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We'd normally consider this teeth-chattering weather. But considering it's a jump of about 30 degrees from some recent readings, well. . .
We dreamily think of spring and summer now. As if the pandemic wasn't weighing enough on our thoughts - we have disastrous weather. We are blessed in Minnesota being ready for this stuff. Imagine being in Texas. Now we wonder: will it take the federal government to move in down there, to bail out the state and rescue its residents because state government hadn't taken preventive measures?
Systems needed to be "winterized," yes even in Texas.
Naturally, Republican politicians do not go the extra mile to ensure this sort of thing. Republicans just have fingers crossed that no disaster will arrive. Will all the taxpayers of the U.S. have to deal with this now? Will Texas and other southern states run by Republicans have to be incentivized to take care of their own affairs?
Remember Flint MI
The law has finally caught up to Rick Snyder, the former Republican governor of Michigan. He presided for the notorious Flint water crisis. It was a firebell in the night for how Republicans tend to oversee things. Republicans by their nature do not want people to like government. If you have not realized yet that this is a defining feature of the GOP, please get your eyes opened. Snyder was recently indicted, quite long after the fact.
I thought it interesting that this typical-appearing Republican not only decided not to endorse Trump, he criticized Trump, rather sharply and personally. Snyder made a big deal about how Trump was a "bully." Yes, like a child saying the emperor has no clothes. A cynical theory (the type of theory we always have to entertain): Snyder knew that the people studying the possibility of an indictment were not of his political stripe, not likely anyway, so he may have felt that a harsh critique of Trump could win him a favor or two?
How valid are my theories? I wrote a song about the Flint water disaster. I become so chagrined as I think about how the Republican Party sells itself as being so in tune with the Christian faith. Masses of lemmings follow these words, including no small number in our Morris MN.
It is sad to think a former governor has been indicted in connection with the Flint matter. The most profound sadness is about what happened. Michigan now has a Democratic governor. At present in Texas there's a Republican governor. Those folks just cannot get out of the habit - look at how tourist Ted Cruz stays in office. It's so easy to laugh about the misadventures of Cruz. The TV comedians get fodder. The humor has to be partitioned off from the reality. The reality is horrifying.
First, it was horrifying because Texas government leaders didn't want to ensure backup with its essential systems. More profoundly, the Texas catastrophe reflects climate change. The most hard-edged Republican officials are the first to pooh-pooh climate change theory. They defer to the notorious former president, the fat golfer, who calls it a "hoax." And they really seem to believe it.
The voters can correct all this. Texas voters could put Beto O'Rourke into power. A prime adversary is right wing media like Fox News. The right wingers want flags to fly at half-mast everywhere for Rush Limbaugh. What an interesting priority at this time of crisis.
When I was a kid, we had the old gatekeeper media that did news largely as a public service. It wasn't even profitable for a long time. "News" had to be mandated. And, when it was mandated it had to be truthful. Of course it could also be paternalistic. You might argue that it could have gotten the U.S. out of Vietnam sooner. Actually the old media tried, evidence being the Morley Safer "Zippo Lighter" story and the Walter Cronkite comments that got Lyndon Johnson to talk with resignation. (Safer projected fascination with how a simple Zippo lighter could burn down a whole Vietnamese village.)
Keep your eye on the ball
The old media with its warts could be putting the climate change emergency in front of us better, without having to fight so many distractions from the looney right, the likes of Newsmax etc.
Trump says climate change is a hoax. And just look at all the rabid Trump supporters still in outstate western Minnesota. They populate a majority of our churches, unfortunately. This element of society could expedite a decline in the Christian faith itself, as young people become ever more jaded about it. It is happening. Just ask the people who work in organized religion.
Conditions in Texas have overwhelmed the power grid. Electricity to millions was cut off. Water pipes burst. A humanitarian crisis grew.
It's complicated: our winters are actually getting milder. What gives? It seems counterintuitive. But there's a paradox: a warmer climate can contribute to ungodly cold. I'm sure Morris native Tony Hansen, MHS Class of '71, could readily explain all this to us. The Morris commercial media should maybe interview meteorologist Tony. He's on the faculty of St. Cloud State University, chairman of the department I believe. "Hometown boy makes good," the late Walt Sarlette would say with a chuckle.
Meteorologists like Hansen saw the extreme winter weather coming weeks in advance. The stage was set by something called sudden stratospheric warming (yes, SSW). It happened at the beginning of the year. Temperatures high above the North Pole warmed by 100 degrees. So, when the arctic warms like this, it disrupts a spinning mass of cold air, i.e. the "polar vortex."
Let's continue: the jet stream normally keeps the vortex contained. The cold air is trapped inside. But with the arctic warming so much, the stream weakens. It "elongates." This causes the cold air to plunge south.
Well, I guess the federal government can backstop everything, right? Better to see Texas state government try to keep things contained with appropriate measures. Instead Governor Greg Abbott goes on Fox News and insinuates that it's "the green new deal" at fault. Well, if so many of us could eat out of Trump's hand for four years, let's just see this continue with the likes of Abbott.
Now we see photos of things like a frozen waterfall in the Ozarks of Arkansas. Heaven help us all. Or, we could turn to Beto O'Rourke and his Democrats. Now, on to sports:
The MACA boys hoops team buried Sauk Centre Friday. This was especially true in the first half. The Streeters played like they didn't have a clue. The halftime score was 36-7. Yawn.
The orange and black ascended to 10-1 in won-lost. The second half was cruise-time. Game's end arrived with the score 64-35. Our three top scorers had totals of 13, 12 and 11. This trio: Jackson Loge, Toby Gonnerman and Brandon Jergenson.
Loge nailed all three of his 3-point shots. Other 3's were made by Durgin Decker, Cole Wente, Jergenson and Thomas Tiernan.
The three top scorers were joined by: Tiernan (8 points), Sam Kleinwolterink (5), Decker (5), Riley Reimers (4), Cole Wente (3) and Brenden Hardy (1). The individual totals from the Willmar paper added up to 62 points, not 64, sorry.
Loge's eight rebounds led and he was followed by Kleinwolterink (7) and Tiernan (6). Tiernan's five assists were tops there - Loge and Gonnerman each added three. Tiernan and Gonnerman each had two steals. Loge blocked four shots.
We're at ten wins with more to come!
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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