We dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan, twice, and 80 years later they light up their cities in our colors as a show of how much they love us.
Meanwhile, we bailed half of Europe out, twice, and their governments take every last opportunity to signal how much they despise us.
“There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism... Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.” - Theodore Roosevelt
I think people have to understand that it's literally built into Americans' DNA to believe we can do things others see as impossible.
A bunch of farmers with muskets and no shoes took on the might of King George's empire, and that spirit is still alive in some form today.
People love to tell me Texas does not have real mountains.
Let me fix that, and then some. Look out west in Texas, and you will find Guadalupe Peak, the Top of Texas, stands at 8,751 feet. That is not a hill. That is the 14th-highest state summit in the entire United States. Only thirteen states have a higher high point, and every single one is a Rockies, Sierra, Cascade, or Hawaiian volcano state.
Here is the part that ends the argument. Guadalupe Peak is taller than the highest point of all 36 states east of it. Every one. Mount Mitchell in North Carolina, the tallest peak in the eastern United States, tops out more than 2,000 feet below the Top of Texas. Texas has eight named peaks above 8,000 feet sitting out in Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
But the mountains are only chapter one.
Shoreline. About 367 miles of the Gulf Coast in a straight line. Count every bay, inlet, and lagoon, and the tidal shoreline runs past 3,300 miles. Padre Island is the longest undeveloped barrier island on earth.
Rivers. Fifteen major rivers and 3,700 named streams. The Rio Grande runs roughly 1,900 miles from the Colorado Rockies to the Gulf. The Brazos, at 1,280 miles, is the longest river that flows entirely inside a single state.
Forests. Here is the one that stuns people. Texas has roughly 62 million acres of forestland, making it the second-most forested state in the country. Second only to Alaska. The piney woods of East Texas hold more timber than most of the South.
Desert. Mountains. Pine forest. Prairie. Canyon. Coastline. Snow in Amarillo while citrus ripens in the Valley on the very same day.
One state. Every kind of terrain on the continent.
And as for me, I am increasingly convinced this is the country my next book lives in. A sprawling, sovereign Republic of Texas that holds all of it and never looks back.
Real mountains. Real forests. Real rivers. Real coastline. And a real story waiting to be written.
Write that down. 🦋
I loathe sounding like a boomer.
But.
When I was a kid, Home Depot was run entirely by guys who could make a dovetail joint with a pocket knife. Hobby lobby was staffed by grammas who could make a quilt by hand out of old t shirts (not a metaphor - I own one).
Yesterday, we visited Home Depot and were greeted only by people who speak so little English they didn’t know what a respirator was. Not a single one of them have built anything in their life. The fabric desk at hobby lobby had a lady in a hijab who also didn’t speak English and couldn’t tell us the difference between two fabrics.
Tried enjoying a quiet day at the lake today. Thankfully, I got to experience full cultural enrichment while enjoying my peaceful day out (sound on).
I miss the country I knew.
“LOL the US fans actually think they can win the World Cup”.
Buddy, we have won 2 World Wars and landed on the Moon by just thinking we can do something. It’s literally our whole thing.
Bovino is posting about Vlad the Impaler and they removed him from command. This dude should be given control of the whole deportation effort along with every resource he needs.
i still haven't fully processed that this random German guy came to the US as a tourist for the World Cup, was simply so genuinely excited about the country that he live-tweeted himself into mega-virality and now every org in America is giving him free stuff, tours, housing, etc
never doubt the power of social media
“Social services called a 13 year old girl racist and recommended contraceptives to her instead of denouncing her Pakistani rapists”
“Social services returned a girl to a grooming gang to not be racist”
My thoughts after 3 months in the US/Texas🇺🇸:
- Americans are way more extroverted than Europeans
- Talking to strangers is normal here
- My first H-E-B trip felt like Boris Yeltsin seeing an American grocery store
- Some food is more artificial, but the amount of choices is insane
- You can still eat healthy. You just have to choose it
- High risk, high reward is real
- Way more people are entrepreneurial
- People dream bigger than in Europe, and they actually execute
- Obv not everyone is smarter, but the smart people are world-class
- Successful people here are way more down-to-earth. In Europe, successful people care about status and can be arrogant
- Cars. Enough said
- Americans have perfected artificial sweets
- There’s still more freedom here than in Europe
- One thing I didn’t expect: some Americans talk down on America
- As an outsider, that’s weird, because imo it’s still the greatest country on Earth🇺🇸🇺🇸
I just signed a legally binding contract under penalty of perjury.
The terms are simple: if I break any one of my promises as Florida Governor, I cannot run for re-election.
Politicians in both parties have lied to us. That ends with me.
Imagine 1,100 Billionaires lined up. That’s what Elon is in one man as the first trillionaire ($1.1 Trillion). Here’s the part weak people won’t like, he deserves every dollar of it. He earned it by delivering value. No one gave it to him nor did he steal it. He earned it.