OlDawg

You are correct about the status of DC. Also, as I mentioned to you in your thread about this, the next time Dems have control of Congress & POTUS, it only takes a simple majority to accept DC as a state. BANG! Two more Senators, at least one Representative, and electoral votes that will be 100% Democratic. Dems won’t have to gerrymander more states. They’ll just create new ones. Trump is giving them the ammo—so to speak. The Guard wasn’t needed. Do what needs to be done with law enforcement available. Reorganize. Ramp up. Just not with the Guard.

Somebody better put their thinking caps on… First, I don’t know of any Serving who relish this type of duty. If they do, they’re not the ones you want doing it. They are not the droids you’re looking for… Second, since it’s not a desirable duty, recruitment—already at historically low levels—will suffer more. Not good. Third, if these actions continue, and are allowed to continue at any time, in any location, the 2nd Amendment will be in inherent danger. At the least, gun control will be ramped up immensely by advocates with the normal excuses for gun control PLUS the addition of having legal authority, and the capability to rapidly deploy a specially trained Guard force anywhere/any time. I can hear it now: ‘The public doesn’t need to protect themselves. We’ll do it for them. We have the capability and authority now.’ I don’t want anyone to have any more excuses than they already have to try and curb my 2nd Amendment rights. I trust myself to protect me and mine. The last security threat gave us the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretaps, limitless & unaccountable surveillance, and other extra judiciary actions all approved by secret court proceedings. Trump was caught up in it himself! The best intentions are always just that. Until the government gets control of them. Remember Reagan’s 9 scariest words. Take them to heart. Just fix the laws that protect the criminals more than the victims.

I’ll keep my 2nd Amendment rights. Thank you very much.

Pentagon planning ‘quick reaction force’ for civil disturbances: Report Internal Pentagon documents reviewed by the Post lay out the parameters for a “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force,” calling for hundreds of guard members outfitted with weapons and riot gear to be on constant standby and deployable in as little as one hour. [Hidden Content] Point blank—from my perspective—I DO NOT LIKE THIS AT ALL. PERIOD

DC is a carve out. It’s all Federal land, under Federal jurisdiction. No issues—personally—with Feds taking over Met Police for their 30 day limit. No issue with replacing current leadership staff & reorganizing. But, my goodness, they have a police force of over 3,000 for a population of around 650,000. That’s strictly the Met police. Doesn’t count Park Police, FBI, DEA, Secret Service, and other assorted alphabets. The issue isn’t numbers. The issue is the soft on crime stance. The Feds can actually modify sentencing guidelines in the DC jurisdiction. It’s within their authority. Sounds to me like they need to put more emphasis on a gang task force like Houston had to do in the East Houston/North Shore area—which was known as the hub for the Cripps & Bloods, who then started working together with MS-13 and other foreign groups. It’s still the hot spot in Texas. But, they’ve cleaned it up a lot.

It’s not. DC has more law enforcement per capita than any other metropolitan area in America. I’ll say it again. The issue is catch and release, cashless bail, and the juvenile system. Some of these kids are being recruited because it’s known they won’t be prosecuted.

I really liked the young man LP saw in the PO’s last year. He was put in a tough spot. But, I thought he threw a really good ball. Looked like he could run the ball as well.

Also, in Tepp & Stepp 5AD1 podcast preview, Stepp is picking La Porte over Lone Star for the 5AD1 Championship. So, Tepp is picking Aledo over Angleton. Stepp is picking La Porte over Frisco Lone Star. Pretty high bars to reach. R3 PO’s are a murderer’s row. 9-5AD1 looks to be the only district with at least one cakewalk PO matchup.

Lol… Talk about timing. Carville: Democrats have to add states, expand Supreme Court to 'save democracy' [Hidden Content]

I don’t know about that one way or the other. I was just answering the question. As a personal liberty first person, and a vet, I’m not a fan of military personnel being used as a regular means of crime prevention. There are better things to be spending our military budget on. Use federal law enforcement to supplement. Heck, even use Border Patrol and ICE (since they’ll probably be needed anyway). The real issue—like elsewhere—seems to be the judges & the system that protects violent minors. Sure. Supplement law enforcement with other law enforcement. But, address the laws that allow minors to—literally—get away with murder.

No. The Black Lives Matter riots of 2020 lasted days, many law enforcement officers were injured, many fires were set, property was destroyed, and the BLM mob attempted to breach the White House. Several police were injured in that mob attack. But, the communist lover conveniently forgets those days. Apparently, she’s a lying liar.

In Tepp & Stepp’s 5A R3 podcast preview, Tepp picked Angleton to win 5AD1 R3. With Angleton’s schedule, I see them undefeated coming into La Porte week. Meanwhile, La Porte will have faced Deer Park (6AD1 Bidistrict), Kingwood (6AD2 State Quarterfinalist), and Port Neches-Groves (5AD2 State Quarterfinalist) in predistrict. Pretty tough slate.

I think I’d find someone else to parrot other than the Socialist/Communist Bernie Sanders loving Dana Bash. Just me.

The only ‘national’ news program I watch is Fox Business. They are the most accurate business coverage on the airwaves. Yes, you have to listen to some politics. But, it’s not near the amount or respective bias of the other straight news/opinion outlets. You can tune most of it out & focus primarily on the economics—which is what I do. He’s been a fairly regular guest. Once or twice a month I’d say. Pretty much a supply side conservative. Friedman/Laffer type. Not a big tariff guy. A lower tax & lower regulation guy.

