8.10.2016

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts


  • I've seen it with my own eyes on Lake Bridgeport: There is a technique where you can actually surf behind a slow moving boat sans a rope. (I posted a video a few weeks back with a couple of kids doing that trick with a dog sitting on the surfboard.)
  • The diving pool turning from blue to green in Rio is weird. It looks like the water at Six Flags on the old cave ride. 
    Six Flags creeping a kid out back in the day
    Compare and Contrast in Rio
  • The Tarrant County case of Ed McIver Jr. is a perfect example of the State jacking with someone. A grand jury declined to indict him earlier this year on attempted capital murder of an officer charges. (If you can't get a grand jury indictment, a prosecutor should thank his lucky stars because he has been saved from an eventual acquittal by a jury on an incredibly worthless case.) Despite the no-bill, prosecutors fought to keep the guy in jail. A judge reduced his bail and he got out. The State then threw him back in jail for alleged "violations" of his bond conditions. Yesterday, the Tarrant County DA's office again tried to have him indicted on attempted capital murder by simply going to a different grand jury. Once again, the DA's office was told it was out of its collective mind.
  • I don't know if Art Briles, who for some strange reason was at Cowboys training camp yesterday, will ever coach again at the major college level. Probably not.
  • In "happy birthday" news from a Texas paper . . . 
  • I'm frustrated that I didn't take up kayaking on the U.S.S. Liberally Lean until after Olympic qualifying. Everyone would be talking about my gold medal this morning instead of Michael Phelps.
  • John Oliver's show this week spent the majority of its time focusing on the importance of newspapers and the dismissal state they are in. They are so desperate they've stumbled by trying to incorporate social media into their content. (I noticed the Dallas Morning News' new beta site is dumping a couple of Facebook comments directly into the body of a story without comment or acknowledgement. You just suddenly see a couple of embedded comments from spare strangers.)
  • In that same vein, the Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy took Judge Larry Myers to task for posting the fake "no parking" signs in his neighborhood. When I looked at it, there were three comments using Facebook logins at the end of it (with one of them being someone shoehorning in their own unpaid ad.) And the first comment had the following insight: "What do you expect from a LIBERAL judge, laws aren't for them don't you know! They are experts at breaking the law, just look at their mullah ovomit, now isn't he something special? Go Trump!" Yep, newspapers really need that social media contribution.
  • I bet there will come a day when high school volleyball no longer uses the term "kills". 
  • Courthouse discussion yesterday: Name the country artist who shot a music video in Decatur, what movie was it from, and what year?
  • Trump didn't actually threaten Hillary yesterday. The trouble is that Trump supporters have to constantly jump back and forth between, "I support Trump because he's a straight shooter who means what he says" and "Oh, well, he didn't mean that." 
  • The BagOfNothing guy had an epiphany yesterday when he realized the joy of anticipation. Being the hardest working man in show business, I wrote about that eight years ago when I referenced this clip:
  • "If [Susan Hawk] is the county's top attorney, that office works at peak efficiency when she's gone." - The Ticket's Gordon Keith on the oft-absent Dallas DA.
  • Answer: Faith Hill. Pearl Harbor. 2001.


at 8:39 AM

8.09.2016

Well, This Week Is Starting Off Badly For Trump Again


at 2:39 PM

That Triple Lindy Did Not Go Well




"Oh, yeah? You try it!"

at 9:19 AM

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts



  • A horrible wreck in Decatur this morning left many injured and one dead. Apparently it happened when a car ran the stop sign at Deer Park Road and Business 380.  My mind goes to the Butterfly Effect and what millions of sequences of previous events had to be perfectly timed to cause those two cars to be at that specific spot at that moment in time. 
  • Amazing: Larry Myers, a judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, "has acknowledged that he helped install eight fake 'No Parking' signs on a city street near Texas Christian University" because of traffic headaches.
  • And another (but now its moved on to school secretaries). 

