7.04.2016

Not Lake Bridgeport




Sybil from KVIL (formerly of The Fan).
at 9:20 AM

Double Take

So we have an Independence Day parade cancelled because of a little rain, and KXAS throwing in that Finfrock, their own weatherman, predicted sun. 





at 8:38 AM

Random Monday Morning Thoughts



  • It's the Fourth of July, all county offices are closed, and there is no Update. Yet . . . wait for it . . . I'm here to defend my title of Hardest Working Man In Show Business.
  • I'm actually reading one of Bill O'Reilly's books, Killing Reagan. It's a pretty good scratch-the-surface history lesson. (And I understand that O'Reilly didn't do anything but agree to put his name on it and promote it in exchange for $$$.)
  • Cutting edge media - KXAS sent out a tweet today which read: "Retweet if you are driving to work this morning!"
  • I spent Saturday night out at Twin Hills on Lake Bridgeport. Man, it was like listening to the civil war in Syria out my door. And it went on past midnight.
  • Sunday night brought the weird combo of fireworks while lightening was coming in from the west.
  • The Family Rescued Pup freaks out at fireworks. She wants to dig a hole -- in the couch. (And then eventually took cover in the safe room. Yes, the safe room.)
  • Hot opinion: Fireworks are a beating after five minutes.
  • Most accident prone area in Fort Worth: I-35 and Western Center Boulevard which has had 595 accidents since the start of 2013.
  • On Saturday, the Wise County Sheriff's Office received a 911 call of someone shooting fireworks in the breezeway of a duplex. Here's an idea: Walk out the door yourself and tell the guys to cut that out. 
  • Bomb attack in Baghdad killed  at least 165. I miss Saddam.
  • Shoutout to Decatur Tire for solving my tire problem late on Friday (I completely forgot about my tire while at work and it returned the favor by going from a small link to a massive link by late Friday afternoon.) And I ran into four people I knew in the waiting area.
  • Austin: "It was a tragic start to the holiday weekend in Austin, which began when a plane crashed into Lake Travis Saturday afternoon. Later in the day, a two-year-old girl drowned after falling from a private dock into the water, and ten people were rescued from the lake after a boat crash."
  • The fact that Trump used a graphic of Hillary accompanied by the Star of David and "raining money" doesn't show he is anti-semitic. It does show his social media staff is clueless. (Trump revised the tweet later.)
  • NBA free agency should make any NFL player go crazy. The NFL has a horrible players' union because their careers are so short that no consensus to go on strike can be achieved.
  • I have an incredible ability to keep outdoor flowers alive. Then again, there's not much to it other than planting them correctly and then having a disciplined water routine.
  • "A man was fatally shot during a disturbance early Sunday at a northwest Dallas sports bar, police say. The shooting was reported about 6 a.m. at the La Victoria bar in the 2900 block of Walnut Hill Lane near Harry Hines Boulevard. The victim was dead when police arrived."





at 8:31 AM

7.03.2016

Firing It Up Timeline From Sunday Night

Up until 9:35:


Until 9:50:


Until 10:00:



Up until 10:15:


And then we wake up to this the next morning:


at 9:45 PM

7.02.2016

Above The Fold


Readable front page.
at 11:17 AM

7.01.2016

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





at 4:02 PM

Today's Metroplex People Mover News

Six Flags:


Still safer than . . .
at 12:36 PM

Let's Begin Our Celebration Of America



We were denied an epic beat down because the reporter who just happens to be African American (remember, I don't see color) kept her cool.

Side note: Can anyone make out this t-shirt that this salt of the earth lady is wearing?:


