  This article is from this year. People should read the article before commenting. My husband was on a call with a colleague who lives in Texas and it’s bad. When will people stop and ask themselves if this system works for most people and act accordingly. >
  
  I’m thankful everyday I got the fuck out of Texas >
  
  Hard to feel sorry for them at all when this has already happened before and they continued to elect the same trash people that did nothing about it. >
  
  What do you mean? It happens everywhere. This is pretty normal with ice. >
  
  My sympathies to the <50% of Texas who are being held hostage by idiots. >
  
  I have trouble feeling any sympathy. The people of Texas choose this in the name of freedom over and over again. Hopefully their comfort guns can provide solace, because they won't give much warmth. >
  
  Pretty tone deaf thing to say. Lumping everyone together like that... wish there was a word for it. It's easy to make these kinds of comments when you live in a different state with more reasonable people. Disgusting. >
  
  I got power in Dallas boi >
  
  If you're from Texas, you missed your chance to be better. Next time, try to remember that kids lives and heat are more important than being a "republican" or whatever else you voted red for. That or shut the fuck up. No one has anything but pity for someone that doubles down on hurting themselves and others at every opportunity.
  Edit: letter
  Edit 2: also rage and disappointment >
  
  ITT: people so desperate to make a quip that they basically forget about the huge blue/minority presence in Texas and all of the vote suppression the TX GOP engages in. >
  
  Good thing they re-elected Abbott.
  He's definitely never let this happen before.
  My money's on Ted Cruz winning his next election as well.
  Good job, Texas.
  /s >
  
  Stop me if you've heard this one... >
  
  “Frustrated Texans vote for the same group of idiots who have been buttfucking them for 40 years” >
  
  No, we threw them out in the 80s and 90s.  The democrats ran the show for 100 years.  They’re still mad we took their slaves away. >
  
  I feel so owned right now. Wait… no I don’t. I live in Massachusetts and we have heat. >
  
  Fake news. >
  
  Imagine wanting to freeze in your own home over having some kind of regulation. >
  
  Just like Politicians and The Great state of Texas, Die people die....only the little people pay! >
  
  "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
  Another winter, another year the freedom grid can't keep up with changing weather. But I am sure Global Warming is just a politically fueled myth. >
  
  Almost like this happens every year and the people in charge still do nothing about it, and then the people of Texas still vote those people in to be in charge.  Funny… 🤔 >
  
  Not frustrated enough to wake up and vote out the Repubs. >
  
  Hot damn, whatchu seggestin pardner? >
  
  You cowboys are getting fleeced. >
  
  Pro tip, live next to an ER or a fire station.. or vote blue next time.. >
  
  Both… Lets do both. >
  
  “Frustrated Texans blame themselves for electing the same people who do nothing to hold those responsible for the poor condition of the states power grid.”  
  Fixed the headline for you. Texas residents are getting exactly what they’ve asked for >
  
  Grid held up fine. 
  Outages are almost all localized due to downed power lines from tree limbs falling.
  Look at any photos of Texas neighborhoods - they look like a tornado hit them. Hundred year oaks completely destroyed. >
  
  The schadenfreude is real, but remember that people will die because of this, and not every Texan voted for Abbot’s freedom-to-fail grid. >
  
  What about the blue voters who keep trying every election season?
  Fuck them I guess lol. >
  
  Wow if only they could have known re-electing greg abbott would lead to the same shit that’s been happening under greg abbott >
  
  Beto can prevent ice storms? He really should have mentioned that in his campaign. >
  
  I hear he has the secret power to prevent an unregulated power grid that doesn’t meet federal standards and therefore also can’t connect to any other neighboring state in time of need >
  
  And just how is connecting to another grid going to repair the power lines on poles in residential streets that snapped from the weight of the ice or due to tree limbs falling on them (which broke because of the weight of the previously mentioned ice)? >
  
  Much sympathy for the Texans who didn't vote Republican. >
  
  This headline should also have the word “again” in it. >
  
  Bootstraps people bootstraps. >
  
  I live in Nebraska. We get every extreme of weather aside from hurricanes. 
  The last time we had major outages was because of that insane storm in 2021. And those were rolling blackouts for most areas due to the natural gas shortage. 
  North Platte got really screwed with a 7 hour outage in the middle of the night, but it was only 7 hours. There was one small town that lost power for I think a day, but no one was harmed since people had backup generators and neighbors helped eachother out. And I mean small town. Maybe 200 residents. 
  If we can maintain a public power district with rates far lower than Texas and dramatically higher reliability, there's zero excuse but greed. >
  
  
  Across Texas, 430,000 customers lacked power Thursday
  
  Are "customers" entities that they meter power to (e.g. send bills to?) If so, then the number of people is ~4x the number of customers that are residences minus the ones that are business (where no one lives.) Could be a lot of people. >
  
  What do you mean? 
  We never lost power….not this time anyway >
  
  Yet another example of how republicans FAIL at governance. 
  The entire point of a government is to prevent shit like this from happening. But Republicans are more concerned with culture wars and upward wealth redistribution. >
  
