mattyt36

Don't be so 2014, Augie. I thought the new term was "fake news." The data are either objectively true or not. If the data are false, well, then the statement is false, it is not "biased." If the data are true, well, then two possibilities--(1) crime did drop by 50% almost overnight; or (2) crime did not and it is evidence of a media organization trying to influence the political agenda. If (2), well, then the real bias ain't with Media Matters. Just because an organization is oriented towards compiling such data (and transparently so) doesn't mean the facts presented are false. That's like saying oncologists are biased against cancer or the EPA against dirty drinking water and cholera so we can't trust either. When I was growing up, we used to label people arguing such things as ignorant rubes or conspiracy theorists. (Of course, it was typically orchestrated by a wealthy political class with a very unpopular political agenda.) I know a whole demographic of people have been conditioned otherwise, which is a real tragedy for one of the world's most advanced democratic societies. There's a hell of lot of people who seem happy to risk throwing that away--for what, I still don't understand--owning the libs? Hopefully people will wake up and realize that they lose in this scenario as well.

On the domestic side, it all depends on United deepening existing banks and restoring old ones, which is dependent on the MAX deliveries, which is dependent on the FAA certification of the MAX 10. They just lost 60 50-seat jet frames to AA with Air Wisconsin, which makes any rapid schedule build up all but impossible. Their existing regional partners can't fully staff their fleet--Mesa has (I think) low double digits E175s parked, and that is who primarily flies E175s from IAH. SFO is still not fully restored either and that will be a priority once they "have to" to retain gates as they did at DEN, EWR, and ORD. UA has long-term locks on all but their A and D gates at IAH so it is not an issue here. If the MAX deliveries get slowed (all but certain at this point) and that corresponds to an economic downturn, I fear UA will inevitably default to the lower end of its fleet plan and retire older aircraft so the new aircraft coming in will be more pure replacements rather than additional frames, which means UA will never catch up with AA or DL--both CO and UA retired so many narrowbodies after the 2008 GFC to rely on regional jets and have never recovered. I don't see the JetBlue-Spirit merger being good for IAH if it is approved. I suppose there's an outside chance JetBlue will give it a try, but I really don't see it working long term. To the extent that capacity is not backfilled by someone like Frontier, that will result in decreased competition, increased airfares, and of course lower passenger counts. The biggest question to me is when the new airline that is literally based in Houston (Avelo) will start flying here, and where from. I suspect given their experience setting up something from nothing in HVN and ILG, they'll try for EFD.

I believe CA IAH-PEK (and the PTY extension) and ET IAH-LFW are it in terms of long-haul routes. SYD just resumed. MGA and YEG should eventually resume, I'm sure MGA first. Only other international route that hasn't resumed is CUU, which likely won't return. SCL unfortunately seasonal for this year (and seasonal southern summer, which is admittedly strange), but likely back to full year next year. The international network has remained pretty intact, although it has not grown at all, which it has for both AUS and DFW. DFW was a busier international airport than IAH for the first time since the early 1980s in 2021, and I doubt IAH will reclaim the title. Very sad. If ET comes back it'll be a while. New terminals do not attract airlines, unless there are capacity constraints. There were in 2014, when economy was humming along, but there aren't any constraints preventing new service now. If anything, the increased fees resulting from the new terminal may drive the short-haul budget Mexican carriers from IAH to HOU. The only thing I think may happen is UA may add a bank or two back once the absolute disaster of construction around the roadways is complete--I can understand if they didn't want to add service and make it worse, but I'm probably giving it too much credit. Thankfully it coincides with them getting a lot of new aircraft. Well, we all have wish lists, I suppose. TK has added 3x additional weekly IST flights since COVID. UA hasn't seem interested at all in adding IAH-secondary Europe for summer seasonal, and I don't see why that would change. If it did, CDG would likely be the first route to come back. ZRH is not a big local market (about the same as MUC +/-), so I'd say probably one or the other there. MEL? Maybe (emphasis on MAY) on the 5-year horizon, but I think even that's a stretch (not to mention it is literally a stretch at 9,000 mi, or 400 mi farther than IAH-SYD). IAH-JNB is even farther and JNB is at 5500 feet--I'm not sure there is an aircraft that can make it nonstop with an economic payload in the JNB-IAH direction (perhaps the 777X can), but I don't think UA will be ordering a subfleet for that route. Prior to COVID, there was a good chance TAP was going to start IAH-LIS, which would have been great for the market for much the same reason IAH-IST was a good addition as it brought down connecting fares considerably and led to some market stimulation. Maybe in a couple of summer seasons they'll reconsider it. IAH-DUB on EI would also be good for this but not sure EI has much incentive for it--if anything they'll go to AUS first. In fact, AUS getting TATL service (and a significant amount, almost overnight) is a drag on demand out of here. Sadly, IAH is just not on the radar of foreign flag airlines like it was a decade ago. Any longhaul routes added by UA may very well come in pairs, as they have before, with 3 new aircraft being based here to fly 2 longhaul routes (e.g., IAH-MAD and IAH-second GRU, neither of which, incidentally I see happening, but hey, I didn't think the Astros would pull it off after game 3 in PHL, nonetheless in 6).