at 9:24 AM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts


  • "Over the past 18 months, more than 40 percent of the 450 participants in DPS' grueling six-month trooper academies identified themselves as Hispanic." 
  • CBS 11 did a spot on the Aurora alien. It's about time we have some evidence of the alien kingdom coming back to get the body. Someone get on that. We need some new life in that story. (And there was a hot opinion given in the piece by a resident indicating that some local folks in our Bible Nelt didn't like the legend because it couldn't be explained.)
  • Nancy Grace is out at CNN's Headline News. No one deserves to be unemployed more than her. She is the poster child of how a prosecutor could wrongfully convict someone. (And I miss the days when Headline News was headline news.)
  • The bribery case in the Dallas DA's office now is focused on the dismissal signed by a prosecutor. But even if the prosecutor was corrupt (no one has said that yet), any investigation will probably go no where. The case that was dismissed was Failure to Register as a Sex Offender. No area of criminal law is more screwed up than that area. Residency. Intent. Travel. Grace Periods. Registerable Offense. I could see how a run of the mill prosecutor would accept the case and how a run of the mill grand jury attorney would get it indicted only for another run of the mill prosecutor, rightly or wrongly, believe the facts didn't support a prosecution at all. (The irony is that some defendant paid $50,000 to make a charge "go away" when it might not have been guilty in the first place.)
  • I'll be dang. You can get behind the Dallas Morning News paywall by opening up the page in Chrome's incognito mode. And it works on the Star-Telegram website as well. (I don't know if I feel like a trespasser or going in a secret entrance that they know exists.)
  • As I was fishing in my kayak yesterday (slaying them like Jimmy Houston, by the way), a guy comes by in a boat and says, "Hey, Barry. How you doing?" Second time that has happened in as many weeks. 
  • And a faithful reader sent me this link: "‘Alarming’ number of kayak-related deaths reported in Texas."
  • Walked out this morning and discovered I had a low tire. One of my best investments ever was the the electric/cigarette lighter powered air pump. When you need it you need it. 
  • Matthew McConaughey will teach a class at UT. You know, I bet he might be able to teach you something. I'd rather listen to him than some spare marketing professor who has never had a job marketing anything. 
  • Fox 4's Clarice Tinsley the other night said she had "always liked Pat Summitt's last name" because she reached the summit. [Groan.] I'd bet money Clarice didn't know who Pat Summitt was before she read the teleprompter that night. 
  • For some reason I picked one random recent oral argument at the Fort Worth Court of Appeals to listen to since it involved a State appeal. The defense lawyer didn't have a grasp of the central issue: If a cop makes an arrest for DWI but didn't have probable cause to arrest, is the arrest still justified if there was another objective reason to arrest him (for example, expired tags.) And even the assistant DA didn't jump on that theory until one of the judge's asked a question to tip her off.
  • Donald Trump is considering Chris Christie as VP. Good lord. What a bombastic combo. I hope it happens.
  • Me on the couch is more exciting than Mav's free agency. And more productive.




at 8:36 AM

6.30.2016

Decatur Held Hostage:



Most of Decatur's Internet service has been out all day today.

When you have an office that is paperless, phones that are VOIP, and most courts require e-filiing, it kind of makes it tough to get things done.

Not to mention the millions deprived of Liberally Lean entertainment and cutting edge insights.
at 5:20 PM

Brawl At Dallas Mexican Restaurant



"A fight erupted at the El Paisano Mexican Restaurant in Dallas, Texas, at around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday . . . ."

Pretty big crowd for 2:30 a.m.


at 8:45 AM

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts


  • More Texas county judge problems: "A state panel suspended Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal without pay Tuesday after he was charged with violating Texas' open meetings law while developing a bond measure for new and improved roads.The move by the State Commission on Judicial Review came four days after a grand jury indicted Doyal, two county commissioners and an adviser, alleging that they circumvented the Texas Open Meetings Act by talking in private about . . .  a $280 million [bond] proposal . . . . " I didn't know that Judicial Review panel had jurisdiction over a county administrative judge.  (By the way, he makes over $170,000 a year.)
  • Add that to the Rockwall County judge getting a DWI and it looks like our own Wise County Judge J.D. Clark needs to step up his game. 
  • Johnny Football says he will start sobriety on July 1st once he is through partying in Cabo. I have full confidence that he will stop drinking on July 1st. I also have full confidence he will start drinking again later on July 1st. 
  • The great Fivethirtyeight.com has come out with its first prediction for the presidential election. They give Hillary an 80% chance and Trump a 20% chance. It's over. (And the data on that site is amazing.)
  • "A Democratic candidate for Dallas district attorney signed a dismissal motion in a criminal case that has led to allegations of bribery [and a soon-to-be-conviction of a DA investigator who took the money], WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reported Wednesday." The prosecutor isn't accused of wrongdoing but that's a headache he didn't need.
  • "Clock boy" Ahmed Mohamed is back in the U.S. after being in Qatar. Trump's response:
  • Heisman runner-up and number one overall NFL pick Andrew Luck signed a new contract with the Colts with $87 million guaranteed. Heisman winner and second overall pick Robert Griffin III's contract signed a few months back has $6.75 million guaranteed.  
  • DPS has issued their annual Fourth of July press release that has this safety tip: "Do not use personal fireworks."  Explain to me why they are telling me I should not engage in legal activity? 
  • The Chico High School principal resigned after one year?
  • The High School Graduate In The House (sheesh) and I ran into each other in the kitchen this morning at 5:15 a.m. I pointed out she was all decked out and ready to go (as to where I had no idea). She replied, "Ya gotta get up early if you're gonna rob a bank."  
  • Crazy legal opinion of the day: Two Texas lawyers are married. Man cheats. Wife "purportedly" sets up fake online profile to bait him. Other men respond instead. She has sex with four of them. Man finds out and then extorts a ton of cash out of the men. Both end up being convicted for "theft by coercion."  Interestingly, the two have quite the history which includes a bankruptcy and big cash being tossed around.
  • I have been of the belief for quite some time that people of of all ages and backgrounds are being shaken down in elaborate schemes after trysts involving online meetings.
  • Thirty years ago I took a bus ride from Dallas to Waco. I was young and stupid and a cheapskate. Never again. 



