Texas has hurt itself with a closed electrical grid that they refuse to add to the national grid. If they did that they would have to follow federal rules for safety and reliability. They would rather have a broken system that creates more profit than an electrical grid that supplies dependable energy to the people. After the system failed for the second time and even more people died during the winter Governor Abbott promised to fix it, requiring expensiveupgrades so people wouldn’t face this again. But that did not happen, why? Well after he got a huge campaign contributions of over a million dollars from the energy profit makers he forgot the entire thing. I wonder why. Profit over the needs of the people. Hugs
The state’s grid operator asked that Texans voluntarily reduce their power use on Monday as the blistering heat continues, and said no rolling blackouts are expected this week.
Employees monitor the state power grid at the ERCOT command center in Taylor. Credit: REUTERS/Julia Robinson
With a punishing heat wave across Texas driving record high power demand, The Electric Reliability Council of Texas late Sunday sent out a request that Texans cut back on their energy use on Monday.
ERCOT, the state’s power grid operator, asked Texans to turn up their thermostats and postpone running major appliances between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday. ERCOT has also called on large electric customers to lower their electricity use.
Total forecasted power demand is expected to surpass 79 gigawatts on Monday, ERCOT said — which would set another record.
An ERCOT spokesperson told the Tribune Monday that the grid operator does not expect rolling blackouts this week.
Low winds are also making it harder for the grid to keep up with demand during hotter-than-usual July temperatures. Current projections show wind generation coming in less than 10% of its capacity on Monday, ERCOT said.
Winds in Texas often drop during the daytime, especially in the summer. ERCOT forecasts more wind power will be available to the grid on Tuesday.
Power grids must keep supply and demand in balance at all times. When Texas’ grid falls below its safety margin of excess supply, the grid operator starts taking additional precautions to avoid blackouts. The first precaution is to ask the public to cut back electricity usage.
In May, ERCOT asked Texans to conserve power during a heat wave that coincided with six power plant outages.
Texas is facing extreme heat conditions, with much of the state under temperatures above 100 degrees. As of Monday morning, the National Weather Service has issued heat advisories or excessive heat warnings for 154 of the state’s 254 counties. Some regions are breaking heat records: On Sunday, San Antonio saw the hottest temperatures on record in the city at 106 degrees, while Austin hit an all-time record high for July at 110 degrees.
Climate change has made Texas heat both hotter and longer lasting. The average daily minimum and maximum temperatures in Texas have both increased by 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit in the last 125 years. The state just saw its hottest December on record since 1889.
I would think it would be kinda tough to manufacture electric cars in a state that doesn’t provide enough electricity. But what do I know? I ain’t no billionaire genius.
They were right: everything really *is* bigger in Texas. This includes the shortsightedness of their government for not taking early steps to fix the issues with the power grid.
They have a provider monopoly that is in good standing with the politicians along with congestion pricing of energy that inflates profits during such times. There isn’t much motivation to break the vicious cycle.
Texan Republicans have been working overtime dreaming up ways to penalize women who might want to have an abortion, but they still haven’t fixed the power grid that they’ve known is a problem for more than a decade.
"Since we don't control the air our good air decided to float over to China's bad air so when China gets our good air, their bad air got to move. So it moves over to our good air space. Then now we got we to clean that back up." pic.twitter.com/BsR4GVAbX7
At one point PETE HEGSETH says “They’re committed to telling the worst story of America …” The fact that they can tell the worst parts means that those worst parts exist. It is not made up fiction, but real history. It tells you a lot about the right and the Republican party that they don’t want true history taught or know but they want a complete fiction of the worlds best most perfect country to ever be. Why? I think it is so people won’t realize how bad they have it in this country compared to other 1st world nations. Think of the benefits the public have in those countries that the “world’s wealthiest country” can not afford or manage to do. If we are so great why can we not do it here? Could it be the corporations / wealthy don’t want you to figure it out and fix it which might cost them a bit of profit. Greed and more profit is king, which leads back to why the south used slaves to build their entire economy. Low wages and bad working conditions are a poor second to the profit slavery could generate. Hugs
RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY: And after you leave the museum tour, which again makes you feel guilty and not so great about America, at the end there’s a gift shop where you can buy Ibram X. Kendi’s how to be a racist, how to not be a racist book —
JOEY JONES (CO-HOST): This is a racist human being who writes books about hating white people.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Right, and all of these sort of books that are damning of America and suggesting that were still a racist country are for sale in the gift shop.
