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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Millions still don't have power in <keyword id="15710" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="texas">Texas</keyword>, and <keyword id="114148" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="AUSTIN">Austin</keyword> power providers have said outages will continue.</li><li>Austin Energy said that outages will likely extend into Wednesday.</li><li>The privately owned Electric Reliability Council of Texas has not provided a clear timeline either.</li></ul>Energy utility services across major cities in Texas, like Austin and <keyword id="100821" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Houston">Houston</keyword>, have told residents <a href="https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/austin-energy-prepare-to-not-have-power-through-tuesday-night-possibly-longer/">to prepare</a> for at least another night of power outages.In Austin, the public energy utility service tweeted that the outages, now in their second day amid <keyword id="10775780" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="snowstorm-uri">snowstorm Uri</keyword> and freezing temperatures in the state, will extend into Wednesday.The announcement came Tuesday as the state's privately owned Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) told legislators that power grid operators currently <a href="https://twitter.com/RafaelAnchia/status/1361753136306692097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1361753136306692097%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https://www.dallasnews.com/news/weather/2021/02/16/ercot-says-they-have-no-idea-when-texas-power-outages-will-end/end/">can't predict</a> when outages might end.On Tuesday, ERCOT also asked Austin Energy to shed more power and shut off more facilities, <a href="https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/austin-energy-prepare-to-not-have-power-through-tuesday-night-possibly-longer/">according to KXAN</a>.Local officials have pushed back, saying that shedding more power could mean that hospitals and other medical facilities could also go dark. Power companies shed power by selectively turning off the power supply for groups of customers if the entire power grid is at risk, which has been at play in Texas during this <keyword id="6359992" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="weather">weather</keyword> crisis."While ERCOT says conditions are improving, we want customers to know this is a dynamic situation and conditions are changing throughout the day. Customers should be prepared to not have power through Tuesday night and possibly longer," Austin Energy <a href="https://twitter.com/austinenergy/status/1361746802987307008">tweeted</a>.Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative, another service provider, told KXAN that electrical generation capacity was improving in areas of Austin."Electric generation capacity in ERCOT's region is improving today, and more wind and solar power will be available. Power plants that were offline or operating at reduced capacity yesterday are coming online or increasing their production," Bluebonnet said in a statement.According to the Austin American Statesman, 43% of Austin residents <a href="https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/02/16/texas-power-outages-ercot-asks-austin-energy-shed-power/6763860002/">are still without power.</a>At least two people have died due to the extreme weather and Texas, and millions are still without power.Austin Energy sent a memo to customers on Sunday telling them to expect rotating 10- to 30-minute outages, while some customers have been without power for more than 30 hours, <a href="https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/02/16/texas-power-outages-ercot-asks-austin-energy-shed-power/6763860002/">according to the Statesman.</a> Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Texas Governor Greg Abbott have directed their criticisms towards ERCOT.Adler said that "ERCOT has to explain how millions of Texans are without power. Rolling outages are not that. There have to be systemic changes. This is happening every 10 years, and there's got to be a better plan."Abbott has called ERCOT "anything but reliable" and has called their actions "unacceptable."Some Houston power providers have made announcements about when customers can expect outages to end.Centerpoint Public Utilities <a href="https://twitter.com/JudgeKPGeorge/status/1361797781497679878">issued a statement</a> saying it couldn't predict when all of its customers could expect power again, saying <a href="https://www.khou.com/article/weather/centerpoint-power-houston/285-1fac7acf-9ffb-4fb8-a440-2a45c43dd2d6">it could take </a>"several more days," with rolling outages.Fort Bend County Judge K.P. George tweeted, "I am as frustrated as you are."On Tuesday, George said in <a href="https://communityimpact.com/houston/sugar-land-missouri-city/weather/2021/02/16/60-of-fort-bend-county-households-without-power-feb-16-county-judge-says/">a Facebook Live update</a> that 60% of residents in Fort Bend County, which encompasses part of Houston, are still living with no power.

