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Posted
11 hours ago, Deej said:

Everything anybody wears is a statement. Boots are fucking comfortable and fitted pearl snap shirts look fucking good on me. Sorry for not being a fat-ass. 

So do you get fitted / tailored football jerseys, too?

11 hours ago, Your Mom said:

Who said you shouldn’t? 

But you’re generally doing for the fashion statement. No different than them.  Accept my apology if you’re posting from atop your horse on the back 40. 

Sitting atop the golf cart on the back 9 count?

Posted
On 4/15/2025 at 5:13 PM, Deej said:

Buy vintage. The good old ones are usually very lightweight material. Ebay is your friend. Most people are to fat to wear them so you get good deals. 

Yep, the ones g-father wore were paper thin.  Thrift shops often have a decent selection as well.  Picked up a bunch back in the day.  To quote the great Jason Boland:

Cheap bourbon whiskey and pearl-snap shirts
Are two things that stay the same
So when the world starts spinnin' and your head hurts
There's a cheap bourbon whiskey and pearl-snap shirt 

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Posted

We may need a "Why your houses 'splodin' Austin?" thread.

I live a mile away. My wife -- out of the country -- received two texts and a phone call alerting her of this "controlled" explosion.

I didn't get shit. Or hear shit, despite being home.

If that was controlled, I'd hate to see uncontrolled. Curious what the material was?

I read an article saying the house next door sustained "minor" damage. The blast, shockwave and raining debris seems to disagree with the official statement.

Posted

this is one of those stories that bugs the ever loving shit out of me. what facts are associated with this situation? Did some nutjob terrorist purposefully build a fucking bomb in their house that apd found out about and detonated? was the explosive material assembled inadvertently while doing a science experiment at home and the person freaked out and called the cops?

how the fuck is this information not forthcoming?

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Posted
3 minutes ago, gofuckyourself said:

And the small patio is covered, shielding you from debris from nearby neighbor's meth and/or munitions lab when detonated.

image.thumb.png.47da9891a3e314ab59d2d52750c5a93c.png

This neighborhood?  Yeah, it's booming.  I have a feeling that things are really fixing to blow up around here.

Posted
1 hour ago, Blotto said:

I havent seen much follow-up on what was going on in this house, but his neighbors are probably pissed. "we've got some roof penetration"......no shit, dude. 

 

 

lw.gif

Posted

For the idiots who don't know how to use google.

 

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/austin-explosive-detonation-vintage-stave-new-details/269-aa58fdee-68f7-43d8-9246-9b104f665600

'Familiar with him and his bomb-making shenanigans' | Police chief shares details on explosive detonation at Austin home

Steven Aldrich, 66, was taken into custody and has been booked on a charge of possessing "components of explosives."

 

Once the search warrant was obtained, it was executed and investigators found "a large quantity of homemade explosives and explosive precursors." With the help of the other responding agencies, APD bomb technicians executed a plan to render the scene safe. 

Davis said during the 24-hour investigative process, it was determined that the only way to safely detonate some of the explosive material was to do so on site.

"So, if you can imagine, getting inside and finding all of these chemicals – and again, in that 24-hour process, it was also about chemists getting involved, ATF, all of those professionals weighing in on what this looks like and what – the potential that these chemicals could cause," Davis said.

Myrick said APD needed to determine how volatile each chemical was, because when technicians start manipulating chemicals, they can become more volatile. He said sometimes, APD is able to transport small qualities of explosive materials, but the quantity of these materials was so large that a controlled, on-site detonation was needed.

Davis said residents nearby were evacuated hours before the detonation, nearby streets were closed and the explosive materials were detonated at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The home containing the materials sustained major damage, and the home next door sustained minor damage to its siding. No injuries or other damaged homes were reported, according to Davis.

 

Records show Aldrich had a previous explosives-related arrest in Williamson County, for which he was sentenced to six years of confinement in 2019. He was released on parole in August 2022 and had two weeks of parole remaining for that offense.

"Our SWAT team and our EOD [bomb squad] is familiar with him and his bomb-making shenanigans from the past," Chief Davis said.

Davis said no additional details about this incident will be released at this time, as the investigation is ongoing.

