Can’t remember who said it, but someone noted on Twitter this weekend that one of the worst things about the Electoral College is that it gives folks the impression that states are more politically homogeneous than they actually are. Let’s take Texas, for example, since some people are saying, “Screw Texans! They voted for Trump!” in the context of aid for a flood of unprecedented proportions.
Making judgments about Texans based on the image below isn’t much different than putting credence in those stupid US election results maps Trump likes to hand out to mitigate the sting of his popular vote loss:
Yeah, Trump won Texas, but here are the results:
Turnout: 59%
Popular vote: Trump: 4,685,047 / Clinton: 3,877,868
Percentage: Trump: 52.23% / Clinton: 43.24%
And even if the vote tally had been more lopsidedly in favor of the odious orange fart cloud, you either believe in the power of government and collective action to weather national hardships, or you don’t. I do. I want my government to aid Texas, just as I want it to help California after earthquakes or New York after a storm like Sandy.
Now, if Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi want to read the names of the Texas senators and reps who voted against aid for Sandy victims into the record before casting “yea” votes on the massive aid package that will be required to address the ongoing catastrophe in Texas, I am all for that. Rub those bastards’ faces in it.
But assist the people who need help, and don’t check their voter registration first.
The top reason to hate the electoral college, of course, is that it was a key factor in putting an incompetent demagogue in the White House. Trump is making George W. Bush’s cake-eating Katrina fly-by look almost media savvy:
Trump, isolated & alone with a blank notepad, while other gov't officials manage the crisis in the Situation Room sums up his presidency. pic.twitter.com/88WsauL9Fm
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) August 28, 2017
Note also the product placement: Trump is selling the hat he’s wearing for $40 bucks a pop online.
There’s some angst that the Beltway press will seize on Trump’s response to the storm to proclaim the long-awaited presidential pivot — a not unreasonable fear that Doug explores in the post downstairs. Personally, I have no worries on that score. Today on Twitter, Trump quoted convicted felon Dinesh D’Souza to identify Antifa (“AnTEEfa!”) as the REAL source of violence in the US and retweeted some wingnut ass at Townhall to defend the pardon of fellow racist birther Arpaio.
Remember President Obama’s “Chill the fuck out — I got this” meme? We need an opposite meme for Trump.
Even a good president would have trouble managing a disaster on the scale of what’s happening in Texas, and Trump is a terrible president and an even worse person. He will fuck up materially and stumble into tone-deaf gaffe after breathtakingly arrogant, self-congratulatory statement. It’s who he is.
Most of the help for Texas will come from ordinary people on the ground and the collective action of our government. That a clueless asshole is nominally in charge of the effort makes it that much more urgent for we citizens to do what we can and urge our elected officials to provide help in our names.
For our third and final reason to hate the Electoral College (for the purposes of this post — there are a gazillion other reasons!), you’ll need to prepare by applying a tiny molecule of rosin to the .0005 micron string of your most diminutive violin:
A NYC friend of Jared & Ivanka says they miss the city, & that DC “punctures their self-esteem on a daily basis.” https://t.co/7NEqScy0Gb
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) August 28, 2017
It’s a stretch to blame Trump’s nepotism hires on the Electoral College, but no EC, no Trump, no whiny-ass Javanka in the West Wing, so it’s good enough for a rhetorical device, IMO. Anyhoo, an excerpt:
It’s clear that, after an initial period of awe at the sheer power of their positions, Jared and Ivanka have been stung by the vitriol directed at them… Increasingly you hear chatter in Washington that Jared and Ivanka won’t last, not because they are at risk of being pushed out, but because they will save themselves from a damaged White House. One well-connected strategist in New York told me that the two were eyeing a move at the end of the school year in 2018. A person close to the couple said they weren’t planning that far ahead. “When they decide it’s more important to protect their own and their children’s reputations than it is to defend their indefensible father’s, that’s a sign the end is near,” one influential Republican donor told me.
Too late, assholes. By the time Shit-Midas is done, you might be reduced to ordering servants to bring in their offspring for play-dates, and your social circle may well consist exclusively of Murdoch media affiliates and plump, unfashionably dressed carbon industry families who vacation in Branson instead of Aspen.
Open thread!
satby
And to all that, all I have is UGH!
So fucking depressing.
mai naem mobile
I read.the VF piece last night. Ivanka and Jared are two really nasty pieces of work. The kind of asshole supervisors you work with who you dream about getting their comeuppance.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
Does anyone here listen to Bel Canto?
Additionally: Any idea what song the buskers in this video are playing?
Mnemosyne
Speaking of Houston, my Personal Jesus LMM is touting this housing org as a good place to donate for rebuilding Houston. He does a lot of charity work and seems to investigate places pretty thoroughly before he recommends them, so I may add them to my list.
rikyrah
Exiles on Pennsylvania Avenue: How Jared and Ivanka Were Repelled by Washington’s Elite
” What is off-putting about them”, one political veteran told me, ” is they do not grasp their essential irrelevance. They think they are special.”
excerpt:
The couple does enjoy some perks that come from their relarionship as ‘ first among equals’ in the White House, according to the Washington veteran-although West Wing advisers reportedly mock Ivanka as “princess royal” behind her back.
” Trump is emotionally dependent on his son-in-law and his daughter, ” said the Washington veteran. ” But they can’t do anything for him. All they can do is make him feel better about what his life has come to.”
The couple has been surprised and disappointed by their reception in Washington, and have lost friends back in elite circles in New York City.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
Failed nation.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@mai naem mobile: I wanted to hate-read it but I find them too boring even for schadenfreude. I hope Princess Tackycrap’s “brand”, commercial and social, is destroyed and she finds herself on Manhattan’s b-list, but the author of that piece said something about Jared being “formless”, and that’s the way I feel about them.
I hope Meuller finds Jared more interesting than I do
anon
even if that 43% voted against trump, they still choose to live in TX, work in TX and give their tax dollars to the state of TX, in exchange for a questionable better economic prospects. TX’s EC influence would not be as significant if not for them
rikyrah
Trump, isolated & alone with a blank notepad, while other gov’t officials manage the crisis in the Situation Room sums up his presidency. pic.twitter.com/88WsauL9Fm
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) August 28, 2017
Ithink
There were never anymore reasons to hate the Electoral College than the last eight months of hell its put us through! Three is merely a surface scratcher…but good write up on how everybody in Texas (I.e. me & my family) belong on Hillary’s Basket Full of Deplorable…fortunately, I’m in Dallas out of the way of this unmitigated disaster unfolding out below. Pray for all my family living there though???
rikyrah
IMPORTANT: If you are awaiting rescue, hang a towel or sheet prominently so we can find you. Adresses are hard to spot. #harvey #hounews
— HCSOTexas (@HCSOTexas) August 28, 2017
burnspbesq
One of my first Harvey-related thoughts this morning was about the insurance industry. I wonder if there are enough reserves in the system to pay what are likely to be hundreds of billions of dollars in claims … or if there is fine print in the average Texas homeowners’ policy that will allow the carriers to wiggle off the hook.
That could be a second major disaster.
Nicole
Uh-uh. No way, Washington DC. They’re all yours now. No backsies.
Sincerely,
New York City
Kay
My favorite thing about the Trumps is Ivanka and Jared whining.