PETE HEGSETH: The funding and the people behind the foundation that runs it, all leftists, many tied to the 1619 project. They’re committed to telling the worst story of America and now they’re doing it inside the homes of the Founding Fathers.
JONES: Those aren’t historians, they’re activists.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: And those founders and the donors and the people who are on those boards, that is not a coincidence. This is a diabolical plan on their part to populate these positions that have influence over how America tells its story.
Thomas Jefferson enslaved over 600 human beings throughout the course of his life. 400 people were enslaved at Monticello; the other 200 people were held in bondage on Jefferson’s other properties. At any given time, around 130 people were enslaved at Monticello.
Slaves were bred in order for whites to get as much free labor as possible. (I’m sure you know this already) The following is a must see documentary/lecture by Jeffrey Robinson:
Just watched this on Netflix. If you don’t watch the whole thing (super engrossing), find the clip where he talks to the man guarding the confederate monument in Charleston. Ho-ly shit, not only does he shut down bullshit lost cause theory eloquently and civilly, but you get to see the cognitive dissonance on the man’s face. Scary shit, as we will never get through to some people.
I’ve watched the entire thing and know exactly which part you’re talking about. The white guy is so proud of his hatred and ignorance. And you are absolutely correct.. there’s no getting through to some people.
A white guy banging a black woman. They are probably OK with that arrangement. A black guy banging a white woman, that’s usually a different story. But then there is Clarence Thomas. I suspect his political views give him a pass in this case.
They read sex as a power exchange, and the person fucking as the strong person and the other person as weak. So yeah, white men fucking a slave probably doesn’t bother them too much.
The Texas Freedom Caucus, a legislative caucus in the Texas House of Representatives, sent a threatening letter to a law firm with locations in Dallas and Houston that planned to reimburse travel costs for employees wanting an abortion. In the letter, which was addressed to Sidley Austin LLP, the 11 representatives of the caucus wrote that legislation will be introduced to impose civil and criminal sanctions on law firms that pay for abortion or abortion travel.
“We are writing to inform you of the consequences that you and your colleagues will face for these actions,” it said. The Texas Freedom Caucus said Sidley had aided or abetted drug-induced abortions that violate the Texas Heartbeat Act, a law that bans abortions at about six weeks of pregnancy. According to the letter, litigation is already underway to identify employees who may have been involved.
Texas Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Matt Schaefer first appeared on JMG in April 2021 when he introduced a bill allowing permitless open carry.
In February 2022 he appeared here when he declared that charging the parents of trans children with child abuse was “a hill we’re ready to die on.”
From the article at the link you can see they again are using the illegal but not ruled on by SCOTUS way of using bounty hunters / allowing anyone to sue. In the abortion case they made it very profitable by those who sue but costly for those who get sued no matter if they lose or win, they still have to pay the costs. Hugs
The proposed legislation will prohibit any employer in the state from paying for elective abortions or reimbursing abortion-related costs regardless of where the abortion occurs. According to these lawmakers, private citizens will be allowed to sue anyone who pays for an elective abortion performed on a Texas resident.
If passed, the law will grant The State Bar of Texas to disbar any lawyer who has violated any abortion statutes.
The Freedom Caucus, telling people what to do with their bodies, telling private business what to do with their personnel, and telling parents how to raise their children.
Their freedom to tell you what to do is WAY more important than your individual freedom to live the way you want to. All that shit from the reich about the libs and the “nanny state” was, once again for the billionth time, projection
It just seems so clear that their D opponents could find clips from these asshats saying opposite things. “We can’t tell private business what to do…until we do.”
Yep, and the most-obvious fact… that Republicans appear to favor candidates who are more adept at divisively trolling, insulting, and provoking others online than actually passing legislation which makes our/their lives better in tangible ways. That’s why we have assholes like Cruz, Gohmert, Boebert, and MTG in Congress.
Agree, which is the whole point here. The repugnant SCOTUS abortion decision was given a veneer or respectability by claiming that it merely turned the matter over to each state to decide, individually… and then the Republicans enacted laws to make it illegal for people to travel from one state to another to obtain the procedure.
