Colonia Chiques vs. Southside Chiques

OXNARD, Calif. (AP) — The joint practice between the Oakland Raiders and Dallas Cowboys went just about how the coaches scripted it Tuesday with high intensity in an emotional environment. Then things went a bit over the line when a hard hit by Dallas cornerback Morris Claiborne on Oakland tight end Mychal Rivera led to a brawl that nearly spilled over into the stands and featured a Raiders fan swinging a helmet at a Cowboys player and cornerback B.W. Webb retaliating with a swing at the fan.

If I cared, I'd try to find the Oakland fan swinging the helmet. What's the time stamp on it?

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

USA! USA! USA!

• "A father and two sons in Vermont were all arrested for separate DUIs as a result of only a single-car crash as two members of the Woodward family were three times the legal limit, according to Vermont State Police." 
• Cowboy  Orlando Scandrick was suspended by the NFL for four games for testing positive for X? Yet Ray Rice gets suspended two games for beating his girlfriend unconsciousness? Stolen line: You beat up Molly you get two games, but if you take Molly you get four games. 
• Still mind boggling: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was paid $44.2 million in 2012. And today in some NFL football camp, a 21 year old will have his football hopes dashed because his knee has been torn to shreds. They will pat him on the butt and send him on his way. 
• Junior Miller on the Ticket this morning said that Jason Garrett's press conferences are "insulting". I couldn't agree more. I used to think he was very smart but cautious about his words. I no longer believe that. If he thinks we are actually buying the crap he throws out, he is incredibly shallow. (This rant was based upon Garrett saying that he was "excited" about Scandrick's suspension so that other guys could "step up.")
• Lauren Bacall has died. Honestly, I really didn't know much about her work despite knowing that name all my life. But I was surprised to learn she was married to Jason Robards. Hot opinion: Robards was more accomplished than Bacall. 
• Of course, now I can't get  "We had it all / Just like Bogie and Bacall" out of my head.  
• "God prefers full custody over weekend visitation." - Sign on Decatur church. Then again, maybe he would settle for Wednesdays and every other weekend. 
• I'd never noticed how similar the Marine seal is to the NRA seal. 
• I really haven't followed the killing of unarmed black man by a cop in Ferguson, Missouri, but I heard this morning the police department isn't releasing the cop's name. You kidding me? 
• Dallas Morning News columnist Steve Blow is horrible at picking subject matter (not to mention writing) but at least he took on the Texas "surcharge" law today. (He's only about five years too late.)
• If a young Wise County politician were smart, he would begin recruiting the Hispanic vote as a Democrat. Listen to them. Learn about them. Register them. And then, one of these days, boom. You would win in shocking surprise a decade before it will become common place. 
• A University of Texas law professor trips over an extension cord and sues the school claiming, in part, he could no longer play tennis due to an injured shoulder. Makes me want to beat him with a tennis racquet. So far, he's losing. 
• I haven't read it yet, but the New York Times took on Deion Sanders' Prime Prep Academy. (I suppose there's no way they could sneak in, "Oh, a phong is ringing!")
• Robin Williams hung himself but was found in a sitting position? Uh, is there something they aren't telling us? 

Above The Fold

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.