"The entire incident could have ended in a much worse scenario," Davis said. "I'm very thankful and I'm very proud of our EOD [Explosive Ordinance Disposal] and all of our federal partners here that no lives were lost and that no one was injured." 

Posted

Garza’s gun control

AUSTIN MAN Raymond Cathey was charged with six armed robberies on Saturday. He used a gun. Twelve victims. One was shot in the arm. Another nearly had his head blown off.
Cathey was out on bond for two felony drug cases.
 
But there’s more...
 
Last Oct, Cathey was charged with murder. Bond set at $100K. Two days later, the DA dropped it. No charges filed.
 
Also on his recent record:
• Caught with a stolen loaded gun — DA rejected one of the charges; minimal jail time for other charge
• Evaded APD on foot — 18 days in jail
• Reckless driving through a school zone with children present, crash, fled the scene — dismissed
• Aggravated assault with deadly weapon — dismissed
• Caught dealing meth — reduced to “attempt,” probation revoked, still walked
 
DA’s office had the whole picture. Violence. Guns. A murder charge. But they kept letting him back out. Now there are twelve more victims. One bullet already landed. Another nearly did.
 
image.thumb.jpeg.0c7b4f066054f0abe5fab79785fd4d11.jpeg
 
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Posted
59 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

For the idiots who don't know how to use google.

 

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/austin-explosive-detonation-vintage-stave-new-details/269-aa58fdee-68f7-43d8-9246-9b104f665600

'Familiar with him and his bomb-making shenanigans' | Police chief shares details on explosive detonation at Austin home

Steven Aldrich, 66, was taken into custody and has been booked on a charge of possessing "components of explosives."

 

Once the search warrant was obtained, it was executed and investigators found "a large quantity of homemade explosives and explosive precursors." With the help of the other responding agencies, APD bomb technicians executed a plan to render the scene safe. 

Davis said during the 24-hour investigative process, it was determined that the only way to safely detonate some of the explosive material was to do so on site.

"So, if you can imagine, getting inside and finding all of these chemicals – and again, in that 24-hour process, it was also about chemists getting involved, ATF, all of those professionals weighing in on what this looks like and what – the potential that these chemicals could cause," Davis said.

Myrick said APD needed to determine how volatile each chemical was, because when technicians start manipulating chemicals, they can become more volatile. He said sometimes, APD is able to transport small qualities of explosive materials, but the quantity of these materials was so large that a controlled, on-site detonation was needed.

Davis said residents nearby were evacuated hours before the detonation, nearby streets were closed and the explosive materials were detonated at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The home containing the materials sustained major damage, and the home next door sustained minor damage to its siding. No injuries or other damaged homes were reported, according to Davis.

 

Records show Aldrich had a previous explosives-related arrest in Williamson County, for which he was sentenced to six years of confinement in 2019. He was released on parole in August 2022 and had two weeks of parole remaining for that offense.

"Our SWAT team and our EOD [bomb squad] is familiar with him and his bomb-making shenanigans from the past," Chief Davis said.

Davis said no additional details about this incident will be released at this time, as the investigation is ongoing.

"The entire incident could have ended in a much worse scenario," Davis said. "I'm very thankful and I'm very proud of our EOD [Explosive Ordinance Disposal] and all of our federal partners here that no lives were lost and that no one was injured." 

Do we know his Surly username?

Posted
3 hours ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Garza’s gun control

 

AUSTIN MAN Raymond Cathey was charged with six armed robberies on Saturday. He used a gun. Twelve victims. One was shot in the arm. Another nearly had his head blown off.
Cathey was out on bond for two felony drug cases.
 
But there’s more...
 
Last Oct, Cathey was charged with murder. Bond set at $100K. Two days later, the DA dropped it. No charges filed.
 
Also on his recent record:
• Caught with a stolen loaded gun — DA rejected one of the charges; minimal jail time for other charge
• Evaded APD on foot — 18 days in jail
• Reckless driving through a school zone with children present, crash, fled the scene — dismissed
• Aggravated assault with deadly weapon — dismissed
• Caught dealing meth — reduced to “attempt,” probation revoked, still walked
 
DA’s office had the whole picture. Violence. Guns. A murder charge. But they kept letting him back out. Now there are twelve more victims. One bullet already landed. Another nearly did.
 
image.thumb.jpeg.0c7b4f066054f0abe5fab79785fd4d11.jpeg
 

JFC!

