Hail To The Victors?

Is there anything worse than the sucker punch?  Story. (Man, security cameras are high quality these days.)

He played in one game last year for Michigan as a true freshman.

Dang It!!! Just When I Thought I Had A Chance!!!

Story.

This Is Getting Crazy

I swear I wrote about this case when it first happened and said it was a crappy criminal mischief case against this woman. Some middle school kids staying at her house (a pretty high tone house by the way) caused some damage to a neighbor's home. And, as often the case, everyone gets charged including this lady.

To no one's surprise, the Tarrant County DA's office backed down and dismissed the case after she wrote an apology. Now the DA's office is upset because the "apology" filed with the District Clerk is not the same as the apology which later appeared on the lady's Facebook page. You gotta be kidding.*

Nevertheless, the prosecutor in the case, Mark Thielman, has filed a "Notice of Filing to Make the Record Speak the Truth." What the heck is that? We pay people with taxpayer dollars to spend time filing stuff like that?
____________
* (The only interesting legal aspect of this is that the image of the "fake" apology letter on Facebook bears a file mark by the District Clerk. I'm trying to read between the lines but there is almost an assertion that an original apology letter was handed to the clerk for filing and a "copy", which wasn't a copy, was file marked as well and maintained by the person who filed it. That person is mysteriously referenced as "a well-dressed man." Edit: If that did happen, and I'm not saying it did, I don't think that's a crime. I could be wrong, but nothing in the Penal Code jumps out at me.)

From The Liberally Lean Archives

Found this one I did in 2006.  There are a few comments. The opinions back then are pretty much what you hear today.

Mugshot Tuesday -- Greatness

Background.

Background.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Robin Williams, who suffered from depression and alcoholism, supposedly stopped drinking for twenty years until he made a film in Alaska. He said, "I was in a small town where it's not the edge of the world, but you can see it from there, and then I thought: drinking. I just thought, hey, maybe drinking will help. Because I felt alone and afraid." (emphasis added.)
• Maybe my favorite Robin Williams film is One Hour Photo.
• I was never able to make it through The World According To Garp. Even to weird for me. 
• Mork and Mindy was a spin-off from Happy Days where Williams was an alien who met Fonzie? I'm insane now. 
• The radio interview of some spare Dallas Cowboy is an instant power down for me. 
• I think the over/under for total wins for the Cowboys has moved to 7 1/2. I'm making an official sports prediction: Take the under. Write this down. I have had a Sports Genius Epiphany. 
• Junior Miller of The Ticket has calculated that today, the second Tuesday of August, at 2:00 p.m., is the worst moment of the year. A beaten down month. A beaten down day. And a time which is right after lunch but long before you get to go home. He may be right. 
• Wise County deputies will now switch from "58 .357 Sig pistols for 70 9 mm Glocks with GT Distributors". Someone translate that for me. 
• The death of four people from one family from Argyle while on vacation is heart breaking. 
• There would be nothing more entertaining than if the GOP nominee in the next presidential election were Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, or Rick Santorum. 
• Illegal aliens will cost us? Hmmm. More cops, more teachers, more jobs? Let's take it to the other extreme. What if no one was here. An abandon wasteland with just you. Which situation do you want?
• I just looked at the MLB standings and noticed the Rangers are 26 games out. That's astonishing. 
• The Sixteen Year Old in The House finally got her driver's license. To see her drive away to go to band practice was incredibly unnerving. 
• For the longest time I thought I was a technical wizard. As each year passes, I'm feeling like I'm being left behind. 
• I think Messenger sports guy Richard Greene is really good. 
• I saw one of the original Planet of The Apes movies as a kid in a theater in downtown Bridgeport. I have no idea which one it was. But the thought of Bridgeport having a movie theater downtown is now mind boggling and incredibly cool.

Wow. One Of The Greatest Actors Is Dead

I didn't care for his comedy (hated it, in fact), but his roles in things like Good Will Hunting were fantastic.

Random Bridgeport Index Post

I mentioned that someone on Facebook had been posting images from the Bridgeport Index. (All available archives are here.) Some of them are fascinating. Look at this one from 1975. That's a lot of news.

Pig News

Miley Cyrus got what I wanted:

This is what I'm afraid I've ended up with:

"'I'm just trying to be the best teammate I can be."

