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Francisco 2.0

Certifiably Surly
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Posts posted by Francisco 2.0

  1. 2 hours ago, Jack Straw said:

    “Something is going to be done about these crooked social media companies.  DO SOMETHING!!” 

    Whilst posting on (double checking here) Twitter, which is considered (by some, I'm told) social media.

     

     

  2. 16 hours ago, Rhyners said:

    Sometimes the crowd doesn't recognize quality and gets worked up in hype. Another example from my trip was a place called Pizza Rock. Heard from several people, including some very accomplished in the restaurant industry, that it came highly recommended and even came close to touching some NYC elite pies. It ended up being decent but to be honest I've had several small pizza joints in Austin/Houston/San Antonio/Metroplex that blow it away, and those don't come close to the best of the NYC pies. I think Vegas is especially susceptible to this as people are not only inundated with hype but are usually inebriated to some extent so judgement gets skewed. 

    I suspect you are the type of person who would discount Lotus of Siam because it was in a strip mall.

     

     

    • Like 1
  3. On 7/1/2019 at 10:42 PM, Francisco 2.0 said:

    God Speed.

     

    Avatar ride is bitchin'.  Toy Story Land is well done, not much in terms of rides...but the decor, the signage, well, everything just calls out to what I played with growing up.  

    Eating recommendations.  Breakfast at Tusker House in Animal park is worth your time.

    Cape May Cafe for dinner seafood buffet is quite good.  O'Hana at the Polynesian is good for breakfast or dinner.

     

    After spending 7 days at WDW in early June.....wife told me she wanted to go back next year, so.....yeah.  She's already booked the trip.

    Both of the Star Wars rides will be fully operational, so I'm looking forward to that.  I'm not looking forward to the morass of humanity that Hollywood Studios will be.

  4. On 6/11/2019 at 12:52 PM, HRSchenker said:

    Any recs on how to mount it to brick? Do I need to drill into the brick or can I go in the areas between? What kind of drill do I need? I have a 3x5 Goliad flag I want to fly on the property

     

    On 6/11/2019 at 1:15 PM, Asithappens said:

    Google it, dude.

    I think you should probably drill into the mortar (the areas in between). 

    Get a masonry drill. 

    Google it. 

    Late to the party.

     

    Don't screw into the mortar.  Sure, it's easier to drill into, but yeah.  You don't want that.

    Here's the flagpole mount I used, and what I did.  Took about 5 minutes tops.

    Stainless-Steel-Brackets-3.jpg?145509491

     

    Get a 5/32" masonry drill bit.  Use 3/16" tapcon for the screw, 2 1/4" length.

    Get a hammer drill, borrow one, whatever.  Put a piece of tape on the drill bit up 2 1/4" so you don't overdrill.

    Drill holes, hold up the flagpole holder, put in the tapcon and tighten with a screwdriver.  Repeat steps for the remaining 3 holes.

    Mount flag.  Profit.

     

  5. 9 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

    Gotta get this done asap. Somebody post some recs for surgeons  in Austin.

    Someone's gotta ask.  ASAP?

    I mean, getting your twins worked on ASAP?  There's gotta be a story here.

     

  6. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/epstein-indictment-renews-questions-about-earlier-case-handled-by-trump-cabinet-official/2019/07/08/95e6996a-a1a2-11e9-bd56-eac6bb02d01d_story.html?utm_term=.88641f2c7426

    Quote

    The indictment Monday of Jeffrey Epstein on sex trafficking charges has reignited questions about the way Alexander Acosta — now President Trump’s labor secretary — handled an earlier case against Epstein that resulted in a minimal sentence.

    As U.S. attorney in Florida in 2007, Acosta negotiated a plea deal that led to two felony solicitation charges and 13 months in county jail for Epstein, with the billionaire financier allowed to work from his office six days a week. Epstein had been facing the possibility of life in prison. His alleged victims were not told about the deal.

     

    Quote

    On Monday, in the indictment issued in federal court in New York, Epstein faced charges resulting from allegations like those in the Florida case. The indictment says that “in both New York and Florida,” Epstein “perpetuated this abuse in similar ways.”

    Acosta, through a spokesman, declined to comment. Labor Department spokesman Robert Bozzuto referred questions about Acosta’s role in the plea deal to the Justice Department. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

     

    Quote

    Officials at the White House, which has not made any public statements about the Epstein indictment, are nervous that Democrats will encourage women allegedly abused by Epstein to testify publicly before Congress, drawing attention to Acosta’s work on the plea deal, according to current and former administration officials.

    Trump has no immediate plan to force out or fire Acosta, two White House officials said. Like others, the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to relay internal discussions. A senior White House official said the administration would like to learn the contents of a Justice Department inquiry into Acosta before making any decision.

    Spoiler

    There was no substantial vetting done on Acosta until after Trump decided to nominate him, according to current and former administration officials.

    Despite the scrutiny of the plea deal he negotiated with Epstein and calls from several Democrats for him to resign, Acosta has not been summoned to testify before Congress specifically on this matter.

    At his 2017 confirmation hearing, the only senator to ask him about the plea deal was Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.).

    Acosta told Kaine that “professionals within a prosecutor’s office” decided on the deal, taking himself out of the negotiations. On Monday, Kaine called for Acosta’s ouster.

    The secretary was also grilled during an April budget hearing by two Democrats about his role in the case.

    On Monday, two House Democrats said the party now has more leverage to demand that Acosta testify.

