3.16.2021

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts





R.I.P. Bono's restaurant north of Decatur. 
  • From yesterday. Incredible video.

  • The Texas Senate set a record yesterday by filing a bill and passing it in one day by suspending  all the rules and reversing deadlines. It all had to do with (the probable unconstitutional) wiping out $16 billion in electricity charges during the February storm.   It was spearheaded by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick who immediately held a press conference and conspicuously said that, despite rumors, he is not going to run for Governor. Side note: He's going to run for governor. 
  • I don't understand how to interpret the pricing at Weatherford College.
    • The price schedule:
      • "Tuition for in-district (Parker County) students was approved at $102 per credit hour, a 7 percent increase" 
      • "Out-of-district tuition increased to $170 per hour" 
      • "Out-of-district Wise County will be $129" 
    • Say I live in Jack County: What do I pay if I attend a class in Wise County? $170 or $129?
    • What do I pay if I live in Wise County and attend class at the Parker County campus? 
  • Security guard overkill.

  • They bloom like clockwork and show up seemingly overnight every year between March 10th and March 15th. I'm a big fan. 

  • I want COVID to be gone, but I'm not all that thrilled with "things going back to the way they were." 
  • This is interesting. I think there might actually be some very, very slight wiggle room of "forcing" employees to engage in a prayer, but the allegation that employees "were then harassed and fired after they refused to comply" which is the big problem. The doctor got hit with a $375,000 fine. 

  • You might want to avoid the XTC parking lot in Dallas. These are different incidences on two consecutive nights:  
    Early this morning

    Early Monday morning

  • This happened in India and is proof you don't want to stand under a tree during a storm. Video. (Warning: They all drop like a rock. One reportedly didn't survive.) 

  • I can't wait for the Feds to finally lock this guy up. Not for wasting money, but for his other crimes. 

  • Some people like looking a Zillow, I like looking at rent prices. This new apartment building which just opened in Dallas has a 512 square foot studio unit starting at $1,649 a month.
    Central Expressway and Knox



  • None of us are safe. (And someone needs to call the Apostrophe Police.) My favorite might be "High Fullutent"

  • Sign-up for the Liberally Lean Modified Scoring System March Madness Tourney. I'm serious -- get on it. First round games this year are on Friday and Saturday instead of the typical Thursday and Friday. And the funny names of bracket's keep coming: 

  • Legal nerd stuff: I've been waiting to see the appellate brief in the Wichita Falls/Lottery Winner/ Sexual Assault/High Priced Attorneys/No Defense case, and it has finally been filed. Dear Fort Worth Court of Appeals, please put up a link to it. 
  • Sports: There is no more meaningless and hollow stat than that of the "triple double." 



at 8:31 AM

3.15.2021

Random Monday Morning Thoughts





Ten years ago we had the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in Japan. I had forgotten that its cause was an earthquake and subsequent Tsunami that killed 16,000 people. (And that's a different Tsunami than the one you are thinking about that hit Indonesia in 2004.)
  • News on Friday afternoon can quickly fade from memories, and by this morning hardly anyone is mentioning the racist redneck from Oklahoma caught on a live mic. He was one of the announcers of a live stream of a girls' high school basketball game who took exception to one team taking a knee during the national anthem.   Here's the audio. Here's his apology where he blames his blood sugar. 

  • A viral video does not show a lady being arrested in Galveston for not wearing a mask. The lady was arrested for violating a decades old criminal trespass law in Texas which says once a property owner tells you to leave and you refuse to leave, you are committing an arrestable offense. Video.

  • This news flash from Love Field this morning might be pretty good evidence that we, rightly or wrongly, are "getting back to normal."

  • Now we know why it's easy to get a COVID vaccine in West Texas: Half of Republican men won't get it.


  • If this guy is accurate, Wise County will receive $13.57 million from the most recent Congressional stimulus package.

  • This picture, from a "Spring Break at Port Aransas" compilation, got my attention. It really is a work of art. I'm guessing the guy being held back just decked the other guy, but look at all the expressions in the background. Click to enlarge.

  • Mortgage crisis flashback humor. 


