They do this all the time. Maybe Biden should call their bluff, execute his powers as Commander in Chief, and order the National Guard in Texas to turn on State Police.
We’ll have to arrange some kind of post wwII Berlin level air campaign to support Austin.
Every 15 minutes a C130 land fully stocked with Trader Joes Chili lime rolled tortilla chips, apple cider, and Joe’s O’s.
And drop brown bags filled with shit on Ted Cruz and Albots property on the way back. Time management maximized.
And drop brown bags filled with shit on Ted Cruz and Albots property on the way back. Time management maximized.
Get this person a position in the DLA, we’ve got bags of shit to drop.
Honestly, Ted Cruz stood before a podium this week and give a speech against the insanity of adding more Razorwire, mentioning that is has done nothing to prevent growing immigration numbers since they started putting it up. Fuck that guy, for real, but on this particular issue he is on our side.
And Telecaster guitars.
I just asked a coworker who emmigrated from there. He’d fully pack a c130 with only coffee and kombucha.
And to keep the pro secession people away: Offer Shiner beer at Wal-Mart for buy one, get one 50% off 12-pack.
Please, leave. Don’t come crying to us the next time your electrical grid gets overwhelmed.
Hey! Y’all used to rely on us to kick-start y’all’s power grids! Back in the '70s and '80s! Back when racism and cocaine reigned supreme!
Now y’all are all like, “ew, why is that racist coke-head talking to me?” Well, it’s cuz you’re woke or something!
Hey! Listen to me and stop walking away! Why are you taking our American flags?? Hello?
Speaking of power grids, have fun trying to keep yours maintained once you secede, Texas. It barely works as it is now.
I bet it’ll run just fine on thoughts and prayers. Good luck to you, ya Yankee heathen!
Oh shoot, my lights ran out of thoughts — gotta switch to the backup prayers…
Really? It seems to be working great. In fact, Texas has the most diverse power generation with nat gas AND coal AND solar (largest national producer) AND wind (largest national producer) AND nuclear. Coupled with the largest oil play in America along with a significant amount of the country’s refining capacity, I think Texas would be just fine in a secession.
As someone who had to wrap my dementia-affected grandmother in blankets and help her sleep next to my mom’s fireplace while she randomly woke up yelling out my recently-deceased grandfather’s name back in February 2021, I’m gonna say our problem is less about diversification and more about maintenance, infrastructure, oversight, and corruption/improper investments.
There’s a wolf going through your neighborhood that can easily get into homes with old alarm systems but easily defeated by updated security. Are you gonna let the wolf eat you because you’re so proud of how well you designed your old-ass system and the cool modern features it can mimick, or are you gonna call the fucking alarm company and update your security system no matter the cost?
We keep trying nothing and then saying, “but it won’t be so bad this time because we invested more money into the people who failed us last time.”
Yep I completely agree there. They didn’t upgrade the plants to be ready for a cold snap back in Feb 21. I was right in the middle of it. Can you confidently say nothing has been done to mitigate it for next time? Because it just hit -10 for three days without a problem.
Can you confidently say nothing has been done to mitigate it for next time?
Yes. Nothing has been done to mitigate it for next time. ERCOT uses weather and manufactured scarcity to drive increased profits as we suffer. They will not willingly fix anything, and there is no mechanism to force them to fix anything.
Abbott is heavily funded by ERCOT. What ERCOT wants, ERCOT gets and Abbott will sit by and placate Texans about it as needed. That’s what he’s paid by them to do.
When Abbott and ERCOT say “we’ve done a lot of things to prevent this from happening again. We invested in more generation and winterization”, but then point to nothing substantial, what they are saying is they’ve done nothing to prevent another opportunity for them to manufacture scarcity on the bodies of dead Texans again.
During this latest cold spell last week, which was significantly warmer state-wide than the blackout event, ERCOT issued rolling blackout warnings for three days, warning us that rolling blackouts were possible over and over again. They falsely blamed wind generation short-comings, despite wind advisories and wind storms all week long all over Texas.
