Jump to content

Ghost of LL

Certifiably Surly
  • Posts

    6869
  • Joined

  • Days Won

    1

Posts posted by Ghost of LL

  1. 2 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

    Of course ticket sales have bottomed out.  Cletus and Lerlene aren't lining up to buy tickets to La Boheme (it's an opera).

    Two different Simpsons references and a Trading Places reference all in one sentence?  Bravo to you, sir.  That's some peak Gen-X energy right there.

    1 hour ago, Superhero said:

    Didn't want to CR the Wives Stupid Shit thread, but my wife voted No on California Prop 50 (temporary redistricting to counter Texas gerrymandering). She doesn't like Trump and wants to see him gone, but doesn't want to pay the price for redistricting. Told her sometimes it takes sacrifice for democracy, but nope, she's pretty stubborn.

     

    Well, it's not like she's going to have to worry about voting in future elections.  So she might as well blow this last one.

    • Hook 'Em 5
    • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
  2. 23 hours ago, Chad Fuck said:

    It is not legit.  Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was closed in 1996 and has been being redeveloped since that time.  

     

    I'm pretty sure the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard got teleported to Newport News in 1943.  It was some World War II experiment, I guess to spread out heavy industry across the Atlantic Seaboard.  I'm pretty sure it was called the Move A Shipyard To Newport News To Impress Churchill Experiment.

    • Haha 2
    • Fuck Around and Find Out 1
  3. 3 hours ago, Deej said:

    I'm impressed, I would have assumed that most phone calls to the families would end more like this...

     

    crank-pulp.gif.875db911bcb87c82cf5252aaab3d1564.gif

    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.

    17 minutes ago, Modessit said:
    3 hours ago, Ghost of LL said:
    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.

    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).

    • Hook 'Em 2
  4. 37 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

    Dude banked $594 million.  All he's gotta do is "invest" $50 million or so in the new "Trump coin" venture, and he'll have a pardon in his safe deposit box within the week.

    image.thumb.png.52239361637fe1b03e539ff14e8efa79.png

    • Hook 'Em 2
  5. 8 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

    I'm sticking around while all you richy-riches bail so I can be the richy-rich.  (Sort of.)

    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.

    • Hook 'Em 6
    • Like 1
  6. 28 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

    Losers like seeing other people lose. If everyone is a loser then no one is!

    Right?

    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.

    • Hook 'Em 5
  7. 6 minutes ago, JGrayDBU said:

    You guys can thank me for this win.  I was super sleepy because of being awakened at about 1:30 a.m. with a hailstorm in SA.  Just before half after Miss. St. scored, I gave up temporarily and went to take a rare nap.  I came back to the living room and there was about 4:00 minutes left in the third quarter and we hadn't scored a point in the 2nd half.   

     

     

    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.

    • Haha 2
  8. 18 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

    Or doing fascist shit in general.  Like in the 5th circuit, if the defendant is a cop who was cracking skulls?  QUALIFIED IMMUNITY.  But if the official was a non-partisan board member who voted for a policy to maybe not treat people like shit, THAT'S A VIOLATION OF THE LAW, NO QUALIFIED IMMUNITY.  You could ask me how I know, but judge Edith Jones would do a much better job of explaining how that super-serious and very real distinction isn't arbitrary at all, for reasons.

    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.

    • Like 1
    • Haha 7
  9. 7 hours ago, HenryJames said:

     

    This has some real Fort Sumter vibes.  And if you don't see that, then you need to pick up a book.

    4 hours ago, Bateshorn said:

    Are you landed gentry associated with the Royalist side of the English Civil War?  Then TJ means you. 
     

    Anyone else? I got bad news for you. 

    Well, as a matter of fact, . . . . 

    • Hook 'Em 2
    • Like 1
    • Haha 1
  10. 17 minutes ago, futureman said:

    I am all the way in on this one.  that looks awesome. 

    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.

    • Hook 'Em 1
  11. 2 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

     

    I’m not sure that’s true. It’s like DeSantis 2 years ago: Abbott isn’t the most popular Republican in Texas, he’s the most popular Texas Republican in the country, which is different.  Donald Trump is the most popular Republican in Texas.
     

