3.06.2019

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts


  • A theory floated yesterday supporting the Atlantic map showing that Montague County was politically tolerant and Tarrant County was intolerant: If you hang out with 99% of the people who think just like you politically, why wouldn't you be tolerant? If you're challenged, maybe you would dig into one side or the other.
  • He cited as authority the "Failing New York Times" and "Enemy of the People?"
  • I don't think I'd ever be comfortable jogging on the Trinity River Trail again since my head would be on a constant swivel looking for dogs.  Story. (She looks worse than the guy that killed the Mountain Lion Kitty with his bear hands.)
  •  “...if more good people had concealed carry permits, we could end those Muslims..." -- Jerry Falwell, Jr. speaking to a a fawning and packed arena at Liberty University (and he sounds a little drunk here at the end of this quick loading video.)
  • There's a "Humor" column in the Texas State Bar Journal by some guy named John G. Browning. I'll let you predict if it's funny based upon this information: This month's five paragraph piece has one paragraph that ends with "Just saying" and another one ends with "Enough said."
  • One other thing from a different (and serious) Bar Journal article on divorce: "I usually estimate an affair will tilt division of the marital estate by 2 percent." (p. 204 for those reading at home.) I have no idea if that's true since I refuse to get involved in family law, and Mrs. LL hasn't made me find out the hard way.* 
  • *You see, that's quality lawyer humor that should get me a writing gig instead of John G. Browning, Esquire.
  • This is up in Celina. There will be subdivisions all the way from downtown Dallas to the Oklahoma border at some point. ("Houses in the project range in price from $300,000 to $2 million.") 
  • This wasn't the best move by New Hampshire Republicans during a hearing on a proposal about controlling gun possession by those with mental issues. They decided to mock a women's group who was there to support the measure as "pearl clutchers" by wearing pearl necklaces. Where did they get them? The women's group who had no intention of setting them up for a bad photo op.
  • The Sophomore in the House to me when I got home yesterday and comfortably got situated in my chair: "We're babysitting a two week old tonight." Me: [Sits in stunned silence for five minutes.]
  • When your lawyer tells you to shut up, just shut up. “Stop it. You all quit playing! Quit playing! I didn't do this stuff! This is not me! I'm fighting for my ****ing life! Y'all killing me with this sh**!" "I gave you 30 years of my ****ing career!"- R. Kelly told CBS Gayle King. (Then again, if you are going to talk you better deny it, and you better deny it with intensity. That he did.)
    "Why are you yelling? You're a foot from me."
  • Proof I (we?) live in a bubble: I've never seen a person with ash on their forehead on Ash Wednesday in Wise County. 
  • The worst job in the world is one where a school board determines if you have one. 
  • "Facebook is about score-boarding your neighbors." - Craig Miller on The Ticket this morning.
  • Messenger: Above The Fold
They're families.

at 8:30 AM

3.05.2019

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts


  • The Atlantic released a map of the most and least politically prejudicial counties in America. It's not about how one sided the county is (i.e. 89% Republican) but how "more or less politically forgiving" (or tolerant) the people are. I seriously question the findings. It has Wise County right in the middle in the 47th percentile, while Tarrant County is in the 96th (extremely intolerant), and Montague County in the 5th percent (very tolerant). 
  • I may be the only guy in the metroplex underwhelmed by WFAA's John McCaa's retirement. He was an anchorman. He read news. There are guys and gals who have busted their butts for years and years as reporters at the Morning News, Star-Telegram, and the local TV stations who won't get the time of day when they retire. They have tracked down the news in the trenches and not just read it off the teleprompter. (Hey, McCaa seems like a nice guy but, let's be honest, this isn't Woodward or Bernstein retiring.)
  • Our governor continues to defend the acting Secretary of State for the fake voter fraud fiasco and continues to attack the head of DPS for being the source of the "list". This is really weird. You never see Abbott attack law enforcement like this. Uh, "despicable?"
  • "COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina lottery says a single winner has stepped forward to claim the $1.5 billion Mega Millions jackpot from a drawing last October . . . . The winner has chosen the cash option, a one-time payment of nearly $878,000,000." 
  • The Texas legislature resolutions are at full throttle. Messenger publisher Roy Eaton received one as well as the Decatur volleyball team. 
  • Our governor forgot that when you tweet a link to a news story that the photo that accompanies  the link comes with it. A local TV station might do a funny or questionable bit with a photo, but the governor should not. (He quickly deleted it.)
  • And concerning my continuous rant of a news/radio/TVsegments which are ads disguised as content, the Washington Post had a story yesterday dedicated to such concerns.  It's against FCC regulations so long as they disclose it. (Narrator: They never disclose it.)
    (This is not a Galaxy S10 ad disguised as content.)
                             
