mattyt36

Well when I hear “blight remediation,” a certain building comes very quickly to mind.

Ah, yes, I see now, def the exact same conditions … you’re right, Republicans are def a shoo-in, it’s a true fait accompli. 🙄

I don’t remember a bunch of Carter supporters storming the Capitol, threatening a Civil War, or Nixon becoming president again in 1980, but pls correct me if I’m wrong.

Only in the feverest of fever dreams. The only way this happens is if they cancel or override the elections. (Which, admittedly, they're pretty much openly saying they will do now, so I suppose certainly within the realm of possibility.) I'd say equally poorly researched.

A little research would show that this is entirely attributable to a change in how they counted enforcement actions--see CBP Enforcement Statistics Fiscal Year 2022 | U.S. Customs and Border Protection "Beginning in March FY20, OFO Encounters statistics include both Title 8 Inadmissibles and Title 42 Expulsions. To learn more, visit: Title-8-and-Title-42-Statistics. Inadmissibles refers to individuals encountered at ports of entry who are seeking lawful admission into the United States but are determined to be inadmissible, individuals presenting themselves to seek humanitarian protection under our laws, and individuals who withdraw an application for admission and return to their countries of origin within a short timeframe." "Beginning in March FY20, USBP Encounters statistics include both Title 8 Apprehensions and Title 42 Expulsions. To learn more, visit: Title-8-and-Title-42-Statistics. Apprehensions refers to the physical control or temporary detainment of a person who is not lawfully in the U.S. which may or may not result in an arrest." This page shows counts of those, which were not in the data prior to March 2020: Title 8 Apprehensions and Title 42 Expulsions: 1.817MM for the 10-month period ended July 2022. Title 8 Inadmissibles and Title 42 Expulsions: 201K for the 10-month period ended July 2022. Your data appears to be some subset of the CBP enforcement action data. (I mean, c'mon, you could see from one look at that that something was very likely off . . . why politicize?)

Well, actually we may not have to wait until 2024. The Former Guy is now calling for the 2020 election to be called for him, almost 2 years after the fact, and if that doesn't work, a "do-over" election. So, I guess Biden may actually be out before 2024, considering this will eventually become the official position of the Republican Party and its base of wannabe Confederates. Trump Demands a New 2020 Election Right Now! (nymag.com)

What a world we live in thanks to social media. They are either closed for renovations or they were evicted. I mean, what an absolute joke. The business is either still feasible, and so feasible that they’re renovating while opening a second location in the process, or they got evicted for not paying the rent. Pretty diametrically opposed outcomes there. I know what I would bet on.

@editor or other mods, would it be possible to put a geographic reference (or something else for context, maybe Shipley HQ) in this thread title?

Well, it is unfortunate the young lady does not know how to spell Ann Richards but point stands! The only reason people love Greg Abbott is for negative partisanship reasons … he “owns the libs,” and, for whatever reason, a lot of people get, er, stimulated by that. But at the end of the day, he’s like the preacher in Footloose (how ironic!), just getting in the way of things for no good reason. Sure people hate Ann Richards’s politics, but those that love her love her as the absolute idea of Texas, a woman who beat the Good Ol Boys and lived life her way and who is an iconic Texan for that very reason, just like every other iconic Texan. People like Greg Abbott because … uh … they think he keeps people in line and is, um, somehow “closer to God”? (Yes, I know for sure plenty of people like him for this exact reason.) Give me a break. Greg Abbott is an iconic Texan only in the sense that he is exactly what the Texans have mythologically supposedly always been against and is a symbol of the fact that Texas is not Texas anymore. At the end of the day, no one wants to live in a police state run by the whims of superstition, even the superstitious, especially by an absolute blowhard/pretender … he wishes he could be Dan Patrick! Thankfully, for the most part, the true, law-and-order old school conservatives (you know, Blue Dogs, the ones who your friends are very likely to call “RINO”), for the most part, are passing the test nationally. I am worried when it comes to locally in a way I never was before … I used to laugh at the thought of Texas becoming Mississippi, but here we are. Anyway, this’ll catch up with him and the Texas Republican Party soon enough … as us natives would say, the politicians have “gotten too big for their britches.” It just ain’t good for business, at the end of the day. If they are still in power 10 years from now, it’ll be a completely different party. Or I guess most of us will be dead from a nuclear war, which is a very logical outcome of Trumpism. SORRY, Mr Blue Dog. (Or maybe that would count as “owning the libs” and therefore somehow all be worth it? I dunno … you tell me.)

