The Texas Senator has admitted it was "obviously a mistake" to take his family on holiday to Mexico as his home state was paralysed by a deadly winter storm.
Good evening, everyone. We just want to freshen up the situation a bit for you this evening. Thank you to Eric for holding down the fort as I wrangled power, water, work, and children like so many of our readers the last couple days. I hope this finds you powered.
CenterPoint is still reporting about 15,000 customers without power. This means 99.5% of the Houston area should have power back now. Just over 350,000 customers are still without power across Texas, which is down from 620,000 this morning. Many of those are due to issues stemming from ice in recent days. Per ERCOT, we’re still in a tenuous situation, but it sounds a like things are much more stable than they have been.
Majority of customers are able to be restored, electric companies still restoring outages in the field: https://t.co/abmB6Vv2Ju
So it goes. We encourage you to continue to conserve power so the overall situation continues to improve.
REMINDER: As power is restored, we urge everyone to continue conserving as much energy – and water – as possible to reduce the risk of additional outages. Visit https://t.co/24IKpbxGsD for tips on how to conserve. pic.twitter.com/dywZXyrEnz
The water situation is still a bit difficult. A boil water notice continues in Houston and many other places.
The City continues to experience system-wide low water pressure, and a Boil Water Notice remains in effect. If you do have water, use it sparingly for health and safety. The same goes for power. #ConserveUtilities@HouPublicWorkspic.twitter.com/yXK0or1rZ1
The city of Houston is directing bottled water distribution through city council member offices, so we’d encourage you to reach out your representative’s office if you need access. As for other communities, please check their websites, social media feeds, etc. Various news media in the city have also put together lists for this.
If you or someone you know need something more urgently or can provide support to those that may have those needs, please utilize the Crowdsource Rescue website. This organization has been working tirelessly and doing great things.
I’d encourage our readers to drop any advice or information about other organizations doing important work through the freeze in the comments section.
On to the weather.
Tonight & tomorrow
It was nice to see the sun in much of the area today, and temperatures did push 40 degrees. Meanwhile, Del Rio saw 10 inches of snow. It’s been a weird, weird week, y’all.
Clear skies and diminishing winds will allow for another night of cold, cold temperatures.
Nighttime lows will be in the 20s for most areas away from the coast. (Weather Bell)
Nighttime lows will be in the 30s for Galveston, around 30 or upper-20s in the Bay Area and Chambers County, mid to upper 20s for the south side of Houston and Brazoria County, mid-20s north of Houston and Fort Bend County, and low-20s, with pockets of upper-teens possible in Montgomery County, Liberty County, and points north. Generally, the farther north and west you go, the colder it will be. Thus, a Hard Freeze Warning is in effect tonight for most of the region. Continue to keep pipes and plants fully protected, and make sure to check on people and bring pets inside.
The good news is that temperatures will recover quickly tomorrow. All areas should be back above freezing by late morning with full sunshine. Look for highs tomorrow to top out in the mid-40s in most places except the far northwest.
There will likely be another freeze tomorrow night, but temperatures will probably be about 3 to 6 degrees warmer than tonight. The finish line is in sight. I’ll have the latest on the rest of the forecast tomorrow morning, and I can almost promise to bore you to tears, which is exactly what I think we’re looking for right now.
On Wednesday night millions of Texans had been without power—and heat—for days, shivering through the below-freezing temperatures that had persisted for the better part of a week. Many filled warming shelters as they sought to survive yet another night after the state’s infrastructure had failed and leadership had proven ineffectual. Meanwhile, cities including Amarillo, Austin, Corpus Christi, Houston, and San Antonio had warned those fortunate enough to have taps that they needed to boil water to safely drink it—which many couldn’t do because they didn’t have power for their electric stoves. Among the leaders who urged caution in these unusual conditions was Senator Ted Cruz, who recommended that Texans stay off the roads and not risk driving on the ice. It was advice he didn’t…View Original Post
Texas’ power grid, which operates as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, covers 90% of the state. The other 10% includes El Paso, the upper Panhandle and a chunk of East Texas.
Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune
While millions of Texans were left in the dark this week after an arctic blast pummeled the state, not every part of Texas experienced major electricity issues.
Texas has an unusual power setup. Unlike the other states in the union, which are mostly interconnected, Texas has its own power grid. That grid, which operates as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, covers 90% of the state. The other 10% includes El Paso, the upper Panhandle and a chunk of East Texas.
These areas, for various reasons, including proximity, instead get their electricity from other grid providers. For example, the Panhandle is closer to Kansas than to Dallas.
The main culprit for the power outages in ERCOT’s coverage area was failures across Texas’ natural gas operations and supply chains due to the extreme temperatures. From frozen natural gas wells to frozen wind turbines, all power sources faced difficulties during the winter storm. Texans largely rely on natural gas for power and heat generation, especially during peak usage, experts said.
Energy and policy experts told The Texas Tribune this week that limited regulations on companies that generate power and a history of isolating Texas from federal oversight help explain the crisis. They said Texas’ decisions not to require equipment upgrades to withstand extreme winter temperatures and to operate mostly isolated from other grids in the U.S. left the power system unprepared for this week’s outages.
But the weather didn’t plunge other parts of the state into darkness. Their grids were equipped to withstand those frigid temperatures.
Take El Paso, for instance. El Paso’s power was originally all local, but it started looking for other resources in the 1960s as the population grew, including turning to a New Mexico power plant. Then in the late 1970s, El Paso Electric became part owner of the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona.
“You look where El Paso is, and people not from this area don’t understand. I can get from Los Angeles faster than I can get to Houston,” said Steven T. Buraczyk, senior vice president of operations for El Paso Electric. “Economically it just made more sense for us to be part of the Western grid because of where we’re located.”