While that clearly violates the intent of what the SCOTUS handed us, no one should be confident that the SCOTUS would defend a person’s right to travel to another state… and THAT is the danger of where we are today.
Not to worry. That would require permanent tracking of all women, total ban on all contraception, state line checkpoints and severe criminal penalties for all sluts. Just exactly like The Handmaids Tale. First, we have to stop women from having bank accounts and jobs. Next, we stop women from doing anything without their husband’s permission. Trans and gay women will be executed unless their ovaries are functioning; they will be sent to breeding farms.
charging the parents of trans children with child abuse was “a hill we’re ready to die on.” How many adult trans people today say they felt abused by parents who supported them? How many adult trans people today say they felt abused by parents who refused to accept them? Bonus question: how many adults from Christian household say they felt abused as children?
Remember… in Texas, it’s considered child abuse to provide a teen with gender-affirming medical care, but not to force a rape-victim teen to carry an unwanted pregnancy all the way to a live birth.
One of those scenarios is plainly more traumatic and life-altering than the other.
We are watching as Florida and red states in general are fast becoming deeply and openly the home of racist bigoted white supremacist Christian nationalist and it is supported by the Republican party in charge. Florida is becoming dangerous not just for minorities but for anyone that doesn’t follow the public demands of these gang members. Let’s be honest, the Proud Boys is a gang of thugs that found official recognition / elevation as a public group by the former president who used them to try to overturn an election. This was one of the gangs that tRump turned to that was willing to use violence to stop the will of the majority of the people. This gang is a small minority supported by a larger minority called the Republican party because the gang is willing to use violence and threats of harm to force the public to live by the Republican dictates of returning the culture to 1850. We have a minority political party so desperate to rule and retain power that they are willing to use force against the majority to do it. Hugs
Newspaper opinion pages are often criticized for having a political bias, but one Florida paper showed the pitfalls of a poorly-executed attempt to tell both sides of the story.
An op-ed published on Sunday by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune defended local school board candidates’ alleged association with the Proud Boys by claiming the group’s members were simply “caring parents” who were being unfairly attacked for their conservative political views.
Oh, and the paper failed to disclose the author is married to a Proud Boy herself. To be clear, the Proud Boys have a documented history of criminal activities and violent altercations that date back several years.
I was going to excerpt the op-ed but in the time since I started this post, it has been deleted from the paper’s website. There’s a full screenshot here.
An obvious journalism fail from the Sarasota Herald Tribune and also just gross. https://t.co/JnikaR2NUk
I'll be honest. I know Melissa a little. We have had pleasant discourse. But when fascism and white supremacy are denied, or worse revered, it's #fullstop. Her public FB profile is full of more than sympathizer posts, like this one. 3/7 pic.twitter.com/aNqarjc6Ti
— Jules Souliere, What the Florida? (@what_the_fla) July 10, 2022
This place is scum. Its the only place in all my world travels I ever got f@g bashed. The police also told me as the victim to let it go when I pressed for them to do something after I hunted down the truck of the guys who jumped me. After I told the police the plate number. After I told them the address the truck stayed parked at I was told to drop it. That place is full of rich old white money and very poor kept in their place black people. Fuck Sarasota. May a hurricane come and destroy the entire waterfront where the money is. All of it
The “Proud Boys – D.C. Street Sweepers” t-shirt tells you all you need to know. If members of BLM had attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6th, the author of the op-ed piece would have been singing a very different tune. She would have called them traitors and demanded they be executed. But since the insurrectionists were her husband and his White Nationalist friends she claims they were “caring parents” who were being unfairly attacked for their conservative political views.
As highly visible and politicized book bans have exploded across the country, librarians — accustomed to being seen as dedicated public servants in their communities — have found themselves on the front lines of an acrimonious culture war, with their careers and their personal reputations at risk.
They have been labeled pedophiles on social media, called out by local politicians and reported to law enforcement officials. Some librarians have quit after being harassed online. Others have been fired for refusing to remove books from circulation.
Conflicts around books have drastically escalated. Now, the Proud Boys, an extremist group, might show up at a school board meeting because books are on the agenda.
The piece goes on to recount the personal stories of several librarians who have felt menaced enough to resign. Just as the cultists are doing with elections officials.