  • "Over 2-day span, 3 bodies pulled from the Trinity River in Fort Worth." I don't know if tubing at Panther Island is still ongoing. 
  • They have branches now? 
  • There's something weird about this case: "Danita Tutt, 40, is accused of causing serious bodily injury to her son, Colby, by lying about his medical history to the boy’s doctors, prompting the boy to undergo unnecessary surgeries and be placed on unneeded pain medications." I just can't place my finger on it. 
  • Parents and medical decisions for their kids is a confusing area. There was the story of the young TCU fan with brain cancer whose parents "discontinued antibody treatment and chemotherapy [so he could] enjoy 'his remaining days with his family' before entering hospice soon." He died a couple of weeks ago and no one questions their decision.
  • Noted on The Ticket this morning: The Cowboys have two playoff wins in the last twenty years. 
  • Fascinating: The DA in Waco is being sued by some of the Twin Peaks bikers because of the incompetent and reckless way he has thrown around indictments. Yesterday, a federal judge suggested that the DA needs to be replaced in the criminal cases. Why? The judge correctly believes that the DA has a financial interest in seeking a conviction against those suing him. If he gets one, he wins the civil case with the "See! I told ya!" defense. If he can't, the civil cases against him gets stronger.
  • My head almost exploded the other day when Fox 4's Clarice Tinsley, when reporting on a story of a cop trying to round up two cows, proudly noted, "You have to admit, that was a pretty good 'steak'-out."  She was soooooo proud of herself. 
  • When Fox News begins an attack on Hillary's "health issues", it is clearly desperation time. It's like calling a hook-n-ladder in the final minute of a football game. It's predictable, a sign of weakness, and never works. (Unless you're Boise State against Oklahoma in 2007.)

at 8:38 AM

8.08.2016

Armed Robbery For Beer?


at 3:14 PM

It's Almost Back To School, Kids!



I have no background on this. But that was one serious take-down.
at 3:09 PM

Monday Morning Pick Me Up From Official Liberally Lean Girl



Hoda, what's your reaction from Rio?

at 9:00 AM

Funny


at 8:54 AM

Random Monday Morning Thoughts


  • Someone chastised me for saying the law was "stupid" for making it a felony to steal a penny. He said that it wasn't broken but that it just needed to be tweaked. If a law needs to be tweaked it, as written, is a dumb law. 
  • I've watched very little of the Olympics, but I was watching yesterday afternoon live when female cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten had the horrific crash that put her in intensive care. I thought she was dead.
  • If you close your eyes, every gymnast sounds like a munchkin.
  • Someone remarked how we are so busy taking pictures that we never really look and enjoy what we are taking a picture of and enjoy the moment. (Use the Grand Canyon as an example.) I thought of this when I saw a clip of Denzel Washington walking past some Cowboy fans at training camp. One lady turned her back towards him so she could take a selfie with Washington in the background.
  • I actually heard a guy announce he was Colts fan and that he expected the Hall of Fame Game to be a "good game". Buddy, there has never been, nor will there ever be. a pre-season game that is a "good game."
  • Last night Fox 4 News teased that a retired Fort Worth Zoo employee died "surrounded" by 70 snakes in his home and "we will tell you how he died . . . next." They clarified by pointing out he died from natural causes and all the snakes were in crates.
  • The Star-Telegram had a story on a young meth addict. I think I spotted one of the problems to her recovery plan . . . 
  • I saw the movie Concussion over thew weekend. It was good but not great. There's something about feature films that aren't true documentaries that cause me to question too many aspects of them. We Are Marshall comes to mind.
  • Anyone seen Walter White of Breaking Bad lately? . . . 
    (Actual photo from the scene)
  • "Five family members, including a 2-year-old girl, were found dead in their home in Pennsylvania in what authorities are describing as an apparent murder-suicide." The family was featured in a July 2015 story in the New York Times.
  • Remember when an Evel Knievel jump would make news? Nowadays his son can jump 18 Corvettes at a Clay Cooley dealership and no one even notices. (That link takes you to a KXAS video of the jump but the brain trust over there thinks it is a good idea to put a 30 second commercial in front of 24 second clip.)
  • A-Rod announced his retirement from the Yankees yesterday. The Rangers, who he hasn't played for since 2004, still owe him $40 million?
  • "Child's death at Kansas Schlitterbahn water park investigated . . . . The boy died while riding the Verrückt, the world's tallest water slide."

at 8:39 AM

8.07.2016

Above The Fold



Full page readable.
at 7:18 PM

8.05.2016

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



So much happening in one gif
at 3:38 PM

Obama and Daughter Gettin' Groove On



at 2:44 PM

Chicago Shooting


Log# 1081642 - Bodycam Video #1 from IPRA Chicago on Vimeo.

