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  • Texas -- a failed state


    Brisketexan

    I think that it’s now safe to say that we Texans now live in a failed state.  30 years of GOP rule, setting our own standard, living the “Texas Dream,” which they’ve bragged about relentlessly…and let’s see where we are:

    A majority of the state in complete failure, unable to deliver the most BASIC of services (things that are called “utilities,” not “luxuries,” for a reason).  No power.  No water.  No means of clearing roads (that one, I can’t fault the state so much….but it wouldn’t be as big a crisis if people weren’t stuck in their homes with no power and water).  So citizens are stuck in their homes, some of them dying there. 

    Water resource planning?  After pretending for decades that a drought would never happen again, and not doing ANYTHING to develop resources in the state water plan (a document actually developed using science and mathematical projections), we had several locations, including actual cities, down to a few days of water supply.  We’ve finally gotten on our horse a bit, but it may be too late if the next drought comes anytime soon.  

    State rank in key categories:

    Education – 34

    Health Care - 37

    Infrastructure - 33

    Opportunity - 39

    Environment - 44

    Infrastructure - 33 

    In overall quality of life ranking by US News, we are now #38, down from #36 just two years ago.  At that rate, we’ll be in the bottom 3 within ten years.

    We are SUPER independent, and FUCK the feds….but we have requested federal disaster assistance more than any other state in the past decade or so.

    But hey, our economy is ranked #15!

    That’s right, we have a “roaring economy” and the “Texas Miracle!”  But we can’t deliver the basics for our citizens.  The economy is VERY efficient at funneling bazillions to the very few…..with little of it “trickling down” to most Texans.  Yeah, the people on this board generally do fine, but face the facts – we’re the top 10% or so.  We are educated, older, and fortunate.

    Our federal system allows for state-by-state experiments.  Texas is the poster child for near anarcho-capitalism and zero regulation or oversight.  We have tested that approach, for over a generation now (30 years of Republican rule).  That approach is a failure.  The evidence is undeniable, and overwhelming.  It doesn’t matter how many River Oaks millionaires you produce if the rest of your people are dying in their homes.  Shit, some of those River Oaks millionaires might be freezing to death today, too.

    The kids of a middle class family can hardly afford to go to a good state school.  Their prospects for employment are mediocre.  Their prospects of suffering crippling medical debt at some point are significant.  Their chances of not having basic utilities needed for life safety at some point – all but certain.  Their chances of becoming ill or dying from a pollution-caused illness are material.

    What’s the result?  Our leaders have sold Texas as a paradise – move here!  Bring your business here!  And some businesses have done so, adding opportunity…..but providing little to no tax support for the infrastructure we all depend on.  To the contrary, over the past few years, I know more and more people – educated people, people who can do their jobs elsewhere, who are looking to bail on this state.  It’s people with young kids, who want them to grow up in a better place.  It’s people in their working years, who simply want a better path.  It’s retirees, who want a safe and secure place to live.

    We have consumed our seed stock.  We have burned through our reserves.  We are now consuming ourselves.  The ability to pitch Texas as the land of opportunity is done.  Seeing what we have become, the tentative thought/plan my wife and I had of wrapping up our careers here and then getting the hell out of Dodge is becoming much more concrete.  My children are already unlikely to make their future in this state.  Now we are, too.

    But the response from the Republican leadership and their sycophants – “how are you gonna pay for it?  Taxes?  That’s socialism!  You want that stuff, you have to pay for it!”

    Fuck yes I do, and I’m okay with that.  I want groceries…so I have to pay HEB.  I want a car…so I have to pay Ford.  I want clothes…..so I have to pay Dillards.  I want my population educated….so I have to pay the school district.  I want electricity, with enough capacity to keep us running when we need it…..so I have to pay my bill, maybe with a capacity surcharge.  I want water to come out of the taps….so I have to pay for development of resources and maintenance of infrastructure.  I want roads….so I pay taxes to build and maintain them.  YES, I have to pay for all of those things, and “nothing is free” – no fucking shit.  So, let’s pay for it.  We have the #15 economy….we HAVE the funds in this state.  An economy with the flow of funds that ours has can produce and maintain all of those results.  But we have chosen a different path; funnel all the dollars to the top, and spend next to nothing for the public good.  We have privatized profit….we have socialized the costs.  And we are dying because of it.

