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Brisketexan

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Everything posted by Brisketexan

  1. [this is America gif] Remember, this is the system working EXACTLY as designed and intended. The children screaming tells you the freedom is working, but goshdarnit...
  2. You are a fucking LIAR. That is NOT happening in Frisco. It is happening in FRISO. GET IT RIGHT, LIBTARD!
  3. Your disdain for the Tunguska event is noted.
  4. A domestic violence case is a perfect case for that sort of scenario. While, yes, society as a whole is at some risk from a domestic abuser, that crime is such an intimate and personal one that the victim has particularly high stakes, interest, and perspective to offer. So, yes, as a juror I too would have been very interested and likely deferential to what the victim said and wanted. And yes, ALL crime is personal - particularly to the victim - but you know what I mean in making that distinction.
  5. So....do you MAYBE see the error in your thinking? He was allowed to stay because he is at risk FROM MS-13, because he wouldn't join them. It's like taking someone who fled the nazi regime, said "they were coming for my family if I didn't help them, so I fled," and saying "SEE! HE'S A FUCKING NAZI!"
  6. 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.
  7. 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: 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.
  8. 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. 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.” 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.
  9. It does fall into semantics, but they are interesting semantics. Maybe a helpful way to think about it is as a "tiebreaker." In case X, the victims want to treat the accused a certain way. Pick either extreme: the accused committed a violent assault (and it's evident that he's at risk of committing future assaults), so the family will not believe justice has been done until the accused is flayed alive (if you hurt one of my family members, I may well fall into this camp). OR...same circumstance, but the family is super-peacenik, believe they have "looked into the accused's heart, and he's truly sorry," and they want all charges dropped. NEITHER of those outcomes -- even though it is what the victims belief is necessary for "justice" -- is an acceptable outcome for society as a whole. Thus, if the desires of the victims and what is good and acceptable for society/the state are not in alignment....the interests of society/the state should prevail. They are primary. And yes, the devil is in the details. Prosecutors, courts, etc. generally work to get to a point where those interests largely align. But if they don't....the interests of society should prevail.
  10. 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.
  11. All of that should be true as part of the overall package, but the purpose of the criminal justice system is to serve the state -- that is, society as a whole. That's why each prosecution is "The State of Texas v. BurntEyes," not "The victims of BurntEye's bizarre sex crime v. BurntEyes." Society has the interest in protecting society as a whole from criminals, including imprisoning them so they don't commit further harm, rehabilitating them so that they don't harm any other members of society once they are free, etc. And yes, we can have a long discussion about how our system isn't doing so great at those things, but that's a question of execution, not purpose. The victim/family are the most affected members of society, and they stand as a good proxy for what a prosecution should accomplish. And, the system is made of human beings; it is right and good that the victim/family are treated seriously, and that cops and prosecutors take the duty to them personally. But in the end, they are all serving the state (society as a whole), not just the victim/family. Not to go off on a tangent, but rather to show that this is a consistent approach, that's also the purpose of public schools. The purpose is not to educate your kid, or my kid, but rather to educate all of the children of the state so that the state has an educated population. These purposes are GOOD things, because they reflect our common interest and purpose. ALL of us should want, and benefit from, controlled crime. ALL of us should want, and benefit from, an educated population. Even if nobody in my family was murdered, I'm better off if that murderer is off the streets. Even if I don't have kids, I'm better off if the kids in this state are educated (and thus have a viable social and economic future, instead of being worthless and likely criminals). The common good. We should pay attention to that.
  12. 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.
  13. Yeah, I remember when he wrote that right afterwards, and it really made an impression on me. It is a pretty profound take, and it contrasts with the take of the current billionaire crowd that pisses me off: "OUR FUTURE IS IN THE STARS! WE GOTTA SACRIFICE EVERYTHING AND GET TO MARS!" No, you fucking fucks, our future is here, on earth - the planet that made us, that is and always will be our only home. Chasing ass that's 120 million miles away instead of sticking with the family that is and always will be your family is shallow, stupid, short-sighted, and doomed to fail. What matters is right here. It always will be. Imagine if these fucksticks spent 1/10th the effort and focus they spend on space on improving life here on earth, on investing in long-term improvements for actual humans on actual earth (not to dominate them, or own them, but to actually make things BETTER, starting with simple shit like health, food, the environment). We're burning through what we have -- this planet, and each other -- in a quest for something that is never, ever going to be the solution.
  14. He wasn't "accused" of shit -- he was absolutely backed by Elon, Ted Cruz groups, etc.: 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.
  15. I love the prominent USAA sign out front. "Look at us! We're covering this!*" * "We know the coverage will die down soon, and won't catch us trying to fuck TK over as the project goes forward." Surly to TK: Remember, your property damage claim is ALSO a huge news story in a town that actually runs short of big stories from time to time. If USAA starts to fuck you over, calling someone at KVUE and saying "hey, remember when that house blew up? How about you do a follow up story on how our insurers are fucking us over?"
  16. It's like y'all havent figured out the glory of 1) a microwave burrito cooked in the air fryer 2) topped with a shitload of canned/jarred enchilada sauce and 3) generous amounts of shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Dammit, do I have to put on a class or something?
  17. This. Most everyone (sane) agrees that tariffs have their place -- 1) protect strategic capacity, 2) countermeasures against dumping/extreme subsidies, that sort of thing. The 2017 tariffs on solar panels, for example, had some rational basis. The metals tariffs....not as much...but most could at least see and understand the reasoning, even if they disagreed. And the damage they did to US ag interests was utterly stupid. The later Biden tariffs on EVs and semiconductors made more sense (semiconductors absolutely fall in that "strategic capacity" bucket -- the CHIPS act (incentivizing re-shoring of semiconductor manufacturing) was a perfect element of how you should approach the issue). An approach using tariffs like a rifle bullet (targeted, with thoughtful selection of the target and the impact of same) is nothing at all like using tariffs like 50 bombers full of 2,000 lb bombs. Fascinating that someone who regularly rants against indiscriminate use of military force (like 2,000 lb bombs that take out whole blocks) is cheering for the indiscriminate use of economic force against.....literally the entire fucking planet. Yes indeed, for him, it is all about "politics and teams," and it's refreshing to see him drop all pretenses, even if he also makes himself look silly as he tries to deny what he's doing in plain sight.
  18. Anti-immigrant fervor....to create an app....to shill crypto. Couldn't capture the zeitgeist any better if you tried. That's the perfect encapsulation of this entire era. The fucking meteor can't get here soon enough.
  19. He’s gonna “get his.” Yall are adorable. Say hello to your future senator or governor or somesuch. Epic assholery is rewarded now, not punished.
  20. You mean…targeted, industry/product-specific tariffs, which is pretty much THE way that most sane economists agree tariffs have utility? Yeah. Kinda different than “BLANKET 145% TARIFFS!”
  21. Wish I could rep this twice. But I have posting limits imposed on me here in Helsinki, Sweden.
  22. Absolutely not, those dollars are needed to educate our precious children. Now, PUBLIC SCHOOL dollars….yeah, we can use the hell outta those.
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