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Ghost of LL last won the day on February 11 2021
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17441 Surly 1%About Ghost of LL

- Birthday 01/01/1975
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I kind of would've, too. But I talked to the guy in Houston who was in charge of their program and he had some really interesting insight on that. A lot of them fell out of touch with family not because of any conscious desire on the part of the family. Instead, it was more often at the initiative of the person who eventually fell into homelessness. Without a home or a job, there was no physical place to find them. And very often, the homeless person was too ashamed about their circumstance to answer a call on their cell phone (if they were able to retain that). It's only when a social worker gets involved and convinces them to make that call that they get over that shame and reach out to their family. And in the vast majority of cases, the family is (1) relieved that they're alive and ok and (2) willing and eager to help. Pretty sure a lot of their "solution" was buying them a bus ticket to Austin. Not sure Austin can use that strategy. That's Williamson County's solution, for sure. I don't remember the specifics, but I think Houston will buy a bus ticket if there is a family member in the destination willing to receive them. But they're not just buying a ticket to some random city (whether it be Austin or San Francisco).
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Dallas. I mean, before the One Big Beautiful Bill cut the funding the city was using to address homelessness. But Dallas actually had a very successful program to address homelessness. And before that, Houston developed a really good program. It's similar to what Dallas was doing. Essentially, you target a homeless camp and send in police, santitation, and social workers in a single sweep. You take the people to a temporary center for processing, where they stay for 72 hours. During that 72 hours, the city identifies what they need. Some just need a call to a family member who takes them in. Other people need serious mental-health services. Anyone still there after 72 hours gets sent over to a longer-term facility that gives them an apartment for some amount of time (I think it's six months), where there are various social services available. The end result was that something like 90% of the people left before six months, having found permanent housing (often with family who didn't have the first clue that they were homeless). Anyway--there is a formula for successfully addressing homelessness. Cities that are pretty close by have implemented it. It's not rocket surgery. We just refuse to do it.
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The Leopards Eating Faces and Unlubed Dildo of Consequences Thread
Ghost of LL replied to Horn Dog's topic in Cloak Room
I know you're joking. But that's not really how it works. Look at 19th Century Ireland or 20th Century Calabria or 21st Century Syria. When you cause the upper middle class to leave, that class doesn't get filled in by people who were lower on the socio-economic ladder. It's that the oligarchs (the Anglo-Irish nobility, the Mafia, the regime-adjacent Alawites) take over whatever wealth is left over while the lower classes get even poorer from the reduction in economic activity. And really, that's when real poverty takes hold, leading to mass emigration and foreign restrictions on migration. The lesson for the investing classes is this: emigration from a failing state is like a run on the bank--it's irrational to start one, but once it has started, it's irrational not to participate. -
The Leopards Eating Faces and Unlubed Dildo of Consequences Thread
Ghost of LL replied to Horn Dog's topic in Cloak Room
But the humorous thing is that the investing classes who live disproportionately in urban areas--which is to say the people whom these MAGAts hate and on whom they want to inflict the most pain--are doing just great, thank you very much. They don't really care that groceries are more expensive. I mean, I think they are. Maybe. I mean, I really don't know how much one banana can cost. But at the same time, this little AI bubble we have going means their income is up bigly. And part of being a member of the investing classes is that when the time comes, they can parachute out of this country with no problem. There are dozens of countries that will give you a visa if you meet (often shockingly low) passive-investment-income requirements. There are plenty more countries that will give you citizenship for investment. There are already plenty of people leaving. There are plenty more who will leave. And if this country really tanks, there will be tens or hundreds of thousands who will just leave this place behind. But those farmers and small-town merchants in Iowa? They're stuck here. -
The Leopards Eating Faces and Unlubed Dildo of Consequences Thread
Ghost of LL replied to Horn Dog's topic in Cloak Room
A 6.1% contraction in GDP is . . . bad. For comparison, the peak-to-trough drop in GDP during the Great Recession was only 4.3%. It could be a whole lot worse. The Great depression was around 30%. But . . . we're not done yet, Iowa--we could still get there. -
Texas vs. Mississippi State - 3:15pm on SEC Network
Ghost of LL replied to Pancho's topic in Football
I did the same thing—went to take a nap at halftime. Woke up and turned on the World Series. Didn’t know we won until just a minute ago when I switched it over to the aggy game to check the score and saw it on the scroll. i couldn’t be more shocked. -
Let’s money-whip Cignetti.
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Goddamn, you're still this fucking bitter about that? I mean, I don't know about you, but I had a lot of fun on that trip. Dinner at Galatoire's the night before and then four-dozen after-argument oysters at Felix's? That was a damned good time. Of course, Edith Jones didn't chew my ass out at oral argument. So maybe that colors my perspective.
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This has some real Fort Sumter vibes. And if you don't see that, then you need to pick up a book. Well, as a matter of fact, . . . .
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I don't agree with futureman very often . . . and this certainly isn't going to be one of those times. I like pickles. A lot. I'll order extra pickles on that tuna sandwich. But the logistics of that are going to be a problem. A pickle doesn't have the give of bread. So when you bite into a pickle, all the sandwich fillings are going to shoot out the other end--especially with a non-solid filling like tuna. So hard pass.
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I'm sorry--you're right. I was imprecise in my statement. He's the most popular Republican holding state office in Texas (and I include Cornyn, Cruz, and the various MOCs in that).
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Cross-posting from the Abbott thread, the "informed speculation" I heard at the event I was at last week--to which you were invited but you did not show (shame on you, by the way)--was exactly this. Paxton's fundraising and polling have been disappointing after Hunt announced his candidacy. A lot of MAGA donors see Hunt as being every bit as MAGA as Paxton without any of the baggage. You're exactly right hwn you say that Texas Republican voters are trained to vote with maximum cynicism. And Paxton's camp is starting to get concerned that he might end up third in a three-candidate race. And that is to say that he would end up without a job in government, which is pretty bad for a guy of his criminality. So according to my informant, when the filing deadline comes in December, Ken Paxton is not going to have filed to run for U.S. Senate against John Cornyn; he will have filed to run for governor against Greg Abbott. There are some people (e.g., Tim Dunn) who aren't altogether thrilled with Abbott. I don't know if it's all about marijuana, but I think that's a large part of it. And they see Paxton as a viable alternative. Now, I've got to tell you--that last bit doesn't make any sense to me. Greg Abbott has a $100M war chest. And he's probably the most popular Republican in Texas. I suppose Tim Dunn could challenge him on the money front. Maybe. But really--why? And even if you could challenge him on the money front, Ken Paxton isn't going to challenge him on the popularity front with a Republican (or any) electorate. So Paxton running a real risk of missing a run-off in the Senate race makes some sense to me. But the running against Abbott bit doesn't. But maybe the last part just flows from the first part. Paxton has to be desperate to hold public office given his criminality. Any office. He could've stayed AG, but he's probably burned his ships on that. So he's got to find something else to run for. Anything. So maybe this does make some sense.
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The Dallas Stars 2025-2026 Season Thread: We can haz cup?
Ghost of LL replied to Longhorn_Fan68's topic in Other Sports
It was the second very short offseason in a row. And it's a team that's focused entirely on April and May. I'm not entirely surprised that they've come out in October looking a bit lackluster. That being said--the defense is terrible. And that needs to be addressed soon. -
So our own Marian Reforms, eh?
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