    My fellow Texans are dying in their homes….and there’s nothing I can do about it today.  And I am enraged.

    I love Texas.  I am 6th generation here.  My ancestors have Texas historical markers on their graves.  We helped make this state, and this state helped make us.  It educated us (back when college was affordable).  But it’s time to face the fact – this state is a failure, and on its current path, with its current leadership and philosophy, it will only get worse.  This state has a terrible future, unless we dramatically change our path.   Chances of that happening?  0.0% -- because we’ll continue to vote for the guys who make our leadership priorities bathroom bills, and transgender sports, and requiring the national anthem be played at certain events.  Any bill that has been proposed to improve emergency preparedness of gov’t entities has been crushed by the Republicans controlling the lege….but we will definitely stick with those guys.  No taxes.  No government functionality.

    What we are seeing happening right now is our system working EXACTLY AS IT WAS DESIGNED AND INTENDED TO WORK.  And we will, I guarantee it, collectively decide to stick with that.  This state is in free-fall, and anyone with eyes can see it.  And anyone with a brain is starting to think of ways to make their life elsewhere.  It breaks my goddamned heart to see us commit collective suicide, but here we are.

     

     


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    9 hours ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

    giphy.gif

    Usually there's always a Mississippi to help keep us in the 40s. Maybe that should be our new focus for the rest of the decade? 

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    please leave today, asap. do, don’t say. stop flapping your jaws and fucking leave you pussies 

    harris county decides to stay in the US as the New Texas. we’d be the 24th biggest state. Any other Texas county can join us 

     

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    10 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

    please leave today, asap. do, don’t say. stop flapping your jaws and fucking leave you pussies 

    harris county decides to stay in the US as the New Texas. we’d be the 24th biggest state. Any other Texas county can join us 

     

    Think of the economic powerhouse the new Harris-Travis-Dallas-Tarrant-Bexar-El Paso state would be without rural Texas dragging it down.  

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    On 1/16/2024 at 8:08 AM, CooterBrown said:

    Think of the economic powerhouse the new Harris-Travis-Dallas-Tarrant-Bexar-El Paso state would be without rural Texas dragging it down.  


    two dem senators; guaranteed 

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    1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

    Young voters have to rise up and take this state back …..

     

    Good for them. I hope they vote.

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    On 1/16/2024 at 8:08 AM, CooterBrown said:

    Think of the economic powerhouse the new Harris-Travis-Dallas-Tarrant-Bexar-El Paso state would be without rural Texas dragging it down.  

    Yes, but to draw those political lines between those metro areas would be absurd and exclude a number of neighborhoods, towns, and demographics that wouldn't be accurately represented by these "political boundaries" that exclude their heritage and point of view.  

    Wait for it.........................................

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    On 1/16/2024 at 8:08 AM, CooterBrown said:

    Think of the economic powerhouse the new Harris-Travis-Dallas-Tarrant-Bexar-El Paso state would be without rural Texas dragging it down.  

    Why limit it to Texas?  Let all of rural America run away to be on their own.  Let's see how far they get.  Yes, getting food etc would be a bit of a struggle but with an economy that strong there would be plenty of money left over.  Handouts aren't as much poor America vs wealthy as it is rural vs urban.  Yes, I'm talking about tax dollars made in urban America that end up funding all kinds of shit in rural America...the rubes that hate handouts.  Hell, let's see how those farmers do without their 10's of billions in subsidies.  

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    11 hours ago, ChiTownDoc said:

    Why limit it to Texas?  Let all of rural America run away to be on their own.  Let's see how far they get.  Yes, getting food etc would be a bit of a struggle but with an economy that strong there would be plenty of money left over.  Handouts aren't as much poor America vs wealthy as it is rural vs urban.  Yes, I'm talking about tax dollars made in urban America that end up funding all kinds of shit in rural America...the rubes that hate handouts.  Hell, let's see how those farmers do without their 10's of billions in subsidies.  

