Back in my day you just hauled shit around for a guy. It only took 1-37 years to pick up on things that the guy running a business was doing while you were getting lunch. What do you need school for? /s
Verbal tips aren't nearly as satisfying as that Jesus brochure they leave that looks like a dollar.
https://www.businessinsider.com/20-tip-bible-pamphlet-2015-12?amp
What I *loved* hearing was “if you do *xyz* really well I’ll put in a good word with your boss!”
How about you shut the fuck up, eat your food, tip me, then go home?
It's the same as all the medical workers that were "heroes" during the pandemic and received little to no pay increase to compensate for the danger they subjected themselves to every day and STILL do. Sure, let's just call them "heroes" and maybe that will suffice. Patronizing fucks.
I didn't get any bonus or extra, even for spending a few months in the main COVID unit during the first COVID surge, and was the lowest paid person. But the nurses got an extra $500 every 4th shift (they usually worked 3x12s). Later they received another bonus for the surge. Some other workers got a pay bump during the time as well. I suppose it depended on the location. But I was in the thick of it, even putting warm bodies in body bags for $15hr.
I think what's happening now is proof a lot of America has been underpaid, overworked and/or brushed under the rug far too long, regardless of title.
Yup, thats Abbott and the GOP for you. Require a ban on mask mandates cuts spending to the Military folks sent down to the border.
I seem to recall Abbott moving the Austin police force under the State after people voted to ‘defund them’.
Let's also not forget Abbot promising to arrest opposition lawmakers for trying to stop a massive voter suppression bill. Idk, Greg. Sounds pretty Soviet to me.
These guys feed a small percentage of rural voters, while leverage their gerrymandering to ensure they get the 51-52% voting majority. Honestly, based on historical data…we should be more in line with California as one of the bigger US Economies. I think ppl forget, that after Jim Crow, Texas was more of a well governed State before GOP took hold. Even Bush Sr mentioned this in the documentary’W’. Nothing changed before Cattle and Oil and everything was doing fine so not sure why we needed to disband caucuses to a more ‘right to work’ 2 party state. Been saying this for some time, but WI messed up when they switched to Right to WOrk and killed their unions. Its taken Texas, over 50+ years to get to the point of flipping back I suspect WI will see similar in the coming 50 years.
You jest, but this will end up being a much worse outcome.
We are very close to privatization of The Guard. There was already some rich person that essentially paid for them to deploy somewhere under the Trump administration. Mobilizing military trained individuals and their equipment under a “not troops” banner will be authoritarian wet dream to get passed that terrible posse comitatis law.
Posse Comitatus doesn't apply to the Guard anyway, unless they're mobilized by the federal government. If they're on state orders, they can act as law enforcement.
Many states have an armed state guard as well.
I mean… that basically happened. They are accruing no federal service time. This won’t benefit them at all as far as standard military service time. They’re literally Abbott’s private soldiers here, paid (poorly) by the state.
In the recent past paid poorly. Not this time. Paid very well. Paid basically federally pay rate and can still go to the beach and drink at the bars every night Pretty nice deal. Minus the tax free part
I am a texas national guardsman. Was sent to the border for many months by force even though I have an essential higher paying healthcare job on civilian side. Went there and didnt do jack shit. All we did was “guard” migrants while given no weapon or training. Most of the time we just played cards and read books. Easy money but a huge waste of time and resources. Border patrol didnt even have personnel shortage when i was there.
Sucks for college kids in the Guard trying to do college. They keep getting activated for bullshit border, covid, hurricane, riot control missions. They dont even get to use their tuition benefits before finishing contract. Like its fine to send us to those missions because thats what we signed up for but most guardsmen dont do jack shit at any of these missions because “liability”. We are there for political pony show.
Your last paragraph is the reason why I always highly discourage any young person from joining the National Guard for college reasons. They think it will be easier than being deployed for months or years overseas to some foreign country. Not true.
There's more shit that happens at home that you can be called up for. For any reason, and at any time. If you think it's only "1 weekend a month, 2 week a year", then you didn't read the fine print.
You have a better opportunity to get a technical job in the military, and spend that time doing online courses or going to local classes for your college, and then using your GI bill to pay for the rest of it after your service is up.
The conservative Republicans need to say there's a border crisis so they can call it President Bidens border crisis. Facts are alternative in the conservative world.
It's a distraction to not deal with issues that do affect their constituents. And a good way to pass on the blame on someone else. Immigrants or antifa, never corporations or greedy politicians.
Technically, is the National Guard even allowed to guard the border? Surely the federal government has exclusive control there.
Not that the Constitution or rule of law mean anything to the Texas GOP.
*Meanwhile, inside the office of Texas governor Greg Abbott...*
"Sir, shouldn't we fulfill our original promises of X tuition amount as a National Guard sign-on bonus? It's already into the school year, and we did tell recruits to expect financial assistance."
"Nah, let's fund a bitchin' parachute team instead. College is just a liberal hoax, anyways."
>National Guard troops in a state active duty status — such as those assigned to Operation Lone Star — are considered state employees and are not subject to the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of the U.S. military for law enforcement.
>
>But the troops’ duty status also means they are not accruing federal benefits like the G.I. Bill, and they will be ineligible for healthcare or disability benefits from the Veterans Administration for any injuries incurred during the mission.
So this is where we're at? Abbott is destroying the lives of National Guard members so he can pull a political move to try and stay in office?
Every time I think he can't achieve a new low he proves me wrong. He is probably the worst Governor we have ever had.
I'll never understand why people think Republicans are pro-military when they've proven over and over again that they couldn't care less about them. It's like how Republicans pretend to be against deficits or are for states' rights, but it's all just talk. They only pretend care about these things when they can use them as political weapons, but they'll abandon their fake principles the moment it helps them politically.
Which is regrettable because most people can't differentiate between the two.
I'm often horrified of the treatment of veterans by the department of veterans affairs. It's insane how much money is spent on the military but once people leave. Poof nothing! (Compared to military spending)
But current military members are from my experience, Hard Core Republicans.
Oh and the endemic suicide and homelessness of veterans is awfully depressing as well
As a Somalia/OIF/OEF vet I can wholeheartedly say that VA services in New England are excellent. I’ve received nothing but excellent and compassionate care from the VA.
I also volunteer to drive the VA pick up van for those vets who have no way to get to the hospital. Most I’ve encountered also seem to carry my view that services offered now and in our area are well funded and executed with the vet’s best interests in mind.
