Jump to content

956 Worldwide

Full Members
  • Posts

    8258
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    23

Posts posted by 956 Worldwide

  1. On 12/10/2020 at 4:40 PM, Js1 said:

    We need a USAID for the United States.  Seriously— building new schools, critical public infrastructure, public health programs, democracy, human rights and government promotion programming, anti-extremism and de-radicalization, all of it. I’m not saying we need to scrap the international development budget (which is truly tiny when compared with other developed nations).

    Just that it’s time to start looking at huge swathes of the U.S. as also a developing nation.

     

     

    • Hook 'Em 3
  2. This bullshit has gotten a surprising amount of traction overseas.  But here’s the thing— it’s almost exclusively popular among the worst anti-Americans.

    Unrepentant Commies. Neo-Nazi goons. Kremlin trolls and dupes. Generic Corrupt Left or Right Wing Populist. Gangster kleptocrats. 

    A grab-bag of kooks, spies, charlatans, and mouth breathers who have one thing in common— they hate the United States and exploit anti-American sentiment for political gains.

    This should give pause to the “Patriots” who believe that Q-Anon is America’s last best hope. 

  3. I am most closely following the foreign policy appointees and I have to say they’re a pleasant surprise.

    State: Blinken is solid.  He is respected inside the building and is going to know how to use the tools he has from day one. He’s not a brilliant creative mind but he’s smart and he will have the ear of POTUS.

    NSC: Sullivan was pretty much born to do this job. He’s a whiz kid and a bureaucratic judo master, which is what the NSA/NSC needs to be when run correctly— a coordinating body.

    DOD:  My biggest gripe, simply because I hate the precedent we are setting.  This is not an indictment of Austin, but the top military brass need to KNOW that their route to political power is to run for office, not cozy up to Presidential hopefuls while in uniform.  We need a civilian there or someone who’s been out for a long time.  I blame the Republicans a lot for this because they’d rather approve waivers that undermine longstanding democratic principals and puff about their respect for the uniform than approve a competent civilian.

    USUN:  My favorite pick, I don’t know how to say enough good things about Linda a Thomas-Greenfield. She’s a pro’s pro when it comes to diplomacy and has a pristine reputation among the diplomatic corps as former Director General of the Foreign Service, then HR, then ambassadorial posts.  And she accomplished all that while earning a reputation as the KINDEST high-level official in the service.  Her appointment tells the world that we are taking high level multilateralism seriously again and you’re going to get a serious person, not a regional politico burnishing “foreign policy” cred in service of higher political aims. And it tells our foreign policy community that expertise is important again.

    Climate Envoy:  I fully support the creation of this role and Kerry lends it gravitas. Just it’s existence shows our Allies that we are trying to be an America that leads for good again.  The key will be implementing— how does this envoy figure into policy discussions.

    This is a foreign policy team that tells the world— grownups are in charge again and there is a policy procedure. Do not try to get things done by telling Ivanka and Jared how nice and pretty they are.  And it offers some badly needed stability and course correction inside the nation’s foreign policy structures. They do not need more “disruption” or good idea fairy outside the box thinking.  They’ve been disrupted, completely and utterly, for four years and now we need to put air in the tires and gas in the tank before we pimp our foreign policy ride.

     

     

    • Hook 'Em 3
    • Like 1
  4. Amazing to me how virtually every logo that’s had significant changes over time is currently worse now than it was at some point earlier.  For example, why would Tech ever change this to anything else?

     

    8-BFA6277-B8-C0-4-E4-E-918-C-AAF9-C90-EF

    • Hook 'Em 1
  5. 7 hours ago, Lobo said:

    Yeah, I don't see this is destination gaming except for folks already hundreds of miles from a Texas border (RGV, San Antonio, Austin, et. al.).  Maybe you could get a bit of a draw from folks wanting to see the Texas "beaches" that would fly in for a long weekend with the kids.  The real power and draw would be our insanely fast growing convention business in Austin, San Antonio, and Houston, and to some extent-Fort Worth and Dallas.  You put a casino within a half-hour of those places (in the exurbs) with shuttle service and you can go ahead and bury the OK and LA casino business.  We'd never have to worry about public school funding or legalizing marijuana ever again.  

