7.22.2016

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








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Trump Has My Entertainer Of The Year Vote: He's At It Again Today



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Intern Wars


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Random Tuesday Friday Morning Thoughts



  • Odd sight outside my office yesterday: My neighbor lady trying to crush a baby mouse with a metal pole (and with a little too much delight) and me trying to stop her. 
  • Not much to say about Trump's acceptance speech. Not great. Not horrible. Too long (1:15 ours - crushing his predecessors.)
  • If you were watching Fox News after the first night of the RNC, you wouldn't have learned about Melania Trump's plagiarism of Michelle Obama's speech. As the breaking news was being examined on CNN and MSNBC, Fox News' Sean Hannity never mentioned it per the Washington Post and signed off from his program proclaiming that it had been a “great first night.”
  • Here's Hannity's reaction to the story in the link above:
  • Hey, I understand that social media accounts of guys like Hannity are run by some intern flunkie in his twenties, but you would think the network would have better control than that. Then again, Fox News didn't control Roger Ailes very well.
  • Not sure why Trump needed to pat down his daughter for drugs or weapons last night: 
  • As of this morning, and for the third day in a row, Southwest Airlines is having computer problems. That's odd. You'll see news of a one to two hour outage every now and then but nothing like this. 
  • A former sixth grade teacher and Wise County resident had her conviction for attempting to buy drugs affirmed yesterday. Think of the number of people involved in this low level drug crime: Cops set up a sting operation, they meet (no drugs exchanged in this $100 transaction), arrest, book in, brief stint in jail, bond, grand jury, lawyers on both sides, court hearings. a full trial, a probated sentence, an appeal, briefs filed, a court of appeals review. 
  • "2 Former Florida Paramedics Charged in 'Selfie War' With Patients." I huge question mark just formed over my head.
    Obviously innocent.                   Obviously guilty.
  • Sheriff Joe was a last minute fill in at the Republican convention last night. He must not have said anything crazy since I haven't heard anything about it. 


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7.21.2016

Random Wise County School District Question

Click to Enlarge

The Internet tells me this is a map of Wise County school districts in the 1930s. Can anyone confirm that? And, although I doubt it, are there any old school houses (or at least remnants of them) still remaining?
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Public Service Message For Chico Area

From a faithful reader:


"Last few days local . . . lady been bathing in the creek at Chico.    Cops finally showing up.   Luckily this time she's not full buff like normal"

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Not The Duck Dynasty Guy! It's A GOP Civil War!



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Random Thursday Morning Thoughts


  • For months I've been saying we are watching the implosion of the Republican Party at the national level due to Trump, and last night we saw the detonation. Ted Cruz gets booed. Think about all of this. Donald Trump -- Donald Trump -- is the official nominee at the same convention where Ted Cruz is booed. Ted. Cruz. Booed. What a cluster.
  • But I have a new found respect for Ted Cruz. He realizes the obvious: Trump is a fraud, and Trump can't win. And Cruz was not going to sell his soul like Perry, Abbott and Patrick. He will be proven correct and may very well be back in 2020 as the Republican nominee when the rest of the party wakes up.
  • Then again, Cruz sucked up to Trump to no end at the beginning of the campaign expecting Trump to fold and then planning on taking his supporters. So I may need to re-think my new found respect. 
  • The Trump Family reaction to Cruz last night needs to go in the history books. It was like watching Goodfellas or The Sopranos before a hit is ordered:
  •  Trump was surprised that Cruz wouldn't endorse him? You call someone "Lyin' Ted" for months and then give that person the floor at your convention?
  • There were reports that Cruz and his wife were heckled as they left the convention which prompted someone on Twitter to post this exclusive picture of their getaway:
    "Trump's dead, baby. Trump's dead."
  • Hot sports prediction: The Ranger's won't win the AL West. The Rangers won't make the wild card. The Rangers finish third in their division.
  • The always conservative Fifth Circuit struck down (kind of) the Texas' Voter ID law yesterday and hardly anyone noticed.
  • "We promise that this is a temporary thing and that it will in no way affect the quality of opinion writing we publish." The Dallas Morning News' "disclaimer" about blog posts appearing under the "Opinions" section of its website. I certainly do hope "that this" "thing" doesn't impact that quality writing. Side note: Couldn't a 10 year old kid fix this website problem in about two minutes?
  • We've got another police shooting but fortunately the guy didn't die: 
  • We have a leader in the clubhouse for Worst Comedic Performance in 2016: Mark Cuban last night. This is so bad that it must be watched. No wonder free agents distance themselves.
  • One last look at Berlin Cleveland courtesy of Laura Ingraham:
  • Oh, come on. We're havin' fun here, no?
  • I don't know much about the Russian track team being banned from the Olympics but when I heard the country's appeal was rejected by the "Court of Arbitration for Sport" my head almost exploded. 
  • I was fishing off the U.S.S. Liberally Lean kayak yesterday when I was visited by the game warden.  What's the world coming to when I'm not harassed and law enforcement just wants to chit chat and ask how I'm doing without demanding to see my fishing license!? (I did ask him if he was "coming aboard" when he pulled up.)



