6.27.2016

My Prediction Affirmed

This was the case that began with this . . .


at 9:08 AM

Random Monday Morning Thoughts



  • The Supreme Court will issue a Texas abortion ruling this morning. Prediction: They'll find that the restrictions imposed by House Bill 2 are unconstitutional and they'll take a shot at Texas for even trying to assert that the restrictions were all about "women's health". 
  • The tweeting Texas Supreme Court judge (yep, still goofy) bragged on Friday that the court had wrapped up its work two months early. That's nothing to brag about. The court decides which cases it wants to hear. They don't have to take everything that walks through the door. So not only do they control their own workload, they control their vacation time. 
  • The Rockwall County judge was arrested for DWI.
  • Former Bridgeport star point guard Caleb Smith signed with Texas aTm. The Dallas Morning News headline said that he signed "from controversial Bridgeport team."
  • I was stalked by a drone while fishing on Lake Bridgeport this weekend. (It was so bizarre I'll probably make it a separate post.) And I'm not saying it is related, but I noticed someone posted some pretty cool drone footage from Lake Bridgeport -- including following a skier -- this weekend on Twitter. 
  • A bird drove me crazy all yesterday afternoon. It was in a tree within feet of a window, would see its reflection, and then would crash into the window to get the "other" bird. Over and over and over again. 
  • I take great pride in this: Since 2014 I have mentioned here no less than five times that I thought there was something suspicious about the company Breitling Energy and its CEO Chris Faulkner. And then this happened on Friday: "The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission . . . charged Breitling Energy Corp, its chief executive and seven other people with defrauding investors out of around $80 million by misleading them about the value of oil and gas assets."
  • Faulkner first got my attention when he would by ad time as a lead-in to the Mark Davis Show podcast. The ads made no sense, and he had the air of a snake oil salesman. Faulkner was also a frequent contributor to Fox Business News appearing as recently as March. 
  • I hated Independence Day. Its sequel debuted this weekend and made less money than its original. 
  • I'm seven episodes into Game of Thrones. I can't tell you the number of times I have thought, "Oh, my!"
  • I noticed KXAS has gone to 10 day weather forecasts. How long before WFAA goes to an 11 day forecast? (It's like from Something About Mary: "That's - that's good. That's good. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with 6-Minute Abs. Then you're in trouble, huh?")
  • Trouble in Trump Land: "A new Washington Post/ABC poll published on Sunday found Trump trailing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by double digits in head-to-head matchups nationally among adults. Support for Trump fell from 46% in May to 39% in June, while Clinton's support jumped from 44% to 51% - a 14-point month-to-month swing."
  • On my death bed I might ask to be moved to the Decatur Lowe's checkout line in the home and garden section.  It will feel like time is standing still. 
  • With Brexit happening, there were a ton of stories that Texas needed to secede from the U.S. And, once again, there were the stories which yelled, "That can't happen because it would be illegal."  I've ranted about this before, if Texas chose to do it (it will never happen) they could do it. It might be the equivalent of an act of war, but no law of a country can stop a section of that country from leaving. 


at 8:35 AM

6.24.2016

It's Friday. Let's Get Out Of Here.


 Link to animated gif

Link to animated gif
at 3:20 PM

Dateline: Cincinnati



Story.
at 12:03 PM

Every Wise County Employee Got Paid Twice Today


Yep. Twice. As in double the amount they were supposed to be paid. An email has already been sent advising county employees to not spend it.
at 10:17 AM

We Live In A Very White Area Even For Texas

Source. Dark blue means a high concentration of whites . . . 


 Percentage white (Wise County in yellow)  . . .


at 9:00 AM

Fort Worth's Texas Law Hawk Has A New Commercial



My head just exploded.
at 8:52 AM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts


  • "DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Dozens of people were burned Thursday night after walking over hot coals at a Tony Robbins motivational seminar in Dallas, and at least five of those hurt had to be hospitalized, officials said." Did they not learn anything from Dwight in The Office?


