2.06.2019

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts


  • We've got a new DA in Waco, but the old one's legacy continues: "McLennan County prosecutors have dismissed a child sexual assault case after discovering that they indicted the wrong man [last year]."  The prosecutor, who also handled the controversial Baylor frat guy's reduced charge in a sexual assault case, passed the buck by blaming a paralegal. That tells me all I need to know about her. 
  • I'm not sure why someone posted a picture of the Federal Fifth Circuit Appeals Court in Houston yesterday, but I had never seen it. That is one spare courtroom for having such a lofty title. (This isn't their primary courtroom -- it's in New Orleans -- but still.)
  • Trump didn't do that bad in the State of the Union. Of course, his bar is lower than anyone else. It's basically: Don't embarrass the country. He managed not to do that by sticking to a script.
    "Good job. Good effort"
  • It's no big deal, but Trump either forgot or intentionally broke with tradition last night. Every President always gets introduced by the Sergeant at Arms and then walks to the podium shaking hands while everyone applauds. Once at the podium, the crowd quiets, and the Speaker of the House formally introduces him and we all get beaten down as the applause begins all over again. Last night, Trump just started talking without waiting for the introduction. 
  • Trump invited the kid to the SOTU who, because he has the same last name, has been bullied. But, unless I missed it, he was not introduced as a human prop like others.  And the kid also did not appear to be impressed. (I'm not going to mention the irony that Trump loves to bully people by giving them nicknames.)

  • "Tryouts begin for the Texettes, the mostly forgotten ushers and attendants that were a part of the Dallas Cowboys’ organization. WFAA Collection. July 1975." Quick loading clip here where the cameraman occasionally pans down to see their legs before #MeToo. (Bonus footage at the beginning of Staubach being flushed out of the pocket that looks really cool from the end zone.)
  • When I first saw this I was skeptical, but the facts in the story are shocking. And as a callback to yesterday: The Plaintiff's lawyer is with Tony Buzbee's law firm.
  • Random college football I was not aware of in the not so distant future. UT and Alabama will have a home and home starting in 2022. I'll give the Evil Empire credit, they are under no obligation to do that. 
  • In 1994, Texas changed its parole laws to make them significantly more strict for offenses committed from that time forward. And we are now seeing the results with an aging prison population: 
  • I don't know anything about the NBA or John Wall, but I did hear that the guy, who was already out for the year for injury, will now miss all of next year because he fell in his home and blew out his Achilles. Here is his upcoming guaranteed salary:
  •  Nixon and Trump have another thing in common: They both said during the State of the Union that their investigations should stop.
                                       
  • The "designated survivor" for the country, in case everyone died last night, was Rick Perry.
  • Here is Sean Spicer drunk on BlazeTV after the State of the Union. 
  • "America will never be a socialist country." - Trump with applause from everyone. That reminded me I'll soon get a letter delivered by a government employee who drove over public roads, and in that letter I'll learn when my Medicare and social security income will kick in. But I may get the Kid in the House who attends public schools go get it, and I'm not worried about her safety because of public police. 
  • The Patriots have bits:
  • Speaking of, the Patriots had their parade yesterday. Here is tight end Rob Gronkowski sexually assaulting an SI swimsuit model. 
  • Bases in baseball and softball should be shaped like a stop sign so that runners advancing more than one base will have a side to brace their foot against as they round the base. Think about it. 
  • Fox Business: "Who can we get on the air who is an expert on health care?" Staff: "I know just the person! Not only is he folksy, but he kind of specializes in healthcare after you're dead."
  • It's (the second) National Signing Day for college football and Miami kicked it off yesterday, due to the time difference, by signing this . . . uh . . . kid from Australia.
  • Messenger: Above The Fold

at 8:30 AM

2.05.2019

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts



  • We've got a rare exploding vape pen death in Fort Worth. I've heard that malfunctions occur when someone tries to modify/trick up the pen and/or battery, but we don't know what happened here. Something doesn't sound right for one of the millions of those things out there just to "explode." Sad deal, though.
                                                       
