7.12.2017

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts



  • A Southwest flight had to return to Austin yesterday when two passengers got into a fight. I haven't seen a video of it yet. There's a lot of aggression out there. 
  • "The new home market is booming once again in the sprawling Northwest school district, prompting officials to purchase land for six new schools, including two high schools." It is amazing to believe that Northwest ISD was once a tiny little thing with one high school in the UIL district of Decatur and Bridgeport. 
  • Although it has not hit 100 degrees, this summer feels hotter than any in the last decade. It's sauna-like out there.
  • I can't decide if I like the Miami baseball park where the All-Star Game was played last night or not. It is so ridiculous that I lean towards like.
  • For those interested in Texas county government and criminal law: Travis County just voted to spend a bunch of money for the DA's office to appeal a case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The case involves law which I have never heard of before. An Austin officer, but who was part of a joint Federal/State task force, killed a guy in the course of duty but the DA's office thought it was manslaughter. They indicted him in state court.  Using a federal law which is new to me, the officer was able to stop the prosecution and remove the case to federal court where it was dismissed by a federal district judge because there's a weird immunity statute that applies to criminal prosecution under the statute. After the Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal, the money was approved to hire an outside counsel to help the DA's office with the appeal. But get this: They hired a former Texas Supreme Court judge (which means he has qualifications of being able to get elected and specializing in Texas civil law) to help with the case which, once again, involves nothing but federal law. And how much will he be paid? $30,000 plus $900 an hour. Keep in mind the DA's office has an army of appellate lawyers who are paid by taxpayers to handle appeals.
  • The Ticket's signal was horrible yesterday and they said the station's tower was in Decatur. I didn't know that. (I think it is actually north of Decatur.) 
  • I had a random call out of the blue from an old friend who is an avid Blog reader. He also is part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. I hadn't heard from him in 20 years, but he just wanted to say hi. 
  • Not a peep from the White House that the New York Times is "fake news" yesterday after the stories from the New York Times turned to be deadly accurately. Then this morning Trump is at it again. Probably something else is about to drop:
  • The pastor of the First Baptist of Dallas has not pulled his support for Trump as evidenced yesterday: 
  • It's a bad sign for the country when the talking heads on radio and TV are arguing about the definition of "Treason." But this going around yesterday at least made me smile for a bit: 
  • BagOfNothing turned me on to a Twitter account that focuses on the ridiculous signs that would pop up in the old Batman TV show. Here, a bad guy has stolen the Batmobile and has taken it to, uh, a run down factory.
  • This Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor fight will be promoted with ridiculous events like yesterday and then the fight will turn out to be a flop. (However, before you buy the pay-per-view, you better think about the possibility of how the fight might be tricked up and scripted so that something crazy will happen, thus, insuring a rematch for another huge payday.)
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