6.16.2016

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts



  • The first two stories on NBC Nightly News weren't good for Disney. The first one was about the alligator attack and the second one was about the nightclub shooting complete with a photo of the shooter holding a kid wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt.
  • Clever headline: "Tragic Kingdom".
  • There was a standoff in Dallas yesterday evening. Think they brought enough cops? (Fox 4 says the following are all "first responder" vehicles)
  • Tell me this is not an ad: Tony Romo, who never tweets, posted a photo of himself with the caption of "I had so much fun helping @Target shoppers pick out Father's Day gifts in Dallas tonight!" Target paid Romo for that, right? No question. (I saw it on Fox 4 who just acted like Romo just happened to be shopping at Target. Was Fox 4 paid by Target to promote it as a human interest story, too?)
  • You would think e-books would cost only 20% of the hardback price. I mean, when you boil it down to manufacturing, storage and shipping, they shouldn't be in the same ballpark.  (I just decided to check the prices on Amazon. Stephen King's new book sells for $17.36 with the Kindle price being $14.99. Something ain't right.)
  • Former Dallas mayor Tom Leppert was of Fox 4 last night to talk about "what to expect" at the Trump rally today and he went into a Trump Talking Points spiel. I tried to Google some connection between the two but got totally distracted by a story of Leppert auctioning off his 8,000 square foot kick arse ski house in Park City, Utah earlier this year.
  • I didn't understand the pose of Tech's Coach Bro which was revealed yesterday as the cover photo of Dave Campbell's Texas Football.  Then I discovered it's a re-creation of the 1963 cover featuring Darrell Royal.
  • Someone to me at the courthouse yesterday: "Did you hear about Lil' Wayne's seizures?" I didn't expect to be asked that. (Ticket fans: That was very similar to, "Did you know Fat Joe left Atlantic?")
  • Under the radar Waco Twin Peaks Biker news: (1) The DA sheepishly wanted a gag order which a "whatever you want" district judge granted, (2) the order was appealed to the Waco Court of Appeals which overturned it, and (3) the DA still tried to get the gag order by appealing to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals which yesterday, after initially granting the DA a stay, refused to help him out.  Now if the DA would only get to work on the cases. It's been over a year. 177 arrests. No trials. No convictions. No plea bargains.
  • I've not followed the Oakland PD news but it sounds like its a mess. There is some "sex scandal" going on which caused some suspensions and the resignation of the chief. Then they appointed an "interim police chief" who was fired after six days with authorities calling the hiring a "mistake".
  • The Supreme Court will issue some big opinions today or within the next week. Two I'm interested in are (1) can the State make it a crime to simply refuse to submit to a breath test after being arrested for DWI even if you are ultimately not guilty of DWI? (Prediction: The answer will be "yes"), and (2) Are Texas' new abortion restrictions unconstitutional? (Prediction: "Yes" again). I listened to the oral arguments in the DWI cases and the justices, amazingly, had no idea there was a massive difference between a portable breath test on the side of the road and an Intoxilyzer test at the jail.
  • ABC News didn't explore the angle of whether Disney should have had alligator warning signs. Why? ABC is owned by Disney.