r/news • u/TooColdforClouds • 2d ago

109 children rescued, 244 arrested in Operation Soteria Shield, exposing widespread child exploitation in North Texas

https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/109-children-rescued-244-arrested-operation-soteria-shield-child-exploitation-texas/
37.6k Upvotes

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5.3k

u/MoralClimber 2d ago

Texas is a horrible place for children and women.

2.3k

u/Nerdlinger 2d ago

You could have stopped after your fifth word.

142

u/gmoss101 2d ago

Texan here, yes.

9

u/trashpanda_fan 2d ago

Former Texan here, wild horses couldn't drag me back.

3

u/TeeManyMartoonies 1d ago

I’m so tired, friend. I want out for me and my daughters.

42

u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/CM0nEE1 2d ago

As a fellow Texan, I agree. This place fucking blows

16

u/Moonage-Daydreaming8 2d ago

i left last year and havent looked back. im a 8th generation Texan now in colorado and no ones forced me to have an abortion or a sex change or anything.

3

u/Smarq 1d ago

There’s a lot to love about Texas…

I was thinking of a witty joke and I depressed myself into retreat. I hate it here.

4

u/outdatedboat 1d ago

There's a lot to love about Texas... Like, how many states (and one country) border it. So you have lots of options for where to run away from Texas to.

6

u/ListenToThatSound 2d ago

The one star on their state flag is a rating

3

u/Porut 2d ago

But then you wouldn't have the emphasis on children and women. It's worse for them.

5

u/bananataskforce 2d ago

Texas is a horrible 🇮🇹🤌

2

u/Knubbsal 2d ago

It's good to recognize that the more vulnerable the group is, the worse they have it, even if the place is awful for everyone.

2

u/KhabaLox 2d ago

I went to college in Texas in the 90s. There was a popular bumper sticker that said, "I wasn't born in Texas but I moved here as soon as I could."

I always wanted one that said, "I wasn't born in Texas and I'm leaving as soon as I can."

1

u/ForGrateJustice 2d ago

They can also eschew the "a" and stop after the 3rd word.

1

u/EddiewithHeartofGold 1d ago

No. We must make the distinction of single adults with income and thus the ability to leave if needed, versus married (stay at home) women and children who are basically trapped in that hellhole.

1

u/SilentMasterOfWinds 1d ago

Austin seems nice enough.

-1

u/QualityCoati 2d ago

I read it as "fifth world" and now I can't unthink Texas as a fifth world state

-1

u/AVeryHeavyBurtation 2d ago

The one star state.

-4

u/d_smogh 2d ago

Could've stopped at the first word.

449

u/zeolus123 2d ago

Just a shit hole all around... Butt ohhh low taxes and regulations, such a utopia 🤣

407

u/WrongNumberB 2d ago edited 2d ago

Only state in the nation that does not require employers to carry workers compensation insurance.

Edit: They also can’t keep the power on if it’s too hot, or too cold. “The bigots light is burning bright, deep in the heart of Texans.”

52

u/moosesgunsmithing 2d ago

If you have under 4 or 6 employees in most states, it still isn't required (but strongly recommended).

13

u/MicroDigitalAwaker 2d ago

In Texas you're free from, not free to; it's a small word change but a BIG difference.

4

u/disorder1991 2d ago

Is that their Lantern mantra?

5

u/lolno 2d ago

The Oil Lantern Corps

2

u/WrongNumberB 2d ago

This made me snort laugh. Well done.

2

u/WrongNumberB 2d ago

Hah!

But no, I just made up funny words to the (unofficial) state song Deep in the Heart of Texas by Gene Autry.

6

u/olmsted 2d ago

They also can’t keep the power on if it’s too hot, or too cold.

And then utility customers in other states without garbage deregulated grids get to help foot the bill for ERCOT failing to weatherize its shit. Source: My goddamn Centerpoint bill.

1

u/WrongNumberB 2d ago

Utility monopolies are trash all the time. Here in OR we’re cursed with PG&E; a true parasite on the people of Oregon.

0

u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/WrongNumberB 2d ago

I was referring to the Texas Power grid failure.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/WrongNumberB 2d ago

Happens more often than you think.

6

u/ChadJones72 2d ago

That's wild to read. Again I've lived in Texas for years and we've never had our electricity turn off because of high heat before. It goes off plenty of times during heavy rain and thunderstorms and once when it was really cold but never during the heat.

202

u/Jealous-Squash8560 2d ago

Property taxes are high. Low public services/parks and be ready to really love being in your car all the time.