Posted
2 hours ago, DoobieWah said:

You got what Soros paid for. 

Garza sucks.  You see little dissent here.

But when your solution was to deliver us a DA that ELON paid for (Elon was openly behind the campaign to unseat Garza)....yeah, fuck that shit too.

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Posted
39 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Garza sucks so bad, everyone should be on the other side  

 

This guy should have won the primary but was accused of receiving West Lake funding  

https://www.coferconnelly.com/about-us/jeremy-sylestine/

 

He wasn't "accused" of shit -- he was absolutely backed by Elon, Ted Cruz groups, etc.:

Quote

Sylestine garnered the support of top-dollar Republican donors during his campaign, and, the WSJ reports, one of his loudest backers was a political action committee supported by the Tesla CEO.

The PAC, then known as Saving Austin, flooded Austin with attack ads claiming Garza was responsible for Austin's streets being filled with "pedophiles and killers." The PAC was not registered with the state's ethics commission, so its backers weren't immediately identifiable at the time. The Journal combed through Federal Election Commission records and found Saving Austin, now known as Saving Texas, is connected to Musk's pro-Trump PAC. The reporters also found three staffers for the group previously worked for Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

When your solution to the "Soros-backed" DA is "Elon's boy"....don't be shocked when your alternative goes down in flames too.

I wanted Mindy Montford to run against Garza....maybe she will next time.  There are alternatives to Garza out there, and the Travis County Dem party (as well as the statewide party) need to get the fuck on board with one of them, because Garza is a fucking liability.

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Posted (edited)

Had been an Travis County DA a decade before Elon stepped foot in Austin. 
 

I moved to Austin in 2006 to join the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. During my 15-plus years in that office, I handled thousands of cases and took serious and complicated felony charges to trial. I spent over seven years handing a child abuse and domestic violence caseload. Over my final five years with the office, I served as team lead for the 147th and 427th District Courts, where I supervised court teams and took on the most grave and complicated cases. I have tried dozens of aggravated felonies, including capital murder, murder, aggravated sexual assault, and injury to a child.

I am a husband, father, native Texan, and member of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas.

 

Edited by ChickenSandwich
Posted
58 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Had been an Travis County DA a decade before Elon stepped foot in Austin. 
 

I moved to Austin in 2006 to join the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. During my 15-plus years in that office, I handled thousands of cases and took serious and complicated felony charges to trial. I spent over seven years handing a child abuse and domestic violence caseload. Over my final five years with the office, I served as team lead for the 147th and 427th District Courts, where I supervised court teams and took on the most grave and complicated cases. I have tried dozens of aggravated felonies, including capital murder, murder, aggravated sexual assault, and injury to a child.

I am a husband, father, native Texan, and member of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas.

 

Cool.  Nifty.  Mindy has an even better resume (as do numerous other veterans of the DA's office), and she's not backed by a psychopath billionaire and Ted Cruz.  Sorry, you bring that fucking baggage to the show, you should expect to be left outside.

Posted

I've tuned out most of the anti-Garza smears as being linked to dark money or butthurt political enemies with an axe to grind. There are probably valid criticisms of him but I can't tell what's a fair critique from the bullshit "we're being invaded"-type hysteria. The reality is the homeless problem has no economically feasible solutions that are also humane. We're not going to support unchecked police power, so if that happens it will be due to the state overtaking power from the city's elected officials. For every "why was this scary guy given bond" story you see on social media to drive outrage and clicks there are dozens of unpublicized stories of ordinary people who got some kind of leniency that prevented their lives and family finances from spiraling into something worse.

Have you ever noticed how all the "tough on crime" jurisdictions have the worst quality of life, and higher crime? That's no coincidence.

Posted
31 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Cool.  Nifty.  Mindy has an even better resume (as do numerous other veterans of the DA's office), and she's not backed by a psychopath billionaire and Ted Cruz.  Sorry, you bring that fucking baggage to the show, you should expect to be left outside.