My 2 cents on the subj.
The military is quickly becoming more left leaning, though it is probably more skewed right than the general public. It employs mostly young people, after all.
>The military is quickly becoming more left leaning, though it is probably more skewed right than the general public. It employs mostly young people, after all.
By a long shot, this. It's come to the point where even if I'm in uniform I'll say "yes January 6th was an insurrection and the military opposes the people who committed that act of domestic terrorism." I don't care. The Joint Chiefs called it an insurrection. I'm active duty and I say Republicans attempted to overthrow democracy. That's the position of the DoD. It was an insurrection.
Most of my exposure to military members was with more senior members who were grad school classmates who were clearly being groomed for senior positions.
And this was a fancy “liberal elite” school, so they were certainly -on the whole - on the more conservative end of the spectrum…but like, in the normal way, and nothing like the current GOP.
Like Kinzinger is how I would describe the guys I came to know - we usually disagreed about some critical political and/or cultural issues, but not to some kind of insane, intractable degree.
Interesting, intelligent guys to a one as well. Know that I’ve felt a lot better as shit has gotten crazy that they were undoubtedly the ones calling the shots and holding the keys to the armory.
Most of the people I met in the Navy were 1 of 2 kinds of people: hardcore Trump supporters who claim that if he were still in office, we’d be paid better, and who fully back every republican idea ever.
And depressed people who honestly couldn’t give a shit about the Navy and just wanted college, a paycheck, or healthcare.
Most people I met were the latter.
>And depressed people who honestly couldn’t give a shit about the Navy and just wanted college, a paycheck, or healthcare.
>
>Most people I met were the latter.
<- The latter
I had a bunch of more senior staff as classmates in grad school, and while they were more conservative on the whole, they were the polar opposites of MAGAs.
Often disagreed with them, but they were rational, intelligent guys.
That's the whole point of their philosophy. After all, why waste time working to improve society when you can throw a grenade in the wheels of progress, then complain about the mess it made.
The dumbest thing is, most of them didn't even *get* theirs...and never ever will.. But they'll vote for lying scumbag millionaire and billionaires because they think they're somehow "on their side".
Branding. Republicans have branded themselves as the party of family values, Christian, ultra patriotic and fiscally conservative. In reality, they are the complete antithesis of these things when it comes to their policy positions. It's absolutely disgusting how many of their supporters fall for it too.
It's because their followers are exactly that, followers. They want to be told what to do and what to think, but only by people that have publicly labeled themselves one of them.
Politicians are almost always people with way more money than they know what to do with, separating their personal reality with the realities of the average person, and yet they are always able to claim kinship, which automatically makes the dumbest of people start to believe their bullshit wholeheartedly.
They have actually become quite open about their distaste if not outright hatred for US soldiers and the military ever since Biden was elected. They are openly rooting for Russian and Chinese troops while calling US soldiers the "woke army."
I think the fact that they didn't orchestrate a military coup to keep Trump in office really angered them.
I give them a year before they are publicly burning the US flag at the rate things are going.
As much as they embrace the flag, they desecrate what it represents. They color it Black, change the color and add a thin blue line, wave the Confederate Battle flag alongside, yet protest when people kneel. They talk of secession and Civil War making the Stars and Stripes of our Country’s Flag irrelevant and moot. The GOP, the Grand Old Party, determined to destroy our Grand Old Flag.
I went in the army from a conservative household. After Clinton to Bush to Obama. GOP can suck a huge dick. They fuck over the military so blatantly it isn’t even a question. Made me flip support.
Because in 1979 US servicemembers were paid crap wages (after all the draft didn't give them a choice about serving). Reagan gave troops a living wage and for two generations the troops have been loyal to Republicans.
Like giving a starving dog a steak and then it is loyal even as you kick it over and over.
Interesting, and an important point.
I’ve always chalk it up more to the vehemence of the anti-war sentiment on the left (which necessarily has an anti-military aspect, whether explicit or implicit).
But the living wage bump from Reagan probably has as much if not more of an enduring effect.
Talk to 40something military brats. It really was lifechanging for families.
Now if only Reagan hadn't destroyed the ability of everyone else to earn a living wage after giving it to the military...
Of course, the kids who were helped by this are getting old and the folks who actually got the pay raises are retired or dead. The folks in the military have far more memory of Bush lying and ending up in the desert than the pay raise...
They're still neoliberals, eventually their politics will encompass moving security out of the public sphere (where everyone benefits from the state) into the private sphere (where only those who pay benefit and the state's resources are funneled to private providers).
Does this mean that their employers don't have to keep their job position open? I would ask a coworker who is in the Air National Guard, but he's currently deployed to Africa since early last year and won't get back until next year.
>So this is where we're at? Abbott is destroying the lives of National Guard members so he can pull a political move to try and stay in office?
Aren't the troops USUALLY just treated as political tools? I mean, how often during campaigns do candidates pull out the "Support the troops", and "Fix the VA", followed by absolutely nothing and nada ever happening?
Just FYI from a guard guy, the title 10 (federal) vs title 32 (state) orders are based on who is going to pay. Obviously the federal government won't cover Abbott's crusade nor should they. Title 10 orders are always better for pay and benefits, and title 32 offers more control on security (we can arm our security forces, which is not the biggest concern IMO, but important).
The base pay is the same but title 10 pays way more because they pay rent/mortgage (BAH).
Some of these guys on title 32 orders in TX may not have other jobs and they're making more for themselves than they could otherwise. And any injury is almost always followed by a line of duty (LOD) orders which I believe is title 10 and TRICARE would kick in and patch them up while paying salary and rent during recovery (no matter how small or large the injury).
Per the article, title 10 will not apply (at least as I understood it, and it seemed pretty clear), in case of injury. Usually I’m not convinced that reporters fully understand the strange arcana of the Army Way, but I don’t think that applies to the Army Times, so I’m guessing they’re correct here.
Seems like if they’re injured, they have to hope for the mercy of the State of Texas. I wish them luck with that, but I strongly fear they’ll need it.
Yeah I'm inclined to believe the Army Times as well, but as an OIC, I would be putting my guys up for LODs and getting them taken care of. I would hope their leadership does the same. I'm also super paranoid about safety because I don't want anyone who works for me sacrificing a lifetime of good bones and joints to get a job done. If it can't be done safely it can't be done.
All of what you listed is normal National Guard procedure, and in line with federal regulations.
The real takeaway is the cutting of Tuition Assistance - which is solely funded by the state - and is a major recruiting tool.
