3.09.2021

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts





The family was that of Robert and Lisa Parr who would go on to win a $2.9 million judgment against Aruba.  The case came to an end in 2017 when the Dallas Court of Appeals overturned the verdict. They chose not to seek out a review by the Texas Supreme Court. “'I’m done. I don’t want to go through it again, which is sad,' said Parr, whose family appeared in the anti-fracking documentary Gasland Part II."
  • Job opening in Bridgeport:

  • Rightly or wrongly, businesses and events will start opening without COVID restrictions in a hurry over the next month. And I wonder if some events, especially those held outdoors, are rethinking their already announced cancellations -- Mayfest and the Main Street Arts Festival come to mind. 
  • I'm trying to get a handle on what Wise County schools are doing about masks. I've heard Paradise ISD is lifting the mask mandate effective tomorrow.  Bridgeport is keeping them. 
  • There's a lot of these videos, but this one made me want to punch the guy. He brought his kids along to educate them. 

  • Well, we got our Dak Prescott news as he signed a 4 year deal worth $160.  A ton of money? You bet, but that's just the going rate for a slightly above average NFL quarterback. But the expectations for him just skyrocketed.  People will now want to see more Pat Mahomes instead of  a fourth round pick. 
  •  "President Biden’s two German shepherds have been moved to the family home in Delaware after one of the animals showed ongoing aggressive behavior to White House staff." No indictment. No trial. No due process. That's no way to treat a good boy. (Then again, it's always a good idea to keep an eye on the Germans.) 


  • Grifters gonna grift.

  • Few things are as screwed up as the American health care system. 

  • Kansas's football programs just took another step back after going 16-90 over the last 10 seasons.  Coach Les Miles has been fired. While at LSU, he "attempted to sexualize the staff of student workers in the football program by, for instance, allegedly demanding that he wanted 'blondes with the big boobs' and 'pretty girls.'"  

  • Criminal justice news of Wichita County. "Jeffrey Tyler Sweatt, 41, is suspected of . . . soliciting sex and money from an assistant prosecutor in return for her dropping charges against him, according to allegations in court documents." Doesn't sound like a very good deal for the prosecutor. 

  • Funny.

  • I'm convinced at least one-quarter of the population is nuts. Example: Dr. Fauci was on the Meet the Press last month. Take a look at all the comments on Youtube about the interview. They believe it is an actor in a mask or is some type of deep fake. I mean they are convinced of it. 
  • Legal nerd stuff for Personal Injury lawyers:  State Rep. Jeff Leach, who I think is a con man, is supporting House Bill 19.  It's tort reform but only for cases involving commercial vehicles. Here's the text. There's a lot going on there, but I don't understand all of it since I don't practice that kind of law. Some of you guys email and tell me what he is up to. He's already being scorched in the tweet's comments. 

  • I still haven't got my Bill Gates Computer Chip Vaccine, but I'm on the list. 


at 8:31 AM

3.08.2021

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




Craig James ended up running for the Senate -- the race eventually won by Ted Cruz -- but most don't remember that. But Tech fans still remember how an incident with his son was used by the school's higher ups to get rid of Mike Leach. 
  • Here's another follow-up to that Senate race: I had forgotten that Cruz came in second place in the first round but ended up winning the run-off.  Notice that James got only 3.68%. 

  • Greg Abbott, dogged by his handling of COVID and the winter storm, has struck back. When things are going bad for you politically, you pull out your Trump playbook and look at page one: "The border! Brown people are coming!"

  • The Covid Package passed Congress on Saturday without a single Republican vote in the Senate. That's a $1,400 check for you. 
  • This guy was just minding his own business in McKinney on Friday when a bullet fired from a different apartment pierced the wall and killed him. 

    • It didn't save his life, but his friends and family were notified by his Apple Watch when he hit the floor hard. 
  • Bath and Body Works employees are not putting up with your crap. Video. 

  • Based upon what we've seen lately, this Missouri pastor should set up shop in Frisco. Video. 

  • Oh, come on. We can all agree that Pepe Le Pew was way too handsy.  