  • Hey, Phil, you might want to separate the two issues next time:
  • Super Bowl halftime pic vs. Guy doing a bit. 
  • Junior was at the stock show in Fort Worth with this girlfriend and former Fox News host. (No word on whether any of his five kids were with him.) And get off the phone!
  • The New York Times had a glowing article on the Permian Basin yesterday with not even a hint that oil production will slow down. 
  • Super Bowl Expert Analysis: Since when does an inept offense automatically mean it was a great defensive performance? The Rams offense, #1 for the season, was horrible. And the Pats offense, #4 for the season, was also horrible. The Patriots were simply less horrible than the Rams. 
  • Who could have been surprised by the Axios story that Trump spends 60% of his time in "Executive Time" which basically means watching cable news? We all knew that.
  • Dear Morning News and Star-Telegram: Why does it take forever for any page to load, and why does it never seem to stop downloading crap even when the text finally shows up?
  • Houston, Texas lawyer Tony Buzbee claims that he chased a burglar out of his home with a gun (which "misfired") around 6:00 a.m. Monday morning. "The thief made off with valuables worth millions of dollars, including art and jewelry, according to police." That's odd. Buzbee is also running for the mayor of Houston, claims a girlfriend destroyed $300,000 of art last year (including a painting by Andy Warhol), once parked a World War II tank outside of house and, as a regent for aTm, fired off a lengthy Facebook post after a football game which was the beginning of the end for coach Kevin Sumlin.
  • Troy Aikman said this morning that he wasn't in the NFL 100 commercial because he didn't "want to stay in Los Angeles" for another 48 hours to film his part. Sheesh.  But at least he now regrets turning it down. (Side note: Scroll down this article to see a list of everyone in the commercial and how it came together.)
  • This is from Queens, New York. That graffiti is so white that I'm offended as a white person. 
  • How's the investigation going on the "voter fraud" list in Wise County? We have full time employees in the voter office so we should have an answer soon. And if a person does not respond to the letter sent, that's not enough to "confirm" they are an illegal alien who ended up on the voter list. That's accusing a person of a crime, and you'll need more than that. That should simply go down as "not confirmed."  (And it would be interesting to know the last time a person who did not respond voted. That's readily available information which is public.)
  • "If I could ask Nancy Pelosi one thing it would be: 'If you die, do you believe you will go to Heaven?'" - Hal Jay on WBAP, and out of the blue, this morning.
  • Trump is going to have some kid in the audience at the State of the Union has been bullied by schoolmates because he has the last name of "Trump".  If I'm that kid's parent, there is no way I would subject him to that. 
  • I hadn't heard anything about this attack on the cover of the newspaper below, but it brought back to mind a story I had completely forgotten about: A girl who attended college in Waxahachie and moved to New York became a nationally known when she was the victim of a similar but much worse attack in 1986. Wikipedia entry and Texas Monthly story (from 1993.) 

at 8:30 AM

2.04.2019

Random Monday Morning Thoughts



  • Had someone at the courthouse tell me they were just talking to someone about a product and ads started showing up on the Internet for it. Believable? He pointed out that he had his phone with him at the time of the conversation.   He then demonstrated that his screen can be blank, his phone be in the equivalent of sleep-mode, but if he asks Siri a question it wakes up and responds. So isn't the phone listening all the time? 
  • Lots of of people online were dogging illegal aliens crossing the border after seeing the following news. She was accidentally killed by a passing motorist on a traffic stop. In Abilene.
  • Black History Month got off to a crazy start when it was revealed on Friday that the Governor of Virginia's medical school yearbook page had the photo below on the page dedicated to him. On Friday he apologized by saying "I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo."  (He didn't say if he was black-face-guy or Klan-guy). Then he did a 180 on Saturday saying it wasn't him. How is he so sure now? He spent Friday night thinking about it and was able to remember when he was in black face as Michael Jackson in San Antonio around that same time, so he knows he remembers those sort of things. My head is spinning. (Buddy, just resign.) 
  • And when asked at the news conference about the Michael Jackson incident and whether he could still moonwalk, he almost did it on on stage until his wife told him it would be inappropriate. Watch the moment.  
  • I saw a commercial for the Jeff Foxworthy brand of furniture at Nebraska Furniture Mart, and I've never been so confused. 
  • "If you do something nice, thou shalt publicize it for all to see." Social Media Bible, Chapter 1. Verse 1. 
  • Don't discount him. Remember when we all laughed when he wrote a book saying steroids were rampant in baseball and we mocked him?
  • See how this works: Robert Jeffress uses the power of FBC Dallas to get Huckabee to the church who spent his time plugging his book, and now Huckabee invites Jeffress on his TV show so Jeffress can plug his own book. Modern day money-changers.
  • This guy looks like the G.I. Joe I had as a kid.
  • Eleven unanswered questions in the botched Houston police raid that left two people dead. If you are following that case, I question whether there was an undercover buy by the CI at all in order to justify the search warrant.
  • Any chance anyone in the House invites Stormy Daniels to the State of the Union tomorrow?
  • Random Super Bowl commercial thoughts: (1) I learned Andy Warhol ate a hamburger upside down back in the day -- something  Mrs. LL, oddly, does as well, (2) The NFL 100 commercial was great -- especially the re-creation of the Immaculate Reception -- but who was the girl?, (3) I learned about ASMR because of a beer commercial. (The Sophomore In The House had to explain to us that ASMR was an "internet sensation" and "really, really annoying".)
  • Uh, that's basically the way the NFL draft order works. (Not to mention those great free enterprise concepts of "revenue sharing" and "salary cap".)
  • The Denton County Sheriff is now on Twitter, and apparently feels unloved. (Cue Maroon 5.)

