As someone who lived in Texas for a decade, I was fully prepared for the US to abandon me after we voted in Greg Abbott again. Gubnatorial elections are popular vote elections not affected by Gerrymandering. We didn’t even have THAT excuse.

That being said, I always said that the rest of the US should cut off everything Oklahome going South and Texas going East as long as they offered a refugee program for those of us not batshit insane.

The only thing that would suck would be leaving behind the kiddos who dont have a say in where their crazy ass parents choose to live.

To this administration, that would be a feature not a bug.

I thought I was embarrassed the first time he was in office, and publicly played chicken with North Korea. I didn’t think he could get more childish.

Fuck, I was so wrong.

Bruh, as someone whose pay is 100% caught up in this shutdown, I applaud the Dems.

They might be protecting the status quo atm, but as least they’re taking a stand against shit getting worse. Everyone has to start somewhere!

They workin’ hard at it. Its now a requirement for all of us currently serving to have watched Kegsbreath’s speech to the Generals.

I had already watched it as it was happening just because I wanted to be mentally prepared for what would be coming, and I was saddened/pissed/horrified.

The second watch through wasn’t any better.

As someone who lived in a deep blue city in Texas for a decade, I can confirm you’re making the right decision.

Houston, Austin, and San Antonio are all dope to visit, but 100% not worth living there. And I will never willingly set foot in that state again.

Honestly! I was in Texas for the Snowpocalypse and I naively thought everyone had woken up to his sniveling spineless ways.

I genuinely thought “Even if Trump wins, Texas will get Allred.”

Then November happened and I was so fucking baffled. Cruz is reportedly abhored by EVERYONE.

Oof, glad I read this so we know what questions to ask/red flags to look out for if we ever do pull the trigger on purchasing a condo!

COA fees going from $110 to $930 is fucking wildly crazy work. Did they at least tell you WHY it shot up like that?

And its also crazy that special assessments cab be billed for that high per unit. We’d be fucked! I thought the point of paying COA fees each month was supposed to spread the cost of maintenance around/ensure there are savings in the bank to cover major repairs!

I’m also that coworker. Bought a 1995 build house in 2013, and sold it last year. Holy cost of maintenance. Roof, foundation, HVAC, plumbing, gutters, siding. We upgraded the windows too, so that was a choice, but nothing else was. Didn’t have money for professional interior upgrades because we were maintaining the structure itself instead.

If I ever buy a house ever again, it will be a condo so I’m only responsible for the INSIDE. As of right now, after all that, I’m happy renting. I’m so disinterested with painting and whatnot, that it doesn’t bug me to have white walls.

I do agree that the pet situation sucks though. We have 2 “aggressive breeds” that were strays we picked up off the street years ago (2016 and 2020), a Pit mix and a Dobie mix. Finding someone to rent to us with those was a chore. And for the few years we rented out our home (military. Lived in it while we were stationed there, rented it out for a few years, moved back in when we returned to the same duty station), we didn’t have a breed restriction.

We’re about to move across the country again, and I’m STOKED to be moving into an apartment. Rn we’re renting a SFH and it has been so nice knowing that money we had saved up isnt about to disappear because the water heater broke or whatever.

I legit thought Allred was it. I donated to his campaign the second I heard he was running.

He had the political chops since he had turned a deep red district in Dallas blue for the first time ever, and held it every time he was up for re-election.

He’s a former NFL player, which I thought was going to be a big deal to the backwater Texans.

He is Black, so all the racist Texans could point at him and be like “We CAN’T be racist! We voted for a BLACK man to be our SENATOR!”

And finally, he didn’t fucking have the devastating out-of-context Beto sound bit “Hell yeah we’re taking your guns!” to plague him endlessly.

FUCK I let myself get so optimistic, and I’m still really, REALLY bitter about it.

Right? Like for fuck’s sake, he could have at LEAST pressured Merrick Garland to do his goddamned job!

I have been saying this for years, as someone who lives in Texas: If the Dems stopped talking about “taking away guns”, then Progressive policies/candidates would win in landslide elections constantly.

I voted for Beto, donated to his campaign, had his yard sign, etc. But I knew that sound clip was going to haunt him forever.

Right? Like I feel like I’ve read how he’s “broken ranks” like 93 times already.

I think the list of times he’s voted with the Democrats would be shorter/more notable.

Bruh, this fact right here is truly what made me give up on Texas. Gerrymandering IS a valid excuse for the federal elections.

But when Greg Abbott, and Dan Patrick won AGAIN?!, I immediately was like “Fuck this state and everyone in it. We get what we deserve.”

I’m thinking its less to create drama, and more to be like “So he doesn’t have a mandate then, to do all this bad shit he wants to do.”

Its no longer being billed as “Landslide victory! Americans clearly want bigotry!”

This is a beautiful comment.

I’m still trying to have a relationship with my parents despite their love of Trump. My mother, she’ll go out of her way to avoid politics with me and my husband, and I asked for a family photo with my nieces and nephews for Christmas, and she made sure all their Trump paraphernalia was removed. I still havent talked to her since the election as I’m still processing the fact that she voted for that fucker.

My dad on the other hand…the last time I spoke to him ended in a screaming match that he initiated, where he hung up on me because I called him racist due to him UNIRONICALLY believing that immigrants ate dogs and cats.

They want to homeschool my niece and nephew, and that terrifies me. That was ANOTHER huge argument that we had over the 2021-2022 Christmas period. I really didnt think Id ever go back after that. But Im so scared that if I dont try, those kids will never be exposed to ANYTHING other than my parents hateful views. I grew up in that environment. I had some views that Im not proud of today until I left home @ 19. I know how fucking convincing they are/how much they push the “fAmIlY oVeR eVeRyThInG” narrative.

That being said, I dont live anywhere near them, and I only see them once, maybe twice in a year, so Im not sure exactly how much affect I can even have on my niece and nephew. But I feel guilty not trying.

Another two here cast for Allred today!

Honestly, while I’m watching the Presidential election with bated breath along with everyone else, I’m more invested in Ted Cruz and those 3 fuckwad Republican State Justices who are up for re election as well!

Fuck you Cruz, Blacklock, Bland, and Devine! LFG Allred, Weems, Jones, and Goldstein! Uproot those fascist fucks!

Lil Column “A”, Lil Column “B”

I’m AFAB, cisgendered/feminine af, and I’ve used so many all-gendered bathrooms. With men. “Manly men”, even! They were going pee in a urinal while I was peeing in a stall! At the same time! (This was on a very LGBTQ+ friendly cruise at the time, and only one bathroom on each floor had gender designations for those who really couldnt wrap their minds around the concept). Additionally, in the hipster areas of my major metro area, a lot of the cool bars/restaurants are all gendered as well!

Guess how many times Ive been raped/assaulted/harassed in a bathroom? Guess, Texas? Ill give you a hint: It was zero. Zero times.

Fuck, I hate this state.