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7.20.2016

Kids And Dog On Lake Bridgeport Make UPI National News?

Link.
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I Don't Think This Guy Has Looked Up "Impartial" Lately


But he has looked up "pandering" -- just look at that last sentence.
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On The House?


That's a little different than "pay if forward". 

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Above The Fold


Readable full page.
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Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts


  • OK, for all of those who see a truck fatality and mockingly say "ban trucks"; see a stabbing death and say "ban knives"; see a drowning death and say "ban pools", here's a hypothetical: What do you say when you see a heroin death?
  • "Stuntman Eddie Braun has secured the funding, the permits and the team. Now all that's left to do is complete a launch across the Snake River Canyon that swallowed his idol, Evel Knievel, in 1974." A Bridgeport man says he spent over a million to secure the rights to make the jump a few years back before the deal fell through.
  • Last image of SMU officer as he begins to get out of his car as it is swept away into Turtle Creek:
  • Decatur really thrives commercially (just go down FM 51) but for those who drive through it on 287 it looks like a wasteland. Restaurants and gas stations have shut down, empty strip malls, and there are multiple slabs where businesses once stood but have now been bulldozed. 
  • Lots of comments that Trump's son came across last night as Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. 
  • You could just see Trump Jr. earnestly believe that that Huey Lewis and the News' "early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically."
  • Internet funny:
  • American Psycho came up in the district courtroom in Decatur the other day when long time friend Elizabeth Berry showed me her business card which is one-of-them-new-fangled "half cards". I tried to come up with the lines from the movie, "Look at that subtle coloring. The tasteful thickness . . . . It even has a watermark" but I botched it.
  • A police dog for Arlington PD died yesterday from heat exhaustion after he and his handler searched for a "felony shooting suspect" (a 17 year old, already identified, and wanted for an incident in June). Note to handler: You screwed up. 100% avoidable. And the dog wasn't even needed in the search. 
  • The Big 12 has announced they want to expand by two to four teams. I go get BYU and Boise State and then go on a campaign to pilfer Arizona and Arizona State from the PAC 12.
  • Almost spit out my coffee that I wasn't drinking when I looked up at the Republican National Convention last night and saw this:
  • The head of DPS, Steve McGraw, continues to deceive us (just google him). He tricked the legislature into pouring millions into his budget to hire new DPS troopers for border security and now says that the plan has flaws because he's still forced to rotate veteran troopers into the border detail. Prediction: He'll ask for a bigger budget next year. (Last year he personally got a salary increase from $183,498 to $214,672.)
  • If you want to know about taxpayer waste, talk to a trooper about that border security "work" they are forced to do. 



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7.19.2016

I Told You To Keep It Between The Lines



"Too dang old to be going down water slides. Fell off this one that is over a rocky cliff. First time in an ambulance. I'm currently in the hospital in Round Rock. Broke my arm (humerus) and fractured ribs. Multiple lacerations on my back, arms and side. Just found out I don't need surgery so that's good news! One more night in Austin then I can go home to Dallas."
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Fine Dining Update




Yep. A line for Panchos.


