I know I should feel bad for them but ya know what? I don't. Not even in the slightest. They kept electing idiots who don't believe in climate change, who deregulated their utilities because utility providers paid them off. Nope, elect stupid get stupid.

Interesting as I grew up in Dallass and most of my siblings still live there. Our house was built in 1929 and was well built. My brother started his own architectural firm and even though he is well past retirement age still runs the place. He specializes in remodels and his business will probably pick up after this. [larsonpedigo.com]

More than 30 people have died from the storm in Texas. "Many Texans rising to find power still have the misery of not having safe drinking water. ... It has particularly devastated some hospitals, forcing people to refrain from washing their hands despite it being the most basic safety measure, especially the coronavirus pandemic. ... 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." [New York Post]

"Harris County is slammed with 300+ carbon monoxide cases - and many are kids" [Houston Chronicle, Feb. 17, 2021]

WOW! I had no idea the construction of so many homes in Texas was so bad. The news for many Texans just gets worse.
The crew in Flint Michigan just got indicted for the contaminated water they let residents drink I think the people in Texas need to hold the officials who ignored the warnings about the grid accountable.

A part of that/those who think/teach that infinite growth on a finite planet is possible and transpires.

Don't worry, free market capitalism will fix all those problems, not regulation. The families of those who froze to death or lost their homes will sue all those companies and they will go bust and never build bad houses again! That'll teach them!

Ha. This is where free market capitalism is the worst and least efficient system. We have hundreds of years of history to teach us whenever there is a way corporations will cheat to make a buck and calculate they will get away with it. And if by some miracle they are caught they will just settle out of court and live to screw another customer another day.

What you need is regulations that are actually enforced by governments that are also held responsible and both corporations and government employees post bonds that they forfeit if they fail to do their duty. Sortition and term limits. Government leadership is not a job for life.

Will the people of texas remember come election time?

This is the problem with privatization and little to no regulation. Cheap is what gets produced to make the extra buck without any disclosure to the consumer - let them find out the hard way. Politicians will blame someone else (at least that's what the Texas governor did when he blamed electric shortage on frozen wind turbines). Meanwhile, Texas Senator Ted Cruz flew his family to Mexico to avoid the Texas chill. Nice!

This is for all those who want a small government and no "interference" from it.

Texas and its leadership had strong warnings about this 9 years ago and again 2 years ago. But given the quality and intelligence of its leadership, nothing was done about winterizing its power grid.

The houses in the Sunbelt are different. One morning I had water pouring down my walkway as they poured the concrete a half inch from the water pipe. Sunburnt brains.

My son lives in TX and has a generator that he hooks up if the power goes out. He lives just across the LA border and they've not lost any power in this storm but he was ready with fuel to hook up if he needed to. A $1000 generator and fuel can save you and your home.

When I lived in Texas and was an in-home repairman I had calls in the 1970's style mansions built there in the booming hey days of Texas oil. Many times I found frozen water pipes under a sink and the cure was simply to open up the cabinet doors to let in the main room air. Everything was poorly insulated. On top of that the houses are built on concrete slabs. If it gets cold enough for the ground to freeze and crack one of those, there is no fix for that house. If would no longer have any value.

I feel pretty bad for the residents who are suffering.
Time for them to hold Abbott, Perry, and everyone connected, responsible for the state-wide catastrophic grid failure, but Abbott and Perry most of all.

Once again, republican "leadership" fails with horrific, yet predictable, results.

I'll say it again, it's time for the gop to go the way of the Whigs.