For years I’ve been waiting for the moment when we could stop talking about politics and go back to talking about the weather. We’re not quite there, but we’re getting closer. We’re talking about the politics of weather. Of course the Texas freeze is about both issues, and I fear we’re gonna continue to turn these power outages into political warfare instead of realizing it’s gonna take all of us to fight this battle. Covid didn’t care about politics. Neither does climate change. The call to turn Texas Blue was meant politically not in terms of skin temperature. The number of customers without power in Texas has thankfully dropped from 3 million to 500,000. But there are other issues that still remain. “Texas officials ordered 7 million people — a quarter of the population of the nation’s second-largest state — to boil tap water before drinking it, following days of record low temperatures that damaged infrastructure and froze pipes.”

+ “The state’s independent network of utilities was devised with the goal of avoiding federal regulation; by not crossing state lines, Texas’s power grid could sidestep national utility guidelines—and energy companies could profit under the guise of individualism and ‘self-reliance.'” The New Yorker: Texans in the Midst of Another Avoidable Catastrophe.

+ NBC: Texas water shortage adds to power crisis as new winter storm moves in.

+ Bloomberg: It’s So Cold on the Plains That Calves’ Ears Are Falling Off.

+ Shell Shocked: Volunteers in Texas are Saving Thousands of Cold-Stunned Sea Turtles from the Storm.

+ And in the midst of this Texas-sized crisis, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas decided to take the family on a nice trip to Cancun. Cruz couldn’t go any lower ethically, so he went lower geographically. (In fairness, this week, Cancun resorts are offering free continental breakfasts to seditionists.)