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Kate Hudson was on Late Night with Jimmy Kimmel promoting her role on Sia’s Music, which is being panned for having a neurotypical teenager play an autistic role. Sia has been rightfully criticized for that and she has responded poorly. Kate was asked about that controversy by Jimmy and she tried to respond diplomatically. Kate didn’t come down on Sia, but she wanted to let those communities know that she was listening. In the first part of her interview Kate talked about what she’s been doing in lockdown. She said she’s been listening to records after her family gave her a turntable she wanted for Christmas. My favorite part was when she said that her ex husband, Chris Robinson, left all his stuff in their shared home when they split except for his records. The way she describes their life together makes it sound like they were high a lot and hung out listening to records. That sounds kind of nice actually. I remember doing that a lot in college.

She loves listening to records
At Christmas I got back into vinyl. I always loved listening to records. For Christmas my family… got me a turnturntable. I used to have [crates of records] until we got divorced and then he took them. It’s complicated [whose they were]. It was the only thing he took. I was like ‘we should probably start getting our own places.’ He just went in, took his records and left everything else like his clothes. I was like ‘do you want your clothes?’ ‘Nope. nope.’ He just wanted all his records. I’ve slowly been recollecting.

On if she’s worried about not being able to transition back to society
Yes. I love people so I have moments where I miss the connection. I miss going to a bar with a couple friends. I’m really not that extroverted. I like being at home. A dream night for me is two friends, an edible and a record player. So this little pod world is different.

The idea of sitting and listening to a record and hearing the storytelling aspect of it is the best. Chris and I used to sit and listen to records. We listened to the entire Jimmy Hendrix box set on vinyl.

[From Jimmy Kimmel on YouTube]

I have a friend whose boyfriend did the same thing except for his sneakers. They split up and he took his one favorite collection of things and left most of his clothes and other stuff. She had to move his crap to the garage to get him to pick up the rest of it. Did Kate just throw out Chris’s stuff? When I moved out of my ex’s I couldn’t move most of my stuff as it was overseas. He kept it for years and would take photos asking me what I wanted to keep. That was very kind of him and I’ll never forget it. We know that Kate gets along with her exes and it sounds like Kate and Chris are doing fine as co-parents. Kate has that bubbly personality and seems like she rolls with life and doesn’t let anything bother her.

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A post shared by Kate Hudson (@katehudson)

A post shared by Kate Hudson (@katehudson)

There was an extremely morbid “Death Watch” on Twitter over the weekend. Last week, Prince Philip checked into the hospital – reportedly he walked in unaided – because he was feeling poorly, and they wanted to keep this 99-old-man there for tests and observation. I didn’t feel like it was something to be super-worried about. But then some ghoulish folks on Twitter decided to make it into a thing, and there were rumors swirling all over the place that Philip was near death. Prince Charles took the somewhat extraordinary step of visiting his father in the hospital too:

After visiting his father for 30 minutes this afternoon, Prince Charles has now returned from central London to Highgrove in Gloucestershire.
Still no explanation from the Palace for the visit.
Prince Charles was photographed in the car as he left hospital. pic.twitter.com/EFt4Rd37fy

— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) February 20, 2021

People believed they saw Charles looking emotional and perhaps distraught behind his mask, like someone who just said goodbye to his father. I do think it’s notable that Charles traveled to London just to visit his dad, and I don’t think that Charles would have done that if Philip was completely fine and there were no significant issues. Still, the Queen did NOT visit her husband and neither did the rest of the family, so…?
The whole story took on a life of its own. Today, Prince William gave an update on his grandfather too:

Prince William has publicly addressed the health of his grandfather Prince Philip. William, 38, exchanged a few words on Monday with longstanding royals photographer Arthur Edwards, who asked him how Philip, 99, was doing.

“He’s okay,” said William. “They’re keeping an eye on him.”

