All politics are local?

[Neutral Corner]

In our guy's last race, he won 57-43. His previous race against the future Trumpist was a 51-49.

The guy he replaced won his last race roughly 51-46, with third party candidates getting a few percentage points.

So yes, strangely enough, there actually are competitive races.

I vote every time. Birmingham is the biggest Blue Dot in the state. It's just that I know that the R candidate is going to win every statewide office going in. Sometimes I get to help vote down a Roy Moore, though. You do what you can.

 

[melock]

And worst of all may be Eric Burlison. The others you named are dim-witted, but Burlison is downright evil.

I see this. One of two no votes on the Take It Down Act and one of nine repukes to vote against condemning Russia for the illegal abduction of Ukraine children.

 

[Songbird]

We have large Dem majorities in the Vermont House and Senate while the 5-term Republican gov has won his last 2 elections by 50+ points. That said, GOP's here are making inroads.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

The closest thing we have to that here is when some suburb decides it has enough of a sales tax base to break away from the county school system and set up its own. The locals are all in on that because they figure the big shopping center out by the interstate brings in out of town dollars that can go to their precious young uns and not have to wait their turn until the county system says it is their turn for upgrades.

Geez, your schools are funded by sales taxes? I'd hate to see what your rural schools are like where your sales tax generator is a Dollar General.

 

[dixiehack]

Geez, your schools are funded by sales taxes? I'd hate to see what your rural schools are like where your sales tax generator is a Dollar General.

Now you're starting to understand why education levels are the way that they are here. And everybody is in deep **** whenever sales tax proceeds dip. It has been quite a while since schools had to do a mid-year proration, but even with a full reserve fund, that's not going to hold out indefinitely

 

[Scout]

People hate giving their hard earned dollars back in taxes. They especially hate giving so much of it to schools where their kids get bad grades and **** around all day.

They want the school open to watch their kid for seven hours, but above and beyond that, they don’t want anything extra other than bus transportation and don’t make their kids queer.

 

[melock]

People hate giving their hard earned dollars back in taxes. They especially hate giving so much of it to schools where their kids get bad grades and **** around all day.

They want the school open to watch their kid for seven hours, but above and beyond that, they don't want anything extra other than bus transportation and don't make their kids queer.

And if you're in Texas to make sure they use toilets or urinals instead of litter boxes.

 

[tapintoamerica]

Everybody thinks Congress is terrible, except for their own Representative.

And that’s the way it has always been.

 

[Scout]

And if you're in Texas to make sure they use toilets or urinals instead of litter boxes.

And massive football complexes.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

I always appreciate the (typically) over-60 set who lose their minds because the kid behind the counter at McDonald's can't figure out their change correctly, while also digging their heels in against a property tax increase of $20 a year to increase funding for education.

 

[swingline]

A few nights ago, my Panera order was $9.03. I handed the girl at the window a $10 and three cents. She gave me back 97 cents. And when I said my change should be a dollar, she wanted to argue about it. I explained basic math to this chick but she still wasn't convinced and said she'd have to get her manager. Good, I said. (By this time I've been in the drive-thru for 20 minutes total.) Two minutes later, a guy hands me my order and a dollar. I try handing back the 97 cents. And drop about half on the ground.

 

[dixiehack]

Also your order marinated in the urinal for much of that time.

 

[swingline]

I’m scared for the future of this country if someone handling money doesn’t know basic math. This ain’t even metric math.

 

[LanceyHoward]

The closest thing we have to that here is when some suburb decides it has enough of a sales tax base to break away from the county school system and set up its own. The locals are all in on that because they figure the big shopping center out by the interstate brings in out of town dollars that can go to their precious young uns and not have to wait their turn until the county system says it is their turn for upgrades.

When a school district is created out of an existing district who gets possession of the schools within the new district? Does the bonded debt stay entirely with the old district?

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

The closest thing we have to that here is when some suburb decides it has enough of a sales tax base to break away from the county school system and set up its own. The locals are all in on that because they figure the big shopping center out by the interstate brings in out of town dollars that can go to their precious young uns and not have to wait their turn until the county system says it is their turn for upgrades.

And after that all happens, they find out that the shopping center out by the interstate is in county jurisdiction and doesn’t bring them a damn thing.

 

[dixiehack]

When a school district is created out of an existing district who gets possession of the schools within the new district? Does the bonded debt stay entirely with the old district?

New district pays for any buildings it is taking over. But usually one big reason for spinning off is wanting new facilities sooner than the county can deliver them because it has other mouths to feed.

Cities here are very aware of what does and does not fall under their tax authority because sales tax is such a big part of running government. At last check you could double the amount of property tax Alabama takes in and it would still rank 50th in that category.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

I'm scared for the future of this country if someone handling money doesn't know basic math. This ain't even metric math.

And I'm betting all she had to do was type in $10.03 and give back the dollar that her little screen told her to give back.

When I tell my kids the way things used to be - with the old-school registers just telling you the totals and the cashier had to do the math in their heads - they think I'm ****ing with them. I don't even dare go down the road of Aldi's, where the cashiers had to have the prices of everything committed to memory in the days before the UPC codes and all that.

 

[HanSenSE]

A few nights ago, my Panera order was $9.03. I handed the girl at the window a $10 and three cents. She gave me back 97 cents. And when I said my change should be a dollar, she wanted to argue about it. I explained basic math to this chick but she still wasn't convinced and said she'd have to get her manager. Good, I said. (By this time I've been in the drive-thru for 20 minutes total.) Two minutes later, a guy hands me my order and a dollar. I try handing back the 97 cents. And drop about half on the ground.

I had something similar happen at our in-store Starbucks a couple of years ago. Bill was, for example, $5.55, I handed the barista $10.05. He handed me back my change and gave me the change in bills. And the hell of it was, I know you can type in how much you got from the customer and how much you should return, but the concept was too difficult for the kid. And surly? So much I complained about it to a manager, who said they were aware of the problem. Within the month, we had a totally new crew at our Starbucks.

 

[waterytart]

I gave a kid $23.47 for an $18.47 charge.

Him (confused): I only need the $20
Me: Just ring it through. Trust me.

The change came up and he was gobsmacked.

 

[waterytart]

On topic:

We moved here 22 years ago, here being a town in a county adjacent to a growing Southern city. We moved here for the schools.

The town was 5,000 people when we moved here; it’s 20,000 now. There is no open land left between here and Neighboring City. The schools are still excellent. The bond issues pass. Our county votes Republican, but we’re slowly becoming a little purple.