Phx-Suns.Net

In2ition wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 19, 2021 10:47 am

I didn't realize that was part of his job duties and job as AG. Is that true?

He is literally the top law enforcement officer in the state, and his primary job is to defend the people of Texas against wrong doing. If a private company fails the people of Texas, and a lessons learned report shows how they failed and what they need to do to not fail them again, your job as AG is to ensure they are held accountable. Probably a Consent Decree where they sign their name on the dotted line indicating they will comply with the commissions report on what they need to do to prevent Texans from dying again from the same issue.

But none of the state-wide elected officials held them accountable. And Abbott was one of the most powerful state-wide officials at the time.

That's interesting. It makes me wonder how this fell through the cracks, and failed to get done? We already know that the ERCOT failed to do on-site inspections of power plants to verify winter preparedness. Seems like they failed to do it every yr after the last blackout.

In2ition wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 19, 2021 11:46 am

That's interesting. It makes me wonder how this fell through the cracks, and failed to get done? We already know that the ERCOT failed to do on-site inspections of power plants to verify winter preparedness. Seems like they failed to do it every yr after the last blackout.

They are a for profit company. Of course they 'forgot' to do things that cost them money and won't hurt them if it fails 9 times out of 10. this happens once or twice a decade, and state politicians are in the pocket of energy companies, and just look the other way.

Indy wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 19, 2021 11:54 am

In2ition wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 19, 2021 11:46 am

That's interesting. It makes me wonder how this fell through the cracks, and failed to get done? We already know that the ERCOT failed to do on-site inspections of power plants to verify winter preparedness. Seems like they failed to do it every yr after the last blackout.

They are a for profit company. Of course they 'forgot' to do things that cost them money and won't hurt them if it fails 9 times out of 10. this happens once or twice a decade, and state politicians are in the pocket of energy companies, and just look the other way.

DISAPPOINTED!!...

Commonly known as kick the can down the road.

We all do it. Our US infrastructure is in desperate need of fixing in some places. Bridges ready to fall down etc. nobody wants to pay for it so it gets kicked down the road for someone else to deal with.

That is especially true with term limits. I think there are plenty of good things with them, but plenty of bad too. If you know you are limited to 2 terms (like Ducey, for example), once you win your first re-election, nothing will every come back to bite you. Not even letting people die due to your inaction.

At the same time some politicians have to worry about reelection and tow the party line. Someone without that fear can do what he thinks is right and not worry about the party line so much.

Nodack wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 19, 2021 1:26 pm

At the same time some politicians have to worry about reelection and tow the party line. Someone without that fear can do what he thinks is right and not worry about the party line so much.

I guess it comes down to what motivates the person. "Riches beyond your imagination" is one that is hard to ignore.

Cuomo is a horrible governor and really blew it on COVID in New York! Oh, Abbott is being criticized for mishandling the cold and power outages? No fair! What do you want him to do, thaw the generators himself??

Mori Chu wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 19, 2021 3:58 pm

Cuomo is a horrible governor and really blew it on COVID in New York! Oh, Abbott is being criticized for mishandling the cold and power outages? No fair! What do you want him to do, thaw the generators himself??

It's an intellectually dishonest comparison here. Has Abbott been outed as giving the order to not inspect the wind generators for winter weather, then tried to hide it and even threaten a legislator over it? Come on, man.

They can both be awful people.

Absolutely, I agree.

Cuomo is continuing his tough month.

Cuomo ex-aide accuses scandal-plagued NY governor of pervasive sexual harassment in bombshell essay
Boylan accused the governor of harassment last year but did not elaborate on her experiences at the time
By Vandana Rambaran | Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cuomo- ... hell-essay

A former aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo is accusing the embattled New York leader of sexually harassing her -- including unwanted kissing and touching -- and says his top female staffers "normalized" the behavior.

Lindsey Boylan, the former deputy secretary for economic development and special adviser to the governor, said Cuomo constantly sought her out and had staffers arrange meetings with her, where he made inappropriate comments.