  • Along those lines, The Ticket dumped 45 seconds yesterday afternoon when the hosts began mentioning Southwest Airlines and fares to Hawaii in a segment. Why? Their boss directed the dump based upon the policy of Corporate Overlord Cumulus against mentioning any company which doesn't pay for an ad. 
  • I don't know if it was a "paid ad disguised as a story" yesterday, but the Star-Telegram also ran a piece on Southwest's airline fares to Hawaii. But what also got my attention was the bottom of the of web page which had computer generated content using an algorithm to search for past "related stories." It embedded a report of a Southwest plane's engine blowing up. If the fare story was a paid ad, that went horribly wrong.
  • In 2016, Fox News killed the Stormy Daniels story, and CEO Roger Ailes tipped off Trump to debate questions.  They are State TV.
  • Thanks for this bit of trivia from a lawyer up at the courthouse yesterday: You certainly remember the case of the Affluenza teen, right? Well, in 1995 a high school football star from North Richland Hills killed his father. After the defense raised the mitigating defense of you're-gonna-be-a-football-star abuse by the father, the jury hung up on punishment. From there, a plea bargain was eventually struck for three years. The connection? The same lawyer was involved in both cases: Reagan Wynn. He helped Jeff Kearney in the NRH trial and took the lead in the Affluenza trial (if my info is correct.) A Texas Monthly story on the North Richland Hill's case by the great Skip Hollandworth is here. A probable copyright violation of the story that appeared in the Dallas Morning News at the time by Barry Horn is here. 
  • From the Update yesterday: "The First United Methodist Church and The Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Decatur will both have Ash Wednesday services Wednesday. They will have a drive through imposition of ashes in the parking lot of the Methodist Church . . . . "


at 8:33 AM

3.04.2019

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




  • Remember when I asked if I was the only man in America who was skeptical about the story of the jogger killing a mountain lion with his bare hands? Well, once again, my super instincts panned out when the news came out late last week that it was actually an orphaned kitten. (Heck, I'm not even sure that part of the story is true.)
  • I recorded part one of the Michael Jackson documentary on HBO last night. (I also recorded a commercial free showing of Free Solo which I can't believe was on the National Geographic channel.) I'm very interested in both. 
    Not Michael Jackson.
  • I'm not sure what is going on with this verdict out of Denton. The lawyer had already sued the school district in federal court and lost, so this trial might have been just for show. Maybe there's some small amount of money available from a parent's homeowner's insurance. 
  • I've always been skeptical about the claim of Gil Brandt of Dallas Cowboys fame "bringing computers" into the NFL Draft. I've heard that all my life. So I tracked down the following excerpt from a book which lead to this revelation: This super computer, for each potential draftable player, multiplied 16 times a number of 1 through 9, added those numbers, and then ranked them. That's it. Color me unimpressed. (Throw in that the the number of 1 through 9 was completely subjective, and we have a computer which was just a glorified adding machine of questionable data.)
  • Very random old movie thought: Was there a reason that Sandra Bullock's character drove the bus in Speed instead of the cop played by Keanu Reeves? Why didn't he just take over (at least from time to time)? Maybe they explained it in the plot, but I don't remember. 
  • I've now stumbled upon The History Channel's Texas Rising to go along with the Texas history book I'm reading. The irony has dawned on me that the Texas revolution was fought primarily by men who were illegal immigrants into Mexico from the United States who got here by crossing shallow rivers. 
  • There is not enough time to review Trump's two hour rambling speech at CPAC on Saturday. It went from "TIVO" to Andrew Jackson to Mark Meadows' wife to the "sleaze on top" of the FBI to the Russian probe being "bull----" to having a friend in New York who "is a stoned cold killer" to "I wasn't serious when I said I wanted Russia to find Hillary's emails." It was insane. (My favorite part was when he mocked his former Attorney General Jeff Sessions' Alabama accent.)
                                    
  • Is every government twitter account ran by a 13 year old boy?
  • Speaking of, the Williamson County Sheriff didn't like Seth Myers' joke: "A Texas sheriff has placed cardboard cutouts of officers holding radar guns on the side of several roads to deter speeding . . . .And even one of those managed to shoot a black guy."
  • This is a bad look for the Baylor administration, but they've got the right, as a private institution, to censor the student newspaper.
  • The Dallas DA's office dismissed the Endangering a Child charge against the Richardson mom whose child was found strangled in drainage ditch. The simple reason was that they couldn't prove it. However, I'm not sure why it took them a year to figure that out while she was locked up. Side note: The Richardson PD was not pleased.
  • Skechers ran this ad in major newspapers all over the nation this weekend as they tried to take advantage of the Duke's Zion Williamson blowing out his Nike. 
  • The Decatur boys team is headed to the state tournament this weekend. They will play Liberty Hill in the semis -- a team they beat 57-37 earlier this year.  It looks like you can see all the semi and state final games (1A through 6A) here for $9.00 (And how did I miss Decatur beating Bridgeport 70-14 a few weeks back?)   
  • I don't understand the appeal of Bernie Sanders, but this is quite the scene in Chicago last night:
  • Messenger: Above The Fold. 

