Texas politics

[TexanStar]

Gonna be selfish and start a thread to talk Texas Some of it will be super local, but I'll kick it off with something that affects the national stage... Beto O'Rourke -vs- Ted Cruz.

Where do you guys see this going?

Beto O'Rourke is very well spoken, hews closer to moderate, and likes to swim in the deep end of political issues. This is him on the NFL protests:

He's also got some youthful indiscretions that may haunt them (a tresspassing incident as well as a DWI crash from which he may have tried to flee the scene). This was 20 years ago, but politics has a long memory.

His opponent is of course Ted Cruz. He's GOP establishment and a party loyalist, but he's also personally gross and smarmy and in a display of true spinelessness is inviting the same man who lobbed repeated insults at not only him, but also his wife, down to TX to come stump for him (Donald J Trump).

They're polling pretty closely and GOP is having a bit of a meltdown about it. Ted, who changed his name to "Ted" as a teenager because people were calling him "Frito" has also accused Beto (who's gone by Beto since he was a toddler) of changing his name to appeal to Hispanic voters (cuz apparently that's something Toddlers do?) and is just an example of the kind of panic mode they're in.

So where do you guys see it going? TX has a lot of Democrats, but on balance it's still a red state (47% Republican, 42% Democrat, 11% Independent). But there's room in there for independents to swing things under favorable circumstances.

I can't call it at this point. I'll be voting for Beto, and I've seen a lot of Beto yard signs around (a shit ton more than I ever saw for Hillary), but it's still Texas. Best I can speculate right now is that it's in the realm of possibility.

 

[TexanStar]

On the flip side, just in case anyone's worried the Texas Democratic Party is fully getting it's act together... we have the governor's race. I hope you like trains, cuz this one's a train wreck.

That's Sheriff Lupe Valdez, who narrowly beat out her more qualified competitor from Houston in the Democratic primary (insert apathetic DFW flag waving here).

This woman just does not know what she's doing. Picture all of the political cluelessness that Trump has and then just imagine what a Democrat would look like with the same poor grasp of how the system itself functions and that's Lupe Valdez.

She has raised only 1% of the funds that Abbot has (I'm not even joking... she literally has raised only 1% of the funds that Abbott has... she couldn't even buy a 4 bedroom house with her war chest) and polls have Abbott ahead by like 20 points.

What's interesting is how all the downticket races are faring. Abbott's ahead by like 20 points, but the lieutenant governor's race is tied up similarly to Beto -vs- Cruz. So there is the possibility that we have a Republican Governor (Abbott) and a Democratic Lt Governor (Mike Collier).

Anyways, it's all interesting to watch.

P.S. Lupe Valdez backed out of debates with Abbott because she was worried it would conflict with Friday night football. *facepalm*. Then she agreed to a debate, but with a different debate than Abbott had proposed. Guess she's still busy looking for her service weapon. Trrrrrain wrrrrreck.

 

[TexanStar]

Gonna be selfish and start a thread to talk Texas Some of it will be super local, but I'll kick it off with something that affects the national stage... Beto O'Rourke -vs- Ted Cruz.

Where do you guys see this going?

Beto O'Rourke is very well spoken, hews closer to moderate, and likes to swim in the deep end of political issues. This is him on the NFL protests:

He's also got some youthful indiscretions that may haunt them (a tresspassing incident as well as a DWI crash from which he may have tried to flee the scene). This was 20 years ago, but politics has a long memory.

His opponent is of course Ted Cruz. He's GOP establishment and a party loyalist, but he's also personally gross and smarmy and in a display of true spinelessness is inviting the same man who lobbed repeated insults at not only him, but also his wife, down to TX to come stump for him (Donald J Trump).

They're polling pretty closely and GOP is having a bit of a meltdown about it. Ted, who changed his name to "Ted" as a teenager because people were calling him "Frito" has also accused Beto (who's gone by Beto since he was a toddler) of changing his name to appeal to Hispanic voters (cuz apparently that's something Toddlers do?) and is just an example of the kind of panic mode they're in.

So where do you guys see it going? TX has a lot of Democrats, but on balance it's still a red state (47% Republican, 42% Democrat, 11% Independent). But there's room in there for independents to swing things under favorable circumstances.

