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VitalSigns posted:I thought the raw milk thing was a joke of yours, but nope, I kept reading and there it is. Along with are freedom to buy incandescent light bulbs Makes me wonder when they went full-derp like this. Say what you will, but Texas Republicans, despite some of their actions, were politically aware enough to not poo poo the bed. This platform though, shits the bed and smears it on the walls and furniture.
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Jun 22, 2014 15:35
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because FREEDOM 
, making US war crimes immune to courts martial, bringing back Reagan's Star Wars, Benghazibenghazibenghazi, unilaterally recognizing Taiwanese sovereignty (despite the wishes of the Taiwanese, obviously)...
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Shear Modulus posted:So noted Big Aggie Jerk Rick Perry seems to have finally gotten his way on the UT Austin President's job and Powers will step down in June 2015. If you haven't been following this, Perry has always hated Powers, but a few years back when Perry tried to force some so-called "Seven Breakthrough Solutions" crafted by an old buddy of his (if you're curious they're just bog-standard conservative reform principles intended to businessify public education like ranking teachers on "cost-effectiveness" (salary and grant awards divided by students taught) and using MOOCs for everything) Powers has been standing up to him and put himself on Perry's poo poo list. The UT Board of Regents, who has firing authority, is 100% Perry appointees and as I expect most of you know have been digging like crazy to find something offensive to their sensibilities in admissions decisions that they could use an excuse to fire him. Apparently about a week ago something changed, and the Chancellor told Powers to submit his resignation or he'd be canned. I can't imagine that Powers leaving is going to be a good thing for higher education in the state of Texas. I agree that the preferential treatment of underperforming students is a bad thing, but that assumes this decision will remedy that problem which I doubt. What it will do is dump a bunch of idiotic regulations that were blocked by Powers before and crap up the school. I do want to be wrong, mind you, but that is how I interpret this whole affair is going to go.
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Jul 9, 2014 23:36
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Shear Modulus posted:I'm not sure what you mean by "preferential treatment of underperforming students," and I think I'd disagree with you if I'm guessing your meaning correctly, but Powers leaving and a presumed successor being less competent at stopping ideological meddling in university administration is unequivocally terrible thing for Texas higher education. It's a sad state of affairs that the most important job of public university administration is raising money to cover state budgeting shortfalls and stopping political officials from undermining the academy for personal or political gain, but Powers is amazing at both of these jobs. I've heard about it either yesterday or the day before but here is what I am talking about The general gist is that students at the UT Law school who generally had low LSAT scores or were generally underqualified were given seats if they had the right connections. Or the story goes. I think the investigation for that is still underway. Now that I think about it, this reeks of muckraking to help oust Powers.
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Jul 10, 2014 01:00
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I hear stories about how higher education was free or practically free because of oil reserves. I have meant to start digging on the subject.
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Aug 28, 2014 21:10
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Ronwayne posted:Whereas Dallas has functional highways, and is completely open about being troubling and racist. The bright future of Texas. Considering the construction going on 635 and soon on 35, we are having congestion issues. Still terrible and racist though.
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Sep 12, 2014 17:56
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TGLT posted:The mic cut out on Greg Abbott and they're all bathed in the brightest spotlight their crew could buy, it looks like it's from the 90s because it's a kind of low budget affair. Isn't the next debate before election day?
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Sep 20, 2014 02:50
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1stGear posted:I really want Van De Putte to win only so I can hear Tyler Sieswerda having to say "Van De Putte" every so often. Don't forget that Dan Patrick is certifiably insane. Important detail too.
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Sep 20, 2014 04:23
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Shifty Pony posted:The lege is going to be absolutely bonkers this session if he wins. I am hoping that there are enough key Democratic wins to pacify the Texas GOP from going full hog on their policy ideas. Because if there is a sweep, the policy that will come out will make Kansas, Wisconsin and North Carolina seem like liberal bastions in comparison. I hope that I am wrong and they don't go loving insane, I want to live in Texas. It has the people I like living here.
