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royiv

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Everything posted by royiv

  1. All of this, but I find it hard to believe we can't find a charismatic Blue Dog Democrat somewhere in this state to try to turn the tide.
  2. I hear you loud and clear. My wife and I have talked a lot about leaving this state and, potentially, going even further. The more I think about it, it kills me a little bit. I loved growing up in Texas. The outdoors, the dove hunting, the watching my retrievers work, the four wheelers, the fireworks, etc., Just all bad ass stuff. I find myself finding myself figuring out if I can help figure out how to revert back to that point or if we've just lost this place to fascist morons.
  3. I have friends in CO that have no interest in coming down here. They visited once pre-COVID and really liked Houston and were surprised by what a great city it is. Since then, not so much. To many, we're just another shithole state and I don't disagree on a lot of levels, but economically it's still a force. I do think that's at risk if our state government continues down the path it's on.
  4. The point is that instead of continuing to just say ho-hum D's in Texas are incompetent and that's just the way it is, what are the avenues to get a younger generation involved and energized about taking over the democratic party and breathing new life into it? I'm willing to do more than I have in the past, which has included donating money and time.
  5. Until fossil fuels are a thing of the past and/or the state starts shrinking, Texas will have stature. The state is, despite its many faults, just too much of an economic engine for this country to say otherwise. Has it become the butt of jokes for people that live in other states due to our insane state government? Abso-fucking-lutely.
  6. Such an alpha. And beta-cuck Joe slid in and out of Kyiv embarrassing Donnie's daddy Vladdy.
  7. Sorry for attempting to be helpful, Mr. Vague Tough Guy.
  8. I don't think her district is going blue any time soon, but point taken.
  9. That all sounds like pretty reasonable compromise, no? After reading that, I can totally see why gun control is a failure of the democratic party. The republican party, led by the esteemed Second Amendment Caucus is all about common sense and protecting children.
  10. I really hope that's a Democrat grifting the GQPs. If so, I applaud the effort.
  11. The funny thing about that one is that it's the liquor store lobby that is keeping that one from happening, but, yes, one of my primary reasons for wanting to burn TABC to the ground and rebuild is due to the liquor store lobby.
  12. Yep. Gerrymandering doesn't get fixed unless the federal courts step in or another party gains control of the state house.
  13. Don't tax medicinal, but absolutely tax recreational. That's how it's being done in other states. Taxes can be used to fund the public health initiatives that I mentioned in my OP.
  14. Yes! How the hell did I forget those? Water is already a major issue and is going to continue to be something we need to address if we want the state to continue to grow.
  15. Yep. Again, not dismissing that. It's the biggest challenge we currently face in Texas. The question is how can you come up with a platform that is so exciting to the non-voter that they will get off their ass and vote. A bonus would be if you could get some of the folks that have been programmed to pull the R lever to reconsider their choices.
  16. On your first point, you're absolutely right and I don't have my head buried in the sand on that gargantuan challenge. Perhaps I wasn't clear because it was late at night and I was having trouble sleeping, but my initial premise to my thoughts here is what issues can be hammered on to mobilize the folks that don't vote? What gets those people mobilized and excited to go the polls? I'm clearly no expert, but there has to be a way. Perhaps drag shows at every polling place? Just kidding, maybe only a little bit. On Robin Hood, totally agree. I don't live in Austin now, but it makes me ragey how much money AISD taxpayers have sent away. Is anyone here an expert on the current laws? Do school districts have to have a minimum tax rate? It seems to me that they should have to max out their tax rate before they are eligible for any recapture dollars. Is that the case or not? High speed rail, yeah that would be super cool, but probably not high on my list until my second term as king. The system in CA has been plagued with cost overruns so I would want to spend time figuring out the true cost of such a system and a way to acquire the land needed without completely alienating every landowner along the route.