I love how they act as if they were reluctantly deputized into duty. Literally no one except her father cares if either of these two ever show up for work. In fact, people would like them MORE if they had turned down the nepotism jobs.
Ivanka tweeted a picture of herself reading thank you letters from schoolchildren. She must not know they do this for everyone, in every classroom, and have for as long as I have been volunteering in schools, which is 25 years.
They’re really pretty dumb. If they had simply stayed in the background and not taken advantage of the situation by taking those jobs it would have gone better for them.
Mnemosyne
OT, but I stayed home sick from work with a cold and godDAMN but our new upstairs neighbors are noisy. Seems to be a couple with two toddlers, though it sounds more like a herd of rampaging elephants directly above my head. Ugh.
hitchhiker
I cannot look at images of Ivanka without feeling my lip curl. Possibly because I have (reasonable, hardworking, self-aware) daughters close to her age. Possibly because it’s so obvious she gets press for being photogenic in the way that girls trained to model are. Possibly because everything in me goes into a fury when I think about her swanning around the Oval Office thinking that she’s got valuable insight to offer. Possibly I’m just a bitch, I dunno.
But that woman is just, UGH.
And Jared sounds awful. “What the fuck do you care, Reince? We’re not getting paid.”
Double UGH.
kindness
Betty…..While I agree Democrats have to vote for aid to Texas because of the flooding, it won’t shame Republicans for having voted against every other request for similar aid, nor will it stop them from voting against future requests of aid after having taken this.
That’s because one of the larger tools in Republican’s bag is ‘I’m the only one who is deserving. Screw all the rest of you’. And that won’t change, ever I am sorry to say.
Nicole
@anon: Texas doesn’t have a state income tax. So I think that actually factors into why many deplorables choose to live in Texas- it’s about NOT giving tax dollars if they can avoid it.
See also: Blue blood Massachusetts native son-turned Texan transplant, George HW Bush and the rest of the Bush crime cartel.
raven
I’ve never been a big fan of using still shots or screen caps to illustrate a point about someone.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
Intellectually, I know Texas is trending towards purple, that lots of decent people there are suffering greatly. As a Californian, I also recall Enron causing extraordinary financial distress to the state. I recall Perry actively luring businesses away from California to Texas. I recall Bush’s ludicrous swagger, Don’t Mess with Texas bumper stickers, Texas politicians (notably Cruz) voting against other states receiving aid after hurricanes…
It’s tempering my sympathy.
Captain C
I am all for this.
Jeffro
@rikyrah:
AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGG!!!! I just want to swing a frickin’ baseball bat around and smash shit for an hour when I read that. “Make. Trump. Feel. Better. About What His Life Has COME TO???”
In the service of his monumental narcissism and utter corruption, aided by a hostile foreign power and abetted by domestic traitors…THEY WANT US TO FEEL BAD FOR THEM, AND HIM, OVER THE HONOR OF SERVING HIS COUNTRY AND THE ENTIRE FREE WORLD?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!
Fuck it, I am off to go get a bat. “Surprised and disappointed by their reception in Washington”. oh My GOD.
Captain C
Good, they need it. Nothing’s stopping them from leaving the Orange Turd alone to fend for himself with his obvious mental decline.
Mnemosyne
@kindness:
That’s why I keep saying that Chuck Schumer needs to demand a signed, notarized agreement from Cruz and Cornyn saying that they will never again block another state’s disaster aid before Schumer agrees to have a vote on disaster aid for Texas.
New York staters, call Schumer’s office and make that happen, willya?
Seth Owen
@burnspbesq: There will be hundreds of thousands of flood ruined cars alone
Kay
@hitchhiker:
There’s something weirdly untouched and other-worldy about both of their faces- like they were swaddled from birth and never exposed to the elements. Maintained. Expertly and expensively kept perfect.
Jeffro
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
Agree wholeheartedly. But red or blue, Texan or non-Texan, I’m still going to give a fellow American a hand (or a meal, or a place to rest) when five feet of rain floods out their city. I might smile a little less while doing it, but I’m going to do it.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@anon: “they still choose to live in TX” … not everyone has the privilege of choosing where they live. And demonizing people because of where they live is not who we are.
different-church-lady
@rikyrah:
He’s President of the Goddumned United Freakin’ STATES is what his life has “come to.” There’s only one human being on the entire planet who could convert that into some kind of personal tragedy and somehow he managed to get his shot at it.
anon
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: If you’re an able bodied , non-incarcerated adult, you can move and work anywhere in the US
hellslittlestangel
Obama: “Chill the fuck out. I got this.”
The Orange Better One: “I’m watching Steve Doocy. You do it.”
While I don’t want to see anyone suffer, better Texas than a decent state like California or Massachusetts.
different-church-lady
That photo of Trump has a good shot of knocking “Dukakis in the Tank” out of the number one slot.
Chris
The key reason to hate the electoral college is that it’s a Rube Goldberg machine that looks at the will of the voters in choosing their leaders and says “nope! I know better!”
sukabi
@Mnemosyne: toddlers do rampage and sound like herds of elephants…the louder the better when you’re going on 2.
My beautiful granddaughter is just about 2 and she is LOUD. SINGS loud, yells, screams….just loves to see how loud she can be. It’s fun for her…end of the day I’m frazzled from noise bombardment.?
different-church-lady
@anon:
…if you have the money to do so.
Mnemosyne
@anon:
Not if you have a house you can’t sell. Or elderly parents who need your care and can’t be relocated. Or kids you can’t pull out of school. Or don’t have skills that will make you marketable in another state where nobody knows you.
rikyrah
Discussed this in the morning open thread.
I think they should look up everything the Texas delegation wrote or said about Sandy Aid.
And, if they want aid for Texas..
they have to stand there and read it on the House/Senate floor.
Yes, they all should be publicly humiliated.
If that makes me petty..oh well.
Kay
Not true. She chose to take the job. No one would blame her for her father if she had simply not taken the job – which was the right thing to do because it’s a nepotism hire and nepotism is bad for the country.
She took it for a reason too- she wanted the power that comes with it. She wants power without accountability and she can’t have that.
rikyrah
@different-church-lady:
Come on twitter…don’t let me down.
Humdog
@anon: bullshit. I know a woman desperate to leave Texas but the state will not let her take her kids out of state because of her POS ex. Others are needed by family members or other commitments. Also, it is expensive to move to blue states. Shut your smug pie hole about something you’ve never really thought through.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Yes, I-J’s anxiety over losing the approval of the smart set, bewildered hurt in response to the torrents of well-earned bile directed at them, etc., has the most schadenfreudy appeal for me too. If they were who they pretend to be, they wouldn’t have helped their deranged shithead relative win in the first place!
My father has appalling political views, so I would never help him win elected office. The opposite, in fact. It’s possible to love a parent without wishing to inflict him on the public in a position of responsibility.
But like you said, no one MADE them take jobs they weren’t qualified for. It was through their own PR efforts that they set up expectations they haven’t been able to meet — and should have known they couldn’t fulfill. Stupid.
Ian G.
To the credit of my mostly libtard Facebook feed, I haven’t seen any sneering at “red” Texas, and haven’t had to counter it with facts about Houston and it being full of progressive whites and minorities and (I think) the first major city to elect a lesbian mayor.
