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Tatum Girlparts posted:Totally meaningless, we're not gonna have a D governor because Davis, while a pretty charismatic and generally neat lady, is a pretty poor candidate and is against a major machine supporting her opponent (wheelchair joke?). The votes are at large, district means nothing, it's just Davis herself probably isn't the one to make the change. Yeah, basically I feel the same. I'll vote for her because she's a D in Texas though I consider myself a socialist also, but it's probably too early for any Democrat in this state barring Abbott having a Clayton Williams moment, and even then he'd probably still win. What I could see for her though is maybe a stab at a house seat if she makes a good showing in the general, or possibly getting plucked out of Texas for an appointed position in DC if it looks like she may have a future that Texas won't allow her. That's all assuming she ups her performance as we approach the general.
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# ¿ Jun 18, 2014 01:03 |
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# ¿ Apr 17, 2024 03:03 |
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Shifty Pony posted:Legislature stuff In addition to this, for those of you who don't know, the salary for a legislator in Texas is $7400/yr (+ a small per diem while is session) despite becoming an increasingly full time job. This means of course that pretty much only the wealthy can afford to do the job. Or people for whom legislating is their job, in which case they do so on behalf of their clients rather than their consituents. The pay is written into the constitution and has to be raised by the voters, something they have failed to do since 1974 despite the issue having come up several times.
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# ¿ Jun 18, 2014 04:43 |
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I just got back from doing some phone banking, and I think the youngest person that came across my screen was like 47. The majority were probably in their 60s and 70s, and there were probably as many in their 80s and 90s as there were below 55. Maybe it's just the community I live in, college town, all the young people are registered elsewhere or whatever, I dunno, but it feels like a bit of a problem. I did talk to a really sweet 94 year old woman who said she couldn't do much any more but that nothing was going to stop her from voting for Davis come November. That was nice.
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# ¿ Jun 27, 2014 03:26 |
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Not just college age though. If it was just 18-25 or so that was lacking I could understand. But in the hour and a half I was there I didn't come across a single name under age 47. No late 20s, no 30s, no early 40s. None. YMMV, could have been weird luck or some poo poo, but still, it has me scratching my head.
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# ¿ Jun 27, 2014 04:27 |
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I dropped out of high school to pursue a career in punk rock (it didn't pan out lol) and ended up getting into both, but chose A&M because CoL was significantly cheaper in BCS, doubly so since my brother was already here and we shared a place. Admissions is weird sometimes. vv
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# ¿ Jul 17, 2014 02:14 |
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Sheng-ji Yang posted:I saw that dude get hit by the bus during the stupid sword fight in the middle of guadalupe huh?
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# ¿ Jul 17, 2014 03:01 |
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Sheng-ji Yang posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o8oJDVfvTM haha holy poo poo though I guess it wouldn't be as funny if he were hurt. e: for top of page.
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# ¿ Jul 17, 2014 03:17 |
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Teddybear posted:A minimum of five years if convicted. Woof. Abbot will probably grant a full pardon before the court is adjourned.
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# ¿ Aug 16, 2014 00:27 |
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The base may excuse him and even rally around him on it if it were him vs. a democrat, but he won't have that going for him in a primary, and you can bet that the Paul, Cruz, et al camps are already busy with their digging on it.
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# ¿ Aug 16, 2014 01:16 |
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Xarthor posted:Between the recent Perry news and a recent Reuters poll showing Wendy 8 points behind Abbott any of you starting to think her win is completely out of the realm of possibility? You can bet that her people are searching furiously for a way to tie Abbott to it, but otherwise, a lot of things are going to have to happen very quickly for it to hurt the republicans in November.
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# ¿ Aug 16, 2014 02:52 |
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It'd be simpler if we just went with a state income tax, of course, but that's a non-starter for obvious reasons.
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# ¿ Aug 28, 2014 21:02 |
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zoux posted:Abbott backed out of his only statewide televised debate with Davis. He said that it's because they couldn't agree on a format, despite a letter saying they agreed to the format. Not surprising. I recall Perry wouldn't debate White either. There's no benefit to a republican agreeing to a debate in the current climate. He'd likely lose more support attending than skipping, so why bother.