The original:



So the Houston Texans' cheerleaders decide to do a bit because bits are fun:

Celebrity Audition Tapes

Language warning. (Yes, I always post language warnings.)

If the phrase "time flies" doesn't cross your mind when you watch this, there's something wrong.

What? A 13 Year Old Girl Pitching Her Team Into The Little League World Series? And She's Good?

BRISTOL, Conn. -- Female pitcher Mo'Ne Davis led her team into the Little League World Series, throwing a three-hitter Sunday to lead Taney Youth Baseball Association Little League of Philadelphia to an 8-0 victory over a squad from Delaware. More.

Legalize marijuana. Gay marriage. And now this?

Well Maybe That Border Crisis Is Still A Crisis

Irony: Anson residents protest illegal immigration around statue of Texas President Jones /pic by @BrianBethel_ARN pic.twitter.com/t5GDJm9RSd
— Bud Kennedy (@BudKennedy) August 11, 2014

Edit:

At a protest in Massachusetts that was crashed yesterday. h/t @curlyseamonster who was there pic.twitter.com/FXyGjl7uA2
— Adrian Carrasquillo (@RealAdrianC) August 11, 2014

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• James Brady's death has been ruled a "homicide". Not to start a rant about the arrogance of medical examiners but, in their defense,  there is a crazy "but for" rule in criminal law. That is, "but for" the bullet, Brady would still be alive. 
• I rewatched American Hustle this weekend. Man, I may have underrated it. It has moments of brilliance. 
• Kudos to whomever mentioned the current HBO Nixon documentary to me. It is fantastic. And the parallels between Iraq and Vietnam are shocking. 
• And if you love that sort of stuff, watch the first three minutes of this video which shows him before he addresses the nation and resigns. I find it riveting. 
• I'm pleased and and comforted that we haven't invaded a different country over the last six years. 
• The Waggoner Ranch, with ties to Decatur, is for sell for almost three-quarters of a billion dollars.
• What if Charles Whitman would have had drones deliver him food, water and ammunition? (Assuming he had been smart enough to lock the door.)
• I didn't know there was a major league pitcher from Bowie. 
• There was a "legal analyst" on ESPN yesterday talking about the Tony Stewart incident. He said, "the issue will be whether he intended to commit murder or manslaughter." Intent to commit manslaughter? By definition, manslaughter means a reckless killing? I sighed heavily. 
• Football superstar Devonte Fields was kicked off of the TCU team, and he decided to transfer to Stephen F. Austin. But now a "committee" from the school has ruled that he can't play immediately and has to wait a year. How sorry is that? Let the kid get on with his life. And I have a sneaking suspicion that Gary Patterson is behind it. 
• I got called out by the Texas Tribune on Friday for posting one of their photos without credit. I apologized and fixed it. 
• Last night: Six dead in police chase near Houston. 
• I listened to the It's Just Banter podcast this weekend (Ticket related) and they played some of the youtube videos of the guy behind the Jerry Jones hot-girl-pictures. That guy is mentally ill, and he needs help. Despite millions of people in the metroplex, we will just ignore him instead. 
• Wise County had 12 people hurt in two accidents over the weekend? (And I'll admit I had never heard of "Fossil Pointe" before.)
• That first Wendy Davis ad is fantastic. I'm guessing it might not set forth the legal issues involved, but it serves the point of landing a right hook.  She won't win, but at least she's fighting. 

Did Tony Stewart Murder A Guy?

I don't know why I'm awake at the crack of dawn of Sunday morning, but I turned on ESPN to hear the very odd story of Tony Stewart running over a guy during a dirt track race. "No arrest has been made." Wait. What? Arrest? He ran over a guy during a dirt track race? Wouldn't that be an accident?

Maybe not.

I doubt he'll be charged. If charged, he won't be convicted. Not that he didn't intend to kill the guy. There's just no way to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

Above The Fold

Crazy Rainstorm This Afternoon

Public Service Announcement

Photo stolen from the great Texas Tribune

That's Rick Perry this morning, and he's fired up.  Hard line Republicans are in Fort Worth for some convention today, and it sounds like they are working themselves up into a frenzy.

Ted Cruz is there!  Heck, it should be called Red Meat State Gathering.  By the time we wake up tomorrow, Texas may have seceded.

That is, after they have some Mexican food: