3.29.2014

This Is Quite The Phenomenon




We are seeing more and more of this. Second Amendment advocates who are aware that is it absolutely legal to carry a rifle (or any other legal and long barreled firearm) down a city street in Texas. So they do it and film the cops when they come to investigate them.

The only way it is a crime is if the firearm is displayed "in a manner calculated to alarm". Then it's a Class C, fine only, misdemeanor.

It also looks like the city of Arlington may have an ordinance prohibiting handing anything to a person occupying a motor vehicle on a public street. So one of the gun supporters in this video asks the cop, "So if I hand this copy of the Constitution to that guy I'm going to get a citation?"
at

3.28.2014

Above The Fold

at

Britney Taking You Into The Weekend


at

Out of Denton

FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4)
DFW: Amber Alert issued for abducted 10-year-old boy bit.ly/1hF6zxz

Edit: Cancelled at 3:50 p.m.
at

Highland Park PD Gonna Highland Park PD




"The Highland Park Department of Public Safety, however, is not your average police department. To better present their version of events, they produced what is essentially a nine-minute segment from America's Most Wanted, complete with actors, a voice-over, and sepia-toned reenactments, all punctuated by explanatory clips of an authoritative talking-head interview with the Public Safety Director Chris Vinson . . . . As far as propaganda goes, this is top-notch . . . . It's also hard to watch without wondering how magical it must be to live in a town so loaded that it can hire a professional PR firm to turn a couple of dash-cam videos into full-scale multimedia productions."  Source.
at

Financial News From MLB Yesterday





at

From Last Night?


at

Random Friday Morning Thoughts


  • A big law firm hired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, at taxpayer's expense, concluded he had no role in the George Washington Bridge lane closings. What a goofball. 
  • The Fifth Circuit upheld Texas' new abortion restrictions. The Fifth Circuit is like having Fox News make judicial rulings.
  • That may have been the thickest fog I've ever seen this morning. 
  • The video of the guy shot and killed by Highland Park Police officers is fascinating. He is searched in the back seat of the patrol car, but the cop doesn't find a handgun in the guy's pocket. He then is able to move his handcuffed hands from his back to his front, get the gun, shoot out the passenger window, and flee. Then another camera shows the cops firing at him (he's off screen) within seconds. The question is whether the dead guy pointed the gun back at the officers. (I absolutely disagree with Fox 4's legal analyst Pete Shulte -- who is normally spot on -- that it didn't matter if he pointed the gun because "he had already demonstrated that he could use a firearm".)
  • Sports: (1) Baylor got drilled last night and it wasn't even close. I actually turned it off. Wisconsin has a seven foot white guy that just shredded Baylor's big guys. But Baylor President Ken Starr -- still have trouble typing that -- met Angela from The Office at the game.  (2) Great graphic depicting how long, in real time, it takes to play the final minute of a NCAA Tourney game. (3) When the Colt's owner was stopped a couple of weeks ago for drunk driving, he had $29,000 in cash on him. 
  • I can't get enough of this clip of Nancy Grace, in her irritating voice, saying, "To look for poooooorrrrrn, Dan!"
  • "Denton Woman Makes Record-Breaking Donation of Breast Milk." And that's all I have to say about that. 
  • I had no idea it is just the Star-Telegram and not the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
  • The Alvord ISD athletic director's contract was not renewed after a tie vote on the issue by the school board. A post on Liberally Lean about his hiring in 2011 generated 93 comments. 
  • I didn't care about the announcement by Gwyneth Paltrow of her separation from Chris Martin other than her entitling it "Conscious Uncoupling". 
  • Dallas Attorney Lisa Blue (I've dogged her before) is selling her mansion in Dallas. Take a look at that thing. 




at

3.27.2014

Washington Mudslide Animated GIF


Looks like you could see that coming.
at

Sarah Palin's New Reality Show



So America that it hurts.
at

So It's A Profit Thing!




Johnny Manziel had his pro day today and came dressed in Nike gear. Obviously, this was no coincidence. I've never heard of a "Pro Day Collection".

