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America is one of the most toxic places I've ever been


Wanker Bob

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4 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

I grew up across Latin America. From country to country the approach and mannerisms change. One word in one country is fine to use. Will get you an ass beating in another.

In Costa Rica I stayed on a road called "La Chimba." That cracked up a taxi driver who wasn't from CR.

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48 minutes ago, MillerEP said:

Lucky for us we kicked Britain's ass already back in the height of their power so we never have to give a shit about what some Limey bastard thinks.

I believe there was a recent interview on one of the major news networks where it started off with something similar to "we haven't cared about Great Britain's opinions since 1776".  I'll see if I can track it down.

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28 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

As someone who grew up in a family fluent and frequent in their practice of spanish profanity and such, I respectfully disagree.  Spanish is fun, and colorful.  But the brits are masters at the craft.  I don't put them at the top of many categories of achievement, but that category may be where they achieve their only top ranking.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp7bi_ph9bS/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

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4 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

This is understandable, sometimes a change is necessary. But your perspective might be different if you were “of the people” where you are now.  You got a great education and made a shitpot full of money here, then moved to a place where it takes a whole lot less $$$ to maintain, all the while leaving one of the worst political climates we’ve had in decades, and on top of that during a pandemic.  I’m certain the more time you spend down there, you’ll realize the folks with money have the same consumerism we have here, and a much more pronounced class issue.  I stayed down there for a couple of years myself, and the haves and have nots line is stark as ever. 

i'm under no illusion that there isn't a vast wealth divide here among a mountain of other problems. i'm just offering my personal opinion that the States felt toxic to me, and spending time away from it re-confirmed that belief for me.

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1 hour ago, Captainant said:

well considering that the last time we had a massive, grid-crippling freeze was 2011 and there was no action to enforce compliance with life-saving measures like winterization of critical infrastructure in the intervening decade... I'd say that's a pretty massive fuck-up that is emblematic of a state that is at the very least unhealthy.

And factor in that in the aftermath, our lt. governor is more concerned with private profits than delivering consistent utilities and the discussion in our state lege has been more focused on protecting profitability and "winners and losers" than ensuring that the citizens of Texas have the best utility service possible.

We could also pay double the kwh price like California with all their great regulations and instead of losing power due to extremely unusual weather conditions we could go ahead and lose it every summer as a normal occurrence like they do.

The 2011 freeze caused very minimal power losses.  

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12 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

i'm under no illusion that there isn't a vast wealth divide here among a mountain of other problems. i'm just offering my personal opinion that the States felt toxic to me, and spending time away from it re-confirmed that belief for me.

Hopefully you are woke enough to pay all your Mexican servants at least $15 an hour.

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i (used to) travel to london quite often as part of my job.

i was once in greenwich on a sunday afternoon. it was a complete shitshow. one guy was taunting this other guy who had his little 2-3 year old daughter on his shoulders. daughter guy was fucking furious, and kept telling the other guy that if he didn't have his daughter with him then he would end him then and there. they kept going backward and forward, and i really thought they were going to have go, but finally, daughter guy walked away, but not before telling the other dude that he better not be there in 30 minutes when he came back. they were both hammered. it was 2pm. the end. no, i did not hang around to see if the fight happened, i had a tea clipper to tour. /csb

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4 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

America may have some toxicity, but the OP is the biggest douchebag on surly and in the running for biggest douchebag on the internet. His typical British over-top arrogance combined with incompetence makes him almost indistinguishable from millions of other Brits, in a nation so full of problems it makes the US look like Utopia. Fuck off twat. 

Don't forget the shitty teeth.

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I grew up across Latin America. From country to country the approach and mannerisms change. One word in one country is fine to use. Will get you an ass beating in another. Brits are boring as shit. Worked with them on and off for the better part of my career. They can be colorful, but are predictable, just like their cooking. 
The one area they win top ranking is the continued believe among Brits outside of the UK thinking their empire still reigns supreme. 
Oh, and they are going to win the next World Cup. They always believe that. 

Met a bunch of brits, here and over there. Got along with them well. Never once met one who gave a shit about the old empire and what not.