If Chicago wasn't ramped up enough, this won't help. Story.
at 1:26 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts


  • Of all of Trump's falling poll numbers, the great 538.com projection for Texas may be the most eyebrow raising. Trump's projected share is 47.8% with Hillary at 44.1%. That's shockingly close for Texas. And once Texas goes blue, American politics is forever changed.
  • Headline in the Morning News: "UNT student stars as famed 1980s 'Preppy Killer' on 'Murder Made Me Famous'." Then you read the story and it never mentions UNT or where the guy is from. 
  • When was the last time you thought of the "Preppy Murder"?
  • Speaking of UNT: The Drudge Report reports that the Daily Mail reports that North Texas reports that guys on Tinder have low self-esteem.
  • No we they don't.
  • In light of Trump's problems, Fox News went into full blown Blame-The-Mainstream-Media mode last night.
  • The beatdown of SI's Monday Morning Quarterback cite had an article that looked nothing more than an ad for NFL gear. Lo and behold, at the end of the column there was this: "The MMQB has affiliate deals with some of the brands featured and receives commission on certain purchases." Finally, some honesty.
  • I'm really surprised you don't see it more often: A guy on trial for continuous sexual abuse testifies and then high tails it at lunch in Fort Worth. 
  • Spending money, crowds, traffic, oppressive heat, grumpy kids: It's tax free weekend!
  • Dallas PD issued a press release regarding robberies involving people playing Pokeman Go. There have been two. And one occurred at 1:05 a.m. and the other at 2:30 a.m.  My CSI type of mind has cracked the case.
  • Fox News brought on a guest last night to give an opinion whether the U.S. swapped money for hostages in Iran: Oliver North. I don't know whether that is idiocy or genius. I suppose if you need an expert opinion on chicken theft you bring in a chicken thief.
  • We've got a great legal battle going on in Wise County. There is an idiotic law on the books which allows someone to be charged with a felony if a person steals "copper" or "aluminum." So if someone steals a penny, a prosecutor has the unfettered discretion to charge them with a felony (because a penny has some copper in it) or charge them with the lowest crime on the books, a Class C Misdemeanor (because the value stolen is only one cent.)  Yesterday the Fort Worth Court of Appeals decided a case where someone allegedly stole a misdemeanor amount from a Bridgeport scrap yard but, unfortunately, it included four aluminum bats. The prosecutor decided to go with a felony. The trial court found the statute unconstitutional. The appellate court disagreed but with a rare 1-1-1 vote. One to uphold the statute's validity, one who concurred only (because the judge didn't think the record was enough to find the statute unconstitutional in this particular case), and one dissent. 
  • Love this from the dissent: 
  • Let me say this again: Think about the amount of your tax dollars spent in that case.
  • If Seinfeld had a script for 9/11? There was one on the Internet yesterday but now it's gone. 


at 8:38 AM

8.04.2016

"Again. Hall and Oates."




Quality comedy.
at 3:28 PM

Joe Biden Doin' The Twitter Game, Too


at 2:40 PM

Campaigning And You Pay For It With Your Taxes


Editor's note: This is my own personal pet peeve giving rise to my own personal rant.

For the life of me, I don't understand how public officials tweet during the day about personal matters and do so only to promote themselves for the next election. They are supposed to be working for you (and I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt they aren't using a government paid for phone or computer.) They don't tweet to inform the public of the government's business. They do it for name recognition for the next election.

Take for example our insane Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and his son (who first got his district judgeship by appointment.) This happened today. A Thursday. A work day:

Ok, on its surface this is no big deal. Lt. Gov. Patrick posts a link to his appearance on a local TV station.  But that is his official government account he is using and he posts during the day for the sole purpose of self promotion.  It clearly is an official account because clicking on the tweet leads you to this:


Pretty official.

Is it the end of the world? No. Is it a crime? Heck, it might be but what isn't a crime these days? Is it a violation of ethical campaign rules. The answer can almost be "absolutely".  If a sitting official uses a government stamp to mail in his re-election application for a place on the ballot then he's technically in big trouble. If that same official tells his assistant to "be sure to vote for me today", it's a violation. But these guys (and many, many others) just tweet away on government time and everyone looks the other way.

But let's get past our Lt. Gov. and take a look at his son, the judge. Above, he came along to promote himself by retweeting his father's post and adding a sweet memory from his childhood.  The son is an odd bird. He's uses his Twitter account all the time during the day. Sometimes he'll retweet news but he oftentimes uses it for self-promotion by letting us know how hard working he is. He'll tweet that a jury is being picked or a jury is deliberating in an effort to appear to be the hardest working man in show business. You know, I really don't have any problem with that because he is informing us about government business. BUT if you click on his tweets, he makes it clear that he's not on Twitter to tell you about official business. Nope, he is in the ultimate business of self-promotion:
At least he doesn't hide the message of "Vote For Me! Vote For Me!" like his dad does. So he tweets during work days on an account with the above campaign logo. I don't get it.

No one else will care, but I still don't get it.

Edit: Bonus points - What is a "circular hypothetical"?


at 1:08 PM

The State Of Journalism Today: Exhibit A Is The Associated Press


at 11:03 AM
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