El Paso also has access to the Montana Power Station, built on the east side of town after the hard freeze in 2011 that left the city without power and water. Buraczyk said officials made several critical decisions after that storm to prevent a similar situation from happening in the future, including having its equipment being able to withstand low temperatures as low as negative 10 degrees.
“We went back and did some better insulation and weatherization to withstand colder temperatures,” said Buraczyk. “But the biggest thing, in my mind, is we built another power plant. It’s difficult to retrofit something that is 50 or 60 years old. And have as good results as when you’re just building it.”
Earlier this week, El Paso Electric spokesperson Eddie Gutierrez told El Paso TV station KTSM that “only 875 customers were impacted by an outage of less than five minutes” because they were better prepared this time around.
The Panhandle also escaped major damage this week. Residents there have dealt with short, rolling blackouts but nothing like the dayslong outages in the other parts of the state, reports Amarillo TV station KAMR. Most of the Texas Panhandle and South Plains get their power from Xcel Energy, serviced by the Southwest Power Pool. That power grid spans 14 states, which allows them to share power when there’s a need. The region SPP serves also experienced harsh weather conditions this week, which is why the Panhandle experience some power outages.
Xcel Energy spokesperson Wes Reeves told KAMR the company has spent time and effort weatherizing its power plants in the last decade.
The Beaumont area is serviced by Entergy, which also beefed up its weatherization efforts before the storm. That allowed them to have fewer long-term outages compared with other parts of the state, Houston’s KHOU-TV reports.
Beaumont residents still experienced rolling outages after its power grid, Midcontinent Independent System Operator, became overwhelmed by the all-time high demand for electricity. At one point this week, about 33,000 residents experienced these outages. On Thursday, Entergy said it hoped to restore power to its customers by the end of the day.
Disclosure: El Paso Electric Co. and Entergy have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Hotpot is an AI photo restorer that "builds on the latest research to automatically remove scratches, sharpen colors, and enhance faces, transforming damaged photos into cherished memories. Our free service repairs both color photos and black & white ones."
I tried it out on a photo of relatives on my Russian side. — Read the rest
NASA’s Perseverance rover has successfully landed on the surface of Mars. It touched down at around 3:55PM ET, following a smooth descent to the surface. Perseverance's engineering cameras shared images from the landing site shortly after touchdown — NASA promised to share high-resolution photos later in the day.
NASA launched Perseverance at the end of last July from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Its landing caps off a busy month of arrivals at the Red Planet. Over the span of two days last week, the United Arab Emirates and China successfully put their own respective spacecraft in orbit around Mars.
Now that it’s safely on the surface of the planet, Perseverance will explore the Jezero Crater, a dusty and hazardous 28-mile section of Mars that was once an ancient river lake. NASA’s hope is that the rover will find signs of ancient microbial life while there. It will use a selection of instruments, including traditional and ultraviolet cameras, to hone in on a promising site before deploying a drill to take core samples. In 2026, a subsequent mission will attempt to return the specimens back to Earth.
Some prominent Republicans have blamed wind and solar power for the blackouts in the storm-stricken state. But the truth is that every source of generation fell short.
(Image credit: Matthew Busch/AFP via Getty Images)
by Jolie McCullough, Cassandra Pollock and Neelam Bohra
Jacob Duran warms his hands over a grill after his apartment lost power this week. During a virtual news conference Thursday, Electric Reliability Council of Texas CEO Bill Magness said the state isn’t “out of the woods yet” — but that he thinks “we’re in a glide path.”
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune
Texas is now generating enough energy so that it doesn't have to force electricity providers to cut power at people's homes, but around 325,000 customers were still enduring outages Thursday afternoon, Gov. Greg Abbott said.
The remaining outages were due to more local problems in the electrical system, which local companies were scrambling to repair. Abbott said in a press conference Thursday that every available repair truck had been dispatched in the state to address the lingering issues.
In addition, millions of people across the state have had their water service disrupted because of the massive winter storm.
"We will not stop until normalcy is restored to your lives," Abbott said. "Until that moment comes, I ask all Texans to continue your efforts to take the precautions that are needed to stay safe and warm."
Earlier Thursday, Electric Reliability Council of Texas CEO Bill Magness said the state isn't "out of the woods yet" — but that he thinks "we're in a glide path."
"We're still in very cold conditions, so we're still seeing much higher than normal winter demand," he told reporters. "If we do hit a bump and have some generation have to come back off, we may have to ask for outages but if we do, we believe they'll be at the level where they could be rotating outages."
Temperatures are expected to rise well above freezing across much of the state on Friday, which could further help the electricity situation.
It's unclear how many people currently are lacking power in the state, though the number has declined significantly in the past 24 hours. ERCOT officials said those without electricity still are likely to have been affected by ice storm damage on power distribution systems or are on systems that need to be manually restarted by crews after they were forced to shut down. Some large industrial facilities that voluntarily went offline are also still without power.
The improved situation is evident by the number of outages some of the biggest local power providers were reporting Thursday afternoon: 11% of Austin Energy customers are facing outages, compared to the 40% on Monday, and CPS Energy, which serves customers in the San Antonio area, reported that less than 1% of its customers were facing outages.
Oncor Electric Delivery, Texas’ largest utility, provides power for almost 4 million customers across Texas. It indicated outages were still affecting more than 150,000 people in its system. The progress comes after many Texans went days without power as temperatures were well below freezing.
As power returns for many, a new challenge has taken its place, however: As of Thursday morning, more than 13 million Texans were faced with water disruptions.