It is pretty good to read one with your username speak about other’s past glory. Pizarro FTW. (Yeah, my Peruvian friend went hot when I brought up that name.). She is great too.
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3 hours ago, hayden_horn said:

i (used to) travel to london quite often as part of my job.

i was once in greenwich on a sunday afternoon. it was a complete shitshow. one guy was taunting this other guy who had his little 2-3 year old daughter on his shoulders. daughter guy was fucking furious, and kept telling the other guy that if he didn't have his daughter with him then he would end him then and there. they kept going backward and forward, and i really thought they were going to have go, but finally, daughter guy walked away, but not before telling the other dude that he better not be there in 30 minutes when he came back. they were both hammered. it was 2pm. the end. no, i did not hang around to see if the fight happened, i had a tea clipper to tour. /csb

Well..... that's bloody well never happened in any other country in the world.

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1 hour ago, Restinmybones said:

Actually, I'm not. Look it up. Now, shut the fuck up.

Look what up? That there were 0 inches of snowfall combined in Austin in 1989 and 1990? Yeah - some winter.

Tone the pissiness down a bit - especially when you're wrong. 

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4 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Look what up? That there were 0 inches of snowfall combined in Austin in 1989 and 1990? Yeah - some winter.

Tone the pissiness down a bit - especially when you're wrong. 

From Feb. 14-20, Winter Storm Uri ー the worst polar vortex to hit Texas since 1989 ...

Texas ANG delivers water, aid after winter storm > U.S. Air Force > Article Display

In 1989 and 2011, Texas experienced significant power disruptions as a result of severe winter storms.

Texas was warned to winterize power plants after past cold events (insider.com)

I can't find specific temperatures. However, there was very little snow associated with the 1989 storm. However, temperatures hit 2 to 3 below zero for several nights in Dallas. We went to south Texas to visit my folks that Christmas. It is the first and only time I've seen ranch ponds in south Texas completely frozen over for several days. It was colder for longer in '89. 

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9 minutes ago, Restinmybones said:

From Feb. 14-20, Winter Storm Uri ー the worst polar vortex to hit Texas since 1989 ...

Texas ANG delivers water, aid after winter storm > U.S. Air Force > Article Display

In 1989 and 2011, Texas experienced significant power disruptions as a result of severe winter storms.

Texas was warned to winterize power plants after past cold events (insider.com)

I can't find specific temperatures. However, there was very little snow associated with the 1989 storm. However, temperatures hit 2 to 3 below zero for several nights in Dallas. We went to south Texas to visit my folks that Christmas. It is the first and only time I've seen ranch ponds in south Texas completely frozen over for several days. It was colder for longer in '89. 

We’ve been in south Texas since the mid 80s.  And have seen it multiple times.  89 wasn’t as severe.  It didn’t cover the entire state at the same time like this. And didn’t last as long.  It was a quick front that hit hard and quick and didn’t last.  That’s why the trout and redfish died so much more in 89. 
 

Tons of Axis were killed off in February.  That didn’t happen in 89.  

Edited by Johnny Sack
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1 minute ago, Johnny Sack said:

We’ve been in south Texas since the mid 80s.  And have seen it multiple times.  89 wasn’t as severe.  It didn’t cover the entire state at the same time like this. And didn’t last as long.  It was a quick front that hit hard and quick and didn’t last.  That’s why the trout and redfish died so much more in 89. 

I disagree. I grew up down there. I'm 63. I'd never seen anything like it and, as far as temperatures are concerned, I haven't seen anything like it since.

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14 minutes ago, Restinmybones said:

From Feb. 14-20, Winter Storm Uri ー the worst polar vortex to hit Texas since 1989 ...

Texas ANG delivers water, aid after winter storm > U.S. Air Force > Article Display

In 1989 and 2011, Texas experienced significant power disruptions as a result of severe winter storms.

Texas was warned to winterize power plants after past cold events (insider.com)

I can't find specific temperatures. However, there was very little snow associated with the 1989 storm. However, temperatures hit 2 to 3 below zero for several nights in Dallas. We went to south Texas to visit my folks that Christmas. It is the first and only time I've seen ranch ponds in south Texas completely frozen over for several days. It was colder for longer in '89. 

Fair enough. I think what made this one different is that coupled with the record cold we saw record snowfall. And as Johnny mentioned, it hit the entire state hard for a week. 

