mattyt36

Hack endorses hack. Good thing Cruz's popularity in the County has been in the toilet for a good 5 years. Can't say I've ever met a sane person who likes the guy. Opinion | Ted Cruz, Hometown Anti-Hero - The New York Times (nytimes.com) If you're speaking in empty platitudes, best get it right, the figure of speech is a "massive campaign warchest."

What exactly makes a development “fluid”?

It’s all a question of elasticity, Augie! Surprised you didn’t suggest a gas tax version of the Laffer Curve, buddy!

Hot off the presses from today: JetBlue cuts 20 routes, trims new Canada service, to boost summer reliability Likewise, Spirit had a big buildup planned for IAH for June (including the new MTY service) that has now been deferred to August. Southwest rolled out a new "Back to Basics" management plan to focus on staffing and increase operational reliability in Q1. Life becomes difficult and unpredictable when there aren't enough pilots to fly the planes. And, even when you can hire them, you can't train them because all of the training slots are full. And it's not for lack of "planning," per se . . . this was all planned for, but the plan turned out (almost universally across the industry) to be a bad plan. Mesa is actually parking relatively new EMB-175s (a very limited commodity for United if you know anything about their pilot contract) this summer because they don't have the pilots to fly them. They probably don't put that stuff in your monthly Rapid Rewards newsletter.

Depends on the day of the week . . . And, whatever you do, don't tell Steve Hotze, Lance Berkman, or Hot Wheels!

OK @Reefmonkey, it's obviously a random big conspiracy and nothing to do with what's been written about over and over and over and over in the press or come up in almost essentially every airline earnings call for last quarter. So sorry for your bad luck. (I know frequent fliers think they know anything, but consider that those who actually work in the industry may have a bit better grasp on these things than you.)

Now you’re just being a Mr Silly Pants, Augie! He’s back to his chants and incantations! (Remember, you have to say it at least 3 times in a row while dancing around a fire, @Blue Dogs)

Airline schedules aren’t fleeted and finalized until 60 days out (was 30 earlier during the pandemic). And the airlines (WN among them) have been adjusting summer schedules to mitigate operational disruptions from staff shortages. If you make your reservation more than 30 days out, there’s a not insignificant chance it’ll change, most of the time minor, but sometimes more dramatic. If you make it 90 days out, you’re almost guaranteed to have some change. Southwest will continue to be among the hardest hit due not only to the industry-wide staffing shortages but also the delays in 737 MAX deliveries … they had to rejigger their entire delivery schedule last quarter due to ongoing delays in the certification of the MAX 7. Your assumption that crew or fleet issues can be resolved months in advance is wrong, BTW. That’s exactly what they’re accomplishing with these changes. There’s nothing random about it. Note also that you don’t have to accept the automated rebooking changes … you can try to rebook on a more convenient itinerary … if the website doesn’t let you do it, call Reservations. But if your reservation is for, say, October, I can almost guarantee you’ll end up going through that multiple times.

Uh huh. This is the guy who goes on and on and on about substance. 🙄 Oh the irony. Regardless, glad we could finally put this to rest.

Astute and piercing as always, @Blue Dogs!

Spare us the self-indulgent dramatics. The logical fallacies have all been pointed out specifically and substantively time and time and time again. Thank you for the above as it is probably the best (and only internally coherent) summation of your opposition. It's not some noble opposition to pollution, nor some romantic social justice concern, it's not love of transit or any "better way." It's simply avoiding your own inconvenience. Which, by the way, makes complete and total sense and is entirely defensible! Think of all the elbow grease you could've saved by avoiding all the disingenuous arguments on the side. But reasons of naked self-interest--as fundamental as it may be to the human condition--just aren't that appealing to others.

I see what you're doing, trying to get me to click the LOVE button there, Augie 🤣

This thread is full of nakedly disingenuous arguments made by @samagon, none of which he actually engages on. So many places to start . . . "This project is really about commuters from Conroe to Galveston," and "oh, it's all about the environmental issues" or "It's all about the people who will be forced to move" and then later in the thread suggesting the right thing to do would be to just widen 610 East because, I guess, on the east side environmental impacts or relocating people doesn't matter or such a project is under some happy rainbow of protection. Plenty of statements made about the project or TxDOT that are shown time and time again to be false or be entirely baseless, yet he keeps recycling them. That is the very definition of disingenuous. @samagon's beliefs--whatever they are--are immaterial to basic facts and logic. And don't fault at least some of us for associating such rhetorical techniques with the possibility that he doesn't really give two sharts about what he says he cares about. Yes, we certainly could be wrong about the genuineness of his statements, but such a conclusion isn't coming out of nowhere.

