I know, I know, y’all think I’m just another cheerful optimist. But I’m not, I prefer to think of myself as a hopeful pessimist. But right now, I don’t that the GOP nationally, and especially the GOP in Texas, realized how badly they are fucking this up.
Other than a single tenure as Governor by Democrat Ann Richards from 1991-1995, the GOP has pretty much treated the state of Texas as their own personal playground. And if you’re thinking that this somehow or other may have turned out to be detrimental to the lives of most ordinary Texans, you win a kewpie doll.
Up until today, the worst crime against their own people that the Texas GOP had committed was to deregulate their electrical service. Because power companies fall under the supervision of the federal government, in order to deregulate, the state of Texas had to literally isolate their power grid from the rest of the nation. That meant that Texas could no longer export excess electricity across state lines, but more importantly, in case of an outage, they could no longer import electricity from neighboring states.
It was just another typical corrupt Texas GOP power grab. Without federal regulation, the state instead created a toothless state regulatory energy agency, and turned the hen house over to the wolves. The Texas power companies took dictatorial control of energy in Texas.
This came to its predictable end in Texas a couple of weeks ago. A cold snap that almost every state in the nation looks as nothing more than a moderate pain in the ass, brought the state’s power grid to its knees, killing a minimum of 59 Texans. But this wasn’t a one-off, the same thing had happened 11 years earlier, but with less lethal results. This wasn’t a bug, it was a feature of the Texas power grid.
But the immediate aftermath of the disaster, and the GOP response, was a total Himalayan orgy. Governor Greg Abbott immediately went on FUX News to personally blame Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and the Green New Deal. His own state officials promptly came out and contradicted him. At the first sign of trouble, junior Senator Ted Cruz packed up Heidi and the kids and headed for Cancun, leaving freezing constituents behind with no potable water. He added insult to injury by jetting off to Orlando to speak at CPAC on the same day that the President came to Texas to tour the damage. While he was there, he made a crude joke about his trip to Cancun, rubbing salt in the wounds. And Cruz wasn’t the only GOP state official to boogie off to warmer climes as the disaster spread.
But in the meantime, what was happening on the other side of the aisle? Unlike his predecessor, President Biden, without so much as a kiss-my-ass, declared Texas a federal disaster area, freeing up FEMA to send in portable generators and manpower to help to start to untangle the mess. The much maligned Representative Ocasio Cortez, flexing her cred muscles, raised more than $5 million and went to Texas to help pitch in with the relief effort. And 2018 Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke did more as a private citizen from his home in El Paso to get assistance, than either one of the sitting Texas GOP Senators.
And then today came what might end up being the coup de grace. In a stunning announcement, President Biden stated that due to supreme Presidential leadership, two old enemies, Johnson and Johnson, and Merck, were combining forces to expedite the production and shipping of the J&J coronavirus vaccine. As a result, he said that instead of the end of July, there would be sufficient vaccine in this country to put a shot in any arm that wanted it by freakin’ Memorial Day!
But Biden pulled no punches in his speech. He issued a stern admonition that this was no time to let up on the safety procedures that had gotten us this far. Namely, mask wearing, social distancing, and frequent hand washing. This was a direct rebuke to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who took today as a perfect time to announce that he was rescinding the state’s mask wearing mandate, and that starting next week, the state will once again be wide open, no masks, bars and restaurants back at 100% capacity.
Look, most Texans aren’t morons. They’re capable of picking up and reading a newspaper, and those that can’t are still capable of hitting the power switch on a remote controller. They understand the issues facing them. And on the one side, they see a Democratic administration that treats them as equals, speaks to them with compassion, and is going balls-to-the-wall to solve their problems, both Covid-19 as well as their pathetic power grid. And on the other side? An arrogant, out of touch state GOP government that continues to stick it’s head in the sand like Limu fucking Emu.Â
For more than a decade now, it has been a Democratic wet dream to turn Texas blue. And the signs on the ground have been both enticing and encouraging. The changing racial demographics, as well as an ever more organized and effective Democratic grassroots organizing effort, have made inroads. But what if the ultimate arbiter turned out to be everyday, ordinary Texas citizens simply looking at what the Democrats are doing for them, and then comparing that with what their own state GOP is doing for them? Don’t touch that dial.
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35
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Our local ABC affiliate in Dallas, ran an informal poll of viewers. The question was “do you agree or disagree with Gov. Abbott’s lifting the mask mandate?” Over 20,000 people responded and the results were 65% disagree and 35% agree. Also, a side note, there was a report of a bunch of generators sitting in Ft. Worth not being used. The more of this that gets televised, hopefully, the more people will get their eyes opened.
Biden had FEMA send 60 generators and 10,000 gallons of fuel sent to Fort Worth. As of Feb 18, they were still sitting at the airport.
I couldn’t find out the current status of those generators and fuel.
Knowing republi-Q-NUTS, they are probably either still sitting there, or have been appropriated to be sold to wealthy republi-Q-NUTS!
BTW You still keep misspelling QPAC and GQP!
The really fun thing that Abbott may have forgotten is that “independence” can actually run both ways. While he’s all out there lifting the “mandate,” he’s also in a state that can’t then turn around and force local businesses (or even municipalities) to “obey” and “drop the masks.”
If I’m a responsible business owner, I’m damned well going to CONTINUE requiring customers to wear a face mask while in my store because I am NOT going to want to end up being the “ground zero” for a new outbreak of COVID cases. My store is going to be posting a sign reading “No shirt, no shoes, no mask, no service” as well as keeping social distancing protocols until there’s clear proof that things are getting back to a sense of true normalcy. And any customers who complain about it, well, I’d simply tell them, “Your money won’t do me any good if I’m six feet under, will it? Mask up or go somewhere else.”
I agree, the only downside is the a**holes that want to argue and abuse the hourly workers that try to enforce the rules. I really think the owners/managers of these establishments need to back up the workers and call police when people refuse to cooperate or leave.
I was out today at my local walgreens and heb. everyone was still wearing a mask, employees and customers. so I guess people have gotten used to them and prefer to wear a mask than risk a horrible death to themselves or family. abbot can make his pronouncement but I doubt that will change many peoples feelings about gatherings.