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Sep 21, 2014 22:10
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zoux posted:Considering literally the head of every state agency in Texas was appointed by Perry, there was no way it was going to happen before he was on the way out. So much for weakening the power of the governorship. In a more reasonable world, this would open questions on how Abbott would run things. Whether he would continue Perry's little fiefdom. But of course not.
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Sep 26, 2014 16:17
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1stGear posted:The Lt. Gov's debate is tonight at 7. Watch on KLRU or stream on statesman.com. As long as Van De Putte wins, I know the "Republic" will be safe.
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Sep 29, 2014 22:22
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zoux posted:Well, we used to go on a 4x4 system, so named because you had to have four years of four key subjects (Math, science, english, social studies). The new system lets people trade out a science course for a STEM course or a math course or whatever. It's intended to let kids tailor their high school education to help them get workforce or college ready, but if you don't pick the right endorsement path as a freshman, you can gently caress yourself when it comes to what you do after you graduate, and there is no way to change paths. Colleges go, hmmm you skipped Biology for Computer Programming or whatever so that hurts your entrance chances. So you get 14 year old kids basically locking themselves into a future. Our accountablility system is also terrible, they change the standardized test requirements every other year it seems and last session they cut in half the number of end of course exams intended to gauge student process. That's harder to lay at the feet of Patrick though, or even the Republican party as it was mostly parents going The core curriculum requirements for college students changed too. One change that came to mind that instead of taking a composition class, you can take an communication class instead. So if you are a science/math person starting out school, opt to take the composition courses, because you'll make your classmates seem like illiterate morons by comparison (because they probably are).
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Sep 30, 2014 16:26
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it's too hard for our pwecious babies to do tests
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zoux posted:I don't think that had anything to do with the Legislature though. You're correct but I would say that this is a part of a collective concept of education shared by the Texas GOP. So whether it is through an appointed position or through the Legislature, they will gently caress up education until it is in their image.
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Sep 30, 2014 16:49
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e_angst posted:Dan Patrick trying to claim ISIS is going to get into the US through the border with Mexico... Someone else outside of Texas brought it up and was refuted by Homeland Security. This is the natural extension of that info. Incidentally, on my commute, I heard a anti-Wendy Davis ad on the radio. Accusing her of having conflicts of interest. Without any evidence or examples. As though no one in the state legislature can be accused of that. Which only strengthens my opinion that the Karl Rove school of politicking should be wiped out from the face of the Earth. I get that it is politics as usual but that was a terrible ad that people will agree with because Democrats bad!
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Oct 10, 2014 14:05
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zoux posted:Maybe not but they could've made it close. Which would have been enough to get the Republicans to be sane and logical because "poo poo, we lost by a much closer margin than we would like, let's not go full pants on head stupid so that we don't risk losing the next election cycle." With enough of a margin between them, the message would be "hey, the people must like our ideas or they wouldn't have voted for us, let's burn this state to the ground." I would like to hope that Republicans are more rational than that. I would also hope the Republicans would lose enough to actually take a hard look at themselves. But past experience shows that neither is going to happen.
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Oct 14, 2014 21:19
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Ninkobei posted:While I respect your thoughts, I am actually quite curious to see how much does it take to push a straight ticket Republican away from a candidate. How nutty do they have to be in order for someone to go "I know I am a true conservative all the way, but Jesus Christ, this guy is messed up!" I mean, Texas Democrats are Republicans elsewhere so it won't be that much of a stretch to hold their nose and vote for a Democrat. But does the candidate have to be a baby eating rapist to lose support?
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Oct 26, 2014 16:47
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tells me that you just lost the argument
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Badger of Basra posted:They sit around and worry about Mexicans, and have learned that "the border" is code for that. I need to take a deeper look but I would think that it is an indicator that the issue is important, not so much that they feel about it one way or another. Hopefully anyway. I hope that they won't foam at the mouth and go full Arizona.