Librarians have been labeled pedophiles on social media, called out by local politicians and reported to law enforcement officials. Some librarians have quit after being harassed online. Others have been fired for refusing to remove books from circulation. https://t.co/XLkLK10Wompic.twitter.com/KQF0L4Pkes
— New York Times Books (@nytimesbooks) July 7, 2022
Amid the rise in book banning efforts, the personal and professional integrity of librarians is being called into question. The effect of the accusations has been jarring. https://t.co/hsBX3U30jPpic.twitter.com/qsuBRIR0gM
— New York Times Books (@nytimesbooks) July 7, 2022
Beyond sickening. By failing to mention the Nazi groups behind this, the Times makes it look like this is really a grass roots phenomenon, as though regular citizens of all walks of life are the cause of this–thereby bestowing unearned legitimacy on the antagonists. When the NYT can’t possibly both-sides a story, they just passive voice the meaning right out of it. Do they not realize if these freaks do wreck the republic and get their way, NYT ‘journalists’ will be first against the wall? Wonder how they’ll report on that? NYT, providing aid and comfort for NAZIs since the 1930s!
Democracy doesn’t survive without liberal public education. Totalitarians always go after the books and the schools to eliminate opposing points of view.
It’s Round 2 (or more, depending on where you start.) Like Jim and Ginny Maziarka trying to have “gay affirming” books removed from the “young adult” section of the Library in West Bend, WI back in 2009.
A lot of it is nothing more than some religious people trying to place the burdens of their own faith on others by controlling what they can access. Some of it is a lot more sinister.
Youth and adults at OutLoud North Bay, the city’s 2SLGBTQ+ youth hub, have been subjected to harassment and death threats because of plans to host a youth drag show.
It all started Wednesday when a controversial American account called ‘Libs of TikTok’ posted screenshots promoting OutLoud’s youth drag show, scheduled to take place July 15. The people behind the account also post on other social media platforms.
The account takes TikTok videos and social media posts primarily from 2SLGBTQ+ people and reposts them to generate outrage from its followers.
It worked: OutLoud has since been inundated with hateful emails, calls and online comments, including death threats.
Seth Compton, OutLoud North Bay’s founder and executive director, said his staff and even youth who attend the space have been targeted.
“I got up at 4 a.m. to thousands of emails, tweets, messages on social media platforms that were so discriminatory and full of hate,” Compton said Friday, fighting back tears.
“The average person wouldn’t be able to bear that … Never in my 47 years have I ever experienced this.”
The messages and comments include a range of obscene accusations and comments, he said.
“People are sharing my personal photo saying I’m a pedophile and adults here should be tossed into a wood chipper,” Compton said.
“Kids have received messages that they’re groomed and parents have received messages that they’re child abusers.”
The posts, which thousands of people have interacted with, have forced OutLoud North Bay to lock its Twitter account to protect its staff.
Compton said calls and hateful messages have even reached supporting businesses. He said the allegation and hate couldn’t be more wrong.
“I’m here to save them,” Compton said tearfully, of the young people at OutLoud.
‘This space has saved my life’
“I have proof. Parents and kids will tell you that I’ve saved their lives. This space has saved my life.”
A police investigation is under way. North Pay police said they’re taking the comments and threats very seriously.
“We’re currently monitoring the situation and looking at some of the comments and if some of those comments are determined to be criminal activity and if we can investigate and prosecute, we will,” Insp. Jeff Warner told reporters Friday.
North Bay Pride CEO Jocelyn Green said the organization is working with OutLoud to support the staff and youth in the city.
“I’m absolutely abhorred and disgusted,” Green said. “I can’t believe this kind of hate still exists. It’s like we’ve gone backwards in time.”
Compton is calling on the community for its support during this troubling time.
“We need to come together as a community because this is something that not only happens worldwide,” he said. “It’s happening right here in our community.”
Police said resources are being deployed to protect OutLoud North Bay and its youth. However, they would not specify in what way.
Yet again, Libs of Tik Tok tweeted the location of a drag event with an incendiary caption and the Proud Boys showed up to crash it while police stood by and watched. She knows exactly what she’s doing. pic.twitter.com/OCBH6h9Hqs
In all of her denials and demands for retractions she’s never once mentioned the Proud Boys. Remember that she was at the Capitol riot on January 6. pic.twitter.com/y6neQlbWYe
The hate — the pure, unadulterated hate — has always been there. But something has changed in recent times.