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# ¿ Aug 29, 2014 17:26 |
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A lot of the damage has already been done though. Most of the clinics that were closed already likely won't reopen just to face another threat of some sort next session. e: that seems to be the GOP strategy these days. Pass laws you know are likely to be struck down, but will achieve your goal at least partially short term. See also voter ID, registration, and redistricting. ReidRansom fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Aug 29, 2014 |
# ¿ Aug 29, 2014 23:55 |
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Maybe it's just because I know he's a piece of poo poo, but I disagree about it being an effective ad. "Look, I know it's hard and it sucks and it's painful to elect Republicans because we're making things more difficult for you, but just one more and then everything will totally be fine until we make your lives hell again tomorrow."
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# ¿ Sep 3, 2014 14:26 |
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zoux posted:Ha the City Council just lowered the property tax rate this week. Though appraisal values continue to go up, but I don't know what a city councilman could do about that. Does Austin do the property tax freeze at age 65?
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# ¿ Sep 10, 2014 21:34 |
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Decentralizing really probably would help, but that's not something you can just do.
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# ¿ Sep 11, 2014 16:49 |
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e_angst posted:
In 2013 Austin, Houston, and Dallas were the fastest growing cities in the US, in that order. No way the bulk of Austin's growth is from DFW and Houston people when all three are growing such as they are. It's not all Californians or anything, but don't go blaming Houston. You can still blame Dallas, because they probably did something else to deserve it.
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# ¿ Sep 11, 2014 21:11 |
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Rabble posted:Austin isn't some bastion of liberal hipster ideology anymore, that died about 10-15 years ago. It's time to grow up and build some infrastructure but no, we have to "keep austin weird"... Hell, probably closer to 20 or more years ago. Now it's like someone well into middle age desperately trying to hang onto their youth; pathetic and sad, not contributing to their 401k or making sure they're well-insured because those are grim reminders of the passage of time. And whatever weird people still try to pretend exists is sterile and forced, canned and lined up on shelves to sell to the next suckers fool enough to buy it. You're not "weird" and your neighborhoods have no discernible character anymore. Just grow up and act your size, Austin.
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# ¿ Sep 12, 2014 16:44 |
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Sheng-ji Yang posted:I'm from and have lived in Texas my entire life. I've lived in Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. Yet I've somehow managed to only spend a total of 2 days in Dallas and know basically nothing about it other than what people tell me. My impression while there was that it's just a wealthier Houston. How is it different from Houston besides that? It's not necessarily wealthier, it's new money vs. old.
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# ¿ Sep 12, 2014 19:52 |
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Jiro posted:Si you do. Let us know how that turns out. Being Hispanic on both sides of my family and living down here in McAllen where I was born and raised, it always blows my mind that there are groups within minorities that do actually swing Republican. I usually find them to be very well off financially but that isn't always the case. It's starting to become more common when you are having the offspring of second and third gen Hispanic families adopt a more homogenized view and identify as more American than their family's heritage. I dunno, it shouldn't be that surprising. Latinos of all stripes tend to get lumped together, but there's definitely a racial component within those cultures that is frequently ignored. And everyone knows it, they just pretend like they don't or that it doesn't mean anything. But when you look at your average Latino Republican, and then at the people we're talking about when we speak about the growth of the Latino demographic as a whole, they're not the same sort of person with the same type of experience. I know we don't like to toss around words like mestizo and such, but they do describe actual divides in Central and South American cultures. Race doesn't stop meaning things to some people just because you cross an arbitrary line. The fact that we do tend to treat them as some giant monogroup is kinda poo poo, really.
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# ¿ Sep 17, 2014 00:03 |
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BatteredFeltFedora posted:Oh well, I can catch it when I get in. I have a bottle of applejack that I bought specifically for watching politics. It makes the hurting less. The only brand I've seen anywhere is Laird's, and if that's what you've got, you're better off spending a little bit more and getting a low-ish end calvados. Yeah, you could do worse for the same money than Laird's, but it's not even proper applejack; it's like 70% grain alcohol blended with apple brandy. $22-27 will get you a decent calvados that you'll probably enjoy far more. Unless you prefer your politics with cheap liquor and all that it brings along.
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# ¿ Sep 19, 2014 03:36 |
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Ah, well in that case, enjoy!
