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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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    School shooting: Cops stand around while kids get murdered

    Cop gets shot (not killed) five hundred miles away from me: wake up the entire state of Texas

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    just got notice that the state registration and inspection requirements go away at the end of the year. but still required Dallas, Houston, Austin and eventually SA. gonna be a lot more broken down cars along the interstate. lovely.

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      On 10/4/2024 at 3:44 PM, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

    just got notice that the state registration and inspection requirements go away at the end of the year. but still required Dallas, Houston, Austin and eventually SA. gonna be a lot more broken down cars along the interstate. lovely.

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    idiocracy GIF

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      On 10/4/2024 at 3:44 PM, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

    just got notice that the state registration and inspection requirements go away at the end of the year. but still required Dallas, Houston, Austin and eventually SA. gonna be a lot more broken down cars along the interstate. lovely.

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    years ago worked with this very conservative/libertarian type. He complained to no end about the inspection and smog check being unconstitutional. Of course, his pos car spewed smoke and I guessed he added a pint of oil per week. One day he shared a story that he spent a Saturday afternoon finding a state inspection station that didn't really check his car.

    I always wanted to add that he was the reason that we had these inspections not the rest of us but my goal was to avoid any unnecessary conversations with the guy.

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      On 10/4/2024 at 3:19 PM, royiv said:

    School shooting: Cops stand around while kids get murdered

    Cop gets shot (not killed) five hundred miles away from me: wake up the entire state of Texas

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    royiv gets it.

    The lives of a school full of children are worth less than the life of a single cop.  You all have empirical proof from Uvalde and Hall County.  The truth stares us right in the face - believe it.

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      On 10/4/2024 at 3:44 PM, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

    just got notice that the state registration and inspection requirements go away at the end of the year. but still required Dallas, Houston, Austin and eventually SA. gonna be a lot more broken down cars along the interstate. lovely.

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    Registration doesn’t go away, just inspection. The required inspections in the urban areas will be emissions testing only. FWIW, I lived in AZ for nearly 20 years and they have the same setup. Emissions testing only for Maricopa County and no other sort of safety or mechanical inspection. In reality, I saw no difference in the vehicles on the road. I see multiple vehicles on the road here in Texas every single day that can’t pass the current inspection. People just don’t get them inspected. We have posters on this board who have admitted that they haven’t registered their vehicles for years meaning they also haven’t had them inspected. On the surface, it does seem stupid, but I don’t think inspections do anything meaningful to keep unsafe vehicles off the road. 

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      On 10/4/2024 at 3:44 PM, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

    just got notice that the state registration and inspection requirements go away at the end of the year. but still required Dallas, Houston, Austin and eventually SA. gonna be a lot more broken down cars along the interstate. lovely.

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    Registration will still be required because it's essentially a road tax, but the standard inspection is being done away with. For the big metros, I imagine that they still need to be inspected because they tend to be (or are very close to it, like Austin) EPA air quality nonattainment areas.

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      On 10/4/2024 at 3:58 PM, royiv said:

    Registration doesn’t go away, just inspection. The required inspections in the urban areas will be emissions testing only. FWIW, I lived in AZ for nearly 20 years and they have the same setup. Emissions testing only for Maricopa County and no other sort of safety or mechanical inspection. In reality, I saw no difference in the vehicles on the road. I see multiple vehicles on the road here in Texas every single day that can’t pass the current inspection. People just don’t get them inspected. We have posters on this board who have admitted that they haven’t registered their vehicles for years meaning they also haven’t had them inspected. On the surface, it does seem stupid, but I don’t think inspections do anything meaningful to keep unsafe vehicles off the road. 

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      On 10/4/2024 at 3:58 PM, bolverk said:

    Registration will still be required because it's essentially a road tax, but the standard inspection is being done away with. For the big metros, I imagine that they still need to be inspected because they tend to be (or are very close to it, like Austin) EPA air quality nonattainment areas.

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    I stand corrected!

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      On 10/4/2024 at 3:19 PM, royiv said:

    School shooting: Cops stand around while kids get murdered

    Cop gets shot (not killed) five hundred miles away from me: wake up the entire state of Texas

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    Somewhat related, but a few months ago in Downtown LA, I got stuck in traffic on the outskirts of downtown. And when I say stuck, I mean car did not move for over 30 minutes, drivers were getting out of their cars to walk up the street to get a look. Once I got to work - an hour late - I learned that the LA County Sherriff's department was holding a funeral for a fallen deputy in the downtown Cathedral, and they figured they better block off most access to the area, for unknown reasons. No prior notice. This impacted thousands of workers who were delayed in getting to work.

    Learned later that day that the deputy died of cancer. 

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      On 10/4/2024 at 10:54 AM, The Royal We said:

    Some cop got into a tussle 7 hours away from me so I have to be screamed at by my phone at 4:30am. 

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    Seriously fuck these state wide alerts about a missing person or murderer 6 hours away from me with no pictures provided. Fucking idiots. 

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      On 10/4/2024 at 11:58 AM, Pam Cummings said:

    Is there anything more useless than a "blue alert"? Get fucked.

     

     

     

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    I care.

    That shit has now woken me up TWICE in the last week in the middle of the night.

    WTF? 
    I don’t get amber alerts or Silver alerts.