  • And Tony Robbins is still doing that shtick?
  • I'll admit that I really don't understand the European Union vote (but prepare to see the U.S. stock market in a free fall this morning and then quickly recover.)
  • Funny sports humor line I saw: The European Union should immediately invite BYU to replace Great Britain. 
  • When I went to sleep, most of the major media outlets were saying the vote was "razor thin" close at 51.5% to leave and 48.5% to stay with half the vote counted. Boys, you need to take a statistics course. If you have a sample size of 50% of the vote, the result is known. 
  • All three local sports shows had live NBA draft coverage last night. So much media effort. So little public interest. (And Mavs fans had to wait until the 46th pick to see how they would screw it up.)
  • A 19 year old was sentenced to 25 years for meth over in Grayson County.  The War on Drugs continues.
  • That story says he will be eligible for parole after he serves 1/4 of his time. Not true. It's actually quicker. (Technical point: I bet 90% of criminal lawyers and prosecutors in Texas don't understand the wording of the "1/4 parole law" for non-3g crimes.)
  • The former McKinney Police Officer who tried to crush the unauthorized pool party from last summer was not indicted by a grand jury. Although he shouldn't have been, every criminal beat reporter should have Microsoft Word autocorrect "gjnb" into "Grand jury no-bills police officer" because it happens so often.
  • But I don't understand the teenager suing the police agency. Even assuming it was a civil rights violation (doubtful), you weren't hurt. 
  • This image alone cost him his job: 
  • Evil Empire acceptance rate by race (source):
  • I always have to link to the Texas Tribune because they called me out once for potential copyright infringement. 


at 8:00 AM

6.23.2016

Official Liberally Lean Girl Just Killing It On Twitter


at 1:33 PM

Get Me This Monkey

at 11:53 AM

I Predicted Wrong On This One (Edit: I Was Only Half Wrong)


I even listened to the oral arguments.

But be clear: This has nothing to do with DWI prosecution (regardless of how MADD has lied over the last few weeks in an effort to get money). The Supreme Court reviewed a couple of state laws that made it a crime to simply refuse a breath or blood test after you were arrested for DWI even if you weren't guilty of DWI. As for DWI prosecutions, nothing has changed.  (But it is a blow to the "implied consent" terminology -- the myth that you have somehow agreed to voluntarily provide a sample of breath or blood if arrested for DWI. You have agreed to no such thing.)

Huge Edit: Hold the phone. I just read the opinion. I think the AP was a little off on the headline. It looks like a State can make it a crime to refuse a breath test but cannot make it a crime to refuse a blood test.

(For criminal lawyers, DWI cops, and eggheads only: A huge underlying holding in the case is that police do not need a warrant to get a breath test. That's amazing. But there are two problems. First, you can't logistically force someone to provide a breath sample. That is, if someone doesn't want to blow, you can't make them blow. (The Intoxilyzer needs several seconds of continuous breath.) Secondly, Texas still has a statutory scheme requiring that a warning be read (DIC-24) and a person be asked to provide a sample. Those laws are still in effect and can't be bypassed. The only crazy scenario I can come up with is that the police don't read the DIC-24, take someone to the jail, tell them to blow into the new Intoxilyzer, and the person complies. The State will argue that the results should be admissible because there is no requirement for a warrant plus the smaple was provided with consent -- although they have to concede there will be no driver's license consequences because the DIC-24 wasn't read. The defense will argue that no evidence is admissible under art. 38.23 if there is any violation of the law and, since the DIC-24 wasn't read, there is a state law violation.)
at 9:19 AM

Wise County Art


Behind the Visitor's Center off of the square.
at 8:49 AM

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts


  • A Tennessee guy is running for Congress under the campaign slogan, "Make America White Again".
  • The Chewbacca lady will throw out the first pitch at a Grand Prairie Airhogs game this weekend. At least she's down to a spare minor league baseball game. Her time in the spotlight is finally on its last legs.
  • The dad in Melissa who has been arrested in the death of his baby who was left in the hot car tried to save it by putting the child in the refrigerator. What a horrific experience. (The police charged him with Manslaughter which proves they have never even remotely looked up or understand the definition of "reckless" in the the Texas Penal Code.)
  • There was another child left in a car yesterday in the metroplex but the child survived. Cops called that just an "accident". 
  • The Grapevine Mills Mall will get a new anchor, Fieldhouse USA, which is a "106,000-square-foot facility [which includes] nine basketball and nine volleyball courts, offering year-round league play in team sports such as basketball, volleyball and indoor soccer. The company said the venue will also host performance training, all-sports camps, baseball/softball, birthday parties, boot camps, cheerleading, club volleyball, corporate events, dodgeball, lock-ins, skills training, taekwondo, and tumble." That concept sounds like it would work. But, if so, why there aren't more of them?
  • The word "taekwondo" has caused this image to be stuck in my head: 
  • The House Democrats staged a sit in on the House floor yesterday in response to the lack of gun control legislation. The Republican response was to shut off the CSPAN cameras which only led to more media coverage via Periscope. I think we have a shortage of competent PR advisers in this country. 
  • Johnny Football was the alleged victim of a hit and run in Dallas this week. Junior Miller of the Ticket pointed out this morning, "He's like a vampire. You only hear about what happens to him at night." 
  • I'm four episodes into Game of Thrones, and I might be hooked. It dawned on me that it has the feel and substance of the action scenes of the very underrated Sucker Punch film (it was big on swords and even had a fire breathing dragon). And I'm a fan of 300. And Gladiator. Oh, dear, I like gladiator movies. 
  • Anybody see a trend? (Source):

