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  • 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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    Hagbard Celine

    Posted

    52 minutes ago, CTC2 said:

    People are really sensitive about pointing fingers over in the rain thread, but it seems like to me that Texas government is pretty much like the federal government. They put their best people on the grift and the worst on policy and governance. 

    patricia says the gutted noaa told all of the counties and cities they were about to get a 27-foot wall of water

    leaders of cities and counties say nay

    kxan requesting all comms

    wouldn't dare post this over in the dt feels thread but this shaping to be a popcorn-consuming event

    probably should be in the leopards thread but that would be cruel to the maga families who lost kids

    https://www.kxan.com/investigations/federal-forecast-concerns-surface-in-texas-deadly-flooding-debate/

    • Hook 'Em 1
    Hagbard Celine

    Posted

    psa: lake medina sits at 2.9%, the top of the dam is 1076', and these deaths took place at 1900', so it remains comical that we do not have a giant flood control system for these hill country rivers that do this once every 10 years

    i was laying in bed at 2am watching the system sit in place and rotate - it was a tight, 50-mile wide miniature hurricane and looked exactly like the blanco event from 15 which i also watched live on the radar

    maybe wheels and paxton can hire some fascist cruelty iterns to take turns watching the kxan radar - that's all it would have taken to save 50 dead kids

    /leopards

    • Hook 'Em 1
    chainsaw

    Posted

    17 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:

    psa: lake medina sits at 2.9%, the top of the dam is 1076', and these deaths took place at 1900', so it remains comical that we do not have a giant flood control system for these hill country rivers that do this once every 10 years

    i was laying in bed at 2am watching the system sit in place and rotate - it was a tight, 50-mile wide miniature hurricane and looked exactly like the blanco event from 15 which i also watched live on the radar

    maybe wheels and paxton can hire some fascist cruelty iterns to take turns watching the kxan radar - that's all it would have taken to save 50 dead kids

    /leopards

    They say Waffle House has a dedicated weather monitoring team

    • Hook 'Em 1
    royiv

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, chainsaw said:

    They say Waffle House has a dedicated weather monitoring team

    HEB does.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 1
    pyrohornIII

    Posted

    1 hour ago, chainsaw said:

    Every preventable tragedy is partly caused by a pervasive culture among political and media figures that, in the past, stigmatized discussing exactly what should be discussed, that stigmatized advocating exactly what should be advocated, and that stigmatized spending political capital exactly when and on exactly what political capital should be spent.

    Every single person who participates in "This is not the time and place" culture is standing in the way of saving lives in the future. I hope we remember that when (not if) this happens again.

    Agreed.  Same can be said for Uvalde?  Sutherland Springs?  Santa Fe?     But there is a faction that continues to deny that guns kill people, and that our climate isn't affected by humans.  

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    Pato del Muerto

    Posted (edited)

    Texas appears to be getting more proficient at letting kids get killed in bulk. 
     

    glad my kids aren’t in that ecosystem any longer. 

    Edited by Pato del Muerto
    GreenspointTexas

    Posted

    Im shocked no one in here has started the “who did the they vote for” line yet

    Fudge Nuggets

    Posted

    On 6/30/2025 at 5:25 PM, Brisketexan said:

    Was just having that conversation with someone who was much closer to Republican inside circles than I ever was.  Conversation ended with "When Abbott took over for Perry, did you ever imagine how badly you'd be longing for the return to the relatively decent and benign reign of Perry?"

    I'd kneecap any 10 Surly posters if it would get Rick Perry back in the governor's mansion.

    I mean, I'd also probably kneecap any 10 Surly posters just because we've all got it coming, but still....

     

    On 6/30/2025 at 5:51 PM, Bozo_Casanova said:

    I think I’ve told you this before, but I would make Rick Perry Governor for life if it saved us one month of Greg Abbott. He’s the worst governor we have ever had, and no one is close. 

    Both of you are missing the obvious catch here.  Perry of 15 years ago was way better than the current shit heaps, but I bet Perry today would be every bit as terrible as Hot Wheels now that he knows there will be no accountability for anything.

    • Hook 'Em 2
    Pato del Muerto

    Posted

    6 minutes ago, GreenspointTexas said:

    Im shocked no one in here has started the “who did the they vote for” line yet

    Kids don’t vote.  And they aren’t local to that area. 

    GreenspointTexas

    Posted

    13 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

    Kids don’t vote.  And they aren’t local to that area. 

    Agree but there are a lot more dead that arent kids

    Bozo_Casanova

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

    Both of you are missing the obvious catch here.  Perry of 15 years ago was way better than the current shit heaps, but I bet Perry today would be every bit as terrible as Hot Wheels now that he knows there will be no accountability for anything.

    I honestly don’t think that’s true. I’m not going to praise Rick Perry but he’s a real person with core values and cares about outcomes. Greg Abbott has a hole inside he has tried to fill by getting to the next thing. They are different.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    TwiceHorn

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

    Fair. So who’d they vote for?

    Kerr County:

    Donald J. Trump 76.8%

    Kamala Harris 22.4%

    Most Mystic campers are going to be from affluent areas, so it's not guaranteed, but a decent percentage of Trumpists.

    13 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

    I honestly don’t think that’s true. I’m not going to praise Rick Perry but he’s a real person with core values and cares about outcomes. Greg Abbott has a hole inside he has tried to fill by getting to the next thing. They are different.

    Trump has a way of coring those people out.  Eating out their substance.

    Michael Knight

    Posted

    The only thing I'm confident about is Texas will do absolutely nothing and voters will forget about it in a week

    • Hook 'Em 4
    • Like 1
    • Rage+1 2
    chainsaw

    Posted (edited)

    6 minutes ago, Michael Knight said:

    Texas will do absolutely nothing

    This is offensive. Stop. Do you have any idea how high Ted and Heidi are lifting them up in prayer? Still think they're doing nothing?

    Edited by chainsaw



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