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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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    GreenspointTexas

    Posted

    Just removed all protections for prairie chickens. 
     

    fuck this state

    • Rage+1 2
    Hookah Horns

    Posted

    On 8/15/2025 at 12:55 PM, TwiceHorn said:

    I'm fairly certain the largest percentage of UT law grads after UT undergrads is aggy.

    Zero doubt.

    CowboyFred

    Posted

    16 hours ago, speed817 said:

    Wasn't sure where to put this so here this goes....

    Screenshot_20250817-173432.thumb.png.98fb6c3ffe765adec551bff46ce196e4.png

    Currently looking for a home in the Dallas area so I guess I can scratch Rockwall off the list of potential places to buy a home lol WHAT THE FUCK

    Pato del Muerto

    Posted (edited)

    Rockwall isn’t Dallas but if that bothers you enough to not move there, then basically all of northern DFW burbs are also off your list. 

    Edited by Pato del Muerto
    • Hook 'Em 2
    speed817

    Posted

    11 minutes ago, CowboyFred said:

    Currently looking for a home in the Dallas area so I guess I can scratch Rockwall off the list of potential places to buy a home lol WHAT THE FUCK

    South Dallas may be what you're looking for 😏

    tx 3 putt

    Posted

    1 minute ago, speed817 said:

    South Dallas may be what you're looking for 😏

     

    the woodlands is booming 

    • Haha 1
    CowboyFred

    Posted

    14 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

    Rockwall isn’t Dallas but if that bothers you enough to not move there, then basically all of northern DFW burbs are also off your list. 

     

    7 minutes ago, speed817 said:

    South Dallas may be what you're looking for 😏

    Tbh I’ve kinda been looking in Oak Cliff at some of the remodels (I'm originally from Laredo and have lived in San Antonio for last 18 years so raza doesn’t bother me).  

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 1
    tigol

    Posted

    Tbh I’ve kinda been looking in Oak Cliff at some of the remodels (I'm originally from Laredo and have lived in San Antonio for last 18 years so raza doesn’t bother me).  

    The Cliff is awesome. Bishop Arts was fun back when I lived there a few years ago. If you’re into live music, The Kessler always had fun shows.
    • Hook 'Em 2
    The Original Greaser Bob

    Posted

    Okay, Rockwall is weird as shit and I'm not going to defend Frisco/Allen/Plano unconditionally but there are some relatively diverse pockets of population there.  

    Dallas stretches up to McKinney.  It doesn't "stretch" to Rockwall or those places.  

    Fudge Nuggets

    Posted

    1 hour ago, tx 3 putt said:

     

    the woodlands is booming 

    If Rockwall is too MAGA, he wouldn’t like this place either. 

    Vegas64

    Posted

    2 hours ago, The Original Greaser Bob said:

    Okay, Rockwall is weird as shit and I'm not going to defend Frisco/Allen/Plano unconditionally but there are some relatively diverse pockets of population there.  

    Dallas stretches up to McKinney.  It doesn't "stretch" to Rockwall or those places.  

    The diversity of Frisco Allen and Plano you speak of is South Asian/Indian. That's not *really* diversity IMO. 

    I do find it funny that in these places the mediocre chains nobody goes to (e.g. Fuzzy Tacos, Kentrucky Fried Chicken, etc.) are being taken over by IndoPak fast food.

    Less Nazi's, more butter chicken with naan.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    tx 3 putt

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, Vegas64 said:

    The diversity of Frisco Allen and Plano you speak of is South Asian/Indian. That's not *really* diversity IMO. 

    I do find it funny that in these places the mediocre chains nobody goes to (e.g. Fuzzy Tacos, Kentrucky Fried Chicken, etc.) are being taken over by IndoPak fast food.

    Less Nazi's, more butter chicken with naan.

    Bruce Lee Racism GIF

    • Haha 1
    The Original Greaser Bob

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

    If Rockwall is too MAGA, he wouldn’t like this place either. 

    I guess I need to get back to Rockwall because the Woodlands>>>>>Rockwall.  If the Woodlands is as Trumpy at least it has a Stepford Wives vibe that is doable.

    speed817

    Posted

    2 hours ago, The Original Greaser Bob said:

    Okay, Rockwall is weird as shit and I'm not going to defend Frisco/Allen/Plano unconditionally but there are some relatively diverse pockets of population there.  

    Dallas stretches up to McKinney.  It doesn't "stretch" to Rockwall or those places.  

    Too many "student driver, please be patient" stickers 🤬

    • Hook 'Em 2
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    The Original Greaser Bob

    Posted

    I get in trouble with my wife because when my Allen grandson tells me the names of his classmates (in one of the diverse areas) I just chortle, King of the Hill style.  