Cities across the state have required residents to start boiling water before using it for drinking, bathing or cleaning. Major cities including Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth, Galveston and Corpus Christi, as well as a handfuls of cities in eastern, central and northern parts of Texas have all issued boil-water notices. Many Texans have had no running water at all for at least a day or more.
Disclosure: CPS Energy and Oncor have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This week, as millions of Texans were left without power and water as temperatures dropped to record lows, one man said no—not me. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night would keep Ted Cruz from flying to Mexico for a vacation with his family. The rest of us are left to self-soothe. With curses. May you wait in line outside the only open grocery store for four hours only to find that there is no food left, save a Pop-Tart that slipped under some shelving. May the Pop-Tart be the weird cherry flavor. May you buy it, cut it into quadrants, and eat it over two days. May you realize that the only gloves you own are the porous Cinderella-style ones from…View Original Post
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, carries his luggage at the Cancún International Airport before boarding his plane back to the United States on Thursday.
Credit: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz returned to Texas on Thursday and expressed regret for his trip to Cancún, Mexico after being chastised by both Republicans and Democrats for leaving his state as it buckles under the severe effects of a devastating winter storm.
"Look, it was obviously a mistake and in hindsight I wouldn't have done it," he said.
Cruz, known to double down in the face of controversy, was contrite in an interview with Houston affiliate KTRK where he acknowledged the gravity of criticism coming his way both within the state and beyond.
There was immediate outcry overnight that a U.S. senator would travel out of the state amid the worst storm in many Texans' lifetimes.
Credit: ABC 13 Houston
"I was trying to be a dad, and all of us have made decisions — when you've got two girls who have been cold for two days and haven't had heater power, and they're saying 'Hey, look we don't have school why don't we go, let's get out of here.' I think there are a lot of parents that would be like, 'Look, if I can do this great.' That's what I wanted to do," he told the TV station.
"[But] really from the moment I sat on the plane, I began really second-guessing that decision, and saying 'Look, I know why we're doing this, but I've also got responsibilities, and it had been my intention to be able to work remotely, to be on the phone, to be on the internet, to be on Zoom, to be engaged, but I needed to be here and that's why I came back."
First spotted at an airport by a social media user who posted his photo, there was an immediate outcry overnight that a U.S. senator would travel out of the state amid the worst storm in many Texans' lifetimes.
NBC News reported that Cruz booked his return ticket early in the morning on Thursday. The New York Times reported that Cruz's wife, Heidi Cruz, organized an impromptu trip that was to last until Sunday.
Typically, in a disaster, a federal officeholder's primary role is to communicate to the federal branch — including the president — the immediate needs of the district or state. The first official move for a U.S. senator is to send a letter to the president after a governor makes a request for a federal emergency disaster declaration. Cruz and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn wrote such a letter on Feb. 14.
In the throes of a crisis, the onus of executing aid is mostly on a state's governor. But, as state leaders, senators often help coordinate relief efforts with other public officials, engage in a public information campaign and great care is taken to ensure the senator is in the public eye and showing concern.
The bigger task for senators comes after a crisis, when they must fight for federal money to deal with the damage.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told reporters he was focused on the disaster response and was not paying attention to the matter.
"Candidly, I haven't been following people's vacation plans," he said at a Thursday press conference.
State GOP Chairman Allen West similarly responded to a query from the Associated Press, saying his "focus" was on taking care of his family and friends.
“That’s something that he has to answer to his constituents about,” Texas GOP Chair Allen West said when asked whether Cruz’s travel was appropriate while Texans are without power and water.
The backlash on Twitter began Wednesday night, and by Thursday morning the state's junior senator was trending. Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa issued a statement calling on the senator to step down.
"Ted Cruz jetting off to Mexico while Texans remain dying in the cold isn’t surprising but it is deeply disturbing and disappointing," he said. "Now, he is proving to be an enemy to our state by abandoning us in our greatest time of need. For the 21st time, the Texas Democratic Party calls on Ted Cruz to resign or be expelled from office."
Cruz has previously made political sport of criticizing Democratic rivals in the state and in California.
In December, Cruz hammered Austin Mayor Steve Adler for traveling to Mexico while urging Austinites to stay home over the holidays.
"Hypocrites. Complete and utter hypocrites. And don't forget @MayorAdler who took a private jet with eight people to Cabo and WHILE IN CABO recorded a video telling Austinites to "stay home if you can...this is not the time to relax."
Earlier this week, Cruz was a focal point of ire among critics due to a 2020 tweet he sent mocking California's inability "to perform even basic functions of civilization, like having reliable electricity."
On Tuesday, he posted an about face on that front: "I got no defense...A blizzard strikes Texas & our state shuts down. Not good. Stay safe!"
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat who has been calling for Cruz' resignation over his role in attempting to block the certification of the presidential election, piled on Thursday morning to the Cruz criticism.
"If Sen. Cruz had resigned back in January after helping gin up a violent insurrection that killed several people, he could’ve taken his vacation in peace. Texans should continue to demand his resignation," she tweeted. She later urged her followers to donate to a link that would distribute money to several organizations that are aiding Texans in dire straits.
The choice of Mexico as a vacation destination for his family is also notable, as Cruz is a frequent critic of the nation's government and has previously made references to the "destabilizing violence."
First spotted at an airport by a social media user who posted his photo, there was an immediate outcry overnight that a U.S. senator would travel out of the state amid the worst storm in many Texans' lifetimes.
Introduction To Handbook Of American Indian Languages
Indian Linguistic Families Of America North Of Mexico
Boas and Powell
1966
Cherokee Language With Pictures
Chiltoskey
1972
English-Eskimo Eskimo-English Vocabulary
Compiled by Wells and Kelley
First published 1890, this edition 1982
Submitter: I was in the last part of the 400s, where people go to learn to speak another language and found these three books. The good news – they were no longer in the catalogue. Meaning at some point they either were not transferred over when we switched from Dynix to Sirsi, were transferred but then marked missing and stayed that way in the system until auto-discarded, or were discarded and someone forgot to black out the labels. The bad news is they were still on our shelves as of January 21st, 2021!