Edit:  ESPN's College Game Day's Kirk Herbstreit attacked a man's career. For those who don't follow Twitter, Herbstreit makes a goofy comment about Manziel. Some guy calls him out. Herbstreit then retweets the comment and points out that the guy is an "insurance adjuster" (which he learned by clicking on his profile.) That's just weird for the normally easy going ESPN company man.


at

I'll Make An Exception And Post A Video Of An Obscene Gesture



Youtube description: This happened to me on SR 41 in Tampa on Monday March 24th. This pathetic excuse for a human being tailgated me for about three minutes. After about a minute, and me shaking my head, I pulled out my phone and started recording. I couldn't move over because there were trucks in the right lane, and I sure as heck wasn't going to speed on a rainy day with the roads being as slick as they were. I was turning left in about a half-mile when this happened. Now bear in mind, that this guy had already passed a truck in a left turn lane, was tailgating and driving recklessly on a wet slick road, wasn't paying attention, and all in all being an ignorant ass. In the full video which I will post later, you will be able to see that not once was I mouthing off, I never brake checked him, and in fact until I watched the video after the accident I didn't even know he shot a bird at me because I wasn't looking at him at all, I was paying attention to the road while holding the phone up with my right hand. I've recorded circumstances like this before, catching idiots doing stupid things, but never ever had this happen.
at

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts



  • That civil case tried in Wise County this week was a big one: A $2.4 million verdict in a whistleblower lawsuit against Fort Worth ISD was returned yesterday. The case was actually tentatively settled last year for around $300,000 but the school board refused later to approve it. The Fort Worth Weekly has covered the case extensively. The verdict was 11-1.
  • The twenty year old man who had sex with the Saginaw teacher when he was 17, and who has now filed a lawsuit, was on Fox 4 last night but the station obscured his identity. You'll have to look long and hard to find a guy who whines as much as him. And if he's "brave" enough to file a lawsuit, why protect his identity?
  • Speaking of everyone wanting to star in his own movie, a press conference by an attorney for one of the kids suing Ethan Couch was borderline nauseating. "[My clients are concerned] that his case of affluenza has not been cured," said the lawyer. Please. You proud of that line?
  • Motorcycle death involving an off duty Dallas police officer. 
  • First KXAS Channel 5 and the Dallas Morning News teamed up and now the Star-Telegram and WFAA Channel 8 have formed an alliance. There's no one left to objectively cover the local media. 
  • The Klan recruiting in Wise County made Channel 8 News last night. 
  • Idiocracy: It's Johnny Manziel's pro day today. The NFL Network will cover it live, and Rick Perry and George W. Bush will attend. 
  • The Dallas City Council has passed an ordinance that every grocery store will have to charge five cents per disposable plastic bag if the customer opts for using the plastic bag. The store will keep 10% of that nickel and the City of Dallas gets the remainder. What a logistical nightmare.
  • "White Sox to sell 12-scoop banana split in full-size batting helmet for $17." Picture.
  • I have no idea what the implications are of the ruling yesterday that Northwestern football players may unionize.
  • For some reason, the story of the Malaysian airliner has dwarfed the coverage of what is a major U.S. disaster: 16 dead and 90 missing in the Washington mudslide.  
  • Rangers starting rotation in 2011: C.J. Wilson, Colby Lewis, Derek Holland, Matt Harrison and Alexi Ogando (with Neftali Feliz as the closer.) This year's starting rotation: Tanner Scheppers (never started a major league game), Martin Perez, Robbie Ross (never started major league game),  Joe Saunders (9.72 ERA this Spring), and Nick Martinez (never started a major league game). Good luck with all that.
  • The Update is throwing out a Random Thought Girl in photo #3.


at

3.26.2014

Not The Dairy Queen!!!


at

If Usain Bolt Were White And A Cop

at

Think Your Life Is Hard?

bagofnothing (@bagofnothing)
my dying friend went coffin shopping 3littlecowboys.blogspot.com/2014/03/bellie…


at

Almost Like The Ending Of Speed*



(NBC-Chicago) Thirty-two people were injured, none seriously, when an eight-car train continued through the end of the platform and struck the escalators leading to the terminals at O’Hare International Airport early Monday morning. “The train actually climbed over the last stop, jumped up on the sidewalk and then went up the stairs and escalators,” Chicago Fire Department Commissioner Jose Santiago said of the crash, which happened just before 3 a.m. on the CTA’s Blue Line.