They are terrible liars and, instead of pushing back on them, you defend them. Why? Why are you defending vile, grotesque sub-humans who profit on the deaths of fellow Texans?
Every word uttered by a conservative is deception or manipulation. Never, ever believe a conservative. Never.
You’re not wrong that some changes were made but the vast majority of investment isn’t going into sustainable solution. Texas Monthly recently had an interesting write-up about the nuances as to why the power stayed on this year.
I’m also not sure where you are, but in San Antonio this year, the temperature, precipitation, and duration were all far more forgiving than 2021.
My concern is that, especially with the Texas grid still being privatized, profits will continue to be prioritized over safety and cold weather will soon not be the only killer.
There is always going to be a risk in extreme weather for power issues. I don’t believe increased government regulation is going to help as they are terrible at doing things efficiently and cost effectively. Texas has some of the cheapest power which is great for those of modest means and it would be a shame to change that for those choosing between a meal or their power bill. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
How about that mitigation during heatwave just 4 months ago?
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/08/1198520449/the-texas-power-grid-struggles-through-heatwave
Did you forget about those additional rolling blackouts that no one else in the country deals with?
Cough California cough
What units are you using for your -10?
https://www.chron.com/weather/article/houston-freeze-texas-18610377.php
This is saying lows in the 20s with an all time record of 5 set 90+ years ago.
Your account has only been active on Lemmy for 9 days and every single comment you’ve made has been downvoted into oblivion. Why is that?
That should be obvious. I’m in the wrong echo chamber
Sure bro, it’s not because you’re a clown who refuses to acknowledge reality.
Was that your whole comment? What reality am I missing here? I haven’t derided or put down anyone on this site. In fact most people on here seem quite rude. Everyone just gets their undies in a bunch over views that don’t align with theirs.
Well, the echo chamber for idiots calls itself X now, so its users have less problems with spelling it.
Shoo, troll.
As a lifelong Texan, please shut the fuck up forever.
Exsquuze me? What’s your problem?
I LIVE HERE
And? These were just facts. I’m not calling for secession nor do I think it is a good idea. Better together than apart.
It’s understandable that you think this, having been born in 2022.
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Did you have a point?
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I’m with you, fuck this shit stain
You don’t have to write a comment to block. But it does show your need for public validation.
Texas has the most diverse power generation with nat gas AND coal AND solar
I think I saw that brochure.
Nah just facts easily findable on the internet
I’m in favor of calling the bluff, but leave it peaceful:
- Army bases remain US army bases and the national guard remains US. Texas must raise its own military without any US military equipment. Existing US servicemen must resign if they wish to join the Texas military, and will be treated as foreign army – they must leave US bases.
- Any companies headquartered in Texas will be considered foreign companies and subject to all relevant taxes and laws. Employees will be considered employed by foreign companies. Any subsidizes and other credits to these companies are forfeit.
- Employees of the state government will be considered foreign state agents.
- Trade deals must be negotiated with the US. Any US facilities providing goods and services, like water or energy, will now charge a fair market rate.
- Texas must renegotiate trade with other countries.
- For the first five years, Texas and the US must allow people to freely move out of or into Texas. If any Texas resident wishes to live as a US citizen, Texas must pay for their relocation.
- After that, or if they choose to renounce US citizenship, Texans are considered foreigners and will be treated as illegal immigrants if they enter the US without proper documentation.
- Texas universities lose all US accreditation. Current Students may transfer to a US university at no cost, and have their existing credits recognized. Texas will pay for any moves. New students from Texas will be considered foreign students and applicants for admissions and tuition at US universities.
- Any attack on US people or property or facilities will be seen as an act of war.
- Texas senators and house representatives are expelled from Congress.
They’ll be crying and begging to rejoin the US within a month. They’ll be a fourth world hell scape within a year if they don’t.
So, basically brexit then.
TexBrex; like texmex but worse.
BBQ fish and chips?
Texit.
I have to say TexBrex is better
Disagree, but I respect your opinion. Can we include TexMix somehow?
