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A Texas county devastated by deadly flooding earlier this month rejected federal funds in 2021 that could have helped install a flood warning system, with local officials and residents arguing they didn't want to be "bought" by the Biden administration.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

The extend of what rightwingers do to "own the libs" in the US always amazes me.

Maybe the Democrats should just make an event like "We don't jump off the cliff!" and see what GOP fans will do to "own them".

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Dying from a perfectly preventable disease by not taking a vaccination, to own the libs. Dying from a natural disaster from which you could have escaped to own the libs. Dying from all sorts of reasons, just to own the libs.

It is a shame that there seemingly is an endless supply of these hateful morons, because even with all the dying they still manage to control the US politically.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

Indeed. With them being such a death cult, you can expect them to be extinct in the near future. The problem is that they are determined to take the rest of the world with them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 hours ago

Nor sold down the river either.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 13 hours ago

Good, Israel desperately needs that money.

[–] [email protected] 94 points 1 day ago (3 children)

While the county ultimately kept the funds, they allocated the majority, about $8 million, to sheriff's department upgrades and public employee stipends.

So they decided fraud was better than safety.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 17 hours ago

Did they try shooting the flood?

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 day ago

$8 million grifted away while the bad actors beat their chests for the rubes

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

We need cops to keep us safe!

[–] [email protected] 33 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Didn't want to be bought - got sold out

[–] [email protected] 6 points 17 hours ago

Sold out the children, as is tradition.

[–] [email protected] 127 points 1 day ago (1 children)

While the county ultimately kept the funds, they allocated the majority, about $8 million, to sheriff's department...

Is that the same sheriff's department that didn't send the flood warning when asked to do so?

[–] [email protected] 55 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm sure the good ol' boy had his reasons. We should just trust in him and Jesus. And give him another $10 million.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The sad part is this is how the Biden administration actually thought. They could have restricted these funds from being wasted on stupid bullshit but instead did the moderate Dem thing and just let douchebag Republicans do whatever the hell they want so they could campaign on how bipartisan they were. At the end of the day, nobody in a position of power gave a shit about the safety of these people.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago

Gotta love Dems trying to be bipartisan on stuff like this, meanwhile now that Trump is in power he's denying grants to counties and cities unless they follow his anti dei executive orders.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 23 hours ago

Looks like they let their hubris let them be owned.

[–] [email protected] 161 points 1 day ago (4 children)

"We don't want to be bought by the federal government, thank you very much," a resident said. "We'd like the federal government to stay out of Kerr County and their money."

While the county ultimately kept the funds, they allocated the majority, about $8 million, to sheriff's department upgrades and public employee stipends

I... what? "We don't want your stinking money. We'll still take it tho... We just won't spend it on what we said we would. That'll show you dumb idgits!"

[–] [email protected] 79 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

This is extremely common rightoid behavior, even at a personal level.

Make a big outward show of being independent, self-made, wholly responsible for your own success...

... and the reality almost always is that this person is in fact getting subsidies or assistance or help from a wealthy friend or family member, but, they're lying about this, and very often mismanaging the money, which is 'ok' in their minds, because 'nobody knows' that money even exists.

...

Every Republican voter who is on welfare, but hates everyone else on welfare.

Every Republican business owner who gloats about being successful all thanks to themselves publically, but privately, amongst close friends, laughs about how good they are at manipulating their taxes or legal business structure so that they can get as many tax breaks and subsidies as possible.

Or, the 'dumbass' variant of that:

I'm a big tough hard blue collar worker who works real hard and real tough, and thats the right way to have a life and make a living... wait, what? That only even kind of works if the corporation I work for gets massive tax breaks and subsidies, or my own company gets tons of Federal grants and subsidies and tax breaks directly? I thought that was the free market?!

Also every 'entrepreneur wunderkid' story that ultimately boils down to: daddy gave me a whole lot of money and also knew a whole bunch of key figures in relevant industries.

... every mega church pastor that is very obviously fleecing their impoverished flock, but claims that they are so wealthy because god loves them so much.