  • "A [new] Harris County judge is under investigation by Houston police for allegedly assaulting the legal assistant of a defense attorney in his courtroom."



at 8:30 AM

2.01.2019

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












at 2:00 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts


  • The boys on the morning show on the Ticket went to the Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta and told about this: They found the "lunch counter simulation" exhibit and followed the instructions below. They got hear a crowd taunt them. Oh, my. And get this: Your chair will randomly vibrate to simulate it being kicked from behind. Double, oh my!
  • I appreciate anyone walking away from that job but most of his press release was self-aggrandizing . However, I did relate to this: “Much has changed in the past quarter century. Society has changed. My profession has changed. I have changed."
  • This "voter fraud" scare that the Republicans at the top of government in Texas trying to pull off is turning into a bigger fraud than the B.S. they are peddling.  I hope the Messenger continues to follow as Wise County tries to verify how many, if any, non-citizens are on the voter roll per the State's revised list. (The State's "initial list" turned out to be riddled with errors and was completely wrong in Waco.)
  • Good grief, Baylor. We don't know much about this from the story, but this line is confusing because of the plural "individuals": "The reports involved the same individuals and are believed to be connected . . . . "  In any event, what's going on down there?
  • I don't run in half marathons any longer, but I still get emails inviting me. Yesterday I noticed that the price for the Cowtown race was now $120. Boys, that's getting really pricey.
  • Right before the following Tweet he told the press his "Intel team" had been "misquoted." They were broadcast live and unedited you dolt!  Every day that quote from 1984 becomes more and more prophetic: "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."
    No way they "told" him that. 
  • The lone remaining misdemeanor case in Tarrant County this week ended in a mistrial. So they had five trials in misdemeanor courts and zero convictions. 
  •  Here's a headline that got my attention until I found out it wasn't Bridgeport, Texas. It did, however, involve a Texas man. (And how about that "Hardest-Working Paper" motto? This was tailor made for me. )
  • Nutcase Roger Stone gave a press conference broadcast exclusively by conspiracy crazed InfoWars yesterday. Yep, InfoWars. (And it was interesting that Mueller filed a court pleading that said his office seized  "multiple hard drives containing several terabytes of information" from Stone. Terabytes? That ain't Word documents and emails. That's a ton of audio and video.)
  • One more Stone note: It's bizarre the law-and-order Republicans in Washington or upset at the FBI for the way Stone was arrested. In that regard, this is funny:

    Stone with a press conference yesterday
    broadcast exclusively the crazed Infowars 
  • Here's New York media's reaction to the trade that sent some white guy with a blown Achilles who is supposed to be really good to Dallas (and that's my extent of knowledge about the NBA): 

at 8:31 AM

1.31.2019

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts


  • News broke late yesterday that a former Wise County deputy, who served 16 months in federal prison for convincing registered sex offenders that he needed to take pictures of them naked, was arrested in Denton in a child solicitation sting. The mind boggles.
  • The head of the police union in Houston was not happy with people suggesting they might have screwed up in the failed drug raid which left a married couple dead: "We're going to be keeping track on all of y'all, and we're going to make sure to hold you accountable every time you stir the pot on our police officers." What the heck does that mean?
  • This is from yesterday. I still need to see Vice.
  • Let's check on Trump's mental stability this morning. (He has fired off at least ten tweets since waking up including one proclaiming "A WALL is a WALL!"). 
                  
  • Speaking of so much winning, FoxConn announced yesterday that all that hoopla from 2018 would not come true. For a con man, Trump sure does get conned a lot:
  • I knew American Airlines basically controlled DFW, but I didn't know it was this much: 69 million people flew in an out of the airport last year. Of those, over 58 million flew American. 
  • The dumbest show on TV, The Masked Singer, has been picked up for a second season.  This country gets what we deserve. (And do people not realize that the "star" -- if you can call people like Tori Spelling a star -- only show up on stage for a few brief moments for the "great reveal"? All the rest of the time its just some spare guy in a costume pretending to be them.)
  • Did the Saints coach wear a NFL commissioner clown shirt yesterday when he finally talked about the blown call in the NFC Championship game?
  • Without even mentioning that this guy is a lap dog for you know who, what exactly does "face the music" mean? As a Southern Baptist who holds a doctorate, he certainly can't mean that you don't get into heaven so does it mean you will just get a stern talking to at the Pearly Gates? (He never explains in the link. He just once again says you'll "face the music".)
         
  • The Tarrant County DA Office's misdemeanor section is having a bad week. You know how this happens? Intake prosecutors and/or trial prosecutors who can't spot a bad case, or who can spot a bad case but have no discretion to reduce the charge. (If CCC#1 comes in with a Not Guilty verdict we will have a clean sweep.)
  • The City of Dallas has a $1,000 per individual campaign limit for donations to City Council candidates. A lawyer's four children in Dallas have given a total of $11,000 to four candidates over two years. So? Uh, the kids are 5 to 11 years old. 

at 8:32 AM
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