The books are problematic, of course, what with their age and the offensive title of the third book – they’re Inuit, not Eskimo. But the first one still had the cards from the card catalogue tucked inside. I wanted to save them simply because we shouldn’t forget how awful people were in the past so we can learn to be better in the future, though right now it feels like we still haven’t learned. But a gal’s got to have hope for a better world in the future, right?
Holly: I think languages is an area that is easily neglected. They don’t seem time sensitive like legal or medical books, so we just ignore them. Maybe not for 50+ years…but I do get that they have a longer shelf life than other subject areas. But they usually include culture or at least culture-related vocabulary. When you visit somewhere you want to be respectful and use the proper terminology. At the very least, get the name of the language right!
Is dating a challenge for you? Do you find it hard meeting the right person? Well, sulk no more because now an emotionally damaged human can be delivered right to your doorstep. With the Relationship Subscription Box you can customize your next relationship to find a partner that fits all your individual needs.
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If you are looking for a guy that won’t get attached, don’t worry… Dave won’t. Not only does he make the perfect wedding date, he’ll also drop you off at the ER after he gets a condom stuck inside you. Dave is everything a boyfriend is, except, you know, an actual boyfriend. When you ask him about your relationship status he will gaslight you and make you question if you’re a psycho. But don’t be fooled: he was a boyfriend as long as no one, especially you, called him one.
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You can never tell if Sarah is laughing or crying, and she can only express emotions by singing show tunes. She has 52 impersonations in her repertoire — 53 if you count the one she will make about your privates, which she might accidentally do at your next family gathering. Your roommates like her because she makes them Fruity Pebble pancakes in the morning, but it won’t make up for the amount of improv shows you’ll have to sit through.
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Lance is a free spirit — too free. He loves long walks and doesn’t believe in bank accounts. As a result, your dates will be “unique” and won’t cost him any money, plus he will always want to sleep at your place (because he doesn’t have one).
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Rachel will immediately friend-request you, and within minutes start searching for all your exes on social media. She will spend the next month constantly checking to see if they’ve liked your posts. Rachel will know more about you than you do, and whatever she can’t uncover online, she will find using your birth chart. She will also consistently ask you to take her photo standing in front of things, and get upset if you don’t wish her a happy birthday on your Insta feed.
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A relationship that will take you all the way to beautiful, sunny Epcot! Don’t worry about expenses; Diana is a rewards member. These are the perks of dating someone who goes to Disney six times a year. Diana is fun, childlike, and has a room in her house filled with magic wands.
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You can describe Joe in one word: BASIC. Every story he tells happened in college and involves a Wendy’s parking lot. He eats icing out of the can, and on Sunday nights he likes to watch reruns of old college football games. Sopeaking of which, don’t ask him if you can sleep in his old football jersey, he won’t let you — it’s in a frame for a reason.
“As Texas was battered by an icy storm and widespread power losses that left millions of residents freezing and fearing for their safety, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas left the state on Wednesday and traveled to Mexico for a previously planned family vacation, according to a person with direct knowledge of the trip.” — New York Times, 2/18/21
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Have you had a rough couple of months? Did you try to lead an insurrection against your own government? Did a pesky winter storm knock out the power and water for most of your state? Are you generally considered one of the worst humans alive and saw the vacuum left by Rush Limbaugh’s death as a chance to do something truly reprehensible?
Well, sounds like you could use a little time in beautiful Cancún, the premier destination for those looking to abandon their constituents during an unprecedented crisis. And while you may not be a fan of the Green New Deal, we know you’ll love our great new deals on hotels and airfare.
Cancún is a wonderful destination that’s more than just a place to make terrible decisions on your spring break; it’s a place where you can make terrible decisions at any age, no matter how much responsibility you have. Sure, sitting in a luxury hotel on the beach while people are helplessly freezing to death back home may seem “cruel” or “out of touch,” but now is not the time to find a conscience.
After soaking up some sun and taking some time for peace and relaxation, you might find yourself in the mood for some culture. You can take a trip to Chichen Itza to view the historic monuments of a formerly great civilization. But don’t think about it as a metaphor; think of it as a place that literally has the same amount of electricity as your state that you abandoned. Maybe you can even spin the trip as an investigation into how a civilization survived without electricity for so long since you have no real interest in solving Texas’ current power crisis. Besides, your whole party’s platform is about putting “America first,” and no one said that couldn’t apply that to the first place you flee to in times of trouble.
No trip to Cancún would be complete without a visit to the famous Señor Frog’s. What better way to commemorate your trip than by picking up a Señor Frog’s Cancún T-shirt? In fact, why stop at one? If you happen to know millions of people who are freezing, a nice warm T-shirt can really go a long way in saying, “Hey, I was thinking about you before I went on my trip and still decided to go anyway.” Plus, they come in long sleeves for added warmth.
During tough times, it’s important to let people know that as their elected official you feel their pain will do all you can to help them. So send out a few “sincere” and “compassionate” tweets and then catch the next plane out of town for a few days of fun and sun in Cancún! Best of all, you can sleep easy in one of our luxurious resorts knowing your base will still support you since this isn’t even the worst thing you’ve done this year.
House Republicans have unveiled their plan for "boosting" broadband connectivity and competition, and one of the key planks is prohibiting states and cities from building their own networks. The proposal to ban new public networks was included in the "Boosting Broadband Connectivity Agenda" announced Tuesday by Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Bob Latta (R-Ohio), the top Republicans on the House Commerce Committee and Subcommittee for Communications and Technology, respectively.