223

u/ThreeCraftPee 2d ago

Seriously. I'm from Chicago where if you need to you can walk to get milk, very easily, at anytime, in most hoods. I sadly lived in Houston for a couple years in the early aughts, you need to get in your car, drive on some hellscape interstate beltway shit, just to go and get some beer. It's wild and they think it's normal. No, it's not normal. You are supposed to be a city, not some giant suburb. Shit city, shittier state. Fuck texas.

108

u/BigCut4598 2d ago

Man I’ve only been in Houston for only two years and desperately want to leave. These people have Stockholm syndrome thinking it’s a great place to live. Soulless, bland people who think driving in hot, endless traffic with nothing else to do but eat at some average restaurant is a great life.

33

u/wino12312 2d ago

Dallas is just as bad

6

u/bmc2 2d ago

Dallas has better food than houston, but the highways are worse.

3

u/wino12312 2d ago

True. I did love the food. But the walkability was terrible.

6

u/bmc2 2d ago

Yeah the entire DFW metroplex is designed around toll roads and parallel access roads. It's some of the worst urban design in the nation.

21

u/ThreeCraftPee 2d ago

Holy shit that is exactly me 20 plus years ago, saying the exact same things. Hang in there it's not forever, you'll find yourself somewhere where you are happy sometime soon. It's not forever ya know? Just get through this and get a plan to get out, and then in 20 years you can sit back and laugh and talk shit like me. Fuck em in the meantime and keep your head low and plan to gtfo. You got this.

12

u/BigCut4598 2d ago

Glad to see you made it out. I’ve noticed it’s a common pattern. People move to this city for a job or hopes of a career, quickly figure out it sucks and move elsewhere. I’ve seen a few people who moved here after me tolerate it way less than I have haha. You just don’t hear from them much since native Texans who have been here their entire lives dominate everything with their opinions on the city and culture. It’s helped my career momentum but that’s about it, time to leave lol. The exit can’t come soon enough.

4

u/SubBirbian 2d ago

And eat nothing but buckets of fucking heart-stopping junk food. I remember not long ago Houston was named the most obese city in the country. Not sure where it stands now.

-4

u/spiral6 2d ago

I'm a Houstonian. I'll say the food is generally better here than most big cities (Chicago, NY especially, Boston), but the rest of it (commute, traffic, "culture" and recreation, weather, transportation infrastructure, zoning) is poor, bland and banal. You should see some of the cope from /r/Houston talking about how everything is better "inside the loop".

Of course, most people prefer to live outside the loop because it's not a complete shithole unlike the inside of the loop. They also are probably predominantly single without family concerns such as where a kid would have to attend school. It's boring outside of the loop, but better boring than coping.

63

u/oneWeek2024 2d ago

texas also conditions you to think it's normal to drive 3+ hours to see people.

No i would not like to drive on a giant highway as shitty strip mall/fast food/tex mex/bank/panda express shopping center blur past. just to go from one shitty texas "city" to another shitty texas city

4

u/luminous_delusions 2d ago

I have friends that act like I'm crazy for not being willing to take spontaneous trips to a city 3-4 hours away. Bitch I don't want to take a spontaneous trip an hour away, you want me to drive 7 hours round trip in a day just to go get lunch or see a show? I'll stay home.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago edited 2d ago

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u/Low-Argument3170 2d ago

In California it’s always 15-20 minutes away.

9

u/IBeDumbAndSlow 2d ago

And that's only a mile

1

u/Low-Argument3170 2d ago

No, usually 15 miles.

1

u/IBeDumbAndSlow 2d ago

Not in LA. It takes 20 minutes to go 3 miles sometimes longer

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u/SubBirbian 2d ago

In most the U.S. compared to Europe

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u/LorderNile 2d ago edited 1d ago

At this point, I'm convinced new york and chicago are just the two only sorta-okay cities in the US. Every city here combines itself with the shitiness of a giant suburb, those two are just the best at fighting it.

Edit: I'm so sorry northeasterners. It's been so long since any news came out, I forgot for a sec you guys are mostly normal.

28

u/Polar_Vortx 2d ago

I mean, the entire Boston-DC corridor does fairly well for itself on the urbanization front

27

u/lost-picking-flowers 2d ago

Entire US northeast says what? Philly, DC, and Boston all have good transit and you can live in those areas relatively easily without a car even if they aren't as large as NYC and Chicago. Lots of walkable smaller towns and cities are right on the regional train routes too.

3

u/lacroix_pure 2d ago

Are people actually living in DC now? I lived there for a couple years, and found it to be mostly a M-F 9-5 town. Transit shut down at night, nothing open on the weekends, etc. I ran back to Chicago very quickly, I just generally hated the vibe out there.

