9.27.2018

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts


  • Yesterday was a crazy news day. It started with an explosive new allegation against Kavanaugh and ended with Trump on a crazy and rambling press conference. 
  • It quickly got bizarre as Stormy Daniel's lawyer -- who correctly exposed Trump's affair and cover-up with regard to Stormy and which ultimately led to a federal conviction of Trump's personal lawyer --  releasing an affidavit of a woman about Kavanaugh's past. This caused Trump to unwisely start a Twitter war.
  • I told you this week would get ugly.
  • I think I understand this, but it still sounds funny:
  • I mentioned the other day that college football players are now picking up and quitting if they are benched. Clemson's quarterback, who started the national championship game last year, announced yesterday he would transfer.
  • Back to Kanaugh. Look, I don't know what he did or didn't due in his younger years, but I now have serious concerns. It is by no means enough to want to convict him of a crime, but certainly enough to give pause as to whether to hand him a lifetime job promotion where he gets to shape American law for a generation or more.
  • And to all those that refer to someone else's word alone as "no evidence", there are literally thousands of people in prison who disagree. Like I said, I wouldn't convict Kavanaugh of anything, but if convicted no court would overturn it for insufficient evidence. Heck, Texas even has a statute that specifically says the uncorroborated word of a person victimized as a child is sufficient evidence to convict. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 38.07 (West Supp. 2016)
  • But I'm stunned by the Trump hardliners who have dismissed every allegation against Kavanaugh out of hand. Most seem to always say, "I have a hard time believing" the allegations to be true. That led to the following retorts yesterday (all of which I've stolen): 
    • I have a hard time believing that hundreds of gymnasts could be molested by a single osteopathic physician over decades and not report it
    • I have a hard time believing Catholic priests would molest boys for decades and we never heard about it.
    • I have a hard time believing Kevin Spacey was a predator for years and years yet continued to make films.
    • I have a hard time believing Bill Cosby drugged and assaulted women for decades and none of them said a word. 
    • I have a hard time believing a California doctor and girlfriend who have appeared on TV drugged and abused women.
    • I have a hard time believing Sandusky did that for years at Penn State and no one came forward.
    • I have a hard time believing there was a sexual assault problem under Baylor's Art Briles' watch and it took one prosecution for the flood gates to open. 
  • Watch this case out of Tarrant County. Something about it didn't sound right when the story first broke. Terri Moore is the defense lawyer. 
  • Gas prices are at a four year high.
  • Trump said yesterday he has grown to "like" the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Does he think we have forgotten that he used the parents of the Otto Warmbier, who died as a direct result of Kim, as props during his State of the Union speech?

  • I hate to harp on this Kavanaugh nomination, but this got buried yesterday when it normally would be front and center: Mark Judge's ex-girlfriend says that "Judge had told her ashamedly of an incident that involved him and other boys taking turns having sex with a drunk woman." This corroborates the affidavit released yesterday from alleged victim #3. That ex-girlfriend now wants to talk to the FBI and Judiciary Committee about it.
  • And local conservative Christian talk radio host lectures all you women out there on "basic decency". Women, I feel sorry for you. What a pig.: 
  • The scene has started:
  • And the papers are in rare form this morning:

at 8:32 AM

9.26.2018

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts



  • Things like this make me fear a cyberattack: Verizon's network went down for most of the country yesterday, and Delta had to ground flights yesterday evening due to computer errors. 
  • Heard at the courthouse yesterday: Girl #1 "There ain't none of my exes that I'd remarry." Girl #2: "Me neither!!"
  • I'm ashamed that the U.S. was laughed at when Trump spoke at the U.N. yesterday, and equally confused that he didn't understand he was being laughed at. However, there's a tweet for everything.  Flashback to 2014:
  • Once again, Williamson County is in the news as a Republican legislator from Georgetown allegedly went all Joe Barton on a co-ed:
  • The New Yorker is on to us. The headline and byline throw out "right-wing zealots" and "crackpots." (It's written by Lawrence Wright so it's actually pretty good):
  • Robert Jeffress is neglecting his duties at pastor at FBC of Dallas again. This time he's being paid to speak at the sure-to-be-a-party Quartet Convention in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

  • Want to see a judge run down an African American woman in the hallway after she was denied a protective order because she didn't meet a strange 8:00 a.m. deadline? He resigned. 

