CardinalBacker

It's the ironically named "Earned Income Credit" where they "refund" money to you that you never actually paid in. It's a windfall if you earn little to no money in a tax year, the government will send you a check to make it all better. It's based on the number of people in your household, etc. They can (and do) reach into the tens of thousands of dollars. The best scheme of all is when you work here as an illegal immigrant but "pay" your taxes, you can claim all of your kids back home as dependents and since they aren't American, they have no Social Security Numbers..... and their existence can't be verified. A citizen from another country can claim as many phantom dependents as he wants with no need to prove their existence, then the fact that he has so many dependents entitles him to Earned Income Payments. They literally take their W2s to shady tax preparers (you know, the ones with billboards) and collect thousands of dollars from the federal government. Can you blame them? It's the IRS that's being stupid. I prefer a progressive tax. People who make more should expect to pay more. The wheels fell of when you have top earners paying closer to 50% of their top income in taxes, but get accused of "not paying their fair share" by people who not only don't pay, but instead receive generous gifts from the treasury. And if you threaten to review the Earned Income Credit program, you're accused of "raising taxes on the poor" because you're threatening their gift. It's insane. No one should be receiving a nickel back from the IRS that they didn't pay in. The really sad part is that everybody who cares to admit what is happening knows that those giant tax "refunds" are most often wasted. A down payment on a new Kia, a set of rims, a new tv, or maybe some flashy clothes.... Nobody is setting that money aside to utilize throughout the coming year in an effort to improve their standard of living. That's why the child tax credits from 2021/2022 were sent out in smaller increments... to space those funds out over time so people wouldn't blow it all on day 1. So often those big "refund" recipients just head to the dealership, make a big down payment on a car that gets repossessed within six months and all they managed to do look good for a couple of months and ruin their credit.

I can’t think of another fan base that shows up to argue “y’all don’t understand… we’re losers. Always have been, always gonna be.” I’m over here arguing that we can be great from time to time if we could get some coaching, community support, and more of our athletes to play football AND baseball. Vidor posters have made it clear that there are no expectations of success in the community over there.

This is the goofiest thread ever… people like me keep saying “y’all are better than your record. Y’all should make the playoffs most years and make three rounds or so fairly regularly, y’all just need some better coaching.” Then all of the Vidor fans argue “Nuh uh!!!! We SUCK! Always have and always will. Lucky for us we had a coach that taught the boys Bible verses and we were lucky to keep him as long as we did!” BC sucks right now and has for the last few years. They went out and got a position coach from a storied program and so far it hasn’t worked. I’m guessing he’ll need to show some much delayed improvement this coming year or we’ll part ways. The kids in Vidor are scrappy. They just need some better coaching and community support. Not this “we’re just a bunch of losers” mentality that y’all are spewing.

You would have included PNG on your list before this year.

Truer words have never been spoken. Vidor is more of a "Homecoming Celebration School."

Heck, I'd move to Vidor if I could afford it... I mean, I can afford the house, I just don't have enough money for the old boats, appliances, junk cars, and other things you need out front to fit in over there.

To be fair, some communities want their kids get used to accepting defeat early in life. I mean, it is a part of life, right?

No.... you can win a lot of games with average players and good coaching.... and you can lose a lot of games with good players and bad coaching. Players/coaching are practically of identical worth in my mind. This past season should have taught us that, when you look at schools getting new coaches and excelling in some instances (PNG) and falling on their faces (WOS) with the same talent as the year before. Both remarkable turnarounds that have to attributed to coaching. LCM from 2021 is another fine example. Why the great turnaround that year? Peavey. Why the slump this past year? Players, or lack thereof. They're gonna be in the mix in District from hear on out, and will likely make noise in the playoffs in years when they have more talent on the field. That was NOT the case under the previous LCM coach. WOS had enough talent on the field to be playing into the fourth round in 2022, no question. Silsbee had a good year, but losing to HF, Jasper, and Silsbee in the same year? How very un-Mustanglike. Especially considering the number of seniors they had returning that year.

I didn't. We moved there when the kids were younger. There's no better place to raise kids in Orange County. Or on the Planet of Earth, for that matter.

I think it's obvious that the community over there sees winning as something different than the rest of us. That job opening should be for a "Great Man," not a HFC/AD.

You talking about state championships?

So why did Vidor keep catching Lindale in the first round? I thought 1s usually matches up with 4s, etc?

They dropped to 4a two years ago… yet haven’t won a playoff game.