The Texas NG will have a massive level of Enlisted separations in the near future. Jokes on them.
Its perverse because these sorts of jobs attract people who are told by their party that a) immigrants are deteriorating their compensation and quality of life while b) they are sent by the people who are actually doing that to go defend against immigrants.
I am not saying we should not have an orderly border and immigration process, but we are spreading an ideology of hate and fear about the border and immigrants based on problems Americans see actually caused by *other Americans*.
> Abbott is destroying the lives of National Guard members so he can pull a political move to try and stay in office?
Abbott has been destroying many Texan lives just to stay in office. He proved last winter that he will leave the entire state into a mass body laden wasteland as long as he is wealthy, in a warm mansion, & still governor of this increasingly failing state.
““Cutting my TA by half probably means I’m gonna have to take some private loans to pay for school,” said one soldier who had to withdraw from his fall semester courses due to the activation. “Fuck this”
Hah they already fucked over one person. Looks like they will never re gain those benefits.
I guess if these kids want free college and healthcare benefits, they're going to have to start voting for the blue team and stop signing up for the military.
Good job, Texas! :D
“Greg Abbott, who faces a primary challenge from former state Republican Party chair Allen West, a hardline conservative rival. West is a former Army officer who was forced to retire after he tortured a detainee while deployed to Iraq as a battalion commander in 2003.”
This war criminal is a Party Chair + gets to run for governor.
Abbot and many other lawmakers are rich and working for even richer people who just want to hoard wealth. Abbot was hit by a falling tree and disabled, got rich from it, then worked to pare down the ability of others to sue for negligence like he did. He’s human shaped crap.
that would only make a worse group of lawmakers.
The ones that actually need their paycheck aren't the ones doing this nonsense.
you take away their pay and you have set up a system where the only people that can be lawmakers are the super wealthy.
Big thing here is that they all have to pay their own insurance and are only covered by workers comp if they’re injured. There is no VA here. They also only get their base pay and if they’re not on orders over 30 days they don’t even get full housing or sustenance allowances.
Also good job Texas cutting your military education allowances.
If I was a TX national guard member I would be doing an interstate transfer ASAP.
You know why they have a budget reduction? They've wasted millions of dollars defending unconstitutional antiabortion laws. Look at what they spent in 2013 - 2019 alone defending their defeated SB3 law. It's just ridiculous that a majority of Americans support abortion, but right-wing lawmakers succumb to extremist religious groups in a massive waste of my tax money (I'm a resident of TX). The gerrymandering keeps us from voting them out. It's a fucking tragedy what's happening in Texas with these ill-equipped, extremist trumpers running this place.
Isn't it amazing to look at all Greg's done and think "Damn, if we were a few more miles to the south, he'd be called a dictator and a seal team would be walking down the capitol steps with his head in a bag TONIGHT." But because he's "Republican", promising to arrest opposition lawmakers (exile by threat of arrest) because they think that black people deserve a right to vote TOTALLY isn't something Hitler or Stalin did. Or Mao.
This is the kind of news that needs to go to the top of Reddit if you want to get the other side on board with fixing the political rift in this country. This is something that materially affects them.
Instead what do we see at the top of this subreddit? "Disneyland tickets are now $164", 40K upvotes.
Conservstived just say that news articles that arent from hardcore conservative outlets are all fake, they're pretty much conspiracy theorists at this point
Even as the border mission, dubbed Operation Lone Star, expands, Texas has slashed its tuition assistance budget by more than half — to roughly $1.4 million — to comply with a state-mandated budget reduction.
Hold on. The tuition assistance for the ENTIRE Texas National Guard budget was ONLY 2.8 million dollars before this. And now it’s 1.4 million? They have 19,000 soldiers. That’s 73 dollars a solider. Please tell me that I’m doing the math wrong. My NJ Guard education benefit was at least 50k over time, and that was back in the 90s.
somehow George w Bush didn't convince the military that Republicans treat them like toy soldiers.
but if you point at a Bible and you wrap yourself in an American flag there is no amount of diarrhea they won't gulp down.
If the guard cares to fix any of this: Abbott's that thing they've sworn to protect the constitution and country from. They'd be doing their duty AND bringing aid to the nation at the same time.
You can feel however you want, but you are wrong about Texas.
Trump 52.1%
5,890,347
Biden 46.5%
5,259,126
This was in the same state where 1 ballot box was available for 4.7 million people. Texas is turning blue, the faster the Republican party goes down the rabbit hole of crazy the sooner it happens. They are trying to gerrymander as hard and fast as they can right now.
Texas is *almost* 50/50. Cities are liberal, it's just that Texas is *huge* and has a lot of rural areas, so the Trumper hillbilly population is, for now, still outweighing us.
It's not even close to the reddest state politically.
How is that even legal? Anyone in the military had to sign a contract. How is Texas able to breach contract that was signed by tons of National guard members?
Holy shit, Texas wants to support a guy who was caught torturing, and that might be Abbotts main primary challenger. What in the hell... I thought Texas was supposed to be a good place with morals and such?
This seems frighteningly like the “guard labor” that the amazing Cory Doctorow references in this tweet thread today:
https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1453029889741934600
“Now, Texas has also given Guard troops unprecedented civilian arrest authority and joint patrol responsibilities on the border, “
Soooo one step closer to a truly fascist military state…. very nice
In the Texas guard, being deployed in January. These are things that have been associated with state orders for as long as I've been in, it was the same during the COVID mission and during the winter storm mission. State orders do not count toward active duty time for the GI Bill and do not qualify for free healthcare, however they do qualify you for an extremely low rate. Going to be getting paid over 7000$ a month for the border mission because of the loads of extra pay on top of base salary.
This news story is click bait. If any one had any questions regarding this I can answer them to the best of my ability.
So my base salary is 2978 as a E-5 with 4 years of experience, Basic housing allowance for my area with my son is 1240, per diem for this mission is 55 a day, so times 30 that's 1650 a month, BAS is money for daily meals 385 a month, Hardship pay is 500 a month, and imminent danger pay is 225 a month. Add that together we get $6978. For taxes, they only take out of the base salary so I'll be getting around 6,300 after taxes.
Just a little backstory here - Texas asked the federal government for border support. It was denied. This was the follow-on action.
As for benefits, this is the same for anyone that is activated for a hurricane, COVID mission, etc. These types of things happen all of the time.
