Cue The Six Flags Music

A teenage girl escaped serious injury Saturday evening after falling 25 feet from an amusement park ride in Upstate New York — and into the arms of a crowd that had gathered below to catch her.

The dramatic fall and rescue was captured on video by at least one bystander at Six Flags Great Escape in Lake George, N.Y., about 60 miles north of Albany, where the incident took place. More.

(1) How in the world did she get herself in that predicament?

(2) That's not 25 feet.

(3) Does that woman not possess the most annoying voice and attitude in the history of ever? 

Weekend Sports

Not a motorcycle death (but close):

MotoGP rider somehow feeling "almost like new" after horrible faceplant crash https://t.co/O9Z4nO0e5K pic.twitter.com/B7A14L7Wpd

— Deadspin (@Deadspin) June 24, 2017

Josh Jackson is the #4 pick in the NBA draft:

Josh Jackson threw juuuuust a bit outside. 😂 #SCNotTop10 pic.twitter.com/JPakPZBfKD

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 24, 2017

Above The Fold

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• This morning, the WBAP boys (Hal Jay, Brian Estridge and Steve Lamb) spent a whole segment snarkily laughing at California's public "travel ban" of Texas because of the Bathroom Bill. Uh, guys,  it's not because of the Bathroom Bill. 
• We're full time out at Lake Bridgeport now, basically my "residence", and you sure see a lot of odd things. One of my favorites is a "Monster Boat" which appears sometimes around midnight with six to eight massive floodlights. The guys in it are bow fishing. 
• If you want to know the answer to Trump's following question, read this Washington Post article from Friday. It's the most comprehensive article about Russian meddling to date.  (And Trump is ranting about the Russian investigation  again this morning. Every right winger wants the subject to die, but Trump just keeps it front and center.)
  
• Pete Delkus was being mean to a Twitter follower, and someone came to intervene. Here's what happened: 

  

  This is how it started

  

  Michael to the rescue. (Delkus then blocked him.)

• I saw the first episode of The Keepers. I'm hooked. A very Making of a Murderer feel to it. 
• What's going on with that 14 year old Bedford girl found dead in an Arlington landfill? The Chief of Police said on Friday: "“Our information ... does not indicate a further risk to our community.” Huh? This may not have been an abduction at all. 
• Trump appeared on Fox and Friends. Here are the questions. This is almost like Chris Farley interviewing Paul McCartney.
  
• I don't know why I follow WFAA's Todd Unger on Twitter, but it didn't take long to realize he's a little Rush Limbaugh. Man, he has some hot conservative opinions. 
  
• Another lake observation from Saturday: Two guys in a $40,000 bass boat (250 horsepower) showed up on the shore right below me (fishing in the rain during a tournament), and then one of them caught one of the biggest basses I've seen. He then measured it and threw it back. 
• The Koch Brothers held a three day conservative summit retreat at the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado over the weekend: Those in attendance included: Greg Abbott, Ted Cruz, and John Cornyn. Do their campaign funds pay for that trip? Any taxpayer dollars?
  
• How the press just accepts cameras being banned from the White House daily briefings is amazing. 
• Oh, my: 
  
• A World War II vet who survived Pearl Harbor had his ashes returned to the U.S.S. Arizona. If you want to see a moving video, watch his family members hand those ashes to a diver above the sunken ship.
• The Houston Police Department now has a "Rainbow Cruiser". 
  
• There's a death notice in the Update of a young man who has the same name as a guy who spent 70 months in federal prison for buying too much pseudoephedrine at CVS. What a screwed up War on Drugs we have. (And, yes, I know the purpose of the law.)

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

 And it's Big Bear with the Diving Crossbody move off the turnbuckle for the pin. 

 They should be awarded for not laughing. 

(Quite the tats on that one guy.)

 Rubbernecking 101.

 Laugh at the dive then worry about if she resurfaces. 

Funny bit. Except for all those post event ACL surgeries.

