He's now squirming like a cornered rat

[argyl]

92. I've been in Bangkok for almost four years.

Beautiful country, beautiful people with lovely manners. Sometimes I'll locate asshole/white supremacists I used to work with and tell them they're actually " mud people." I'll enclose a shot of a beautiful Northern Chinese girl with skin like ivory or alabaster. And if they are capable of any self awareness they may look at their own less than pure white skin and pause to think. But I doubt it. And I digress.

I spent most of my life in the DFW region, mainly Denton. But plenty of it in Dallas, Old East Dallas mainly.

And there were a number of years I spent in Austin. From 1969 to the mid/late '70's. With an interruption or two in parts elsewhere, Flagstaff, Southwestern Colorado,California,etc. I was what you'd call a genuine hippie. I'd hitch hike around the country barefoot. I didn't need a lot to get by on.
And God, did I love Austin. Back then it was the place to be for me. The "San Francisco of the Southwest." And living there was cheap. You could panhandle on Guadeloupe Street to make rent money.

The Armadillo World Headquarters, Soap Creek Saloon, The One Knite, Broken Spoke, the original hole in the wall Antone's on Sixth close to Interregional, the Continental Club. So many great venues with such great live music. I was there when Waylon and Willie escaped Nashville for Austin. And now Austin's an internationally recognized Mecca for music, and not just Americana, my personal favorite. And there's even a turnoff marked Hippie Hollow where we'd all skinny dip en masse. They've even built a set of landings and stairs to it. Texas's only de facto nude bathing spot.

Back then, the city population was 180,000. It didn't stretch from Georgetown to San Marcos. No Pickle Parkway and no need for it. Now you can expect a traffic jam from Georgetown to Austin if you stay on I 35.

But you're right about Texans of Mexican descent often being quite conservative. I've met a number of them who literally despised the undocumented from Mexico and then Central America as much as any white MAGAt.
They don't vote Democratic in as high a percentage as,say, Puerto Ricans in NYC. But they will pretty consistently vote Dem. 60% of the time. And with consistent get out the vote efforts and the increasing hostility and violence they suffer from The Dotard's followers that percentage should increase.
Of course, I still follow US politics closely, even from here and what I see I don't like. Looks like we're heading to " it doesn't matter who votes, it's who counts the votes" like Stalin's, and now Putin's Russia.

I've voted in every Presidential and off year election since I was old enough to vote. My first vote was for McGovern. I knew he'd lose in a landslide but I was proud of my vote.

And over here I definitely got overseas ballots so I could vote for Beto in 2018 and against The Dotard in 2020. I was in the States in 2016 so I most definitely voted for Hillary.
At the time I was living in Plano, caring for my mother as best as I could. Northwest Plano, affluent part of town. I was in and out in under 15 minutes. And in South Dallas the polling lines stretched around the block and people waited for hours.
I'm coming for a visit this next year, mid June to late July. It's been almost three years so I'll no doubt be shocked by changes. I'll spend the first and last week in Texas. And a good friend of mine with a well maintained Toyota 4x4 and I will spend a month out West.
I've thought of coming back but I wouldn't even consider it until after the 2024 elections and if they turn out badly I'll probably never go back.
May go to Ecuador or Chile after that, if I don't just stay here.
Can't believe I left out the Czechs. But it's the ethnic German people I knew best.

Hell, I wrote a short story. Hope this doesn't bore you. But yeah, I'm Texan, first and foremost. My Mom's grandfather, my great grandfather, left Georgia for Texas one step ahead of the law after breaking a friend of his out of jail. That really establishes a guy's bona fides as a Texan.

Enjoy the rest of your Christmas. I enjoyed reminiscing about Texas and my experiences there.
It's 9:30 AM Sunday morning here in Bangkok. Helluva time difference.
Take care.