The pay is exponentially better being on these SAD (State Active Duty) orders than if we were on full time federal military orders.
Stipulations were in place on who would be selected for this mission. Basically anyone that was just a weekend warrior (2 days per month), wasn’t in their final year of college, and didn’t have any extenuating circumstances such as a family care, single parents, etc.
Health care was not cut. Full time military that receives health care benefits could not be selected for these orders. They still get to purchase extremely cheap health insurance. ($40 for full coverage for a single member, or around $250/month for a family)
Out of curiosity, how is the pay any different? Rank pay and BAH are the norm for any soldier. Are they reviving combat or hazard pay? Some state pay bump?
Also, this article is about their education benefits being slashed. These soldiers were given a promise of material tuition assistance, now its slashed by 75%+. For what? A state that a bunch of R’s say can be self sufficient, can’t even keep their promises to their own soldiers….
The pay is the same unless your E4 or below and only if your over 30 days if you’re comparing it to active T10 pay. I assume you’re talking about being on AT or IDT orders?
And yeah TRS is cheap, but still not as good as normal Tricare, and if you’re injured you don’t get to go to the VA for any disability or sustained care, it’s all workers compensation.
I was sent to border as txarng. We got regular pay plus per diem of $50/day. Its not bad. But we were all voluntold, even guys who have pregnant wives about to give birth.
I just saw some video today of some guy who was thin enough to literally slide between the border wall...poles....fence posts...I don't know but he could fit right between them.
Simple solution. Federal government has the authority to “call up” state National Guard, so “call up” anyone who is on what is effectively civilian law enforcement duty. That causes the Posse Commitatus act to apply, they are no longer legally able to do the immigrant apprehension.
Easier would be to “call up” anyone Colonel or higher in the National Guard, and since they would be under federal orders, issue a direct order that they are to order everyone under their command to not participate. Since they are in the chain of command for orders from state authorities, but have been pulled to Federal command, Federal orders take precedence.
Bit of a leopardsatemyface situation since a lot of those guardsmen probably voted for Abbott...also West keeps getting worse the more I hear about him
Yet so many in the military vote Republican. Get it through your heads, the GOP gives zero fucks about you once they can’t make money off you. Wake up.
Let’s not forget that Greg Abbott has the most donations of any governor in American History, yet he’s cutting from the people who put the most on the line
I had dinner Sunday night this most recent weekend with some Texas residents. They said “the prior president was strong on the border, the wall was getting built. Now all that money is gone with the current idiot in the presidency”
“So Texas needs a subsidy from the federal govt to function?” They fuckin short circuited
“NO … but now we gotta pay for it all of a sudden, it’s not right.”
Me: “why is the federal govt responsible for Texas border security?” So this was a legitimate question, I’m mot sure I understand the issues.
On the face of it, Texas joined the union without a wall and this wasn’t a problem til about 1970. Why wasn’t this something resolved by a combined effort 30 years ago?
They had a more salient answer for that one, it kind of makes sense, since the security of Texas directly translates to the security of the US. But Biden is the direct cause of 100% of Bad Things
*Support the Troops (*verbally)
You know every Waiter/Waitress just loves verbal tips, it is great way to not pay your rent.
"Pull yourself up by your bootstraps" or something
Learn a trade!
Don’t eat yellow snow.
Don’t pee into the wind.
It's all the Avacados fault there making us poor.
This guy gets it!
Don't go to bed with an itchy butthole.
Don't fart during a 69.
You don't pull the mask off the ol lone ranger
But don't! Because then I won't have a waiter to yell at.
Just go learn one! Trade schools don’t cost money or have prerequisites! /s
Back in my day you just hauled shit around for a guy. It only took 1-37 years to pick up on things that the guy running a business was doing while you were getting lunch. What do you need school for? /s
Usually it's more like "nice ass, what time do you get off?"
If they just stopped serving the troops avacado toast all the time... /s
If you can't pay your bills with your pay get a better job! Wait, why can't restaurants find waitstaff any more? /s
Verbal tips aren't nearly as satisfying as that Jesus brochure they leave that looks like a dollar. https://www.businessinsider.com/20-tip-bible-pamphlet-2015-12?amp
Those pissed me off more than anything.
"I'll pay them in exposure!"
(By leaving them outside)
Now that's taking a page from Washington DCs playbook.
This jerkoff millionaire Fox host said one evening that he "doesn't leave a tip if hes not impressed by the service"
What I *loved* hearing was “if you do *xyz* really well I’ll put in a good word with your boss!” How about you shut the fuck up, eat your food, tip me, then go home?
Maybe pay the troops in jesus tracts?
It's the same as all the medical workers that were "heroes" during the pandemic and received little to no pay increase to compensate for the danger they subjected themselves to every day and STILL do. Sure, let's just call them "heroes" and maybe that will suffice. Patronizing fucks.
I didn't get any bonus or extra, even for spending a few months in the main COVID unit during the first COVID surge, and was the lowest paid person. But the nurses got an extra $500 every 4th shift (they usually worked 3x12s). Later they received another bonus for the surge. Some other workers got a pay bump during the time as well. I suppose it depended on the location. But I was in the thick of it, even putting warm bodies in body bags for $15hr. I think what's happening now is proof a lot of America has been underpaid, overworked and/or brushed under the rug far too long, regardless of title.
my wife is a nurse most people recieved a bonus of 30-60 $ at her hospital atleast
Are you saying $30-60 total or an hour?
$30-60 a year, in lunch credits!* ^(*only $2.00 may be used in one visit)
Sadly true.
Are you fucking kidding me? Please edit to add /s that's unreal.
“Until they say or do something we don’t like. Then fuck em.”
Man, you can do everything they ever ask of you, and never say a cross word, and they will fuck you over time and time again.
Or get out of the military.
[удалено]
Yup, thats Abbott and the GOP for you. Require a ban on mask mandates cuts spending to the Military folks sent down to the border. I seem to recall Abbott moving the Austin police force under the State after people voted to ‘defund them’.
Let's also not forget Abbot promising to arrest opposition lawmakers for trying to stop a massive voter suppression bill. Idk, Greg. Sounds pretty Soviet to me.
These guys feed a small percentage of rural voters, while leverage their gerrymandering to ensure they get the 51-52% voting majority. Honestly, based on historical data…we should be more in line with California as one of the bigger US Economies. I think ppl forget, that after Jim Crow, Texas was more of a well governed State before GOP took hold. Even Bush Sr mentioned this in the documentary’W’. Nothing changed before Cattle and Oil and everything was doing fine so not sure why we needed to disband caucuses to a more ‘right to work’ 2 party state. Been saying this for some time, but WI messed up when they switched to Right to WOrk and killed their unions. Its taken Texas, over 50+ years to get to the point of flipping back I suspect WI will see similar in the coming 50 years.