 *(Yeah, Speed was about a bus but they threw in a silly subway scene at the end.)
at

Fun With TV Sports Watching And Demographics


NASCAR:

NBA:
 

Racial make-up is vastly different. Income, however, about the same. Age incredibly different with NASCAR having 86% of its viewers being 35 and older.

Charts for other major sports here.
at

Ever Wonder What A Klan Application Looks Like?


As I said earlier, these folks are recruiting in Wise County.

Dues of $120 a year? What do you get for that? A sheet? Hood? Subscription to "Modern Klansman"?
at

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts


  • The Young County Attorney (Graham) decided to run for an unpaid position on the board of the city's hospital district. He then learned that cost him his job per state law. 
  • I saw a video the other day of a cop in Wise County who had one of those new lapel cameras. It's awful when compared to the dashboard camera. I felt like I was watching a paparazzi video on TMZ.
  • I'm not sure why blocks and blocks of downtown Dallas had to be shutdown yesterday when an "active shooter" (who later was discovered to not have a gun) was barricaded in an apartment and surrounded by police.
  • If Yu Darvish has a serious neck injury (he is scheduled to see a big time surgeon) the Rangers will need to worry about the Astros instead of making the playoffs.
  • There's some big civil case going on at the courthouse.  I think it has something to do with alleged wrongful termination, but I'm not sure. 
  • At first I thought this kid arrested for Public Intoxication in Denton overnight had a serious facial birthmark. But that birthmark also appears to be on his hoodie. Paint? What the heck is going on there?
  • Cops pretty much execute a guy for illegal camping in New Mexico. Incredible. 
  • The new Messenger has a story about Boyd High's 1600 meter relay team saying it came within an "eyelash" of breaking the 1992 all time school record of 3:30.06 last week in Springtown. They ran a 3:33.08. I'm no track expert, but that's a long way from an "eyelash", isn't it?
  • Someone commented the other day, in light of my callback to the U.S.'s financial implosion under Bush, that there was another round of bank failures coming. Not so fast. The Fed said a few days ago that after the most recent "stress test" of the nation's thirty largest banks, twenty-nine passed. 
  • According to the Update, the Loyal White Knights of the KKK are recruiting in Wise County. Don't worry, they are just misunderstood. According to their website, they are not a "hate group," However, they do "hate drugs, homosexuality, abortion, and race-mixing . . . . Our goal is to help restore America to a White Christian nation founded on God's word. This does not mean that we want to see anything bad happen to the darker races, we simply want to live separate from them." I think I've read stuff like that in the comment section before. 
  • Dramatic footage yesterday of a rescue of a construction worker in the crazy fire in Houston yesterday.


at

3.25.2014

Above The Fold

at

Random Political Commercial



Ol' Joni comes out throwing a haymaker.
at

One heck of a fire

DFW Scanner (@DFWscanner)
NOT DFW - Massive 4 alarm apartment fire in Houston. pic.twitter.com/UjzWhEesLh


at

We've Got A Reverse "And Another" Civil Lawsuit


Story.

"Bobbie Edmonds, [a Fort Worth] attorney for the former student, said that the relationship with [the teacher] damaged [her client] mentally and emotionally and that it has also delayed his plans to begin his career in the Marine Corps."

at

Hey, Brides, The W Hotels In New York Are Offering Something Special


at

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts



  • A huge question mark formed over my head when I saw the headline that the lead singer of Gwar had died.
  • Sports and Sports Media: (1) Baylor's men and women's team are both in the Sweet 16 and the football team won the Big 12. Oh, these are the salad days. (2) I was going to predict that the Rangers wouldn't make the playoffs but now that seems too easy. (3) Mark Cuban Struggle Face. (4) Cuban elaborated on why he thinks the NFL will implode in 10 years because of greed by writing a five point essay -- and only one of the points had to do with greed. (5) Yesterday morning, The Ticket had the Fake Nolan Ryan on to talk about his curse on the Texas Rangers -- they've done the Ryan bit since the 1990s. Yesterday afternoon, the talent deprived Ben and Skin Show on The Fan had the Fake Nolan Ryan on to talk about his curse on the Texas Rangers.  (6) Fox 4's Mike Doocy said last night that going to New York in the NIT is more valuable for SMU than an early exit from the NCAA Tourney. Couldn't disagree more -- no one remembers that Baylor won the NIT last year. (7) The time a Randy Johnson fastball destroyed a bird in spring training. (8) There's a photo going around of former Buffalo Bill QB Jim Kelly in a hospital room with his daughter as he battles cancer. I don't know if it is touching or daughter self-promotion. 
  • What was that Malaysian press conference about? That the plane is probably at the bottom of the ocean? Was that really news?
  • I've seen Meet the Parents a ton of times but never realized Phyllis George was in it. 
  • Watched Capote again this weekend. It's weird because it is so entertaining watching Phillip Seymour Hoffman in a movie that isn't at all entertaining. 
  • A couple of guys parachuted off the Freedom Tower last year. A video was released yesterday -- it takes a while to get going but it's pretty wild. 
  • "And Another" - Georgia.  2014 takes a step backwards with this one but gets a little extra credit for involving the Waffle House.
  • No two words have been abused more in the last decade than "Breaking News." 
  • Fascinating story in last month's Texas Monthly. Basically a couple of ex-Baylor students take the Bible very literally and form what may or may not be a cult in Wells, Texas. In fact, that's the subtitle: "When is a church a cult?" It's a fine line. 