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Oct 27, 2014 19:56
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KIM JONG TRILL posted:...and Gobenor Obama ...and Latino sex....
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Oct 30, 2014 03:25
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zoux posted:Tribune has a good post mortem on the annihilation of Wendy and BGT. I took it a good number of BGT people took the election results badly. Where does the organization go from here?
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Nov 6, 2014 17:34
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zoux posted:It's a bad loss and you know what that means: leaked memos. So the memos confirm what we already knew?
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Nov 13, 2014 16:36
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zoux posted:They always do. The funniest part of that was the firm that sent those memos was like "uuuhhh if you don't straighten this poo poo out, y'all are gonna get 38 percent", so they fire the firm and lo and behold she gets 39 percent. "Hey, we got 39 percent, that means the firm was wrong all along!" Christ, I'm starting to agree with the interpretation that the Democratic Party is the party of losers. That said, I'd rather be a loser than a cartoony super villain who votes Republican.
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Nov 13, 2014 16:50
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zoux posted:No it's specifically to allow cities to implement anti-LGBT legislation. It's more than that. Any laws that the great state overlords deem to be an affront of their authority will be overturned. What this means is that it will either get overturned in court or have hilarious consequences. Possibly both.
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Jan 28, 2015 19:23
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zoux posted:Honestly they are both non issues in the practical sense that very very few people will avail themselves of these laws. It's more a proxy debate where the actual issue is "guns good v guns bad". You say that but the few who benefit will be able to shoot minorities without legal repercussions. And honestly, isn't that more important in the state of Texas? To be more like Florida?
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Feb 12, 2015 19:21
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Well, prepare for the eventual AIDS outbreak.
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Apr 1, 2015 10:17
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So it turns out that the debate over repealing the Texas DREAM Act was cancelled for April 3rd. What's the story on that?
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Apr 4, 2015 11:40
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zoux posted:More in Patrick's very bad week. Leadership has a weekly breakfast and they ain't getting along. Will this put a damper on pushing through the Tea Party agenda? A guy can hope.
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Apr 24, 2015 18:39
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The amusement keeps on coming. Texas immigration bills in danger because not all Texas Republicans are idiots.quote:With five weeks left in lawmakers’ session, hard-line measures — including bills on college tuition for those in the U.S. illegally and on “sanctuary city” policies — are languishing in the Senate and lacking traction in the House. I want to believe...!
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May 1, 2015 19:16
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PostNouveau posted:Also, to write Bible verses. Now that I think about it, couldn't the guy appeal and get the judgment thrown out? The judgment strikes me as brazenly stupid, even for a Texas judge.
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Aug 10, 2015 09:31
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TEAH SYAG posted:There are many highways to allow you to egress the state, thank you for voting sir. Well, highways might be exaggerating a bit. Don't cross any bridges.
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Nov 4, 2015 09:54
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Badger of Basra posted:Abbott has said he will not allow Syrian refugees to resettle in Texas because scary muslims!!! Ted Cruz has also said we should only accept Christian refugees. Of course, the terrible punchline to this joke is that the goal of the group responsible for Paris was to sow distrust and bigotry against Muslims so that refugees and local Muslims can be radicalized. Good job Abbott, you're helping the terrorists. 
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Nov 17, 2015 01:00
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My family is voting for Abuela tomorrow. They are hardcore Latino Republicans but even they won't vote for the "pendejo".
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Oct 25, 2016 23:40
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Texas keeps being Texas... https://twitter.com/chrisgeidner/status/880515732257296385 It's going to be interesting if there is a stay on DACA renewals. Not a lawyer, so I don't know what that will look like. But any stops put to renewals will wreak a lot of Dreamers' lives.
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Jun 29, 2017 21:08
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I never thought I would live to see the day that Texas accidentally legalized (small amounts of) pot.
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Jul 19, 2019 23:54
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