Republicans call it the CONNECT Act, for "Communities Overregulating Networks Need Economic Competition Today." The bill "would promote competition by limiting government-run broadband networks throughout the country and encouraging private investment," the Commerce Committee Republicans said in their announcement, without explaining how limiting the number of broadband networks would increase competition. Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) is the lead sponsor.
The bill itself says that "a State or political subdivision thereof may not provide or offer for sale to the public, a telecommunications provider, or to a commercial provider of broadband Internet access service, retail or wholesale broadband Internet access service."
The optics of Cruz’s trip to Mexico couldn’t have been worse. | Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Cruz forged ahead with plans to travel with his family to Mexico as his constituents struggle to survive.
An emerging political scandal over Ted Cruz’s alleged vacation plans is sweeping the internet amid fallout from Winter Storm Uri, which has left millions of Texans without electricity or running water for days now.
On Wednesday evening, political Twitter became obsessed with unconfirmed reports that the Texas senator flew to Cancun, Mexico, for a family vacation — reports that were confirmed on Thursday morning by Fox News and other outlets.
The optics of a Texas senator flying to a sunny resort as his constituents face unplowed roads, power outages, burst pipes, and food shortages isn’t great, to say the least.
A Twitter user named Juan Gomez sparked curiosity about Cruz’s whereabouts just before 9 pm ET on Wednesday when he posted a photo of a man who appeared to be Cruz waiting to board a plane at an airport above the caption, “Well Senator Cruz is flying to Cancun while millions of Texans do not have electricity.”
Soon, internet sleuths figured out that the man who appeared to be Cruz seemed to be traveling with his wife, Heidi (circled in the picture below), and their children. Others noticed that the man was wearing the same mask and ring that Cruz has been photographed wearing at the Capitol.
Still, as people went to bed on Wednesday evening, the social media reports about Cruz remained unconfirmed. Many noted that Cruz, a prolific and combative Twitter user, had gone radio silent, and his office wasn’t responding to requests for comment — circumstantial evidence suggesting something was up, but still not enough to say for sure that the photos were legit.
A journalist named David Shuster posted a tweet claiming he had “confirmed” that Cruz and his family “flew to Cancun tonight for a few days at a resort they’ve visited before,” but when asked by other reporters to detail his source, Shuster just referred to “multiple eye witnesses.”
... while others remarked on the awful optics of a US senator vacationing in Mexico while his constituents are struggling to survive.
While millions in Texas don't have working heat and water because of a crushing snow storm, Ted Cruz is flying off to Cancun for funsies. You just can't make this shit up.
Then on Thursday morning, Fox News’s Chad Pergram became the first reporter from a major outlet to confirm the story, citing his colleague Paul Steinhauser and a GOP source who said “the photos speak for themselves.” (Ironically, Fox News mostly ignored the story on TV, not mentioning it once Thursday morning.)
Colleague Paul Steinhauser confirms GOP TX Sen Ted Cruz traveled to Cancun amid the TX storm/power outages. GOP Source: “the photos speak for themselves”
The Associated Press and ABC later confirmed the story as well, with Houston police telling ABC that Cruz’s staff requested police presence “upon the Senator’s arrival at the airport” on Wednesday.
Politico’s Jake Sherman tweeted that it appeared Cruz was on the upgrade list for a Thursday flight from Cancun to Houston, which suggested that amid the firestorm, Cruz decided to cut his trip short. (Before Fox News confirmed the story, sleuths figured out that Cruz was on the upgrade list for a Wednesday flight from Houston to Cancun.)
Here’s the upgrade list for this afternoon’s flight from Cancun to Houston.
Looks like @tedcruz is on his way back, @danpfeiffer. He’s just narrowly missing the upgrade list
Skift’s Edward Russell, citing a United Airlines source, reported that Cruz was originally supposed to return to Houston from Mexico on Saturday but rebooked his flight on Thursday morning. (NBC later confirmed that reporting.) Cruz was photographed on Thursday checking in for his flight back to Texas.
Cruz’s office still hadn’t commented as Thursday morning drew to a close, though there were indications it would try to spin the scandal by claiming Cruz just flew to Mexico to accompany his family.
Indeed, early Thursday afternoon, CNN’s Betsy Klein published a statement from Cruz in which he explained he just flew to Mexico because he wanted “to be a good dad” for his daughters, who “asked to take a trip with friends” because school was “cancelled for the week” because of the natural disaster.
Just before his flight back to Texas, Cruz offered remarks to reporters from the airport in Mexico in which he reiterated the themes from his office’s statement.
Sen. Ted Cruz at the Cancún airport:
"Yesterday my daughters asked if they could take a trip with some friends, and Heidi and I agreed, so I flew down with them last night, dropped them off here and now I'm headed back to Texas." pic.twitter.com/5d8UwlmZWv
But there was even more. On Thursday evening, text messages Heidi Cruz sent to a group of the Cruzes’ neighbors leaked to the liberal group American Bridge and a number of news outlets. In them, Heidi Cruz notes that her house is “FREEZING” and says, “Anyone can or want to leave for the week? We may go to Cancun there is a direct flight at 445pm and hotels w capacity. Seriously.”
... and then did several TV interviews, including a softball one on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show in which Cruz continued to try to shift responsibility for his ill-conceived trip to his daughters and his desire to be a good dad.
It should be noted that while Cruz’s state is in crisis, the US Senate is in recess this week. One Dallas resident wrote to the Dallas Morning News and defended Cruz on that basis, noting that the “Senate is out, he can afford it. ... What exactly is the problem?” (Other right-wing pundits defended Cruz along similar lines.)
