# 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:** 52
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1021 "2025-09-15T17:15:18Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > First - Humbly requesting the “Reluctantly” be removed from the thread title. I second that emotion. I see it was over a year ago: can they take guns into the state fair? Whatever became of that? ---
**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:** [September 15, 2025, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1022 "2025-09-15T17:24:41Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > > [@smithsb](#): > > > > First - Humbly requesting the “Reluctantly” be removed from the thread title. > > I second that emotion. Look, some of us live here. We are appalled at what is going on. We are dismayed that our state gummint needs to be fucked. We agree that it does. But we **hate** that it does. Politics isn’t 100% of Texas or of life. I would support changing the title to “Fuck Texas Politics/Government.” Otherwise, just leave it alone. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1023 "2025-09-15T17:29:54Z")
I appreciate your sentiment. But you, as a Texas resident, could have answered my second question, too. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1024 "2025-09-15T17:35:29Z")
Would you also add “…and the majority of voters that put them in charge”? ---
**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:** [September 15, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1025 "2025-09-15T18:47:35Z")
> **[State Fair of Texas Continues No Firearms Policy for 2025](https://thetexan.news/issues/second-amendment/state-fair-of-texas-continues-no-firearms-policy-for-2025/article_94f2bda7-a894-41b4-b804-3d164b70d395.html)** > > New and returning firearm protocols at the State Fair of Texas come amid scrutiny from elected officials. So, still banned from the state fair. ETA: > **[State Fair of Texas Announces Safety & Security Measures for 2025 Event |...](https://bigtex.com/state-fair-of-texas-announces-safety-security-measures-for-2025-event/)** > > ... read more > Weapons Policy > As a private not-for-profit organization, the State Fair of Texas prohibits fairgoers from carrying all firearms, knives (other than small pocketknives), clubs, explosive devices, ammunition, chemical dispensing devices, replicas or hoaxes, or other weapons of any kind. This includes holders of a License to Carry, Constitutional Carry, Concealed Carry, and the Open Carry of firearms anywhere on the fairgrounds, including Cotton Bowl Stadium. This policy does not apply to current peace officers or qualified retired peace officers in accordance with state law. Peace officers’ credentials will be verified by Dallas Police Department officers during the screening process. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1026 "2025-09-15T20:18:20Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > So, still banned from the state fair. Thanks, and good for the Fair. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2025, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1027 "2025-09-16T04:10:34Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Would you also add “…and the majority of voters that put them in charge”? I have family and friends living in Texas, all safely on the blue side of the spectrum, and they agree 100% that there a a ton of people that deserve your hate. But majority is probably wrong. Those of us living outside the state can’t readily grasp how horribly the game is stacked - the recent gerrymanding is just the cherry on top of one of those “challenge” giga-Sundae’s of hacks and corruption. Arguably, Texas Republicans were breaking the law with Trump-like immunity and disregard for the law long decades before Trump took it mainstream. If the state government hadn’t stacked the deck cold and hard for decades, challenges could be brought. But prior (D) administrations lacked the majority, influence, or political currency to step in. And I won’t say more about how much our ever-more-political SCOTUS has given them cover either. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2025, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1028 "2025-09-16T12:02:28Z")
While I’d sort of agree that outright majority is iffy, don’t forget Abbott, Cornyn, Cruz, among others, hold positions elected statewide and all won by decent, though perhaps not spectacular, majorities the last time each of them ran. But that last part is probably telling. In a ‘deeply’ red state, getting more than 55% of the vote is still damned difficult for these clowns. And most of those voters aren’t exact “study the issues” types. More like “vote the same party I have for the last 30 years” types. So, yes, majority but not as solid of a majority as the stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1029 "2025-09-16T15:46:03Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > the recent gerrymanding is just the cherry on top of one of those “challenge” giga-Sundae’s of hacks and corruption There has to be a point where gerrymandering blows up in their faces. I mean, if you have, say, five districts to work with and draw lines so three or even four of them barely get majorities for your side and the other side’s voters get stuffed into the one(s) remaining then piss people off to the point where 60+% of _everyone_ won’t vote for you, those bare minorities vanish. ---
**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:** [September 17, 2025, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1030 "2025-09-17T04:15:13Z")
My understanding is that you pick a few “through away districts” that can’t be bothered with (big Metro areas for example) to which you glom on any other loosely (very!) connected territories, and then assemble otherwise however you want. None of this requires being “fair” in anyway. If you want to give, say, the DFW metro plex one token vote (plus any liberal areas around) and another to Austin (ditto) and then arrange for everything else to be red or close to it, you have the powerless opposition entirely sidelined when the SCOTUS says “hands off”. So you could have (easy but false numbers) 10 million people. 4 million are liberal or lean that way, 6 are conservative. But you decided you have 20 districts. You put a million libs in District 1, another million in 2, and divide up the other remaining **18** districts with the last 2 million libs against 6 million conservatives, and the conservatives win every single time, leaving the two districts outnumbered in representation 9-to-1. VAST, I say, VAST oversimplification of course. For example even blue metro areas are at best still blue-ish purple), and there are some liberals outside the metro, so the division isn’t nearly as easy as the example above. But it’s even worse for the whole TX voting BS - each county only gets ONE voting area. So a county of 10,000 people gets one, and a county with a metro city of millions ALSO only gets one. Who is going to have an easier time voting? It’s BS, corruption, dishonesty or what have you all the way down. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2025, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1031 "2025-10-28T15:53:57Z")
