# Reluctantly — Fuck Texas **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 19, 2021, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289 "2021-02-19T14:59:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 40
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/781 "2023-12-18T08:20:42Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > ERCOT (Energy Reliability Council of Texas > […] > Legislature formally established a “Texas Energy Reliability Council” (distinct from a similar body that existed before and not the same as ERCOT) [The People’s Front of Judea.](https://youtu.be/a0BpfwazhUA) ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/782 "2023-12-18T16:11:44Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > The theory is that such high prices will have people making more conscious decisions about their usage How do folks know if their AC is using up $275/MWh vs $2500/MWh? Text alerts? > [@OttoDaFe](#): > > or Texans are getting ripped off even in “good” times. It’s around $90/MWh around here. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/783 "2023-12-18T16:17:04Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > How do folks know if their AC is using up $275/MWh vs $2500/MWh? Text alerts? It’s not a great theory, as I noted. And when it’s over 100 deg outside and it doesn’t dip below 80 even overnight, it’s not like they’ve got a lot of actual choice, either. “Something, something magic of the market” doesn’t work in a lot of cases but try telling that to anybody and it’s “socialist” this and “freedom” that ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/784 "2023-12-18T16:19:56Z")
Glad we have set pricing. Spot pricing that can surge to $2.50 per kWh is crazy! ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/785 "2023-12-18T16:26:43Z")
Yeah, the “wonders” of deregulation. A lot of homeowners have contracts with set prices but some folks let those expire or they prefer the spot pricing. To be fair, it is often lower than what you can get on contract. But during heatwaves it can really spike. But that’s exactly when you want to even things out. It’s one of those areas where the wisdom of the market doesn’t necessarily line up with values like human health or dignity. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/786 "2023-12-18T18:10:54Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > It’s basically a big corrupt mess at pretty much every level as you’d expect from Texas, with unavoidable conflicts of interest pretty much built right in. Wow, an engraved invitation to graft and corruption for sure. The system here isn’t perfect, of course – what system created and run by humans ever is? – but it’s a darn sight less structurally open to such a mess. Of course, Texas also has the problem that, in its fierce adherence to independence, it has refused to link into power grids outside the state. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2023, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/787 "2023-12-18T18:16:35Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Of course, Texas also has the problem that, in its fierce adherence to independence, **it has refused to link into power grids outside the state.** - They confused free electrons with free elections. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/788 "2023-12-19T17:14:17Z")
> **[Nearly 1.7 million Texans lose Medicaid as state nears end of “unwinding”](https://www.texastribune.org/2023/12/14/texas-medicaid-unwinding/)** > > Texas has booted the most people from Medicaid of any state in the country. A majority of those removed lost their health insurance coverage because of procedural reasons. > … > Texas’ Health and Human Services Commission has neared the end of a chaotic and overburdened process to remove people from state Medicaid insurance who became ineligible during the coronavirus pandemic. The state had not unenrolled people before this year **because of federal pandemic rules, which forbid states from cutting coverage.** > > As a result, more than 5 million Texans had continuous access to health care throughout the pandemic through Medicaid, the joint federal-and-state-funded insurance program for low-income individuals. In Texas, the program’s eligibility criteria is so restrictive, it mainly covers poor children, their mothers while pregnant and post partum, and disabled and senior adults. > > But the effects of speedrunning this process have reverberated: Still-eligible Texans were kicked off both in error and for procedural reasons, adding to backlogs of hundreds of thousands of Medicaid applications and pushing wait times back several months. Backlogs for SNAP food benefits applications, which the same state agency also manages, also skyrocketed because of the burden. > > “The state handled this with an incredible amount of **incompetence and indifference to poor people** ,” U.S. Rep. [Lloyd Doggett](https://www.texastribune.org/directory/lloyd-doggett/), D-Austin, told The Texas Tribune. “It’s really appalling.” > … My bold. Damn those Feds for butting into the bidness of Texas. We’ll show them! 1. Incompetence-- _check!_ 2. Indifference to poor people-- _check!_ ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/789 "2023-12-19T17:35:09Z")