But there are still things Cruz could do to try to help even if the Senate isn’t in session. For instance, the Democrat he defeated to retain his Senate seat in 2018, Beto O’Rourke, said he made more than 151,000 calls to senior citizens in Texas on Wednesday alone, and solicited help to do more of the same on Thursday.
We made over 151,000 calls to senior citizens in Texas tonight. One of our vols talked to a man stranded at home w/out power in Killeen, hadn’t eaten in 2 days, got him a ride to a warming center and a hot meal. Help us reach more people, join us tomorrow: https://t.co/WOLn2HCrm1
Cruz’s flight to Cancun came one day after he posted a tweet acknowledging criticism he was receiving for his tweets from 2019 mocking California when heat waves there caused power outages.
“Stay safe!” Cruz wrote.
I got no defense. ♂️
A blizzard strikes Texas & our state shuts down. Not good.
And during a radio interview on Monday, Cruz urged constituents to do the exact opposite of what he did.
“We could see 100 people lose their lives this week in Texas,” Cruz said. “So don’t risk it. Keep your family safe and just stay home and hug your kids.”
Meanwhile, Twitter users surfaced tweets Cruz posted less than three months ago attacking a Democratic politician for traveling to Mexico during the coronavirus pandemic while telling his constituents to stay home. Cruz is not only guilty of exactly that, but his trip to Mexico — coming as it does while millions of his constituents are desperately in need of help — is perhaps even worse.
Jennifer Vega waits in line at an Austin H-E-B to refill a propane tank on Thursday. Texans’ ability to access food was severely hampered by this week’s winter storm and accompanying power crisis.
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune
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About 36,000 Texans received doses of the COVID-19 vaccine between Sunday and Thursday, though most were administered on Valentine’s Day, before the winter storm intensified across a wide swath of the state, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
That’s a tiny fraction of what the state expected to administer before millions of homes, businesses and vaccine providers were crippled by power outages, water supply shortages and icy conditions. But the numbers are probably higher due to reporting lags, said Chris Van Deusen, DSHS spokesperson.
The deteriorating conditions across the state likely hampered not only vaccine efforts, but also reporting efforts, he said.
“This is probably an incomplete picture and more doses may be reported in the coming days as power is restored and providers get through emergency operations,” he said.
The winter storm stymied vaccination deliveries after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday announced they’d be delaying shipments in advance of the storm, affecting some 750,000 doses allotted to Texas for this week. Last week, nearly 1 million doses were administered in a seven-day period, state health officials said.
Public health officials in Dallas, Houston, Austin and other cities postponed planned vaccination events or individual appointments until at least the end of the week, saying the injections would restart once travel conditions were less dangerous. — Karen Brooks Harper
Nearly half of all Texans facing water disruptions
Almost 14 million Texans are facing water disruptions as of Thursday morning, amounting to nearly half the people in the state. According to a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality spokesperson, 900 public water systems in 164 counties have been affected.
Some Texans have lost access to running water completely, and many cities are requiring residents to boil water before using it to drink, cook, or clean, including Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth and more. — Neelam Bohra
Abbott says state working to make sure grocery stores are stocked
Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday said state officials are working to make sure that supply chains to grocery stores and restaurants are restored, though he provided few details of such plans.
“They will have more food available to them,” he said.
His comments came one day after The Texas Tribune reported that Texans’ ability to access food was severely hampered by this week’s winter storm and accompanying power crisis.
“One thing that will aid in replenishing those stocks is that the roads are more passable,” Abbott said.
Abbott also said the state is working to help agencies that provide food to low-income families and encouraged people who could help to donate to Feeding Texas. — Brandon Formby
Many Texas colleges and universities cancel class for rest of the week
Many colleges and universities across Texas have canceled classes for the rest of the week due to dangerous road conditions and inadequate internet access brought on by the widespread power outages.
The University of Texas at Austin is closed until Monday morning. The University of Texas at Arlington is closed through at least the end of the day Friday. Texas State University, the University of Houston and the University of North Texas are also closed through Saturday. Texas A&M University said they are monitoring conditions and will decide later today if classes are canceled Friday.
Meanwhile, many universities are still providing meals and have opened warming centers in certain buildings for students who might not have electricity or heat. Texas State University is providing warming buses for students to use. As many cities issue boil water notices for residents, universities have also started to provide bottled water to students as available.
This morning, Texas A&M officials urged students to avoid doing laundry or taking showers, as power outages at water wells and water leaks have resulted in extremely low water levels across campus. As of this morning, the university had 30% of normal campus water levels. They also warned students to report any leaks as frozen pipes begin to thaw with warming temperatures. — Kate McGee
ERCOT says progress being made on restoring power
Progress is being made to restore power to the majority of millions of Texans whose electricity and heat was forced off by energy providers during the subfreezing temperatures this week, Texas' energy grid operators said Thursday morning.
"We're to the point in the load restoration where we are allowing transmission owners to bring back any load they can related to this load shed event," said Dan Woodfin with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas in a statement.
Those without power still, he said, are more likely to be affected by ice storm damage on power distribution systems, which need to be manually restarted after they were forced to shut down, and large power facilities that voluntarily went offline and haven't again started dispersing energy.
Austin Energy reported Thursday morning that 13% of its energy customers were without power, compared to more than 40% Monday. Less than 2% of the Houston area was reportedly without power, which had seen about 60% of its homes and businesses without power during the storm.— Jolie McCullough
Texas Workforce Commission suspends work search requirement through next week
Texas’ unemployment agency is suspending its work search requirement through next week due to the winter weather, according to an announcement on its website.
