9.04.2019

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts



  • The Cowboy's signed Zeke signed overnight: A six year extension beginning in 2021 for $90 million with $50 million guaranteed.  These boys nailed it yesterday:
  • Everyone is saying that "He'll be a Cowboy through 2026!" That's dumb.  He's got four years of good production left if the Cowboys are lucky. So let's go with the $50 million of new money which is guaranteed -- the only money that matters -- divided by four years of production: $12.5 million a year. This is practically how to look at it in a "what exactly are they paying for" sort of way: 
    • 2019: $3.5 million (old contract) + $12.5 million
    • 2020: $9 million (old contract) + $12.5 million
    • 2021: $12.5 million
    • 2022: $12.5 million
    • 2023: Irrelevant. At this point, and probably before, massive deterioration in production begins. They either cut him now or he takes a pay cut to whatever it is he's worth which isn't much. If he's been extremely good for the previous four years and he gets cut after 2022, that's still probably a fair deal. If his legs start to go in 2020 (like Todd Gurley's did last year), it's a horrible deal.
    • 2024: Irrelevant
    • 2025: Irrelevant
    • 2026: Irrelevant
  • The Odessa shooter failed a firearms background check on January 14, 2014, but the government won't tell us why. Since most reasons to fail the background check are otherwise available as a public record (i.e. a conviction for domestic violence), most speculate it was a disqualification for "mental heath condition" or "substance abuse."  We don't know about treatment for those conditions because of HIPAA laws. But, amazingly, there's no easy way for the federal government to know about it either -- especially to have enough details to be disqualifying for a gun. The disqualification of the shooter seems mysterious.
  • Walmart will no longer sell handgun ammo or ammo for the AR-15 and related guns. This will cause a massive boycott of red-blooded Americans until the moment they need to make a run to Walmart. 
  • Random old soap opera thought: Search for Tomorrow is a pretty deep name for a pretty silly program.
  • Lawyers really don't have a union because there is no one to unionize against. Story
  • Highest (administrative) county judges in the state: Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley at $182,482 and Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins at $171,367
  • A reminder that you can search for how much any Texas attorney made via court appointments in criminal cases. And it is searchable by county.
  • Weird story out of Dallas. She had worked at the company for only a "few days", and the alleged killer urged her to apply for the job. He took her in a company truck which the company was able to "remotely shut down" when it was discovered to be in Mississippi. He allegedly killed her shortly afterwards. 
  • There's a lot going on here with Billy, and a lot to think about: 
  • Dress for success.
  • College football random thoughts: (1) The Big 12 went 10-0 last weekend which is impressive simply because no one slipped up. More impressive: No Big 12 team threw an interception. (2) Former UT coach Charlie Strong is in a weird funk at South Florida. He started of 2018 at 6-0 but has since lost eight straight (and started off this year with a 49-0 loss to Wisconsin.) (3) I managed to scramble to a TV to catch the end of Tennessee's loss to Georgia State. Back in the day, I also managed to get in front of a TV for Appalachian State's upset of Michigan. 
  • As a followup on my out-of-the blue Seinfeld bullet point on Monday, I found this People magazine cover story.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold

at 8:30 AM

9.03.2019

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts



  • Man, there are a lot of questions about the burning of a 75 foot "dive boat" which caught on fire near Santa Cruz Island and presumably killed 34 people (25 bodies have been found as of this morning.)  Six crew members escaped. The company which ran it had a "sterling reputation" (a co-owner is one of the dead) and the boat had been updated in recent years after a homeless man stole it an ran it aground.  The fire occurred during a weekend Labor Day trip that cost $665. The boat could sleep up to 46 in bunk beds -- some stacked three high. 
  • Hurricane Dorian can down in history as one thing: It's weird. I've never seen one go so slow for so long and then do the (predicted) hard right hand turn.
  • Get those Fall clothes out. 
  • While in Ireland and at Trump's suggestion, VP Mike Pence and his entourage is staying at Trump's hotel in Doonbeg for two nights and commuting on Air Force 2 to Dublin.  Your taxpayer dollars at work. 
  • If you ever hear someone say that a famous comedic scene in any sitcom or movie was "completely ad-libbed and the director just let the cameras roll", that person is probably completely wrong. (I thought about this yesterday when Ticket fill-in host Peter Welpton said that about the character Quint's USS Indianapolis speech in Jaws: "He was actually drunk and he just decided to that on his own." My famous Skepticism Radar® immediately went off, and a quick Internet search proved me right.)
  • Here's your Odessa victims. "The youngest person to die was Leilah Hernandez, 15, a sophomore and basketball star at Odessa High School who was with her family at a car dealership when she was shot."

