Everything posted by Larry T. Spider
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2025 Thread of the Rains
Not much movement yet, but it can take a while for all the water to make its way to the lakes. The drought has been so bad in the areas that drain to the highland lakes, the land will suck up a lot of this rain.
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Mansfield School Board vote
I think it’s part book banning/maga hell raising but it’s also that these types don’t have answers for the real problems. People that show up to these elections understand the challenges with funding, staffing, test scores, growth/decline in student enrollment, etc. When voters are frustrated because districts can’t hire bus drivers so routes are getting cut, they don’t give a shit about some book their kid is never going to read. When art and music classes are getting cut, people don’t care about fake litter box hoaxes. When half of the teachers being hired are uncertified, people want solutions.
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The Italy Thread
Thanks. What time of year was this? I’ve seen the question asked so many times but rarely a good answer.
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Mansfield School Board vote
I follow Williamson county pretty closely and it had been trending more blue over the last 15 years. I personally think it will continue to trend that way despite Trump winning here in 2024. Whatever Trump tapped into at a national level applied here, but didn’t trickle down to Cruz. Donald J. Trump (50.21%) Kamala D. Harris (47.71%) Ted Cruz (47.85%) Colin Allred (49.32%)
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Mansfield School Board vote
Texas will go as the burbs go. Cities are blue, rural is red, burbs swing the state. Especially true for inner ring burbs. The trends were looking good for Dems until the last presidential election. Will be interesting to see if that was a blip on the radar or something more significant.
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Texas -- a failed state
They already fucked their small towns for eternity with the voucher bill.
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Texas -- a failed state
Turnout > changing people’s minds
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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?
I don’t give a damn about soot until they cut down every invasive cedar tree. F the warblers.
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Texas -- a failed state
I know administrators that have had to release public statements saying they do not have litter boxes in their schools. It was actually a campaign issue in Round Rock a few years ago and the district had to release a statement. It reads like an onion article. https://www.kxan.com/news/local/williamson-county/tables-not-being-lowered-for-furries-rrisd-responds-to-candidates-twitter-claim/amp/
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The ABIA Thread of Gross Incompetence
The Uber situation was very predictable and I was warning about it on here 8 years ago. Driver pay was continually cut to the point that desperate immigrants living in their car and methheads are your main driver candidates now. Drivers used to get 80% of the fare. It varies now but 45-55% seems standard. This will get fixed when self driving cars are the main option.
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The Italy Thread
Was wondering if anyone has experience with Italian beach clubs. We don’t need anything high maintenance, just an umbrella with 2 beach chairs and drink service. Hoping for some good options within a few hour train ride of Rome/ Florence that would let us book ahead online. I’ve found getting useful info on this much harder than flights, hotels, trains, etc. We haven’t book flights yet because we want to make sure we can get a few beach days in and our travel schedule is very flexible.
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The ABIA Thread of Gross Incompetence
Worth it to check both for cost and estimated wait time. Takes about 30 seconds and there can be a big difference on both cost and wait. Main problem I’m having right now is that uber is flat out bullshitting on their wait time estimate unless I’m DT.
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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?
My viewpoint on homelessness in Austin has become a bit cynical. First, these people are transient by nature so they are naturally going to gravitate to the areas offering more services. I’m all for spending more money on homelessness but it has to be on a state or national level. One city trying to do more than their neighbors will get a never ending supply of new people and there will never be enough money. Second, until we have properly funded mental health institutions that include drug rehabilitation, the most at risk population will stay on the streets. There also needs to be a compulsory part when people get to a certain point. I am highly sensitive to civil liberties concerns, but cycling people in and out of jail every 24 hours is no better. We need a plan for the most severe cases first. Third, where’s the MFing train lines that people voted for? If people are paying ungodly money for something that is being significantly scaled back and delayed, work on that first.
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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?
Not sure how it is taxed but there is a ton of oil out there.
- Spain Power Outage
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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?
What year was this? It was being discussed by leadership in 2021 when we were so desperate for teachers. Most of their potential candidates would have to drive by 20 schools on their commute to an AISD school. Combine that with most suburban kids being easier to teach and the funding being better - it was a tough sell to come to AISD.
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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?
With the looming budget shortfall, my partial solution has always been to close campuses, consolidate, and sell the real estate. It causes problems in various communities, transportation, and a host of other issues. It can also lead to further enrollment decline, which turbofucks the recapture calculations. However, you can get a one time cash infusion, reduce overhead, and stop maintaining some of the expensive old buildings. You also get kids into the bigger schools with more specialized services. Every time you close a school, you save the cost of principal, AP, music teacher, art teacher, PE teacher, cafeteria workers, custodians, librarian, and office staff. You don’t have to lay these people off, there are so many openings each year that can absorb them.
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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?
Haven’t verified the accuracy of this, but it underscores the problems in trying to run two different districts at the same time.
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Tariff wars, they have began
Do you even bonanza for America, bro?
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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?
I’m pretty sure you missed the part of the conversation where we were throwing out scenarios where the lege steps in to fix recapture. Of course all the options are outlandish. I guess the use of “long shots” wasn’t sufficient. 🙄
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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?
Houston ISD didn’t even have a recapture payment in 2023-24. Austin ISD paid over $ 11,000 per student. These situations are nowhere near the same.
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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?
HISD isn’t in nearly the same situation as far as recapture, especially on a per student basis. The optics of republicans saving AISD is also different.
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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?
The difficult issue for AISD is that they have to sell their schools as a good place to send your kids or else they lose enrollment. That makes the recapture situation even worse. However that masks a ton of problems that people should know about. Stuff like basic building repair. At my last school it rained inside when it rained outside and the kids were trained on where to put the trash cans. Not sure if the video will work. IMG_8107.mov
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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?
I actually think option 2 has a chance. Of course it involves a bunch of other bad shit happening first and probably would take 5-10 years to actually come to fruition.
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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?
There are only two real chances at fixing the recapture issue and both are long shots. One is republican donors fighting for it. There are actually quite a few prominent ones in west Austin and westlake that send their kids to public schools. At least for elementary in AISD. Obviously an uphill battle fighting the “suck it libtards” crowd from the rest of the state. The more likely scenario is the state taking over AISD, placing somebody Republican friendly in charge, then listening to them when they figure out how bad the funding situation is. They then get to look like they saved AISD.