Also, that map shows that the top 4 counties by population in Texas (or is it 5? Not sure if Tarrant or El Paso County is bigger) went for Clinton. Eventually, the growing urban counties will outweigh the shrinking rural ones.
Redshift
@anon:
Thanks for the lecture, Mr. Privilege! Everyone must have the resources to relocate themselves and everyone they don’t want to be separated from and find a new job in another state, so they clearly deserve no sympathy because they didn’t prioritize the objective of somewhat reducing Texas’ electoral vote count.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
She expects that, because it’s what she’s always gotten. It’s not like anyone at her Petit Trianon of a clothing company is going to dare to point out that she’s done enormous damage to her own business by her actions. I’m guessing that everyone else will be fired and she will never accept responsibility for the damage she did through her own actions. It’s the Trump family way, after all.
raven
So stand there with the people that just saved your ass and talk about nothing but “GOD IS GOOD”. Fucking morons.
Mnemosyne
@raven:
?
Omnes Omnibus
@anon: I’ll just say that you are kind of an asshole and leave it there.
sukabi
@anon: if you don’t have the financial resources to move yourself and family to a new locale, find affordable housing, and find livable employment you’re setting yourself up to be in worse conditions than if you stay put.
Same for the flood victims when asked why they didn’t leave… No money…not just for gas to actually leave…for food and shelter.
gVOR08
Rumsfeld said you go to war with the army you’ve got, not the army you want. Fortuitously we’re going into TX with the FEMA we have, Obama’s, not the FEMA Republicans want.
Ian G.
@Redshift:
One of those “geez, I never realized how good I have it” moments was when I was working on site at a call center my company was contracting with and I spoke to one of the customer service agents, a nice Latino woman, who told me she had never even traveled outside of Texas (the call center was in San Antonio). That was eye-open for me, given that I’ve done a fair amount of international travel, and a whole bunch across the US.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Yeah Kay…
I was hoping that you saw this story.
You have been nailing both of them for awhile.
raven
@Mnemosyne: tv
Ridnik Chrome
Wouldn’t do any good. These people have no shame whatsoever.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Kay: One has to have a soul to begn with to show character.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@sukabi: I remember Scalzi did a long post on what it was like to grow up poor in response to all the shit thrown at people stranded by Katrina: “Why didn’t they just leave?” The spittle-flecked, hysterical rage of the responses–“I worked for everything I have!”– was terrifying.
Bostondreams
@burnspbesq:
My wife is an adjuster. Lots of policies require you to have separate flood protection. There is the wiggle room.
Redshift
@Ian G.: Yeah, anon’s comments are kind of the perfect mirror image of the Texas legislator quoted in an article I read many years ago, whose response to a bill cutting public assistance was “well, they’ll just have a little less to leave to their children.” Just a complete inability to imagine that anyone lives in really different circumstances. The idea that people should be condemned for not en masse making the individual decision to… try to reduce the electoral strength of Texas is just the cherry on top.
different-church-lady
@Kay: I think she took the job because daddy needed help. She knows — either consciously or subconsciously — that they’re all in over their heads. So she’s blundering her way through as best she can in a misguided effort at helping things.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve no sympathy, nor do I suggest any admiration. I just think this is a more accurate read on the situation. It happens all the time with families. But this time it happens to be part of an international tragedy.
eclare
@anon: Yeah, I’ll move hundreds of miles away as an only child of elderly parents (I do their grocery shopping, take them to the dr, etc). I’ll just say fuckem, I need to do my duty and move to a blue state. Grow up.
WaterGirl
re: the Trump photo on the left, it looks like he has been put in time out until he is willing to behave and then he can be with the big kids in the photo on the right.
randy khan
@Mnemosyne:
+10 for the Marie Antoinette reference.
NorthLeft12
I believe that most people are willing to set politics aside in order to maintain relations with family, friends, neighbours, and co-workers. That is when the politics are not a direct assault on their core values as human beings.
Obviously, the current administration of Deadbeat Donald and the sycophantic collection of Republicans in office have crossed that line big time, and people are being forced to take a stand. The upcoming Thanksgiving gatherings may be the most explosive yet, making the ones under Dubya and President Obama pale in comparison.
Jeffro
@Mnemosyne: Great points. Also adding “…or if you don’t have a rent deposit plus the first month’s rent up front…or if you don’t have reliable transportation…or if you don’t have money to re-train, take a course, earn a license…or, or, or”
Amaranthine RBG
@anon:
Exactly right. Just like the doofuses who decide to go to a Nazi rally and march around because of their economic insecurity (read racism) and then are shocked when they discovery that people might mistake them for Nazis.
It’s unfortunate, I guess, that some ostensible democrats are suffering right now, but this should all be instructive.
Hell, go over to LGM and read Loomis’ recent posts about how Houston’s no-zoning policy has made the flooding much, much worse.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Jeffro:
Well said.
Jeffro
@WaterGirl: He thinks that by sitting there and ‘supervising’ (plus Tweeting, let’s not forget that!) that he’s somehow contributing to the relief effort. Just as he feels that Americans pulling together is about/for him.
NorthLeft12
@gVOR08: Yeah, I’ll say it again…Thanks Obama!
The Moar You Know
Not nearly enough. A good start, as someone said once.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I did read a while back that she and the Fredos were concerned about the trump brand becoming down market. All those charities canceling at Mar A Lago, including some that sound almost self-parodically blue-blooded, go right to the heart of their deluded self-image
and I try not to do fashion critiques, but… that stupid fucker and his stupid hats.
FlipYrWhig
@WaterGirl: “Teacher said I need to write a ‘pology but IM NOT GONNA.”
trollhattan
I’m good with “Freak the fuck out — I got this.”
The EC gives each Wyoming vote roughly 3x the impact of votes in the most populous states. Yeah, that’s a problem.
different-church-lady
OT: Calibration question — if I just worked 52 hours over the past four days, I’m allowed to feel like a slug today despite having 1.78 lifetimes of things I’d like to achieve in the last ≈0.3 lifetimes I have remaining?
The Moar You Know
@West of the Rockies (been a while): An effort that failed dismally. One you’ve lived in California, you won’t live in Texas. Not even in Austin, which seems to be Texas’ Hail Mary attempt to pretend their state still isn’t firmly entrenched in the 19th century.
Omnes Omnibus
@Amaranthine RBG: Living in Texas is the equivalent of going to a Nazi rally?
Citizen_X
@Amaranthine RBG: You and anon can fuck off and die, both of you. Fuck off and go join the libertarians if you want to sneer at people for being “inferior” to you, why don’t you? You don’t belong here.
Roger Moore
@different-church-lady:
And can find a job there. And are willing to abandon whatever personal and family obligations you have. Etc. Saying everyone should move away from red states and their failure to do so proves they’re undeserving is bullshit.
eclare
@different-church-lady: I’d say yes, let your slug flag fly!
Percysowner
I absolutely want the government to help Texas. I would do champion the Democrats making this help as part of raising the Debt Ceiling bill. I mean it’s going to cost a lot of money and we may have to borrow to pay for it, so it fits.