Parts of Texas are being told they shouldn't expect power Tuesday night or even longer, as winter storms leave millions without power

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Freezing temperatures have caused severe power loss in <keyword id="15710" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="texas">Texas</keyword>.</li><li>A majority of lost generation has been from fossil fuels, not wind.</li><li>The main factor, however, is not the source of <keyword id="44578" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="electricity">electricity</keyword> but the extreme weather.</li></ul>It's a powerful image, attracting the attention of conservatives and headline writers of all political persuasions: frozen wind turbines unable to generate power in Texas during this week's <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-snow-storm-blackouts-states-power-grid-electricity-energy-emergency-2021-2">shocking cold spell</a>.A loss of power generated by wind, however, is not the primary reason that more than 3 million Texans were <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-winter-storm-power-cuts-white-house-emergency-declaration-2021-2">without power</a> as of Tuesday evening. The simplest explanation is that the extreme cold has spurred an unprecedented demand for heat, outstripping the state's ability to provide it.According to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages 75% of the state's deregulated electricity market, the single-day record for demand, set in 2018, was smashed on Valentine's Day. And as the weather has gotten worse, the capacity to generate electricity has diminished: By Tuesday, <a href="https://www.khou.com/video/news/local/wfaa-speaks-to-ercot-ceo-about-ongoing-power-outages-in-texas/287-9cbb50d6-60b8-438b-96f9-56b6dba93422">per ERCOT's CEO</a>, 45,000 megawatts of generating capacity was offline - up from 34,000 megawatts offline the day before, representing more than half of what the state typically uses in a day.Most of the generation lost has been from coal and gas, <a href="https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/are-frozen-wind-turbines-to-blame-for-texas-power-outages/">according to ERCOT</a>, with only 13% attributable to wind. "By some estimates," <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16/natural-gas-power-storm/">The Texas Tribune reported</a> Tuesday, "nearly half of the state's natural-gas production has screeched to a halt.""Gathering lines freeze, and the wells get so cold that they can't produce," Parker Fawcett, a natural-gas analyst at S&amp;P Global Platts, told The Tribune. "And, pumps use electricity, so they're not even able to lift that gas and liquid, because there's no power to produce."Texas is unique: It does, by far, generate the most electricity from wind of any state - three times as much as liberal California. It is also energy-independent, its electricity grid<a href="https://www.kvue.com/article/weather/texplainer-why-does-texas-have-its-own-power-grid/269-be61fb6f-11ce-4201-b2d2-4f40fd8ff510"> almost entirely disconnected</a> from the rest of the country. That move insulates it from federal regulation but has also left it hanging now, in this moment of need, with so much of its own power generation offline.Despite its greater-than-typical reliance on wind, Texas' chief source of electricity is not renewable. Indeed, a majority, 52%, comes from <keyword id="6354703" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="natural-gas">natural gas</keyword>, according to the <a href="https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=TX#tabs-4">US Energy Information Administration</a>, while less than a quarter comes from renewables such as wind and solar.And fossil fuels have been affected by the weather too.As of Tuesday morning, the distributor Texas Gas Service <a href="https://www.texasgasservice.com/customer-awareness/severe-cold">warned consumers</a>, "our suppliers of natural gas are experiencing freezing gas wells due to the duration of the extreme cold."It is also simply the case that regardless of exacerbating factors, Texas is a victim of a cold spell unlike any other it's seen in decades.A <a href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2016/09/f33/TX_Energy%20Sector%20Risk%20Profile.pdf">2016 risk assessment</a> from the US Department of <keyword id="6357014" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="energy">Energy</keyword> detailing electricity outages from 1992 to 2009 said 18 were caused by thunderstorms and eight by heat waves. It didn't list freezing temperatures.Have a <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> tip? Email this reporter: <a href="mailto:cdavis@insider.com">cdavis@insider.com</a>

Blame the wind? In Texas, fossil fuels have actually played a larger role in leaving millions without power