Philip was admitted to King Edward VII Hospital in London on February 16 after “feeling unwell,” the palace said. William spoke with Edwards at a vaccine center in Norfolk, not far from his country home, Anmer Hall, where he and wife Kate Middleton and their children have been living during the latest U.K. lockdown.

Philip had been expected to remain in the hospital for a few days but on Friday, a royal source told PEOPLE that he would stay there into this week.

“Following consultation with his doctor, the Duke of Edinburgh is likely to remain in hospital for observation and rest over the weekend and into next week,” the source said. “The doctor is acting with an abundance of caution. The Duke remains in good spirits.”

[From People]

So… is the old guy okay or not? I feel like all of the indications – minus Charles’ visit – are that Philip is okay, maybe a little bit under the weather, maybe he has a cold or a stomach flu or something and they’re just worried it could turn into something bigger. I guess the press wants to keep everybody guessing so they can continue to write about how Harry and Meghan are “rude” and “awful” for responding to the Queen while Philip is being hospitalized. Meanwhile, notice that no one is ever like “wow, I can’t believe the press is being so f–king cruel to a pregnant woman who had a miscarriage last year.”

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from Kanye West. It was a long time coming, even longer than when we first heard about her plans at the start of the year. It seems Kim was over it completely as early as one year ago, when Kanye began “running for president” and saying sh-t about their family. Frankly, I think Kim was on edge when Kanye went full MAGA, but sure, running for president and simultaneously committing election fraud by coordinating with Jared Kushner and the Trump campaign did not help matters at all.

Kanye West believes his controversial 2020 presidential run was the tipping point in his marriage to Kim Kardashian. The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star, 40, filed for divorce from the rapper, 43, on Friday after nearly seven years of marriage. Amid the divorce news, West has been “texting people” and “talking things through,” a source tells PEOPLE.

“He’s in that place of ‘if only,’” says the source. “‘If only I had done this, if only I hadn’t done that.’ He’s processing things. He thinks that the Presidential run was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Before that, there was hope. After that, none. It cost him his marriage.”

[From People]

Let’s be real, the presidential run didn’t help, but Kim didn’t decide to divorce him merely because he ran a half-assed “presidential campaign” which was built and designed specifically by Trump-supporting Republicans for the express purpose of siphoning a marginal amount of swing voters away from Joe Biden. Kim is also divorcing him because he talked sh-t about her family as he was “campaigning,” and because she’s just done with his whole deal these days. I would also imagine his recent “Godly Preacher Kanye” act hasn’t helped matters either. People Magazine’s sources also said that Kanye is having a hard time with all of this:

After Kim Kardashian officially filed for divorce from Kanye West on Friday, the rap star, 43, “isn’t happy” but “resigned to reality,” a source close to West tells PEOPLE.

“He knew it was coming, but that doesn’t make it any easier,” the source says. “This is a somber day for him.”

The new information comes after a source told PEOPLE that the divorce filing had been amicable, with both West and Kardashian in agreement over joint legal and physical custody.

“It’s as amicable as possible, but amicable doesn’t mean joyful or ideal,” the West source tells PEOPLE. “It just means that they’re being adults about the whole thing. Kanye is seeing counselors and advisors to help him through this spot. It’s rough for him, and he isn’t happy, but he’s resigned to reality,” the insider adds.

The divorce filing — and new developments — come just days after a source told PEOPLE that Kanye was “not doing well” amid the couple’s split.

“He is anxious and very sad. He knows that the marriage is over, and there’s nothing that can be done right now,” the source said on Wednesday. “He also knows what he is losing in Kim.”

