In Episode 27 behind the Secret Door, Alicia and Frances will take a break from their discussion about Biden’s first 100 days in office. In this episode, they will be talking about the snowstorm that caused power outages, water outages, deaths, and the lifted mask mandate order.
Texas faced a winter storm during mid-February that caused unprecedented property damage to millions of homes. Many were without water, without power, and experienced burst pipes. The overall cost of the storm could be between $195 and $295 billion in total damages; this includes the lost income that occurred during the storm due to many businesses closing their doors.
Part of Texas’s issue is that the power grid is not centralized with the rest of the country. It is not properly regulated, and the first signs of major issues began back in 2011 when many lost power due to similar cold weather related issues. In some parts of the state, including the panhandle of Texas, they decided to reevaluate their power grid and join the national grids. However, many areas were either not affected or still refused to address the issue.
Meanwhile, Ted Cruz decided that when he lost power to take a trip to Cancun with his family to avoid the storm. One of his wife’s friends then posted saying that he had planned this trip with his wife after he had just released a statement saying he went because his kids “wanted to go.” In return, he then had a poorly set up photo op that showed him putting a singular case of water into a woman’s car, in an empty parking lot. Needless to say, Alicia will be doing everything in her power to get Cruz voted out of office in 2024.
Finally, when asked about the astronomical bills and power outages people were experiencing, the lieutenant governor explained that it was the people’s faults for not looking at the fine print. While there is some truth to that statement, many people were experiencing bills that were a thousand times more expensive because instead of being charged 8 cents per watt they were charged 900 cents per watt. Frances argues that the current deregulated state of Texas’s power companies need to be regulated in order to avoid this kind of predatory practice.
After the governor blamed the outages on the Green New Deal and more false accusations, he then released a statement explaining that the mask mandate would be lifted, and Texas could go back to normal starting on March 10th. This was announced after finding out that Texas still has one of the highest per capita rates of COVID in the country.
Tune into the show to find out more about what Texas experienced during the snowstorm, France’s interesting doomsday prepping father, and Alicia’s unsettling argument with her parents.
What happened to you during the snowstorm? What do you think about the lifted mask mandate? Do you think you can trust your country/government at all?
You can reach Alicia and Frances at:
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Episode edited/mixed by @erynbird22