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Former <keyword id="15710" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="texas">Texas</keyword> Governor <keyword id="227066" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rick-Perry">Rick Perry</keyword> wrote that Texans prefer blackouts over power grid regulation.</li><li>Perry briefly served as Secretary of Energy under former president Donald Trump.</li><li>Perry also exaggerated the role of renewable energy sources in the blackouts. </li></ul>Texas Republican and former Governor Rick Perry <a href="https://www.republicanleader.gov/whats-up-in-texas/">penned a blog post</a> on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's website, making the audacious claim that Texans would rather continue to deal with blackouts than have the federal government regulate their power grid."Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business," Perry wrote. "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 also briefly served as the Secretary of Energy during former president Donald Trump's tenure. Perry and current Texas Governor Greg Abbott have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-a-majority-of-lost-power-generation-has-been-from-fossil-fuels-2021-2">parroted similar misleading talking points</a> about the Green New Deal, and the role of renewable energy sources amidst the blackouts."If wind and solar is where we're headed, the last 48 hours ought to give everybody a real pause," Perry wrote. "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." Perry later acknowledged the vast majority of Texas' energy is sourced from non-renewables.As a privatized state power grid, the <a href="https://poweroutage.us/area/state/texas">Electric Reliability Council of Texas</a> (ERCOT) has <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/02/17/texas-power-grid-why-state-has-its-own-operated-ercot/6782380002/">dodged federal regulation</a> for years. In a <a href="https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2021/02/17/texas-gov-greg-abbott-lies-on-fox-news-about-cause-of-the-states-power-outages">Tuesday interview</a> with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Abbott said, "the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for the United States of America."<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/17/greg-abbott-winter-storm/">At a Wednesday press conference</a>, his first during the 3-day blackout, Abbott said he did not have complete information regarding when Texans could expect power to come back on.ERCOT <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16/natural-gas-power-storm/">has acknowledged</a> that the blackouts have largely stemmed from failures to winterize natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy systems.Experts have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-blackouts-millions-lost-power-in-storm-went-wrong-2021-2">backed up</a> that as those power systems largely went offline, demands for electricity increased during the storm, causing massive failures in the state's privatized power grid. ERCOT also has <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-16/frozen-wind-farms-were-just-a-small-piece-of-texas-s-power-woes">said</a> that, typically, wind turbines account for around 25% of the energy produced in Texas during the winter, with natural energy sources accounting for around half of energy production.At the end of his blog post, Perry said, "the sun will come out, the temperatures will moderate, and this will become part of our rearview mirror." According to ERCOT, as of Wednesday morning, some 2.7 million households in Texas were still without power. Another snowstorm is expected to hit through Wednesday evening.

Former Texas governor Rick Perry claims Texans would rather endure blackouts than a federally regulated power grid

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="80487" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="walmart">Walmart</keyword> has temporarily closed 500 stores nationwide due to severe winter storms.</li><li>Parts of the South have been hit by snow, ice, and frigid temperatures since last week.</li><li><keyword id="15710" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="texas">Texas</keyword> has been hit particularly hard, and President Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency.</li></ul>Walmart has temporarily closed more than 500 stores as an unprecedented <keyword id="93159" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="winter-storm">winter storm</keyword> pelts much of the southern half of the US.According to a tracker on Walmart's website, 501 stores are currently shut down, from Texas to Kentucky, due to <keyword id="10775052" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="winter-storm-uri">Winter Storm Uri</keyword>, which has dumped snow and ice and <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSMidland/status/1361292408521162754">caused frigid temperatures</a> in the South since last week. "Due to winter storms in many areas of the US, we're closing some locations for the safety of our associates and customers," Walmart said in <a href="https://twitter.com/WalmartInc/status/1361387273342885898">a tweet</a> on Monday. The company is continually updating a <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2021/02/15/winter-storm-facility-status">map of store closures</a> on its website. Many of the Walmart closures are concentrated in Texas, which has been battered by a winter storm that hit the region last Thursday. Icy conditions caused <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2021-02-12/texas-motorway-crash-at-least-six-dead-in-fort-worth-130-vehicle-pile-up">a 130-car pile-up</a> on a highway near Fort Worth, leaving six people dead and over 60 injured. In response to the severe weather, Gov. Greg Abbott <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-issues-disaster-declaration-continues-to-deploy-resources-as-severe-winter-weather-impacts-texas">issued a disaster declaration</a> on Friday for all 254 counties in Texas. On Sunday, President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/02/14/president-joseph-r-biden-jr-approves-texas-emergency-declaration/">declared a state of emergency in Texas</a>, ordering that federal aid be sent to the region.As of Monday, <a href="https://weather.com/news/news/2021-02-15-winter-storm-uri-texas-power-outages-impacts">more than 3.6 million Texans were without power</a> after the Electric Reliability Council of Texas started rolling blackouts across the state. Other Texas-based power providers have warned that <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-winter-storm-power-cuts-white-house-emergency-declaration-2021-2">demand for electricity during the storm</a> has exceeded supply. The blackouts have since extended beyond Texas to Kansas, Missouri, and <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-snow-storm-blackouts-states-power-grid-electricity-energy-emergency-2021-2">12 other states</a>. The storm is now causing tornadoes in parts of Florida and Georgia, and <a href="https://weather.com/news/news/2021-02-16-tornado-north-carolina-winter-storm-uri-georgia-florida">three people were killed by a twister</a> in North Carolina. The winter weather is expected to move through the Northeast on Tuesday, bringing up to 10 inches of snow to New England. Now, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/storm-hit-south-northeast-snow-record-cold-temperatures/story?id=75919740">a second storm</a> is predicted to hit the South on Wednesday, bringing additional snow and ice to Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas.

