Samson's Wig

No one should be surprised by the latest city council moves regarding parking and development, but it's still rage-inducing.

Good question. Surely there's an attorney who owns a sports car with vanity plates around here somewhere who knows the answer. Or if we're not rolling in that high of cotton maybe there's a PD in a cheap suit and a spare two seconds who can chime in.

Coffee talk not going away. Also - did Bolivia just feel the need to remind everyone they harbored Nazis after WWII? We get it, Bolivia. You don't like Jews. You don't have to rub it in.

While certainly possible, my wife was on the other side of me. If the young lady hadn't been shit-faced drunk the evening may have been much more interesting.

Do you go to a laundromat and spit-clean your dishes? I don't blame you for going aggro on the boy, that's not a lot of water.

Was in the Denver airport over the weekend and a young lady sat down next to me at the bar and was already completely and clearly drunk. The bartender served her three more doubles over the course of an hour or so. She just kept getting louder and more obnoxious by the minute. At some point, she mentioned she was headed to Austin and I thought it was my turn to see some shenanigans. Sure enough, she stumbles onto the same plane and sits down across the aisle from me. She just passed out and snored the entire flight. I was a little disappointed. I thought the same thing you posted above while watching the entire thing. Idiots will ruin things for the rest of us, per usual.

Can't recall now, but didn't the boyfriend have a solid alibi? If not, she may well get away with it.

Real story or not, fuck that fucking fuck. What is wrong with people?

Likely a British expat living in Mueller who hasn't ventured west of Mopac other than that one trip to Fredericksburg for wine tasting with the gals. She's got dreams, though. We all do.

The luxury isn't in the houses, it's in the people.

I absolutely agree that young people are not being taught history in grade school, and are being manipulated by special interest groups and professors on campuses. I've seen that nonsense firsthand. I wasn't picking a fight or arguing with you above at all, but I can see how it may have come across that way. I was just being pedantic for no good reason, and failing at it to boot.

That would make a difference, for sure.

Thanks, I skimmed right past that part - my bad. They must have polled college students, as I doubt 51% of Americans aged 18-24 could point out the Gaza Strip (or Israel) on a map with ten tries, much less know what Hamas is or that there is even a conflict.

I would believe that 51% of Harvard students think this way, but no way 51% of Americans do. Polls are stupid.

The humor there was that it was an aggie that punched his douche face. All the violence was aggie on aggie. Otherwise it was high school kids with a goal post.

Still no N antibodies for this guy as of bloodwork last week, despite wife and son having had the rona at different times in the last couple of years. I like to think I'm some form of mutant who just can't get it (although it's more likely the vaccinations and working from home).

Hans Rosling. Factfulness is definitely worth a read.

I agree completely with what you're saying. I think the mistake is thinking that any of these attempts to change the zoning and code regs have anything to do with actually helping with housing in Austin. It's about lining the pockets of a handful of folks, and they make more money building 2 and 3 unit properties in central Austin that can be quickly sold to investors for use as short-term rentals than they do with an apartment/condo building (and thereby making the housing situation worse, not better). If they actually wanted to add affordable housing, then of course apartment buildings are the answer, but that's not how the grift is set up. Developers want to build cheaply and sell quickly, not maintain a building. Supposedly we have a bunch of new apartments coming onto the market soon. I have no idea where and haven't noticed significant amounts of construction, but I keep hearing that they're coming. I don't know if they'll be real apartments or those money laundering bullshit condo buildings we have downtown that no actual working humans live in. Any significant apartment development should be scattered throughout town, though, and not crammed into one area. I agree that using existing multi-unit locations is the smart move. The problem is the lack of interest in developing such properties. Just like banning short-term rentals, this obvious solution isn't one the crooked assholes in charge have any interest in because it's not how their bread is buttered.

Otherwise known as MTG country. Lots of edumacated folks up 'at way.

One was some kind of road rage incident involving people shooting on the highway who I don't believe live in the area. Another was an accidental shooting at a home, whatever that entails. The third (the one inside 360) was very recent and not many details are available, but someone murdered a woman and dropped her body in the neighborhood, then lit it on fire. About as grisly as it gets.

I believed and did a lot of stupid shit as an 18-20 year old as well, but I never joined any hate groups. And that is exactly what most of the pro-Palestinian groups on college campuses are and always have been. I agree that many of the staunch pro-Palestinian kids on any given campus are mostly muddle-headed young folks with good intentions and still developing brains, but you can bet your ass that the student leaders of these groups are straight-up antisemitic genocidal pieces of shit, and they are methodically and purposefully steering other young people down a path of hatred. Many years ago, I went back to school for my law degree around age 30, making me the old guy in every class. My jaw hit the floor every time discussions of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict came up and I heard what came out of the mouths of some of my younger classmates. It was vile, unadulterated, racism of the nastiest kind. I have no illusions about these student groups. They're fucking evil.

Damnit, now I'm hungry.

He also once said the U.S. would not import any oil by the year 2020. Hope he's right about this one.

So you think that the tax code should be wielded as either a weapon or a means to manipulate decision-making? That's fine, and you're not alone. I disagree that it's the least bad form of coercion. I think there are better ways of accomplishing these goals and that the tax system should be as neutral as possible so that decisions are made for economic reasons and not tax reasons. Many economists agree with this notion, and it's certainly not my idea. Who doesn't agree with this? Politicians. I'm not a free-for-all free-market proponent. I'm all for the regulation of industries (the best form of which is eliminating tort reform and allowing bad actors to pay the consequences for their actions with their pocketbook - but good old-fashioned regulation through federal and state agencies is also great). I'm also in support of propping up industries (such as your semiconductor example) through some form of subsidy which can take the form of loans, govt. contracts, etc. The tax code doesn't have to be involved in these things (although refundable tax credits can be a reasonable use of it), and its use in this manner is exactly why it's a monster full of loopholes, contradictions, and general nonsense. It's also one of the major reasons semiconductors were being built overseas in the first place - that's one problem with trying to use it for coercion, you almost always have unintended consequences. Politicians love it more than anything else because Americans don't understand it and they can use it to benefit their donors and/or punish their enemies. These are essentially the only ways the tax code is utilized anymore, even when they're dressed up as a subsidy or otherwise, and both types of uses are rife with corruption. The insanity that is the varying rates for different types of capital income is a prime example of just how bunged up the system is. Most notably, our tax code encourages debt over equity financing, which is just fucking stupid on its face and a big part of the economic woes we've seen over the last fifteen years. A completely tax-neutral system is not feasible (needed coercion should come in the form of refundable tax credits rather than deductions), but this notion should underpin any tax reform discussion, in my opinion. It would result in a more transparent, approachable, and navigable tax system that would streamline economic decisions and ultimately further stabilize our economic system - which has become shockingly fragile in the last few decades thanks in large part to our tax code.

Brain food. Some people get liberal arts degrees.