Everything posted by Ollie Slatt
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GOP supports "state's rights and small federal government"
This thread reminded me of law school when we had to go though all of the commerce clauses cases chronologically up through Gonzales v. Raich, which is a case worth reading for anyone interested in this issue. You dip into the case law and it becomes very clear that some conservatives (Rehnquist) actually do care about states' rights. Others (Scalia) care about it only up to the point where the consequences become politically unpalatable for them. In this instance, there is an obvious interstate element -- certainly a lot more of an impact on interstate commerce than homegrown medical MJ, which was at stake in Raich. From a legal perspective, the Feds should probably be able to win the case. And rightly so. But that does not change the hypocrisy. We had many decades of conservatives bloviating about states being a laboratory for new ideas, a substantive 10th amendment, etc. They largely abandoned those principles when "states rights" stopped being code for protecting racists and started being code for states liberalizing MJ laws and trying to protect the environment.
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2018 Grand Final :: West Coast v. Collingwood
Texan and former ok state basketball walk-on Mason Cox plays for Collingwood. Hope he has a big game.
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Visiting Austin this weekend
Interesting. The few times I have been there it was filled with olds in pleated pants. I think of it as a spot for convention attendees. I don't think the food is bad, but it is certainly not exciting. Very generic southern food.
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Cody Wilson (Austin 3D gun guy) charged with sexual assault of a child
https://www.texasobserver.org/cody-wilson-austins-edgelord-prince/ I just read this on the guy. Apparently, he is the sort of tool that writes a memoir before turning 30 and soft minded enough to get radicalized at an Alex Jones affiliated bookstore on the drag.
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Cody Wilson (Austin 3D gun guy) charged with sexual assault of a child
This. I heard an interview with this guy recently (maybe on NPR). Seemed like a complete ass. The interviewer would ask thoughtful questions, and his response to every question was both moronic (he basically answered every question with some version of "because I believe in the 2nd amendment") and said in the most condescending tone imaginable.
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DT Austin Hotels
He could have used the IHG status at Van Zandt or Stephen F. Maybe he is just a holiday inn by the ARCH kind of guy.
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2018 Fishing - Year of the big one
That is strange. I wonder if it indicates some sort of disease or is just a weird marking. Did you keep him? I have not kept a freshwater trout in years, but I would have been very tempted to take that one out of the population.
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His Sh*t’s F***ed Up: The Complicated Legacy of Warren Zevon
Great article. The Dawes performance of Desperados Under the Eaves is really great. Here are a few other personal favorites.
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Iconic Debut Albums
Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker The Band - Music From Big Pink Flying Burrito Brothers - Gilded Palace of Sin Jeff Buckley - Grace And the PJ, Son Volt, and Weezer mentions above are also spot on.
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This is a man. He's over 40. He's a man.
Cornelius was no doubt better in this game. He at least made some good reads. But I am still skeptical. And the o line is not what it needs to be. From what we have seen so far, I expect about 8 wins. I will be surprised if we beat Boise, OU, or TCU. And I think we lose at least 1-2 other conference games. The only thing keeping me somewhat optimistic is that some of the other Big 12 teams look unimpressive so far. Hopefully we can put up a good showing against Boise. We don't know much about the team yet given the poor competition in the first two games. A win in that game would shift my perspective a good bit.
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1st time visit to Austin
If you want a hotel that feels old school with a cool/historic western motif bar, stay at the Driskill. You want a bit more hip and close to a lot of bars, then stay at the Van Zandt. A day of food for someone visiting Austin for the first time should look something like this: (1) Breakfast -- start the day with a breakfast taco. Veracruz All Natural is a good place for this. Taco Joint is another personal favorite. (2) Lunch - -get bbq. If you are not from Texas, then any of the following places will likely serve you the best bbq you have ever had: Franklin; Mickelthwait; LaBBQ; Kerlin; Leroy & Lewis; Valentina's (3) Nice dinner options -- you can't go wrong with Uchi; Odd Duck; Launderette; Justine's; Kemuri; or Suerte After all that, take your lady out two stepping. Broken Spoke if you don't mind other tourist, or White Horse if you don't mind hipsters.
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Brett Kavanaugh Confirmation Thread
Some of your examples are clearly making the sign on purpose. But not all. I guarantee that was not Lyor Cohen's intent in this pic. I suspect the girl today was accidental. But with the shit the GOP keeps doing, who knows.
