CardinalBacker

I hear what you’re saying, BUT… that hammers the hell out of poor people and the ones with multiple properties don’t eat any more than the poor ones. In fact, you’d basically just be taxing a lot of peoples’ EBT payments. The government can’t get ahead by taxing what they’re already borrowing to give to people. I think well off people should pay more… but the scale as it exists is broken. For the sake of argument, my mom’s house in Groves is valued at $125k. 2/1/1 on a slab. Her tax bill is $850/year. Without exemptions, her bill would be 3200. It’s right on JCAD’s website. The problem is this…. If someone tries to rent out an identical house, they’d expect to get, what… $1200/month? If you take into account that homeowners/windstorm/flood is a minimum of another $2k per year, you’d need $5k a year just to cover the taxes and insurance. That’s four months (1/3 of the year) just to cover those costs, not counting a potential mortgage payment. But then everybody cries about how expensive rents are… you can’t tax the hell out of non-homestead property to make up for gifts given to homeowners in the form of big tax cuts. It just doesn’t work. Ten acres in Lumberton? I’ve got a buddy with 10 acres in Lumberton on HWY 69. Prime property… it’s his retirement plan. Sale it one day and cash in. The CAD decided that it no longer qualifies for a special use valuation (timber) and stripped his “exemption.” His 2023 tax bill jumped from $25 to $22,000…. It’s insane.

Seniors already get a healthy break on their property tax bill (in addition to their homestead exemption) upon turning 65. They can also defer payment of their taxes… but the bills will still pile up with late fees, etc… they just don’t have to pay for now-it will get paid eventually, though. The “I don’t even have kids in school” argument is a dumb one. How about the “I don’t live on a county road, I shouldn’t pay county road and bridge taxes?” Nobody says “I’ve never had a house fire… I shouldn’t have to pay for an emergency services district, either.” The average cost to educate a student in Texas is running about $10k per year. That amount should need some justification, but that’s a different argument. BUT it would cost a family with three kids $30k a year for education if only the people with kids in school paid for education, and nobody can afford that. The latest round of tax relief focused heavily on property with homestead exemptions and ignored non-exempt properties (think second homes, rent houses, commercial property, etc…) that might win votes, but it hurts a lot of people and businesses. When the burden gets shifted from one group to another, there will be repercussions such as higher rental rates, etc. If you want to affect change, attack spending at large… don’t focus on trying to get out of paying for yourself and shoving the responsibility of paying onto others is what I always preach.

They call it “merchandising the lie.” An operative (from any party) plants a blatantly false allegation to some shady “news” source. When that shady news source then does what media outlets do, the person that initially planted the rumor points at the story and says “sources are reporting (that thing I made up). And you lap it up if it supports your belief that the election was stolen. To be honest, this was the biggest problem with the campaign to stop the will of the people in 2020. You had people making stuff up, the underground “media” running forward with these lies, then actual figureheads (Rudy, Trump himself, Windell, etc) repeating these blatant lies as truth… when they were easily disproven it just weakened any potential case, not helped, and it’s landed people in jail. Unfortunately, some low information supporters STILL refuse to accept the truth. There was no widespread election fraud in 2020… but they’ll stay online all day looking for articles “that big media ignores” and forward them around on social media with taglines like “what say you?!!” You didn’t just find the golden key to turn back time on some obscure Twitter feed… you just found somebody else lying to get likes/shares. The thing nobody wants to explain is this… IF cheating put Biden in the White House and nothing has been done to fix the problem, why is 2024 going to be any different? It won’t, because 3/4 of America hates Donald Trump, but the other quarter is really committed.

Well, as always, you’re completely wrong. There were 168 million registered voters in 2020. Do more than copy/paste. [Hidden Content] Table one…. But I’m sure you won’t believe it because it’s not some right wing nut job with no sourcing throwing the information out-THOSE guys you believe, lol. All they need to do is make a meme with something about election interference and you’re like “See?!!! PROOF!!!” Y’all are making people rich by buying their lies.

It’s been explained over and over, you just can’t handle the truth. They’re running it back and Trump will lose bigly… again. Reading the same book twice won’t change the ending. Biden wins a cakewalk in 2024.

And that’s where I’m strange I guess. In my mind, the grown men who would start a thread blaming the current President for creating an event that originated 12 years before he came into office (and 15 years before today) because it “interferes with OUR holiday” is probably the wussiest thing a “man” would ever do. Let’s be honest… most “conservatives” today are just old-school racists and homophobes. It’s why they get so uptight about crossdressers, black presidents, etc…what’s Joe Biden done wrong? “You mean Joebama? He’s just like that no-good…”

You’re gonna lose your mind when you find out what the rest of us do at Mardi Gras, lol. That’s part of your most holy Easter Season, I’m pretty sure. I’m betting that you refused to watch MASH because of Corporal Klinger, too.

You got it backwards. The Trans day was designated as 3/31 EVERY year. The Christians decided to have Easter on 3/31 this year when it literally could have been on any Sunday in March or April. Y’all should take a break from worshipping the “Two Corinthians” guy and worry about your own souls. [Hidden Content]

A jury found that he did it. Then Trump lost two subsequent lawsuits for defaming the person that he raped. I guess she just wasn’t very found of being grabbed by her fematalia, huh. Words have comsequences… even when the so-called “Christians” chalk it up as locker room talk. The best part is that if Trump declared Easter Sunday to be transgender appreciation day, every single one of y’all would all be rummaging around in your wives’ closet trying to find something to wear. Kinda like being proud of Trump getting us a vaccine at “Warp Speed,” then refusing to take the thing after Biden/Harris hung it to him in a free and fair election.