I can't call it at this point. I'll be voting for Beto, and I've seen a lot of Beto yard signs around (a shit ton more than I ever saw for Hillary), but it's still Texas. Best I can speculate right now is that it's in the realm of possibility.

Don't wanna leave Ted out.

Here's Senator Cruz's wading pool thoughts on NFL protests.

God he's smarmy.

 

[keenobserver]

Beto has made it interesting. I raised his name here a few months ago and Max Polo claimed never to have heard from him. I don't know if Texas is quite ready to tip back to the Democrats, but it is closer than everyone thought it would be. I see the GOP "Beto" shaming about his band and youthful indiscretions has backfired on them, given that Trump pussy grabbed his way to the WH and Cruz's dad killed JFK (according to Trump). Abbott is typically crooked as a dog's hind leg, but I guess crooked beats incompetent for Guv. Definitely Texas will be one to watch. Assume the GOP will go to global thermonuclear war to keep this one red.

Good luck.

 

[554279]

Don't wanna leave Ted out.

Here's Senator Cruz's wading pool thoughts on NFL protests.

God he's smarmy.

If Ted ever served in the military he would understand the reason you have all that patriotism at 1700 on an Army base is because if a Sergeant Major caught a person in or out of uniform not doing that he would jump in their shit at a minimum, and if the person was in uniform and a major shit head they would run the risk of punishment under the UCMJ.

If he looked carefully at the stairwells and doorways on rainy, snowy or shitty days he would see an equal number of people trying not to get caught outside during flag call or reveille

 

[554279]

Ted's patriotism and grandstanding to derail Obamacare caused sequestration to kick in and ultimately cause severe funding cuts to DoD.

Ted the "great American" did more harm to the nations military and veterans than anyone taking a knee or the Russian and the Chinese hackers or the Mexican Immigrants (Muslim terrorists, other bad foreign people of the week, etc).

Fuck Ted

 

[TexanStar]

Beto has made it interesting. I raised his name here a few months ago and Max Polo claimed never to have heard from him. I don't know if Texas is quite ready to tip back to the Democrats, but it is closer than everyone thought it would be. I see the GOP "Beto" shaming about his band and youthful indiscretions has backfired on them, given that Trump pussy grabbed his way to the WH and Cruz's dad killed JFK (according to Trump). Abbott is typically crooked as a dog's hind leg, but I guess crooked beats incompetent for Guv. Definitely Texas will be one to watch. Assume the GOP will go to global thermonuclear war to keep this one red.

Good luck.

I think Max was probably being honest. He and I both live in DFW area and I hadn't heard of Beto either until a couple days before the primaries. I voted in the Democratic primary, but suspect Max would've voted in the Republican one (so even less reason to know who Beto was at the time).

Beto's the representative for El Paso and that's a nine hour drive from here (people forget how big this state is. It's feckin huge.

 

[554279]

Ted is a pasty faced smarmy, cocksucker, that causes my skin to crawl almost as much as the Donald.

 

[185248]

Ted is a pasty faced smarmy, cocksucker, that causes my skin to crawl almost as much as the Donald.

You just described most of the conservative party here in Aus

 

[554279]

You just described most of the conservative party here in Aus

I am beginning to think it's a global problem for politicians that see themselves as conservatives

 

[deleted15807]

O'Rourke made the front page of the Washington Post recently.

Beto's statement about kneeling is textbook response to the Trumpian lies about disrespecting the flag and the military. It's about good old American protest against bigotry and racism in many police shootings.

Why so many people are coming to see Beto O’Rourke: A revolt against Trump and a demand for compassion​

 

[keenobserver]

The kid's got game, ya gotta give it to him - David Hogg's GoFundMe wants to put Trump's anti-Cruz tweets on Texas billboards

 

[TexanStar]

The kid's got game, ya gotta give it to him - David Hogg's GoFundMe wants to put Trump's anti-Cruz tweets on Texas billboards

Oh yeah... this is gonna be fun.

