1.22.2020

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts



  • My faithful readers are apparently very interested in The Lady With the Unnaturally Perfect Mouth and Teeth. I was informed that she once made the Dallas Morning News as a simple high tone Highland Park school parent objecting to book being taught in class. "Tavia Hunt, a parent who raised objections, said she doesn’t want her sophomore daughter or any students to feel uncomfortable in English class because of graphic sex scenes." The book was The Art of Racing in the Rain. It was one of seven books "banned" which included, ironically, The Working Poor: Invisible in America.
  • Whatever happened to the "Kids In Cages" case out of Rhome? I should know, and I don't know. 
  • Can we just proclaim me the Greatest Weatherman In Show Business? How many of you turned to your spouse this morning and said, "Darling, I thought Barry was just doing a weather bit, but he really has an understanding of the atmosphere which makes me really respect him as a scientist as well as a person. He has perfect forecasts"?   And just look at Delkus this morning who is trying to shove "wintery mix" into everything -- even when it is 200 miles away.
  • That was one heck of a brawl at Kansas/K-State game last night. Video here and here.
    Hey, that's a chair!
  • Here's the Rangers' "old" ballpark with its last minute renovations to become an XFL stadium:
  • Rep. Kay Granger is in the cross-hairs of the West Texas big money PAC, Empower Texans, as the money men endorsed her Republican opponent for the upcoming primary. (That's no guarantee of a win. Texas State Senator Konni Burton, even with Empower Texans' checkbook, managed to lose to a Democrat a couple of years ago.)
  • I can't say I'm familiar with the fine work of the group BTS, but enough people like them that they'll play two shows at the Cotton Bowl in Fair Park. That's a lot of fans. 
  • According to the Update, there will be a 2,000 home development in Wise County's New Fairview (whose local government can be very Wheels Off at times). But his sentence got my attention: "Water and sewer for the development would be provided by Aqua Texas." I'd want to know a lot about Aqua Texas before I signed off on that deal.  
    Stolen from the Messenger. Buy their paper. Subscribe online.
     Support local journalism. #DontSueMe
  • I've had a couple of people send me a copy of this Motion for New Trial in Tarrant County alleging a violation of Brady and the Michael Morton Act. As a faithful reader told me, it may be too "in the weeds" for most of my audience, but some might find it interesting.
  • Speaking of motions, I'm working on, "Motion to Have A Jury Who Views My Client Just Like The Senate Jury Views Trump" and "Motion to Exclude All Witnesses and Evidence and For Immediate Verdict of Acquittal." 
  • I have mentioned before  the Conviction Because of a Traffic Accident case out of Tyler which was featured in Texas Monthly. Last week Texas' highest criminal court refused to hear the appeal. 
    • The case, because of the lower court ruling which released him, will go back to a Tyler district court for a punishment hearing where the jury will decide between 2 and 10 years or give the defendant probation.  
    • He had hoped for an outright acquittal out of Austin. 
    • Shout out to one of the lawyers in the case who emailed me about the development. I missed it last week.
    • Heck, this case now needs to be pled. He has a felony conviction and he's already served a year and a half in prison. The State needs to offer the guy probation. Heck, giving him time served even sounds fair. 
  • The Maverick's Dwight Powell had his Achilles snap on him last night. If you are into that sort of thing, you can watch it here.  I had the exact same thing happen to me in the early 2000s. It completely popped and tore, and my calf muscle rolled upwards into a ball. Did it hurt? You bet. But not as bad as you would think. It felt like someone had shot a tennis ball out of a cannon into the back of my ankle, but after that it really wasn't that bad. (And it got me out of going to a wedding that night.) 
  • I've never seen so many politicians and celebrities file defamation lawsuits. Maybe we do live in a world of snowflakes. (Press release and link to the lawsuit, which starts out wildly, is here. Note: I would say her lawyers are crazy because they'll never get a dime, but I'm afraid they'll sue me. Oops.)
  • Messenger: Above the Fold


at 8:31 AM

1.21.2020

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts



  • I just left my Liberally Lean Certified Weather Genius Lab: The rain becomes widespread in Wise County at 9:25 p.m. You'll hear it pummel your house between midnight and 3:00 a.m., and it will continue, but not quite as hard, throughout Wednesday. The chance of snow or ice is less that 0%. We won't even sniff freezing temperatures. 
  • This morning there was an "officer involved shooting" at an apartment complex in Denton which primarily houses UNT students. Here's how the Executive Director of Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT) just described it: 
    Scripture? Now I'm picturing the "Your read the Bible, Brett?" scene
  • The Tarrant County Young Republicans issued a pseudo-apology for the White Power gesture being thrown up during the MLK Day Parade yesterday. The group just wrote it off as just "kid stuff" and promised to give him a good talking to.

