Jump to content

DanRydell

Legacy Members
  • Posts

    1397
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by DanRydell

  1. 10 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

    The key is who do we hold to a higher standard, and why?

    Jacob Blake isn't my employee.  He doesn't wear my country/state flag on his uniform.  I don't pay his salary and pension.  He isn't doing a job that is expressly to serve and protect the entire public.

    A cop is all of those things.  Thus, I hold him to the higher standard.  It doesn't mean I excuse Blake.  It means that I speak to the institution and people who 1) work for me, and 2) who should know and do better in the course and scope of doing that job for me.

    We already HAVE a system for dealing with people like Jacob Blake -- it's a very efficient system.  It fills prisons at a rate above that of any other country on earth.  So, that one is a lesser concern for me.

    Yup. No use of force policy is going to result in the right decision being made 100% of the time. But errors should be made on the side of underusing lethal force, not overusing it.

  2. 4 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

    I'd like to hear this story.

    It's not that exciting. I was 17. I was pulled over with some friends while driving around on Halloween. I was asked to get out of the car, which I did. I was told I was pulled over because my car matched the description of a car that had thrown an egg at a small child and caused him to fall and break his arm. I don't know if that was true but they repeatedly tried to intimidate me into allowing them to search my car so I deduced they didn't actually have enough to search me or they wouldn't keep asking for permission. I told them to go ahead and detain me if they have probable cause to do so but otherwise I'm going to go ahead and leave, walked toward my car while telling them to go fuck themselves, got in my car, and drove off with my friends. It wasn't the best way to handle things but I was a teenage shitbag libertarian know-it-all.

  3. 7 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

    Next time your white ass gets pulled over do exactly what that guy did.  Fight with cops.  And then start reaching into your car.   And let us know how that works for you.  
     

    The currently-available Jacob Blake video shows a man shot in front of his children after he ignored instructions from 2 policemen who had guns drawn, walked around his car refusing to comply, and reached in as the cops were trying to pull him away from the open door. More evidence could swing this either way, but if you condemn the cops based on this video, I don’t know what to say.  
     

    And I’m someone who will absolutely shit on cops when warranted.  

    I've walked away from cops and into my car while telling them to go fuck themselves. I didn't get shot. I didn't even get arrested.

  4. There's quite a difference between a song that was written by someone who happened to be racist and a song that was written to be performed in a minstrel show whose title adopts a Robert E. Lee slogan. I'm not saying the latter means the song should be banned or cannot be enjoyed or appreciated but if you're going to have an honest dialogue about it, you can't completely misrepresent the history like that.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Fuck You 1
  5. 55 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

    How much does a scholarship really cost a school?

    I think at most schools the AD actually pays the full tuition to the university so it's a bit of a windfall to the university since the marginal costs of enrolling an additional 250-300 students are certainly less than tuition for each of those.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 3
  6. You're incredibly butthurt for someone who started a threat to complain about other people of being butthurt.

    You're outraged that a woman was widely derided for engaging in the adoption version of poverty tourism, exploiting that for her commercial gain, and then pulling the parachute when the going got tough and making it clear that despite her bullshit, he adoptive kid was clearly less valued than her bio kids.

    • Like 1
  7. Memphis is doing an amazing job of using his HOH to alienate everyone in the house, including/especially his alliance. his lack of strategy is only exceeded by his lack of self awareness. I'm hoping that Nicole survives tonight and somehow ends up being the one to evict him. 

    For someone who fancies himself a major player in this game, that was one of the more disastrous HOH reigns I can recall.
    • Hook 'Em 1
  8. If Jews were currently fleeing dangerous conditions and seeking refuge here in the US (I mean, when has THAT ever happened?  What a wacky, far-fetched scenario!), this regime would absolutely, 100%, serve them fucking pork.
    Because, as always, the cruelty indeed is the point.

    TDCJ has always kinda done this. If you’re Jewish or Muslim, you’re not forced to eat pork but the alternative is just a double serving of whatever non-meat item was being served.
  9. If Jews were currently fleeing dangerous conditions and seeking refuge here in the US (I mean, when has THAT ever happened?  What a wacky, far-fetched scenario!), this regime would absolutely, 100%, serve them fucking pork.
    Because, as always, the cruelty indeed is the point.

    TDCJ has always kinda done this. If you’re Jewish or Muslim, you’re not forced to eat pork but the alternative is just a double serving of whatever non-meat item was being served.
  10. And homeowners in Austin who have been in their homes for 10-15 years pay ever increasing taxes on profits (home value ) they don’t actually receive making them more cash poor each year until they are forced to make a choice to stay or sell. This is through no action on their part, just a victim of low supply and high demand. 
     
    City keeps getting a raise from their existing inventory of homeowners regardless of action on said homeowners part, whole the homeowner loses more money each month with little to no increase or benefit. 