    We would still be in the US so we would have access to CA and other states where 90% of our food comes from anyway.  We can let Texas pull up their bootstraps and subsist on the drought ridden farms of south Texas.

     

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    On 1/18/2024 at 6:16 AM, CooterBrown said:

    We would still be in the US so we would have access to CA and other states where 90% of our food comes from anyway.  We can let Texas pull up their bootstraps and subsist on the drought ridden farms of south Texas.

     

    Look, nobody wants to be the bad guy, but somebody has to. You're not invited, okay? You leave with the rest of Texas, and God willing and the creek don't rise, you'll take some of the south with you. 

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    16 minutes ago, Bullneck said:

    Does this go here?  I don't even know anymore.

     

    I can tell you this much - I know plenty of TNG soldiers, officers and enlisted, thanks to being near Camp Mabry and knowing parents through various functions (school, Cub Scouts, etc.) and none of them are happy with any of this.  The consensus is "If I wanted to play border patrol, I would have actually joined the Border Patrol".  Hell, a few of the younger enlisted folks are probably not even making close to Border Patrol salaries while they are doing Greg's bidding.  And even if they won't say it publicly (although some will say it privately), most know that this is a stunt to try and raise Greg's profile, and his obsession with getting attention is affecting their civilian jobs, families, education, military careers, etc.  TNG could easily look a lot different a year or two from now as more soldiers either finish their contracts, retire if they can, or go unit hopping and move to another state.  And they have their own version of The Portal (used to be called the interstate transfer, not sure about now) where they can look for slots in other states' national guard units that they can fill.

    Edited by atomheartbevo
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    Wherever there is a drowning mother, we will be there to repel them. And just to be clear, by "we" I mean guys and girls I order from my wheelchair. So, just trying to clarify here, anywho...

    Wherever there are drowning kids we will beat back heroically...

    ok, again. I don't want to misrepresent. *I* personally will not beat the kids. Though I would love to, being wheelchair bound as I am I will have have to delegate those duties to the simps under my thumb...

    And just for documentation purposes that my lawyers have screen saved, they did it. Not me.

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    13 minutes ago, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

    Wherever there is a drowning mother, we will be there to repel them. And just to be clear, by "we" I mean guys and girls I order from my wheelchair. So, just trying to clarify here, anywho...

    Wherever there are drowning kids we will beat back heroically...

     

    We will be found!  For we are the Three Amigos!  

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    22 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

    I can tell you this much - I know plenty of TNG soldiers, officers and enlisted, thanks to being near Camp Mabry and knowing wives through various functions (school, Cub Scouts, etc.) and none of them are happy with any of this. --atomheartJody

    Ain't no point in goin' home...

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    I'm sure the State will be making sure that those babies of rape will be well and properly cared for and will want for nothing

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    1 hour ago, safe sex said:

    I'm sure the State will be making sure that those babies of rape will be well and properly cared for and will want for nothing

    They become no good freeloaders who should get jobs and pull themselves up by their bootstraps the instant they are born.

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    1 hour ago, safe sex said:

    I'm sure the State will be making sure that those babies of rape will be well and properly cared for and will want for nothing

    Suspicious Monkey GIF by MOODMAN

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    37 minutes ago, DaysOff said:

    That 26,000 rape related pregnancy number seems high. Is that high? I live in a non rape related pregnancy bubble.

    Texas DPS had sexual assault cases at over 18k back in 2017. 26k isn't that far fetched given many probably don't make it to arrest. Though many don't also lead to pregnancy but regardless, these numbers are all not good.

    Screenshot_20240124-201810.png.6716209d18cec61e9e47ce05364164ff.png

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    On 1/23/2024 at 6:06 PM, Biff Tannen said:

    Again, at what point does Biden do something here?

    Honestly I am getting angry, its not like his ratings could plummet any more, at some point the sinking reality is that Biden is charmin soft, Historians universally agree that the worst presidents of all time are the 3 civil war failures and DJT, I think Biden might go on this list if things continue.

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    51 minutes ago, linux said:

    Honestly I am getting angry, its not like his ratings could plummet any more, at some point the sinking reality is that Biden is charmin soft, Historians universally agree that the worst presidents of all time are the 3 civil war failures and DJT, I think Biden might go on this list if things continue.