[From People]

“He also knows what he is losing in Kim.” Yeah. I know she’s not anyone’s favorite person and no one will give her credit for anything, but Kim stuck around a lot longer than most women would have. I personally would have been out the door the first time he put on the MAGA hat. She not only stuck around, she still championed him and stroked his ego and defended him publicly and privately. She was ride-or-die, until she wasn’t. Plus, I don’t think Godly Preacher Ye is going to be too happy about being Divorced Dad Ye now.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

The suggestions from the royal commentator class were particularly awful for the past year. If it was up to them, Queen Elizabeth II would have demanded that Prince Harry divorce his wife, abandon his child in America, and return to England immediately so he could marry a blonde. Failing that, the commentators demanded that QEII strip Meghan and Harry of their Sussex ducal titles, strip Harry of his prince title, and force them out of all of their patronages. The idea was that if Harry & Meghan *have* to be together, they should be marginalized, broke, worthless and forgotten. In the end, the Queen made a devilish compromise with those unhinged hardliners: she stripped Harry and Meghan of all of the “royal patronages” she had some kind of control over, but there wasn’t much she could do about their royal titles. So now that’s being massaged into “the good Queen isn’t so vindictive and punitive after all.”

The Queen has no plans to strip the official titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex from Harry and Meghan – but the couple will lose a string of patronages. The pair remain His and Her Royal Highness, although they are not permitted to use those titles on a day-to-day basis as they are no longer working members of the Royal Family.

A spokesman for the Sussexes said there was ‘absolutely no question’ they had wanted to retain the positions they had lost, adding: ‘They do respect the decision but they always made clear they were committed to doing the roles.’

Palace sources told the Mail that official positions were ‘simply incompatible’ with the couple’s new commercial careers in the US. However, stripping the couple of every vestige of their old lives – including the Sussex titles – was not an option for the Queen.

Palace insiders believed it would be ‘unduly punitive’ to take away the couple’s HRHs. Such a step could have provoked uncomfortable comparisons with Harry’s mother Diana, Princess of Wales, who lost her HRH after divorcing Prince Charles.

A source told the Mail: ‘They are still the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Your Royal Highnesses, although they won’t be using the latter. That was agreed last January and nothing has changed.’

Of the duke, they said: ‘He was born Prince Harry and will always be Prince Harry, while the [Sussex title] was a wedding gift. Regardless of what has happened, he will still be the grandson of the monarch, the son of a future monarch and the brother of a future monarch. That will never change. And he will still be those things even though he has chosen to walk away.’

Of the pressure on Harry to relinquish all of his titles, the source said: ‘He would rightly argue that he will always be portrayed as a royal and a prince, even if he worked as a landscape gardener in LA. He will never escape [the titles]. So why change?’

[From The Daily Mail]

My guess – and I have no idea – is that the Oprah interview will be promoted as “A Conversation with Meghan & Harry,” no titles necessary. It gets a bit trickier with their Netflix projects because I really don’t know which unions they belong to and which names their union memberships are under. Meghan was/is part of SAG under her maiden name, but what about the Producers Guild of America? Whatever their PGA union cards say, that’s how they’ll be named on their Netflix projects.

I’ve noted before that the American press largely began phasing out their titles a year ago – they just became Meghan and Harry, and to this day, many outlets just use Meghan’s maiden name (they do the same with Kate, honestly, because their single-lady branding was so strong). My point? Americans don’t actually give a f–k about titles, and it’s an absolute joke that the British media keeps suggesting that Americans will feel one way or the other if H&M do lose their titles. All that being said, the real reason the Queen doesn’t want to take their titles is because she knows that the comparison to Prince Andrew – who still has his ducal title, his prince title, his HRH and his military titles – will be too stark.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.

You can really tell that Buckingham Palace is in shambles following the events of the past week and a half. A series of dominoes fell: the Duchess of Sussex won her summary judgment, the Sussexes announced they were expecting another child, they announced the Oprah interview and the Sussexes clapped back at the Palace’s statement about service and duty. How can we tell that the Palace is in shambles? Because they can’t even get their stories straight about what they knew and when, why Harry is awful, why they’re so scared of the Oprah interview, or why they (the Palace officials) spent the past week trying furiously to complete the one-year review. Here are some highlights from the Daily Mail’s increasingly hysterical coverage, mostly about the Oprah interview:

