" Because it's populist bullshit to use to win an election. "

Unless I'm mistaken, this is how an elected official stays an elected official.

Going against your constituents wishes, regardless of how silly those might be, is how you become an ex-elected official in a hurry.

A few things to note:

1) The State of Texas is doing everything they can to stop the influx of illegals at the Border into the State. The problem is the Biden administration is doing everything it can to stop them. Hence, the reason Texas started bussing said illegals into self-proclaimed " Sanctuary Cities " to turn up the pressure. As they are quickly finding out what Texas already knows, you cannot endure an influx of people that size with the finite amount of resources available. It simply doesn't work.

2) The State of Texas doesn't have a debt problem. In fact, it had quite the opposite last year. So much so, they changed the laws regarding property taxes in favor of the citizens. ( Homestead exemptions were raised quite a bit which will lower property taxes across the State )

3) Public Education I'll give you. It's a shitshow but definitely not limited to Texas. This entire country has become a lost cause when it comes to the education of the next few generations of adults.

All that said, the reason Texas does the things it does is likely due to the large amount of religious population that lives within its borders.

Folks can blame the legislature and / or the Governer all they want but when your constituents demand a thing, and they are a majority, you ( as an elected ) official ) must play along or your political career will be a very short one. Regardless of the popularity of how those decisions sit with the rest of the Country since they aren't the ones who will be voting in the Texas elections when they come about.

Do we all agree with it ? Of course not. But, again, those that disagree with how Texas is handling things are outnumbered ( voting wise ) by those that do.

Regardless of how you feel about it, that's how it works. Be mindful of this when folks talk of abolishing the Electoral College and simply want to go with majority rules. It's a very narrow viewpoint that's awesome when your side gets what it wants, not so much when the other side is getting what they want instead.

Finally, and unrelated, I have to ask about your username. ( sinij )

I've seen it before and am curious if it is associated with a certain group who were of the " Glory and Beer " persuasion.
The writing styles are similar, thus, I thought I would ask.

Hence the reason all of my locks ( including the one on my gun safe ) are of the analog variety.

I simply do not trust the digital variety.

In fact, as time goes on, I'm trusting digital anything less and less :|

All news sites in the US are propaganda or sensationalism . . . . or both.
They are the unofficial fourth branch of government, the one that shapes / manipulates public opinion.

They're so blatant about it these days ( they're all government mouthpieces, leaning Team Red or Team Blue depending on site ), it's comical.

The days of what used to be known as " The News " actually reporting non-biased, factual ( read that, useful ) information are long gone.

You literally could not pay me to watch any of it in this day and age.

" Murder is illegal too and that doesn't stop murder "

The number of mass shootings in this country tend to disagree with that statement.

It's akin to expecting a " No Guns " sign on the front of a Bank to deter bank robberies . . . . . .

People who are going to break the laws don't really care about the laws they're breaking.

The Supreme Court had enough foresight to understand that if they allowed the States the authority to remove Federal Election Candidates from the Ballot, that other States could and would do the same turning the entire election process into a bigger Circus than it already is.

Can you imagine the lunacy if all the Red States removed the Blue Candidate and vice versa ?

What would be the point of even having an election. . . . .

We really should implement maximum age limits for both Congress and the Presidency.

The latter has a minimum age requirement of 35, while Senators are 30 and Representatives are 25.

If we can institute minimum age requirements without running afoul of discrimination laws, so too can we enact maximum age restrictions.

LOL

" I'm sorry I've offended the Biden-internet defense task force -- my sincerest apologies. "

Had you said such blasphemy over on Reddit, they would have carpet bombed your Karma back to the Stone Age
and banned your account from posting in their sub-reddit. :P

You're likely to remember due to the age of your account, but many others in here will not recall that George Bush Jr. was a horrific speaker as well.

The ability to speak to a crowd has never been very meaningful when it comes to US Presidents. :P

If anyone is stealing source code from Microsoft it's likely for the purposes of how NOT to build an operating system.

" gouging customers for massive fees "

Only for the idiots who sign up for variable rate pricing.
Those who have IQ's in the triple digit range know to sign up for fixed rate pricing.

It's akin to having a variable interest rate mortgage or credit card. Absolutely terrible idea.

Believe it or not, the Texas Electrical Grid does just fine.
It is not on it's last legs nor does Texas have any difficulties keeping the lights on.

You wouldn't know it from the folks in here parroting what they hear from Main Stream and / or
Social media though. According to them, Texas is one step away from lights out and everyone
is going to die because of it. :|

I've lived in this State for forty five plus years and with the exception of the extreme cold* of February
2021, the only time the power goes out on a large scale is during Natural Disasters that are common to the State.

*Trivia: Temperatures that low for extended periods of time are exceptionally rare. So rare that the homes South
of Dallas typically are not constructed with extreme cold temperatures in mind. Hence the issues with interior water
pipes self-destructing when they freeze over.

The vast majority of those being Hurricanes and Tornados.
( I would love to see those who claim their power stays on with 150+ mph winds and / or massive flooding outside )

If the power grid was truly an issue, I would have a whole home generator in place.
( So would everyone else so, try not to let the media manipulate your thinking for you. The grid is fine. )

Now, that said, if there IS an issue with the Texas Power Grid it's that they have allowed the Bit Coin Boys to operate here.
Combined, they use about ~3GW of power every DAY. In comparison, my home uses about 1200 KwH on a daily basis on average.
( Or, to do the math, the equivilent of 2.5 million homes worth of power. EVERY DAY )

What this has done, is drive up the demand for electricity and the prices in Texas now reflect this.

Due to high demand being a factor in setting prices, electricity costs have gone up ~55% since BitCoin has started operations here.
( Pre BitCoin I was paying ~9c / KwH. Post BitCoin you're lucky to find anything lower than ~14c / KwH depending on where in Texas you live. )

"What we really need however, is the data centers to pay for their own power to isolate residential from datacenter costs."
I agree with this statement 100%

It is ridiculous.

News / media write headlines designed to absorb as many eyeballs as possible.

They could have simply wrote " Man charged with importing refrigerant without a license " but that wouldn't
have been quite the attention grabbing headline would it :|

At least they didn't write "Man contributes to the doom / extinction of the human species by importing material detrimental to the atmosphere " . . . . :|

This business model will vanish just as quickly as it came into be.

For those who still eat at fast food establishments, they do so because it's cheaper / faster than going to a normal restaurant.

If you think anyone is going to play " Guess the price of your food today ! ", you're sadly mistaken.

They'll simply go somewhere else.

Of all the things the WhiteHouse -COULD- be working on, they choose one that's hardly an issue to begin with. :|

That wide open border should be priority number one.
The insane costs of rent / housing and food.
Inflation / high prices in general.

Followed by ( in any order ):

The Mental Health crisis. ( Which, imo, is the primary factor in play for most mass shootings we see )
The ongoing opioid / fentanyl problem.
The massive amount of distrust / disgust most americans have with their government.
The homeless problem.
Exporting unlimited amounts of money to foreign causes while ignoring domestic ones.
Allowing foreign powers ( especially hostile ones ) to purchase land.
Intelligence agencies spying on everyone and everything without oversight of any kind.

This list can go on and on, but you get the idea.