I think that's what bugs me the most.... While I believe it's sinful for ME to participate in those activities, that's about as far as my opinion needs to go. I've never heard a good reason why a gay couple shouldn't be allowed to get married. I think it's perfectly acceptable for me to think something is wrong without feeling the need to make sure that everybody else has to abide by my beliefs and standards. But it's just gone too far when a person is labeled as "hateful" or "homophobic" not because of their actions, but for refusing to embrace the new norm. FWIW, those people who embrace "story time with a drag queen" at the local library wouldn't be very accepting of me teaching their kids about Leviticus. You teach your kids and I'll teach mine, and we'll just leave the schools out of it.... how's that sound?

True story... I can remember my mom refusing to let us watch Three's Company when I was kid because Jack Tripper "pretended" to be gay so he could live with the girls. She said something like "first they get you to laugh at it, then it's acceptable." My views are a lot more moderate on the subject than hers were. I'm a live and let live kind of person. But as I watch the Alphabet Mafia force drag queen shows on kids in some areas and people being labeled hateful for saying "you know, the Bible DOES say it's wrong" or refusing to wear a pride jersey (in this case), I think my poor old mama might have been partially right. Somewhere between her stance back then and where we are today is where we should have stopped on the LGBTQ issues.

I'm as conservative as they come and after the first debate in 2020, I had to really fight with myself as to whether or not I'd just stay home. He doesn't deserve to be the President. Watch the first couple of minutes of this clip from 2007. See if you can tell what's missing from US Politics today.

If he wins the nomination, ANY Democrat beats him worse than they did last time. The fact that he's leading in polls this early is not a reason to celebrate... It's a terrible omen. We already know that the he will drive Dems to vote against him like no other candidate in our history, and if by some chance a different Republican wins the nomination, a huge number of Trump's crybaby election deniers will refuse to vote for the Republican nominee... Either way, Trump's presence in the race assures a Dem President will be elected in 2024. Nobody that voted against Trump has "learned their lesson." They still hate him and WILL vote against him again. The only question is who will get their vote-because Trump certainly won't.

Bc fans have earned a reputation for being over-the-top, especially in baseball. I think it was ‘18 when our baseball got knocked out of the playoffs on a “bad call.” A solid pitch that would have been a called strike to end the game was called a ball… the opponents then scored to win on the next pitch. The only problem is that our fans had been in the umpire’s ear BRUTALLY all night long. Yeah, you might have made your point, but all you did was guarantee that the ref wasn’t going to give us the benefit of the doubt on a close one. The verbal assault all game long was terrible, and I’m confident it affected the ump’s performance, and not in a positive way.

I remember when my Dad (Marine) told me that he didn't feel like he owned anything worth killing somebody over... and I found it odd. I've reached an age where I'd defend myself or others, but I don't think I'd take a man's life over the contents of my wallet. I don't know if that's age or having kids or what.... I haven't watched the video, but as described it seems like it didn't have to happen this way.

You can go to any HS Varsity football game and you'll hear people howling at the refs on practically any play that has a bad outcome for the team in whose bleachers you're sitting. As you can only imagine, the other side howls every time that something doesn't go like it "should" for their team. The refs are getting an earful from one side or the other on practically every play. I've seen the crew send coaches up into our stands to tell parents to tone it down or they were going to be ejected for yelling over and over and over. I've seen our kids get bad calls (or no calls) in baseball games and I'm confident that it has a whole lot to do with "Dads" like yourself who know it all... and don't mind giving the ref and earful.... because it's their job, right? Every time someone has suggested that you, sir, should give reffing a try... you crawfish like the do-nothing, know-it-all that I'm sure that you are. It's all fun and games to scream at a ref, but knowing deep down in your heart you don't have the stones to do that job.... All you can do is complain.

It's a simple cause/effect problem.... There's a shortage of officials, so the quality of the officiating has gone down. There are a multitude of reasons, but the main thing is the abuse that officials have to endure these days. You can recognize that fact, or ignore it and watch as the sport(s) suffer. Whether "Dad" wants to believe it or not, the refs are the most important people at the game. Coach has a heart attack? Assistant steps up. A few kids go down? Second string comes in. Cheerleaders all get knocked up? Change the school mascot to the rabbits and play on. Lock the entire audience out of the gym? Nothing but squeaky shoes. Refs don't show up? That's a wrap. The blatant disrespect that the OP is tossing in all of his postings is the reason that people don't want to officiate... for any amount of money. It's simple.... fan/player/coach behavior is the number one reason for the officiating shortage we see today. Recognize it or don't.... but that's the problem and "they just need to call better games and then we'd leave them alone" is a really bad plan, Daddy.

I never said that… it just seems to me like Newton was making deep runs almost every year but they’ve been pretty quiet since that last trip to Dallas with the old man… have they made it out of the third round since?

It seems like they made deep, deep runs on a pretty regular basis. It just doesn't seem like that these last few years. I'm too lazy to go check the records.