This is basically what happened at the beginning of the civil war except the south had much better terms, and the confederates decided to attack a US army base because they’re assholes and that’s what assholes do. They would absolutely do the same again.
The power dynamic has shifted so much that it would be a 1000x speedrun if they did it again.
And honestly? Let them. Maybe we can do reconstruction properly this time.
The US civil war isn’t what civil wars look like in the modern context. There was a boarder and most of the North was safe. That’s not what modern civil wars look like. They look like Serbia.
You have to go to work and on your way to work there’s someone who’s been sniping people for months. The cops won’t do anything because “let’s go Brandon” or some shit, the mayor no longer has control over the police, and you still have to go to work because you still have to pay for food. So you duck and weave between cars with rotting drivers to get in to your office and you hope you don’t get killed today.
Modern civil wars have no borders. They look like mass shootings, car attacks, snipers, bombings, and other random terrorism. Or they look like the Syrian civil war, with 30 different groups all fighting each other aligning with each other sometimes and fighting others, for decades, sometimes aligned with the government and sometimes against it.
The key thing about Texas is that they have a ton of oil. Even assuming a normal war, the US military lives off oil. If it was quick they could probably do it without dipping in to strategic reserves, but what would happen to the oil infrastructure at the start of the war? Damaging that supply could impact the US ability to wage war, so that’s not a risk they’re going to take.
If anything comes of this beyond Republicans using it to pump up their base, I’ll be surprised.
I mean a right wing group opened fire on a electric substation that was barely over a year ago, and we kinda just moved on. We are already somehow in the slow burn of a civil war and there has been several incidents stopped before more destruction could be done.
A modern civil war in America looks like what is happening currently in America. We just don’t have a lot of big flashy things happening.
You know other than the record shattering mass murders that occurs at schools and other public places.
Could it get worse? Absolutely. Will it? Who knows. Maybe we do go back to lining up on the borders and shooting each other too.
Right, they opened fire on a couple of substations and no one got hurt.
School shootings are bad but affect a very tiny percentage of the population, really.
It would absolutely get way, way, way worse, and just like what the other person said.
They look like Serbia if you’re not a superpower. Rest assured leadership would get hit with drone strikes simultaneously and the war likely wouldn’t even start.
The only way a civil war in this country stands a chance is if it’s by surprise and given that these people can’t it won’t shut the fuck up that send unlikely.
There are no leaders. It’s just a campaign of stochastic terrorism until everything collapses.
Doesn’t matter if they actually lead or if they’re figureheads, seeing them rapidly disassembled is the main point.
No, they’re doing it now. This is what it looks like to carry out a war by stochastic terrorism. They just keep saying the conspiracy theory shit and doing these stunts and saying, “Our people just need to take matters in to their own hands!” And people carry out random attacks against things with playable deniability that they’re leading it.
No one is drone striking Tucker Carlson, and they won’t, no matter how many people he kills, how many synagogue or mosque attacks he’s responsible for, because he can always just say, “oh, free speech. I didn’t plan that. It’s just a coincidence that every time there’s a mass shootings the person follows my Twitter.”
Read up on the Rwandan genocide. This is what they did. They ramped up dehumanizing rehetoric until people hacked their neighbors apart with machetes and locked buildings full of people and set them on fire. It was normal people carrying out the atrocities, but there was enough of a direct connection to end up in the international criminal court. We’re in the early stages of the same type of conflict, except we have more guns here.
There’s no one to drone strike because every time this happens it’s “another lone wolf.”
Let’s not forget the $53,000,000,000 they would instantly lose from federal funding
There is still the matter of the Constitution saying that states can’t do that.
Let the Republican controlled supreme court rule it illegal.
Since when have Replicunts given a shit about the constitution? They treat it like they treat the bible. Twist it into fitting their narrative and ignore the parts that don’t.
Texas immediately becomes the newest Narco-State, gets it’s own CIA coup and Democrats refuse to make them a state again, forcing them to be a territory.
Its* own CIA.
Some country bumpkin is going to show up with a KIA coupe and all his buddies will shout “yeehaw” at their victory.