@hindesky this is looking better, so your advice was well taken

Well, I’m not denying that it’s his race to lose, but here’s a thought … why not compare his margin of victory in November 2022 when all is said and done with the margins of victory for every gubernatorial race since Bush, and I think you’ll be unable to deny that your opinion does not jibe with the majority of the State. And why is that? Because he has gotten needlessly radical on ridiculous culture war issues, thus alienating a not insignificant portion of conservative voters, who look around and now think the Republican Party is the party of total whack-jobs, and with each passing day, noticing more and more how corrupt the party has become. I was admittedly very early to this party, and it hasn’t been easy, but common sense has the best chance it has had in the past decade because the Republicans have really risked overplaying their hand. Sure the voters of Shelby County, Texas are singing hallelujah over the absurd idea that abortion is just going to go poof and we’ll all be closer to God as a result, but I wouldn’t be bragging about Abbott being the best governor in the history of the state when he presided over completely alienating and losing the big cities where all the economic production is, the hopelessly conservative Ft Worth being the last domino to fall. And you may want to be ruled by Shelby County superstitions and values, but let me assure you the state has been slowly waking up and realizing that that is a path backwards. If you want to live in some 1950s fantasy of America, just do us all a favor and move to Shelby County, where most people will agree with your take and you can sip iced tea with your neighbors and all fantasize about the FBI framing Trump, a transparently obvious career criminal, while ruing the fact that you heard on Facebook there is 1 transgender athlete in Ohio and thinking therefore the rapture is coming. (I know the type.) Abbott could win by a 20-point margin if he followed Perry’s and Bush’s lead and avoided this nonsense. This simple fact seems to elude most cheerleaders. In short, sir, your claim does not hold up and is, in fact, rather ridiculous on its face. But keep on drinking the Kool Aid, friend. It’s certainly much easier when things are so black-and-white, which they definitely appear to be for you. If the very, very weak Hidalgo manages to eke out a win, it is finally game over for Republicans in Harris County as it will be confirmation that people are now voting Democrat by default, much like the prior generation voted Republican by default—in other words the county is solidly blue and, guess what, the sky didn’t fall and we aren’t all communists and socialists and child predators and pro-crime. And Greg Abbott can take full credit for that. Hmmm, on that note, maybe I agree with your take after all …

In other news, Greg Abbott called Beto a poo-poo head and blamed the DFW floods on critical race theory and the Uvalde school shootings on Hillary Clinton. What does everyone think the chances are that Joe Biden will resign? #RedWave!

Disappointing to see the leadership of the Sheriff's Department, the Constable's Department, and the union leadership engage in what, at the end of the day, is described best as soft extortion, as are many similar law enforcement agencies across the country.

Can't wait to hear what the Stop I-45 group says now.

Check out the number of direct flights between congested markets and I think you'll find that that explanation is lacking. Sadly the pilot shortage (and lack of business demand) is hitting the smaller markets the most, and the airlines are engaged in old-school market share battles in markets like Denver, New York, LA, and Austin which is pulling capacity from the midsized markets and some of the midcontinent hubs. Markets like IAH have seen upgauged aircraft so in terms of number of seats we're not far off from where we were pre-COVID, but the number of flights is way down (which is what @editor noticed). If you don't want to go to Chicago, New York, San Francisco, or Los Angeles, you are down to 2-3 options on UA at best. Even SEA was down to 3 daily flights during a lot of this summer's peak--one leaving at 0600, one leaving at noon, and one a redeye. Guess what fares were like on the noon flight compared to the other two. Hell, I think AA was down to 6 flights/day on IAH-DFW at one point this year, which is unheard of. Also, sadly, if you live in IAH's "natural" connecting catchment area, I think you can understand why IAH is pretty much the last choice for a lot of connecting road warriors--there are simply many more options via DFW or ATL, or on direct flights on Southwest. Want to connect in IAH to go from CHS to LAX? You've got one choice a day. It's really pathetic. As far as the pilot staffing issue goes, I mentioned in another thread that Mesa can't fully staff its E175 operation out of IAH (Mesa is the primary E175 operator out of IAH) and has parked the aircraft. In the last couple of weeks, UA entered into some agreement with Mesa such that it has the option to transfer those to other airlines.

I don't think many people are saying that--even in the media and the airlines themselves. The limited seat supply is principally attributable to pilot and other staffing shortages. That's not to say they don't still have serious long-term structural challenges if business travel doesn't fully recover. IAH and HOU are among the middle in terms of recovery of comparably sized airports. Other hubs like MSP, DTW, and PHL (and even ATL, if you can believe it) are doing way worse.

Agreed, it’s crazy to me at least we’re approaching a full decade of major apartment development downtown. The DLI was formed in 2012, and I believe the first SkyHouse was one of the first developments—it opened in 2014. Some are definitely better than others.

Here you go, the original rail to IAH proposal from 1967 . . . a cool $10MM, to be operated by . . . John Mecom of Mecom Fountain fame. This day in Houston history, Aug. 15, 1967: A jet-powered way to get to IAH (houstonchronicle.com)

I, for one, can't say I think the JetBlue-Spirit merger will be good for Houston. I guess Frontier could take the Spirit footprint, but I prefer Spirit's relative stability . . . Frontier is, shall we say, rather peripatetic.

Well, as we all know, the FPD is definitely recognized worldwide for their record-keeping and unique, yet effective, crime prevention skills. Probably as recognized as the Center for Justice Research editors for their journalistic skills for posting a headline on Harris County homicides increasing when it appears they mean the City of Houston. But, what's not to love? I'm sure Mealer will save us all from this crime-ridden dystopian hellhole with her investment banking and mattress selection skills. (And large hands, of course.)

Oh happy day, have been waiting for years for Houston to become some cosplay Fallujah. Can't she just go run off and play Paintball?

Only 1,200 sf, too, the size of a 2-bedroom apartment. Sounds like they're building out a glorified conference room.

Now there's a surprise.

There was one on Sawdust entering The Woodlands when I was growing up. In what is now the HEB parking lot before the new HEB was built and the store was a Safeway.