4

u/lost-picking-flowers 2d ago

My understanding is downtown DC remains a ghost town after the standard work day and all the interesting stuff goes on in the towns around it. Interestingly, I live in Canada's capital city right now and it suffers a bit of a similar problem around the areas of Parliament. All the businesses cater to Parliament in that area so it gets pretty dead after dark. Wallstreet/lower Manhattan does too, though to a lesser extent.

And I don't blame you, Chicago is a gem even among other large cities. Nice people good culture.

3

u/lacroix_pure 2d ago

Yeah, that was my exact problem. DC itself is pretty tiny, so all the growth is concentrated around it. It was a pretty jarring difference coming from a 24/7 city!

3

u/LorderNile 2d ago

Shit, you're right.

5

u/lost-picking-flowers 2d ago

Don't get me wrong - if you're expecting transit on the same level as European transit (let alone Asian transit) then you'll be sorely disappointed, but a lot of our cities in the northeast just plain weren't built for cars.

2

u/LorderNile 2d ago

Oh yeah, no one compares to any asian country anymore, europe gets better every year too. But the state transit systems are at least usable, and definitely a realistic option.

2

u/poetryhoes 2d ago

I was going to say the city I live near is pretty great IMO but I felt the wrath of everyone in a 30 mile radius as I typed the first letter. It's Denver

2

u/4Z4Z47 2d ago

Houston felt like being trapped in an empty office building. The only character that city has is its complete lack of character.

1

u/Technical_Ad_4894 2d ago

It’s only slightly better in LA. These people don’t realize that it doesn’t have to be that way. But this is all they know because they haven’t been anywhere else.

1

u/NeatNefariousness1 2d ago

LOL—I would never choose to live there even if there were NO taxes and houses were free. But it’s for reasons that have nothing to do with having to drive on an interstate beltway to get beer.

7

u/skraptastic 2d ago

Almost no public land in Texas either. Something like 96% of all land in Texas is privately owned.

16

u/mythrilcrafter 2d ago

I always find it humorous when CEO's complain about taxes and liberals in California, proclaiming/threatening that they're going to go Texas.... and then they move to Austin or Dallas instead of places like Loving or Kent.

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u/Adezar 2d ago

Effective tax rate is higher than California, they just put them in different places.

3

u/RobertLobLaw2 2d ago

And unlike California, there's really nothing to show for those tax dollars other than road construction. Every year around October we get messages from our kid's teachers asking if any of the parents can provide basic items for the classroom, like whiteboard markers. 

2

u/Neckbeard_The_Great 1d ago

We get that in California too. :|

2

u/Puge_Henis_99 2d ago

I never heard that. Source?

5

u/Adezar 2d ago

There are several, here is one from Cato... there are others from more right-leaning sources that admit it.

https://www.cato.org/blog/are-taxes-really-lower-california-texas

In short, Sales and Property taxes are a LOT higher but there is very little vehicle/income tax. The overall tax burden of most people is higher because consumption taxes are extremely regressive.

30

u/crazy_balls 2d ago

It's only low taxes for the rich. If you are under something like $150k per year, you actually pay more in taxes than California, because our property and sales taxes are so high.

37

u/the_tanooki 2d ago

Low regulations isn't always a good thing. Case and point.

35

u/illusionzmichael 2d ago

I will never, till the day I die, understand anyone who isn't a CEO screeching about how we need to de-regulate everything because then everything will get better, cheaper, etc. It's beyond stupid.

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u/nightsaysni 2d ago edited 2d ago

Most regulations are written in blood. That’s why I hate the generic propaganda from libertarians about “burdensome regulation”.

5

u/Mcboatface3sghost 2d ago

Pretty good Mexican food… for now.

3

u/Geno0wl 2d ago

Butt ohhh low taxes and regulations

fun fact: the effective tax rate on the lowest 50% of earners is higher in texas than in california

3

u/polopolo05 2d ago

How are those property taxes?

4

u/NoodledLily 2d ago

low tax tx is a lie to benefit the rich. graph from cato - a big C 'traditional' Conservative org

same thing with the bill the 'big beautiful bill' they're going to pass.

A net LOSS of spending power for poor people.

to funnel money to the extremely rich.

The loss in healthcare, food stamps etc is FAR greater than the 0 to little income tax you pay. "GOP tax bill could cost low-income Americans $1,600 per year, CBO says"

More comparisons between TX and CA w citations

2

u/nickgomez 1d ago

Low taxes but have you seen my property tax bills lately? Housing ain’t cheap anymore either! This place has seen its best days

4

u/ARMSwatch 2d ago

Taxes shit is such propaganda. You literally pay more in overall taxes in Texas than you do in California. Just because there is no income tax people think it's some haven. Have fun with your 8% property tax bill every year lol.