Set Texas adrift and you’ll see some real invaders from the south.
That would be the ‘finding out’ part.
Oh man, the cartels would love to hit that from behind.
Unfortunately I think we have too much federal infrastructure in Texas to make it that simple.
NASA is one thing that comes to mind. (Houston would have a pretty big problem then)
There’s a US mint in DFW, Houston refines the majority of oil for the US, I think there’s some US gold stored in a fort north of Austin, not to mention all the corporations that have HQs like Lockheed Martin. Not sure if all the corporations would be able to get out quickly enough or if those would be tx companies needing an international trade agreement.
There are multiple other mints. Gold is produced and stored in plenty of other areas, and won’t be a tenth as important as preppers feel it will be. There are plenty of refineries in California to support the West Coast, and there being less demand for petroleum products would work well with there being less oil supplied from Texas. Corporations are international already.
Let them go have their own stu-topia with their own energy grid.
Yes corporations are international, but they don’t have an international trade agreement with the US right now. The military would not take kindly to one of its biggest suppliers suddenly finding itself in a foreign country.
I was looking at Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin on Google maps earlier today, coincidentally. While the headquarters seem to be in Texas I was mostly seeing blips for plants in southern New England. I don’t know how accurate that is but I suspect that the plants are more crucial than any office or HQ.
And the US would have no obligation to help unless they decide to sign a defence treaty.
It’s like brexit all over again, but even more stupid.
I say let them leave, make PR the 50th state, and then immediately invade Texas and turn it into a territory of the US.
Does Texas have oil?
Yes. We must liberate Texas.
Like so much I think this is the reason these buffoons want to succeed. Then they can claim it as their own.
Biden has immunity. He should just order seal team 6 to execute Texas political leadership.
Go ahead. Seceded states don’t get electoral votes.
Or federal funding.
they will be pretty lit after the federals decide to pay it a visit tho
I really want for someone to call it out and be like “OK, FINE, SECEDE. GO AHEAD!” and just watch the idiots back down.
Nah, give them back to Mexico.
“We don’t want them, either”; Mexicans, probably.
Mexico will finally build the wall, to stop Texans from jumping the border
“¡Los Mexicanos construiremos el muro, y Estados Unidos va a pagarlo!”
It needs a catchy name, maybe something like “Texit?” Get that on the ballot, see what happens
For a catchy name you could also point that by seceding they can be come the “United States of Systemic Racism”. That very nicely initializes to USSR.
As a Texan who wants nothing to do with these absolute fucking morons, but whose life is directly impacted by their asinine whims: please don’t encourage them. I can’t afford to leave yet.
I’m in the same situation. People seem to forget that just under half of the 30 million people here aren’t conservative and don’t want anything to with this
Always nice to know people are looking out for us, right?
Essentially telling a madman with hostages “yeah, do it, pussy. Bet you won’t,” just to see him reap the consequences, but conveniently forgetting state-wide consequences don’t only affect the people you want them to affect.
Here’s hoping it just turns out like the last time these jerkoffs talked about secession. Maybe, if we’re lucky, we can finally get rid of Abbott. If we’re really lucky, maybe his replacement won’t be as psychotic, either!
They can, and should, be fertilizer. 🌻🌻🌻
I don’t get why Biden doesn’t do this. The fear is abott will say government over reach and that will be a talking point for the election? How about strong father figure, who enforced the law to keep us united?
You can’t let what Republicans say dictate what you do
No matter what Biden does, they’re going to do what they’re going to do.
Even if he doesn’t do the right thing now, they’ll just lie some more and do it anyways.
“Meet me in the middle,” says the unjust man.
You take a step towards him. He takes a step back.
“Meet me in the middle,” says the unjust man.
— A. R. Moxon
I see you’ve negotiated with Republicans before.
Malignant narcissist parents. I got started early.