  • The first media outlet to report that the shooter in Odessa had been fired from his job earlier in the day was the New York Times. You'd think someone in Texas media would have known that. Side note: He lived in the place pictured below. Side note #2: He had a sister who graduated from aTm who committed suicide at age 34. 
  • The Angels pitcher who died in a hotel in Southlake had fentanyl in his system. I was wondering when I first referenced that drug on Liberally Lean since it keeps popping up in the news. I found it: June 5, 2007. (I also found that Texas Monthly did a long article on Jacob Stiles death a few years later.)
  • In case you missed it, you need to watch this guy's plan to defeat the Hurricane Dorian. (Spoiler alert: It involves the Navy and Ice.)
  • I dropped my reading glasses at Lowe's yesterday while messing with a hefty item. I thought, "Don't forget about them after you get this thing situated in the cart in a few seconds." During those few seconds I did indeed forget. Then I had to return to the store six hours later (ugh) and decided to swing by the aisle to see if by wild chance they were still there. Incredibly, they were. 


at 8:32 AM

9.02.2019

Random Monday Morning Thoughts



  • Yep, the hardest working man in show business. On. Labor. Day.
  • We had another bloodbath on the streets of Texas on Saturday with seven dead and a toddler shot in the face.  Gov. Abbott showed up and oddly decided to come to the defense of AR-15s. as he "wanted to point out" and said it was "very important" that we know that some of the mass shootings did not involve that type of weapon. He cited Santa Fe and Luby's as examples. Feel better? 
    "Toddlers are funny because they get shot and still want to run around and play"
  • One Texas state rep fired off some hot gun-loving opinions while the blood on the streets of Odessa was still warm. He's still getting buried in replies. (I left out the one where he said gun ownership was a "God-given" right -- something I did not know.)
  • I also don't know if the Grand Bahama Island is still there this morning. 
  • Dear clerk in Wise County Justice of the Peace #4, you double entered citation number TX5J9B0YIG8K ("cut corner on left turn") on Friday. 
  • In otherwise boring coverage of a random city council meetings, we need more gems like this buried in the Messenger: 
  • As much as I enjoyed the return of college football, shots of Liberty's Hugh Freeze coaching from a hospital bed might have been the highlight. Yes, this really happened.
  • Nothing like Trump tweeting out a classified photo which probably showed the U.S. is violating Iranian air space (most experts think that is not a satellite image.) 
  • As Sunday morning dawned and the nation mourned another mass shooting and is on edge because of a category five hurricane, Trump offered some words only a leader could offer:
  • He's not wrong. But the first thing I do is look to inside to see if this is worse than just a simple car theft this morning.
  • One of college football's great traditions is the gathering of boats on the Tennessee river outside of the stadium of the Volunteers. It's tailgating on the water. Early Saturday morning, a 41 footer caught fire and sank. (Later the team would catch also burn as it lost to little Georgia State.)
  • John Travolta was up in studio on the Ticket last week to promote his new movie, The Fanatic, which was only showing locally in a theater in Mesquite. (Yep, one theater.) It opened in limited release but even then made no money per theater.  He was an incredibly nice guy in the interview and his filmography is amazing (Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Urban Cowboy, Pulp Fiction, Face/Off and a million others you've forgotten). A new article in The Ringer is a fascinating look at the incredible roles he's turned down and his odd career choices.

