Cruz Ain’t Cruisin’

 

Texas Senator Ted Cruz learned a bitter lesson and was criticized by colleagues this week: Even though you can take off for Cancun with your wife and children amid severe weather, power, and water outages, it is probably a bad idea to do so, especially when most of your constituents cannot leave.  Although he tried to pretend he just accommodated his daughters in their request to get away, that excuse did not fly. And returning with a photo-op of him loading bottles of water at a distribution center also did not provide cover as he was noted to be violating the CDC 10 day quarantine regulations after traveling to Mexico. President Biden has now declared several counties in Texas to be a major disaster center which allows Federal funds to be used for relief and recovery in the state.  What was that about not liking the Federal government, Governor Abbott?

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York raised nearly 5 million dollars for disaster relief, flew to Texas, and volunteered at a food distribution center, quietly showing the Senator how to best serve people. Texas is definitely in a difficult situation because the power grid was not ready to deal with extreme winter weather, despite having a similar problem several years ago and not following the advice at that time to weatherize their systems. Texas is the only state in the continental US to not be a part of the national power grid or be subject to Federal regulations. The lack of regulations of the several individual power companies, the absence of interrelated connectivity meant that each company had to stand alone in the face of unprecedented demand and concurrent failure from frozen feeder lines or system adjuncts. When homes remained unheated in below-freezing temperatures, water pipes started to freeze and burst, water supply systems were compromised and havoc resulted. Residents faced a lack of heat, power, and water with no way to provide food, drinking water, or flush toilets. Those who had power on a variable rate payment system suddenly found themselves with bills totaling thousands of dollars.

Although Texas Governor Abbott tried to blame the Green New Deal (which has not yet been passed as a law) for the power failure due to wind turbine shut down; that didn’t make it either as an excuse, since the turbines – which only account for ten percent of the total power source - also were not winterized. (Turbines in North Dakota work well throughout the extreme cold weather there due to proper insulation.)

So where do we go from here? The New York Times has an excellent article today which discusses the lack of readiness across the country to deal with continuing weather extremes prompted by global climate change. Increasing wild-fires, floods, droughts, and severe storms all are taxing the infrastructure which has not been maintained at even a minimum level for generations.  There was a joke during the previous administration about the ‘infrastructure week’ which somehow never got off the ground in four years. Well, this should not be a joke as shorelines are receding, bridges are crumbling and rivers are exceeding flood planes and levees.  Upkeep of power grids and nuclear plants has not been made a priority by the utilities which run them and regulatory authorities have not insisted on this. All of these upgrades and reinforcements cost money and may increase the costs of supplying these resources; is the American public ready to pay more for consistency of services? 

Even though the partisan Senate found excuses to not convict the former president of extreme crimes and misdemeanors, the FBI, according to the Guardian, has not let up in the hunt for the Capitol insurrectionists and has activated field offices across the country in these efforts. More than 250 insurgents have so far been charged according to NPR and more have been identified and are on search lists. It is alarming to note that at least 14 % of those arrested so far have ties to the military; this concern has caused the Pentagon and military officials to take a look at possible ties with former and active military by extreme groups. Some arrests have been made of police officers and legislators who participated. The number of organized groups attending and the arms they carry are also concerning to officials. Several members of the Capitol Hill police force are also under investigation for their actions during the event and six members have been suspended so far. We continue to learn more as the days go by; the extent and membership of these alt-right and anti-government groups seem to be wider than many knew.  When the FBI indicated that domestic terrorists from the right were one of our bigger threats, it faced push-back by the administration on these investigations; QAnon was one of the groups identified in this testimony.

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February is Black History month, so it is dismaying to learn that in this month Georgia is one of many states trying to restrict voter access as it is including proposals for legislation against permitting Sunday voting thus attacking the tradition from black churches for ‘Sunday Souls to the Polls’ in early voting.  The Brennan Center for Justice reports “that more than 33 states have introduced, pre-filed, or carried over 165 restrictive bills this session”. At the same time, 37 states have done the same to expand access to voting.  Some states, such as Mississippi, are extending more voting rights to felons, more than half of whom are black. Florida passed a constitutional amendment permitting felons to vote, but the legislature added a requirement to pay onerous court costs and fines for parolees before registration, making voting difficult. Former NY Mayor Bloomberg’s political organization worked last year to help pay off many of the fines which permitted many felons to vote in 2020.

Many hope that Congress will pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act (For the People Act – HR1/S1) which will restore many of the constitutional rights being lost by restrictive legislation.  The Brennan Center also notes that it is imperative for racial justice and our democracy that this bill is passed.  “Racial justice cannot be fully achieved without a system in which all Americans have the means to advocate for themselves and exercise political power.”

This legislation also provides for the modernization of voting and tabulation and restoration of the full provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (The provisions in that act were devastated by the Supreme Court decision from Shelby County vs. Holder in 2013 and are detailed in the Atlantic Magazine article referenced here. By removing states known to have violated voter rights from the requirements for pre-clearance for voting restriction proposals, the Court gutted much of that law which had not been renewed by Congress.) Many hope that this bill will pass the Democratic Congress.  Its’ designation denotes its’ importance.

But on a more positive note, the Pew Research Center shows that this current Congress is the most diverse in history: 124 members or 23 % currently identify as a minority, – 59 African American, 46 Hispanic, 17 Asian American, and 6 Native American.  83 % of these members are Democrats, 17 % are Republicans.  Women now hold 26% of the seats in Congress: 143 women (135 Democrats and 38 Republicans), and of course, our Vice President Kamala Harris is a Black/South Asian woman!

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The Covid UK or British variant – (B-1.1.7) is spreading widely in the United States and is expected to be the dominant version by next month; the South African variant has also been identified in the US from community spread. Even though cases are currently trending down, we need to still protect against these variants by continuing to mask and social distance. The best way to contain these variants is to decrease the amount of virus in the community, so increasing the number of vaccinations is the most necessary step. Currently, reports indicate that over 67 million patients have been vaccinated; 48.6 have received the first dose and 18.9 have been fully vaccinated with the second dose.  The Biden Administration stated it has secured enough vaccines for more than 300 million Americans to be fully vaccinated by the end of the summer. The US is expected to count 500,000 deaths by the end of this day  - a terrible statistic that could have been lessened if we had addressed the pandemic properly.

COVID stats – NY Times as of Feb 20, 2021.

US total cases: 28,147,800. New Cases: 69,740.

Total US deaths: 498,650. New Deaths: 1,831.

Maryland Statistics: Maryland has now vaccinated at least 12% of its’ population with one dose. For the first time in months, MD had fewer than 1000 cases most days in the last week.

Total MD cases: 375,737. Total new cases: 763.

Total Deaths: 7,697. Total new deaths: 20.

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A personal note – as I watched the news tonight I saw one of my old friends - civil rights activist, WW ll Vet, and all-around good Democrat – 101-year-old Harvey Ziegler receive his Covid vaccination in Silver Spring.  Good for you, Harvey! Stay well!

No live panda cam today – but a really cute photo of Xiao Qi Ji eating some sweet potato.

“Til next week – peace!