Ted Cruz

Texas do-nothing-but-grandstand Republican Senator Ted Cruz is at it again, holding up more than a dozen State Department nominees over a pipeline in a foreign land that’s going to finish being built regardless of what the US does or doesn’t ‘do’ about it. The Biden Administration, in a nod to reality and an acknowledgment that sovereign nations can make deals with one another, last month waived sanctions against companies involved in building the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline.

Nord Stream 2 runs through the Baltic Sea next to the already long-operating Nord Stream pipeline and would deliver Russian natural gas to Germany under terms negotiated between the two countries. It is also more than 90% built and both Germany and Russia remain eager to finish the job. The notion that US sanctions were going to prevent them from doing so was laughable from the jump. But they were put in place by Trump Administration anyway.

The cabinet positions being held up include posts as high as undersecretary and assistant secretary, and though Trump and his cronies were all about purging the government of anybody who knew what they were actually doing, it’s not really the best way to run a country. Then again, Teo’s gotta score points however he can and has never let the good of the country stop him before.

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Abbott and power

Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott, who recently convened a special session of the Texas legislature to take on social issues that evidently weren’t addressed adequately the first time around, has decided that renewable energy is responsible for the state’s recent power grid troubles despite data showing that this is simply not true.

“Electric generators are expected to provide enough power to meet the needs of all Texans. When they fail to do so, those generators should shoulder the costs of that failure,” Abbott wrote to the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC), referring to wind and solar generators. But these weren’t the plants that went down back in February. Those were nuclear, coal, and gas-fired plants.

The same thing happened in May, when more gas-fired plants went offline for maintenance than had been expected and warnings regarding the gird were once again issued. And it’s all the more ridiculous given the strides Texas has made establishing itself as a leader in the wind and solar industries.

Now Abbott is asking the PUC to fine wind and solar generators if they can’t provide power all the time, while offering reliability-based incentives to plants using gas or coal resources. And fixing the grid itself, weatherizing, etc.? Not even on the special session’s agenda.

But why would it be? Natural gas sellers made $11 billion during the freeze.

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…of both kinds

Even ignoring science to pander to business interests while calling a special session to prevent voter fraud that didn’t happen, fight “censorship” by social media platforms, and stop the teaching of accurate history, however, hasn’t been enough to save Greg from a party that wants more. No less than three GOP primary challengers have emerged.

Joining former state Senator Don Huffines and Blaze TV personality Chad Prather in the battle to take down Gov. Abbott from within, is Republican Party of Texas (RPT) Chair Allen West. West served as a US Representative from Florida as recently as 2013 and is a retired Army officer, having been allowed to end his service in good standing despite admitting to holding an Iraqi police officer captive, punching him in the face, and staging his mock execution.

Texas Republicans love him because he sends all the right signals, no matter how misguided; like coopting then keeping, RPT’s “We Are The Storm” motto from QAnon. He also appeals to the state’s delusions of nationalist grandeur, telling would-be volunteers that “Together, we will defend the Texas Republic!”

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Procedure is fun too!

Texas Democrats bailed on the special session last week, fleeing to Washington, DC, to prevent a quorum and thereby passage of proposed voter suppression laws. Greg says they’ll be arrested upon their return. He and other Republicans have also been whining a lot about how the Dems have committed some sort of dereliction of duty by their actions. It amuses me exactly how butthurt the GOP can become how quickly when procedural techniques are used against them. Live by sword, die by the sword, brothers.