  • The LSU band performs "The Office" theme.
  • There hasn't been a whole lot of news about an awful story of a woman murdered in Dallas after walking her dog. Her roommate was also attacked and put in ICU.  And they lived in a nice apartment complex.
  • Bill Cosby was sent to prison on the same day that President Donald Trump addressed the U.N. I pray that time travel exists and that someone from the 1980s just arrived yesterday and turned on a TV. (Of course, they spend five minutes asking themselves, "This skinny thing is a TV? Oh, come on!")
  • I've never seen West Side Story, Mary Poppins, or any of the Jurassic Park movies.
  • It's raining like a son of a gun at the time of this writing. I hope they remembered to put a tarp on the roof at Decatur High School. 
  • Paxton is wasting his time and our money on this? (And is it Texas's or Texas'?)
  • Speaking of Bill Cosby:
  • Here's Judge Kavanaugh's 1982 calendar they he kept in high school. No, really.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold

at 8:30 AM

9.25.2018

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts


  • "Dallas police Officer Amber Guyger, who fatally shot 26-year-old Botham Jean in his Cedars apartment, was fired Monday." I'm not sure I have a problem with that even though, like I've said, I don't think there is a criminal offense here. Nevertheless, I don't think you can have an officer on the force who made such a tragic mistake. 
  • There was a murder arrest in Wise County last week and, in another incident, a guy got arrested for Agg Assault in Decatur where the alleged victim was in critical condition at JPS. At first, they weren't sure he was going to survive. That would have been two murder charges in Wise County within a week. 
  • We've entered a weird time in our country when a Supreme Court nominee, while the confirmation process is still ongoing, goes on a friendly TV network to campaign for his confirmation. (And let's bring the wife along for good measure.) 
  • Hal Jay on WBAP this morning: "That interview didn't count." His bubba co-workers were in shock. 
  • I used to think the Cowboys were getting a great deal by only having to pay Dak Prescott what he is due from his small rookie contract. Turns out, they may only be paying him what he is worth.
  • One of the strangest aspects of the Kavanaugh story is his yearbook from that high tone prep school that he attended. The whole publication appears to have been edited by students without any faculty oversight whatsoever with references to beer drinking and partying scattered throughout. For example, he was "Treasurer" of the "Keg City Club." 
  •  But someone noticed that at least 13 male students, including Kavanaugh, made reference to being a “Renate Alumni” or "Renate Alumnius". What the heck did that mean? The New York Times figured it out: "It is a reference to Renate Schroeder, then a student at a nearby Catholic girls’ school." You get the idea. Oh, my! Here's a group photo with the shocking "Renate Alumni" reference underneath it. Kavanaugh is pictured next to Mark Judge, the man who allegedly was in the room during the alleged assault of Dr. Ford. 
  • Everyone of those guys from Georgetown Preparatory School remind me of James Spader's character in Pretty in Pink.
  • I had forgotten that when Kavanaugh was first introduced by Trump that he fired off this big lie right off the bat: "No president has ever consulted more widely or talked to more people from more backgrounds to seek input for a Supreme Court nomination."
  • I still think this cop will be found not guilty. 
  • There is a rash of college players walking away from their teams. Oklahoma State's leading receiver from last year announced he would transfer since he doesn't like the way he was being used this year. It's the new, "Play me or I'm leaving" mentality.  Baylor had it happen last week. Arkansas had one yesterday, too. 
  • Ted Cruz got harassed out of a D.C. restaurant. (Video.) I want to feel badly for him but I just can't.
  • Sports Illustrated has a story (which takes half a day to load) about the new atmosphere at UT football games. It included a video which included a gal who just happened to have two flasks.
  • Anyone could walk into a baseball dugout with no other coaches and with no notice and still lead a major league team to a victory. "Guys, just go play ball." Get thrown onto a football sideline with no other coaches and tell your team, "Guys, just go play ball" and you'd get slaughtered. 