Walmart has temporarily closed 500 stores as severe winter weather dumps snow and causes frigid temperatures in parts of the US

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="1100092" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tucker-Carlson">Tucker Carlson</keyword> said that <keyword id="45830" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Bill-Gates">Bill Gates</keyword> has "powers over what you can and cannot do to your own body."</li><li>Conspiracy theorists falsely claim that Gates used the COVID vaccine to inject microchip trackers. </li><li>A <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/new-yahoo-news-you-gov-poll-shows-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-spreading-on-the-right-may-hamper-vaccine-efforts-152843610.html">May 2020 poll</a> found 44% of Republicans believed the unfounded conspiracy theory.</li></ul>Tucker Carlson appeared to reference a popular COVID-19 conspiracy theory about Bill Gates on Monday night, claiming that the Microsoft founder has "powers" over our bodies.On "Tucker Carlson Tonight," he said "your body" is "Bill Gates' body now," because Gates has donated $1.6 billion to the global response to the pandemic."Bill Gates has gained extraordinary powers over what you can and cannot do to your own body. Bill Gates would like you to take the coronavirus vaccine," Carlson said. The Fox News segment was first reported by <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/tucker-carlson-claims-bill-gates-controls-what-you-can-and-cannot-do-your-own-body">Media Matters for America</a>, a progressive media watchdog. A Fox News spokesperson told Insider that Carlson did not directly reference <keyword id="1379614" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="conspiracy-theories">conspiracy theories</keyword> related to Gates or coronavirus vaccines. The idea that Gates wants to control "what you can and cannot do to your own body" is a claim made for months by conspiracy theorists who said without evidence that the philanthropist planned to implant microchips into humans through the COVID-19 vaccines.A <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/new-yahoo-news-you-gov-poll-shows-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-spreading-on-the-right-may-hamper-vaccine-efforts-152843610.html">May 2020 poll from Yahoo News and YouGov</a> reported that 44% of Republicans believed Gates was "plotting to use a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign as a pretext to implant microchips in billions of people and monitor their movements." <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-vaccine-pfizer-moderna-doesnt-contain-a-microchip-2020-12">Insider debunked the claim</a> after it began spreading in the spring of 2020. Gates said he was surprised by the "really evil theories" about him in a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-gates-conspiracies/crazy-and-evil-bill-gates-surprised-by-pandemic-conspiracies-idUSKBN29W0Q3">January interview with Reuters</a>.Medical <keyword id="535763" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Misinformation">misinformation</keyword> has remained a massive global issue throughout the pandemic. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01056-1">Research published in the Nature Human Behaviour scientific journal</a> found that <a href="https://www.insider.com/qanon-conspiracy-theory-covid-19-vaccines-turn-kids-trans-gay-2021-2">misinformation related to the vaccine</a> "lowers intent to accept" the preventative shot, which the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/vaccine-benefits.html">Centers for Disease Control says will help end the pandemic</a>.In the last week, Gates was again referenced by conspiracy theorists, this time <a href="https://www.insider.com/texas-snow-fake-storm-power-outage-conspiracy-theory-spreads-online-2021-2">falsely claiming that he was somehow involved in Winter Storm Uri in Texas</a>. Because he has donated to a <a href="https://www.keutschgroup.com/scopex">Harvard climate experiment called SCoPEx,</a> which is seeking ways to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07533-4">dim the sun</a> in an effort to slow the effects of climate change, social-media posts alleged that he personally found a way to block the sun, causing the Texas snow.Carlson has been among right-wing pundits promoting misinformation related to the Texas snow, claiming that renewable energy was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fact-check-fox-personalities-make-false-claims-about-texas-blackouts-2021-2">largely to blame for the state's electricity infrastructure failures</a>. But in reality, the majority of energy sources that went off last week in the wake of the snowstorm ran on fossil fuels, as the <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-weather/article/No-frozen-wind-turbines-aren-t-the-main-15957974.php">Texas Tribune reported.</a>

