Yes, Louis DeJoy can be fired from the USPS, or at least we could try.
Seems like TX had no state plan for how to manage rolling blackouts. This article is completely shocking.
Paul Hollywood is an asshat. So is Matt Duckor!
So… the Ted Cruz thing (where he was spotted going to Cancun while his constituents literally froze to death during a pandemic, lied about just dropping his daughters off, lied about when he was planning on returning but a United employee outed him, then one of his wife’s friends forwarded her text chain about going to the NYTimes…) was pretty funny except for the part where they left their poodle alone in the freezing house and his constituents literally freezing to death or dying of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
February 20, 2021 at 7:47 pm
Here in Iowa we have idiot leaders in other respects, like a Governor who did a terrible job of handling COVID, but our power grid handled two weeks of subzero weather just fine because we average about 20 nights below zero F per winter. Our wind turbines have heaters in the blades. An expert on NPR said heated blades add about 5% to the cost of a wind turbine.
Ten years ago the Feds strongly recommended Texas winterize its power grid, but because Texas isolated its grid in order to avoid Federal regulation, nothing was done.
February 21, 2021 at 10:36 am
I vaguely remember back in the mid-1990s a cold snap caused a large number of deaths in the midwest and then Something Was Done about it after and it hasn’t been as bad since. I hope Something Is Done in Texas that isn’t getting rid of wind turbines or other Republican goals that actually make the problem worse. :/
February 20, 2021 at 7:51 pm
My Uncle and Cousins in Texas had a horrible week because of this disastrous failure to heed warnings from experts.
Just as most of the world paid a huge price for ignoring experts on Infectious Diseases.
Wonder how many more catastrophes it will take before politicians listen to experts?
February 20, 2021 at 8:04 pm
Or people will stop listening to Fox News…
February 20, 2021 at 10:38 pm
I recommend “Messing with Texas: The Lone Star state’s power grid is working exactly as designed” (by Mark Sumner, 2/16/21, 8:44 am, https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/2/16/2016337/-Messing-with-Texas-The-Lone-Star-state-s-power-grid-is-working-exactly-as-designed) on this topic.
The grid is purposely kept just a little too small because providers can only make huge profits when demand exceeds supply. (Unfortunately, that generally happens during heat waves, which are no joke in Texas, and now extended freezes; so it’s an exchange of profits for lives, an obviously all-too-common strategy around these parts.) It is purposely disconnected from other US grids to avoid regulations, some of which would have actually made the grid better. (In the past we have connected to Mexico’s grid in emergencies.) Some wind turbines did freeze up–some wind turbines are always offline; there are huge numbers of them. The wind/anti-AOC explanation is yet another example of the Trumpist strategy of making up things they wish were true and denying reality to push these stories. Even some smart, decent people believe some of this garbage or think it might be true (my brother looked up two people we know who’d recently died to see if they were on record for voting). I wish there were an organization that sued people for libel to which we could donate, and that part of their results would include some kind of meme-worthy description of reality.
As far as Cruz’s vacation, my main problem with it is that we are still in a pandemic and should not be traveling. My second problem is that we are in a climate crisis and shouldn’t be flying. I’m also disgusted at the hypocrisy of wanting a wall, but only for other people.
I had hoped we were done with the super-spreader events now that Thanksgiving and Christmas are over, but I’m afraid this freeze-out will turn out to be another one. Hotels were booked. Even office parks had people living in them. Families and friends gathered at whichever abode had the best living conditions.
I had also hoped the news would stop making me want to punch people so much after Biden won.
February 21, 2021 at 6:18 am
Agreed.
February 21, 2021 at 10:25 am
Paul Hollywood is indeed an idiot, and the author of the Bon Appetit article/headline was insensitive, to say the least. But the use of dairy in kosher baking is neither forbidden nor newly invented. I have had challah made with milk before–It was both kosher and delicious, but just would not be eaten with a meat meal. Similarly, I have been making hamantaschen with butter in the dough for a decade, I just don’t eat them with a meat meal. The recipe I use was adapted by Joan Nathan , a well-known Jewish cookbook author , from a kosher Israeli bakery that uses butter in the dough (https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/dining/16purim.html). I use the recipe for chocolate chip hamantaschen for dough (omitting the lemon zest) plus filling https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017996-chocolate-chip-hamantaschen?action=click&module=Local%20Search%20Recipe%20Card&pgType=search&rank=1), as well as a more traditional apricot filling.
February 21, 2021 at 10:34 am
Unlike Paul Hollywood, I’m going to stick to arguing about what should show up in epiphany cake, since that’s part of my cultural heritage.
February 22, 2021 at 8:36 pm
The comment about hamantaschen prompted me to look up hamantaschen recipes; now my cookies are popping up ads for Kosher recipes, Kosher ingredients, etc.
February 25, 2021 at 10:07 am
I’m really irritated that after leaving his constituents to die for a vacation weekend, Cruz will still probably be reelected because of how hideously gerrymandered the state appears to be.
Also now I want cookies.