comment: >
  
  And not women, they are not the right people.
context: Any Federal Aid to Texas should require the "Texas Grid" to be brought up to the same weather proofing and redundancy requirements as the rest of the country. US should not keep propping up self-serving private utilities trying to cut corners to maximize their profits! >
  
  The grid needs nationalized like everywhere else. This is the only state that has this problem. >
  
  BuT mUh SuCcEsSiOn >
  
  secession* >
  
  Thanks, I thought I spelled it wrong but wasn't sure lol. >
  
  If only there was an incident that was a pre-cursor to this one that made them evaluate problems and prevent future incidents. >
  
  
  If only there was an incident that was a pre-cursor to the previous incident that was a pre-cursor to this one that made them evaluate problems and prevent future incidents.
  
  Ftfy.
  There have been at least 2 winter failures. Both resulted in a report detailing what should be done. Both were ignored in favor of profits. >
  
  
  "Look, I make enough that it doesn't impact me personally, I can just go on vacation to, say, Cancun, worst-case scenario. Join my buddy Ted. So why should I care about doing my job and helping the poors?"
  
  —republicans in control of the state, probably >
  
  I grew up going to church with republicans and republican politicians, including the governor of Texas at the time. This is exactly what they think. They think it is a moral failure, religious failure, and a lack of work ethic that makes someone poor. It’s gods will. It’s also why the don’t give a fuck about the environment. The earth belongs to them because god said so and if the earth becomes inhabitable then it’s gods will. It’s fucking insane >
  
  My brother told me a (related, stick with me) story once about his experience as EOD in Afghanistan. He and his crew were tasked with teaching a group of Afghani men how to clear land mines from an area. They had advanced equipment, hundreds of hours of training, and got to work. They wanted to  show them how you could clear the field in low tech ways all the way up to using robots! They got to work and pulled out their equipment and got started doing a demo. No more than 5 minutes into the class the Afghani men were visibly annoyed and agitated and no longer paying attention.  They stopped and asked them what was up.
  Well, they knew better! The lead dude told them they had been doing this for years and wanted to show the EOD guys how it's done. They obliged them and said go ahead, show us. Keep in mind they are standing in front of an active mine field with live ordinance. The Afghani soldiers left and came back minutes later with HUGE poles, several meters long each. They lined up in a row, raised the poles above their heads, and began walking forward in unison smacking the ground with their sticks ahead of them. Naturally there was a lot of "allahu akbar! SMACK allahu akbar! SMACK" going on. 
  The EOD guys were mortified, but the veterans among them weren't too surprised. My brother started yelling, demanding logical answers, and demanded to know if they just gave no shits about their life or the life of their friends. The answer was no, if they die they die and it's God's will that they do so.  They had absolute faith that smacking the ground with sticks, even though there were trained professionals waiting to educate them literally feet away, was 💯 the correct course of action. In fact the soldiers were stupid to even doubt it, which is why they got so agitated. 
  It seems to me like a lot of Texas politicians and the people who support them have a lot in common with those Afghani villagers and their clerics/politicians. I'll let you use your imagination but there are a lot of parallels you can draw. 
  BTW, one of those guys died the following week clearing a bomb from the side of the road with a stick. He was a local hero. >
  
  Yeah same kinda people, except worse. They have more in common with the attitudes of the taliban. The people in the church I grew up in were proud to call themselves religious radicals and warriors of god. They are very unselfaware people to say the least. They would harp on and on about Islamic extremists, how much of a threat they are and shariah law is, and how Christianity is under attack all while wanting the US to become a strictly Christian nation, and believing it had been founded as a Christian nation. I mean shit i was raised to be a soldier in a holy war. And it’s not like these people weren’t rich either or weren’t college educated. They were. They had property, companies, held political positions. I’m sure some were there Jan 6 or at least cheering it on >
  
  I'd start calling them "clerics" and ask them questions about "holy war" and their idea of "Judeo-law" until they caught on and kicked me out. Which I'm guessing for many might take a while they can be very oblivious. I was in a similar church like that myself for a while and I know exactly what you are talking about. The most disconnected to me was how you could question them if they believed in freedom you would get absolutely no hesitation. But freedom for everyone to make their own choices? ... Crickets. You aren't supposed to ask that one out loud. The unspoken answer is no, of course not, freedom for the right people only.