Tucker Carlson appears to reference a COVID-19 conspiracy theory by claiming Bill Gates has 'powers' over our bodies

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="45830" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Bill-Gates">Bill Gates</keyword> has emerged as the main target for far-right conspiracy theorists. </li><li>From COVID-19 to <keyword id="6361617" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate-change">climate change</keyword>, false claims about the billionaire philanthropist keep spreading.</li><li>Conspiracy-theory experts told Insider he's become the favorite scapegoat for those seeking answers.</li></ul>As millions of homes in Texas lost electricity amid a rare snowstorm last week, some conspiracy theorists baselessly placed blame for the incident on a billionaire philanthropist nearly 2,000 miles away in Washington state. "What's happening in Texas was a planned attack," reads a February 18 message in a popular conspiracy theorist Telegram channel with 159,000 subscribers. "Bill Gates is attempting to block the sun in order to keep the Earth more cool." Days later, on Monday night, Tucker Carlson dog-whistled to conspiracy theorists, telling Fox <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">News</keyword> viewers that "your body" is "Bill Gates' body now," because the Microsoft founder is helping to fund global COVID-19 vaccination efforts."Bill Gates has gained extraordinary powers over what you can and cannot do to your own body," he said on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." Gates, who has for years been targeted by conspiracy theorists, has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-conspiracy-bill-gates-infowars-2020-4">emerged as the top subject of misinformation for those</a> seeking answers in the chaos of the last year. The false allegations, which have spread on social media, include the claim that Gates wanted to force COVID-19 vaccinations on people that would contain a microchip which would allow Gates and Microsoft to track humans, and that he is trying to "block the sun." Elise Thomas, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue who has researched <keyword id="1379614" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="conspiracy-theories">conspiracy theories</keyword> and disinformation, told Insider that Gates has always been used as a scapegoat for various issues by conspiracy theorists. But the pandemic "ramped it up," and made Gates part of the "central cast of conspiracy villains alongside people like George Soros, or Barack Obama, or Hillary Clinton."While he's frequently been portrayed as a villain-like figure for fringe conspiracy theorists due to his work on global public-health measures, the claims are becoming increasingly common. <h2>Wide-ranging pandemic <keyword id="535763" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Misinformation">misinformation</keyword> has often targeted Gates</h2>Gates' historic focus on public <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> has put him in the crosshairs of conspiracy theorists during the pandemic. Gates warned the world of a potential pandemic <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Af6b_wyiwI">in a 2015 TED talk</a>. "If anything kills over 10 million people over the next few decades, it is likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than war," he said. The YouTube video of the talk has been viewed 33 million times. Clearly, his warning was largely <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/3182/why-u-s-wasnt-better-prepared-for-the-coronavirus/">ignored by the general public</a>. But with the news of the novel coronavirus emerging in China, conspiracy theorists used Gates' 2015 warning - a prediction <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/experts-warned-pandemic-decades-ago-why-not-ready-for-coronavirus">public-health experts made for decades</a> - as a sign that he knew about the pandemic in advance. Far-right extremists, including QAnon figures, began linking Gates to the virus in January 2020, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/technology/bill-gates-virus-conspiracy-theories.html">The New York Times</a> reported.After a YouTube conspiracy theorist claimed Gates knew about the pandemic in advance, Alex Jones' conspiracy-theory website InfoWars ran an article claiming that the Gates Foundation "co-hosted a pandemic exercise in late 2019 that simulated a global coronavirus outbreak." The foundation, largely focused on global public health issues, <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2020/01/new-coronavirus-wasnt-predicted-in-simulation/">had participated in a 2019 event</a> hosted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security that practiced preparedness for a "very severe pandemic." But InfoWars' warping of that truth immediately spread like wildfire. From February to April 2020, conspiracy theories linking Gates to the virus were referenced 1.2 million times on social media and TV broadcasts, according to an analysis conducted by Zignal Labs for The New York Times. The misinformation evolved to include the microchip claim and other related conspiracy theories. "It's important to note that there's never just one version of a conspiracy theory - and that's part of their power and reach," Thomas and researcher Albert Zhang wrote in an <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/resrep25082.