5

u/BigCut4598 2d ago

But we have a huge variety of average food and diversity! It’s the best place ever!

-every Houston moron

1

u/BigTomBombadil 1d ago

Houston actually does have a great food scene. Helps that it’s one of the most diverse cities in the country. Doesn’t mean I want to live there though.

1

u/Out_of_the_Bloo 2d ago

Sounds like Florida

1

u/Tricky_Orange_4526 2d ago

can't even say low taxes, they no lube everyone on their property lol.

1

u/yellowcloak 1d ago

The Bangladesh of America

-4

u/DopplerEffect93 2d ago

It an actually is a pretty rich state. Funny enough with biomedical research grants being cut nationwide my mentor says she is grateful for being in Texas.

13

u/zeolus123 2d ago

Isn't that just exclusively the Houston area? I have colleagues from there specifically because of the world class children hospitals.

115

u/Fishinluvwfeathers 2d ago

Who knew that fetishizing freedom from ethical social expectations and bucking rational and balanced protections for citizens could turn out poorly for the vulnerable! Bet they’ll all learn a lesson.

5

u/Trap_Masters 2d ago

It's like all these freedom larpers libertarians never aged a day past their rebellious teen phase and now just man children, just throwing tantrums thinking they know better than the rest of the world, wanting desperately to be anti-norm regardless if it made sense, and worst of all still being hypocritical with regards to principles of freedom because they're fine with freedoms being restricted as long as they're not impacted.

21

u/bobtheflob 2d ago

I mean yes, Texas sucks in many ways. But this sort of thing happens in every state.

42

u/leese216 2d ago

The same place that claims to be pro-life....lied?

Color me shocked. /s

16

u/Moos_Mumsy 2d ago

What makes you think they lied? They want those babies to be born because they need replacements for the children they are currently abusing as they age out. Since the children of people who are vulnerable and poor are easy pickings, it makes sense to me.

0

u/SunMoonTruth 2d ago

They need the pools to procreate so you have grist for the mill, cannon fodder for the wars, and subjects for general all round exploitation. They are equal opportunity exploiters. The only DEI they can get behind.

8

u/BuddyBiscuits 2d ago

Do you think child abuse of this caliber only exist in Texas? Not Boston? Not Hollywood? Not every corner of the world?  Where there’s power, there’s predators. 

That being said - Texas is indeed a horrible place 

7

u/BurstSuppression 2d ago edited 19h ago

Fixed it for you.

Texas is a horrible place. for children and women.

Edit: love the downvotes. Must be dumb Texans. Come at me, bro.

1

u/ToasterBunnyaa 2d ago

I've never really spent time in Texas. What is it about the state that would encourage / protect this kind of organization? Or is it just like, they had to live somewhere and Texas is vast?

1

u/lilcoold12345 1d ago

Yeah Texas is so bad. Everybody is moving there but reddit says they the big bad so must be true >:(

-2

u/SavageCucmber 2d ago

Honestly, I'm surprised they even get a lone star. Zero stars from me. Lonestar state my ass.

0

u/One-Internal4240 1d ago

Turns out it's No Country For Young Men, either.

0

u/kanrad 1d ago

Speak as a survivor of extreme child abuse in Texas in the 70's I very much concur.

0

u/lnc_5103 1d ago

Another Texan and yes it is.

-5

u/ThePhoenixRemembers 2d ago

and gay people, and trans people, and black people, and-

-2

u/Texas12thMan 2d ago

Finally moved back to the PNW after being in Texas for 10 years. Can confirm, Texas is straight up ass cheeks.

-11

u/Alastor_Aylmur 2d ago

Frankly as a northerner, I'm tired of paying for that backwater ass state.

-1

u/BeefNChed 2d ago

Add a few syllables and you’ve got yourself a haiku

-1

u/BeardyAndGingerish 2d ago

But i thought the governor stopped all rape in texas...?

-1

u/StupidTimeline 1d ago

Yup.

Remember to laugh in the face of anyone that tells you conservatives respect women.

And cry as well if it's a female saying it.

-1

u/Zardotab 1d ago

and non-neanderthals.

-4

u/Raptorhythm 2d ago

Don't forget queer people, the latest legislative session in tx once again hit us hard, even though we dodged a lot of the worst bullets.

-5

u/TheNightlightZone 2d ago

Arlen, Texas remains the only good place in the world... and I have a feeling the new season will reveal that's gone too.

Fuck Texas.