Well of the two, at least one has social utility. Think of it as Consumer Reports. Surely you used that once or twice back in the day, no, Augie?!

Thanks, a new site for me!

Damn! They forgot to update their game plan!

@Blue Dogs happy to see you're still with us, and nothing has changed! I was beginning to get worried and was this close to calling the Texas Rangers San Antonio Field Office. Never change, and keep on truckin', friend!

Would you know who owns blocks 120 and 100?

OMG they finally cleaned her! And she looks great!

They're the heart of the Central Texas economy!

100% true. She wanted to hire "police officers," not sure it ever clicked that Harris County has no police officers, and naturally said she was going to pay for them by "eliminating waste." She is an investment banker! She doesn't know a damned thing about crime other than statistics in an Excel spreadsheet. I have no doubt her strategy for saying she fixed crime would be to just stop talking incessantly about how bad it is should she have been elected. Like Trump declaring months into his presidency that the wall was built and America was, indeed, great again. If you're one of those simple-minded spoonfed partisans, you no doubt would believe it without qualification, when, at the end of the day, the only real reason you only felt America was great again was because you thought you stuck it to the other half of the country. What a winning political strategy! What could possibly go wrong?! A totally cynical campaign. Thank God it mostly didn't work this year, either here or nationally. I hope the County GOP will take this as a message to change, but I highly doubt they will. What a racket.

