The Golden State’s in the throes of a full-blown energy crisis, but Californians have one saving grace: Governor Gavin Newsom. There’s already been a great deal of speculation about a possible 2024 presidential run for Newsom, and for what it’s worth, we now have a pretty good idea of what sort of bold and benevolent leader he would be.
As we told you earlier, he graciously urged his subjects to be smart about their electricity usage:
CALIFORNIA: We’re now in a Flex Alert.
What does that mean? We all need to conserve as much energy as possible during this record breaking heatwave.
Here’s what to do until 9pm tonight:
– Set thermostats to 78
– Turn off unnecessary lights
– Avoid using large appliances— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 7, 2022
He doesn’t ask Californians for much. He just wants them to schvitz in the dark. It’s not like they can’t wash their sweaty clothes … they just have to wait til after 9 p.m. Any Californians who don’t appreciate Newsom’s generosity just need to have a little thing called perspective.
NEW: Rolling blackouts have begun in Palo Alto & Alameda, @kron4news reports.
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) September 7, 2022
Texas basically went through the exact same thing last year, OK? The exact same thing! When your state’s government is completely caught off guard by aberrant weather, you have to understand that you’re going to be asked and expected to make sacrifices. California’s government needs your help getting through these tough times, and it should be Californians’ pleasure — nay, their honor — to give up air conditioning.
Obviously we’re being entirely facetious. Californians should be pissed off (to an extent, at least; they did vote for their current government, after all). This situation is nothing like what happened in Texas, and California shouldn’t be crumbling in the face of a heat wave, as Club For Growth senior analyst Andrew Follett explains in a fantastic thread:
I'm seeing a LOT of Libs comparing the California rolling blackouts to the Feb. 2021 Texas Ice Storm shutdown to dismiss it…that's a deeply dishonest thing to do.
Fundamentally, TX system wasn't designed to handle cold weather. CA's WAS designed to handle heat & failed anyway! https://t.co/C5ZM8bfqVl pic.twitter.com/nm6Dcz65x1
— Andrew Follett (@AndrewCFollett) September 7, 2022
Let me put it this way…
If you car got hit by a Hellfire missile and you died…that's the kind of "outside context" failure you can't blame your car's design for.
A car capable of tanking a missile strike would be prohibitively expensive and pretty useless most of the time. pic.twitter.com/0XnSCdRMpF
— Andrew Follett (@AndrewCFollett) September 7, 2022
Outside-context problems tend to be by far the most devastating when they occur … because almost by definition they can't be economically prepared for. U you prioritize security against likely threats.
TX doesn't get a lot of ice..failing to a black swan is understandable. pic.twitter.com/CguqGwYHTO
— Andrew Follett (@AndrewCFollett) September 7, 2022
In contrast, CA seems to have been taken out by drought and heat…and the state's reliance on green energy. A white swan.
Those are standard problems that everyone knew about LONG beforehand.
CA's "car" got taken out by the equivalent of a toddler's tricycle hitting it. pic.twitter.com/cwPYa5LTLD
— Andrew Follett (@AndrewCFollett) September 7, 2022
If Alaska would if it was hit by a 100 F heat, u'd expect failures. They're not built for that.
If Miami was hit by snowfall, u'd expect disaster.
That's why this chart is funny.
But flip it around and if failure persists that's an ENTIRELY different and much worse thing! pic.twitter.com/M16k6bbeAa
— Andrew Follett (@AndrewCFollett) September 7, 2022
This is part of why when Superstorm Sandy (a minor Cat 1 storm when it landfalled in NJ) hit the NYC area it was such a huge disaster…area isn't used to handling that kind of problem.
Whereas a Cat 1 landing in South Florida or Cape Hatteras NC would be almost a joke. pic.twitter.com/P67inzxDS7
— Andrew Follett (@AndrewCFollett) September 7, 2022
California’s government should be experts on this whole heatwave thing by now.
Who am I to say all this stuff?
Well, I used to do outage analysis for the Department of Energy focusing on the Gulf of Mexico and Texas…
Also, I was an energy reporter for years.
This is me at a nuclear power plant. pic.twitter.com/ZaT844oZcv
— Andrew Follett (@AndrewCFollett) September 7, 2022
Get it together, California. Seriously.
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