So while maybe the cold or the snow was precedented if you squint hard enough, the combination wasn't. 

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4 hours ago, hayden_horn said:

i (used to) travel to london quite often as part of my job.

i was once in greenwich on a sunday afternoon. it was a complete shitshow. one guy was taunting this other guy who had his little 2-3 year old daughter on his shoulders. daughter guy was fucking furious, and kept telling the other guy that if he didn't have his daughter with him then he would end him then and there. they kept going backward and forward, and i really thought they were going to have go, but finally, daughter guy walked away, but not before telling the other dude that he better not be there in 30 minutes when he came back. they were both hammered. it was 2pm. the end. no, i did not hang around to see if the fight happened, i had a tea clipper to tour. /csb

fascinating GIF

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5 hours ago, Enchubben said:

You seem to be stuck on grid independence as justification for Texas being considered a failed state.  California has had regular rolling blackouts for 20 years, and that's on top of electricity that costs 60% more than ours.  By your standards the US should have apologized and given California back to Mexico by now.

60 percent? That sounds like a lot. You sure it’s not 90 percent?
 

20 years of regular rolling blackouts? That sounds like a lot. You sure it’s not 40 years? 

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5 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

60 percent? That sounds like a lot. You sure it’s not 90 percent?
 

20 years of regular rolling blackouts? That sounds like a lot. You sure it’s not 40 years? 

Are we counting the manufactured ones a la enron? 

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16 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Fair enough. I think what made this one different is that coupled with the record cold we saw record snowfall. And as Johnny mentioned, it hit the entire state hard for a week. 

So while maybe the cold or the snow was precedented if you squint hard enough, the combination wasn't. 

Thanks. It was bad this year. No doubt about that. Back in '89, the number of busted pipes in Dallas was incredible. We had a broken pipe and thought we were lucky. Everyone we knew had plumbing problems and we had to re-plant our entire yard with bermuda. It all died. Snow cover would have helped it survive. 

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19 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

This year was colder, longer and over a wider area.  

Probably but '89 was bad and partly because there was no snow cover. In north Texas, we had a day or so with about half an inch of snow and a little sleet and the temperatures plummeted. We had bright sun, a high of 10 to 15 degrees, and a dry cold north wind for a few days.

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13 hours ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

Like y’all, I’m not real interested on the brit’s take of the US, nor the Toby Keith contingent. But the thread title resonates with me. We left the US, originally planning a 4 month hiatus from the insanity of everything. We’ve decided not to return. It’ll all remain contingent on our children’s development and we’ll-being, but we are happier outside of the States.

As we’ve become a bit separated from daily life in the States, the word that I always come back to is “toxic”. The consumerism, the obsession with wealth and more material things. The discourse and ignorance and hatred. It all feels very toxic to me.

Goodbye GIF

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6 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

Hopefully you are woke enough to pay all your Mexican servants at least $15 an hour.

I try not to speak to the help...at best, ew, more realistically, probable rapists.

But when I do, I spend my energy reminding them that the reason they are poor is because they make bad decisions.

my Spanish must not be up to par because they look at me like I’m a fucking cunt.

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24 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

I try not to speak to the help...at best, ew, more realistically, probable rapists.

But when I do, I spend my energy reminding them that the reason they are poor is because they make bad decisions.

my Spanish must not be up to par because they look at me like I’m a fucking cunt.

*twat

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On 3/16/2021 at 1:51 PM, Wanker Bob said:

Those countries don't have boastful proclamations on their monuments like this: 

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Most of the European nations also have far better upward mobility than the US current day even though the US used to be at or near the top of the list. 

If Americans want to be okay with their rapid decline in these areas then that's fine but for God's sakes shut up with the "land of the free, land of opportunity, greatest country on Earth" bullshit. Because at this point in the 21st century it's all just bullshit

Go immigrate to Denmark bitch.  Assuming they'll let you.

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1 hour ago, Captainant said:

To be fair, the thread title is a blacklab special after he split this off

"America is one of the most toxic places I've ever been. It's like you imported the worst of the British traits and over 240+ years have taken them to the max at every opportunity. An exhausting segment of the species."

Yeah, how could he use his words to make him out as an idiot.

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