If you say so. Maybe you got different commercials, but what I saw essentially was four different pitches: (1) "Hi, I'm Mattress Mack, you know I know a lot about mattresses and furniture. Let me tell you about politics. My market research said you guys obviously want a Hispanic woman, so look what I found . . . but don't worry, she's not too brown (and there's makeup for that)! And isn't it cute we can insert "moral" into her name!" (I must admit, I was only disappointed that they didn't do a "The Harris County GOP will save your money . . . and your life!" at the end of the commercial.) These intro commercials were so cringeworthy they were like Steve Buscemi from 30 Rock, "How do you do Harris County, I'm Alex, how bout that crime?" (2) "Hi, I'm Alexandra del Moral Mealer, and you're going to die if I'm not elected. Look at all these brownshirts uniformed police officers standing behind me who will tell you that, yes, you're definitely going to die if you don't elect me." (3) "Hi, I'm Mattress Mack. Remember when Alex told you that you're going to die if you don't elect her. Well, if you don't believe her or me, listen to heavy hitter Dave Ward. Don't pay attention to the fact that it looks like he doesn't know where he is at the moment." (I guess that was for the Senior Center votes.) (4) "Hi, I'm Alex, I know this is a big and diverse city and all, so let me show you how definitely plugged in I am. Look at me, I'm just like you, driving around golf courses with my husband and children, hoping that no one shoots us! I felt safer in Fallujah! Thank God I already taught my 4 year old how to handle an AR-15." (I'd say it'd work in Montgomery County, but they'd probably have to buy more makeup and drop the "del Moral" . . . oh, and make her husband run in her place.) Combined with the Ramsey-Cagle whiny baby flurfshow, wasn't exactly a great story. "We're all going to die if we don't hire more police officers, so in protest, we're going to do the right thing by our constituents and are not going to show up to pass a budget. Don't worry, only a couple more weeks of dying . . . unless you don't do what we say, that is, in which case you're an absolute goner!" So forgive me for not spending any time on perusing "Alex's Priorities" as all I got from the commercials was that her priority was to scare people into returning the Harris County GOP to power. But let me guess, her priorities are something about increasing safety, eliminating waste, and, of course, not doing corruption. Wow! Original. That is the level of thought someone put into her campaign. (In fairness, who knows, maybe she's a totally normal and likeable person, and was just a naive figurehead that was steered into this by the Harris County Geriatric Old Party and their love of 1980s politics.) That is not to say that this "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!" rhetoric didn't get through to many. My friend shared a Facebook post with me from a friend and Spring resident that went: This message is for EVERYONE who voted for Lina Hidalgo: 1. Don't call 911. We don't have enough police. Just kill your family if you have a disturbance. 2. Don't complain about pot holes in the roads. She needs the money herself illegally. 3. Call Lina Hidalgo's office when there is a shooting at your kid's school. She personally needs the money illegally and want pay [SIC] for more training. 4. If you want a parade the day before a very critical election call Lina and Sylvester. They don't care if it interferes with the election the next morning. They will grant you permission. 5. If your [SIC] upset about Crime. To [SIC] bad. You voted for her. Enjoy your next 4 years under this type of illegal leadership. So needless to say, the messaging worked well on her. I'm sure she got the same message from the pulpit--you know, "men of God." Sad to say, this is not an outlier. There are posters on here who have essentially said the same. So some questions: 1. Is there any way to describe this person as anything other than batflurf crazy? Kill your family if you have a disturbance?! WTF?! Don't complain about potholes because Lina is pocketing money? Lina is fully responsible for the Astros World Series victory so she and Sly could schedule a parade? Man, what a whack-o! 2. Even if she is this concerned about crime, if the above is her outlook, must she have an absolutely miserable life and outlook? If my mom were talking like that consistently, I'd get her professional help. I'm not saying this person doesn't genuinely believe it, but man, what a way to live. For her own peace of mind, I'd help her move to a blood red state like Arkansas, I guess, since, of course, crime does not exist there. 3. Is it that much of a stretch to interpolate that this person essentially hates half of her fellow County residents? And . . . seriously . . . what do you think the main factor driving that hate? 4. Could there have been a way for Mealer to make a strong case for crime without being so MAGA apocalyptic and unserious? Her commercials were speaking to only one demographic. Compare them to Hidalgo's final commercial, especially, where she easily manages not to come across as a firebreathing whack-job while speaking to the whole community. Politics should be about addition, not subtraction. 5. Do you really think this type of campaigning is good for Houston and Harris County? It obviously incites fear and turns neighbor against neighbor (which is the absolute id of MAGA politics), but it also telegraphs to residents of surrounding counties that this is some sort of hellhole, so don't come in and spend your money as you will likely die--after all, you are so likely to die, as a matter of fact, look at all these people in uniform--these County employees charged with protecting you--they are also telling you you're going to die! How in the hell is that good for Harris County, which she purports to want to lead? It is so GD dark. The only "vision" there is "Make Harris County GOP Again and We'll Make the Policemen Work Harder Again." (None of the above is meant to criticize the 90+% of law enforcement who do their jobs ethically and without fear or favor. But the MAGA/Mealer message has always seemed way more juiced up to support the 10% of them who don't. Their view of law enforcement is so reductive and immature.) Quite honestly it's amazing she did as well as she did, but she had all the $ at the end. At least the Midlanders who donated can take comfort that they didn't lose as much money as Elon or FTX investors. P.S. @Heights88 could you be from San Antonio as well?

Similar idea on a much grander scale in New York, with a terminal incorporating full-service ticketing, bag check, and bag delivery. These were thought to be the future at some point. 42nd Street Airlines Terminal - Wikipedia The history behind 42nd Street's lost Airlines Terminal Building | 6sqft Sun Country has sort of relaunched the concept in MN (Landline - Sun Country Airlines) and United at DEN (A new way to connect to Fort Collins (united.com). Of course some European train stations in the city still have them. Different, but similar idea, SFO used to have bag check-in for some airlines in one of their remote garages not too long ago. Some of the park-and-fly places (e.g., The Parking Spot) used to have them as well, not sure if any more have them after COVID.