And what is that, you ask?
Donald Trump.
Donald Trump has unleashed the dogs of hell
The Proud Boys have ramped up their attacks in service of the GOP grievance machine, and not just at MAGA rallies — they're bringing violence and intimidation to ALL civic events now. This is a crisis.
OUTLoud North Bay founder Seth Compton speaks Friday about online attacks.Stu Campaigne/BayToday
Seth Compton, the founder and executive director of OUTLoud North Bay has overcome plenty of adversity over the years but a recent attack on the safe hangout space for 2SLGBTQ+ young people he helped create has stung even more.
In a demonstration of solidarity for the kids that attend the safe space, Compton and OUTLoud’s Board of Directors decided Friday to stand up and face the vitriol and criticism they have all received since Wednesday — none more than Compton.
OUTLoud’s social media pages, email, and telephone line have been inundated with thousands of hateful messages in what appears to be a targeted attack amplified by Libs of TikTok, a conservative Twitter account featuring derogatory content created by liberals, leftists, and LGBT people on social media. The focus of the attack is a youth drag show that was advertised on OUTLoud’s social media pages. Libs of TikTok got a hold of it and shared it with its 1.3 million Twitter followers.
The messages are vile and intimidating ranging from accusing pedophilia at OUTLoud, the sexualization of children, and the “grooming” of minors. Compton bristles at the suggestion of impropriety.
“There are a lot of kids in this centre that have been abused, sexually, emotionally, mentally,” Compton advises, “and I’m not one of those [abusive] people. I’m here to save them. I have proof, the kids and their parents will tell you that. That I have saved their lives. This space has saved my life.”
“Our code of conduct says ‘What happens here, stays here,’ and that’s based on the level of confidentiality that we have,” Compton notes. “Kids come out here and they know they can do that safely. They make friends here and they know that they have lifelong friends here. We have adults present at OUTLoud, they’re not paid, they’re volunteers. We do this because we care.”
Many of those volunteers come from our hospitals, he says, Hands, Children’s Aid, Community Living. “These people are already well invested in our kids.”
Compton says some of the kids who attend OUTLoud have also received messages and he has been the subject of death threats. The North Bay Police Service confirms the messages and their senders are under investigation.
“We are aware of the hateful and offensive comments that OUTLoud is receiving via social media,” says NBPS Inspector Jeff Warner. “We have deployed some resources that are looking into the matter. They are going to monitor the comments and if they cross the line, we’ll take action.”
Compton fought back tears as he spoke about the damage “misinformed people,” have attempted to inflict on the reputation of the organization and shared the hateful messages have also been sent to sponsors and businesses in the community. So far, OUTLoud has received nothing but support from those community partners and the executive hopes the community at large will also stand behind the group in the face of this attack.
“I have a ton of support, that’s why I do what I do,” says Compton. “It’s for the kids. I’m not here changing children, I’m mentoring them, I’m nurturing them. We have a lot of support in our community. When people started commenting on those businesses’ pages, it became something more. We need to come together as a community because, although this is happening worldwide, it’s also happening in our community.”
Jocelyn Green, the CEO of North Bay Pride — also a recipient of hateful messages this week — says the organization stands with and will continue to support OUTLoud.
“I am absolutely disgusted. I can’t believe that this kind of hate still exists,” offers Green. “It’s like we’ve gone backward in time. There are a lot of people who are misinformed, they’ve got preconceived notions of what the LGBTQ community does and what we stand for, and it hurts. It hurts deeply watching our friends experience this.”
In summing up what has been a stressful and emotional week, Compton reveals the youth drag show will go on, saying that it is a form of art, no different than kids playing dress-up or cosplay.
“We have kids receiving messages that they are groomers. Parents are being told they are child abusers. We have local businesses being hit with the same kind of comments and emails and social media comment that has hit me in the last 48 hours. It’s unfair for those businesses to suffer through this when they have always been here to support the kids.”
“We have a Board of Directors here,” who will help us move forward past this. “The kids know I’m an advocate for them so I will continue to fight. Hate doesn’t win. And, we move forward with love and acceptance.”
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/421b99e3908a397c4a6601ed21107d34/ERCOT%20REUTERS%20TT%2004.jpg)
OUTLoud North Bay founder Seth Compton speaks Friday about online attacks.
Scottie's Playtime 