    • Hook 'Em 1
    Longhorn_Fan68

    Posted

    help me out here. is this a ruse to arrest them when they walk out?

    Longhorn_Fan68

    Posted

    so why did they come back if they're just going to pass the maps anyway???

    mchookem

    Posted

    so what was even the point? 🙄

    • Hook 'Em 1
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    Satchel

    Posted

    5 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

     

    the woodlands is booming 

    With what, exactly?

    Bozo_Casanova

    Posted

    22 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

    Borger is where it's at.

    I heard you can get a bird rub in Palma. 

    Macanudo

    Posted

    26 minutes ago, Satchel said:

    With what, exactly?

    STDs.

    LCHorn

    Posted

    25 minutes ago, mchookem said:

    so what was even the point? 🙄

    They brought national attention to the fact that Texas Democrats have less fight in them than quisling statewide GOP leaders wholly obsequious to DC and two west Texas oil men, so there is that…

    • Hook 'Em 3
    • Like 1
    chainsaw

    Posted

    23 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

    Turns out, she was kinda weird.  Don't know if that was her, or the Ballinger coming through.

    Wouldn't've mattered. Would've had sex.

    • Like 2
    HalfSack Horn

    Posted

    46 minutes ago, mchookem said:

    so what was even the point? 🙄

    I read somewhere that them coming back was because of 2 reasons:

    1- they wanted national attention to what was happening, which they got

    2- was contingent on California passing the trigger law election vote, which they did Friday 

     

    I would have preferred them stay away longer, but the media is on to Russia/Ukraine again.  Non-stop all day long 

     

     

    • Hook 'Em 5
    • Like 1
    tx 3 putt

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Satchel said:

    With what, exactly?

     

    cougars 

    royiv

    Posted

    36 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

     

    The dem reps should start pissing and shitting on the House floor.

    • Like 2
    Chuckie Finster

    Posted

    Make them fucking arrest you! Good lord, Democrats have no idea how to play the game.

    • Hook 'Em 2
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    • Rage+1 3
    BrickHorn

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Chuckie Finster said:

    Make them fucking arrest you! Good lord, Democrats have no idea how to play the game.

    For the most part, Americans on the left have too much to lose. We’re educated. We have careers, nest eggs, families, plans for a cozy retirement. 

    We don’t want to lose what we’ve worked so hard to obtain. So we let them take a little bit without pushing back, thinking it’s not worth risking it all. And then they take another little bit. And then another. And then another. 

    And before you know it, everything’s gone. The math of opposition never makes sense at any one step, and we’re too blinded by normalcy bias to see that we’re tumbling down a staircase all the way to the bottom, little bit by little bit.

    Gov. Newsom’s approach is the right one. Dig your heels in, now. Tell the fascists to fuck off and do not yield. Never settle or cut a deal, because there is no deal to be had. Fight like hell until you win or die trying.

    • Hook 'Em 7
    • Like 1
    Satchel

    Posted

    On 2/17/2021 at 9:29 PM, UpperWestside said:

    I left the state for reasons not related to politics, but looking back I am okay with being where I am now. I am from Texas, but I will never live there again no matter what political party controls the state.
     

    I personally find the Texas exceptionalism attitude to be just as out of touch and divisive domestically as the American exceptionalism attitude comes across abroad to both friends and foes. We are all just people trying to make it in this world and differentiating what person or group of people is worth more based on where they are from is an attitude that needs to be retired permanently. Just way too much toxicity in thinking in such terms about our fellow human beings. 

    Lord, today, yes.

    StassneyHorn

    Posted

    On 8/13/2025 at 1:35 PM, Captainant said:

    what is it with chuds telling people to "cope" or "cry harder" and whatnot? Saw it a ton yesterday from imma's buddy stassney and it's like they're spiking the football on being a shithead. Really strange antisocial stuff.

    You saw it once from me recently, and you yourself have used the phrase over the years. The search function does work.

    • Haha 1
    Evil Bill Obrien

    Posted

    2 hours ago, HornOnTheBayou said:

     

    They don't get called gravy seals for nothing...

    image.png.03a596376e8704d6245cf70eeeb7032f.png

    • Hook 'Em 3
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    South Austin

    Posted

    I really can't blame the Democrats for coming back to Texas.  I mean, it's almost football season. 

    • Like 1
    • Haha 5
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    Nivek

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

    The Texas Dems on the run accomplished their goal: attention to what Abbott is doing. They were never going to be successful forever. Allowing Abbott to do this quiet would have been the sin.