 

[TexanStar]

 

[Penis Aficionado]

I will vote for Beto but honestly I'm not impressed with him. Yes he is remarkably progressive on "issues" for a Texas Democrat, having largely aligned himself with the Bernie/Liz Warren agenda. But just on a gut level, he comes off as a slick, toothy, blowdried white-savior liberal from another era of politics.

He was on Maher a few months ago. He made sort of a vague, semi-supportive gesture toward single-payer health care, and when Maher questioned his sincerity he was kind of like, Hey, I'm with Bernie, yay ... I think.

I don't have much confidence that if he actually got elected, he would be any kind of leader.

I would like and respect him more if he went after Cruz the way Trump did. The reason I will vote for Beto is because Cruz is among the most repulsive human shitstains to walk the earth. It makes me sick that so many Texans don't see that Cruz is a super-elitist, egghead Ivy League snob through and through (at Princeton he famously refused to associate with anyone who went to the "bad Ivies" -- Cornell, Dartmouth and Brown. Imagine what he thinks of mere Longhorns and Aggies!). I guarantee he thinks of the average working-class Republican voter in Texas as an unread dumbass brute who would frighten him if he didn't have security standing by.

The truest thing Trump ever said was, Lyin' Ted, he takes his Bible, holds it high -- puts it down and then he lies.

 

[Penis Aficionado]

You're totally right about the governor's race. If there's a Green Party candidate for governor I will vote for them. Maybe I will write in Kinky Friedman? The only way I would ever vote for a *sheriff* for governor is if they had refused to arrest people for nonviolent drug and sex crimes.

I may actually vote for the despicable Jesus freak Abbott just to register my disgust with the Democrats for offering this.

 

[Penis Aficionado]

 

[TexanStar]

You're totally right about the governor's race. If there's a Green Party candidate for governor I will vote for them. Maybe I will write in Kinky Friedman? The only way I would ever vote for a *sheriff* for governor is if they had refused to arrest people for nonviolent drug and sex crimes.

I may actually vote for the despicable Jesus freak Abbott just to register my disgust with the Democrats for offering this.

Agreed. I mean... I do live and work here. Regardless of the bills they're going to sign or veto, the governor plays an important role in stewarding the state and you can't just stick any random person up there and expect the state to be healthy for it. I would've voted for Andrew White if he'd survived the runoff, but I just can't in good faith cast a vote for Valdez, so Greg Abbott it is The only other option on the ballot will be a libertarian (noooo thank you).

Pretty much everyone else on my ballot will be Democrat.

 

[TexanStar]

Texas' construction boom would be even greater if U.S. had a coherent immigration policy

Sometimes it's worth taking a look at an old subject through a new lens. For example, to understand why there's a chronic construction labor shortage in Texas, think one word: immigration.

Immigrants make up about 41 percent of the construction trades in Texas, or close to twice the share of immigrants in the U.S. construction labor force, making this region heavily dependent on foreign-born tradesmen. Factor in the perfect storm of slowed immigration from Mexico, Hurricane Harvey reconstruction and the white-hot construction market in North Texas, and the outcome is predictable. Demand continues to outpace supply, and we all are paying a price.

 

[keenobserver]

Texas' construction boom would be even greater if U.S. had a coherent immigration policy

Sometimes it's worth taking a look at an old subject through a new lens. For example, to understand why there's a chronic construction labor shortage in Texas, think one word: immigration.

Immigrants make up about 41 percent of the construction trades in Texas, or close to twice the share of immigrants in the U.S. construction labor force, making this region heavily dependent on foreign-born tradesmen. Factor in the perfect storm of slowed immigration from Mexico, Hurricane Harvey reconstruction and the white-hot construction market in North Texas, and the outcome is predictable. Demand continues to outpace supply, and we all are paying a price.

Interesting article. I would be interested in seeing more specific numbers on how this shortage is affecting wages of existing tradesman now. The article mentions between 1 and 4 thousand dollars more in construction costs, which affects price obviously, but I wonder how that amount is distributed in terms of actual wages to how ever many people may be working on site. Statistically, right now wages are remining stagnant or declining nationwide, but this is a very specific situation and I'm wondering how it is affecting workers vs. construction company charging more but not passing the cost along to workers.