# 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:** 50
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2024, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/981 "2024-08-28T01:12:31Z")
The Texas Attorney General is using very vague search warrants to raid the homes and harass Democratic candidates and volunteers. [Pro-Trump Texas AG orders raids on homes of Democrats over ‘voter fraud’ (msn.com)](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pro-trump-texas-ag-orders-raids-on-homes-of-democrats-over-voter-fraud/ar-AA1pxwJl?ocid=msedgntp&pc=NMTS&cvid=1a35b46715294a7f8aebd98cda8239a4&ei=12) Last week, [Paxton’s Election Integrity Unit raided the homes](https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxtons-criminal-investigation-division-executes-search-warrants-frio-atascosa)of several people in Southern Texas, including some residents in their 80s, claiming it was part of a sprawling investigation into allegations of “vote harvesting” and “election fraud” that he says happened during the 2022 election. Phones, laptops and documents were collected from individuals’ homes, leaving some shaken. Now, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), one of the oldest and largest Latino rights organizations in the country, has asked the Department of Justice to investigate Paxton’s raids. “Paxton is working to suppress the Latino vote using a call for election integrity as a veil for voter intimidation,” Roman Palomares, the president of LULAC said in a[press conference on Monday.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6sKkyEEnsQ)" ---
**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:** [August 28, 2024, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/982 "2024-08-28T02:13:07Z")
Sounds like Paxton might be fucking around to find out. Texas has absolutely no spine to hold him accountable for his blatant lawbreaking, but let’s see what the feds have to say about it. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2024, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/983 "2024-08-28T02:38:51Z")
Sadly, I’m depressingly certain that he’ll have juuust enough plausible deniability, that, especially with our current SC(R)OTUS that he’ll never be held accountable. Or he’ll just delay, or sue on some “state’s rights” grounds and delay it until just before the heat-death of of our species from global climate change. Yeah, the feds would love to bring him to justice, but recent years have proven them, well, not toothless, but ineffective if the parties go full mule and refuse to cooperate. I mean, look at fucking Ghouliani - he’s largely on the outs with MAGA for being ineffective, but he’s still delaying and playing and refusing to show. Paxton? With the PTB in Texas either backing him or finding it not worth the effort to try to pry him out? No, I’ll not hold out any hope for the feds to do any (well earned) damage. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2024, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/984 "2024-08-28T21:57:14Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Every single piece of Texas does that? Or just the government? Are there parts of Texas that aren’t subject to the Texan government? ---
**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:** [August 28, 2024, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/985 "2024-08-28T22:40:25Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Are there parts of Texas that aren’t subject to the Texan government? Note that madmonk said nothing about the Texas _government_, which would be a whole different story. He was condemning the state itself and everything in it, even after being asked to clarify. The Texas state government is clearly a pile of shit. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2024, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/986 "2024-08-28T22:53:03Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Note that madmonk said nothing about the Texas _government_, which would be a whole different story. He was condemning the state itself and everything in it, even after being asked to clarify. What defines Texas as an entity, if not its government? If the government of Texas just vanished tomorrow, there wouldn’t be a “Texas”, just a bunch of people living north of Mexico. ---
**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:** [August 28, 2024, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/987 "2024-08-28T22:59:05Z")
True. And every city and county governmental entity is not. If anything, they struggle to give local citizens a reasonable standard of living _in spite of_ the state government. ---
**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:** [August 28, 2024, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/988 "2024-08-28T23:11:33Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > If the government of Texas just vanished tomorrow, there wouldn’t be a “Texas”, just a bunch of people living north of Mexico. It would still be called Texas until and unless it got another name. In fact, it was called “Texas” even before Mexico incorporated it into their empire. It didn’t become that on achieving statehood decades later. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2025, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/989 "2025-03-16T13:42:49Z")
Dear God. Nuttin’ better to do, eh? > **Texas bill seeks to create a criminal offense called ‘gender identity fraud’** > > [https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/gender-identity-fraud-texas-bill-20221864.php](https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/gender-identity-fraud-texas-bill-20221864.php) A **CRIMINAL OFFENSE**? Are you fucking kidding me?? Here’s the bill. Just one paragraph. > **[HB03817I.pdf](https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/pdf/HB03817I.pdf)** > > 104.11 KB > By:AAOliverson H.B.ANo.A3817 > A BILL TO BE ENTITLED > AN ACT > relating to creating the criminal offense of gender identity fraud. > BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: > > SECTIONA1.AASubchapter D, Chapter 32, Penal Code, is amended > by adding Section 32.515 to read as follows: > > Sec.A32.515.AAGENDER IDENTITY FRAUD. > (a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly makes a false or misleading > verbal or written statement to a governmental entity or the > person’s employer by identifying the person’s biological sex as the > opposite of the biological sex assigned to the person at birth. > (b)AAAn offense under this section is a state jail felony. > > SECTIONA2.AAThis Act takes effect September 1, 2025. > > 89R14268 AJZ-D 1 ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/990 "2025-04-03T18:47:58Z")