at 8:39 AM

6.29.2016

I've Never Hated A Paywall So Much


at 12:23 PM

State Senator Takes A Shot At Fort Worth PD

Or does she?

at 11:07 AM

Not Me! Not Me!


Story.



at 10:55 AM

The Incredible Story Of Former Local Sports Radio Show Host Walter Lynn


Story by Richie Whitt.
at 9:06 AM

Above The Fold



Readable PDF.
at 8:44 AM

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts


  • WOW: An investigator in the Dallas County DA's office took a $50,000 bribe from a defendant in 2013 to persuade a prosecutor to drop a case. 
  • BagOfNothing posted an old clip of Buddy Ryan running up the score on the Cowboys in 1987.  That truly gave me "good old day syndrome" -- the NFL was much more authentic back in the day. (And that's Lindsey Nelson on the play by play, right?)
  • I was in Brookshire's and looked for a college football magazine. There were none. But there was one on Doomsday Prepping and one on self preservation via guns (with a pretty kick arse cover photo of a guy with a hand cannon defending himself against car-jackers.)
  • Someone asked yesterday if you can leave the county/area/country if you are out of jail on bond (the Johnny Football trip to Cabo brought it up.) Answer: As for Wise County -- and I bet almost every other Texas jurisdiction -- 99% of the time there are no travel restrictions.  The only limit is the private contract between you and your bonding company which might have limitations. But normally if you call them and say, "I'm want to go to Cabo for a week. Is that OK?" they will say, "Sure."  (The 1% are the unusual/high profile cases which is why they make news. That's when you'll hear about someone having an ankle monitor or surrendering their passport.)
  • Former TCU star QB Trevone Boykin was indicted yesterday for assault which allegedly occurred while on the team. A few months earlier "TCU senior defensive end Mike Tuaua and redshirt freshman wide receiver Andres Petties-Wilson was arrested . . . for allegedly kicking and punching a student in the face on Friday night and stealing 'a case of thirty Keystone Light beers'." In 2011, TCU "came to a confidential settlement with a former female student who was allegedly sexually assaulted by two members of the men’s basketball team and a member of the football team." There were at least seven sexual assaults on the TCU campus last year. There were 18 drug busts involving TCU in 2012 causing several football players to be kicked off campus. It's a culture of crime! Fire coach Gary Patterson! Fire the university President! Or you can just realize that TCU is like every other campus.
  • "HOUSTON - A chase ended with a Houston police helicopter crew member taking down a burglary suspect in north Houston right after he was run over by a police vehicle." I personally liked the "put up your dukes" move. 
  • Did I miss this epic "And Another" out of Houston (or am I going senile)?:
  • Note to Republicans: I don't think this Benghazi angle is going to be the political sledgehammer that you want. 
  • I forgot to mention that conservative columnist/commentator George Will has left the Republican Party because of Trump.
  • "AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitch Ratings has affirmed its 'AA-' underlying rating for Bridgeport Independent School District, Texas' $23.8 million unlimited tax bonds outstanding." I got Tired Head when I got to "AA-" and stopped reading. 
  • I saw Baylor coach Kim Mulkey on Fox 4 last night talking about Pat Summitt. I love the gal but she's looking a little rough these days. (It will be of little interest to most, but here's a pic of Summitt coaching Mulkey in the Olympics.)


at 8:37 AM
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