    But we won't do it because it could lead to dangerous shit like people drinking a cocktail on Sundays.  In the meantime, of course, due to our conservative, limited government standards, we will continue to spend more money as a state on lottery tickets and scratch-offs than the bottom 40 states combined.  Because we love Jesus more than any other state.  

    You could literally fund 2 or 3 flagship public universities alongside our current Tier I research institutions just with a legalized sportsbook in the state of Texas.  My god, the possibilities.  But we'll fuck it up, we always do.  Because We're Texas.  The richest, most backwards ass place you'll ever wish for. 

    I do not give a single solitary shit what any consenting adult does in a casino on Sunday or any other day.

    My question is purely along the line of NMAS.

    I am completely unpersuaded by “fund education.”  Why don’t Louisiana and Mississippi lure Texas’ best students to the ivory towers of tier one research institutions paid for by the money Texan parents dropped in Shreveport or Gulf Shores? Why does California have the nations’ top state university system— and no school in Nevada would crack their top ten? 
     

    For that matter, where are the gleaming schools and well-funded social services educating kids and raising living standards for Native people anywhere you see Tribal gaming? 
     

    Why not just fund a couple more top tier research universities, which pretty much all analyses show more than pay for themselves in terms of increased investment, research, and attracting a talented workforce?
     
    I don’t know whether gambling causes incompetent and corrupt government or if incompetent and corrupt government turns to gambling. Probably a little of both, but I have never been to a gambling Mecca and thought— wow, they’ve really leveraged this industry to make this community a better place.  I keep hearing the arguments but for me at this point it’s like the mythical “Bolshevik Workers Paradise is at hand if we only follow the formula to perfection this time” or the similar “this chemical factory will police  itself perfectly if we just get rid of all regulations.”

    • Hook 'Em 2
  6. 12 minutes ago, Nueces River Rat said:


    We won’t become the Vegas like destination for vacations and all of that. More along the lines of the quick 3 or 4 day weekend. Some of our communities do not need the buffets.

    Serious question—- who is coming from outside Texas to gamble here even for a long weekend? Arkies? Most of the states around us already have gaming. 
     

    I can see the argument here for “grownups should be able to do what they want” but let’s not kid ourselves. Adelson wants to take Texans’ money.  There’s plenty of empirical research on this—- casinos open and locals start gambling/gamble more than they ever would otherwise.  
     

     

  7. This is in the pantheon of terrible ideas. Even if he was not a complete pariah, he’s been out of big time coaching and is 65 years old.  Tech doesn’t need this guy.  There are plenty of young coaches out there capable of doing a good job in Lubbock without bringing this dude in from Mt. Vernon high school.  Have a little self-respect, Tech.

  8. SPI and the local community has fought off a couple attempts to build a casino, including one that was proposed right on top of a perfectly great county park. 

    That is one of the few destinations that might actually draw OOS traffic. It would for sure trash the place completely.  More likely it would be what nearly all casinos are outside of Las Vegas— a virtual wire transfer from locals into Sheldon Adelson’s pocket. 
     

    I just don’t see Texas becoming a worldwide casino gaming destination.  If you’re building a whole vacation around that, you’re going to go to Vegas and get the whole experience. If you’re already in Texas, there are better ways to convince you to leave a bit more money behind.

  9. 9 minutes ago, NorthLoop said:

    People don't realize that that is not an unpopular opinion in Texas. That whole sweet tea is a Texan thing is bullshit and the idea was planted by transplants on facebook. 

    Could be.  I first had presweetened tea in undergrad at a fried chicken place (chain) while visiting friends from DFW.  Zuckerberg would have been inventing Facebook at the time, the chain could be some bullshit Deep South thing.  
     

    I do like hot tea with lemon and sugar (sweetened myself) Eastern European style. 