Sequel: "Planet Of The Apes: We're Having Fun Here, No?"

I cannot stress enough how important it is you watch this gorilla bathe-dancing to maniac. By @bobhagh pic.twitter.com/e15f9NPO7j

— Kristina Lucare🥂i (@KristinaLuca) June 22, 2017

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Texas college sports money:
• 
• Any Supreme Court opinion is flawless. No typos. Always grammatically correct. Every case cited down to the page is always spot on. That being said, a case released yesterday had a glaring error. (It was taken down and replaced within an hour.) 
  
• Oakland Raider QB Derek Carr received a 5 year deal at $25 million a year yesterday making him the highest paid NFL player. Sixteen years ago, the Rangers agreed to paid Alex Rodriguez $25.2 million a year for 10 years. Buy your kid a baseball.
• The NBA draft was last night. Let's flashback to pre-draft in 1984:
  
• I apologize that it took me 48 hours to link to the Official Liberally Lean Girl on the beach. 
• It's been a while since I've dogged Dennis Prager (which always angers his one fan which reads Liberally Lean.) I saw this yesterday. I always prefer that if an angry, old white man is going to lecture me on race relations that he be holding a cigar as he does so.
  
  
• I've had two people tell me I should watch Netflix's The Keepers because it will get me riled up. (Side note: There was a time when we wondered if Netflix or Blockbuster would win that all important DVD rental war.)
• Well, the Senate rolled out their revised TrumpCare bill yesterday, and it's already in trouble. The left hates it because it tries to kill Medicaid. The far right hates it because it is basically a slightly watered down ObamaCare. (Ted Cruz is against it. Mike Lee is against it. Radio host Mark Levin was screaming about how it was 95% Obamacare. And local radio host Mark Davis said it wasn't a conservative bill.)
• And another (Bridgeport . . . . . . ., Connecticut):  
  
• And Another (Kentucky):
  
• Hey, Bridgeport is getting an Arby's. 
• So on May 12th, Trump tweeted: “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” So why did it take him until yesterday to say the following? What was the purpose of the May 12th tweet? 
  
  
  
  
• Uh, what?: 
  
• Former Arizona State coach Frank Kush died yesterday. He had accumulated a tremendous 176-54-1 record in 21½ seasons when he was fired for allegedly covering up striking a punter on his team. Eventually all was forgiven and he had an office at ASU up until the time of his death. 

We Now Have Proof Of An Impeachable Offense

Trump driving on green at Bedminster.."playing well till this hole" *knucks* @ForePlayPod pic.twitter.com/ftBmxiNrwy

— Mike Frank (@MikeNFrank) June 21, 2017

He drove onto the green.

Wildest Thing You May See All Day

Cuiden a sus mascotas!! que hubieran hecho ustedes?(al final si encontré al dueño) pic.twitter.com/w5K54kMV6x

— Calaveritabike (@calaveritabike) June 20, 2017

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• A buddy up at the courthouse, who might play golf three to four times a year and describes himself as an "average" golfer, claims he can hit a drive 300 yards if he had a high-end/high-tech driver. He's never hit a drive that far before. The parameters were that the fairway had to be flat and that he could get up to 20 tries.  I told him he's crazy.
• This Bedford teenager went missing on Monday. Late yesterday, a body was found in a North Arlington landfill. Bedford cops went there and "are not confirming or indicating it's Kaytlynn, but instead say they are awaiting more information from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office." That wording doesn't sound promising. 
• The Special Counsel makes the cover of Time: 
  
• A potential perfect game by Justin Verlander was broken up last night in the sixth inning by a bunt (gif), and baseball purists went nuts because "It's an unwritten rule that you don't do that." That's just dumb. 
• The Rangers play at 1:05 today. In Arlington. In the heat. 
• I had someone  tell me yesterday about the legend of hidden gold in Devil's Den on Lake Bridgeport. I had never heard that story. The best history of it is on page 17 of this pdf special lake edition of the Bridgeport Index from 2007. (It also has some great articles on the history of the lake and has an action shot of a former Bridgeport resident and current Waco criminal defense lawyer on the cover.)
• Trump had one of his weird rallies last night -- this time in Cedar Rapids. This goes back to my theory that he needs to be loved. Putting him in front of an adoring crowd is good for his soul.
• EDIT: And it got him back into campaign mode this morning:
  