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# ¿ Sep 19, 2014 05:18 |
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So in news about Perry's slush funds, in what I'm sure comes as a complete shock to absolutely no one, "An independent audit released Thursday said Gov. Perry's office failed to take basic record-keeping and compliance tracking efforts in awarding hundreds of millions of public funds to private companies through the Texas Enterprise Fund."quote:An independent audit of the Texas Enterprise Fund has found that roughly $222 million doled out from the fund went to companies that submitted no applications or made no promises to create jobs. The fund has been highly touted over the years by Gov. Rick Perry, who has said it was an invaluable tool to bring jobs to Texas and to stem the flow of jobs that might otherwise have left the state. I wonder if we'll ever find out how much these people donated to Perry's campaigns or if the grants came with strings attached like building in a specific area where he might profit from land sales and such. ReidRansom fucked around with this message at 14:22 on Sep 26, 2014 |
# ¿ Sep 26, 2014 14:19 |
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My prediction for the debate is that Van de Putte will say a bunch of correct stuff, and that Patrick will just scream incoherently about some dumb poo poo of another that he made up and that he will be considered the winner because of that.
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# ¿ Sep 29, 2014 23:51 |
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Nonsense posted:They'll figure out a way to make this Austin's Big Dig. The Big Dig at least had a point to it. This, not really so much.
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# ¿ Oct 24, 2014 01:13 |
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ThirdPartyView posted:Frackie Robinson's an Aggie - what do you expect? I'm an Aggie
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# ¿ Oct 25, 2014 16:14 |
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You guys are dicks. Bizarro Watt posted:It's not that bad... I'm in the graduate and professional school though, so I guess I don't count. Yeah, I work at IODP on west campus now, and my girlfriend is a PhD student. When you're insulated from the undergrad side of it, it's a great school.
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# ¿ Oct 25, 2014 21:39 |
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It would be more insensitive to say walks around, I think.
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# ¿ Oct 29, 2014 04:48 |
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quote:Wins 45-64 by 33 points. That's brutal.
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# ¿ Nov 5, 2014 06:06 |
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Why did you mark straight party and then fill it all out basically anyhow. Isn't that a spoilt ballot of some sort? Also, you marked Libertarian. What the gently caress is wrong with you?
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# ¿ Nov 5, 2014 16:46 |
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Ah, yeah that makes sense.
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# ¿ Nov 5, 2014 17:04 |
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computer parts posted:Or maybe it's an indication that Davis was an exceptionally lovely candidate. Not that she wasn't a bad candidate, but she/BGT did scare the Republicans into untying one of their hands from behind their back.
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# ¿ Nov 5, 2014 18:47 |
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Randandal posted:Remind me why a mayor would be a good vice presidential nominee for any reason other than racial/age demographic pandering. He's cabinet level now. HUD Secretary. He was likely tapped for that specifically to give him a shortcut around the statewide race thing.
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# ¿ Nov 5, 2014 21:21 |
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Trabisnikof posted:Like the street parking spots around it, the state owns it. So Austin wouldn't get squat, they'd probably move a prison there if they could. Nah, they'd sell it off to one of
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# ¿ Nov 6, 2014 01:37 |
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Shear Modulus posted:You joke, but when your business model is bilking the state and taxpayers you're unironically correct. Also it's not a joke. Arizona did exactly that. Sold their building for ~$80M, got bent over leasing it back, then ended up paying like $100M when they repurchased it.
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# ¿ Nov 6, 2014 01:58 |
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Rice is pretty well qualified as an academian, really. And I've always gotten the impression that she's probably a decent person. Were it not for her association with the Bush years she wouldn't be a terrible choice.
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# ¿ Dec 13, 2014 14:30 |
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I'm most worried about the drastic tax cuts they keep promising, even in the face of the massive revenue hits caused by the drop in oil prices.
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# ¿ Jan 9, 2015 15:13 |
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I don't trust that estimated budget at all.
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# ¿ Jan 13, 2015 15:31 |
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Open carry will almost certainly happen this session, and I'm OK with that. Campus carry may happen also, but I'm not as OK on that one.
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# ¿ Jan 13, 2015 16:06 |
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# ¿ Apr 17, 2024 03:03 |
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zoux posted:
Strauss, much like Boehner, knows where the bodies are buried. e: and those boots look like poo poo. Seriously that's some sloppy loving work on that logo.
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# ¿ Jan 13, 2015 23:18 |