  • I normally wouldn't link to article like this, but the pictures of Don McLean ("American Pie") and his young girlfriend is worth they journey.  Story
  • Hurricane news coverage flashback:
  • It's amazing now that Seinfeld was able to get away with dating an 18 (or 17?) year old girl. If you want an update on her, her's here Wiki page.  She's 44 and doing Ok.

  • Messenger: Above the Fold
From late Saturday

at 8:30 AM

8.30.2019

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







at 2:00 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts


  • James Leavelle, who was handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald when he was shot by Jack Ruby and who was a center piece of one of the most famous photographs in American history, has died at the age of 99. The suit he wore that day is on display at the Sixth Floor Museum.
  • Trivia: Ira Jefferson "Jack" Beers Jr. of the the Dallas Morning News was sure he had taken a Pulitzer Prize winning photo of Oswald's shooting only to learn that Robert H. "Bob" Jackson, then a 29-year-old photographer for the Dallas Times Herald, took a better photo 6/10ths of a second later. Jackson would win the Pulitzer. (Ticket fans: I double dog swear that I prepared this bullet point before the Musers discussed it at 7:20 a.m. ) 

  • There was a hung jury in the The Library Bar sexual assault case in Fort Worth. The case had some problems which is really a way of saying it is understandable that a rational juror could have a reasonable doubt  about the guy's guilt. 
    • The State has the right to try the case again. I always thought that was bizarre under our Double Jeopardy protections, but it is the law.  
    • But a practical and ethical problem seems to exist now which always seems to be ignored: If they didn't know it before (and they should have) the prosecutors now know for a fact that at least one juror had a reasonable doubt about the guy's guilt. To try him again is simply just a gamble (on an ethically challenged hope and a prayer) that the next jury doesn't include someone who will also have a reasonable doubt. It's just like hoping for a better hand of cards from the dealer. And it's a card game the defendant would be forced to play with his life while the prosecutor risks nothing. That's justice? 
    • And how does any prosecutor in that situation now sit back and not think, "That juror or jurors knows as much about the case as I do. Maybe it is me who should have a reasonable doubt."
    • Changing subjects, while the jury was still struggling to reach a verdict, the bailiff told the judge that he had overheard one juror tell the others "that they would reach a decision Thursday because she had to go to work on Friday." That caused everyone to question whether that is jury misconduct. (Legally, it's not.) Question: Should the bailiff had said anything at all? He wasn't a witness to juror tampering. He just overhead a discussion. It wouldn't be proper for him to say, "Judge, it sounded like there's only one holdout. If you force them to deliberate further I think he'll cave."
  • There's a better and quick loading video of the "Botox Bandit" from earlier this week.
  • Hurricane Dorian completely missed Puerto Rico and is now headed for The King of Israel's  Mar-a-Lago resort. Instead of mocking the people of Puerto Rico as he was doing earlier this week, Trump has now cancelled his trip to Poland since the stakes have changed for him.
  • The Florida State/Boise State has been moved at the last minute from a neutral site to the FSU campus because of the hurricane.  Students of both schools will get in free, and everyone else gets in at a dirt cheap price. And it's all general admission seating. That might be a crazy scene.
  • The "greatest country in the world" sure has a lot of "dumbest people in the world", to-wit:  Craig Barr vs. Popeye's.
  • In general, all the guys playing in last night's NFL preseason games were the greatest athlete in the history of their high school and one of the best ever from their college.  The vast, vast majority will be cut by Sunday. They are in their early 20s and now need a job. Any job. 
  • Trump's personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, abruptly quit yesterday as rumors broke that she might be a leaker. I don't think I had ever heard about her. (That's her below. I have no idea why Rick Perry is getting handsy.)
  • Jerry Jones on Zeke's missing games last night: "He can't and won't miss them all." This goes back to the most important part of the holdout: He has to report by game 10 or his contract tolls. If he comes back before game 10, he makes $9 million next year and then becomes a free agent. If he holds out the whole year he would then be under contract for $3 million in 2020 and $9 million in 2021.
  • Don Jr., who is even a more miserable person that his daddy, spoke on behave of for the reelection of Republican Gov. Matt Bevin in Kentucky yesterday. I see a man who is just killin' it.
  • Random DPS office 20 minutes before it opened in Austin this morning:
  • "Mistakes were made" - Greg Abbott yesterday on his racially charged flier going out one day before the El Paso Massacre. Unless he tells us exactly why it was a mistake, that "apology" is worthless. He wont' do that.