Kay
@different-church-lady:
I don’t believe that because she planted all those stories about how she was influencing him. She took the job because she wanted influence, which is “power”. It’s fine with me if she wants power but she has to accept that it comes with accountability and scrutiny. It also matters how you get it- she got it thru nepotism.
Captain C
@Nicole: Seconded.
Chyron HR
There there, Ivanskaya, I’m sure Congress will someday pass a bill requiring American citizens to spend a minimum amount at Republican-owned businesses each year, so as to protect the free speech of the owners from unconstitutional boycotts.
Mel
@different-church-lady: Cat on lap, good book or tv show, nap and adequate time to recover, if at all possible. That is my advice. Treat yourself the way you would want someone you love to treat themselves.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@West of the Rockies (been a while): Perry also tried to draw business away from New York. Lewis Black responded.
Kay
@different-church-lady:
Everyone says they want power to “make positive change”. She’s not unique. This idea that people will say ‘oh, you are well-intentioned! Well that’s different then!”. EVERYONE says what she says.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@rikyrah:
And can I just say that the cut on those USA and MAGA hats is just plain assed ugly. I have a bunch of baseball caps, none of which is blocky like that.
Bill
@Percysowner:
This is a bad idea. It gives the Republicans an out to say: “Look crazy tea party base, we didn’t want to raise the debt ceiling but those awful Democrats made us do it so we could get aid to good God fearin’ white folks in Houston.”
I want to the Republicans to face the debt ceiling all alone. Without cover.
And we shouldn’t politicize disaster aid, even if the Frank Burns of American politics (Cruz) does.
Amaranthine RBG
@Citizen_X:
Like I said, go read Loomis’ thoughtful pieces over at LGM.
I reserve my sympathy for people who don’t work for decades to create the circumstances that are now fucking them, just as surely as a truck stop taquito will come back to harm you in 90 minutes.
sukabi
@Captain C: I think we can all agree that New York and DC would both be better off without that family’s presence. Moscow, that’s where they should go.
Roger Moore
@Redshift:
I guess we should abandon places that vote for Republicans to their own devices and watch them suffer rather than trying to make them better. That’s the truly liberal thing to do./sarcasm
Mnemosyne
@The Moar You Know:
I will be very curious to see how Toyota’s move to Texas is going to work out from them. Going from Los Angeles (Torrance) to Plano, TX, is going to be one hell of a culture shock.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Speaking of Texas, whatever happened to Corner Stone?
trollhattan
@The Moar You Know:
To be fair, Bakersfield or Riverside are pretty comparable to Texas. Redding and Red Bluff on bad days.
Also, too, recall Rick Perry’s exploding fertilizer dump back in the day? He was personally oh-fended by the illustration.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Amaranthine RBG:
Truck stop taquito isn’t going to harm you at all.
Truck stop sushi, on the other hand…
jacy
@anon:
That is utterly not true. Well, I suppose it’s technically true, but also completely untethered from reality.
eclare
@Mnemosyne: Friend of mine works across the street from where Toyota is building, sent photos to me, that complex is massive. Going to wreak havoc on Plano traffic, infrastructure. McKesson also moving to Dallas area from San Francisco. For whatever reason, Dallas economy is on fire. I’m curious to see how many people relocate from Houston, just like some Katrina evacuees stayed in Houston.
Gin & Tonic
Those pieces about how *tough* the DC life is are laughable to me. It’s like a rookie coming up to the big leagues having no idea what to expect, and then being surprised that the pitches are coming high and inside. Welcome to the bigs, motherfuckers.
Kay
@different-church-lady:
My question to both of them is why they would assume the public would welcome their involvement. Why did they think that? They must know how divisive Trump is. They thought the public wanted MORE Trumps?
There’s 2 parts to taking a job. It’s what do I get and what do I bring. What do they bring? They’re not even ordinarily qualified let alone extraordinary. Why make an exception for these two? What’s the public pay-off?
WaterGirl
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Some here mentioned months ago that those are “trucker” style hats. For what it’s worth.
Jeffro
On an unrelated note, J-Rubs actually made me laugh out loud just now – this is approaching BJ-level snark here:
sukabi
That vacant stare coming from Drumpf while he’s sitting alone at Camp David is probably a result of trying to come up with a way to claim damage to one of “his properties”…you know, like he’s done before.
Gravenstone
@rikyrah: It’s funny seeing Jarvanka being treated not dissimilarly from the Clintons in their time in the White House. A different reason for the disdain of the Villagers, but both couples are being treated as outsiders worthy of mockery.
The Moar You Know
@trollhattan: Not gonna argue with that, although I was thinking more along the lines of Fresno. Most people I’ve met who live in Fresno might consider a move to Texas an upgrade. But that’s 200,000 people out of 36+ million.
Hey, I get it, and anon above made just about the stupidest point possible while touching on a legit issue. Not everyone can afford to live in CA or other blue states. If I sold our house here in CA (not happening) I could probably buy at least five really nice homes in Texas. Ten decent ones. If you’re not making a lot of money, it’s far better to be a homeowner in a red state than a renter in a blue one.
There’s a lot of reasons that living in red states is cheaper than blue states, and none of them are taxes. But above all, money talks. If you’re not well-off, living in a red state makes a lot of sense to your bottom line.
Captain C
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Reminds me of when Craig T. Nelson complained that no one helped him when he was on Medicaid and food stamps.
Jeffro
Also, surprisingly not The Onion: a pardon-emboldened Joe Arpaio floats the idea of challenging Jeff Flake for his Senate seat.
Flake, my man…you might just want to tell Trump to fuck the hell off and see if it gets you more votes. ‘Cause you can’t out-moron Joe Arpaio.
Matt McIrvin
I’ve lost all such angst. They find some reason to proclaim that pivot about once every couple of weeks. Trump always stomps on it within 24 hours.
Matt McIrvin
@Jeffro: I would say Joe Arpaio is the odds-on favorite to be the next Republican President after Trump and/or Pence, but he’s pretty old.
Mel
@Amaranthine RBG: Soo.. decent people who just don’t happen to have discretionary income to move out of a specific area are, in your mind and in your analogy, the same as people who CHOOSE to go to Nazi rallies?
People do NOT choose to be poor or to get cancer or other debilitating illnesses. They can’t “choose” where they are born or, in most cases, who raises them.
I know from hard personal experience that, with the exception of a rare few individuals, most of us are just one unexpected disaster away from our lives changing beyond our wildest nightmares. And if you think that having a college degree, or living in a certain area, or having worked hard and been thrifty with your resources somehow magically shields you from such events or that such events only happen to other people, you are nothing short of delusional.
I thank the universe every day that when I still had health and hope and a furure, I was not a monster like you to people who were struggling with hard issues in their lives. I could never have imagined the the pain and fear and grief and exhaustion that they were fighting every single day,. I understand iit all too well now, and it is awful enough that I wouldn’t even wish it on someone as thoughtless of others as you seem to be.
And it is bad enough that I would never wish it even on someone
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@trollhattan:
And don’t forget the glamour of Corning!
different-church-lady
@Kay: Jesus, I’m only talking about her impulse to take the “job.” She never thought any of this through. I’m not making an exception for her — she’s blatantly unqualified. As is her father.