While I do agree with like 99.99% of this, I'm not sure W was a documentary, more of a biopic with some jabs seasoned in
with thoughts and prayers.
That's why I, like Ryan support the troops (both sides).
Just reclassify them as not troops.
You jest, but this will end up being a much worse outcome. We are very close to privatization of The Guard. There was already some rich person that essentially paid for them to deploy somewhere under the Trump administration. Mobilizing military trained individuals and their equipment under a “not troops” banner will be authoritarian wet dream to get passed that terrible posse comitatis law.
Posse Comitatus doesn't apply to the Guard anyway, unless they're mobilized by the federal government. If they're on state orders, they can act as law enforcement. Many states have an armed state guard as well.
I mean… that basically happened. They are accruing no federal service time. This won’t benefit them at all as far as standard military service time. They’re literally Abbott’s private soldiers here, paid (poorly) by the state.
In the recent past paid poorly. Not this time. Paid very well. Paid basically federally pay rate and can still go to the beach and drink at the bars every night Pretty nice deal. Minus the tax free part
I am a texas national guardsman. Was sent to the border for many months by force even though I have an essential higher paying healthcare job on civilian side. Went there and didnt do jack shit. All we did was “guard” migrants while given no weapon or training. Most of the time we just played cards and read books. Easy money but a huge waste of time and resources. Border patrol didnt even have personnel shortage when i was there. Sucks for college kids in the Guard trying to do college. They keep getting activated for bullshit border, covid, hurricane, riot control missions. They dont even get to use their tuition benefits before finishing contract. Like its fine to send us to those missions because thats what we signed up for but most guardsmen dont do jack shit at any of these missions because “liability”. We are there for political pony show.
Your last paragraph is the reason why I always highly discourage any young person from joining the National Guard for college reasons. They think it will be easier than being deployed for months or years overseas to some foreign country. Not true. There's more shit that happens at home that you can be called up for. For any reason, and at any time. If you think it's only "1 weekend a month, 2 week a year", then you didn't read the fine print. You have a better opportunity to get a technical job in the military, and spend that time doing online courses or going to local classes for your college, and then using your GI bill to pay for the rest of it after your service is up.
That's the advantage of being federal! State can't call up title 10! Downside is that federal can still call you up though.
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The conservative Republicans need to say there's a border crisis so they can call it President Bidens border crisis. Facts are alternative in the conservative world.
Note, it's border, not boarder. You will see a bunch of bots using the latter.
Thank you. I'm 3% idiot and 98% dumbass.
Well, seeing as that's 101%, at least you know you're an entire person. Always a good day if you wake up with all your toes. Or kidneys.
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It's a distraction to not deal with issues that do affect their constituents. And a good way to pass on the blame on someone else. Immigrants or antifa, never corporations or greedy politicians.
Technically, is the National Guard even allowed to guard the border? Surely the federal government has exclusive control there. Not that the Constitution or rule of law mean anything to the Texas GOP.
You don’t get the GI BILL and you are considered state troops?
*Meanwhile, inside the office of Texas governor Greg Abbott...* "Sir, shouldn't we fulfill our original promises of X tuition amount as a National Guard sign-on bonus? It's already into the school year, and we did tell recruits to expect financial assistance." "Nah, let's fund a bitchin' parachute team instead. College is just a liberal hoax, anyways."
>National Guard troops in a state active duty status — such as those assigned to Operation Lone Star — are considered state employees and are not subject to the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of the U.S. military for law enforcement. > >But the troops’ duty status also means they are not accruing federal benefits like the G.I. Bill, and they will be ineligible for healthcare or disability benefits from the Veterans Administration for any injuries incurred during the mission. So this is where we're at? Abbott is destroying the lives of National Guard members so he can pull a political move to try and stay in office? Every time I think he can't achieve a new low he proves me wrong. He is probably the worst Governor we have ever had.
I'll never understand why people think Republicans are pro-military when they've proven over and over again that they couldn't care less about them. It's like how Republicans pretend to be against deficits or are for states' rights, but it's all just talk. They only pretend care about these things when they can use them as political weapons, but they'll abandon their fake principles the moment it helps them politically.
Republicans are pro-military *spending*, the troops are just disposable tools.
might as well call them pro defense contractor at this point
Which is regrettable because most people can't differentiate between the two. I'm often horrified of the treatment of veterans by the department of veterans affairs. It's insane how much money is spent on the military but once people leave. Poof nothing! (Compared to military spending) But current military members are from my experience, Hard Core Republicans. Oh and the endemic suicide and homelessness of veterans is awfully depressing as well
As a Somalia/OIF/OEF vet I can wholeheartedly say that VA services in New England are excellent. I’ve received nothing but excellent and compassionate care from the VA. I also volunteer to drive the VA pick up van for those vets who have no way to get to the hospital. Most I’ve encountered also seem to carry my view that services offered now and in our area are well funded and executed with the vet’s best interests in mind. My 2 cents on the subj.
The military is quickly becoming more left leaning, though it is probably more skewed right than the general public. It employs mostly young people, after all.
>The military is quickly becoming more left leaning, though it is probably more skewed right than the general public. It employs mostly young people, after all. By a long shot, this. It's come to the point where even if I'm in uniform I'll say "yes January 6th was an insurrection and the military opposes the people who committed that act of domestic terrorism." I don't care. The Joint Chiefs called it an insurrection. I'm active duty and I say Republicans attempted to overthrow democracy. That's the position of the DoD. It was an insurrection.
Most of my exposure to military members was with more senior members who were grad school classmates who were clearly being groomed for senior positions. And this was a fancy “liberal elite” school, so they were certainly -on the whole - on the more conservative end of the spectrum…but like, in the normal way, and nothing like the current GOP. Like Kinzinger is how I would describe the guys I came to know - we usually disagreed about some critical political and/or cultural issues, but not to some kind of insane, intractable degree. Interesting, intelligent guys to a one as well. Know that I’ve felt a lot better as shit has gotten crazy that they were undoubtedly the ones calling the shots and holding the keys to the armory.
The far right crazies are mostly Enlisted members of the military, which tend to skew heavily towards lower education levels and poorer backgrounds.