Just when you think it couldn’t get any more stupid there. # Texas files Tylenol lawsuit, taking cues from Trump and RFK Jr. [https://wapo.st/47xEKtf](https://wapo.st/47xEKtf) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2025, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1032 "2025-10-28T16:00:04Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > 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. What is the exchange rate between the US Dollar and the Republic of Texas’ [Texas Dollar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_dollar)? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1033 "2025-10-28T16:44:00Z")
> [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > Just when you think it couldn’t get any more stupid there. > > # Texas files Tylenol lawsuit, taking cues from Trump and RFK Jr. So they have to prove in court that Tylenol causes autism (and that they know it)? Go for it, I suppose. I look forward to the countersuit. ---
**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:** [October 28, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1034 "2025-10-28T23:54:15Z")
> [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > So they have to prove in court that Tylenol causes autism (and that they know it)? No, they don’t have to prove in court that Tylenol causes autism. They just have to file a lawsuit, so that people know that they’re “doing things to protect people”. It’s also advertising for the conspiracy theory, and serves as slander against Johnson & Johnson. The same way that Trump doesn’t have to prove anything for these bullshit indictments against people with zero evidence. The indictment itself is the end goal. ---
**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:** [November 16, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1035 "2025-11-16T14:56:55Z")
> **[Abbott vowing to gut funding for schools](https://eedition.expressnews.com/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=73a6becb-124c-47ad-b7cc-8cfb631b8063&share=true)** > > Abbott vowing to gut funding for schools > Gov. Greg Abbott won his campaign to give taxpayer money to private schools. Now he’s promising to > starve public schools of the funds they need to compete. > > The governor promised to push through laws to make it almost impossible for school districts to > raise taxes. In announcing his run for a record fourth term, he also said voters should have the > power to reduce or eliminate school funding entirely. Abbott is aligning himself with the most reactionary members of his Republican Party. For decades, fringe conservatives have wanted to end government-run schools and send every child to private institutions run by clerics or ideologues under the banner of parental choice. > > … > > Texas already ranks 47th in the nation in public school funding and pays teachers $10,000 less a year than the national average. No surprise then that Texas students trail the nation in reading and math scores, according to the Nation’s Report Card, a nonprofit that analyzes testing data. > … But wait! Texas also ranks LAST in healthcare coverage for children. You go, Greg! Let’s make sure the next generation of Texans is ignorant, illiterate, and sick. 🙄 Yeah, I live here. ---
**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:** [November 16, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1036 "2025-11-16T16:24:51Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Let’s make sure the next generation of Texans is ignorant, illiterate, and sick. 🙄 But the survivors will be sooooo much tougher! ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1037 "2025-11-16T16:45:22Z")
Lately on YouTube there has been a flurry of ads touting how Texas is a great place to visit. Can’t imagine why. In a similar vein, now in the Valley is when our winter visitors start arriving. It will be interesting to see if/how many of the ones from Canada don’t come. ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1038 "2025-11-16T18:27:36Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Lately on YouTube there has been a flurry of ads touting how Texas is a great place to visit. …But you wouldn’t want to live there! 🥁 ---
**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:** [January 12, 2026, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1039 "2026-01-12T19:24:49Z")
Not exactly shocking: > **[Texas gives DOJ list of its 18 million registered voters](https://www.texastribune.org/2026/01/09/texas-voter-roll-trump-administration-justice-department-democrats-dnc/)** > > The Justice Department has asked states for their voter rolls with an eye toward purging ineligible voters. Democrats say sharing the data could violate federal election law. ---
**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:** [January 12, 2026, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289/1040 "2026-01-12T21:08:50Z")
Well, as long as we’re fucking Texas… > # Texans can now report public universities to the state over legal violations > > **Public universities found in violation of state laws could lose state funding until compliance is certified.** > > [Texas launches oversight office for universities DEI, SB 37 compliance](https://www.statesman.com/news/education/article/texas-public-universities-report-state-violations-21284609.php) > … > The creation of the new oversight office was authorized through [Senate Bill 37](https://legiscan.com/TX/text/SB37/id/3249603/Texas-2025-SB37-Enrolled.html), a law that took effect Jan. 1. It comes after a fall during which conservative lawmakers and activists [attempted vigilante enforcement](https://www.statesman.com/news/education/article/texas-a-m-president-welsh-resigns-conservative-21055980.php) online to rid [gender ideology](https://www.statesman.com/news/education/article/texas-a-m-fires-professor-abbott-21039973.php) from public universities. > > New policies now restrict how race and gender can be taught at [Texas A&M University System](https://www.statesman.com/news/education/article/tamu-system-says-no-course-advocate-race-21152966.php) and [Texas Tech University System](https://www.statesman.com/news/education/article/texas-tech-system-joins-texas-a-m-restricting-21216791.php). Professors lost their jobs this September after videos went viral online: one showed a professor[speaking at a revolutionary socialism conference](https://www.statesman.com/news/education/article/texas-state-university-fire-professor-21042529.php), and the other showed a [children’s literature professor talking about gender identity](https://www.statesman.com/news/education/article/texas-a-m-fires-professor-abbott-21039973.php) in her course. > … > Sen. Brandon Creighton, Senate Bill 37’s author, said his legislation [restores the balance of power](https://www.statesman.com/story/news/education/2025/05/24/sb-37-limiting-faculty-senates-core-curriculum-poised-to-x-house-creighton-ombudsman-texas-higher-ed/83840342007/)at universities and holds them more accountable to the public. Faculty who advocated against the law say [it replaces subject matter expertise with political influence](https://www.statesman.com/story/news/state/2025/05/16/texas-professors-advocates-protest-faculty-curriculum-restrictions-sb37-legislature/83624029007/). > > The Texas Tech University System, which Creighton now leads, banned courses that advocate for race or gender “ideology” or contain LGBTQ content… > … Texas _Stasi_ introduces the East German playbook. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289.md?page=51) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reluctantly-fuck-texas/933289.md?page=53)