at

3.24.2014

Rumors Of His Death Were Greatly Exaggerated


I don't know who Quinton Ross is but apparently he went to a Dallas area high school, SMU, and briefly played for the Mavs.  Twitter blew up with news that the New York Post was reporting he had been found dead in a shallow grave in the New York area.

Everyone jumps in . . .




And then these "not so fast: type of reports come in  . . .




Apparently the dead guy is Quinton Ross. Just not that Quinton Ross.
at

Another Reason To Feel Old





(And the movie plays a role in a more recent film, Pitch Perfect. Pitch Perfect is a chick flick. That's about all I know. But I swear that thing is on what seems to be some endless loop in my House Full Of Girls.)
at

Cop v. Cop

Would you put up with sexual harrassment from this Texas Constable?
 This deputy constable said he was subjected to it but was just awarded $567,000 by a jury for his trouble. (That was $200,000 more than his attorney asked for.)

at

Of Course, Every Other Day They Retract and Correct Prior Reports


at

Random Monday Morning Thoughts



  • Longview decided it didn't want Ted Nugent to perform at a festival in the city so they are paying him $16,000 to go away. (Maybe my favorite statement was from the mayor who said, “Not a lot of people know who Ted is. Younger people here don’t know him.”)
  • A man who was subject to the Bataan Death March and who lived in Tarrant County for a while, died over the weekend. (I raved about this book a few years back about the March.)
  • Saw some tweets this weekend that Stephen F. Austin is the ultimate party school. I'm not sure I've ever heard that. 
  • A guy was shot and killed outside of a pool hall in Arlington over the weekend. He was 24 and  "the father of three sons and another baby is due."
  • I read the Lake Waco Murder article I mentioned last week, and I had totally forgot how controversial former Waco DA Vic Feazell was. He was indicted by the feds but ended up being found not guilty. And WFAA went after him in a 10 part series which prompted him to sue the company and ultimately win $58 million.
  • Man, CBS just wouldn't leave a crying Kansas kid alone in the Stanford game yesterday. 
  • "Present-day college freshman and devout Christian, Josh Wheaton, finds his faith challenged on his first day of Philosophy class by the dogmatic and argumentative Professor Radisson." That's the premise of the film God's Not Dead which finished fifth at the box office this weekend. And we've got the blockbuster Noah coming out soon. 
  • Random fact:  41 percent of all American children are born out of wedlock.
  • Regarding the solicitation case reported by the Messenger last week: "[He] was arraigned on the solicitation charge by Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace Terri Johnson in Decatur and was transported to the court of jurisdiction." Huh? I have no idea what that means. Everyone just sits in jail or bonds out. 
  • "And another" from Oklahoma. (Actually occurred late last year.)
  • James Rebhorn, a character actor you have seen a million times but didn't know his name, has died. 
  • Sports: (1) Didn't expect Baylor to win by 30 last night -- and it wasn't that close, (2) The Rangers appear to be in book trouble. Profar is out 10 to 12 weeks, and their pitching staff is the worst in years, (3)  Mark Cuban thinks "the NFL is 10 years away from an implosion" because of greed. Is there a place I can bet him on that? It's simply silly. (And he might was to focus on a basketball team that he is running into the ground.) 





at