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Ac61d53bb4191b6e4122f3bb6835c8aa5">analysis for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute</a> last year. "Each individual can shape and reshape whatever version of the theory they choose to believe, incorporating some narrative elements and rejecting others." By May 2020, 44% of Republicans believed the unsubstantiated claim that Gates was "plotting to use a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign as a pretext to implant microchips in billions of people and monitor their movements," according to a <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/new-yahoo-news-you-gov-poll-shows-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-spreading-on-the-right-may-hamper-vaccine-efforts-152843610.html">poll from Yahoo News and YouGov</a>.<h2>Conspiracy theorists love finding scapegoats to blame</h2>It's no surprise that conspiracy theorists recycled Gates as a villain throughout the crisis in Texas. Winter Storm Uri, which <a href="https://www.vox.com/22287295/texas-uri-climate-change-cold-polar-vortex-arctic">some scientists believe is linked to climate change</a>, sent the state into turmoil. "When something terrible happens, people seem to have a need to identify individuals and groups who they can blame," Karen Douglas, a professor of social psychology at the University of Kent who researches conspiracy-theory beliefs, told Insider via email. "They want a simple answer to a complex problem, and this simple answer often takes the form of a conspiracy theory."Some conspiracy theorists <a href="https://www.insider.com/fake-texas-snow-not-melting-tiktok-conspiracy-theory-2021-2">claimed that the Texas snow was fake and engineered by the government,</a> drawing on false claims that were inspired by Gates' work related to climate change. A Harvard research project <a href="https://www.keutschgroup.com/scopex">called SCoPEx</a> that is looking for a way to dim the sun to lower the Earth's temperature and stave off climate change used funding from Gates, as the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07533-4">science journal Nature explained in 2018.</a>Such geoengineering planet-cooling attempts have "long generated intense debate and, in some cases, fear," Nature said. Over the next two years, right-wing websites and social-media users began to pick up on that information and twist it to claim that Gates himself was going to dim the sun, ignoring the real science and oversight behind the complex experiment. <div type="image" title="fake snow texas tiktoks" height="1027" width="1369" msid="81237294" hostid="261"></div>When Texas was in crisis, the conspiracy theory was adapted to allege that Gates had already dimmed the sun, providing a false explanation for the storm. "The people who are blamed are often 'scapegoats' who represent powerful groups or organizations," Douglas said. "Conspiracy theories that involve scapegoats such as Bill Gates are successful because there is a clear and identifiable person to blame. People then think they have the answer and the solution is then to curb the power of this individual and their group." In the case of the QAnon conspiracy theory, specific figures like <a href="https://www.insider.com/qanon-history-who-is-q-conspiracy-theory-what-does-believe-2021-2">Clinton and Huma Abedin have baselessly become central villains</a> used as scapegoats in varying moments. <h2>Right-wing media helps promote these conspiracy theories</h2>Right-wing news outlets are helping promote the idea that Gates is a villain.As Gates has donated $1.6 billion to the global response to the pandemic, Tucker Carlson's Monday night claim that he can control your body absolutely feeds into these conspiracy theories. As the coronavirus conspiracy theories about Gates spread last year, other right-wing pundits helped promote them. Fox News host Laura Ingraham <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/technology/bill-gates-virus-conspiracy-theories.html">shared a conservative website's article</a> about Gates in April 2020 that falsely claimed he would use COVID-19 vaccinations to "introduce a worldwide digital ID" that would store personal information. "Digitally tracking Americans' every move has been a dream of the globalists for years. This health crisis is the perfect vehicle for them to push this," she said. There's already an "ongoing nexus or flow of ideas back and forth between the conspiracy communities" and right-wing news outlets, Thomas said. Because of the political tensions throughout the pandemic - as the Trump administration fought to downplay the severity of the virus - and an issue like climate change, people will "abuse the uncertainty" in order to "promote their agendas," Yotam Ophir, an assistant professor at the University of Buffalo who researches media persuasion, told Insider in a previous interview. Thomas said the connection between right-wing news outlets and conspiracy-theory communities may only "intensify" in the future as issues surrounding politically-charged climate change continue.

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Walmart has temporarily closed 500 stores as severe winter weather dumps snow and causes frigid temperatures in parts of the US

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Tucker Carlson appears to reference a COVID-19 conspiracy theory by claiming Bill Gates has 'powers' over our bodies

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