She didn’t expect the public would accept their involvement because she never gave that idea any thought in the first place. They’re trying to run The United States of America like a Mom-and-Pop business, except they’re billionaires. The whole thing is just warped. But that doesn’t mean we can’t put a finer point on the psychology behind it.
Captain C
@different-church-lady:
Along these lines, Propane Jane has some good threads on Twitter to the effect that she and Jared are also there to cover for the Orange Turd’s probable cognitive impairment; anyone outside the family would be untrustworthy with that “secret.”
Gravenstone
@Mnemosyne: Um, you do know Schumer doesn’t control what comes to the Senate floor or when? And I don’t see McConnell holding them to account.
father pussbucket
At least he’s not bothering the grownups while they work.
ETA:
@WaterGirl:
You said it better.
Redshift
@Amaranthine RBG:
Yeah, I remember when they opened Texas up for settlers a few years ago, and everyone who’s currently living there chose to move in after being told it would be a Republican state. So really, it’s no different.
Yutsano
@Amaranthine RBG:
Wow.
Keep digging.
You’ll hit China soon enough.
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: I smell a sock puppet.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@different-church-lady: people talk about the absurdity of Jared’s various portfolios as evidence of trump’s incompetence, delusion, distorted worldview, in short, his trumpiness. Not enough attention is paid to the delusional arrogance of Jared, failed real estate heir, saying “No problem, Pop, I’ll take care of that”
Amir Khalid
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Those caps look like that because they have to leave room for the Presidential hairdo.
Marmot
Thanks Betty!
Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person who sees the problem with making broad judgements of people based on electoral maps. Probably 75% of my comments defend Texas.
But I’m happy to see so many other commenters pointing out how foolish anon and AmaranthineRBG are being.
So! Anon, should every Dem leave every state with <44% Dem vote share? Or are you just reasoning from some stereotype you learned from cowboy movies?
Also, what the fuck! I'm trying to help turn this state blue — and you're in my way! Fuck off.
Grung_e_Gene
Freak the Fvck Out! Trump’s On It!
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Captain C:
That Craig T. Nelson had/has a career is inexplicable to me. He always and ever strikes me as an arrogant, ex-jock bully who is short on charisma.
schrodingers_cat
@Amir Khalid: More like hairdon’t.
Redshift
@different-church-lady:
They claim to be billionaires; important distinction. TrumpCo basically is a family business, with a couple hundred employees. And considering that one of the few things forbidden at the roast of Trump a few years back was jokes about him not being as rich as he claims, I’m partial to the theory that one of the secrets in the tax returns (and that the Russians are holding over him) is proof that his reputation as a super-rich successful guy (which is a big part of what endears him to the rubes) is all a lie.
Mel
@Amir Khalid: Oh, Amir. Thank you so much for a good laugh on a day when I really needed one!
Captain C
@sukabi: Preferably an old, unrefurbished Soviet-era concrete apartment block on the edge of town.
Redshift
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
And weirdly thinking he can take care of all of it without ever speaking in public.
catclub
@burnspbesq:
unless you specifically have flood insurance, you do not generally have it with home insurance.
People cut holes in their roofs to make sure the damage was from falling water – which is covered by regular home insurance. Any damage caused by rising water ain’t covered.
So all those people in areas that have never flooded before are most likely to NOT have flood insurance.
Roger Moore
@The Moar You Know:
FWIW, there are relatively cheap to live in blue states. New Mexico, for example, has a relatively low cost of living, and Minnesota and Illinois (outside of Chicago) are also relatively cheap. Plenty of the purple states are also reasonably priced. Overall, it’s probably more fair to say that the really expensive states tend to be blue- the only exception being Alaska, which is an outlier in many ways- than to say that the blue states tend to be really expensive.
Amir Khalid
@Kay:
I’m not sure that whatever Jared and Ivanka do at the White House is an actual job in the first place. They’re not on the payroll, and after all these months people are still trying to guess at what they do.
schrodingers_cat
BTW screwing over of immigrants/non-immigrant visa holders etc continues
1. Interviews required for GC applicants
2. Cutting exchange visitor program visa #s
3. Now you have to include your social media handles and passwords to USCIS when applying for a long term visa.
This is in addition to
4. DACA repeal being discussed
5. Travel ban lite in place,
6. Revocation of TPS (temporary protected status for Haitians)
different-church-lady
@Roger Moore: But if you live in a purple state you run the risk of having to move every four years.
Marmot
@Mnemosyne:
Not in any way I can think of — what did you mean? Plano is big and spread out, mostly one story buildings, decent food, somewhat shallow and materialistic (maybe not so much as Dallas), with art museums and whatnot just down the road.
different-church-lady
@Amir Khalid: “Babysitter” is not a recognized cabinet position.
SatanicPanic
@Jeffro: I hope he does. Blue Arizona would be nice. Then I’d have one less reason to mock that state.
catclub
@Redshift:
yep. although income tax forms do not generally report total assets, they do report dividend and interest income – from which you can figure out
total cash/bond and stock holdings.
Then income from real estate ( less tax deductible business interest) tells magnitude of real estate owned.
Insane Clown POTUS
@The Moar You Know:
I live in California and I’ve been to Austin at least a dozen times. It’s great. If it weren’t for the weather, I could live there. I like the people, the food, and the music. We should probably be encouraging people to move to Texas, not out of it. When Texas goes purple, the whole country will be better off.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Roger Moore:
Downstate Illinois is basically the northernmost suburb of Paducah, with all THAT implies.
catclub
@Insane Clown POTUS:
I think that will happen when someone figures out how to motivate Texas latinos to vote – not from yuppies moving to Austin.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@The Moar You Know: I do know people that moved from CA to TX and they would tell me how much their housing dollars would go in Texas. My response was, “But you have to live in Texas”. That usually ended the discussion.
MJS
@Amaranthine RBG: Your silly assertion that Texans are not deserving of sympathy or help due to their “choice” to live in a red state aside, you do understand that concentrating more democratic voters in fewer states consigns Democrats to more frequent electoral college losses, right?
scav
@schrodingers_cat: or hair-dodo
raven
Cruz and that fat fuck Farfehugen have their talking points in order for relief funding.
SatanicPanic
@?BillinGlendaleCA: You get what you pay for!
Amaranthine RBG
@Mel:
All different points on the good old “economic insecurity” security blanket so beloved by angry white people.
sukabi
@Amir Khalid: they’re supposedly not on the payroll. You know who is still on the payroll and wandering the halls of the White House…Sean Spicer and fellow fired friends…
Kraux Pas
Looks like we’ve gone from leading from behind to leading from {far away, Twitter, …not sure}
Needs work. I was hoping the Balloon Juice brain trust would pick it up.
Laura
@anon: well I’ll call bullshit to that. I can’t speak to tour particular life experiences anon, but I’ve found that it is not a good idea to use ones own life as the measuring stick for others.
debit
@anon: You could be anywhere on the internet but here. Feel free to fuck off somewhere else. Toodles, shitstain.
Amaranthine RBG
@MJS:
How is that worse than democrats, or at least people who call themselves democrats, choosing to live in a state and pay taxes to support retrograde, hateful policies. Weren’t the Texicano legislators just debating transgender bathroom restrictions a few weeks ago. That is what the “democrats” in Texas are enabling.