at 8:31 AM

3.01.2019

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













at 2:00 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts


  • Shawn Oakman was found not guilty yesterday of sexual assault by a jury in Waco. (I told you there were proof problems. It started off badly with the government's medical witnesses contradicting the alleged victim.  The case got muddy in a hurry once it was learned they left a bar together and she was admittedly drunk causing memory issues.)  This is the case that led to the floodgates opening down at Baylor.
  • Side note about the case: Visiting Judge Michael Snipes out of Dallas had one priority based upon trial reports: To make sure he (the judge) wasn't inconvenienced. The trial had a feel of lets-give-him-a-quick-trial-so-we-can-convict-him.  (And I can't get a handle on his background. He's a "retired" district judge but just last year he was a prosecutor in the Dallas D.A.'s office.)
  • I learned this week up at the courthouse about Momo trying to kill our kids . I was sucked in just like the people who told me about it had been sucked in. The Alantic has the story of how this happens and how stories like that routinely catch fire. It's basically the quick creation of modern day urban legends. If you don't want to read it, Saturday Night Live had a skit parodying the phenomenon a few years back.   
  • Edit: Watch that Saturday Night Live skit and then watch this 37 second clip from CPAC this morning! It's a shockingly perfect example. 
  • The "Illegals Are Voting! The Illegals Are Voting!" scam that Texas officials tried to pull off is over. A federal judge even killed the Secretary of State's attempt to have local voter officials contact the people on "The List" and plainly said "there is no widespread voter fraud." And yesterday Gov. Abbott blamed the head of DPS for the whole fiasco. 
  • Uh, Jussie Smollett wrote a check.
  • Samantha Gannon is joining Mike Doocey on the pretty funny "Free For All" show on at 10:30 on Fox 4. She better be witty, or this won't work. 
  • And Another (Denton Guyer High)
    Yep, same person.
  • I cannot possibly approve of Baylor fans mocking UT with a picture of Rick Barnes during their basketball game this week . The Evil Empire fired him, but he is now having extreme success at the University of Tennessee.
    That's a quality bit!
  • Johnny Football's wife cheated at a half-marathon, and the work Deadspin put into the story is admirable. 
  • Last night the government of Texas executed a 70 year old for a crime that he committed three decades ago. He didn't seem to be all there.
  • Trump is on a Russian Collusion rant and Michael Cohen rant this morning. He's had enough self-inflicted wounds this week so I'll leave him alone. 

at 8:30 AM

2.28.2019

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts


  • The DFW media was in Wise County yesterday for a hearing on whether the kids from the Kids-In-Cages story will remain in CPS custody for now. The obvious answer occurred: Yes. But a couple of cameramen got to film the top of the courthouse. 
  • The Texas Open Meetings law was struck down as unconstitutionally vague yesterday. Here it is: 
  • A faithful reader corrected me by noting the Texas high school basketball finals are now in San Antonio and not Austin. The Liberally Lean staff regrets yesterday's error. 
  • Buddy, you care way too much about a professional football team from 25 years ago:
  • Trump and Rocket Man's nuclear talks abruptly broke down and Trump left early. #TheArtOfTheDeal
  •  But before he left, Trump gave Kim a complete pass on the death of Otto Warmbier. Why? Because Kim said he he had nothing to do with it. (Reminds you of Trump saying he believed Putin when he said there was no Russian tampering, and the Saudi Prince over the murder of the journalist.)

  • There's a former Baylor football player on trial for sexual assault in Waco, and I'm not sure how it is going to turn out because it seems to have some proof problems. But a reporter, who is following the case, tweeted the following yesterday which got my attention. It was the first day of trial. Listen, judge, if you've got something better to do while a guy is on trial for his life, go do it and let someone who cares take your place.
  • Michael Cohen delivered high entertainment yesterday. But Fox News looked less than interested based upon the detail given to their graphics.
  • The hearing had moments of drama when it felt like it was right out of The Godfather 2 and low points when Republican Congressman were printing off tweets from third parties that were made during the hearing and asking, and being allowed, to place them into the record. 
  • I take it back, the low point came when Rep. Mark Meadows trotted out a black Trump employee as a prop to combat claims of Trump racism. (Meadows once proved he himself was color blind by saying that "2012 is the time we are going to send Mr. Obama home to Kenya or wherever it is!"))
    "I'd like to mark this black person as Exhibit A."
  • To show how insane it got, Rep. Ayanna Pressley fired back: "Would you agree that someone could deny rental units to African-Americans, lead the birther movement, refer to the diaspora as 'shithole countries,' refer to white supremacists as 'fine people,' have a black friend, and still be racist?" (Video.)
  • I'm tripling down on my Kyler Murray NFL prediction: There is no way I'd take him with a first round pick. I don't know if I'd take him with a second round pick. (I'm not saying that won't happen. I'm saying it's a mistake if it does.)
  • Our 22 pound cat is down to a svelte 18 pounds. (That's one of our dumb dogs beside it. And he's not a puppy. He's a good sized dog. )
  • I present to you the greatest country song in the history of ever. Parked By The Lake.

at 8:30 AM
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