Harry didn’t tell the Queen about the Oprah interview: The Mail on Sunday has also revealed that Prince Harry did not inform the Queen about the ‘tell-all’ interview with Oprah Winfrey. Her Majesty was ‘blindsided’ last week when it emerged that the Duchess of Sussex and her husband had agreed to talk to the American chat show host. She learned of it only when US TV network CBS hurriedly issued a statement on Monday after a producer working for Ms Winfrey mistakenly alerted ITV to the project. Harry not only kept the deal secret, sources question whether he instigated the discussions with the Queen over the Sussexes’ ‘divorce deal’ in order for it to be settled before the interview, which was recorded last Tuesday.

Why did the Queen scramble to complete the one-year review? Insiders insist the Oprah interview did not influence the decision by the Queen to strip Harry and Meghan of their royal patronages and honorary military titles. She sent a letter explaining the decision to her grandson after the Oprah interview had been announced, but had written it some days earlier.

The ITV leak? ITV discovered that the Duke and Duchess were to give an interview with Ms Winfrey when a member of the chat show host’s team requested access to news presenter Tom Bradby’s 2019 interview with Meghan in which she expressed unhappiness at her treatment by the British media. When ITV approached a spokesman for Harry and Meghan for comment, the decision was made to release a statement revealing the interview. A source said: ‘They had kept the interview totally secret. The Queen was not told, the Palace was not told. It seems clear from the sequence of events that they wanted and needed to know the final outcome [of the Queen’s decision] before they taped Oprah.’

When the Sussexes recorded the interview: The couple recorded their tell-all sit down with the American chat show host on Wednesday and Thursday [Feb. 17 & 18] – just hours before the couple issued their parting shot. It has also emerged that Oprah had been with the Sussexes immediately before their riposte was released, having taken her £50 milllion Gulfstream jet to Santa Barbara – where she owns a second home a short drive from the pair.

They just have to bring up Prince Philip: In stark contrast to that glamorous meeting, Harry’s grandfather, Prince Philip, remains in hospital, and was visited by a teary-eyed Prince Charles yesterday, with the 99-year-old expected to continue to be monitored and encouraged to rest into next week.

What will Meghan say to Oprah: A source told the Sun: ‘The pair are clearly very close to Oprah and the fact she’s been with them at such an intense time has given her a unique insight into the rift with the royals. The drama of last week means that Oprah’s tell-all show will be pure gold. It’s time to hide behind the sofa for the other royals.’

Getting their voices back: ‘Having an institutional voice within the royal family wasn’t enough [for Meghan]. This interview will be the loudest way she’ll get her voice back. When they first started dating Meghan felt she had lost her voice. She had had a platform as a moderately successful actress, and when she was told to stop using her social media and be careful what she said, I could tell that loss of voice and independence pained her.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Repetitive references to Prince Philip’s hospitalization are sprinkled throughout all of the British media’s coverage of this current Sussex drama, which is predictable and awful. They’re using a very old man’s illness to punish Harry and Meghan for something that is completely unrelated. As for the rest of it… as I said, the chaos coming out of Buckingham Palace over the past week and a half was not the measured self-confidence of a monarch who knew she was doing the right thing and had a concrete plan put in place before the Sussexes’ series of disclosures. What we saw was a half-assed smear job from a Palace which was caught off-guard and had to wing it.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Sunday night, HBO began airing their new docuseries called Allen v. Farrow. The series contains interviews and archival footage from the swirling controversy in 1992, when Mia Farrow and Woody Allen broke up and began their custody dispute over Dylan and Ronan Farrow. Mia accused Woody of molesting Dylan, and Woody had already run off with Soon Yi Previn. Soon Yi was, at the time, Mia and Andre Previn’s teenage/early 20s adopted daughter, and Woody and Soon Yi were later married in 1997. With the help of Mia Farrow and Ronan Farrow, Dylan Farrow began telling her story publicly years ago, while Soon Yi and Moses have only made a handful of public statements in the past decade, and both Soon Yi and Moses Farrow have pointed the finger at Mia as the emotionally and physically abusive parent in their lives. That didn’t stop HBO from doing this series which seems largely more of the Farrow side of things. According to Woody and Soon-Yi, it’s just another hit job organized by Mia.