They are nothing more than room-temperature condiments on the truck stop taquito that is Texas.
Captain C
@Redshift: This. Whenever I hear about Uday and Qusay flying all over the world and bankrupting the Secret Service to make “deals,” I think of them as cosplay businessmen.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
If “thoughts ‘n prayers” are inadequate to address Harvey’s damage, then what else have they been inadequate for? Could it be that conservatives have been wrong about that all along, that collective action and funding are needed?
hitchhiker
It used to be possible to pick up and move. You could always find a safe, cheap place that an easy-to-get waitress job would pay for. You could afford a bus ticket out of town, and if you had as little as $100, or a friend who’d let you crash on the couch for a week, you could make it.
Think what this presumes, tho’. Health. Lack of dependents. A stable economy for the lowest class, which is you.
After a certain point, it becomes MUCH harder to get out of bad situations. I know because I did pick up and take off in my 20s — and then grew up to face things like brain cancer (boyfriend) birth defects (daughter) and spinal cord injury (spouse). Sometimes there’s no way out but through, and you have to hunker down.
SatanicPanic
@Amaranthine RBG: How is that worse than you, or at least people who call themselves you, choosing to live in a country and pay taxes to support retrograde, hateful policies. Weren’t the American legislators just debating throwing transgender people out of the military a few days ago. That is what the “you” in the USA are enabling.
You are nothing more than room-temperature condiments on the truck stop hamburger that is the USA.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@raven:
Can I assume that upper class tax cuts, repeal of the estate tax and a lower corporate tax rate are part of their solution set?
debit
@Amaranthine RBG: You can fuck off too
trollhattan
@The Moar You Know:
To be fair to Fresburg, even if it’s a lousy city it’s a hop, skip and jump from Yosemite, which Texas can never match.
I can easily see Houston depopulating by half a million or even more after this storm; wonder where they’ll all end up?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@SatanicPanic:
Point of order – room temp condiments DO taste better on a burger.
MJS
@Amaranthine RBG: How is it worse? Hmm, let’s see. A nuclear war with North Korea. A nuclear war with Iran. People who have lived here for decades being deported, and families torn apart in the process. Criminals being pardoned to supprt racism and fascism. Fascists being encouraged by the leader of the free world. Transgender service members being kicked out of the military. No State Department and therefore no diplomacy. So two questions for you. Who controls all those things? And you don’t think it can get worse?
trollhattan
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Those are their answer for everything. Reminds me of the Larson cartoon with the veterinarian looking at the text on treating horse maladies, each of which instructs “shoot horse.”
Roger Moore
@catclub:
There’s a lot more going on than just lack of motivation. Texas has been using all kinds of dirty tricks to keep Latinos non-voters for a very long time.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@trollhattan:
My personal assistant’s parents are probably going to lose their home in Houston tonight. They’re in some area that the Brazos is going to flood, as the pumps on the levee have apparently failed. Compounding things for the assistant, her dad refused to leave when the leaving may have been possible because “my stuff and looters”. Now, they’re trapped. To add insult to injury, he can’t help his wife move anything to the second floor because of his eye surgery last week.
Poor girl is inconsolable. I told her that she can split whenever she wants, but she says she’s happier having something to occupy her mind.
Mel
@Amaranthine RBG: I think you mean “understood to be nevessary for a functioning society by all human beings of any ethnicities and colors who have any genuine comprehension of basic economics and world history.”
Fixed that for you.
Mnemosyne
@Marmot:
How about the different textbooks in their kids’ schools? How long is the drive to the beach from Plano? From Torrance, it’s about 20 minutes, even in LA traffic.
San Bernardino or Fresno to Plano probably wouldn’t be much of a shock, but the South Bay? Yeah, it ain’t gonna be pretty.
efgoldman
@Seth Owen:
Many of which will be illegally retitled and sold in used car lots all over the country.
Major Major Major Major
You been taking McArdle’s op-ed class?
I kid, I kid. This is a fantastic piece of writing, thanks!
Amaranthine RBG
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Truth!
@MJS: What does any of that have to do with Houston’s disastrous zoning policies? Since you seem to be doing everything possible to ignore the obvious, here is a link to get you started: http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/08/houston-natural-disasters
There’s no better way to turn Texas blue than turning it brown first.
Mnemosyne
@Roger Moore:
Texas is the only state whose Jim Crow laws applied to Mexican-Americans. The low voting numbers for Latinos there is not a coincidence.
trollhattan
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I can’t imagine her feelings of helplessness; the parent-child relationship flips at some point and the kids are often stymied from doing what needs to be done. Hope they make it through okay, stuff or no stuff.
Heywood J.
I just assumed he had the cap pulled low because his pelt-arranger didn’t make it out to Camp David to whip up the peach swirl. Without that, his scalp probably looks like it did some years in Gitmo.
But it’s good to know that (surprise!) it’s also a marketing opportunity for him.
Amaranthine RBG
@Mel:
I refuse to be an apologist for angry white racists who use their poverty as an excuse to get upset at minorities.
You do what you want.
MJS
@Amaranthine RBG: It has to do with my original point, which is that electoral college victories by the Republicans tend to be disasters for the entire fucking country, and concentrating democratic voters in fewer states will serve to provide more Republican electoral college victories. Really not that hard to follow.
Marmot
@Mnemosyne: Those’re good points, though education is good in Plano, owing to its higher median income. Instead of the beach, there’s plenty to do outdoors– nearby lakes come to mind.
Plano’s not my cup of tea. But a Los Angelino could do way worse. I don’t see it as much of a shock, except they might have to speak to strangers occasionally.
rikyrah
@Mnemosyne:
Many folks don’t know that.
eclare
@schrodingers_cat: “Hairdon’t”…love it!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Mnemosyne:
“Howdy, new neighbor! What church do y’all go to? Why don’t you come with us this Sunday mornin’, Sunday night and Wednesday night? And we got a men’s bible study Thursdays, and Couples Reconnect on Tuesdays…”
Davebo
@Amaranthine RBG:
I suppose everyone looks for the silver lining in a tragic event. I for one am happy the love bugs seem to have been blown out of here by Harvey.
And you seem to be taking great joy in the tragedy because.. stupid reasons I guess.
Not a good look on you.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Davebo:
What, pray tell, is a Love Bug?
eclare
@catclub: Would also tell you how much interest he pays….
burnspbesq
@Bostondreams:
At least historically, flood insurance was a great Catch-22; the places that needed it most were often redlined.
Marmot
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
This from a guy in Glendale, SoCal. I see you’re still unreflective.
Davebo
@Mnemosyne:
Not sure where you’re getting that.
Which of these are you referring to?
Roger Moore
@Marmot:
Although it doesn’t have that reputation, the LA area has the highest urban density of any city in the country. Torrance has a city density about twice that of Plano, which mirrors the difference between their metro areas. That’s going to be a big difference. Not to mention the climate difference. Torrance is close enough to the ocean for it to substantially moderate the climate, so the average high in the hottest part of the summer is more than 10° cooler than Plano, and the average low in the coldest part of the winter is more than 10° warmer. And there’s a huge difference in humidity, too.