Jesus Titty-fucking Christ, just when you thought this state couldn’t get any more stupid and petty. The attorney general’s wife doesn’t get any sexual pleasure, so she wants to get the ID of anyone else who might be. > **[A Vibrator, Huh? Let's See Your ID.](https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/texas-lawmaker-wants-women-to-show-id-to-buy-sex-toys-22038057)** > > Sen. Angela Paxton, Ken Paxton's wife, continues the Republican war against masturbation. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2025, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/991 "2025-04-03T19:08:53Z")
When do we just rename it to Texastan and make it formal? ---
**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:** [April 3, 2025, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/992 "2025-04-03T19:55:49Z")
Texastan ruled by the Texaban. I like it. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2025, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/993 "2025-06-22T12:48:52Z")
Well, here’s a reason NOT to fuck Texas/Abbott… at least not today. This story probably won’t be covered anywhere in the USA except Texas. And even here it won’t make the front page (or whatever passes for the front page these days). > **[With only 8% built, Texas quietly defunds state border wall program](https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/17/texas-border-wall-funding-ends-abbott-trump/)** > > Texas officials suggested the federal government could pick up construction. However, during President Trump’s first term, his administration built about one-third of what the state was able to put up in the same amount of time. > Four years after Gov. Greg Abbott announced Texas would be the first state to build its own border wall, lawmakers have quietly stopped funding the project, leaving only scattered segments covering a small fraction of the border. > > That decision, made in the waning hours of this year’s legislative session, leaves the future of the state wall unclear. Just 8% of the 805 miles the state identified for construction is complete, which has cost taxpayers more than $3 billion to date. The Texas Tribune [reported last year](https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2024/texas-border-wall-greg-abbott-landowners/) that the wall is full of gaps that migrants and smugglers can easily walk around and mostly concentrated on sprawling ranches in rural areas, where illegal border crossings are less likely to occur. > > State leaders suggested the federal government could pick up the effort. Insert gales of roaring laughter here. 🤣 > However, during President Donald Trump’s first term, **when wall building was his top priority** , his administration completed just 21 miles in Texas — about a third of what the state was able to build over the past four years. > > The Tribune reported [last year](https://www.texastribune.org/2024/07/03/texas-mexico-border-wall-greg-abbott-progress-cost/) that the state’s wall program would take around 30 years and more than $20 billion to complete. > … My bold. Remember those days? The Big Beautiful Wall? Remember the photo-ops under the blazing Texas sun? Let’s see: 8% of 805 miles is 64 miles. Built for $3 billion… that’s just under $47 million _per mile_ or just under $9,000 _per foot_. A really good use of funds in the state with the highest rate of uninsured _children_ in the country. 😡 * * * * * * BTW, the [Texas Tribune](https://www.texastribune.org/) is a good, reliable source of news. Mission statement: The Texas Tribune is the only [member-supported](https://www.texastribune.org/join), digital-first, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. I don’t know if articles are paywalled (including the link above-- someone let me know?), because I have subscribed for years. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2025, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/994 "2025-06-22T13:19:33Z")
No paywall. And thanks for the shaden…schaden…sheedin… thanks for the good news! ---
**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:** [June 22, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/995 "2025-06-22T13:59:44Z")
If 8% of the wall costs $3B, then 100% of the wall would cost _at least_ 12x that much. IOW, $36B. Not the $20B they’re claiming. And that’s before you consider the wall built to date was on the cheapest land, not the more expensive remaining land. And that’s before we consider ordinary inflation, etc. If for whatever silly assed reason that wall does get completed 20 or 40 years from now, it’ll have cost hugely more than a mere $20B of early 2020s money. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2025, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/996 "2025-06-22T14:09:40Z")
I think Abbott is counting on Trump forgetting about it or dying, or both. After all, if the governor spends money on the wall, then that money will not end up in the pockets of Rich Texas Republicans, and that would be a very sad thing, right? ---
**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:** [June 22, 2025, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/997 "2025-06-22T14:32:03Z")
Well, the ranchers who sold the land under the current wall segments to the TX government for vastly more that rangeland normally sells for are certainly happy R-voters. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2025, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/998 "2025-06-22T15:13:52Z")
I mean, the whole purpose of starting a state-constructed border wall was to troll the Dems, and now that the feds answer to the Republican party, there’s no need for state taxes to go to that end. We can count on that to change in 2028 if a Democrat wins the White House… ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/999 "2025-06-22T15:31:54Z")
Just in case you think our “great” state of Texas shouldn’t continue to get fucked: > **[Texas will require public school classrooms to display Ten Commandments under...](https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/24/ten-commandments-texas-schools-senate-bill-10/)** > > Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 10, even though a similar Louisiana law was deemed unconstitutional. Supporters say Christianity is core to U.S. history. And our sadistic, piece-of-shit governor continues is reign of horror, requesting another execution date for an autistic man convicted of murder based on junk science: > **[Attorney General Ken Paxton requests new execution date for Robert Roberson](https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/17/texas-robert-roberson-execution-date-ken-paxton/)** > > A judge could set a new execution date for no sooner than 90 days from now, though Roberson has a pending appeal. To (approximately) quote Sheldon Cooper, they call it the “lone star state” because that’s it’s Yelp rating. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2025, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1000 "2025-06-22T16:45:43Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > And our sadistic, piece-of-shit governor Sorry, our sadistic, piece-of-shit Attorney General… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289.md?page=49) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289.md?page=51)