Woody Allen and his wife Soon-Yi Previn have issued a statement to the press through a spokesperson — Allen’s sister, producer Letty Aronson — in response to the HBO docuseries “Allen v. Farrow” that premiered Sunday. The program details his daughter Dylan Farrow’s allegations of abuse against the director, and includes in-depth interviews with her, Allen’s former partner Mia Farrow, and those who say they witnessed his behavior.

Allen and Previn claim the filmmakers — Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering — had “no interest in the truth” and were “surreptitiously collaborating” with the Farrows to do a “hatchet job riddled with falsehoods.”

In the four-part docuseries, which contains interviews with the Farrows as well as close family friends and experts, Dylan Farrow says that “for the longest time I’ve been trying to set the record straight… No matter what you think you know, it’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

Allen and Previn’s full statement can be read below:

“These documentarians had no interest in the truth. Instead, they spent years surreptitiously collaborating with the Farrows and their enablers to put together a hatchet job riddled with falsehoods. Woody and Soon-Yi were approached less than two months ago and given only a matter of days ‘to respond.’ Of course, they declined to do so.

“As has been known for decades, these allegations are categorically false. Multiple agencies investigated them at the time and found that, whatever Dylan Farrow may have been led to believe, absolutely no abuse had ever taken place. It is sadly unsurprising that the network to air this is HBO – which has a standing production deal and business relationship with Ronan Farrow. While this shoddy hit piece may gain attention, it does not change the facts.”

[From Variety]

Dylan and Mia insist that this is false: “Multiple agencies investigated them at the time and found that, whatever Dylan Farrow may have been led to believe, absolutely no abuse had ever taken place.” The investigations stalled largely because of concerns of making things more traumatic for Dylan, and investigators have gone on the record about how there was enough evidence to proceed, but there was a choice to not put Dylan through an extended legal drama. Variety also spoke to the producer of the HBO series, Amy Herdy, who says on the record that she began reaching out to Woody and Soon-Yi in June 2018, asking for their participation in the docuseries. That’s why the series tilts so heavily in favor of the Farrows – because they were the ones who agreed to be interviewed.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.

Gwyneth Paltrow was featured in The New York Times the other day to promote goop vibrators. She actually brings up some good points – we’re alone a lot more now, and female sexuality has been stigmatised for so long, and sexual health should be a priority. Also, it’s true, historically vibrators are…

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s remaining “private” patronages are beyond thrilled that they have such active and engaged patrons. But what about the patronages which were taken away from Harry and Meghan by the palace? Well, since Buckingham Palace was a ball of chaos last week as they threw together their punitive actions against H&M, they didn’t even consult with the patronages to tell them that they were losing their charismatic patrons. Which is why the Rugby Football League is making it clear that this was never their call, and that they loved having Harry as their patron, and that they would love to keep him in some kind of role.

The Rugby Football League will be missing their beloved patron. Buckingham Palace confirmed in a statement on Friday that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry — who left full-time royal work in March 2020 — will officially not be returning to their royal roles. As part of stepping down, the couple will no longer keep their patronages (their royal involvement with numerous U.K. charities). Trusts and patronages will now revert back to Queen Elizabeth, 94, who will then distribute them among other working royals.

Two of those patronages were the Rugby Football Union and the Rugby Football League, which may see Prince William stepping in the vacant role, according to a report from The Telegraph.

“There will be a lot of disruption. The World Cup is in autumn and Prince Harry was expected to be front and center of that,” a source from the Rugby Football League reportedly told the outlet, which also reported: “There have been rumors that he could have some role, that there could be some middle ground, but whether that is feasible I don’t know.”