Betty Cracker
@Mnemosyne: Why didn’t those Mexican-Americans just move to a non-Jim Crow state, huh? Huh??? (/victim-blaming asshole)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Marmot: Ya know, I’ve been to both Torrance and Plano.
ETA: Satan(my former employer) had a rather large office in Plano.
Yutsano
@Redshift:
Said it before: he’s so far underwater the Marianas Trench looks like high ground to him.
Marmot
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: You obviously have never been to Plano.
When it comes to Texas, some slice of otherwise reasonable people replaces reason with old cowboy movies. It’s rather silly.
eclare
@trollhattan: Dallas. Which already has a huge shortage of construction workers due to companies and their employees moving there. Don’t know how Houston is going to rebuild, just not enough people to do the work.
Shana
@Kay: With no unpleasant or difficult thoughts ever crossing through their heads to pop that coddled bubble they’ve been spending their lives in.
Davebo
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Lovebug!
They are hell on a car’s paint job and before the storm were everywhere.
eclare
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Feel awful for your assistant, but reporters on the Weather Channel are saying you can’t get into Houston, don’t come down to check on relatives, unless you have a boat.
Mnemosyne
@Davebo:
I’m referring to the long history of Mexican-American school segregation, voter denial, and accommodation segregation in Texas, a history you seem to be ignorant of. Perhaps you shouldn’t rely on Wikipedia for your state’s history.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Marmot:
Sorry, that was my impression gained from my anecdotal experiences in meeting people from Plano. Maybe it was just bad luck that I only met god-botherers.
Roger Moore
@eclare:
We’ll just need to import a lot of
laborers[fixed] construction workers from Mexico…Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@eclare:
Yeah, she knows that there is literally nothing she can do, and there’s no way in hell that her dad will listen to anybody about even going to any kind of shelter that can be reached.
“My Stuff” is going to put a lot of people in very hazardous situations.
Marmot
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Great. If you were less prone to slagging my state based on your brief experience here, that might mean something.
In the meantime, we need more blue-staters. Stop being a dick about it.
Davebo
@Mnemosyne:
I see. You weren’t referring to Texas after all. I know well how Hispanics were and are discriminated against in Texas and the southwest in general.
Sadly, your link sheds no light on the subject.
Mnemosyne
@Davebo:
Also, it’s included in this longer history from Slate. But feel free to stick your head in the sand about your state’s history and pretend that the only reason Texas Latinos don’t vote is because they choose not to.
burnspbesq
@Roger Moore:
If Toyota is moving there, Mitsuwa won’t be far behind.
Marmot
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: My condolences. They are real, and they’re awful.
(I was shocked by their similar presence in San Diego. Terrible. )
Amaranthine RBG
@Davebo:
Don’t worry memosign will anglosplain all this to you soon enough.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Marmot: You should try and get more of your population to vote. My point is that Torrance is quite different than Plano: weather and culture for starters.
Mnemosyne
@Marmot:
Look again at what Roger posted. The Los Angeles area is much, much more dense and diverse than Plano is. It is — sorry! — much more cosmopolitan than Plano is, no matter how many museums Plano has.
There is a big cultural difference between the two areas. It’s like telling someone from New York that it’s no big deal to move to St. Louis because St. Louis has museums, too!
Mnemosyne
@Amaranthine RBG:
Feel free to defend the guy who posted how-to photos of skinning a dead cat. We already know you’re an asshole anyway.
Major Major Major Major
@?BillinGlendaleCA: 59% turnout is pretty good, isn’t it?
eclare
@Roger Moore: Friend of mine in Dallas has already said, so much for that wall!
Davebo
@Mnemosyne:
None of this is exactly earth shattering news.
Hell, I took 5 Mexicans to a job in the south of France once, two traveling on Mexican passports and you know what? The French treated them like shit as well.
Texas Latinos do vote. In 2016 49.8 percent of them did which was a significant increase from 2012. Things are changing fast in Texas. You and Amaranthine the Dull aren’t helping.
Davebo
@Mnemosyne:
You’re so full of shit your eyes are brown!
different-church-lady
@Amaranthine RBG:
You do realize the whole point here is that minorities live in Texas too?
Mnemosyne
@Davebo:
Here’s a link to the comment from February where you posted photographs of a dead cat being skinned. On a thread about pets. Anyone who chooses to clink on Davebo’s link in that comment is pre-warned that it has graphic photos of a dead cat being skinned.
Fuck off and die, asshole.
Davebo
@Mnemosyne:
Who would bother to skin and cook a cat anyway?
There’s almost now white meat on them! ;0)
Mel
@Amaranthine RBG: Not sure what’s going on. In your last comment, it sounds like you’re expressing that you feel that people are defending racists when they say that it’s unrealistic to expect people (of any ethnicity, race, religion, background) to move when they lack the finances necessary to do so.
That doesn’t make sense to me. The way I read it, people are expressing their concern for anyone who is struggling with living in poverty or near the line, and are expressing that it is damnably hard, sometimes impossible, to make major changes when you are desperately trying to survive day-to-day. That includes a whole lot of people from a whole lot of different backgrounds.
Am I reading you completely wrong? Did I misconstrue your original point? If I am please say so.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Major Major Major Major: It’s not that good.
Mnemosyne
@Davebo:
Racist AND an animal abuser. Such a winning combination.
Davebo
@Mnemosyne:
You really are pretty bored today aren’t you? I’m bored to sitting around watching the water creep up towards my house.
Have you considered joining a bridge club or something?
Ruckus
@burnspbesq:
When I lived in OH I lived 2 blocks from a flood plane. I was on higher ground, such as higher ground exists in OH and there would have to be a 200 yr storm to come close to affecting me. I couldn’t get flood insurance, it just wasn’t available, at any cost. I really don’t wonder if the insurance companies in TX are/were more humane that the OH ones. They aren’t. Your fears are founded. It’s no different than here in CA. My friends that I wrote about this weekend, who lost their house to fire from the earthquake in 94? The insurance companies tried to screw everyone whose house caught on fire after the earthquake because they said the earthquake caused the fires and therefore they didn’t have to pay. The state of CA insurance commissioner called bullshit, the only cause of fire not covered was arson. My friends had full replacement coverage and got a new house and stuff. Of course the insurance companies would then no longer write full replacement insurance for them so when the out of control brush fire took the first replacement house, they had to take out an additional mortgage.
different-church-lady
@Davebo:
Hey, you can always move. I mean, I learned that right here in this thread.
Amaranthine RBG
@Mnemosyne:
On the bright side, they are gluten free.
NoraLenderbee
@Mnemosyne: I would call that a ban-worthy offense. If I were a FPer, which I’m not.
Meanwhile, let’s get back to arguing about whether Texas is a bigger hellhole than Trona, CA.
different-church-lady
@Ruckus: The insurance companies tried to screw everyone whose house caught on fire after the earthquake because they said the earthquake caused the fires and therefore they didn’t have to pay.
Davebo
@different-church-lady:
True! Maybe someone could suggest a politically correct area for me. I like Denver but I don’t care for snow and Houston is bluer. Seattle? Nah, they don’t get enough rain. Can’t afford San Francisco but maybe Daly City!
Mnemosyne
@Amaranthine RBG:
Yep, nothing funnier than animal abuse. But I didn’t really expect better from you.