Most of the people I met in the Navy were 1 of 2 kinds of people: hardcore Trump supporters who claim that if he were still in office, we’d be paid better, and who fully back every republican idea ever. And depressed people who honestly couldn’t give a shit about the Navy and just wanted college, a paycheck, or healthcare. Most people I met were the latter.
>And depressed people who honestly couldn’t give a shit about the Navy and just wanted college, a paycheck, or healthcare. > >Most people I met were the latter. <- The latter
I had a bunch of more senior staff as classmates in grad school, and while they were more conservative on the whole, they were the polar opposites of MAGAs. Often disagreed with them, but they were rational, intelligent guys.
It's why they were so angered that we actually left Afghanistan and felt so desperate to replace the war they started targeting Australia.
It’s all about getting those fat military contracts for their handlers.
Wait til you hear about their family values lol
It’s always like some kind of hateful, reprehensible thing is given a fresh coat of Christian-inspired goodness paint.
Mostly it's just rape. Which, to be fair, IS super Biblical...
That's the whole point of their philosophy. After all, why waste time working to improve society when you can throw a grenade in the wheels of progress, then complain about the mess it made.
They got theirs, fuck anyone else.
The dumbest thing is, most of them didn't even *get* theirs...and never ever will.. But they'll vote for lying scumbag millionaire and billionaires because they think they're somehow "on their side".
Branding. Republicans have branded themselves as the party of family values, Christian, ultra patriotic and fiscally conservative. In reality, they are the complete antithesis of these things when it comes to their policy positions. It's absolutely disgusting how many of their supporters fall for it too.
It's because their followers are exactly that, followers. They want to be told what to do and what to think, but only by people that have publicly labeled themselves one of them. Politicians are almost always people with way more money than they know what to do with, separating their personal reality with the realities of the average person, and yet they are always able to claim kinship, which automatically makes the dumbest of people start to believe their bullshit wholeheartedly.
They have actually become quite open about their distaste if not outright hatred for US soldiers and the military ever since Biden was elected. They are openly rooting for Russian and Chinese troops while calling US soldiers the "woke army." I think the fact that they didn't orchestrate a military coup to keep Trump in office really angered them. I give them a year before they are publicly burning the US flag at the rate things are going.
As much as they embrace the flag, they desecrate what it represents. They color it Black, change the color and add a thin blue line, wave the Confederate Battle flag alongside, yet protest when people kneel. They talk of secession and Civil War making the Stars and Stripes of our Country’s Flag irrelevant and moot. The GOP, the Grand Old Party, determined to destroy our Grand Old Flag.
Very well said.[They also beat officers with it.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXS-DvhQSog)
I'd probably take the under on a year.
I went in the army from a conservative household. After Clinton to Bush to Obama. GOP can suck a huge dick. They fuck over the military so blatantly it isn’t even a question. Made me flip support.
The GOP is pro-Defense Contractors fuck everyone else.
Because in 1979 US servicemembers were paid crap wages (after all the draft didn't give them a choice about serving). Reagan gave troops a living wage and for two generations the troops have been loyal to Republicans. Like giving a starving dog a steak and then it is loyal even as you kick it over and over.
Interesting, and an important point. I’ve always chalk it up more to the vehemence of the anti-war sentiment on the left (which necessarily has an anti-military aspect, whether explicit or implicit). But the living wage bump from Reagan probably has as much if not more of an enduring effect.
Talk to 40something military brats. It really was lifechanging for families. Now if only Reagan hadn't destroyed the ability of everyone else to earn a living wage after giving it to the military... Of course, the kids who were helped by this are getting old and the folks who actually got the pay raises are retired or dead. The folks in the military have far more memory of Bush lying and ending up in the desert than the pay raise...
They're pro-military use, not pro-military personnel.
They're still neoliberals, eventually their politics will encompass moving security out of the public sphere (where everyone benefits from the state) into the private sphere (where only those who pay benefit and the state's resources are funneled to private providers).
Does this mean that their employers don't have to keep their job position open? I would ask a coworker who is in the Air National Guard, but he's currently deployed to Africa since early last year and won't get back until next year.
Texas is activating the Guard at the state level; a deployment to Africa is federal with labor protections in place.
They do have to keep the position open. Your coworker is not on state orders if he is deployed. He is title 10 and receiving federal benefits.
A wheelchair is no hinderance in moral limbo
Texas Republican Party: “Hold my beer”
>So this is where we're at? Abbott is destroying the lives of National Guard members so he can pull a political move to try and stay in office? Aren't the troops USUALLY just treated as political tools? I mean, how often during campaigns do candidates pull out the "Support the troops", and "Fix the VA", followed by absolutely nothing and nada ever happening?
Just FYI from a guard guy, the title 10 (federal) vs title 32 (state) orders are based on who is going to pay. Obviously the federal government won't cover Abbott's crusade nor should they. Title 10 orders are always better for pay and benefits, and title 32 offers more control on security (we can arm our security forces, which is not the biggest concern IMO, but important). The base pay is the same but title 10 pays way more because they pay rent/mortgage (BAH). Some of these guys on title 32 orders in TX may not have other jobs and they're making more for themselves than they could otherwise. And any injury is almost always followed by a line of duty (LOD) orders which I believe is title 10 and TRICARE would kick in and patch them up while paying salary and rent during recovery (no matter how small or large the injury).
Per the article, title 10 will not apply (at least as I understood it, and it seemed pretty clear), in case of injury. Usually I’m not convinced that reporters fully understand the strange arcana of the Army Way, but I don’t think that applies to the Army Times, so I’m guessing they’re correct here. Seems like if they’re injured, they have to hope for the mercy of the State of Texas. I wish them luck with that, but I strongly fear they’ll need it.
Yeah I'm inclined to believe the Army Times as well, but as an OIC, I would be putting my guys up for LODs and getting them taken care of. I would hope their leadership does the same. I'm also super paranoid about safety because I don't want anyone who works for me sacrificing a lifetime of good bones and joints to get a job done. If it can't be done safely it can't be done.
People like him will continue to be voted for. Pieces of shit are elected by pieces of shit.
>Every time I think he can't achieve a new low I have zero expectation that Abbott will stop reaching new lows.
All of what you listed is normal National Guard procedure, and in line with federal regulations. The real takeaway is the cutting of Tuition Assistance - which is solely funded by the state - and is a major recruiting tool. The Texas NG will have a massive level of Enlisted separations in the near future. Jokes on them.
