Cancun fallout: Ted Cruz says 'rude' neighbors put out 'Beto' signs and his wife is 'pissed' at whoever leaked her texts



Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas detailed more of the fallout from the public relations nightmare surrounding his family's trip to Cancun in Mexico amid the energy crisis in Texas.

Cruz said that his wife Heidi was very upset at whoever leaked texts of her private conversation about the trip. He also said that he was annoyed by his neighbors putting out "Beto" signs for his onetime election challenger, Beto O'Rourke.

He made the comments as a guest on the "Ruthless" podcast published on Tuesday.

"I will say Heidi's pretty pissed at that," he said, referring to leaked texts from his wife inviting friends to join them in Cancun.

The controversy erupted when Cruz was spotted with his family at an airport boarding a plane to Cancun. His home state was experiencing record-low temperatures that broke the energy grid and left millions without electricity to face the fierce cold. At least 80 people died as a result of the crisis.

On the podcast, Cruz said the incident revealed "how ridiculously polarized and nasty" people can get.

"Here's a suggestion: just don't be a–holes," he said. "Like, just, you know, treat each other as human beings have some degree, some modicum of respect."

He went on to gripe about neighbors on his street "who put up Beto signs, which I thought was a little rude."

Cruz added, "you know, I didn't, like, hold a victory party on their front yards when we won."

Defenders of Cruz have pointed out that he was merely trying to keep his wife and daughters happy during a terrible time and that as a U.S. senator there wasn't much he could personally do to alleviate the problems suffered by Texans.

Cruz conceded during a separate guest appearance on talk radio that the decision to leave was "was dumb as hell."

Here's the audio of Cruz talking about the scandal:

Ted Cruz's Wife 'Pissed' About Leaked Textswww.youtube.com

Oil to the rescue: President Biden sends dozens of diesel generators to Texas amid continued power outages



President Joe Biden's Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Thursday afternoon that it is taking steps to help Texas as it continues to grapple with power outages across the state in the midst of a deep freeze.

Included in the FEMA assistance, The Hill reported, are "60 generators to support critical sites like hospitals and water facilities, 729,000 liters of water, more than 10,000 wool blankets, 50,000 cotton blankets and 225,000 meals."

Sixty generators? What do those power providers run on?

Diesel. A fossil fuel.

Considering how frequently Biden and his party like to trash the industry, it's notable that when the chips are down, the federal government — under Democratic control — turns to oil to save the day, the Wall Street Journal pointed out in an editorial posted Thursday night.

Critics have gone after the state's reliance upon wind power in such an oil-rich state, but the entire grid was impacted — not just wind turbines that were created to withstand Texas heat and not a once-in-a-lifetime cold snap.

Regardless of the state's use of renewables like wind or solar, when there was an emergency need for power, oil was the answer — despite the fact that the left seeks to ban fossil fuels, the Journal noted.

In fact, Democrat-run governments continue to be reliant upon their least-hated fossil fuel, natural gas — as well as oil for backup.

"Liberals blame gas plants for not covering wind's you-know-what when turbines froze amid surging demand," the paper said. "This is ironic since they seem to be acknowledging that fossil fuels are necessary, though they still want to banish them."

The Journal pointed out that left-wing states like California and New York continue their "love-hate relationship" with oil and gas.

The Golden State's electric utilities commonly deploy diesel generators when they have to cut power during heavy winds, the Journal said. And Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom suspended emissions rules and relied heavily on diesel generators over the summer during a heat wave that pushed California's grid to the limits "and renewables were MIA."

And then there's the Empire State, home of Green New Deal author Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, where the government's anti-fossil fuel moves have made it increasingly more likely that people will burn oil instead of clean natural gas:

As for New York, its gas plants can switch to oil. So if there is a shortage of gas due to weather or pipeline constraints, power plants can continue to run by burning oil. One irony is that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's natural gas pipeline blockade, which has limited gas shipments from Pennsylvania, has reinforced the state's reliance on less-clean-burning oil for heating fuel.

If we can learn anything from Texas' current power problems, it's that the environmentalists' positions and policy proposals don't work, the paper said. And fossil fuels will have to be used to fix the problems caused by their failed adventures.

The Journal editorial concluded:

Climate activists want to replace gas in homes and buildings with electric heating and stoves, but Texas is showing the problems with this policy. If the power goes out, people don't have heat or hot water. Electric batteries aren't a solution because they can't provide backup power for entire homes including appliances.

The harder the climate absolutists strive to banish fossil fuels, the more Americans learn they can't live without them.

Rick Perry says Texans would rather be without power than face federal regulation — and the backlash is fierce



Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry suggested that Texans would rather be without electricity for a few days than face expanding federal regulation, but many of his former constituents took to social media to furiously disagree.

Perry made the comments Wednesday in a blog post on the website for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

"Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business," Gov. Perry said. "Try not to let whatever the crisis of the day is take your eye off of having a resilient grid that keeps America safe personally, economically, and strategically."

Perry was responding, according to the blog post, to some on the left who were looking at the crisis in Texas as an opportunity to "expand their top-down, radical proposals."

He went on to explain why the crisis in Texas was evidence that they could not depend on solar and wind energy in the future.

"We need to have a baseload. And the only way you can get a baseload in this country is [with] natural gas, coal, and nuclear," he said.

Perry's comments mirror those from Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), who concluded on Tuesday, "Bottom line: fossil fuels are the only thing that saved us. They are *base load* energy."

The comments from Perry were met with angst and anger from many suffering from the lack of power during historically frigid conditions.

"Just got a note from a friend whose uncle died of hypothermia last night in Dallas. Her family and hundreds of thousands of others beg to differ," replied Houston Chronicle columnist Chris Tomlinson.

"So our leaders believe we're willing to die to protect Texas businesses and freeze to keep the feds away from the power companies? What other sacrifices do they have in mind for us?" said Austin reporter Fred Cantu.

"I thought I was going to die at 4am. I was cold to the touch and couldn't bring my temperature up despite wearing 2 thermal leggings + 1 thermal shirt and 2 really warm sweaters. (Add in 2 San Marcos blankets). The temperature in my room was 20f I don't want this ever again," tweeted Kassandra Aleman, a Democrat activist.

"My grandmother in Austin had to drive to a nearby town to stay with relatives because even though their power is out, too, at least they have a fireplace to keep everyone warm. Rick Perry can go to hell," replied Charlotte Clymer, a liberal transgender activist.

On Wednesday morning, 3 million Texans awoke to face the bitter cold without power. Some reports say as many as 20 people have already died because of the crisis.

Perry was once considered a front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination and later served as Secretary of Energy under the Trump administration.

Here's more about the energy crisis in Texas:

Millions suffer through deep freeze without power l GMAwww.youtube.com