  • Very nerdy legal stuff. Justice Amy Coney Barrett issued her very first authored opinion last week and there was a dissent from Justice Breyer. After both were released, there was the rare revision of Breyer's dissent when he came back and inserted "with respect."  What's really nerdy is that there was at least one guy who noticed that "with respect" was missing from the git go. 


  • I was having to reconstruct part of a water sprinkler system due to freeze damage this weekend and learned an important distinction which could derail any related DIY project: There's a difference between "hose thread" and "pipe thread."  And for less than $2 there's a plastic adapter to convert one to another: 

  • Youtube has revolutionized any DIY project. No matter what you are trying to do, there's a video out there by some nice guy or gal walking you through each step like you're an idiot. And when I look for those videos, I welcome being treated like an idiot.  
  • The Star-Telegram weighed in on a problem which won't go away on the 40 Acres: 

  • It seems like the Cowboys will put the Franchise Tag of Dak Prescott by the 3:00 p.m. Tuesday deadline, but wouldn't it be wild if they just simply let him walk away? But I don't think it is that crazy. If they have to use the Tag for the second straight year right now, it means they would owe him $37 million for this upcoming season. But having to use the Tag means they couldn't reach a long term deal which also means they'll have the same problem next year.  The price of using the Tag again next year goes to $54 million for the 2022 season. They wouldn't do that, would they?  And if they wouldn't do it next year, would they consider not doing it this year? I mean, if the Dak Era ends next year, why not end it now and save $37 million? And what about that broken leg? 

  • I watched the one man show, In and Of Itself, on Hulu, and it's really, really good. And it's also almost impossible to explain. Part magic. Part therapy. Part introspection. And it is ok if you have moments of  "What exactly am I watching?" or "What exactly is he trying to tell me?"  I got so much out of it, and some of it is still dawning on me. Trailer.

  • England is all riled up over the Oprah interview (and equally shocked that American TV has pharmaceutical ads.)


at 8:30 AM

3.05.2021

It's Friday -- Let's Get Out of Here

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




I had to work to remember this one since the Channel 8 link didn't work.  The mother was Krishonda Townsend, who actually had gone missing in July of 2010. Her skeletal remains would be found southwest of Mineral Wells in October of 2011.  This case remains unsolved, and I never could find a cause of death.  But the Weatherford Democrat has referred to her as a "murdered teen."
  • That case reminded me of another unsolved murder case out of Midlothian -- the one involving Missy Beavers who was killed in the very early morning hours at a church in 2016. You would think that mystery would have been resolved.

  • Big Wise County news yesterday where a juvenile female shot and killed a man in a "domestic dispute within the family" in Cottondale, and law enforcement seems incredibly tight lipped about the case. The most we got is that the sheriff said, "It's a sensitive situation."  That's all a little strange and gives rise to speculation. 
  • Early indications are that the ice/snow storm has caused a ton of bush and shrub death. 
  • A Dallas police officer, Bryan Riser, was arrested yesterday on two counts of capital murder. It looks like he was a possible suspect since 2019, but they kept him on the force and didn't tip him off. I guess the big question is why it took two years to develop enough evidence for a warrant.  

    • One very weird part of that story was that Riser was arrested for domestic violence in 2017. Here is this sentence from the Morning News story: "The outcome of that case was not immediately clear; it does not appear in Dallas County court records."
  • We now know the federal charges that prompted the FBI to arrest a Denton PD officer two days ago: Child porn. 
  • Wild video out of Southlake PD:

  • This "cancel culture" may not be too bad: Dr. Seuss publisher voluntarily decided to stop printing just six of his books, and feels comfortable doing so in part because Dr. Seuss' estate made $33 million last year putting him at #2 on Forbes "The Highest-Paid Dead Celebrities Of 2020" list. 

  • The Wise County Sheriff's Office public database is down this morning. I assume it's only a momentary glitch, but I recall they were hit with a ransomware attack one time. Edit: It's back up.
  • This is a Bloomberg story, and the "watchdog" is hired by the State of Texas: 


  • Maybe the conservative Fort Worth Business Press is right when it said a couple of days ago that Gov. Abbott is a "moron." Now he wants the government to be able to control what a private company can and cannot say. And he's even holding a press conference today to promote this. (He actually knows better than this -- he's just feeding red meat to the masses.)