at 8:30 AM

8.29.2019

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts


  •  "Look at all these people . . . . They are probably going all across the country to beautiful places." No, it's not a busy weekend at airports because it is Labor Day. And, no, they aren't going on vacation. It's just a normal Thursday morning at Love Field. (And WFAA is the worst at making their employees post on social media and, for some reason, demand frightening close ups.)
  • When I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Despite my prediction, the Tarrant County DA's office was able to get a conviction of two defendants who were tried together in one misdemeanor trial. Normally, that would be a cluster.
  • Here's an email I received from a trusted source: "Melinda Westmoreland, chief prosecutor of the Tarrant County DA’s Special Victims Unit (formerly CACU) turned in her notice today. She is quitting in order to become yoga instructor for the Dallas Cowboys.  I’m not joking." She's been pretty successful and recently prosecuted Danita Tutt who was accused to almost causing the death of  her son by faking illnesses and making him undergo needless surgeries. Hey, if Andrew Luck can walk away, so can everyone else. More power to her. 
  • Random silliness:
  • "The wife, child, and mother-in-law of a pitcher in the Tampa Bay Rays organization were killed in a southern Virginia town Tuesday, and police arrested the brother-in-law of minor league baseball player Blake Bivens." And his apprehension was almost as bizarre as the crime. (Quick loading video in the link.)
  • Uh, oh. He's mad at State TV because it's not State TV enough. (Three years ago we would have thought even a city councilman was unfit for office for believing that a news organization owed him loyalty like an employee. Now it's just another day from the highest office in the land.)
  • The Bexar County DA had a case indicted and then reviewed the file with one of his assistants. He then lost his re-election bid and thought it would be OK to then be the defense lawyer for the guy.  Amazingly, it took a court of appeals yesterday to tell him that's moronic. (They didn't expressly say "moronic" but should have.)
  • The Dallas Morning News unveiled a new website design this morning and it's great. They claim it loads three times faster and I believe them. Now I'm looking at you Star-Telegram. Let's start by not having a video unrelated to the story (and I didn't want or or ask for)  autoplay when I click on a story causing the whole page to act like I'm downloading a DVD. Heck, I don't even want any video at all. 
  • A guy from Willis, Texas met a pretty hot gal online and quickly married her. His son then started snooping around about her background and found that she was currently married to "several" other guys. She then got indicted for bigamy. The guy filed for divorce. Now a judge has ordered him to pay $73,000 in temporary spousal support. I've got a lot of questions. 
  • I have no reason to doubt the medicinal effects of marijuana. I have a ton of reasons to doubt the effectiveness of the current wave of CBD products being hawked on every corner. (But, unlike conventional wisdom, I support the "placebo effect." If that phenomenon causes you to believe the pain has gone away, why isn't it just a powerful as an actual drug?)
  • Texas DWI law changes dramatically for those arrested on Sunday: They will be able to receive deferred adjudication (a probation without a conviction) if the prosecutor is reasonable enough to offer it. In order to get deferred, an ignition interlock must be a condition of the probation. That's a fair trade off. (One of the weirdest changes in the DWI law was a mandatory fine of $3,000. But it was written in such a way that it only applies to a "final conviction" which means there was no type of probation and a person simply did jail time. So you can avoid the outrageous new fine with a probation. But, at the same time, if you receive  deferred adjudication it is considered a "conviction" for enhancement purposes if you get charged with DWI in the future. You think it's fun trying to explain all this?)


at 8:32 AM
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