at 8:30 AM

9.24.2018

Random Monday Morning Thoughts


  • Decatur High School is closed for three days after the building took on water. (Facebook video from last Friday as it occurred.)  "One of the wettest we've ever seen from the standpoint of water." 
  • It was wet in Irving on Friday night.
  • And a tree in Plano did not take kindly to the wet soil. (That would make me sick as a homeowner.) 
  • That seat on the Supreme Court which Kavanaugh is nominated for has quite a history. He will (likely?) replace Kennedy who only ended up on the court because Bork's nomination was shot down. And then Bork's proposed replacement didn't survive due to this horrendous sin: 
  • The Rangers' firing of manager Jeff Banister on Friday was just weird. Getting past he had nothing to work with, why not wait a handful of games until the season was over? Something is going on behind the scenes.
  • I watched the Cruz/Beto debate on Friday. I think the only thing that will be remembered is Beto saying, "True to form" after Cruz ended the night as a jerk when he was supposed to say something nice about Beto.
  • For old time Southern Baptists only: I was channel surfing on Saturday and came across once famed DFW evangelist James Robison in a TV studio with his wife interviewing a guy. Old time religion? Nope. He was selling amino acids.   
  • The Evil Empire sure did make sure TCU's band had good seats on Saturday:
  • In what was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen, some guy bootlegged the overtime of a great OU/Army game, which for some reason was only on pay-per-view on Saturday night, for the nation to see. He just turned his camera to the TV on his wall. 
  • Speaking of that game, the OU crowd applauded Army as it left the field and Army, well, did what Army does: 
  • I mentioned a couple of weeks back that the pylon rules are far more complicated than anyone knows. For example, did you know the pylon is inbounds in the NFL but is out of bounds in college football?  I might get Board Certified in Pylon Law.
  • Weirdest "Friday" high school game: Lancaster trailed Mansfield Legacy 8-7  with 3:53 remaining when the game was postponed at 45 minutes after midnight. When it was resumed on Saturday afternoon, Lancaster started with 4th an 1 at its own 18. They went for it, made it, and went on to score and win the game. 
  • The #1 reason you shouldn't be a fan of pro football: You care more than the players and coaches do.
  • Told you Sean Lee would get hurt.
  • They gave him what?
  • Trump only had three tweets yesterday. This was one of them: 
  • Oddity of oddities: Stormy Daniels' lawyer calls out the head of a private school in Arlington for obscene language and offers proof.
  • Messenger: Above The Fold.
  • I don't know if any allegation are true nor do I automatically doubt them. Regardless, this is going to an ugly week:

at 8:30 AM

9.21.2018

It's Friday, Let's Get Out Of Here. (Trying Something Different)
























at 2:00 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts



  • What's up with these Jerusalem travel commercials showing clubs and pools? I'm kept waiting for the line of, "Come party in the Holy Land where Jesus walked!"
  • You've got to read this "wrong person" theory presented by Ed Whelan on how the Kavanaugh accuser probably ID'd the wrong person -- a person who he identifies by name and posts his current photo. Whelan is going to get sued for defamation. (He's the President of the conservative "think tank" called the Ethics and Public Policy Center.) And, buddy, you don't avoid a lawsuit by defaming someone and then throwing this out: 
  • Edit: He took it down this morning an apologized. "I made an appalling and inexcusable mistake of judgment." You can reconstruct what he said here.
  • I mentioned once that my extended family was almost scammed by a call of "[name] is in jail in California and you need to send money to bond him out".  Scammers ramped up their game with an elaborate hoax on others by representing a family member had been kidnapped and ransom money was needed immediately. (I remember one happening in Southlake.)  Well, they actually caught one lady guilty of the crime near Houston and she got 88 months in federal prison yesterday.
  • I asked yesterday if iPhones were the cause of the increase in teen suicides (a trend which began in 2007.) Someone had more insight: 
  • You want far right wing conservative judges like Kavanaugh? The Fifth Circuit has ruled that prosecutors don't have to turn over evidence indicating a defendant is not guilty if the case results in a plea instead of a trial. You kidding me? (I've written about the case before where the guy is indisputably innocent.) The Fifth Circuit's ruling has no bearing on Texas state prosecutors, however, because of a Texas statute enacted after Williamson County destroyed Michael Morton's life. Texas prosecutors have to turn over that information up front.
  • Not a bad idea: 
  • Florida has one-upped Wise County's (late) Speedo Man found in the blog's header (If you don't watch the video in the link, a highlight was a female neighbor in support of him referring to the family "As the nicest people who would give you their clothes [she pauses to giggle] if he had any on.")(Credit for tip: Bridgeport Trump supporting emailer.)
  • On "the first play from scrimmage" makes no sense. Research it. I thought it meant "on the first play since practice", but I don't believe that any longer. I also believe no one knows what that phrase means. 
  • You hear about murder-for-hire cases that never get pulled off, but a successful one I had never heard of went down in Rowlett three years ago. Well, I guess it would have been successful but for the conviction:
  • I believe this. He'll get crazier if the Democrats don't take the House. He will feel completely empowered.
  • Ricki Lake turns 50 today. Heck, she was just a kid when she had her talk show in the 1990s. (Random brain trigger: What happened to fellow talk show host Jenny Jones?)
  • In a horrifying video, Abilene redneck neighbors confront one another with guns and one ends up dead. Here it is edited for language -- it is more than tense.                                                                                                      
  • Well, he just did it. He called her a liar.
  • $487,000: The bonus that Ohio State assistant coach Ryan Day received for taking over the head coaching job during Urban Meyers three game suspension. 



at 8:30 AM
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)