Texans are typically required to prove that they are searching for work to receive unemployment benefits, but the requirement has been suspended for this week and next. The number of required work search activities varies by county, and the requirements include filling out job applications, participating in network events and or taking skills assessments.
The Texas Workforce Commission wrote that the storm impacted its operations, including contract call centers. — Megan Menchaca
Abbott provides few details on when Texans’ suffering will end as state’s crises mount
As millions of Texans continue struggling through a dayslong winter storm without power or potable water, Gov. Greg Abbottprovided few details Wednesday on when they can expect their situations to improve.
As of Wednesday, 2.7 million households didn’t have power. And nearly 12 million Texans are facing water disruptions after enduring multiple days of freezing temperatures.
Texans running low on food are finding empty grocery store shelves. Food pantries are running out of supplies. And the freeze has wiped out substantial portions of the state’s citrus and vegetable crops. — Texas Tribune staff
Texas leaders failed to heed warnings that left the state’s power grid vulnerable, experts say
Texas officials knew winter storms could leave the state’s power grid vulnerable, but they left the choice to prepare for harsh weather up to the power companies — many of which opted against the costly upgrades. That, plus a deregulated energy market largely isolated from the rest of the country’s power grid, left the state alone to deal with the crisis, experts said.
Green energy has been a political punching bag for Texas Republicans like Gov. Greg Abbott throughout the winter storm. Experts say politicians never take responsibility for natural disasters when it comes to preparedness. — Texas Tribune staff
Hospitals in Austin are running out of water, forcing some to transfer patients
Austin-area hospitals are facing widespread water issues after severe weather this week. St. David’s South Austin Medical Center said it lost water pressure from the city Wednesday, creating a series of problems.
Seton hospitals in the area are also facing water problems. A spokesperson for Ascension Seton said in a statement that “extreme weather conditions have caused intermittent water issues at several Ascension Seton” facilities.
In a letter obtained by KUT, patients and families at Dell Children’s are being asked to not take showers and to use hand sanitizer to clean their hands. They were also told the toilets can’t flush, and staff members are changing linens only as needed. — Ashley Lopez, KUT
Disclosure: Ascension Seton has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
by Erin Douglas, The Texas Tribune, Kate McGee, Texas Tribune, Jolie McCullough, Texas Tribune
Texas officials knew winter storms could leave the state’s power grid vulnerable, but they left the choice to prepare for harsh weather up to the power companies — many of which opted against the costly upgrades. That, plus a deregulated energy market largely isolated from the rest of the country’s power grid, left the state alone to deal with the crisis, experts said.
The nonprofit Sea Turtle, Inc. says it has brought in nearly 4,500 sea turtles and counting since Sunday. Still without power, it's heating its tanks with a commercial generator donated by SpaceX.
Facebook has gone nuclear in its long-running battle with the Australian government over news content. Australia is considering legislation that would require Facebook to pay to link to Australian news stories. In response, Facebook has announced a wide-ranging ban on users linking Australian news content.
The ban means that Facebook users in Australia can no longer make posts that link to news articles—either in the Australian media or internationally. Meanwhile, users outside of Australia can't post links to Australian news sources. The ban has already gone into effect, as I discovered when I tried to post a link to The Sydney Morning Herald on Facebook:
Facebook says that Australian news publishers will be blocked from sharing or posting content to their Facebook pages. Posts by news publishers outside of Australia won't be available to Australian users.
Rush Limbaugh receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom during former President Donald Trump’s 2020 State of the Union address. | Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images
Rush Limbaugh is dead at 70. The Republican Party he poisoned is very much alive.
Obituaries for talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, who died on Wednesday at the age of 70, have frequently described him as a “conservative provocateur.” This is technically accurate but euphemistic, akin to calling Bashar al-Assad a “controversial leader.” Limbaugh’s stock in trade was bigotry and offense; his career-long defining trait was a willingness to channel the conservative id in unusually blunt and crude terms.
These examples are not cherry-picked. Bigotry dressed up as “jokes” or “entertainment” were the stock-in-trade of Limbaugh’s show; he built and maintained a massive audience across decades not in spite of this commentary, but because of it.
“Rush built upon an already robust right-wing media and organizational infrastructure and married it to lowbrow entertainment culture, appealing to a deeply politicized audience of angry white men who did not consider themselves political,” writes David Astin Walsh, a historian of conservatism at the University of Virginia. “Limbaugh was the fountainhead for an entire generation of radical right-wing GOP politicians who owe their careers to the politics of resentment and white racial rage.”
Foremost among these leaders, of course, is former President Donald Trump.
Though Limbaugh initially supported Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the 2016 presidential primary, he came around to Trump and Trumpism — becoming one of the former president’s most influential boosters in conservative media. In return, Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom — America’s highest civilian honor — during the 2020 State of the Union speech.
It was darkly appropriate. Limbaugh had more influence on the trajectory of the American right than the vast majority of political leaders; it is not a stretch to say that Trump’s presidency may not have happened without him.
“Rush Limbaugh radically transformed the Republican Party. He elevated conservative media into a coequal branch of party politics, and pioneered a style of rhetoric, argument, and entertainment that would come to define conservative politics,” writes Nicole Hemmer, a historian of talk radio at Columbia University.
That time Rush Limbaugh made fun of Michael J Fox and his Parkinson’s disease. pic.twitter.com/7CuHlE5Lpy
This, according to Hemmer, is very much not a good thing.
“The things we now think of as particularly Trumpian features of conservatism — the insults, the conspiracies, the blend of entertainment and politics and anger — Limbaugh had been doing it for a quarter-century before Trump showed up to the party.”
Rush Limbaugh is dead. The rest of us have to live with his baleful legacy.