    That’s because property taxes are dumb and should be replaced with income taxes.
    • Hook 'Em 1
  11. 1 hour ago, Cheeseweasel said:

    Why remake them at all? It's lazy as shit.

     

    And the 80's had some fantastic comedies. Coming to America. Ferris Bueller. The Goonies. Sixteen Candles. Caddy Shack. Fast Times. Beetlejuice.  Fletch. 

    How soon we forget...

    Because Hollywood a business and people don't buy tickets to original movies anymore. 3 of the 25 highest grossing movies in domestic box office last year weren't sequels, remakes, or based on some sort of existing IP.

  12. Austin ISD has a plan to rebuild almost the entire school district over the next 30 years.  It's not a perfect plan but it is a good plan.  They want to do it without raising the tax rate, with a new bond package every five years or so.  They plan to do it by issuing new bonds as they pay off old bonds, but without jacking up the tax rate.  They were very careful during the last bond to keep the tax rate used for construction unchanged.  If the city keeps raising taxes for billion dollar tunnels and hundreds of millions for bike lanes and sidewalks, the school district will have a harder time later convincing people to raise their taxes even more.
    The $460 million on the ballot for bike lanes and sidewalks could build 10 new elementary schools serving about 8000 children, about 10% of AISD.  Half of those would be economically disadvantaged kids sitting in brand new state of the art schools.
    The property tax rate can not just climb forever.  People will move to the suburbs to escape the taxes.  The sprawl that the transit folks don't want will happen.
    I was pro-public transit until a few years after the Red Line opened.  I was an Austin Monorail supporter way back when.  I don't have faith, after watching the city dig the Waller tunnel, watching the city go over budget on the library and after watching ridership on the Red Line fall short of projections, that the city and Cap Metro can deliver the projected ridership at the proposed cost.  I hope I am wrong.

    The City of Austin has a lower property tax rate than a lot of the suburbs, including Kyle, Bastrop, Cedar Park, Elgin, Hutto, Lago Vista, Leander, Liberty Hill, Lockhart, Manor, and Pflugerville.
    • Hook 'Em 1
  13. 12 hours ago, Texas Jeff said:

    Which would be a more morally correct way to spend $2 billion in Austin?

    A 1.5 mile tunnel so that trains and buses don't have to mix with cars for 1.5 miles...

    ... or invest about $100,000 per AISD high schooler to completely modernize or rebuild ALL of our high schools and make them the best schools in the area?
    ... I'm talking $280 million for Bowie, $240 million for Austin High, $290 million for Akins, and so on.  Every high school kid in the district massively benefits.

    Now, the tax bases are not the same, some RRISD and other ISDs are in the Austin city tax base, but the tunnel we are talking about here is going to benefit one small area.

    It would be a lot cheaper to just kick cars off of the 1.5 miles and make it transit only ... and spend the money to transform the lives of the next generation.  Give them the education they need to get some of the tech jobs coming to our town.

    The sources of that $2 billion are city property taxes, CapMetro funds, and federal transportation funds, none of which are allowed to be spent on AISD schools.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 1
  14. Well, really, the only narrative that should be controlled is the one in the courtroom and court rules are set up, imperfectly, to try to minimize the influence of publicity.  As far as courtroom results, I think "trying your case in the press" benefits defendants more than plaintiffs or prosecutions.
    In this particular case, I think it's the NY AG aggrandizing herself.  But I am a walk softly and carry a big stick type.
    Also, I think it may be borderline unethical to file and publicize a lawsuit in order to obtain something you can't obtain in the lawsuit.  Which is not the case here, but if one were thinking along the lines of using a lawsuit and attendant publicity/narrative to obtain an extrajudicial result only.

    It’s an elected office. Self-aggrandizing is part of the gig.
  15. I don't believe a non-profit whistleblower must also be the President of the organization.  What would be the purpose of such such a policy?
    Non-profit misuse of funds is rampant in the US. Selective enforcement remains unconstitutional under Equal Protection analysis. 

    Is that dumbass shit really your response? Christ I’d forgotten what an insufferable shit you are.
    • Hook 'Em 1
  16. Selective enforcement is a violation of the equal protection clause of the Constitution. Are similarly situated organizations treated the same or is this punishment for free speech? 
    I have no use for many so-called non-profits. I own weapons. Never been a member of the NRA. Don't hunt. 12 gauge and varmint revolver owner. NRA living or dying does not affect me.
    Punishing free speech is not copacetic to me, but your mileage may vary - which is your free speech and something I would protect as well. 
    The NRA was a money making machine. They are not alone in that distinction among "non-profits." They all need to "do better."

    I’m not aware of any other non-profits whose President blew the whistle on them like this so unless you are then no, there aren’t any similarly situated organizations to single them out from.
    • Haha 1
Ă—
Ă—
  • Create New...