I guess the flip side of that though is it’s really past when everyone should keep trying to reason and compromise with these screaming toddlers. How many times now have we seen this exact thing play out where Republicans act completely unhinged and Democrats treat them with kid gloves and keep offering them compromises and trying to appease them. Fuck em. Ignore them until they cross the line, then come down on them like a ton of bricks. No more playing nice, no more treating them like reasonable adults. Wait until Abbott puts his name on something legally incriminating then send the FBI in to haul him to a jail in DC and try him for sedition. Bonus points if they can swing the death penalty.
I mean, have you ever tried to sink to a toddlers level and get in a screaming match with them?
But sure, ideally we’d start running FDR style Dems again, get some of the 1/3 of the country who doesn’t vote regularly, and conservatives can keep screaming into the void while Dems sweep every election that matters.
FDR literally only lost two states in 36, because he was legitimately trying to help the average American.
But the DNC is very open about not wanting that, and after NH I really think they’d go as far as ignoring results in a competitive primary in 2028.
So we’re kind of stuck with trying to win over conservatives, that’s the only direction the DNC recognizes as valid.
I’ve given up on winning the game, I’m just trying to lose as little as possible at this point. Definitely doesn’t mean I have to like it either.
But the choice is try what we can or check out and watch it all burn down, I’m not ready for that yet.
Edit:
My bad, I didn’t realize what you replied to.
I’m saying don’t pay attention to what Republicans are threatening to do.
Regardless of what Biden does, they’ll find an excuse to do it anyways. Because when Republicans try to explain why they’re doing anything, they’re almost always lying and just saying what they think the best answer is in the moment.
So Biden should have activated them immediately on title 10.
The longer he waits, the bigger chance a significant amount don’t listen. And at that point it’s a legit civil war.
Fuck em. Ignore them until they cross the line, then come down on them like a ton of bricks. No more playing nice, no more treating them like reasonable adults.
Damn straight! As a parent to an actual toddler, sometimes I have to take my son’s toys away until he chooses to behave. Does that make me the “bad guy”? Maybe. But it’s also part of being an adult.
No matter what Biden does, they’re going to do what they’re going to do.
Ah, another Innuendo Studios fan, I see. Yes, just like he said in “Alt-Right Playbook Ep. 3, ‘You Go High, We Go Low’”,
Republicans are going to cry “So much for the tolerant left!” no matter what form our opposition takes, so the obvious solution is to just ignore them. But clearly it’s more complicated than that, or we wouldn’t be having this issue.
This business with the border is another example of them going low, and Biden and Democrats trying to keep the moral high ground.
Fuck that.
The high ground is fighting fascism.
Lincoln tried apeasment leading up to Civil War 1 and all that did was give the South time to build strength.
We just saw how bad of an idea it is to crush an insurrection slowly. And there are shit ton of examples of how well appeasing extremists works worldwide.
As soon as Abbots letter came out, Biden should have activated them under title 10, had them remove any remaining razor wire and the rest of the bullshit. If Abbott tried to move cops or a “militia”, then everyone involved should be arrested for sedation.
This isn’t normal republican bullshit from a decade ago.
This shit is as serious as conservative extremists make it. Giving in a little just emboldens them, and ignoring them does the same thing.
I say this as a veteran of the US military:
There’s a shit ton of US active military who would be willing to overthrow the government for some conservative bullshit.
We can’t underestimate them. Even if they’re idiots, they’re dangerous idiots.
I constantly tell Democrats this, and am constantly met with childish accusations of overreaction.
This country is completely fucked for the simple reason that there is literally no left wing. There is nothing to counter the unjust and illegal maneuvers fascists deploy that democrats are willing to use. It’s pathetic.
The Alt-Right Playbook is one of the best video essay series on YouTube 
You gotta counter with a “sure, but here are fair terms and conditions to have a clean break with the US”
I think they’ll turn tail when corporations realize they’ll be treated as foreign unless they relocate outside of Texas.
As someone who actually lives here, I would be very hard pressed to find someone who actually thinks secession is a good idea. It has been years since I’ve met someone who didn’t consider it anything more than a joke or bit of (false) trivia.
Be aware that Lemmy is a pretty radically legt place. It isn’t where to go if you want nuanced takes on stupid conservative talking points.