Let me get this straight…. Easter can only happen on a Sunday in March or April, but you believe that back in 2009 Joe Biden picked 3/31 for Transgender Day because he knew that in 15 years it would fall on Easter Sunday just to ruin your Easter Egg Hunt? As a Christian, I’m more upset about the rapist peddling star-spangled Bibles.

Y’all believe anything you read, as long as it’s bad and about the democrats. First off, Transgender Visibility Day is on 3/31, every year. “Biden” didn’t proclaim anything. Secondly, Christians pick what day upon which Easter will fall based on astrology and some old calendar. Like witchcraft, almost. “The Eastern Christian churches still determine the Easter dates using the older Julian Calendar method. The usual statement, that Easter Day is the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs next after the vernal equinox, is not a precise statement of the actual ecclesiastical rules.” A more accurate headline would read “Christians try to cancel LGBTQ day by picking that day to also celebrate Easter in 2024.” Stop making people who think differently than you as boogeymen. You realize that you won’t make it into heaven if you have hate in your heart towards any group, right?

Wrong.

To be fair, I hate on EVERYBODY. Silsbee just seems to come up in the rotation more often.

Some kids just have a lot of quit in ‘em. Jk… in Silsbee’s case, I think that it’s a community/personality thing. Sometimes being really gifted athletically is a hinderance to the hard work and sacrifices it takes to win it all. We haven’t had anywhere near the success in baseball that Silsbee has had in basketball, but the communities are alike in that they have certain expectations for one program and completely lower expectations for their football programs. I’ve got the opinion that the Silsbee community doesn’t have the stomach for a coach that would demand the behaviors necessary to win an SC. You’re not getting better at football by playing AAU games or select ball… and when a lot of your best athletes focus on a sport other than football, the football gods will make you pay.

[Hidden Content] Another Republican Rep has announced that he’ll be leaving his office by April 19th, cutting the R majority in the House to ONE. The same day Majorie Taylor Greene (remember her? She was the one in the Trump hat at the SOTU making a fool of herself) today introduced a resolution that will call for the new Speaker of the House to be removed, just months after the bruising fight to replace the ousted MCarthy. What did Johnson do? Well, he brought forth legislation that (GASP!!!!!) had bipartisan support. So he has to go, huh? And to make their plan work like last time, the handful hardcore righties will have to work with the Dems to make it happen, lol. The sane Rs won’t touch this nonsense with a ten foot pole. The American people will NOT put this dysfunctional group in charge again, guaranteed. The republicans don’t deserve to lead anything until they wrestle the control of the party back from the right wing nut jobs that are currently calling the shots for the Rs. They got the House and all they want to do is fight over who gets to be the Speaker. It’s just insane. On a similar note, today Ken Paxton announced that he is going to file charges against Hunter Biden for over-inflating the value of his paintings. I can’t believe how stupid the Rs are these days.

And if my aunt had nuts they'd appoint her to a high-ranking position in our military.

Fair enough.... I can only speak about the ones that I've watched, and they weren't state qualifiers.

EXACTLY!

Are you just gonna gloss over the big hire that BC made this offseason?

There must be some mistake.... I don't see Silsbee anywhere on this list.

There are plenty of reasons that taunting, personal fouls, excessive celebrating, etc get penalized in organized games. Basic sportsmanship, the games "getting out of hand" leading to fights, and the list goes on. From what I've seen, 7-on-7 games tend to get far, far away from the spirit of the game-to see who can score more points. It turns into a trash-talking, posturing, exhibition of "Talent" that will hopefully lead to getting noticed by a scout and NIL money... not getting better at the game. Like I said, I'd rather sit in a gym all afternoon and watch "Big Baller Brand" wannabees act the same way.... at least I'd be indoors.

Not a great analogy, for numerous reasons. The cabinet maker won't come back around and complain to me that he's gotten screwed because he only made $20,000 this year and everybody else in construction makes $100k plus.... when the difference is that everybody else is working year around and this cat only wants to work for 14 days a year. Secondly, the cabinet maker provides me with a service that I can approve or disapprove. He might have to do something over or even correct something before paid, but at the end I receive a tangible thing or service. A teacher does his/her "best" and if Johnny still can't read, it's Johnny's (and his parents) fault. Don't even start mentioning tying teacher pay to student performance... which is how it works in the real world, where a tangible thing is exchanged for pay. Teachers are just like "sorry, I did my part... if it didn't work, it's not my problem. Teachers chose a part time job because they are, by definition, lazy.

If your job can be accomplished in 150 days per year, it's a part time job and should be paid accordingly. I said what I said.

I know of a “business” that runs a split crew on 4/10s… one crew works mon-thur and the other works tue-Friday, then they switch schedules every week. It’s nice for the employees… you get a regularly scheduled four day weekend every other week. Except it also means that they have, at best, half a crew in the office every Monday and Friday, or 40% of the time. They don’t understand why people are unhappy with the fact that you can’t get a phone call returned, ever, because the days when they’re all there, they’re playing catch-up. Boss is getting replaced as we speak, btw. Word is that the new boss will be forced to return the crew to 5-8s if they want the gig. Some jobs (not jobs that require public interactions) DO work well with 4 day work weeks. A good rule of thumb is “if you have posted business hours, a four day week is a bad idea.”

I was low-key expecting to see guys slapping each other in the face with white gloves.