Limbaugh’s startling influence over the Republican Party
Prior to Limbaugh’s emergence on the national scene in 1988, the conservative mass media as we know it today did not exist. He was the first of the major talk radio hosts. Fox News arrived eight years after Rush; online conservative outlets like Breitbart were quite literally inconceivable at the time. Limbaugh proved that the particular combination of strident right-wing politics, outrageous commentary dressed up as “humor” or “just asking questions,” and incessant attacks on the “liberal media” could be commercially viable with an extremely large audience.
Limbaugh had a singular talent as a performer: an ability to capture the hearts and minds of his supporters with few parallels. His fans called themselves “Dittoheads” because callers would frequently “ditto” each others’ praise of whatever Limbaugh had just said. The dittohead ranks grew rapidly in the late 1980s and early ’90s, and the institutional Republican Party welcomed it. In 1994, first-term House Republicans — who had just won a majority — named him an honorary member of their class.
After his death on Wednesday, leading Republicans from both the party’s insurgent right and establishment wings lined up to praise him. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) lauded him as someone who “lived the First Amendment and told hard truths that made the elite uncomfortable.” Former President George W. Bush described Limbaugh as “a friend throughout my presidency,” a “controversial” figure who nonetheless “spoke his mind as a voice for millions of Americans.”
But perhaps the most interesting conservative statement on Limbaugh’s death came from Noah Rothman, an editor at the venerable conservative magazine Commentary. Rothman, an anti-Trump Republican who has decried the party’s radical trend in recent years, nonetheless had kind words for Limbaugh as an invaluable counterweight to perceived media bias:
If you know a conservative under the age of 35, Limbaugh influenced them. Whatever you think of his career trajectory, and I have my frustrations in the Trump era, he was a profoundly important check on Democratic narratives in the press. A true legend. Rest in peace.
This has long been the conservative establishment’s approach to “provocateurs” like Limbaugh and his imitators on Fox News: Sure, they might be crazy, but they’re our crazies.
“People were willing to excuse his takes not only because of a kind of longstanding ‘gotta let people troll/free speech’ type ethic, but also because they to some extent agreed with the right-wing critique of liberal media hegemony,” Paul E. Johnson, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh who studies conservative political rhetoric, tells me. “If you really think you’re at the margins, you have to shout to be heard, and who cares if you ruffle some feathers in the process.”
But now, the party’s leadership is under attack by the monster they created, literally: The mob that attacked Congress on January 6, whose members openly stated their intent to kill lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence, was a product of the fact-free, radical media ecosystem that Limbaugh helped build. Networks like One America News, unthinkable absent Limbaugh’s trailblazing, helped convince Republicans of Trump’s Big Lie that the election was stolen — the belief that directly caused the Capitol Hill riot.
“There’s a lot of people calling for the end of violence,” Limbaugh said. “There’s a lot of conservatives, social media, who say that any violence or aggression at all is unacceptable. Regardless of the circumstances. I’m glad Sam Adams, Thomas Paine, the actual tea party guys, the men at Lexington and Concord didn’t feel that way.”
Now the whole country is suffering the consequences from a Republican base that has been radicalized in no small part by decades of Limbaugh broadcasts blasted into their ears. They’ve been taught that Democrats are mortal enemies, and the media cannot be trusted, by opportunists and bigots like Limbaugh who profit from taking the most explosive and hard-right stance imaginable.
Limbaugh is dead. His brand of poisonous politics will not be laid to rest with him.
If you've been itching to add Super Mario Bros. themed items to your island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons ever since they were teased last month, the wait is almost over. Nintendo is adding a trove of goodies based on the adventures of its plucky plumber and his pals as part of a February 25th update.
The bonanza includes clothing, from Mario and Princess Peach outfits to Wario's yellow-and-purple drip, and furniture ranging from super mushrooms to warp pipes that can be used to travel around your archipelago. You can check out the full wealth of valuables in store in the video below, which was part of yesterday's Nintendo Direct festivities. Eagle-eyed Mario fans should also be able to scour the clip for coins, shells, stars, fire flowers, question blocks, goal poles, and mushroom platforms. There's enough collectables to help you recreate the Mushroom Kingdom.
As usual, once you download the update, the new items will be available in-game via Nook Shopping, in this case starting March 1st. Nintendo has been regularly updating its tranquil island life sim since its launch last Spring, with previous additions including spooky items for Halloween and a Carnival themed grab bag late last month.
Perseverance, set to land on the Red Planet on Thursday, is carrying the most sophisticated robotic biology lab ever launched and a drone meant to make the first-ever powered flight on another world.
On Wednesday night millions of Texans had been without power—and heat—for days, shivering through the below-freezing temperatures that had persisted for the better part of a week. Many filled warming shelters as they sought to survive yet another night after the state’s infrastructure had failed and leadership had proven ineffectual. Meanwhile, cities including Amarillo, Austin, Corpus Christi, Houston, and San Antonio had warned those fortunate enough to have taps that they needed to boil water to safely drink it—which many couldn’t do because they didn’t have power for their electric stoves. Among the leaders who urged caution in these unusual conditions was Senator Ted Cruz, who recommended that Texans stay off the roads and not risk driving on the ice. It was advice he didn’t…View Original Post
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This week, as millions of Texans were left without power and water as temperatures dropped to record lows, one man said no—not me. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night would keep Ted Cruz from flying to Mexico for a vacation with his family. The rest of us are left to self-soothe. With curses. May you wait in line outside the only open grocery store for four hours only to find that there is no food left, save a Pop-Tart that slipped under some shelving. May the Pop-Tart be the weird cherry flavor. May you buy it, cut it into quadrants, and eat it over two days. May you realize that the only gloves you own are the porous Cinderella-style ones from…View Original Post
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