    By creating attention to Abbott steal, this gives the Dems cover to repeat this in other states. Yes it's a race to the bottom but Dems need to stop being the party who plays fair. If the GOP wants to ultimately destroy the US, then so be it.

    They should have stayed away.   Bringing attention to this unconstitutional bullshit isn't enough.   

    • Hook 'Em 3
    Ghost of NMAS

    Posted

    We needed the confrontation over Abbott trying to replace them.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    fuggled

    Posted

    https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/26/texas-schools-commandments-requirement-lawsuit/

    Quote

    A Texas federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked from taking full effect a new state law requiring public schools to display donated posters of the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

    The ruling only applies to the nearly a dozen Texas school districts named in the lawsuit, though attorneys who brought forth the case expressed hope in court that other districts would not implement a law that a federal judge has now found unconstitutional.

    In his decision, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery concluded that the law favors Christianity over other faiths, is not neutral with respect to religion and is likely to interfere with families' “exercise of their sincere religious or nonreligious beliefs in substantial ways.”

    “There are ways in which students could be taught any relevant history of the Ten Commandments without the state selecting an official version of scripture, approving it in state law, and then displaying it in every classroom on a permanent basis,” Biery wrote in his opinion, adding that the law “crosses the line from exposure to coercion.”

     

    • Hook 'Em 4
    Biff Tannen

    Posted

    15 hours ago, Evil Bill Obrien said:

    They don't get called gravy seals for nothing...

    image.png.03a596376e8704d6245cf70eeeb7032f.png

     

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    Horn Dog

    Posted (edited)

    1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

    The Texas Dems on the run accomplished their goal: attention to what Abbott is doing. They were never going to be successful forever. Allowing Abbott to do this quiet would have been the sin.

    By creating attention to Abbott steal, this gives the Dems cover to repeat this in other states. Yes it's a race to the bottom but Dems need to stop being the party who plays fair. If the GOP wants to ultimately destroy the US, then so be it.

    Exactly.  The dems did what they could do with the very limited power the shitty people of the state of Texas have provided them.  This shit show is on the voters of Texas who blindly reward incompetence and corruption.   The dems accomplished their mission.  Attention has been drawn.  Now they need to let it happen so that Cali can do their thing.  Staying away and stalling Texas from doing  what they are going to do anyway (with no time limit) only provides ammunition to those trying to delay Cali from passing their resolution.  That resolution needs to be passed ASAP in order to allow it on the ballot in Nov. 

    Edited by Horn Dog
    • Hook 'Em 2
    • Like 4
    Fudge Nuggets

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Nivek said:

    They should have stayed away.   Bringing attention to this unconstitutional bullshit isn't enough.   

    I'm with you.  They ran away a couple of years ago over something or other.  That did so much good I can't even remember what the issue was.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    Fudge Nuggets

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Horn Dog said:

    Exactly.  The dems did what they could do with the very limited power the shitty people of the state of Texas have provided them.  This shit show is on the voters of Texas who blindly reward incompetence and corruption.   The dems accomplished their mission.  Attention has been drawn.  Now they need to let it happen so that Cali can do their thing.  Staying away and stalling Texas from doing  what they are going to do anyway (with no time limit) only provides ammunition to those trying to delay Cali from passing their resolution.  That resolution needs to be passed ASAP in order to allow it on the ballot in Nov. 

    A week from now, no one outside of BlueSky nerds and other political Twitter adjacent groups will remember it.  Then when CA tries it, the right wing propaganda network will fire up and claim Newsom is doing it unilaterally and has no justification.

    • Hook 'Em 3
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    Horn Dog

    Posted

    34 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

    A week from now, no one outside of BlueSky nerds and other political Twitter adjacent groups will remember it.  Then when CA tries it, the right wing propaganda network will fire up and claim Newsom is doing it unilaterally and has no justification.

    True but at least it will be easy to refute if Texas passes this first.   The alternative is this, which despite the "trigger clause" (that 95% of voters won't know about or understand) will be the narrative:

    FOX NEWS:  "This just in,  the LIBERAL dems are at it again!   In California, dems are illegally FORCING the voters to choose a extreme partisan gerrymandered map ahead of the midterm in a unprecedented move..  Meanwhile poor Gov. Abbott in  Texas is just trying to counter them and FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE, but that too is being stopped by the LIBERALS with their ILLEGAL walkout!    First they stonewalled the release of the Epstein files, now they are illegally trying to STEAL votes from republicans in California and all the while preventing dully elected Texas representative from countering this ILLEGAL redistricting scheme!"

     

    And guess what....it will work.

    • Rage+1 2



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