... every rightwing raido talkshow host / podcaster who gloats about how successful their business is, but never mentions that they get a massive, stupidly large amount of money from wealthy right wing individuals and/or lobbying groups/think tanks... or by selling scam health products, scam financial products, etc... or, more recently, just literally gets directly funded by Russia's FSB.

...

It is literally a core tenet of being a Republican that you lie and gaslight about where your money comes from, or at bare minimum be just actually so stupid that you don't even realize where your money comes from, so I guess those ones arguably not intentionally lying... they're just actually too stupid to be trusted with any kind of non rote task.

Like it is essentially impossible to be a Republican and not do this. Its a fundamental aspect to their personalities.

Hence why it is just a social faux pas to even have a frank and transparent discussion about finances with them, and why they get so blustered snd indignant when the idea of 'fiscal responsibility' is applied onto them, instead of just projected outward as a demeaning attack on everyone else.

Thats my 2 cents anyway, from having grown up in a rightoid, fundamentalist family. Of course this behavior is not unique to Republicans, but it is essentially a mandatory requirement of being a Republican.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Well said. I also grew up in a ‘rightoid’ family and can confirm.

I would also add that they tend correlate wealth as a sign of intelligence and hold wealthy people in the highest esteem.

They also try to emulate wealthy people via conspicuous consumption, creating an outward illusion of wealth and success. I have a family member on section 8 who buys luxury goods to lord their ‘success’ over their friends and neighbors. It’s absolutely mind blowingly insane.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

I would also add that they tend correlate wealth as a sign of intelligence and hold wealthy people in the highest esteem.

This is the particularly infuriating/hilarious part.

Here's a graph from a 2016 meta-analysis of what contributes more to your mid/late life overall socioeconomic status, the general wealth of your society (shared environment, C), your particular wealth and social status at birth/childhood (nonshared environment, E) or, your assessed IQ (genes, A).

This is for the US, and measures variance, the variability of how important those factors are.

As you can clearly see, red line go up.

What this means is that the wealthier you are, the more of a total crapshoot it is whether you are a genius or a moron.

Reality is the exact opposite of how idiot rightoids believe it to be, and how the smarter ones project onto everyone else as a means of social control / gaslighting / propagandizing:

The correlation between wealth and intelligence gets markedly worse, the wealthier a person you are looking at.

(I can find the link for the paper again if you wanna read through it, be warned though it is pretty stats heavy)

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It would be really swell if those people would then blame the correct persons or instances... but you just know they're going to blame the dems or the libs or w/e. Post-truth society and all that.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

truth

We don't take kindly to your kind around here

- skeeter from south park

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They don't want federal money...

Where exactly do they think money comes from in the first place?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Blue states, mostly.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 day ago

Got owned by refusing to be "bought".

[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I remember this happening. I remember thinking "who the fuck is trying to buy you? These are your tax dollars." I remember realizing that the problem was giving Biden the W.

Perhaps from their high moral ground, God can hear them asking what part of his plan this is.

When I was in elementary school back in the 1900s, I went to a friend's house in Kerrville. My parents made me promise that I wouldn't tell anyone that I'm Jewish. The old freethinker German towns around San Antonio are such weird, corrupt, stupid places.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If these people had a moral high ground, they would’nt’ve been swept away by the floods.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They needed actual high ground...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

You underestimate my power

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

If only those kids could have made it to the MAGAt moral high ground, they would have lived, lol

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

Im from that region of Texas. Fuck em and their stupidity.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 day ago

THouGhtS aNd PrAyERs.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 day ago

“We OwNeD tHe LiBs!!1!”

[–] [email protected] 62 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's too bad children had to lose their lives to their parent's Maga bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago (3 children)

MAGA children usually grow up to be MAGA adults

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 day ago (13 children)

You're spectacularly wrong there. It's like anything else. Sometimes kids turn out to be clones of their parents, sometimes they turn into the opposite, or even something better. Pretty shitty mindset.

Either way, I hope you don't cut yourself on that edge.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Not saying your wrong, but I am one who did not.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Assuming they survive that long.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

A ROFL inducing development 🤣

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago

"I'm not getting bought by your anti-leopard face shields! Long live leopards!"

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