  10. Putting tOSU into the playoff is just pushing them through on the strength of the eyeball test. Nothing more.  Their resume is incredibly weak because they’ll only have played less than half a season.  Even with losses, plenty of teams behind them currently have better resumes based off of who they’ve played and how many games.

    Florida, A&M, Cincinnati, Miami...all of those teams have shown more against more quality opponents.  

    And I am completely on board that tOSU is better than all those teams.  They are, almost certainly. They just haven’t shown it on the field because of decisions made by the B1G.  They didn’t have the chance to do it.
     

    So don’t try to justify the 2020 CFP as if the Buckeyes earned their place via their play on the field.  Just do a year of awesome NY6 tie in games and regroup on the CFP next year. 

  11. 3 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

    I was mocking the idea. We should've stuck with the BCS. The playoff is stupid and you won't be satisfied when you get what you think you want. 

    The demand for a “real” national champion is artificial controversy ginned up by idiot talking heads who need to fill up airspace on radio and TV, then amplified by sports message boards.  Fans of actual, discrete college football teams in no way derive more enjoyment of following their school with a playoff.

    March Madness is exactly why it’s a terrible idea for CFP.  No one except students and alumni give a single solitary shit about UNC-Duke in the regular season even if they’re ranked 1 and 2.  We all know it means next to nothing when it comes to March.

    FBS  is already facing attendance and long-term ratings issues.  How to fix it? I know, let’s devalue these incredibly expensive pageants we put on each week even more! 

    • Hook 'Em 2
  12. This whole year is just total bullshit.  I’d almost prefer no CFP and do one year of bowl tie-ins. Start it back up when we have a real season.  The system works great when everyone plays at least 12 games. You have to be an elite team to get through a 12 game season in any P5 conference undefeated and a damn good one to escape with only one loss. 

    GTFO with six games, especially when other teams out there will have at least ten. Plenty of teams can win six games, even in conference play.  A lot of this is a numbers game and you’ve just given yourself fewer chances to have an off day.

    Even if both teams miraculously have no one out for serious injury,  when it comes to the dings and fatigues of the season alone, it’s not even close to a fair fight to match up tOSU with a team that played a real season. It says a lot about the strength of Bama and Clemson that they are likely favored even against an Ohio State team that’s played half a season.

    FU, B1G, have a seat. You don’t get to get on your high horse about how you keep football in perspective then demand a seat at the grownup table anyway. 

    • Hook 'Em 1
  13. 39 minutes ago, Helobious said:

    Solid list, I might pick Vela-Weslaco as the RGVs best game but Mission-SB may be more competitive. I wasn’t super impressed with the Panther offense, Vela may run them out of the stadjium. 
     

    I noticed that the way the playoffs shook out this year there’s a very real scenario where no valley or Laredo teams make the 3rd round. Hate when that happens. I think it was 2009 that we beat SA Southwest in a rainstorm in the 1st round.

    So weird to me that there’s no McAllen teams in the largest classification. 

    • Like 1
  14. Because of course they don’t.

    Quote

    Police have said there were no witnesses to the shooting and that Meade did not have a bodycam because Franklin County Sheriff's deputies do not have bodycams. 

    I’ve heard the arguments against them, but alive never heard one that isn’t self-serving.  I don’t know how you enforce this, but a good start would be a federal law saying no funding or EDAs until your force all has bodycams.

    https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2020/12/08/casey-goodson-latest-police-shooting-black-man-columbus-ohio/6488824002/

     

     

  15. My terrible hot take, which I’m sure I’ll get crucified for. But my parents bought an Odyssey solely to ferry me and my family around when we come to visit, but I went with the Pilot and live with it full time. And I frequently wish I had just bought the damn minivan. Sliding doors, captains chairs, all the storage space I want. A loaded Sienna or Odyssey is a very nice place to spend time. You are not having more fun driving a three row crossover.
     

    https://jalopnik.com/parents-just-buy-the-damn-minivan-1597502940

    • Hook 'Em 1
×
×
  • Create New...