  • This story is pretty wild: According to police, a guy in Hurst was trying to steal a homeowner's catalytic convertor from a truck outside his residence so the homeowner ran outside with a gun and fired three shots, killing the alleged thief, as he attempted to drive away. Cops arrested the homeowner. The grand jury decided to kill the case. 

  • Drug cases filed in Texas courts have fallen for the first time in years. The reason: Due to a legislative screw-up from a couple of years ago, marijuana cases now require a lab report showing the percentage of THC -- the ingredient in weed that makes you high.  With basically no labs doing that, more and more prosecutors are simply declining prosecution. Source: Grits for Breakfast.


  • Bad legal take. (And it is from a new congressman with a questionable background.) 

  • Gov. Abbott will hold a press conference today with this guy announcing new efforts to make it harder to vote in Texas under the guise of "voting reform."

  • Here's the Liberally Lean Tourney Pick 'Em link. Remember, it's a tricked up scoring system where upset picks in the first two rounds can win the whole thing. Get on it. 

  • I don't want to dog UT after they won the Big 12 Tourney, but it seems like a big deal that they got to rest the day before the game against OSU (because Kansas withdrew due to COVID issues) while OSU had to duke it out with Baylor the evening before. 
  • Caught the WBAP good old boys dogging the Grammys last night because of the rap artist performances and musing that they prefer "bands like the Eagles or Foo Fighters who just stand up there and sing." Sheesh. I wonder why the distinction.  


at 8:32 AM

3.12.2021

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts






Ten years ago yesterday there was a heck of a grass fire around Rhome during high winds. Fox 4 put up a live helicopter feed, and I basically ran a live blog posting photos as they came in. 
  • Yesterday marked the unofficial beginning of the Covid Shutdown, so I went back and looked about how I reacted to it. That post is here. It was the first time had a bullet point which included a chart about the spread of the virus. I was pretty shocked when I saw it: The U.S. hadn't yet hit a day which had cracked 300 cases. Here is what it looked like on 3/12/20:

  • President Biden addressing the nation last night felt so good simply because it felt so normal. 
  • Let's check out how Fox News handled it:
    Look at  the chyron

    This is amazing: At one point they had a Tucker Carlson "reaction cam"
    in the corner of the screen during the President's address. Watch it in action. This is real.

  • Weird sight yesterday at Lake Bridgeport: A helicopter was hovering over the water as it lowered some object into the water. The object (not a person) stay submerged for at least five minutes before it was raised back up and the helicopter flew away. 

     
  • Forensic hypnosis might be the dumbest "science" ever used to convict people. When I was DA in Wise County in the 1990s, I had one case where it had been used during the investigation. When I saw the video of the witness "hypnotized", I cringed. And then I laughed. It was ridiculous. The hypnotist would have been more credible if he had pulled out a watch, waved it back and forth, and said, "You're getting sleepy."   Fortunately, that witness couldn't remember anything new because of the "hypnosis session" so it wasn't a factor in the case. 

  • DPS is trying to promote a kinder and gentler presence on Twitter.

    • The other images aren't quiet as tender:


  • People are getting a head start by signing up for the March Madness Liberally Lean Modified Scoring System Pick 'Em Tourney. You can, too. Here is a very funny entry from yesterday: Edit: Link fixed.

  • If you are a prosecutor or judge who has your name and address blocked from appraisal district websites (that's a perk you get if you avail yourself of it), you might find out that your property taxes last year weren't paid from your mortgage escrow account.  It's happened in Dallas, Denton and Tarrant Counties.  The problem was caused by a company named CoreLogic who is a "company hired by mortgage companies to pay property taxes for them." (Now how exactly this screwup happened is unclear because the story in the Dallas Morning News was written by Dave "The Watchdog" Leiber. He has frustrated me before. )

  • Dak Prescott's girlfriend made a rare appearance with him at the Wednesday press conference to announce the contract extension. I was looking for a picture of her from it, but instead discovered that she posted this last Halloween. 

  • Star-Telegram front page story: Prosecutors "presented false testimony" that lead to man spending 25 years in prison. (The background story from last fall is probably better.)

  • 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: 616 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold



at 8:29 AM
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