    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).

  12. On 8/26/2025 at 11:04 AM, Bozo_Casanova said:

    Wesley Hunt isn’t better, he’s merely less criminal. Besides you’re underestimating that Texas Republican voters are trained to vote with maximum cynicism, and Wesley Hunt is the clear choice there. He’s just as bad as Paxton but skates to a win and you get moral license to perpetuate racism when you for him. 

    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.

     

  13. 3 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

    Yeah. Trump destroying people's lives getting them to see the light just...isn't going to happen. It didn't happen the last time and it wont happen this time. This is all cope.

    The polls have barely moved for months. Nothing matters.

    The GOP will get away with everything so long as 45% or so of the country goes along with it. And I am not sure what exactly Trump would have to do at this point to get those people to turn on him.

    That's not exactly true.  Trump's approval rating has steadily declined over the last six months.  

    Now you and I will agree that it hasn't gone down nearly as much as it should given the state of the economy and that 2/3rds of Americans say the country is on the "wrong track."  But given the stickiness of the cult we're dealing with, it's not nothing.

    But regardless--we don't need them to see the light.  Who really gives a shit if they see the light.  I don't give a fuck about their redemption or personal salvation.  I just want them not to vote.  And every actual poll of actual races (and some that aren't actual races, but are indicative of voting behavior, like the generic congressional ballot) indicate that there is a lot of Trump approvers out there who probably aren't going to show up to vote in 2026.

    • Hook 'Em 8
    • Like 1
  14. image.png.665124321c5b6b49887e6c4406b0131f.png

     

    I feel like I got some cheap points here.  Have I walked a factory floor?  I mean, yeah--when I was doing a site inspection in litigation.  Oh--and when I went on the field trip in elementary school to the Mrs. Baird's factory.  That was fucking awesome.  You got a slice of buttered bread at the end.

    Have I gone fishing in the last 12 months?  I mean, yeah.  But I don't think deep-sea fishing in Mexico really gives me the working-class bona-fides they're looking for.

    And I saw most of those movies because Mrs.LL has shit taste in movies, but I like to get laid.

    • Hook 'Em 3
    • Haha 1
  15. 8 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

    Have we?  Speaking from ignorance or memory failure.

    I was reading Dead Wake and a reference to the first German gas attack with chlorine gas and had to contemplate what kind of monster would think that's a really good idea.

    Also musing that while the origins and prosecution of WWI are more complex and nuanced than WWII in a lot of ways, Germans really do seem to have a knack for being morally compromised (U-boat attacks on civilian and even passenger shipping, chemical weapons, etc.).

    Whoa--hold on here, friend.

    Submarine attacks on merchant shipping was not solely a German practice.  It was the practice of the United States Navy to attack Japanese merchant vessels (both cargo and passenger) from the outset of the War in the Pacific, in direct contravention of the 1936 London Protocol on Submarine Warfare. 

    The primary difference is that the USN's unrestricted submarine warfare was successful.  By Summer 1945, the Japanese merchant fleet had been destroyed; the Home Islands were on the precipice of starvation.  But wasn't different was the targeting of passenger ships without forewarning.  For example, In 1942, USS Grenadier sunk the Taiyō Maru on its way from Manila to Singapore, killing more than 1,000 civilians.  In 1944, USS Nautilus sunk the passenger liner America Maru, killing around 500 civilians (mainly women and children) evacuating Saipan.  

    As to gas attacks, both sides used prodigious amounts of gas during World War I.  Neither side used gas in World War II, but the historical record pretty clearly establishes that Britain would have done so had Germany invaded England.

    So you know what--let's focus on things that actually show the moral shortcomings of the Germans and maybe lay off where we ourselves live in a glass house.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 3
  16. 38 minutes ago, mchookem said:

    is today some sort of deadline for this bs? 🤔

    Yeah--it's today.

    UT actually seems to be playing this exactly right.  Loudly express its willingness to sign up and appease Geriatric Joffrey while doing absolutely nothing to actually sign up, which would imperil its academic standing.

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