    “In the wake of the New York charges, there is resurgent interest in hearing from him about the dual system of justice in Florida,” said Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.), who chairs a panel on civil rights and civil liberties on the House Oversight and Reform Committee. “Alex Acosta has some major reckoning to do.”

    Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), who joined other Florida Democrats earlier this year in calling on Acosta to resign, renewed that call Monday.

    “You would hope we would have a president that would care about making sure his secretary of labor didn’t have a terrible smudge like this on his record,” Wasserman Schultz said in an interview.

    Several Republican members of Congress, however, said Monday that they supported Acosta or were reserving judgment about the labor secretary pending the Justice Department inquiry.

    “At this point, I’m satisfied with his explanation,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said.

    “If there’s more that comes out, I’ll be glad to look at it,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). “But at this point I think it’s been looked at repeatedly, and I think everybody has reached the same conclusion.”

    The House Judiciary and Oversight committees have seemed the most likely venues for any hearing. But none has been scheduled. Congressional Democrats have said privately that the committees are consumed by the Russia investigation and that having Epstein’s victims testify would be politically risky.

    The Justice Department’s office of professional responsibility, which investigates misconduct of department employees, opened an ethics investigation in February into whether its attorneys — including Acosta — committed “professional misconduct” in pursuing the plea deal.

    But the result has not been made public, and the status of the investigation is unclear. Regardless, since Acosta is no longer a Justice Department employee, any determination from the investigation may not affect him.

    On policy matters, Democrats have been less critical of Acosta than other members of Trump’s Cabinet who have more forcefully implemented the president’s agenda, according to former Labor Department officials.

    The 14-page federal indictment issued Monday in New York accuses Epstein of sex trafficking and abusing dozens of underage girls at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla., between 2002 and 2005.

    Acosta’s handling of the initial case has been widely criticized. He signed off on a deal in which, in exchange for guilty pleas in state court to solicitation, Epstein served the 13-month sentence, registered as a sex offender and paid restitution to certain victims. The deal was initially sealed, keeping it secret until it was released as part of a 2015 lawsuit.

    In addition, while the Florida investigation initially came to the attention of authorities because of a 14-year-old alleged victim, the only minor Epstein was convicted of soliciting was 16 years old, The Post reported in March. The age difference eased his obligations to register as a sex offender.

    Acosta in 2011 wrote a letter seeking to explain his reasoning, saying that he faced “a year-long assault on the prosecution and the prosecutors” by “an army of legal superstars.” He also wrote that defense lawyers “investigated individual prosecutors and their families, looking for personal peccadilloes that may provide a basis for disqualification.”

    Acosta, who was Trump’s second choice for Labor secretary and is the only Latino member of his Cabinet, is said by White House and Labor Department aides to enjoy a good relationship with the president, even though the agency typically has a low profile in Republican administrations.

    But Acosta has nonetheless had a fraught relationship in recent months with two power centers in the White House whose influence has grown this year: acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and the Domestic Policy Council.

    Mulvaney has demanded faster action from Cabinet secretaries on the lengthy process of reversing and relaxing Obama-era rules and regulations. He believes that Acosta has dragged his feet on rule rollbacks vital to the business community, according to several White House officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.

     

  7. 21 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

    That court transcript is glorious.  Nice lawyering there. 

    "Hey, what we're really talking about here is prostitution -- OK, a shitload of prostitution -- but prostitution nonetheless." 

    "Sure, maybe it was statutory rape NO WAIT THERE WAS NO PENETRATION OOPS."

    (On a side note, are we really to believe that Epstein did nothing more but get hand jobs from dozens if not hundreds of underaged girls?  Really?  That's the angle?)

     

    About 25 years ago, a (former) (retired) school superintendent I know was fucking one of the kindergarten teachers (both had spouses).  One fine evening, while the two  were entangled at the work place, they were caught by a janitor who promptly told everyone what he saw.

    At the termination hearing for the superintendent, the attorney for the school board was conducting the hearing.  One of the board members brought up the sexual activity, whereupon the superintendent raised his voice, pointed a finger,  said it was a lie, and screamed "did you see penetration?"

    He still lost his job, but a noble defensive effort on his part.

    • Like 1
  8. 7 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

    So if you’re OKC, why not hold onto RW to keep attendance up and move everyone else. Empty the books other than RW. They will be plenty bad and able to tank plus they can move Adams for expirings/assets and I think you could get a decent return for Danilo once he’s eligible to move again.

    https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27133948/sources-westbrook-talking-next-steps-okc

     

    Quote

    Oklahoma City's All-Star guard Russell Westbrook and his agent, Thad Foucher, are engaged with Thunder GM Sam Presti about the next steps of Westbrook's career, including the possibility of a trade prior to the start of next season, league sources told ESPN.

    The two sides have 11 years of history together and both understand that the time has likely come to explore trade possibilities for Westbrook, league sources tell ESPN.

     

    Quote

    The remaining four-years and $170 million on Westbrook's contract is no longer sensible for a non-contender.

     

     

    EDIT: Machinator beat me to it.

  9. 20 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

    Got it back on Space Jam 2.

     

    Well, sure.  But you and I don't think like AD.  He was persuaded by Rich Paul and the Lakers to give up this money to get Kawhi, Walker, Irving, someone worthy of coughing up the cash.  Instead, he gave it up for them to spend on Quinn Cook, KCP, McGee and two years of the Danny Green Experience.  I wouldn't call that a fair swap, if I'm AD.

     

     

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