I’m sure Abbott’s telling them it’s Biden’s fault. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2023, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/790 "2023-12-19T17:37:19Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Damn those Feds for butting into the bidness of Texas. We’ll show them! > > 1. Incompetence-- _check!_ > 2. Indifference to poor people-- _check!_ And not by accident they (TX officialdom) assure us. It’s fun to be proud of kicking the poors. A$$holes. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/791 "2023-12-21T01:21:47Z")
In a little bit of good news from our reactionary dystopian state government, Ken Paxton and his aides have been ordered to sit of depositions in a lawsuit brought by fired whistleblowers. It was Paxton’s attempt to settle this lawsuit with taxpayer money that was the igniting incident that led the Texas House to impeach him. Of course, he’s proven extraordinarily adept at throwing sand in the gears of justice – he’s kept his indictment for securities fraud from reaching trial for TEN YEARS. > **[Ken Paxton and aides ordered to answer questions under oath in whistleblower...](https://www.texastribune.org/2023/12/20/ken-paxton-whistleblower-lawsuit/)** > > The four whistleblowers asked the court last month to force the attorney general and his aides to sit for deposition, which would require them to answer questions under oath related to the allegations of bribery and corruption. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/792 "2023-12-21T22:02:06Z")
A group called Texas Values Action, a defender of “biblical Judeo-Christian” values as well as “faith, family and freedom” has announced its endorsement of state rep Tony Tinderholt in 2024. “We are excited to endorse for re-election [@reptinderholt](https://twitter.com/reptinderholt) for State Rep, HD 94! Tony has been a proven leader for [#ReligiousFreedom](https://twitter.com/hashtag/ReligiousFreedom?src=hashtag_click), [#ProLife](https://twitter.com/hashtag/ProLife?src=hashtag_click) issues, and marriage & family during his time serving in [#TxLege](https://twitter.com/hashtag/TxLege?src=hashtag_click).” Tinderholt, who once introduced a bill to criminalize abortion after fertilization and make it possible to charge both the woman and doctor with murder, is in fact strongly pro-marriage - he’s been married _5 times_ - twice to the same woman (who got a restraining order against him for threatening her, causing bodily harm/injury and destroying shared property according to Wikipedia.\* \*as far as his pro-marriage history, I’m reminded of W.C. Fields commenting on how easy it is to stop drinking (“I’ve done it a _thousand_ times”). ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/793 "2023-12-22T00:21:41Z")
Asshole General Paxton is trying to demand that Seattle Children’s Hospital turn over the records of any ~~fugitive slaves~~ Texan children who received gender-affirming care. > **[Seattle Hospital sues after Texas Attorney General asks for handover of...](https://www.kxan.com/news/texas/seattle-hospital-sues-after-texas-attorney-general-asks-for-handover-of-patient-records/)** > > The Seattle Children’s Hospital filed a lawsuit in Travis County District Court on Dec. 7 against the Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG), after that agency requested documents related… ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/794 "2023-12-22T00:32:11Z")
Is Paxton going to go after every hospital in the country? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/795 "2023-12-22T00:39:07Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Asshole General Paxton is trying to demand that Seattle Children’s Hospital turn over the records of any ~~fugitive slaves~~ Texan children who received gender-affirming care. I know he’s a criminal asshole but that’s just being a fucking _creep_. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/796 "2023-12-22T00:39:44Z")
That is mind-boggling and horrifying. (P.S. Happy cake day, @Smapti!) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/797 "2023-12-22T08:27:46Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Is Paxton going to go after every hospital in the country? Of course he wants to. He doesn’t seem to understand he is governor of _only_ Texas. Next up: reproductive care records to ferret out abortions given to Texan women in other states. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/798 "2023-12-22T09:28:22Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Of course he wants to. He doesn’t seem to understand he is governor of _only_ Texas. He’s not the governor of anything; he’s the Attorney General. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/799 "2023-12-22T09:53:32Z")
Even worse. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/800 "2023-12-22T15:24:24Z")
And even worse, known to be massively corrupt. He’s literally been dodging legal action for more than a decade now, though that window may be closing. And it’s why he was impeached (though not tossed out) recently. You know you have to be a complete loser asshole if the Republicans of Texas vote to impeach you. And you know the Texas GOP has to also be full of loser assholes if they don’t follow that up by kicking him to the curb [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289.md?page=39) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289.md?page=41)