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Swan Oat posted:TXDoT's prime/only solution to increasing traffic problems throughout the state seem to be "build more roads" even though this doesn't work. For comparison's sake, noted progressive utopia Moscow -- the Russian one -- is attempting to solve it's horrendous traffic issue by massively expanding the metro, the bus system, and commuter rail, while plans for congestion pricing and other means of discouraging car travel are on the table. Good job Texas! Great, know that Dan Patrick knows Moscow is doing it, Texas is going to not do it even harder. Thanks a lot, guy!
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Jun 18, 2014 07:34
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 18:59 |
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Happy Juneteenth, y'all! I would say expect some racist things from the various GOP lights in our great state, but most people probably don't even know today is special. 
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Jun 19, 2014 21:12
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Elotana posted:Resentment of the top 10% qualifiers from majority-minority schools because dadgummit my 40th percentile son could run rings around Those People, where's his scholarship! (Not that any of them actually volunteer to live in those neighborhoods and attend those schools to test this theory, mind you.) Working for UT admissions, I heard this all the goddamn time from people who either sent their kids to private schools that didn't rank (St. Mary's Hall in San Antonio, St. Andrew's in Austin, etc) or kids who went to Memorial High School in Houston. They all had resumes with lots of mission trips and studying abroad and all that poo poo. I hated having to admit them when normal kids who just did band and some AP classes at their public school might have to miss out. Don't send this post to Wallace Hall, TIA.
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Jun 20, 2014 08:00
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Shear Modulus posted:So noted Big Aggie Jerk Rick Perry seems to have finally gotten his way on the UT Austin President's job and Powers will step down in June 2015. If you haven't been following this, Perry has always hated Powers, but a few years back when Perry tried to force some so-called "Seven Breakthrough Solutions" crafted by an old buddy of his (if you're curious they're just bog-standard conservative reform principles intended to businessify public education like ranking teachers on "cost-effectiveness" (salary and grant awards divided by students taught) and using MOOCs for everything) Powers has been standing up to him and put himself on Perry's poo poo list. The UT Board of Regents, who has firing authority, is 100% Perry appointees and as I expect most of you know have been digging like crazy to find something offensive to their sensibilities in admissions decisions that they could use an excuse to fire him. Apparently about a week ago something changed, and the Chancellor told Powers to submit his resignation or he'd be canned. Also I feel like I should add that Powers leaving in 2015 is seen as a win for the university, since the Regents were planning on firing him tomorrow, but the alumni org and pretty much everyone who isn't a Regent threw a poo poo fit when we heard about it.
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Jul 10, 2014 03:48
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Lote posted:I tutored his kid when he was around 8. What's the whole deal with him and the UT admissions? He's been putting in huge records requests to try and find anything wrong that he can pin on Powers and use to get him fired.
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Jul 10, 2014 04:20
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Shear Modulus posted:Do you know why they suddenly moved to fire him last week? It seemed like the "resign or be fired" ultimatum came out of nowhere. Did Hall finally find something bad that happened at one point in the last decade? I imagine it has something to do with the investigation Cigarroa opened up into admissions across the UT System last week or something. Kids who have state reps write recommendation letters were generally getting into law school at a higher rate. What Powers has to do with this I'm not really sure, but they just want him out.
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Jul 10, 2014 06:15
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zoux posted:I work downtown so it's mostly for selfish, traffic related reasons that I wish he'd gently caress off. I worked downtown for a year, and as soon as SXSW rolled around I decided that poo poo was for suckers. All I heard was how much people from other places just hated Austin and how lovely everything was. Well, gently caress off back home if it's so terrible! Maybe that way I can actually commute to work.
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Jul 10, 2014 21:31
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Cercadelmar posted:Seriously? That's pretty scary to hear about, ever since those militia killed that one family a few years back I'm really antsy about that sort of thing. Also, what's up fellow RGV and McAllen goons? Rick Perry and Hannity recently went on a trip down the Rio Grande where they posed with a machine gun. Thanks for helping, guys!
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Jul 13, 2014 00:00
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zoux posted:Get another cable provider! To be fair it always seemed to me like the Longhorn Network was a dumb idea, but I didn't follow it that closely. Also Powers himself isn't the best guy in the world, mainly because of the Shared Services stuff he's been trying to push (http://kxan.com/2014/04/24/university-of-texas-shared-service-is-not-outsourcing/). I get why he's doing it, but it's hard to go along with cutting 500 jobs from UT, especially when the kind of people they're cutting were so helpful during my time at UT. But I'm happy to stand up for him against the Regents. Is there any news on the articles of impeachment for Hall?
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Jul 16, 2014 20:52
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UT was the only place I applied since I was top 10% and didn't really care about going anywhere else. I think living in Austin cost more than the tuition.
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Jul 17, 2014 02:18
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Admiral William H. McRaven will be the new chancellor of the UT System, replacing Cigarroa. Story here. You might know him from Osama bin Laden being dead. We will see if he takes similar measures with the other regents.
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Jul 30, 2014 03:55
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Perry's been indicted by a grand jury for abuse of power over his veto for Public Integrity Unit funding  http://www.texastribune.org/2014/08/15/grand-jury-indicts-perry-abuse-authority/
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Aug 16, 2014 00:14
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computer parts posted:i guess we know why he didn't run again. Well he's going to run for president so I don't think this is why.
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Aug 16, 2014 00:19
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Jiro posted:Was just about to post this! Will this have any reaching effects to the whole debacle with the UT Board of Regents vs Bill Powers? Crazy to see this on the heels of all that Gov. Goodhair press that had been going on for the last few months. That's over, for now. The investigation committee decided to simply "censure" Hall instead of impeaching him, though they maintain they could do this later (they won't). Powers is gone next year by mutual agreement, and I'm afraid his replacement will be awful.