The Rugby Football League source added, “We were completely blindsided by the news to be honest. We were very keen to keep Prince Harry, he’s been fantastic.” The World Cup is expected to take place in northern England.

A source close to the Rugby Football League told The Telegraph: “The World Cup is going to take place in the north of England, which is very significant at this time and very important for the royal household to acknowledge and get behind, particularly as it will be happening in many towns where major events are not usually held. The Duke of Sussex was a high profile figure who embraced the World Cup and we hope the next appointment will be a continuation of that.” A spokesperson for the Rugby Football Union did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

The Rugby Football Union and the Rugby Football League made sure to thank Harry for serving as their patrons and shared photos of the Queen’s grandson at some of their events over the years. “We would like to thank Prince Harry for his time and commitment to the Rugby Football Union both in his position as Patron and Vice Patron,” the Rugby Football Union said in a statement. “The RFU has greatly valued his contribution to promoting and supporting the game. We look forward to welcoming the Duke and Duchess of Sussex back to Twickenham at some point in the future.”

[From People]

The Rugby League chiefs are making it 100% clear that they don’t want to lose Harry, and that they were NOT consulted by the Palace. Again, one of the Palace’s many cover stories is that the Queen knew she was going to force the Sussexes out and that this had all been planned. So why didn’t ANYONE talk to the rugby peeps? Obviously, there’s a rumor that William will take over the role, but William apparently doesn’t want to look like he’s stepping into all of Harry’s old roles. So… after all of that, it would be sort of funny if William and Kate didn’t end up taking over any of Harry and Meghan’s old patronages. I mean, that was never Camp Cambridge’s goal – they will never WANT to take on more work, and the goal of the Sussexes’ exile was never to have William and Kate ride in to save the day. Please, Will and Kate aren’t capable of thinking that far ahead. Clearly, none of the rest of the Windsors are either. The Queen had a bloody year to prepare for this mess and it was still half-assed. Not only that, it exposed her short-sighted vindictive streak – not only does she want to punish Harry and Meghan, she wants to punish everyone around Harry and Meghan. Anyway, I feel for the rugby peeps. (What’s with the rose in this announcement? I’m sure it’s a rugby thing but it’s also just funny, given Will’s keenness for rose bushes.)

The Duke of Sussex became Vice Patron of the RFU in 2010, and took over as Patron in December 2016.

We thank him for his support ?

— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) February 19, 2021

Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid, Avalon Red.

Dear Gossips, One of the added bonuses of Regé-Jean Page hosting Saturday Night Live was that Ego Nwodim had more to do – perhaps why she was one of the people seen out for dinner with him and Lorne Michaels last week? Ego showed up in the opening monologue, was featured first in a digital short, pl…

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An unprecedented winter storm swept across the southern United States causing Texas, parts of Oklahoma and Louisiana to lose power and water for days in temperatures that dropped below -4F in some areas. Several dozen people have died so far but it is feared that there are more that just haven’t been found yet. So many grim stories came over the weekend. Texans are finding themselves crushed with disasters including loss of property, homes and lives. Some lost income because they couldn’t get into work or work from home without electricity and water. The federal government is sending in FEMA to assist, and the state is utilizing local disaster relief organizations. Houston native Beyonce created a partnership through her foundation BeyGood, with Adidas and Houston’s organization Bread of Life to provide Texans in need with aid up to $1000.

Texans are also facing price hikes and astronomical electricity bills due to deregulation of the service. Some people are receiving electric bills upward of $7000 for the use of energy over a several day period. Dallas, Texas resident DeAndre Shaw is one customer who was sent into shock when he received a $7000 bill in the mail. Another company, CPSE, stated that they will allow their customers to be on a 10+ year payment plan to pay off their energy debt. Below is more on the story from CNN:

Dallas resident DeAndre Upshaw said it was “very shocking” when he opened his latest electricity bill.

“While I’m trying to get gas and groceries and make sure that my pipes don’t explode, the last thing I’m thinking about is a $7,000 bill from my utility company,” Upshaw told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield via Skype Saturday.

