Texas is really, really bloody scary right now

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

People were struggling with poverty even when things were going well. They've been hard hit by COVID, and now this.

Link here www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/18/texas-food-banks-crisis-storm-freezing-supplies

Terrifying.

@MechantGourmet

This is caused by Texas' isolationism though- they didn't want to be part of a national grid, because other states would take all their power... so you have three grids in the US- east, west, and Texas. Will this catastrophe change their practices?

You do realise that more than one person lives in Texas, it isn’t full of identical people with identical views.

In the last election, 5.9 million voted Republican, 5.3 million voted for Biden.

It's a democracy- they select representatives that have created this situation.
That doesn't mean I don't empathise, or sympathise with those that are suffering.

Used to live in California - there is a huge amount of poverty there too, which is often hidden to visitors or city dwellers. America is the ultimate representation of what happens when there is a huge focus on low taxes and little in the way of public services so no safety net. Dont think we are much better off here, to be honest and after so many years of tory governments, the wealth divide here is bigger all the time too.

Texas is large and wealthy enough to be its own country, and has a very distinct state culture and history. As a US state, it's fascinating.

Their situation presently is certainly lamentable and a bit embarrassing, but in their defence they aren't accustomed to this degree of "weather", they also draw a lot of energy from wind and the wind turbines have frozen, causing mass outages.

Criticising Texas feels a bit like Central Europe or Russia laughing at our difficulties during Beast from the East.

It’s only been on the news briefly. I hope the nations guard or who ever have been out supporting people. The death toll is going be high for vulnerable people.

@MechantGourmet

This is caused by Texas' isolationism though- they didn't want to be part of a national grid, because other states would take all their power... so you have three grids in the US- east, west, and Texas. Will this catastrophe change their practices?

I should think not, because the wealthy ones with all the political clout will come through it relatively unscathed, and the ones who are the worst hit will be fully occupied with just surviving and getting back on their feet for the foreseeable future. The ones who do actually survive, I mean.

My friend lives there they voted libertarian soooo they don't deserve to freeze to death unlike families who voted republican? The whole situation is terrible. It's aweful that they are putting profit over people and that their blaming green energy for the power problems 🤣 the electricity company is even purposefully turning off power and putting up prices.

@PicsInRed

Texas is large and wealthy enough to be its own country, and has a very distinct state culture and history. As a US state, it's fascinating.

Their situation presently is certainly lamentable and a bit embarrassing, but in their defence they aren't accustomed to this degree of "weather", they also draw a lot of energy from wind and the wind turbines have frozen, causing mass outages.

Criticising Texas feels a bit like Central Europe or Russia laughing at our difficulties during Beast from the East.

I didn't mean to criticise Texas, I felt sorry for the people who are suffering there.

I don't think the situation is embarrassing in the slightest.

@WannabemoreWeaver

Used to live in California - there is a huge amount of poverty there too, which is often hidden to visitors or city dwellers. America is the ultimate representation of what happens when there is a huge focus on low taxes and little in the way of public services so no safety net. Dont think we are much better off here, to be honest and after so many years of tory governments, the wealth divide here is bigger all the time too.

This and people still supporting the Tories with their ideology which is exactly the same.

@Wetalkedaboutthis

That's terrifying, will the government help them out?

Well that’s down to Biden to get FEMA involved.

ThePelicansBriefs

Awful for you all but can I ask a daft question? Why did you have to throw your frozen food away if it's sub zero over there? It wouldn't have thawed out very quickly, or just given it to those with less? Sorry I'm not being critical just curious.

Also, how horrifying for them when the thaw hits - there will be so many frozen and burst pipes to deal with in a state which won't be accustomed to that - and therefore many households won't have automatically shut their water off at the stopcock... 😕

It is awful but no unusual for many well off American states have extreme poverty from starvation to homelessness no medical care, massive opioid problems caused by medics over prescriptions.
It is the land of the born lucky otherwise you're fecked.

Green energy accounts for 20 percent of power and yes about half of the wind turbines are not working but like their pipeline they didn't bother prepping it for cold wether.

Saying they brought this on themselves is like saying everyone who uses a foodbank in the UK is at fault because the UK keeps electing a Tory government

If food gets to cold would it be ruined by freezer burn?

People voting for Ted Cruz is mystifying when they could have voted for O'Rourke who even now, as a private citizen, is doing more to help Texans than their elected politicians.

These are actual human beings living through a nightmare situation. Anyone gloating/lacking sympathy because some of them may have different political beliefs to them needs to have a long hard look at themselves in the mirror. It's a despicable thing to do.

Lived in Texas for a while about a decade ago. Had never seen deprivation like this in a developed country before. As others have said, wealth distribution is very unequal.

It was also really obvious that the power grid had some serious problems - for example the Gulf coast gets hit by hurricanes and tropical storms every year, but all power lines are above ground and get shredded on a regular basis.

@Callingallmajortoms

Green energy accounts for 20 percent of power and yes about half of the wind turbines are not working but like their pipeline they didn't bother prepping it for cold wether.

I suppose part of it is its hard to take a picture of a "frozen" fossil fuel power plant (or rather one non-operational due to the cold) whereas frozen wind turbines are a very obvious, striking image. That and the political incentive to blame green energy.

@anniegun

Saying they brought this on themselves is like saying everyone who uses a foodbank in the UK is at fault because the UK keeps electing a Tory government

And people do! It's a very common sentiment, threads on here are legion and comments online are shocking. 'They' don't 'prioritise', have tech and Sky (blah blah blah), WWII comparisons, shouldn't have had kids (can't feed don't breed), 'they' don't know how to cook, recipe willy waving, etc.

It's always shocking how people in the UK look down their noses at America when so many of their values are ripped off from us and we're going the same way.

We're just moving this over to the News topic.

Totally terrible. And anyone on here saying they deserved it or they can’t feel sympathy for Texans is behaving despicably. Also extremely ironic they are judging others for their poor values while displaying totally toxic values themselves.

Also we’re in no position to judge this level of extreme and precarious inequality here in the UK. Higher rates of child poverty here.

I can't have much sympathy for a state that voted for Trump. They voted to deny poor people healthcare. What kind of human beings do that? Now perhaps they understand what that means!

I have huge sympathy for those who are suffering but bear no responsibility for their political choices ie the children living in poverty.