Well Mindy nor numerous veterans of the DA's office decided to run, and between the two D primary options, Garza was the incorrect one.  Your views on their donors don't mean shit.  Elon vs Soros - there are no winners here.  I read nothing about Sylestein that suggests he is a crazy right winger.  What, other than who donated to his campaign, was the issue with his qualifications?

 

I would happily vote for Mindy or almost anyone else.  By all means lets get her campaign growing.  I don't care who backs her.  Vote for your community.  I don't give a shit who contributes to her campaign if she is right/qualified for the job.

 

Posted
31 minutes ago, chainsaw said:

I've tuned out most of the anti-Garza smears as being linked to dark money or butthurt political enemies with an axe to grind. There are probably valid criticisms of him but I can't tell what's a fair critique from the bullshit "we're being invaded"-type hysteria. The reality is the homeless problem has no economically feasible solutions that are also humane. We're not going to support unchecked police power, so if that happens it will be due to the state overtaking power from the city's elected officials. For every "why was this scary guy given bond" story you see on social media to drive outrage and clicks there are dozens of unpublicized stories of ordinary people who got some kind of leniency that prevented their lives and family finances from spiraling into something worse.

You shouldn't tune it out.  He's objectively bad, because when it comes down to it, the main job the DA has is as an administrator....and he's a TERRIBLE one.  Shit is going south (people released, no bonds, etc.) not because of some deliberate policy choice, but simply because the DA's office doesn't have its shit together.  

It's not an easy job, it involves a lot of mundane but challenging administration and management.  He is clearly not up for it - and that has nothing to do with his overall philosophy on criminal justice (which, in the abstract, I don't have a huge problem with....but his execution of it is shit).

But you are correct to note that the problems being raised to not land on his desk alone.  The fact that APD has functionally "quiet quit" doing their jobs because they are pouting because maybe they won't get to do whatever they want to civilians whenever they want with no repercussions is a very real issue.  Our city council utterly botching its approach to the homeless is a very real issue.  But also...having an incompetent DA is a very real issue.

But again to Chicken Sandwich, fuck that shit.  I don't care if Elon throws his support behind Jesus Christ the Actual Son of God, I am not voting for anyone who has ANY sort of alignment with Elon - Jesus wouldn't get my vote.  Elon is fucking poison.  Don't take that poison, candidates.

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Posted
6 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

I don't care if Elon throws his support behind Jesus Christ the Actual Son of God, I am not voting for anyone who has ANY sort of alignment with Elon - Jesus wouldn't get my vote. M

Are you saying Jesus Christ can’t hit a curveball effectively run a DA’s office?

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Posted
4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

You shouldn't tune it out.  He's objectively bad, because when it comes down to it, the main job the DA has is as an administrator....and he's a TERRIBLE one.  Shit is going south (people released, no bonds, etc.) not because of some deliberate policy choice, but simply because the DA's office doesn't have its shit together.  

It's not an easy job, it involves a lot of mundane but challenging administration and management.  He is clearly not up for it - and that has nothing to do with his overall philosophy on criminal justice (which, in the abstract, I don't have a huge problem with....but his execution of it is shit).

But you are correct to note that the problems being raised to not land on his desk alone.  The fact that APD has functionally "quiet quit" doing their jobs because they are pouting because maybe they won't get to do whatever they want to civilians whenever they want with no repercussions is a very real issue.  Our city council utterly botching its approach to the homeless is a very real issue.  But also...having an incompetent DA is a very real issue.

But again to Chicken Sandwich, fuck that shit.  I don't care if Elon throws his support behind Jesus Christ the Actual Son of God, I am not voting for anyone who has ANY sort of alignment with Elon - Jesus wouldn't get my vote.  Elon is fucking poison.  Don't take that poison, candidates.

I've long suspected that high-level positions are mostly useless (Pete Hegseth running DOD for example) in that you can take a competent person and swap them out with an incompetent person and as long as the behind the scenes folks actually running things are still there to actually run things the organization will basically remain the same. I know there are situations where the difference at that level is going to matter but as far as crime and urban blight in Austin are concerned I haven't seen the case be made that from 2021 to today Austin would have been noticeably better if someone other than Garza had been in office.

