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As winter storms overwhelmed Texas, many incarcerated people in the state went days without heat and water, making already grim conditions behind bars even more intolerable for thousands of people. Officials say 33 prisons across the state lost power and 20 had water shortages after the state's electrical grid failed. Staff shortages compounded the problems, and some incarcerated people report not being provided with blankets to keep warm in their freezing cells and being served inedible food. "Texas prison conditions have gone from bad to dire," says Marshall Project reporter Keri Blakinger. "Prisons didn't really have the sort of infrastructure going into all of this that many people do in the free world."

When millions of Texans lost power during extreme winter weather, some who were fortunate enough to keep the lights on now face astronomically high energy bills, with people being charged thousands of dollars for just a few days of energy use. The skyrocketing bills are a result of the state's years-long push to deregulate its energy market, says Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen's Energy Program. "We are seeing in these deregulated environments unscrupulous companies preying on their assumption that households will not understand or read the fine print," says Slocum. We also speak with Texas resident Akilah Scott-Amos, who saw her electricity bill jump to over $11,000 during the storm. "I have no problems with paying my fair share. But this is not fair," says Scott-Amos.

Millions of Texans are still suffering after severe winter weather devastated the state's energy and water systems. About 8 million Texans remain under orders to boil water, and 30,000 homes still have no power. Around 70 deaths have now been linked to the winter storms, including at least 12 people who died inside their homes after losing heat. Republican lawmakers in Texas are facing increasing criticism for their handling of the crisis, their decades-long push to deregulate the state's energy system, and their unfounded attacks on renewable energy and the Green New Deal. Naomi Klein, senior correspondent at The Intercept and a professor at Rutgers University, says Republicans' reaction is "because of panic" over their own culpability. "The Green New Deal is a plan that could solve so many of Texas's problems and the problems across the country, and Republicans have absolutely nothing to offer except for more deregulation, more privatization, more austerity." Klein also discusses the Biden administration's early policies on the climate crisis, the dangers of continued fossil fuel development, and her new book, "How to Change Everything."

FEATURING ANURADHA MITTAL AND DAVID BACON – House Democrats have introduced an ambitious new immigration bill that encompasses President Joe Biden’s plan to offer an 8-year pathway to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. The bill is expected to face stiff resistance among Republicans who appear to have embraced the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant...

FEATURING BRIAN CONCANNON JR. – Mass protests in Haiti have rocked the Caribbean nation for weeks as resistance to President Jovenel Moïse continued. His loyalists recently accused coup plotters of conspiring to murder him and arrested dozens of people including a supreme court justice. At the heart of the conflict is President Moïse’s claim to...

Bitterly cold temperatures continue to plague the state of Texas even as warmer weather was finally on the horizon. Water shortages have now replaced power outages as the number 1 problem in the state. As of Thursday an estimated 13 million people were being asked to boil water for drinking and untold numbers are wondering...

Trump's Save America PAC in the Real Steal as he Fleeces His Followers Out of $500 million | Can Principled Conservative and Democrats Work Around Trump's GOP? | The River of Guns From the U.S. to Mexico and From Red States Into Inner Cities backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Why Is the Supreme Court Sitting on Trump's Tax Returns? | Bills to Have the IRS Audit Rich Tax Cheats Would Raise $600 Billion a Year | How Putin Has Brought Russia Back and is Reshaping the International Order backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Texas's Political Leaders and Fox News Blame AOC and the Green New Deal for the Frozen Electricity Grid | A Commission to Find the "Facts and Causes" of the Insurrection and Storming of the Capitol | A Witness in the First Impeachment and Special Counsel in the Second on Trump's Legal Landscape Ahead backgroundbriefing.org/donate twitter.com/ianmastersmedia facebook.com/ianmastersmedia

Nick Anderson, who founded Counterpoint, was interviewed by Houstonia Magazine about his cartooning career post-newspapers: "(A)rtists from all political leanings are providing takes on today’s biggest headlines as contributors. Of the 18 satirists, ten --- like Anderson --- saw their jobs cut. It’s too soon to know if Counterpoint will hit it big (at the [...]

We're off today, but we've got a BradCast 'RECOUNTED' for your listening pleasure, with two excellent recent interviews that you may have missed --- or just need to hear again. [Audio link to show is posted below.] First up is Brad's 2/4/2021 interview with terrorism and insurgency expert COLIN P. CLARKE, a Senior Research Fellow at [...]

Well, now things are just getting ridiculous. But at least we have a nice reminder on today's BradCast that, despite all of the idiocy of the past four years or so, the U.S. can still do great and wondrous things. [Audio link to full show is posted below.] First up, with that other guy finally out [...]