• Police say a 21 year old in Reno, Texas (by Azle) was arrested after her six month old drowned in a bathtub. They claim she was sending Facebook messages for 18 minutes instead of watching the child. (I think this is her Facebook page with is only partially public. If it is, she has two older kids as well.)
• A few days back a lady stormed the stage of a production of Julius Ceaser in New York's Public Theater since it "portrayed Caesar as a Donald Trump look-alike who gets knifed to death on stage." It has been learned that the lady had registered a domain name prior to the incident which is currently being used as a website to solicit funds for her "legal defence." It's named FreeLaura.com even though she is not in jail.
• The Karate Kid was released 33 years ago today. 
• Trip Advisor's best restaurants in Decatur. (Not a bad list/ranking but it gets a little funny when they run out of restaurants and get down to Subway and Taco Bell.)

Why Did 11+ Big Helicopters Just Fly Over Downtown Decatur?

And I didn't get a pic.

Looked military.

Edit: They flew over again about two hours later. A faithful reader sent me this:

Another pic:

Canadian Woman Wants A White Doctor

And she apparently thinks only white doctors can speak English. (She's making the news in Canada.)

Shout out to the lady at 3:15. "Your child clearly has more issues with you being his mother than needing to see a doctor. You are extremely rude and racist!"

It's Wednesday. Let's Get Some Music In Here.

Above The Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Someone mentioned they were building a new Love's across from Devon on 380 in Bridgeport and how it might impact traffic.  Considering that the speed of construction indicates it is being built by one guy with a hammer and a hand saw, we might not have to worry about it for five years.  
• A faithful reader recommended this book about a Denton officer. I remember that case and could have sworn I wrote about it. (As always, I can't find where I did.)
  
  
• If you haven't seen the video, you need to: The cop who was found not guilty of manslaughter in Minnesota is shown firing seven times into a car at point blank range. He simply freaked out. 
• Jerry Jones just met the Pope. I hope the cameras were rolling. (The NFL has his reaction, but he didn't say anything crazy.)
  
• UPDATE!
  
• "Prosecutors seek to revoke ‘affluenza’ mom’s bond after alleged alcohol violation." That whole process is silly. She'll get arrested and a new and higher bond will be set. She'll go back to her bondsman (who no longer has any liability on the old bond and who is out no money) who will cut her a deal on the new bond and we're back to where we started. 
• It's amazing how time (and just casually following the news) shapes memories. Yesterday on The Ticket they were talking about the "affluenza" mom. They said her son received probation for the intoxication manslaughter case that killed four people because the "judge said the kid was from such a privileged lifestyle that he didn't know right from wrong." First, the judge was a she and not a he. Secondly, the judge never said such a thing. All of that came from a defense witness.
• Hey, I'm proud of the Decatur pitcher who signed with the University of Texas (although I would have preferred a school 100 miles north.) But every report I've read said he had already "signed" with Howard College. I thought Letters of Intent were binding -- at least for one year. When Baylor's scandal broke, Baylor had to "release" signees for their letters of intent in order for them to go elsewhere. How does this work?
• The Republicans held onto that Georgia congressional seat they've held for forty years.
• Legal nerd humor: I love this first sentence in an opinion just released by the D.C. federal circuit court: 
  
• It's the longest day of the year. Sunrise: 6:21. Sunset: 8:42. Texas legal trivia: Vehicle headlights are required to be on during the "nighttime" which is defined as a period 30 minutes after sunset until 30 minutes before sunrise. 
• Someone, in light of the exoneration of the couple in Austin, brought up the Satanic Cult frenzy that swept Texas two or three decades ago. I remember that  - all sorts of rumors of animals being sacrificed. I tried to find something online about it but could only find Bridgeport ISD's current dress code.
  