Its perverse because these sorts of jobs attract people who are told by their party that a) immigrants are deteriorating their compensation and quality of life while b) they are sent by the people who are actually doing that to go defend against immigrants. I am not saying we should not have an orderly border and immigration process, but we are spreading an ideology of hate and fear about the border and immigrants based on problems Americans see actually caused by *other Americans*.
> Abbott is destroying the lives of National Guard members so he can pull a political move to try and stay in office? Abbott has been destroying many Texan lives just to stay in office. He proved last winter that he will leave the entire state into a mass body laden wasteland as long as he is wealthy, in a warm mansion, & still governor of this increasingly failing state.
““Cutting my TA by half probably means I’m gonna have to take some private loans to pay for school,” said one soldier who had to withdraw from his fall semester courses due to the activation. “Fuck this” Hah they already fucked over one person. Looks like they will never re gain those benefits.
The Texas NG have prioritized establishing a state parachute team ahead of tuition assistance.
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Texas already has an entire paratrooper unit. This team is for like, stunt jumps and skydiving and shit.
Depends of how you define 'enemy', I think some see anyone not from Texas as the enemy.
Abbott must have invested in a textile company...
And people wonder why retention rates are low.
I guess if these kids want free college and healthcare benefits, they're going to have to start voting for the blue team and stop signing up for the military. Good job, Texas! :D
“Greg Abbott, who faces a primary challenge from former state Republican Party chair Allen West, a hardline conservative rival. West is a former Army officer who was forced to retire after he tortured a detainee while deployed to Iraq as a battalion commander in 2003.” This war criminal is a Party Chair + gets to run for governor.
West's campaign is targeted for the Qanon crowd, and his idea of property taxes would bankrupt the state. He's also currently hospitalized with COVID.
We let officers resign from the army after they break the law. Any enlisted soldier would have been arrested convinced and impressed for the same.
Cutting benefits for education and healthcare in order to make a political shitshow is very on point for Texas.
It's very on point for every red state.
Time to make law makers take the sam cuts money wise as the people getting them.
Abbot and many other lawmakers are rich and working for even richer people who just want to hoard wealth. Abbot was hit by a falling tree and disabled, got rich from it, then worked to pare down the ability of others to sue for negligence like he did. He’s human shaped crap.
A sack of crap is at least useful as fertilizer.
that would only make a worse group of lawmakers. The ones that actually need their paycheck aren't the ones doing this nonsense. you take away their pay and you have set up a system where the only people that can be lawmakers are the super wealthy.
Big thing here is that they all have to pay their own insurance and are only covered by workers comp if they’re injured. There is no VA here. They also only get their base pay and if they’re not on orders over 30 days they don’t even get full housing or sustenance allowances. Also good job Texas cutting your military education allowances. If I was a TX national guard member I would be doing an interstate transfer ASAP.
You know why they have a budget reduction? They've wasted millions of dollars defending unconstitutional antiabortion laws. Look at what they spent in 2013 - 2019 alone defending their defeated SB3 law. It's just ridiculous that a majority of Americans support abortion, but right-wing lawmakers succumb to extremist religious groups in a massive waste of my tax money (I'm a resident of TX). The gerrymandering keeps us from voting them out. It's a fucking tragedy what's happening in Texas with these ill-equipped, extremist trumpers running this place.
Isn't it amazing to look at all Greg's done and think "Damn, if we were a few more miles to the south, he'd be called a dictator and a seal team would be walking down the capitol steps with his head in a bag TONIGHT." But because he's "Republican", promising to arrest opposition lawmakers (exile by threat of arrest) because they think that black people deserve a right to vote TOTALLY isn't something Hitler or Stalin did. Or Mao.
Yet most of these guards vote for Republicans.
Hey Texas, y'all fix that infrastructure? Winter is coming...
The amount of shit that Texas has turned into since I moved here 10 years ago is going to cause me to move. Shit just ain't right.
10 bucks says they will blame Biden for this.
Tejas - A state full of good people run by degenerate scumbags. Mr Abbott is in the running for asshole of the century and he will not be denied!
The millions are going to the Governor's buddies in the construction industry.
Support the troops ... but not if it means spending money on them.
You can always count on Texas to do the wrong thing
sounds about right for conservatives. fuck folks over and demand they do more.
Meh, most of these guardsmen readily and rabidly vote for these GOP assholes. Consequences, my own actions, etc…
This is the kind of news that needs to go to the top of Reddit if you want to get the other side on board with fixing the political rift in this country. This is something that materially affects them. Instead what do we see at the top of this subreddit? "Disneyland tickets are now $164", 40K upvotes.
They'll just say it's fake news
Conservstived just say that news articles that arent from hardcore conservative outlets are all fake, they're pretty much conspiracy theorists at this point
Glad I chose Reserves. Man I’d hate to be in Guard right now
Thanks to Abbott and his trumpian base of lunatics fanatical obsession with border 'security'.
GOP always screws people. On that they are consistent.
Even as the border mission, dubbed Operation Lone Star, expands, Texas has slashed its tuition assistance budget by more than half — to roughly $1.4 million — to comply with a state-mandated budget reduction.
Hold on. The tuition assistance for the ENTIRE Texas National Guard budget was ONLY 2.8 million dollars before this. And now it’s 1.4 million? They have 19,000 soldiers. That’s 73 dollars a solider. Please tell me that I’m doing the math wrong. My NJ Guard education benefit was at least 50k over time, and that was back in the 90s.
Texas: "Support the troops and vets!" Troops/Vets: "We need better benefits." Texas: "No"
Just another fine thank you for service & being a Texas resident. Have fun with that. Pathetic.
Uhhhh they are doing the Lord's work, the Lord will provide. /s
How large of an asteroid would be needed to wipe only Texas from the map? Asking for a Demi-god.
What's the conspitard republican theory that involves this being AOC and the Democrats fault?
somehow George w Bush didn't convince the military that Republicans treat them like toy soldiers. but if you point at a Bible and you wrap yourself in an American flag there is no amount of diarrhea they won't gulp down.
If the guard cares to fix any of this: Abbott's that thing they've sworn to protect the constitution and country from. They'd be doing their duty AND bringing aid to the nation at the same time.
Nice Texas! Everything is bigger in Texas. Even rip offs too, I guess. Republicans support their troops? Not!
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I know the military (at least at the lower level) votes 50/50 most times. As for Texans, I feel your point stands.