    Israel will be his biggest failure, but I also agree that allowing this kind of rebellion plays into the narrative of him being weak. But he has been pretty successful otherwise. Beat covid, avoided a recession, got us out of Afghanistan, and confirmed a lot of sane judges. Still plenty more to do.

    As far as this allegation of working with the cartels, I say he should take Texas up on their invitation and call up the people Senator Cornyn claims is defacto government of Mexico. In a perfect world, Biden directs the national guard to arrest the lawless Texas officials and then extradites them to Mexico's defacto government. After all, by Abbott's logic the border would be a war zone. As Commander in Chief, Biden would have unfettered discretion to declare someone an enemy combatant and detain them. Which means he could declare the lawless Texas officials to be enemy combatants of domestic origin.

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    That 26,000 rape related pregnancy number seems high. Is that high? I live in a non rape related pregnancy bubble.

    That seems like a shit ton. Wonder if they count all unmarried minors as rape (statutory). It’s fucked up regardless.
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    On 1/23/2024 at 7:06 PM, Bullneck said:

    Does this go here?  I don't even know anymore.

     

    God, this decision is so misrepresented and misunderstood.

    Texas, laughably, sued DHS for "converting" the state's property in the form of concertina wire.  The district court held that Texas couldn't sue the feds because of sovereign immunity. The Fifth Circuit stayed that order and the Supremes reversed the stay.

    All it means is that the State of Texas has no current legal recourse against DHS/CBP for removing barbed wire.  SCOTUS and for that matter none of the courts ordered Texas or the feds to do or not do anything.  Nor did any of the courts weigh in on the propriety of Texas' invasion of federal sovereignty in the area of immigration.

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    10 hours ago, Bullneck said:

    Biden doesn't run Israel.

    But he does bankroll it. And his state department has done nothing but furrow its brow (on its best days)

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    But he does bankroll it. And his state department has done nothing but furrow its brow (on its best days)

    That would be something. The ignominy of abandoning Israel after a major terrorist attack, siding with the terror faction Hamas and Iran, and reversing a half century of policy would be massive.

    One big problem is that Netanyahu has meddled in US politics at the local, state, and federal levels. And has plenty of media support and experience manipulating social media.

    The US is deeply divided on the issue largely on age. Older Americans side with Israel, remembering their plight and a Cold War ally who never funded terror attacks against Americans. Younger Americans side with Palestinians, and even Hamas, due to current events and dissonance about Israel’s rights there in the first place.

    It’s a quagmire. I think if Biden took your advice, it would be followed by “…and I will be resigning” as he’d have no hope for re-election and he’d be turning over the White House back to dotard.

    And middle ground is not helpful either. There are plenty of misguided people who will stay away from voting due to this issue, which has no easy answers and only more and more problems.
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    8 hours ago, chainsaw said:

    But he does bankroll it. And his state department has done nothing but furrow its brow (on its best days)

    The US bankrolls it based on decades of bipartisan funding, most of which is still authorized.   Biden did not unilaterally decide to support Israel.  The situation has himover a barrel.

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    13 minutes ago, nbmishoid said:

    The US bankrolls it based on decades of bipartisan funding, most of which is still authorized.   Biden did not unilaterally decide to support Israel.  The situation has himover a barrel.

    There's a whole lot he could still do, and he's not doing it (to his electoral peril)

    I'd say more but this isn't the thread for it.

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    15 hours ago, chainsaw said:

    But he does bankroll it. And his state department has done nothing but furrow its brow (on its best days)

    Quote

    Israel's war against Hamas has now been raging for over 100 days. According to Ian Lustick, professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania, history tells us what it will take to end it.

    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-the-war-in-gaza-ends/id1346207297?i=1000642138582

     

    according to the professor each of israel's prior wars ended when a great or superpower stepped in and told them to stop.  once great britain, a time or two the soviets, mostly us.  so, biden's state department could end it, but it doesn't.  because the US doesn't step in to tell israel to stop until it's politically worthwhile, domestically, for the president to do so.  he then compares it to the US position on cuba, which is entirely driven by a small but politically powerful set of cuban ex-pats.

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