  • A faithful reader told me yesterday that the lady with the "unnaturally perfect teeth" is Tavia Shackles Hunt who is a former Miss Teen Missouri and former Miss Kansas. Her daughter (below), who also has perfect teeth, goes to SMU.
  • "I wasn't wrong, I am just far more correct now than I was then."  - Alan Dershowitz defending his different positions over the years on what it takes to impeach a president. I may use that.
  • One of the most conservative and gun loving guys I know (and a Wise County native), thinks you're a nut if you open carry. 
    This guy had his 15 minutes of fame yesterday
    at the Virginia gun rally
  • In case you ever thought it would be a good idea to ride a moped on Central Expressway at 1:30 in the morning . . . .
  • The Runaway Bay City Council will vote tonight on support for the Second Amendment.  Rumor has it that Lee Greenwood and a bald eagle will be seated at the council table. But I'm not sure if voicing support for the 4th Amendment, which is supposed to prevent illegal search and seizure of persons and vehicles on highway 380 which splits the town, is also on the agenda.
  • My favorite sign while I was in D.C. (It was in the Newseum.) 
  • "Universe."
  • I lived over a half of century before crimping a coaxial cable. The streak ended yesterday. I'll have to put that on my bragging montage. 


at 8:32 AM

1.20.2020

Random Monday Morning Thoughts


  • So the apartment complex murdered him? I thought the family supported the DA's position that there was "no excuse" for the shooting? And nothing relieves your grief like asking for a big bag of money.
  • Rob Lowe wore an NFL cap yesterday. An. NFL. Cap.  Sheesh.  (Side note: The fact that any version of 911 is popular is proof positive that some people will watch anything. Side note #2: How much did they have to pay Lowe to get him to do 911: Lone Star?)
  • After the Chiefs won the AFC Championship, I was fascinated to learn that the lady on the left, the widow of Lamar Hunt, is 81 years old. And I was equally fascinated by the other lady's mouth. It was unnaturally perfect. 
  • There was a shooting at a "River Walk" club in San Antonio, but I had my graphics department prepare an expensive visual aid to show that the river walk is a lot longer than you might think.

    "Circled" portion is the well known area. The shooting
    was on the 1000 block of Avenue B.
  • It's a little hard to explain that these are the stats for the winning quarterback in an NFC Championship game. And it's a little hard to explain the look that Aaron Rodgers threw down yesterday.
  • Compare and contrast: Look at these two college quarterbacks, especially Mahomes, in a bizarre game in October of 2016.
  • It's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. 
  • There's a gun rally in Virginia today, and in anticipation of it, six neo-Nazis who are a part of a group called "The Base" have been arrested. While briefly listening to WBAP this morning, Brian Estridge caused me to raise my eyebrows when he questioned the arrests and asked "Why?" they were arrested and pointing out the right to free assembly.  Maybe I'm wrong, but it sounds like it was an imminent threat to kill anti-fascists.  (Hal Jay then caused a major stop down when he decided to defend the Virginia governor for banning guns in the capitol building by challenging his co-hosts to "Name me a capitol where guns are allowed!")
  • Edit: Here are the Open Carry guys showing up this morning. Video. (They keep coming.)
  • Now Trump's lawyer for the Impeachment Trial is taking the position I thought Trump should have taken all along. Instead, back then, they called honorable men and women who testified in front of the House committee liars. 
  • I've seen more pictures of Trump and Lev Parnas together than Trump and Barron. 
  • This story was getting a lot of attention over the weekend. A bold future is coming. Combine data mining of everything about you (which you've already freely given up online for a couple of decades) coupled with a third person being able to link that data by simply capturing an image of your face, and that's where we are headed. It's an episode of Black Mirror where you put on a pair of high tech classes and people are named and "ranked" as you scan a room. And you will set the "ranking" parameters -- things you want to be alerted to -- with scores for items like criminal history, religion, number of marriages, credit ranking, health risk, a Twitter online bully score, etc.  And, of course, law enforcement will have it before the rest of us.
  • Perfect fit. The guy who advocated impeaching a President for lying about sex will now defend the most epic liar in presidential history.  (Trump called Starr a "lunatic" in 1999.)
  • Uh, you boys are wearing camouflage in space?
  • The National Archives -- which I'm an expert on because I was just there -- has apologized for this and will remedy the "error."  This is a little North Koreay™. 
  • Messenger: Above the Fold

They don't have color ink in Kansas City? 

at 8:38 AM

1.17.2020

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







at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts



  • Two men are dead in Fort Worth after their pickup went off the bridge on University Drive spanning the Trinity. 
  • What I Said on Last November vs. Fox News Last Night:
    11/20/19

    1/16/20
  • Whatever happened to Former Dallas DA Susan Hawk? (Shout out to my courthouse buddy who asked me this question yesterday.)
  • The Astros cheating story is nearing the level of the Black Sox Scandal of 1919 as proof plausibly shows that Jose Altuve might have been wearing a device which allowed him to be tipped off to pitches during home games.  Here's the alleged "Don't rip off my shirt" video.
  • He did that weird thing again yesterday. Video.
  • But, then again, he was stressed.
  • The impeachment trial will be the first trial ever that Chief Justice John Roberts has presided over. 
  • Odell Beckham Jr. has an arrest warrant out for him for slapping a cop on the butt in LSU's locker room during the celebration after winning the national championship. The Victim was telling players to put out their cigars or face arrest. Beckham was acting a fool, but this doesn't help the "Are there too many cops?" mantra. Video. EDIT: IT WAS A SECURITY GUARD which makes this even worse. 
  • Fox News vs. Washington Post this morning.

  • Another local news personality is leaving the business. Turnover in local affiliates isn't new -- here's a list of comings and goings from just last year --  but the number which are choosing a completely different profession is a growing trend. I think started locally when Fox 4's Lari Barager left to be the PR person for Duncanville ISD a few years back. (Which was a great loss, because no one's ears perked up more about a wheels off Wise County story than Barager.)
  • Baylor will officially announce on MLK Day that they have hired an Hispanic coach.
  • Actually discussed on the radio this morning which is absolutely correct: If criminal trials were resolved by "Trial by Combat", the State would be provided better weapons than the Defendant because the State has the burden of proof.  That is a shockingly true analogy, and I might use it during voir dire. (This is the current news story that prompted the discussion.)  
  • Oh, the humanity!:



at 8:30 AM
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