Maybe I've got it all wrong and the 2022 Astros were the determining factor in the end. Happy (said better, jubilant!) people don't want change, nor do they go out of their way to vote a day after a victory parade party. Although some of the letters to the editor today: Mattress Mack gambled on Alexandra del Moral Mealer ad — and lost (houstonchronicle.com) Regarding “ What to know about Mattress Mack, the Houston furniture mogul, avid sports bettor turned Astros' hero,” (Nov. 3): Houston’s own “Mattress Mack” knows a thing or two about taking risks and seems to enjoy the gamble. Win or lose, he lost by so publicly backing county judge candidate Alexandra del Moral Mealer. Appearing as a host on television ads endorsing her was a misguided move. Business and politics don’t mix, and he should have known that. Going forward I will never buy anything from Gallery Furniture again. Michelle Braverman, Houston (What did Laura Ingraham say? "Shut up and dribble?") On Monday the city honored our World Series-winning Houston Astros. Leave it to our junior senator, though, Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz to crash the party. Not only did Cruz seem to push his way into the parade, he almost singlehandedly turned the crowd’s roars of cheers into boos. Forget his failure to make the easy play on the hard seltzer thrown his way (Official Scorer: E-Cruz), why in the world was he there in the first place? It’s a shame there was no umpire to throw him out. James Cato, Kingwood Score it E-Cruz, what a line! I wish Lina had been a bit more gracious in her victory speech, however, but you can't deny the opposing campaign was as toxic as the Brio Superfund site.

And Mealer saying she was hiring more “police officers.” That was rich.

DeSantis/Abbott is about as likely as a Trump/Cruz ticket was in 2016. But, hell, I'll take it. To have Abbott (er, what's the word the flurfposting Rs use again) cucked by DeSantis would be A-OK by me. Both of them have a national appeal only slightly higher than Marjorie Taylor Greene. Dan Patrick is from Baltimore. Nuff said. Reality and the law will catch up with the Collin County Lazy Eye eventually. Does the majority of voters even know what the County Judge does?

Republicans complaining about redistricting is a new kind of delicious for me. Consider this: According to the Chronicle article below, the new district was +12 D. Cagle lost by a little more than 3 in what should have been a much more favorable environment. So close . . . yet SO FAR! SAD!!!! Guess Ramsey can just sit boycott all meetings now.

HBJ Fall 2022 Office Leasing Guide reported 481K of 1,227K sf vacant at 1600 Smith, for a vacancy rate of 40%. Is most of the leased space Chevron? 1 Allen Center: 268K of 931K, or 29% 2 Allen Center: 462K of 1,075K, or 43% 3 Allen Center: 325K of 1,283K, or 25%

Turnout down almost 10%, too, which typically favors Republicans. Votes cast for governor, Harris County, 2018: 1,188,623 2022: 1,091,819 Difference -8.9%