I was actually expecting worse job numbers with the ex-government workers actively on the job-seeking roles again. We're still at almost record employment even with the layoffs in multiple sectors. People have to understand the economy of today is like a bubble. It's flexible now. Our economy is more technology driven than physical assets. It can easily adapt to changing conditions because it's more knowledge based. Coding, content, talent and IP rights contribute a lot more than physical/manufactured items. That's why the drivers of the markets are mainly Tech firms. They have high upfront costs, with exponential returns, and basically no marginal costs after the initial investment. Code is written, code is employed, costs are complete, and revenue is then scalable. Similar with any of the high tech ventures. Even engineering processes are licensed out. Yes. We still have manufacturing. But, not for low margin/low tech goods. Trump is attempting to open up the technology sectors in other markets. He can afford to do this without crashing our economy because our economy isn't driven by physical items anymore. Our main export is actually technology, services, and licensing. His other arrow in the quiver is deregulation. Not talked about much. But, a critical component of costs and the economy. The EPA rolling back the 2009 Endangerment policy from the Obama Administration that justified over $1 Trillion in regulatory costs is going to save individual taxpayers thousands. This was the policy that basically allowed the government to regulate almost everything we buy and use. Choice will return, and the cost of goods for everything delivered by truck will decrease substantially. Estimates are that the American consumers should save around $54 Billion annually just from this regulatory change alone. Press/News Release from EPA: [Hidden Content]

Almost 40% of U.S. homeowners own their home outright as of 2024. We’re one of them. I’ve joked it will take a nuclear bomb to get me to move. Hard to go back to having a payment of any size once you’re used to having none. Ours has been paid off for almost 20 years. I’d have no clue what to do with a house note. I’ve read that many are selling (when they do) and taking the cash to buy another smaller home. No new mortgage.

Gotcha. I was thinking along a different track. Generally speaking, I’m not a tariff fan either way. But, in the economic/political scheme of things (as far as exerting influence beneficial to U.S. policy) tariffs are actually an easier and more adaptable measure than sanctions. They can exact a price on the issuer (U.S. in this case), but, so can sanctions & sanctions are much harder to enact, enforce and/or modify. Tariffs are a relatively straight forward economic and political tool with flexibility. I would prefer tariffs not be used for knee-jerk personal issues. However, some—like Brazil at 50%—supposedly started as a personal issue, and now is helping our big tech firms. Will it hurt U.S. coffee drinkers some? Probably. But, not THAT much. Our cup of Joe may go up a nickel or two. But, Big Tech—a major driver of our economy as a whole—will benefit greatly. So, you have to view them all through an economic lens, and that lens is different depending on where you’re looking through it. Economic measures of any means are preferable to military conflict if influence is needed to affect a political goal for the good of the nation. I’m not a ‘war/conflict is good for the economy’ person. I’ve been involved in my past. Avoid it at almost any cost. Hopefully, that answers your question better. @UT alum

Specifically what? Right now, they’re going into the general fund. You need to give me more specifics.

I think he’s the Van Gogh of our times. He teeters right at that line. I also don’t think public policy is his best value add.

Dude’s flakier than grandma’s buttermilk biscuits.

Ad interrupts ash-spreading ceremony with fart noise on free version of Spotify 😂🤣😂 [Hidden Content]

I’m sure the Dems will be screaming. After all the talk of gerrymandering, they’ve wanted to give statehood to DC & Puerto Rico for their congressional seats & electoral votes. That’s the only reason they’ve been pushing for it so hard.

Thanks for the info. My brother is an LP grad from 46 years ago. I am an LP alum from 44 years ago, and my son is an LP grad from 20 years ago. Nowadays, I just watch for the enjoyment of watching the kids play. I understand the people, kids, and parents more involved currently are really happy with the staff. La Porte has always supported their programs pretty well over the decades. Of course, Coach Berneathy got his first coaching job at La Porte. So, he's a known, and he knows La Porte as well. I'm sure that makes it easier for everyone.

Yes. Could be risky. But, I think not in this case. We’ve had a stronger than normal 2nd quarter, and 3rd quarters are typically solid. I don’t think 50 basis points is too drastic with the adjusted employment numbers where they’re sitting. While it wouldn’t help the consumer right away, it would help business cash flow at a time when it’s needed. The other big item is the help it would provide the housing market. If the housing market could get back on its feet even a little, the economy would be in solid shape. Getting that benchmark down would help a lot. Still need more supply. But, it would be a big help for people financing, builders building, and even those remodeling to sell. Definitely wouldn’t do what Trump’s suggesting with a 300 basis point whammy. That’s just nuts. I think 50 is about right for a slow walk to see where it goes. Like I say, if we can get the benchmark to within 100 of inflation—and have stability—I could give a little on the Fed’s target. 2%? 2.5%? 2.75%?…all pretty relative and arbitrary. We’re in a new situation with the tariff money. Needs to go to pay down debt. We don’t need refunds. I know folks would like refunds. But, the long term issue is debt. There are enough tax breaks in the BBB that most will notice a pretty decent increase in take home pay. (Hopefully, they’re smart enough to put some away in a rainy day fund.)

That was the only call I questioned in the Regional Finals last year. The toss vs. a sneak. May have cost them a trip to the State Semis. The staff played to win all year (vs. not to lose), so I appreciated that aspect. But, when on the 1 yard line, trying to ice the game, a long toss type play seemed a little strange with the speed of Angleton's D. But, the staff knows more about the matchups they were facing than I do. They made the call they thought would work best. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. I still have great faith in the LP staff. They've done an outstanding job bringing the program back in a very short time, and I think it's only going to continue to improve. Coach Berneathy and staff have gone 5-5, 8-3, and 10-4. Improve by 2 more games again this year & they're at the Promised Land. I'm ready for this season, and this rivalry to start. Seems like it's been a long off-season. Probably the anticipation of the new stadium & some true home games again.