A couple weeks ago here in TX we voted on 17 state constitutional amendments. I want to say 12-13 of those were some form of tax cut for the wealthy. I voted against all of them but they all passed. And they passed big, like 60-70% to 40-30%.
The wording they used to describe the amendments was very much skewed to make them sound wonderful. No negatives, only positives. For instance, something like this may have had the wording “more money for schools”.
On its face it seems like a good idea - fewer taxes for me, more money for schools - what could go wrong? I assume most folks just looked at it said “ok” without much additional thought.
It’s very frustrating to basically have the large majority of voters approve this, giving the state government reassurance that they can do whatever they want, when it’s an obvious lie.
Nothing they do is to help the “regular” people of Texas. It’s all tax breaks for businesses and the super wealthy and Christian Nationalism disguised as “parental choice”.
Lenz Jacobsen wrote in Die Zeit: "Someone who, on a political stage during a political speech in front of a partly far-right audience swings their right arm upwards diagonally multiple times, is giving the Nazi salute. There's no need for 'alleged' or 'similar' or 'disputed'."[72] Timo Feldhaus wrote in the Berliner Zeitung: "That Elon Musk carefully considered his energetically performed signal, is safe to assume. Even a man as oblivious to history as he is knows what he's doing in this situation."[73]
Jan 6 is All King’s Day, when the 3 Kings visited Jesus…aka Epiphany…aka the first day of Mardi Gras season.
I’m not religious, I’m just from a culture where Mardi Gras is very important. And imo, we should all celebrate a day for no other reason than to eat, drink, and be merry :)
Edit: Holy shit, just realized I’m replying to the wrong comment lol
I’m very sorry for your loss, but that’s a really great accomplishment. I’m glad you 2 were able to find each other and that you were able to learn from your experience with him. All the best <3
One of the priests at the Catholic school/church I went to was a family friend.
Years later it came out that he had been abusing an altar boy who was just 1 grade behind me. I’d see this kid all the time.
When my mom told me he had been arrested and why, she said “But don’t tell anyone” - because he was “a friend”.
I said bullshit - I’m telling everybody I see.
He’s in prison forever now but that poor kid…and that’s just the one I know about.