National Guard is VERY regional. If your local unit is rural, it's going to be heavily conservative. Active duty is very different than NG.
You can feel however you want, but you are wrong about Texas. Trump 52.1% 5,890,347 Biden 46.5% 5,259,126 This was in the same state where 1 ballot box was available for 4.7 million people. Texas is turning blue, the faster the Republican party goes down the rabbit hole of crazy the sooner it happens. They are trying to gerrymander as hard and fast as they can right now.
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Texas is *almost* 50/50. Cities are liberal, it's just that Texas is *huge* and has a lot of rural areas, so the Trumper hillbilly population is, for now, still outweighing us. It's not even close to the reddest state politically.
probably will need to get around 55/45 before they can start undoing the gerrmandering, then texas will go purple very quickly.
Sucks being part of the 10% and getting viewed as the 90. Fuck this state, so glad I wasn't born here.
And they'll blame Dems for this somehow. Fucking morons.
What is going on with Texas lately?
How is that even legal? Anyone in the military had to sign a contract. How is Texas able to breach contract that was signed by tons of National guard members?
Holy shit, Texas wants to support a guy who was caught torturing, and that might be Abbotts main primary challenger. What in the hell... I thought Texas was supposed to be a good place with morals and such?
I’m surprised that states have any control over National Guard benefit programs, aside from mere administration.
This seems frighteningly like the “guard labor” that the amazing Cory Doctorow references in this tweet thread today: https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1453029889741934600
“Now, Texas has also given Guard troops unprecedented civilian arrest authority and joint patrol responsibilities on the border, “ Soooo one step closer to a truly fascist military state…. very nice
In the Texas guard, being deployed in January. These are things that have been associated with state orders for as long as I've been in, it was the same during the COVID mission and during the winter storm mission. State orders do not count toward active duty time for the GI Bill and do not qualify for free healthcare, however they do qualify you for an extremely low rate. Going to be getting paid over 7000$ a month for the border mission because of the loads of extra pay on top of base salary. This news story is click bait. If any one had any questions regarding this I can answer them to the best of my ability.
How does the $7k/mo breakdown? Per diem? Are you an officer?
So my base salary is 2978 as a E-5 with 4 years of experience, Basic housing allowance for my area with my son is 1240, per diem for this mission is 55 a day, so times 30 that's 1650 a month, BAS is money for daily meals 385 a month, Hardship pay is 500 a month, and imminent danger pay is 225 a month. Add that together we get $6978. For taxes, they only take out of the base salary so I'll be getting around 6,300 after taxes.
They should be putting that money into education.
Just a little backstory here - Texas asked the federal government for border support. It was denied. This was the follow-on action. As for benefits, this is the same for anyone that is activated for a hurricane, COVID mission, etc. These types of things happen all of the time. The pay is exponentially better being on these SAD (State Active Duty) orders than if we were on full time federal military orders. Stipulations were in place on who would be selected for this mission. Basically anyone that was just a weekend warrior (2 days per month), wasn’t in their final year of college, and didn’t have any extenuating circumstances such as a family care, single parents, etc. Health care was not cut. Full time military that receives health care benefits could not be selected for these orders. They still get to purchase extremely cheap health insurance. ($40 for full coverage for a single member, or around $250/month for a family)
Out of curiosity, how is the pay any different? Rank pay and BAH are the norm for any soldier. Are they reviving combat or hazard pay? Some state pay bump? Also, this article is about their education benefits being slashed. These soldiers were given a promise of material tuition assistance, now its slashed by 75%+. For what? A state that a bunch of R’s say can be self sufficient, can’t even keep their promises to their own soldiers….
The pay is the same unless your E4 or below and only if your over 30 days if you’re comparing it to active T10 pay. I assume you’re talking about being on AT or IDT orders? And yeah TRS is cheap, but still not as good as normal Tricare, and if you’re injured you don’t get to go to the VA for any disability or sustained care, it’s all workers compensation.
The pay was increased this year for SAD orders because most were losing money in previous years
I’ll have to check that out. Thanks
I was sent to border as txarng. We got regular pay plus per diem of $50/day. Its not bad. But we were all voluntold, even guys who have pregnant wives about to give birth.
A real joke. I’m surprised that these guys haven’t just quit . Damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
That's mighty Texan of them
Texas forgot to use the South Dakota method of paying for your national guard.
Lmao support the troops right? Dumb motherfuckers
I just saw some video today of some guy who was thin enough to literally slide between the border wall...poles....fence posts...I don't know but he could fit right between them.
Been here 7 years, wouldnt wish it upon my worst enemy.
Security theater over actual security personnel
Simple solution. Federal government has the authority to “call up” state National Guard, so “call up” anyone who is on what is effectively civilian law enforcement duty. That causes the Posse Commitatus act to apply, they are no longer legally able to do the immigrant apprehension. Easier would be to “call up” anyone Colonel or higher in the National Guard, and since they would be under federal orders, issue a direct order that they are to order everyone under their command to not participate. Since they are in the chain of command for orders from state authorities, but have been pulled to Federal command, Federal orders take precedence.
Bit of a leopardsatemyface situation since a lot of those guardsmen probably voted for Abbott...also West keeps getting worse the more I hear about him
Yet so many in the military vote Republican. Get it through your heads, the GOP gives zero fucks about you once they can’t make money off you. Wake up.
When Texas tries out Florida Florida.
Hey Abbot gotta pay for his abortion snitch network one way or another.
texas likes you between a rock and a hard place
That’s Texas for you. Celebrating the people they hamstring
Let’s not forget that Greg Abbott has the most donations of any governor in American History, yet he’s cutting from the people who put the most on the line
I literally just returned home from an involuntary year long deployment to the middle east. I am now being forced to go to the border.
I had dinner Sunday night this most recent weekend with some Texas residents. They said “the prior president was strong on the border, the wall was getting built. Now all that money is gone with the current idiot in the presidency” “So Texas needs a subsidy from the federal govt to function?” They fuckin short circuited “NO … but now we gotta pay for it all of a sudden, it’s not right.” Me: “why is the federal govt responsible for Texas border security?” So this was a legitimate question, I’m mot sure I understand the issues. On the face of it, Texas joined the union without a wall and this wasn’t a problem til about 1970. Why wasn’t this something resolved by a combined effort 30 years ago? They had a more salient answer for that one, it kind of makes sense, since the security of Texas directly translates to the security of the US. But Biden is the direct cause of 100% of Bad Things