  The entire point of government is to prevent ice storms? Dang son, you need to ease off the meds. 
  California’s diehard Democrats fall painfully short in preventing wildfires, rolling brownouts, or earthquakes but by gawd them damn Republicans in Texas are idiots because they can’t prevent freezing rain. Is blaming it all on global warming off limits? >
  
  Texas republicans- “ well we got hit by this ice storm and it took out our grid, should we legislate to update our grid to ensure the citizens who elected us don’t loose power in another ice storm???” 
  You -“Nah you can’t control ice storms” 
  Texas Republicans- “you’re right let’s ban books and target trans folk!! That’ll work!!!” >
  
  Stop electing Greg Abbott. >
  
  You had the chance to be rid of Abbott and you failed. So, no sympathy for anyone who voted for this clown show. Freeze for all I give a shit. This happened before, they said it would happen again, Abbott lied to you face and said it wouldn’t, and now low and behold HERE WE ARE AGAIN. Nope you made the bed, now try to warm up in it dipshits. Keep voting for stupidity. You have your “freedoms” to keep you warm, I’m sure. 
  I have sympathy for those who didn’t vote for him and saw this coming. Y’all have my support. >
  
  Not surprising considering the operators did nothing to solve the issues that the last storm had caused. "Oh your power is out? Just go to another state until it's back lol" >
  
  The grid is fine this time around.   Most power outages are local outages due to downed power lines. >
  
  Why are they frustrated? This is exactly what they voted for. >
  
  Remember when Texans could've voted Abbott out a few months ago? >
  
  We love him. >
  
  Again. But hey at least those pesky illegals were bussed to another state right guys???? /s >
  
  And the state has a $32 billion surplus this year. I wonder if it’s because they don’t spend any money on improving infrastructure? >
  
  Secede already! Don't need us! >
  
  I have the ability to simultaneously feel sympathy for suffering human beings and be angry at some of those people for inflicting this on themselves by who they choose to vote for. >
  
  Well now their guns, bible-licking freedoms and hatred of immigrants can keep them and their children warm, suck eggs Texas! >
  
  They literally had this happen last year and then re-elected the same guys, what did you think would happen? >
  
  This is what Texans voted for. I'm not sure why they are complaining? >
  
  Blah blah blah, they keeping voting the same people into office so I don’t feel sorry or want to hear the people of Texas bitching about their power issues. You’d think after the first power outage a couple years ago, people would have taken their asses down to Costco or Home Depot and bought a couple generators for emergencies? >
  
  What, have they run out of refugees and transgender children to burn? >
  
  Hmm, maybe electing far-right morons over and over again is a bad idea. Who would have thought? >
  
  You get what you voted for, and so many people knew better, but did it anyway. >
  
  In other news the rest of America does not give a fuck for a state that keeps electing Abbott and sending the shittiest politicians possible to DC >
  
  Again? Issue not yet fixed from last years debacle? Who is in charge there. Lives are at stake. >
  
  Completely different. Grid held up fine. 
  Outages are due to downed power lines with the heavy icing. >
  
  Keep voting Republican!  I'm sure it'll work out eventually. >
  
  🎶That’s what they voted for🎶 >
  
  Abbot said it was all good y'all. >
  
  This is what they wanted, they voted most of the same people in. Oh well, learn next time, or don't. >
  
  Most of them will take out their frustration by voting Republican in the next statewide elections. >
  
  You get what you vote for. >
  
  Republican leadership at its finest. >
  
  I really have no pity for them anymore because they keep electing the same people and expecting things to change. 
  You don't like the way things are going, vote some different people into office. Republican, democrat, independent, martian, it doesn't matter because obviously continuing to elect the same officials isn't fixing things. Give your balls a tug Texas. >
  
  Keep voting against your interests and see what happens Texas. >
  
  It’s definitely groundhogs day today. >
  
  I hear Cancún is nice at this time of year… >
  
  You know what, Texas voted to keep Greg “got his ass kicked by a tree” Abbott in office so we deserve this. At this point his voters should appreciate the fact that they get to live like real cowboys did. You know without electricity and heat. >
  
  That’s tacky.   You should be ashamed >
  
  And yet they will continue to elect people who can’t govern for shit because they’re too busy passing laws to allow them prosecute women for having sex and transgender people for existing. >
  
  dont mess with texas unless you're a winter storm >
  
  Is Rafael in DC or Cancun? >
  
  Texans: "Tread on me harder daddy Abbott". >
  
  
  Thousands of frustrated Texans shivered in their homes Thursday after more than a day without power, 
  
  What was the date when this happened? >
  
  Didn’t happen here. >
  
  I look forward to summer time when the grid can fail then too in the "unprecedented heat in the state of Texas", which is a thing that will suddenly be flying from our state leaders mouths without a hint of irony or reflection. >
  
  I cannot understand how people keep voting for these a-holes who care NOTHING for them. Stop Voting Against Your Best Interests! Owning “the libs” will NOT keep you warm! >
  
  You get the power grid you voted for. >
  
  This is a classic, I've seen it on a rerun. >
  
  The same people who think they should secede.