As I have stated multiple times, I did not vote for Lina in 2018 but did in 2022, not necessarily because I was all about voting for her, but more because I was voting against the absolutely corrupt State GOP, which at this point is just a bunch of professional politicians with few ideas who just want to stay in power for their own sakes. The anti-crime message was STRONG and resonated, but somehow not enough. Despite law enforcement professionals basically flanking Mealer at all of her press conferences (which I for one consider to be extraordinarily provocative and outright scary . . . ) and her essentially implying that we were all going to be murdered walking on the Bayou or coming home from the Astros because of "Democrat" judges happily putting murderers on the streets, I think the majority saw that she was a puppet at best (an uncharismatic weirdo most likely, and an entitled, sanctimonious, condescending, crazy woman at worst) with zero experience and no meaningful plan to reduce crime. I'm not even sure Mattress Mack helped her, to be honest. People of course love Mattress Mack, but it telegraphs the appearance of "buying" an election. It's kind of creepy, actually. The Harris County GOP needs to CLEAN HOUSE and get rid of all the crazies. Ed Emmett could've won easily, assuming he ran a campaign like he did in the past. Tell Steve Hotze and his merry band of religious nutjobs to go off and form their own d*mned party--the Harris County Baptist Taliban--that ideology has no place in government because by its very nature and by its own admission, it wants to screw over half of the constituency. Sit down Mack, sit down Dave Ward, sit down Ed Young, sit down partisan law enforcement leadership and law enforcement unions, sit down Crime Stoppers propaganda, sit down Permian Basin political donors, sit down State GOP with your ridiculous shenanigans to co-opt the county, and truly focus on returning to responsible governance instead of fearmongering--it is not good for anyone. But the fact remains: 1) Hidalgo proved to be a relatively awful candidate at the end of the day, but still eked out a victory despite being overwhelmingly outmatched in advertising spending over the past several weeks. (I mean, she pulled out a win with all those Mealer ads during the ASTROS WORLD SERIES WIN. I mean, those are some serious headwinds that she met!) 2) Mealer was hand-picked by the State GOP and got support from donors farther afield, and, while she came very close due to fearmongering, she lost. This was NOT a good environment at all for Democrats locally, so it should be expected that results would be worse than the last cycle. But bad candidates hung on, and non-controversial County candidates ran a good 3 points ahead of Mealer. That, my friends, is the major political shift. A major difference from, say, Tarrant County, which just elected a Republican County Judge who is a personal injury attorney from Southlake and has prior experience as a councilman and mayor of Farmers Branch. I mean, just gross. I think I'd take Mealer over that bio. Still, the margin was extraordinarily slim and should not be considered a mandate by any means. I pray that Hidalgo and the other Democratic commissioners do not take this as some sort of validation of progressiveness--municipal governments just cannot be a meaningful source of social spending. I hope she tries to build relationships with the business community, and likewise, I hope the business community makes a good faith effort to build a relationship with her. And I pray Hidalgo will make a good faith effort at crime reduction and repairing relationships with law enforcement, although I am not sure how much of that problem is on her shoulders to be honest. Harris County and its residents have zero interest in employers and government officials being at each other's throats. Houston is the welcoming city it is because we have largely avoided these lose-lose political fights, which, in the end, are only good for disingenuous politicians and bad for the County and its residents. Thanks Alexandra and the Harris County GOP for telegraphing to the suburban counties and the rest of the state that Harris County is a crime-ridden hellhole teetering on the edge of disaster--you have done definite damage and it is glaringly obvious you do not have this County's interests at heart, only your own. /rant off and now a little gloating . . . if Cagle loses it will really be my favorite story of the cycle as it shows there's a price to pay for being an absolutely unserious and disingenuous blowhard . . . which is pretty rare in Texas politics. (Well, being an absolutely unserious and disingenuous blowhard is certainly not rare, but paying a price for being one sure the hell is.)

DAMN! I guess all those blue-ribbon endorsements threatening us with even more crime if we didn't do their bidding didn't work! "Thank you to all of those who supported our campaign for good governance?!" I must have been getting a special set of ads because that message sure as hell didn't come across. Still, I must commend Mealer on conceding and not breaking out one of her surely many AR-15s. HCSO will get some additional manpower, but it looks like it won't triple its headcount of 5,000 to 15,000 on a whim. As far as I can tell looks like Cagle lost, too, which is absolutely appropriate considering the guy couldn't be bothered to do his d*mned job and show up to a vote. P.S. SORRY MIDLAND DONORS!!!!! And keep the faith, San Antonio! (Remember, your County Judge is actually . . . someone else. #LocalRule)

DeSantis (FL) 2018 share: 49.6% 2022 share: 59.4% +19.8 pts improvement Abbott (TX) 2018 share: 55.8% 2022 share: 54.9% -0.9 pts improvement Looks like someone has a way hotter set of wheels. SORRY GREGGO!

Don’t tell Greg Abbott

Well, based on my analysis of the early voting totals, Lina may hold on. She underperformed Beto by 24K in early voting but still led. Beto’s gap in Election day voting was 6K to his favor. I can’t see many Beto-Mealer voters. But keep the faith in San Antonio. The wave never came but maybe it’ll start rolling out of the prairie somewhere around Seguin! WELL nevermind I think the early voting totals that I am looking at may not be totals but only for the precincts that reported. I will therefore stop blowing west so as to keep that wave to a trickle.