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Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts



  • One thing the Baylor Bears and the Republicans have in common: There is a slight hope for this Fall but, in reality, this is going to be a long four years as they both try to re-invent themselves.
  • Donald Trump's entrance at the convention last night vs. The Undertaker's entrance for wrestling. Who ya got?
  • And it can't be stressed enough: The President in Idiocracy was former "five time ultimate smackdown wrestling champion", President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho.
  • I went to bed hearing the pundits say that Melania Trump "knocked it out of the park". I woke up with "she stole it from Michelle Obama's 2008 speech." (Here's the amazing video mashup of the plagiarism everyone is talking about.) How did they screw that up? 
  • But her greatest nugget, which makes me smile to no end, was straight out of Rick Astley. 
  • And with her great accent, all I could hear from her was, "Must get pesky moose and squirrel." (That's some old man humor for ya -- and, fittingly, I stole that joke.)
  • At this point, the Democrats could probably just shorten their convention to just Hillary walking to the podium, holding up her hand, and saying, "We're good. Thanks."
  • No one puts me over the edge more than Rudy Giuliani. Last night he said, "What I did for New York, Donald Trump will do for America!" What's that? Walk down the streets for a photo op while it burns instead of doing your job?
  •  House Speaker Paul Ryan spoke to the Texas delegation this morning. What about Trump? "Sometime we root for a different team in the same conference," he said.
  • I didn't know Trump had a son named Barron. 
  •  Dallas Fire and Rescue has given up the search of trying to locate the body of the SMU officer who reportedly drowned in Turtle Creek. 
  • What's the construction project off the square in Decatur (east side - across from the post office and the probation department)?
  • This morning: "Patient crashes ambulance into Dallas warehouse." Two days ago: "Man arrested after taking ambulance on joy ride to Jack in the Box in Old East Dallas."


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7.18.2016

Republican Convention Off To A Fine Start








Our own Dan Patrick

Edit: Things were much nicer earlier today. And darn near hypnotic!

Edit: Maybe the prayer was a bad omen . . .

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Dateline: Lubbock

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Johnny Football Now Looks Like A Movie Villain


I just can't think of which one.
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Police and the Media and Guns




It is an interesting dynamic. Why did the Baton Rouge police release a photo of the gun? Why were the Dallas Police silent? Why does conservative Fox News broadcast the photo as it were somehow the target of its viewers scorn (when obviously that is not true and when that station panders to the NRA who is one of its advertisers)?

Up is down. Down it up.

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It Begins


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Fox News In Midst Of Sexual Harassment Controversy




So what do they do? Send this tweet out.

Why, exactly, is Chris "one lucky guy"?
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Trust

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Random Monday Morning Thoughts



  • Drownings: (1) Firefighter in Grapevine lake, and (2) Three year old at Lake Worth.
  • The Baton Rouge shooter used an AR-15 and served in the U.S. Military. We beginning to see a pattern here?
  • He had a pretty chilling youtube video: “One hundred percent of revolutions, of victims fighting their oppressors, from victims fighting their bullies, one hundred percent have been successful through fighting back, through bloodshed. Zero have been successful over simply protesting."
  • I've got a couple of buddies who are convinced that there is an actual revolution attempt coming. 
  • Fort Worth PD has gone to mandatory two person units and body armor.
  • The Omni Hotel had a nice sentiment last night but words seems to be ringing hollow lately.
  • In light of potential protests at the Republican National Convention, the Cleveland Police Chief said yesterday, "We planned for almost anything and everything. It’s game time. We are ready for it.” This is exactly what you don't want to say as the leader of the police. When you act like it's a fight - a battle - you'll get a fight or a battle. Chief Brown in Dallas would never say something like that.
  • Texas favored Cruz over Trump in the primary election. It is payback time: Spot where Texas gets to sit at the Republican National Convention this week:
  • The Texas Delegation this morning at breakfast. Cavenders must have had a busy weekend:

  • Speaker Paul Ryan posted a selfie with the interns at Capitol Hill. Spot the minority. Hopefully these kids from poverty and troubled backgrounds will now have an incentive in life:
  • What's up with the furniture in this 60 Minutes interview? Where is that? Liberace's old house?
  • On Friday, there was a failed to coup attempt in Turkey. But after thinking the last person I would want to be is a captured soldier in a failed coup attempt, I got Tired Head with news that the whole thing my have been orchestrated by the Turkey establishment to appear more powerful or that it was planned by a guy in Pennsylvania. 
  • In ten years, if anyone ever asks, "What year was it when . . . " just interrupt and say, "2016" and you'll probably be right.
  • Looking at BagOfNothing's blog, he and his family unit ate meals in four different restaurants on Saturday and Sunday in addition to going to a play and a museum and to a mansion on Lake Grapevine. Cue the orchestra music! Oh, I forgot to mention the candlelit massage and designer cake for the wife. We might want to put him on the watch list. We've got some AGB - abnormal guy behavior - going on.


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