Mastodawn

Guys, we knew screw worm was headed north. We knew it would get here, absent profound mitigation efforts. We CHOSE to not help Mexico control it. We CHOSE to not prepare. We could have been producing and releasing millions of sterile flies daily, at a cost much less than the collapse of the Texas beef industry, but again, we CHOSE to focus on racist nazi nonsense instead. Trump, Abbot, and their goons own this, full stop. (Also, fuck the guys who voted for their own demise…)

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Zimmie 1d ago

@mcnado What’s wild is this almost certainly won’t change any minds. The people who voted Republican will continue doing so to “save the oil and gas industry”, even after seeing how thoroughly the Republicans bungle every single industry they’ve said they would save.

Everybody I have ever asked *hates* Ted Cruz. The people who voted for him did so because they thought Allred would hurt fossil fuels.

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Passwordsarehard4 1d ago

@bob_zim @mcnado does the normal Texan get any money from it? I’m sure they work in the oil fields, man the refineries, and the like but they could also just build solar farms, install wind turbines, and maintain battery storage sites. Is it just a “five families” control the narrative kind of thing or is there some state payment like Alaska has?

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Zimmie

@passwordsarehard4 There’s not a state-level dividend or anything. If anything, the average Texan likely *pays* money due to state subsidies to the oil companies. It’s just that the oil companies are among the biggest employers in the state.

Allred’s position in his race against Cruz was to promote solar and wind, as well as the tech sector (popular in DFW around TI and Dell). Cruz basically didn’t have any positions, but won solely because of a perception that Republicans support the oil industry and Democrats want to kill it.