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Aug 16, 2014 01:00
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zoux posted:I'd be surprised if he gets convicted but adios mofo to his Presidential chances. Really? I think this kind of stuff is perfect for playing the victim to the left-wing witch hunt out to get him.
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Aug 16, 2014 01:10
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Xarthor posted:Between the recent Perry news and a recent Reuters poll showing Wendy 8 points behind Abbott any of you starting to think her win is completely out of the realm of possibility? Yes. Is Perry's case going to turn on whether he vetoed the funding because he was trying to achieve some political goal as opposed to vetoing to try and preserve the integrity of the DA's office?
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Aug 16, 2014 02:15
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Do they not spend out of the RDF simply because Spending Bad, or are they trying to do something else with it?
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Aug 29, 2014 00:06
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Where is our Texan Gingrich to propose a series of Lincoln-Douglas debates with a moderator but no timer (or was it a timer but no moderator)? I can't say I'm terribly broken up by there not being a debate, it would have been uninformative and Davis still wouldn't win unless Abbott started eating a baby on stage. Does anyone remember the Patrick/Castro debate about immigration? What a shitshow.
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Aug 29, 2014 19:20
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Trabisnikof posted:It always blows my mind that Texas used to have multi-member districts. Austin just stopped electing all its city council members at-large this year. We're doing them by district for the first time ever this November.
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Sep 5, 2014 02:08
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Trabisnikof posted:The "gentleman's agreement" over the council seats was the easiest institutional example of Austin's segregation without a map. At least now it's explicit, I guess.
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Sep 5, 2014 02:14
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I'm in 9, which is mostly rich white people but also East Riverside and some east of I-35. Both of the candidates are current council members and I'm not really sure which to choose. I'm leaning towards Kathie Tovo at the moment since she has endorsements from Austin Black Democrats and the Austin labor group (I have no idea what it's called). I've got a friend running in District 4 and he might actually win. Also, did anyone go to the police violence forum on Tuesday? That was awkward as hell.
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Sep 5, 2014 06:36
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Sardonik posted:I'm in 3, and I have no idea how I'm going to decide on a candidate, there seem to be quite a lot here and there's not too much difference between them at first blush. Jesus, are those people all going to be on the ballot? My district only has 3 candidates.
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Sep 10, 2014 19:45
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Trabisnikof posted:What on earth does the libertarian candidate mean by 'ending protectionism (reduces traffic)'? I went to the KLRU mayoral debate, Todd Phelps' idea for Austin traffic was "make I-35 bigger plus uber"  Also Randall Phillips or whatever the gently caress is name is is so goddamn sad. Steve Adler was very, very scripted but his script said things I liked.
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Sep 11, 2014 06:07
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zoux posted:Yeah get rid of the upper lower deck split. Put it all underground and integrate east and west
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Sep 11, 2014 15:58
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Trabisnikof posted:I mean, I don't think building condos in hyde park is exactly decentralization. That is a thing that freeways do, though.
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Sep 12, 2014 04:10
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zoux posted:I used to commute to downtown from Georgetown. jfc. I commuted from Hyde Park to downtown and that was too much for me.
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Sep 12, 2014 07:25
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Petition for thread name change to "wrap it up, y'all."
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Sep 13, 2014 00:56
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Anyone going to Trib Fest this weekend?
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Sep 16, 2014 19:22
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I'm going but I don't think I'm excited as last year. The "Latinos and GOP" panel is all hispanic Republicans. Which I suppose is fair, but a lot less funny. edit: do you capitalize hispanic or not?
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Sep 16, 2014 21:52
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PostNouveau posted:Isn't there some weird quirk of Texas history where the Legislature didn't like the governor at one point and took away a lot of his power and gave it to the Lt. Gov.? So the Lt. Gov. is more powerful than the Gov.? Yes, until the governor has been in power for 14 years and appointed everyone in the state.
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Sep 20, 2014 05:05
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I think her "at what point must a female senator raise her hand or her voice to be recognized over her male colleagues" was the thing that started the insane cheering that finished out Davis' filibuster, but I might be remembering wrong.
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Sep 21, 2014 02:47
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Let's all hope for some misogyny to make this race interesting.
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Sep 29, 2014 23:53
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Trabisnikof posted:Yeah because last time he ran it helped Rick Perry win reelection with <50% of the vote. Why is it his fault and not Carole Keeton Strayhorn?
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Sep 30, 2014 21:56
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Someone please post if Greg Abbott calls Davis a bitch or something, because otherwise this is probably one of the least important things happening in the state tonight.
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Oct 1, 2014 02:24
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Statewide unfunded plastic bag mandate.
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Oct 5, 2014 22:07
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Sardonik posted:Abbot you are the dumbest motherfucker to ever live: Does this mean he thinks every gay marriage means two lost heterosexual marriages?
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Oct 13, 2014 06:01
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How do we feel about Amendment 1? I was planning on voting for because we need to use the rainy day fund for something, but I'm interested to hear other opinions.
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Oct 20, 2014 18:29
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zoux posted:If you live in Austin please vote for Prop 1. But it's not on the right route!!!!!!
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Oct 20, 2014 19:23
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Nonsense posted:They always put bullshit locations nobody likes to vote at on the first day. Universities won't get polling stations until the 26. Where do you live? UT has one on campus and another like 2 blocks away (from the edge of campus).
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Oct 20, 2014 20:12
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 18:59 |
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I only had three candidates, but two of them were Tovo and Riley.
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Oct 21, 2014 00:57
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