Ruckus
@Kay:
Fixed it for you. They are far, far from perfect. Much farther than normal humans.
Amaranthine RBG
@Mnemosyne:
And you are the unhinged scatterbrain who attacked a guy just as he announced that his mental illness was going to be sending him off for an extended hospital stay.
The fact that you repeatedly trot out your nutsack attacks on me reassures me that I am headed in the right direction because the right direction is as far from you as possible.
Good day to you, Sir.
different-church-lady
@Davebo: Have you considered going to Hell?
Ruckus
@sukabi:
I know people who are far from 2 and they are just as loud.
Mnemosyne
@Amaranthine RBG:
So you’re saying that being a vicious misogynist is a mental illness worthy of an in-patient stay at a mental health facility?
I agree with you. When do you check yourself in for your month-long stay?
Amaranthine RBG
@Davebo:
Daly City is too foggy. Maybe Oakland. Blue City in a Blue State. And if you can afford a place in Rockridge or up in the hills you have much less chance of being shot!
We pure of heart dems must unite and form a throbbing gristle of true-blue believers!!!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NoraLenderbee: Trona, heh. Nice place to shoot the Milky Way.
Amaranthine RBG
@Mnemosyne:
You’ll say anything to distract people from the number of kittens you have killed, won’t you?
Elie
Charles Pierce today. Worth a read — he speaks of the real danger underlying this catastrophe — our failure to be citizens…
In the comments here, there is a real lack of awareness of what a mess we are in… some folks unwilling to help people in Houston or hinting at it… missing the whole idea of what remains of our union.
We are in for it and as bad as this is, and its plenty bad and probably will get worse, soon we will be in the midst of a constitutional crisis the likes of which we have never experienced to compound all our failed decisions and support of each other.. Enjoy our temporary reprieve as we watch Houston under water.
burnspbesq
@NoraLenderbee:
Trona, and it’s not close.
Mnemosyne
@Amaranthine RBG:
Thank you for bringing up an accident that I still have nightmares about. Again, it’s exactly what I expect from you.
Ruckus
@anon:
I’ve moved cross country twice. I did it as cheaply as possible both times. It cost me about $2500 each time and I loaded and drove the truck. Not everyone can just pick up and move. You need a job at the other end or a fair bit of money up front to do this. And a plan. And it still doesn’t always work out well. You have to have a place to live at the new end, which means you either have to make a trip to find a place or have enough money to live in a hotel till you do. You have to have decent credit or no one will rent to you.
No, not every adult can pick up and just move. They just can’t. And what if they did? What if all the dems in TX just up and moved to CA? How well you think 10-11 million people arriving in CA at once will work?
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Amaranthine RBG:
You’re not even wrong, that’s how stupid you are. That pretty much applies to anything you’ve ever said here.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@burnspbesq: Trona, it’s a dry heat.
Amaranthine RBG
@Mnemosyne:
Kittens see you in their nightmares, too.
Amaranthine RBG
@Elie:
Thanks for that. Pierce is a damned national treasure. I wish he wrote for something other than cisgendered white dude manual Esquire, but them’s the breaks, I guess.
Mnemosyne
@Amaranthine RBG:
What’s next, you’re rubber and I’m glue? Step up your game, man.
Amaranthine RBG
@Mnemosyne:
Dead kittens aren’t a debating trick. You’re sick.
Mnemosyne
@? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?:
ARBG is referring to the time that I posted here, very upset, because I had accidentally run over a kitten. There were no photos.
The fact that he thinks that’s equivalent to posting explicit pictures of someone skinning a dead cat says a whole lot more about him than he seems to realize.
Omnes Omnibus
ARGB has managed to derail this thread.
Davebo
@different-church-lady: Haven’t you heard?
I’m already here.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
FWIW, I’m going to go make a scrambled egg and toast for lunch to try and soothe the sore throat that kept me home from work today, so I’ll be wandering off soon.
burnspbesq
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
That only works up to about 105. After that, it’s TOO DAMN HOT.
Davebo
@different-church-lady:
Actually, Grand Cayman might be a good idea!
Amaranthine RBG
@Davebo:
Keeping a sense of humor in the midst of disaster.
Well done.
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: In the next thread, its the refrain of how WASF and we will never have free and fair elections again.
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Davebo:
How about six feet under a pile of dog shit? Have you considered going there? Or maybe going up your own ass until you disappear from existence.
@Mnemosyne:
I gotta be honest, it would have been darkly funny on a recipe thread or something (with a warning).
catclub
@trollhattan:
New Orleans!
? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?
@Mnemosyne:
They’re an asshole. I pied them but I sometimes can’t help but look. Anybody would know Arglebargle is a douche by looking upthread in regards to their Texas relief comments
catclub
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
you are very lucky not to know. Mating insects that get smeared on cars in the deep south, May and August. Nothing appears to eat them but fronts of cars.
The Lodger
@rikyrah: He was literally wearing a dunce cap and sitting away from the table.
J R in WV
And there is no licensing of contractors in TX. So I – or anyone of us – can go down there in a couple of weeks, take deposits from how ever many desperate families to rehab their houses, do little or nothing to help their ruined dumps, and come back home, no problems.
There is no way for a Houston area family to know if a person offering to rehab their overhome is qualified in any way, know anything about flood damage repair, has ever done such work.
Because in Texas rules are a bad thing. Licensing tests are illegal extensions of government power in TX. Getting a license to be a flood rehab business is a Communist Plot, just like fluoridated public water. And Chemtrails behind government jets flying overhead. Being a certified HVAC tech, a licensed plumber or electrician, all would be giving in to big government! Can’t have that.
Rather have 40% of all contracts to rehab flood damage go horribly wrong.
Wouldn’t you? ‘Cause Freedumb, right?
Betty Cracker
@Amaranthine RBG: What the fuck is wrong with you? Stop it.
J R in WV
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
@rikyrah:
Hey, Mister Presidente Trumpico got those hats for $0.79/each !! Don’t you be dissing his quality control, he’s got a right to make money any way he can while volunteering to MAGA !!
//sarc
Ruckus
@J R in WV:
He paid $.79 for each of those? Lousy businessman, lousy politician, lousy president, lousy human being.
And I’m using the word lousy in an effort to be a kinder, gentler person. Oh who am I kidding, he’s just fucking horrible all the way down.
Gelfling 545
@anon: There are any number of reasons that might prevent a move. House is wort less than the mortgage, dependent elderly family members, shared custody of a child, work in one’s field centered in a particular area, costs too damn much to travel around lookinf for work. Lots of reasons. Your observation has a certain “bootstraps” quality to it.
Mark B.
@anon: My family and friends live in Texas, and although I’ve lived in other areas, I love my home state. I prefer to stay and try to make it a better place instead of abandoning it. There are lots of positive things about Texas, and the fact that there are a lot of poorly educated an awful people here doesn’t outweigh that for me. Hell, I come from those people.
machine
Water is rising in my neighborhood again (SW Houston near Bellaire and US59). Thankfully, we were able to resupply earlier and there’s a spirited game of Game of Thrones edition of Risk going on.
Captain C
@Amaranthine RBG: And you’re the one using them as such. You’re an asshole. Do the Honorable Thing if you can’t humanize yourself.