"Let’s play strip poker," Boylan said Cuomo remarked on a flight from an event in October 2017, according to an essay she wrote on Medium https://medium.com/@lindseyboylan4NY/my ... 64d4814b4e, published Wednesday.

In another encounter, Boylan said Cuomo arranged through a handler to meet her in his Albany office, where she reluctantly agreed to go. She said he gave her a tour of his office, "smirked" and showed off a cigar box he said was given to him by former President Bill Clinton while he served as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Boylan said she interpreted that to be an innuendo referencing the affair between Clinton and his then-intern Monica Lewinsky in the mid-1990s.

She said she was warned by other staffers when she joined Cuomo's administration in 2015 to "Be careful around the Governor."

Boylan said his behavior "was all so normalized — particularly by Melissa DeRosa and other top women around him — that only now do I realize how insidious his abuse was."

Boylan accused the governor of harassment last year but did not elaborate on her experiences at the time.

She wrote in her essay on Wednesday that she expects "the Governor and his top aides will attempt to further disparage me, just as they’ve done with Assemblymember Kim," -- who came forward in recent weeks with his own accusations against the governor of bullying and threatening him.

Neither Boylan nor Cuomo immediately responded to Fox News' request for comment.

I like The Hill - pretty balanced even though I don't always agree with them, but this one on Texas energy is a great micro-example of the problems facing the USA at large and why, amongst other things, I keep referring to Republican / 'Free-est Marketers' as stupid, because they are.

"Power prices surged to the market price cap of $9,000 a megawatt hour for several days during the crisis, a feature of the state’s system designed to incentivize power plants to supply more juice. Some consumers who chose variable rate power plans from retail power companies are seeing the big bills"

Yes, this is a good example and video on why they are bad. I'm not a fan of either Walmart or Amazon killing small businesses or even "free market radicals", but it's not free market radicals that have killed small businesses over the past yr, imo.

On the flip side, this feels like a convenient and recent extreme example, and could be considered a strawman argument. Charging insane prices for energy in the power outage is outrageous, for sure.

What do you think killed small business over the last year, Covid?

And straw man argument instead of what?

Yes, Covid and lockdowns killed what many think is around 50% of small businesses, and widened the gap and market share of businesses like Walmart and Amazon.

There has to be a better argument than all free-est marketers believe that customers should pay $9,000 per megawatt during a crisis, therefore free marketers are stupid. I agree with your overall assessment though.

Covid, combined with an incompetent administration combined with a laissez faire approach to government that was against safety net payments, combined with an unruly population that exacerbated and prolonged the effects of covid, killed small business .. here in Australia we’re already out of recession and slowly getting back to normal after some pretty intense lockdown; small government is simply a free-est marketers delusion evidenced by both Covid and Texas.

Fyi I am a free marketer myself and believe 100% capitalism - with social characteristics - is the optimal model to follow.

And I’m picking up a trend here In2 - if you think my argument is that free marketers believe $9k energy costs are okay, on top of thinking yesterday that I compared your bible quote to dr Seuss, then you have an interpretation problem.

3rdside wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 24, 2021 2:35 pm

Covid, combined with an incompetent administration combined with a laissez faire approach to government that was against safety net payments, combined with an unruly population that exacerbated and prolonged the effects of covid, killed small business .. here in Australia we’re already out of recession and slowly getting back to normal after some pretty intense lockdown; small government is simply a free-est marketers delusion evidenced by both Covid and Texas.

Fyi I am a free marketer myself and believe 100% capitalism - with social characteristics - is the optimal model to follow.

And I’m picking up a trend here In2 - if you think my argument is that free marketers believe $9k energy costs are okay, on top of thinking yesterday that I compared your bible quote to dr Seuss, then you have an interpretation problem.

That's probably true. Sorry. It must be the accent.

Haha, you’ll just have to learn Australian