Well, I've definitely done my part by bringing out the big guns (@august948 would be proud!) by posting my opinions on the subject of the NHL Houston Aeros on this very message board. Guess I will have to sharpen my pencil and write a letter to the editor of the Houston Chronicle, that should do it! 🤣

Not enough airtime for those famous hands . . . opportunity missed! Great airtime for her vacant, absolutely clueless look and empty platitudes, however. I just wish she wouldn't be so wrapped up in identity politics . . . why does she list "Hispanic" as her first qualification? It's also sad she has to use green instead of a nice, bold red and put "Republican" in such a small font for, well, obvious reasons . . . it's an explicit acknowledgment that the Republican brand is, shall we say, NO BUENO in Harris County! (SAD!!!!) It's also such a shame to see public servants in uniform engaging in disingenuous politics, but, hey, they're politicians themselves. Not to mention some high-and-mighty speak for constables, who, under Texas law have the following duties: -Serves as a licensed peace officer and performs various law enforcement functions, including issuing traffic citations -Serves warrants and civil papers such as subpoenas and temporary restraining orders -Serves as bailiff for Justice of the Peace Court You may know them from patrolling your local toll road. Not that the average low-information voter would know the distinction. More theater, courtesy of the ever-growing entertainment wing of the Republican Party. Thankfully we have one of their most passionate "deputies" to "keep us up to date."

I was in Phoenix a month ago, luckily when the Astros were there, so I saw the Chase Field setup, which I didn't remember from before. Do those essentially just operate as outside-of-the-park concessions owned by the team? If so, yes, please, none of that. The Reds stadium has some decent stuff around it. Seems like the proximity to the Convention Center should help bring year-round foot traffic. And, knowing Tilman to be the competitive guy he is, hopefully he'd do something for the Toyota Center, with the caveat that he doesn't own any of the surrounding land, of course.

On top of that basic fact, does anyone have any idea of how many residential units downtown are rented/owned as second home "pied-à-terres"? I know it at least used to be a significant enough thing at One Park Place.

Hotel guests are what? Probably 3-5 more times likely to eat out on a given night than a resident (for obvious reasons)? Convention business is also key to developing the tourism market. It’s fair to say a nice mix of both is essential—take a look at any city in that regard.

I’m 💯 OK with any man who gives me gifts, although I must say I prefer it more often than one night a year. (Surprising that you would be into handouts, however.) Still, I don’t think that makes one qualified to be Mayor. Shady/grandstanding bail bondsman doesn’t either.

You must be one of those people with poor facial recognition skillz … prosopagnosia, I think it’s called, thanks to Google. (Doesn’t seem like that would complement your primary hobby, though … 😳)

Augie, opine all you want . . . don't get scared, no one is stopping you! (Put that gun away, please, I know you're tempted! So sensitive!) Even if you're not a property owner, you're de facto paying taxes through rent, unless, out of the bottom of your heart, you're paying it for your tenants. Something tells me you're not. I know I wouldn't! If you own property in a jurisdiction that you somehow think is poorly run and puts your financial interests at stake, well, as a wise man once said, that's on you buddy! You don't have to make the business decision to own real estate. Don't play the game if you can't, er, play the game. Profits ain't guaranteed in the free market. Incidentally, if you would like to redesign the longstanding Western system of voting, I'd suggest you move to NYC, where non-citizens will be able to vote. You seem to have a different litmus test ("property owner" . . . spoiler alert, that's been done before!), but you know as the Republicans used to love saying, these are all little "laboratories of democracy," so maybe you can sell them on your great ideas there. No, I have it on good authority that is people commuting from Conroe to Galveston. For the record, I don't think they should get to vote for the Mayor of Houston, either.

Well as we have learned from you @Blue Dogs, scandals and controversies aren’t disqualifying … if anything they’re a reason to vote for someone. (See Paxton, Ken and Abbott, Greg.) So ole Gil should be A-OK by your own standards. (Lina, too!)

You may have a minor “stake,” but you don’t get to vote and you don’t have to pay the lion’s share of the taxes. And, if you don’t live in the City, your “take” on crime (I know many suburbanites all think we live in some murderous, drug-ridden hellhole that burned down from BLM protests in June 2020 from too many hours of watching Fox News and other propaganda outlets) is largely irrelevant, just as it is for other City issues, like how the City spends the money that its citizens put in, what our police department does, etc. Like old-school conservatives, I value local control. i’m not running my mouth over local politics in Ft Bend County or speculating who’s going to be the next mayor of Galveston, or wherever you may live Augie. You and your neighbors elect whoever is good for you. I’m not sure why people don’t extend the same courtesy and respect to us. I suspect even @Blue Dogs realizes that because he sure as heck isn’t volunteering where he lives or doesn’t live. Imagine if that wonderful website that @Blue Dogs cited in another post (“The Texas Scorecard”) had in big letters across the top of the website “Funded entirely by a Republican Political Action Committee. Not a legitimate journalism site.” If those posters on this thread put in a footnote “* - Note: Not an actual resident of the City of Houston,” then I think how people interacted with the information would be entirely different. I honestly don’t give two sharts if a resident of The Woodlands wants Santa Claus the Bail Bondsman to be the next Mayor of the City of Houston just so they have the illusion of feeling “safer” for the 4 times a year they come into the City proper.

I’ll buy you a drink at the rooftop bar of the Le Meridien Houston Downtown as soon as I recover from COVID, H19514.

Oooooooo, do tell us more @Blue Dogs Having Santa Claus the Bail Bondsman as Mayor of the nation’s fourth largest city is definitely something we should strive for and certainly not be embarrassed at the mere thought. Also, while you’re at it, maybe you can finally answer that entirely relevant question from many moons ago: “Are you a resident of the City of Houston?”