    Yet I get those shits at like 3 am.

    In what world do I as a citizen need to know about a person on the lose who’s killed a cop if i don’t get an alert for EVERY murderer on the lose?

    I could potentially find and make a difference for a kidnapped kid. I could also keep an eye out for a wayward old.

    A cop killer? I’m getting the da fuq out of there and hunkering down. That’s their fucking job to hunt that MFer down.

    I don’t need to lose sleep bc of it.

    Sorry.

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      On 10/6/2024 at 8:05 PM, pacman said:
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      On 10/6/2024 at 8:12 PM, NeverMarryAStripper said:

    As long as the gun shows come they don’t care

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    Exactly. We don’t need to seek out intellectual conferences here when gun/nazi paraphernalia shows just travel non-stop across Texas cities.

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    So, how does the training of OB/GYNs work at Texas medical schools since abortion is part of the required curriculum and that can't be taught in Texas?

    Run 

     

    Edited by CooterBrown
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      On 10/10/2024 at 12:43 AM, pacman said:

    Screenshot_20241009_194053_X.jpg

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    His action itself is enough to scare some people from showing up to vote, fearing that they might be arrested for voting.  You can't get much more un-American than this guy.

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      On 10/10/2024 at 1:27 AM, miguelito said:

    His action itself is enough to scare some people from showing up to vote, fearing that they might be arrested for voting.  You can't get much more un-American than this guy.

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    At least it shows how scared Republicans in Texas are.

    They wouldn't be trying to purge almost half-a-million people if their numbers were great.

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    Tomorrow is one of my favorite Saturdays of the year, but I still have to suffer a bit watching that feckless dipshit wheel up and down the Texas sideline.

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      On 10/11/2024 at 3:45 PM, South Austin said:

    Tomorrow is one of my favorite Saturdays of the year, but I still have to suffer a bit watching that feckless dipshit wheel up and down the Texas sideline.

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    What if Ted is pushing the wheelchair?

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      On 10/11/2024 at 4:03 PM, royiv said:

    Does slobbing Donald’s knob not count?

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    No, because he thinks that helps him politically.  Pushing the wheelchair of state governor who has hit his ceiling and can do nothing for Ted does not.

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    A federal judge, Clinton appt, has been on the states ass for a decade to get its shit together on its broken foster care system. Finally resorted to a 100k daily fine. 
     

    state sues and says the penalties are too harsh and that judge is beyond biased, the joke that is the 5th circuit says you’re right, fines erased and judge is booted. 

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      On 10/12/2024 at 6:40 AM, bluto said:

    A federal judge, Clinton appt, has been on the states ass for a decade to get its shit together on its broken foster care system. Finally resorted to a 100k daily fine. 
     

    state sues and says the penalties are too harsh and that judge is beyond biased, the joke that is the 5th circuit says you’re right, fines erased and judge is booted. 

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    that’s what I thought, the 5th did the state a huge favor here. were any of those fines ever paid ?

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      On 10/12/2024 at 6:40 AM, bluto said:

    A federal judge, Clinton appt, has been on the states ass for a decade to get its shit together on its broken foster care system. Finally resorted to a 100k daily fine. 
     

    state sues and says the penalties are too harsh and that judge is beyond biased, the joke that is the 5th circuit says you’re right, fines erased and judge is booted. 

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    Opinion by Edith, she-wolf of the SS, Jones, joined by Edith, Eva Braun, Clement.  And some dipshit I have never heard of named Cory, which tells you all you need to know.

    But this is exactly how Cannon can be removed by the 11th Circuit.

    Crazy that the 5th and 11th Circuits were once one and now the 11th is the sane(r) one.

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      On 10/12/2024 at 11:22 AM, TwiceHorn said:

    Opinion by Edith, she-wolf of the SS, Jones, joined by Edith, Eva Braun, Clement.  And some dipshit I have never heard of named Cory, which tells you all you need to know.

    But this is exactly how Cannon can be removed by the 11th Circuit.

    Crazy that the 5th and 11th Circuits were once one and now the 11th is the sane(r) one.

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    It's so funny how the fascist fucks keep their bench while the judges trying to protect children from a horrific foster care system get the boot. 

    Must be that much vaunted justice system I hear so much about

    Edited by Captainant
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      On 10/12/2024 at 11:57 AM, Captainant said:

    It's so funny how the fascist fucks keep their bench while the judges trying to protect children from a horrific foster care system get the boot. 

    Must be that much vaunted justice system I hear so much about

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    Banning abortions is the solution to solving the problem of the foster system.

    Edited by tx ind
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      On 10/11/2024 at 3:45 PM, South Austin said:

    Tomorrow is one of my favorite Saturdays of the year, but I still have to suffer a bit watching that feckless dipshit wheel up and down the Texas sideline.

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    I’m hoping his wheelchair pulls a Sooner Schooner, tips over and we can point and laugh at that asshole lying on the ground.

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      On 10/12/2024 at 2:50 PM, hornmpa96 said:

    I’m hoping his wheelchair pulls a Sooner Schooner, tips over and we can point and laugh at that asshole lying on the ground.

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    Wish I knew who made this.  I’m guessing somebody who was wronged by one of his policies.

    greg-abbott-abbott.gif

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