• I'm trying to decide what I care about less: The NBA draft or Tropical Storm Cindy. Both will have no impact on Dallas.

I Was Serious When I Said . . .

. . . Trump would sit around and get mad at North Korea today.   And it's happening.

Remember that he said the pictures of the Syrian kids being killed really got to him. Then he bombed the airport.

The story of Otto Warmbier is very disturbing as well. That first tweet sure as the undertones of "Thanks China, but we'll take it from here."

Class President/Valedictorian Being Suppressed By The Man By Getting His Mic Cut!

Darn skippy we need student councils with more power!  

(Love watching the administrator in the back start squirming.)

Story.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• One thing I love about the Supreme Court is how much they have always honored (mostly) the Free Speech clause of the First Amendment. They did so again yesterday when they killed a statute that made it illegal for any registered sex offender to access the social media. (The weirdest part was the concurrence that took a major dig at the majority opinion because it, among other things, said "the Cyber Age is a revolution of historic proportions . . . . ")
  
• And they followed that up with knocking down the law that allowed trademarks to be denied by the government because they were offensive. (I wrote a few months back about how there was no way denying a request for a trademark of an Asian band wishing to be named "The Slants" was constitutional.) 
  
• Who is in charge of the stop light on Highway 380 at Pleasant View Road (where Devon's offices are)? The City of Bridgeport or TxDot?  It backs up traffic on 380 for over a minute when there isn't a car in sight trying to get on to 380.
• Condescending Pete! 
  
• The Rangers' game, without a rain delay and without extra innings, took 3:48 to complete last night. No way I'm investing my time in that in person or even on TV.
• There was incredibly horrible reporting by all local news outlets last night regarding the recent DWI arrest of (the pretty hot) Rep. Victoria Neave. They got a hold of a document showing the charge was DWI >= 0.15" so they all reported that her blood alcohol concentration was "almost twice the legal limit"  In DWI cases in Texas, if your BAC is 0.15 or more the case is a Class A misdemeanor instead of a Class B misdemeanor. All we know is that law enforcement is claiming her BAC was at least 0.15 not that it was 0.15.  Fox 4 got it wrong. The Morning News got it wrong. WFAA got it wrong. The Ticket got it wrong. Notably, the Dallas Observer got it dead right. 
  
• So why is the Senate writing a repeal and replace bill of Obamacare in secrecy? Ted Cruz gives an explanation that is shocking:
  
• The death yesterday of Otto Warmbier, who was recently released by North Korea after being held for months for removing a propaganda flyer in his hotel, is beyond disturbing. He had been released only to be found in a comatose state. But I'm scared that Trump is going to sit around and get mad and then start launching nukes in a fit of rage. 
• A Decatur High pitcher signing with tiny Howard College and then getting an offer from the University of Texas seems unusual. 
• The Austin lawyer who calls himself the "DWI Dude" "DWI King" missed his contempt of court hearing yesterday. (I've heard he has family ties -- by marriage -- to Wise County.)
  
• And students at TCU need him. 
  
• Carrie Fisher had  Prozac, Oxycodone, heroin, cocaine and ecstasy in her system at the time of her death. Some have complained about the autopsy results being made public. The reason is simple: The autopsy was paid for with tax dollars. 
• The graphic below is the beginning of an article from Texas Monthly in 1994. After 21 years in prison, this morning the DA in Austin dismissed the case and declared them "actually innocent." 
  
• There's a big runoff race in Georgia today for an open House seat. Local radio guy Mark Davis says the Republicans will win. 

  

  They guy has never understood hash tags. 

• Sean Spicer is expected to no longer hold White House press briefings, and they are looking for a replacement. He was horrible at that job. And, disturbingly, there's a move to disallow video or audio of the press briefings or gaggles.