  • Sad bit of irony: The Argyle Fire Department chief had his house burn down this week.
  • The coast guard is looking for a missing family off the coast of Florida. They were in a 29 foot sailboat that "the family had lived on  . . . for about a year." I googled "29 foot sailboat". Those are big boats but I'm not sure I would want to live on one. And I dang sure wouldn't want to live on it with three other people. 
  • California cheerleader charged in homeless man's death. 
  • Yep, same girl.
  • Jim Schultz from the Dallas Observer yesterday: "I had dinner with an attorney who said he thought few people appreciate that the district attorney holds the most powerful elected office in the county. I do know, because I know that a reporter can spend months compiling irrefutable evidence of a person’s criminality, then ask the DA why he or she refuses to seek an indictment, only to be told honestly, 'Because I don’t feel like it.' The office of DA is one of those full-stop points in the local power structure. The person holding that office can say, 'I rule that your traffic accident was an indictable homicide.' Or not. And there you have it."
  • I mention the Rangers for the first time all season yesterday and then news comes that Derek Holland is placed on the DL and Colby Lewis will miss two months. The Liberally Lean curse continues. 

at 8:37 AM

6.22.2016

Picture Of The Day: Cleveland Victory Parade


at 1:58 PM

There's A Lot Going On Here

at 1:09 PM

Obviously Falsely Accused


at 11:03 AM

Above The Fold



Full page pdf.
at 8:45 AM

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts



  • If I'm Dirk, I jump at the chance to go to Golden State. Why stick around with Dallas? He doesn't owe them. They owe him.
  • As with all recent presidential elections, it comes down to Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. Trump needs all three. Clinton can win the presidency with just Florida. Fox News reported she has a massive lead there of 47-39 percent. (Hispanics and Latinos make up almost 1 in every 4 Floridians.)
  • On the rumored three person short list for Hillary's VP is Texas' Julian Castro.  Let me call your attention to a random thought on Liberally Lean from April 1, 2015: "Hillary should select one of the Texas Castro brothers as her vice president nominee. She won't win Texas even if she did, but it could awaken the Hispanic electorate in general. And once they are awakened, it's game over. Not just this election but for years to come." #MeEqualsPoliticalGenius
  • I'm a huge fan of Texas Monthly's Skip Hollandsworth and enjoyed an excerpt of his new book about an Austin serial killer in the 1880s. He will talk about the book today at an odd place: Highland Park United Methodist Church. 
  • TCU might just win the baseball National Championship. 
  • I saw that our County Judge is reading Empire of the Summer Moon. A fantastic book with a history lesson relevant to Wise County.
  • Austin's transportation department went undercover to catch underground ride-sharing drivers they say violate city code. Cars were towed and fines were issued. I may have to change my saying from "Too many cops" to "Too many cops and wannabe cops."
  • Robert Jeffress, my nemesis from FBC of Dallas, is all over Fox News these days and is constantly promoting his appearances on Twitter. He did so this morning so I did a quick look at a few of his followers who had immediately "liked" his tweet. One was from Heather Jones whose profile reads, "I believe Jesus has saved my soul and Donald J Trump will save America."
  • I always make fun of WBAP's Hal Jay and The Ticket poked him with a stick this morning as he was confused about the Orlando Massacre thinking that the shooter had contracted AIDS from a Latino. Notable quotes: "He was a gay Muslim with AIDS" and "He's just mad that a Latino gave him AIDS."
  • I laughed at the comment yesterday taking me to task for liking the Ticket because it's "nothing but a bunch of old guys over 40." (Paraphrasing.)  The Ticket has a character named "Dylan the Attitudinal Teen" who would say something like that. 
  • We had a horrible case up in Melissa where a baby was left in a hot car and died. Note to cops: You didn't have to immediately arrest the guy. Let him grieve for 48 hours, get a warrant, call him, and let him turn himself in. It's a procedure that happens all the time. 
  • I didn't watch the USMNT soccer game last night against Argentina, and I'm glad I didn't. All that time and the U.S. didn't have one single shot on goal.
  • I think you should at least have to show your G.E.D. before using the word "Libtard".
  • So how many same sex marriage licenses has Wise County issued? It's coming up on the one year anniversary of the Supreme Court decision. 
  • “It’s rare that you see someone get stupider before your eyes . . . .” - Mark Cuban on Donald Trump.
  • Knee-jerk reaction: This doesn't look like a kid who would drown . . .

at 8:39 AM
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