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The Watch Fanatic Thread
On a woman, sure. If you are Jack Nicklaus, cool. On a man over 60, ok. On a younger guy the all gold seems pretentious to me. In my old firm there was a guy in his 40s that sported an all gold rolex and people would joke about how pretentious it looked.
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The Watch Fanatic Thread
Gold looks good on leather/croc. Gold bracelet (for men) or gold on rubber seems gauche. There are some exceptions. the IWC posted above is ok, and a gold aquanaut is obviously cool on rubber. But generally a no go.
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Cruz vs Beto
https://www.gq.com/story/texas-republicans-love-beto-rock-on Here is GQ saying a lot of the same things as this thread. I wonder if whoever is running the GOP twitter has been relieved of their duties yet. This backfired massively!
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Kayaking
Amistad is solid. I have used them and would use them again. The shuttle cost seems high until you see how far it is, how rough the roads are, etc.
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Washington DC
I am sure the locals can chime in with more informed restaurant recs. But when there for work I have had great meals at Tosca and Rasika. Also enjoyed Le Diplomate up by Logan Circle. The best thing about the Willard is the bar nuts in the Round Robin bar. Damn things are addicting.
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Cruz vs Beto
I don't want to believe this is how people vote . . . but it is absolutely part of it. I have lived in some very liberal places where the apathetic and uninterested vote D just because everyone else does, and I have lived in very conservative areas where the opposite happens. My wife is very apolitical but grew up in rural Texas. For years she would claim to be a republican, but when asked for a gut opinion on most issues would have a fairly liberal view. I think she now claims to be a democrat mostly because she has lived around a lot of democrats for the majority of her adult life (and she liked the Obamas and thinks Trump is creepy) . . . it has little to do with well examined political thought. Because of this phenomenon, I think the blue/urban parts of Texas will become increasingly blue and the rural parts will remain red. We should end up like Oregon or Washington where the state goes blue simply because the urban/suburban population outnumbers the rural population and after a few generations of living in urban settings people start to self-identify as democrats. It will be a welcome change for the state, but it is not necessarily a sign that the average Texan has somehow become more enlightened.
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Kayaking
Ditto the above. More weight = more dragging. I have a 10' piece of thick rope tied to one end of the kayak. I tied it in a a big enough loop to easily throw over my shoulder. You may also want a bit of rope to help lower the kayak down Dolan falls, depending on how you do that portage. Some of the campsites have raccoons, so the rope can be handy for hanging your food too.
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Austin Woman Missing 360/2222 Area
Semi-related question. How often do the folks that live in that area see vagrants? I noticed a vagrant camped along Bull Creek (just east of 360 near Winding Ridge Blvd) earlier this year. Looked like he had been there for quite a while.
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Mexican Restaurants Where They Hide in the Back If They Think You Only Speak English
I dig this thread. Someone throw out some legit Austin examples so I can go sample them. I like Borrego, Taco More and Mi Tradicion, but I am guessing those don't quite qualify for this thread. They all tend to have at least one member of the waitstaff that speaks English . . . which is who they send to my table under the correct assumption that my Spanish sucks.
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Favorite sitcom characters of all time
Chris Stevens (though Northern Exposure was not a traditional sitcom) Tobias Funke Tracy Jordan
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Liverpool 2018-19 ALLEZ ALLEZ ALLEZ!!!
You must be a Baylor/Pedo St./Ohio St. fan.
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Who should we blame for Bro Country?
This seems like the correct answer to me. However, I reject the premise that seems to be present in most of the posts on this thread that mainstream country used to be really good and lost its way somewhere in the 90s/2000s. The Nashville machine and country radio are doing the same thing they have always done . . . market to America's rubes. And guess what, rubes often have bad taste. And so much really good country music made over the years was so different from the Nashville sound of the day that it had to be classed as some sub-genre to differentiate it (Bakersfield country; cosmic country; outlaw country, neo-traditional, Americana, etc.). Guys like Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, and Townes never had commercial success. Even most of Willie's best albums (with some exceptions like Redheaded Stranger) were commercial flops. The country crowd was too busy listening to Kenny Rogers and Glen Campbell. There are obvious exceptions (I know Dwight, Buck, Dolly, Loretta, and other greats all had commercial success among the mainstream country masses), but most country fans have had bad taste for many decades.
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Cruz vs Beto
Wrong! I listened to the Uncle Tupelo Anthology today. Still rad after all these years. Alt-country forever (though I think "Americana" is now the preferred nomenclature).