5.26.2016

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts



  • More protesters at a Trump speech yesterday -- this time in California. When is the last time you've hear of organized protesters at routine speeches of a presidential candidate in May?
  • Urban Myth: You can't have your prescription medication in container other than the original pill bottle. And there was actually a Texas case over the last couple of weeks which backs up what I've been saying for years: "At oral argument, the State represented that it was illegal to carry prescribed medications outside of its original container as it was delivered by the pharmacist. We have not been able to locate such a law."
  • A six part show on the National Geographic Channel that is getting a lot of buzz. It is about a father who goes looking for his son who disappeared in the jungles of Costa Rica two years ago. It's called Missing Dial and people are comparing it to the great Making of a Murderer. Spoiler alert: There has been some huge news about the case in the last five days. 
  • Borderline bigot, Robert Jeffress of FBC Dallas, is in Germany right now speaking to 1,000 "young pastors."  That's all we need. That guy firing up Germany of all countries with his rhetoric. 
  • Fox 4 had a story last night that the American Sniper might have lied in his book about the number of medals he received. We know he lied about punching Jesse Ventura and killing two guys at a gas station in Texas who he said had tried to carjack him.  I wonder if people are going to start questioning his claim that he was able to shoot a guy from 2,100 yards away.
  • Baylor has a whopping 34 members on its Board of Regents.  One of them is Mark Hurd who had to resign as CEO of Hewlett-Packard after it was discovered he had covered up around $20,000 of expenses and travel related to a female "marketing consultant". She had made a claim of sexual harassment.
  • Pretty amazing: Crooks used a huge forklift to lift an ATM from a Dallas bank's drive-thru. The forklift is still at the bank this morning with the ATM on it. Pics.  
  • A column in the DMN pointed out that Appraisal Districts create a fall guy for school boards, city councils, and county commissioners.  This is certainly true this year: Property appraisals have jumped dramatically which means we are all paying higher taxes.  But those boards which set the tax rate can say, "We did not increase taxes this year." 
  • Oil has cracked $50 a barrel for the first time since November. 
  • Texas, through Abbott and Paxton -- our own comedy team, will sue the "Obama Administration" over what many news organizations are referring to as a "presidential directive" regarding schools and transgendered bathrooms. But it wasn't a "directive" at all.(Directives have the full force of law). Instead, the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division issued a joint "Dear Colleague" letter that included "significant guidance" to schools about civil rights protections for transgender students. Nevertheless, Abbott and Paxton must always invoke "Obama" at every turn: Abbott said "I announced today that Texas is fighting this. Obama can't rewrite the Civil Rights Act. He's not a King."