Posted
6 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Are you saying Jesus Christ can’t hit a curveball effectively run a DA’s office?

I dunno.  I see a lot of holes in his plan.

 

 

WHAT, a guy can't make a solid Good Friday joke?  Jesus woulda laughed at it.

4 minutes ago, chainsaw said:

I've long suspected that high-level positions are mostly useless (Pete Hegseth running DOD for example) in that you can take a competent person and swap them out with an incompetent person and as long as the behind the scenes folks actually running things are still there to actually run things the organization will basically remain the same. I know there are situations where the difference at that level is going to matter but as far as crime and urban blight in Austin are concerned I haven't seen the case be made that from 2021 to today Austin would have been noticeably better if someone other than Garza had been in office.

Wrong.  As just one example, see this story about the Travis County DA's office blowing deadlines that other urban DA's offices do NOT miss: https://www.kvue.com/article/news/investigations/defenders/jose-garza-missed-indictment-deadlines-update/269-51412436-b9a6-491a-94b0-974779e7106c#:~:text=After controversy hit his administration,office%2C it is unacceptable.”

Quote

The KVUE Defenders talked to public defender offices in Harris County, Dallas County, Bexar County in San Antonio and El Paso County who say those counties have systems in place to make sure both prosecutors and defense attorneys know when a 90-day deadline is approaching to indict felony defendants.

In Bexar County, for instance, both parties receive notifications at 30, 60, 75 and 90 days.

Travis County has largely relied upon the DA’s office to act on cases within 90 days. But when Garza took office in 2021, he all but disbanded that unit and assigned the duty to trial court attorneys who are already busy with settings and trials.

The DA's position is NOT just some figurehead, with competent folks behind him running it.  It is a real job, with real responsibilities (nevermind that he also ran off many of the more competent senior staffers -- they couldn't handle working with such a shitshow).  Garza is failing at those responsibilities.  I have friends who worked and still occasionally work with the DA's office.  They've run out of words to describe what a shitshow it is.

Posted
55 minutes ago, chainsaw said:

I've tuned out most of the anti-Garza smears as being linked to dark money or butthurt political enemies with an axe to grind. There are probably valid criticisms of him but I can't tell what's a fair critique from the bullshit "we're being invaded"-type hysteria. The reality is the homeless problem has no economically feasible solutions that are also humane. We're not going to support unchecked police power, so if that happens it will be due to the state overtaking power from the city's elected officials. For every "why was this scary guy given bond" story you see on social media to drive outrage and clicks there are dozens of unpublicized stories of ordinary people who got some kind of leniency that prevented their lives and family finances from spiraling into something worse.

Have you ever noticed how all the "tough on crime" jurisdictions have the worst quality of life, and higher crime? That's no coincidence.

image.png.a142c8fde3e49f5411518bf3100f934f.png

Posted
2 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

image.png.a142c8fde3e49f5411518bf3100f934f.png

Again, not to excuse Garza's performance, but compare those rates of increase to most every other jurisdiction in the US over similar periods.  For example, the homicide rate nearly doubled....nationwide:

Figure1-1-1536x1116-2-1024x744.png

Looking at one jurisdiction in a vacuum when considering whether local enforcement had an effect on violent crime is a completely inaccurate picture.

Again, not offered as ANY excuse for Garza's many failings.  But national data shows we coulda had the greatest DA in the country and likely seen similar trend numbers.

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Posted
27 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

blowing deadlines that other urban DA's offices do NOT miss

This is valid, but voters seem not to care. Another case of bad boss, good politician.

And to Chicken's point, your chart says what I was going to say. No matter who was in office, they were gonna be holding the bag on stats like that (like Sark with Herman's recruits)

Posted
1 minute ago, chainsaw said:

This is valid, but voters seem not to care. Another case of bad boss, good politician.

I don't think you're right.  I know a shitload of folks in Dem circles in town, and they uniformly think that Garza is crap.  The last race was a textbook example of ruination of a candidate by association.  The Dem primary voters here are ready to vote for someone other than Garza.  But they'll never vote in sufficient numbers that Elon and Ted Cruz try to shove down our throat, even if that person is otherwise qualified.  That was a big fucking miscalculation last race.  I hope it is not repeated.

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