Why would anyone want nuanced takes on stupid conservative talking points? They’re not worth listening to because they’re not grounded in reality or knowledge of how the world works.
You can’t have a functional democracy if you don’t listen to the other side. That’s literally the problem we have right now, a bunch of boomers who scream socialism when you try to feed their starving children or get people access to medical care.
I don’t think anyone would disagree with your point, but the other side is literally daring the U.S. military to kill them right now and emitting lout screeching noises. I can’t blame anyone for avoiding engagement.
A vocal minority of cockwaffles are daring the federal government to assert its authority.
I’m sure the proportion of conservatives who support this is disappointingly high, but it is not all, or even most (around here). Even if they do support this political fuckery, the transition to a shooting war is not a small leap.
Civil war it is then. (they will start it though)
So you want dictatorship. That way there is no opposing side and as long as you agree, everything is good.
I think most rational people would like an opposition party who brings good ideas with solid justification to the table. A group of professional politicians who argue in good faith, working for the betterment of their electorate. People who can at least be respected by the international community, willing to tackle the real problems facing the world as a whole.
If we’re talking about dictatorship perhaps it’s worth scrutinising the people arguing for total immunity for the president. It’s especially worth an in-depth look at the relationships they form with leaders of other nations and the principles they share.
Rural Texas can be pretty crazy. Cities and the immediate surrounding areas are pretty normal and liberal.
I say this all the time, but that’s everywhere in the US. When I first moved to Pennsylvania, a friend told me that it was Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, with Alabama in between. Then, later, we moved to Minnesota, and it was the same thing: The Cities, a couple of outliers like Duluth and the college towns, but MAGA signs everywhere else.
If the electoral college didn’t make elections so unfair, politics in the US would be more sane, and more liberal.
Yeah, stopped at a gas station out in the middle of nowhere in west Texas, and the old woman at the cash register wouldn’t ring up me and my GF because my GF was black. In 2020. A friend almost got in a fight at a bar out in the middle of nowhere in Texas because he had a UT bumper sticker on his truck, and they didn’t like “liberals” there.
But, the cities are pretty normal. Have seen police cars painted with rainbows for pride month. A church down the road from me flies a pride flag, etc.
wouldn’t ring up me and my GF because my GF was black.
Holy shit, that’s insane. Did you get free gas? It’s not like you were going to put it back. Also, do you txink she’d have rung up a black couple? Did she object to the mixed couple part? Wild, man.
If the electoral college didn’t make elections so unfair, politics in the US would be more sane, and more liberal.
If we ever end up actually having a civil war, it’ll be over this.
The majority will be tired of the minorities bs, and they’ll insist on a change.
The minority will insist that in never changes, because they would lose their power if it did, and are unwilling to lose the culture war.
And unstoppable force and an immovable object type scenario.
Cities and the immediate surrounding areas are pretty normal and liberal.
I’m not so sure about that.
Comparing Austin to Houston (for example) you’ll see two quite different mindsets / philosophies going on. And Dallas/Fort Worth seems even different from the two other cities.
former texan… man, they really want it, even if it seems bonzo crazy, they’ll try to get it. I’m really pushing fam down there to get out before it gets worse. The GOP doesn’t care about winning by the rules, as evinced by Abbot and Paxton’s disregard for laws they don’t like and recent fights with the - checks notes - yeah the supreme court…
I can’t and won’t put anything past the texas conservatives / GOP anywhere at this point, if they have the opportunity to wreck things they will - they don’t think consequences through and don’t care about patriotism in a sense that most people do. I’d should refer to them as Texas Nationalists.
While this is true, your elected officials are acting as if it’s really on the table. You may not be able to find a Texan who says they want secession, but it’s not hard to find one who would vote for it.
Gonna be hard to get that FEMA money Texas needs every few years once they secede.
Probably the best example of irony you’ll ever see: Texas becomes SAFER when illegal immigration increases. Sauce: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2014704117
Lone Star is a review.
Only because they force you to give one star at least.