  17. I would make the argument that proper treatment and intervention is cheaper in the long run than warehousing people in the criminal justice system. It's very expensive to continue the and repeat cycle of arrest, jail, prosecution and so on not to mention the suck on policing resources. If we could figure out the addiction and mental health resources, we can turn these folks into functional members of society, lessening their overall burden on the taxpayer and, ideally, turn them into taxpayers and contributors to the economy.
  18. A couple of posts today have got me thinking about what would it take to fix the shit show that is Texas politics. Nothing is going to change until we figure out a way to remove the GQP's influence from the capitol so what are things that would actually move the needle? That said, I thought I would make a list of things I would do if I were king of Texas. I'm interested to hear what others thoughts are on these issues. These are in no particular order. Legislative Session -Institute an annual legislative session. Texas is one of four states with a biennial session, the others being MT, ND and NV. It seems nuts to me that a state as large, complex and important as Texas thinks we can effectively govern meeting once every two years for 140 days. Marijuana -Legalize it and tax it. Use tax proceeds to fund mental health and addiction services for homeless and un/under-insured Texans. -Pardon all inmates that are serving a sentence for only simple possession. I would listen to ideas of how far that should go. As a bonus, it would be great if this would help Texas get out of the private prison business. I would include expunging the records of those who have already served sentences under the same terms. Healthcare -Expand Medicaid. It blows my mind that we as a state leave federal dollars on the table. That means we all pay federal taxes and we're leaving money on the table to be sent to other states that could be coming our way. -Repeal the anti-abortion law. Allow women and their healthcare provider to make decisions about an individual woman's health. -Stop the attacks on LGBTQ+ community. Guns -Institute a red flag law. We need to make sure that Texans suffering a mental health crisis don't have access to guns. We need to protect our own. -Institute a 21 year age minimum to purchase an assault weapon (and, no fatty, I'm not going to get into one of your dumb bullet debates with you - these are all 10k foot ideas). -Get rid of constitutional carry. You want to carry a gun legally, you're going to need a permit for that. -Waiting period on the purchase of guns. 7 days for shotguns, sporting rifles, 14 days for handguns, 28 days for assault weapons (again, fatty, don't muck this up with your bullet talk). Education -Reevaluate Robin Hood. I admit that I'm not an expert in how to equitably fund education in this state, but I'm smart enough to know our current system is broken. We have bright people in this state, let's get them together and figure out a fix. -Improve funding for higher education. California kicks our ass up and down the field on this one. We are woeful for a state of our stature. -Get God out of the public schools. End the book ban BS. Return sanity to the classroom so that kids can learn. Listen to our best and brightest educators and fix standardized testing. Gambling -Why do we let so many dollars cross state lines into LA and OK? Lots of other states have figured out to regulate and tax casino gambling. Let's quit donating money to LA and OK. -Legalize sports gambling. See above. TABC -Burn it to the ground and start over. It's an oversized agency with oversized power in this state. It needs to be overhauled. Taxes -This is probably the biggest bogeyman. Our hands are tied w/r/t an income tax in this state so we have got to figure out how we fix the regressive propert tax burden placed on Texans. I'm not the guy to figure it out, but I'd love to brainstorm with some smart economists. What am I missing? Transportation? Other agencies that need to be completely overhauled? I'm really interested in hearing people's thoughts. I'm hoping this turns into a thread of healthy discussion on ideas how to change the current course of our state, but it will probably turn into monkeys flinging shit at each other by the fourth post.
  19. royiv

    LBGTQ

    Those folks need to get a hobby. Pride month starts in about six weeks and given how the GQP has stirred their followers into a lather, I hope everything stays peaceful and all of the celebrations go forward as planned.
  20. Geezus, trying to serve good BBQ 70 hours a week sounds like bad idea jeans.
  21. I clearly haven't been to a Luby's in a very long time because this is news to me. What the hell does a waiter at a cafeteria do? I get the utility of the tea lady, but a waiter?
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