  • You know, Gov. Abbott is a horrible public speaker. I never really noticed this until the last couple of years where mass shootings, COVID, and the Deep Freeze have forced him to speak in front of the cameras. 
  • Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler died this week. I think the last time I mentioned him was when one of his deputies accidentally shot himself and then possibly lied about it in 2018. The original story of a third party shooter caused a massive investigation.  Fowler's reaction was only that the case was "now closed." Edit: I've learned that the deputy filed a products liability case in Parker County against the holster manufacturer.
    Even the feds were brought in to look for evidence of an "attempted murderer
    of a cop" who did not exist. 

  • If you got a lot of free time, here's the 37 page Inspector General's report revealing the past misconduct of Wise County's congressional representative Ronny Jackson: 

  • Not sure how I missed this since it's right in my wheel house: News of the World stars Tom Hanks as an ex-confederate soldier passing through Wichita Falls in the wild territory of North Texas "who assumes the dangerous task of returning a ten-year-old girl who has been taken captive by a band of Kiowa to her family in South Texas." I'm in. It's on demand on Amazon Prime or Google Play. (The film is based on a book by Paulette Jiles who was interviewed by Texas Monthly about the novel in 2016 here.)

  • Time which has passed since the Wise County Sheriff's Office has failed to solve the murder of Lauren Whitener in her home at Lake Bridgeport: 609 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold


at 8:30 AM

3.04.2021

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




I only post this one to remind everyone it was 10 years ago when Charlie Sheen started acting crazy. Those were the days of "tiger blood", "warlock", and "winning." Yep, he threw around "winning" almost more than Trump ever would. (Here's a video compilation of Sheen doing just that.)     
  • Congress shut down today because of a crazy QAnon theory that Trump will be installed as the 19th President of the United States because all presidents since Ulysses S. Grant have been illegitimate. You may not know it, but you constantly come in contact with people who believe this. 

  • Mystery charges: A Denton patrol officer has been arrested by the FBI but they haven't told us why yet. Side note: He earned $83,807 as of two years ago. 
  • Well, I got my answer as to whether the $870,00 Man would survive: 

  • President Biden has a couple of words for the governors of Texas and Mississippi about ending the mask mandate:

  • Austin PD shot and killed a man earlier this year, but they have a creative reason as to why they can't release the video of the incident. Does the video need to thaw out? 

  • To whichever Wise County Justice of the Peace who has been setting bonds at $10,000 for the penny-ante drug charge of Possession < 1 gram: Stop it. 
  • Speaking of bonds, the Texas Attorney General and Houston Police Chief sparred about the subject:

  • One person on the last Rhome City Council meeting via Zoom was pretty casual. Video. (Thanks to the Faithful Reader for the tip.) 

  • We've got another amazing video from a church in Frisco. This time is is Keith Craft of Elevate Life Church who dropped a P-Bomb during a sermon. Video. 

  • An amazing 23 people will be on the ballot to replaced deceased Congressman Ron Wright out of Fort Worth. Here's a list of their names and occupations. 
  • Can cops get a search warrant looking for evidence connected with a "crime" so small as "reckless driving"? Yep. It's easy to do because they system has been ridiculously skewed to allow the government to do whatever they want.  And probable cause has been reduced to "we've got a hunch" where judges across the country routinely just give their rubber stamp of approval. 

  • Fifteen of of President Biden's predecessors had subjected themselves to a press conference by now. Biden has not. That's a problem. 

  • Every contestant incorrectly answered the Final Jeopardy answer yesterday. Sometimes the best bet to place is no bet at all: 



  • UNT students need to be on the lookout for this sinkhole near Union Circle. (Photo from last night). 

  • Another Elon Musk rocket blew up yesterday. He's doing great. 

  • Random tweets less than 24 hours apart:


  • Healthy teachers and school staff are now immediately eligible for the vaccine everywhere. (Unhealthy teachers already were eligible.)


at 8:28 AM
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