As Texas struggles to recover from a deep freeze that has killed dozens, some customers in Texas like Upshaw are facing unprecedented price hikes in their energy bills as a result of the recent snow storm. Texas officials say they are investigating.

Texas’ utility regulator, Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), said Saturday that it is investigating “the factors that combined with the devastating winter weather to disrupt the flow of power to millions of Texas homes.”

“It is unacceptable for Texans who suffered through days in the freezing cold without electricity or heat to now be hit with skyrocketing energy costs,” Abbott said. “To protect families, I am actively working with the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the House and members of the Legislature to develop solutions to ensure that Texans are not on the hook for unreasonable spikes in their energy bills.”

One energy company called Griddy suggested that their customers look for another provider if the prices were too high.

Upshaw told CNN he attempted to switch from Griddy to another electric provider, but the new company kept pushing back his start date.

[From CNN]

My mom lost her lights early Monday morning so she came to stay with me on Tuesday after sleeping in her below 17F apartment. My water and electricity went out Tuesday. My electricity was out until Wednesday evening and my water didn’t return until Friday. I had spotty cell service for several days and no Internet. All of the food in my refrigerator went bad so I lost a lot of food. My mom and I had to eat one meal a day for four days after waiting in hour long lines at fast food joints as they were the only places opened. Most of our grocery store chains were closed and without electricity we couldn’t cook anyway. We spent hours searching for bottled water in the city and how we had to spend twice the amount we usually would to buy water at liquor stores and small mom and pop shops. A good friend of my mom posted on Twitter that a co-worker was found dead in her apartment from hypothermia. I spent three days in a rage and dragging folks on twitter for telling Texans that this is our karma. Saying sh*t like that when people are in a crisis and trying to survive is petty, distasteful, and inhumane. It is the equivalent of Westboro Baptist Church at funerals. I also spent a lot of time dragging the hell out of he-goat ass #FledCruz for being a deserter and traitor. I can’t wait to vote him out of office in 2024.

But what sent me over the edge was natural gas and oil companies celebrating the surge in prices. Texans are dealing with astronomic energy bills. The fact that our energy sector has been deregulated since 2002 was news to me. The Republican lawmakers of the state were warned in 2011 that a situation like this could happen. This makes me so angry and sad. I personally cannot live in a society where money is more important than lives.

Those high bills are real. My mom received a text message from her energy company stating that many should expect higher than normal bills next month. The good news is there are several organizations like Baker Ripley and Catholic Charities who are giving up to $1600 to pay for utility bills. I hope that the federal government investigates the energy companies in Texas and the Republicans enabling them. I am also glad to see that Beyonce is doing her philanthropic thing as she has been the last few years, particularly in Houston. The money will help many impacted by this crisis. We definitely need to get Texas back on the federal grid. No state should have to experience what Texas, Louisiana, or Oklahoma has had to in the last two weeks. The lose of life alone should be a wake up call.

Visit @BreadoflifeH for more information on assistance.
We send our prayers to those impacted by the winter storm. pic.twitter.com/Tqpf7kxmij

— BeyGOOD (@BeyGood) February 19, 2021

A drilling company that operates in Texas and Louisiana told investors that the surge in natural gas prices — amid powerful winter storms — was giving it a major financial boost.

“Obviously, this week is like hitting the jackpot,” CFO Roland Burns said.https://t.co/j2QxkFbBYn

— NPR (@NPR) February 19, 2021

Q – Is CPSE going to provide payment relief to customers?

A: We understand that it would be unacceptable to have customers bear the costs on their monthly bill, so we are working diligently to find ways to spread those costs to 10 years or longer to make it more affordable.

— CPS Energy (@cpsenergy) February 19, 2021

The Texas blackout isn’t just causing power and heating failures, it’s causing food insecurity all over the state.

If you can, consider donating at https://t.co/SoSaFCnCnt pic.twitter.com/WFeU60dskM

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) February 20, 2021

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