9.03.2016

College Football Saturday Is Back

Mississippi State is upset by South Alabama, and I can't stop watching the crowd.
Edit: Bonus coverage of Penn State's massive kicker.


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Above The Fold


Readable full.
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Oklahoma Earthquake Felt Across Texas This Morning

And we are talking a real, legitimate earthquake.



But Amy wins the day:


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9.02.2016

It's Friday And We're All A Happy Family. Right? Let's Get Out Of Here.










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More Election Bits


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Ever Wonder . . .



. . . why an umpire never calls "Foul!" prior to the ball coming to a stop or being touched out of play?
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Random Friday Morning Thoughts



  • We had a discussion at the courthouse the other day as to what were the origins of Labor Day. I said, "I bet it had a lot to do with catering to unions back in the day -- probably first half of the 1900s."  Our crack research staff told me I wasn't far off.
  • Nothing like starting off your day cleaning up cat throw up.
  • Hurry, build that wall! Those people are taking our jobs!:
  • That Florida hurricane was like most hurricanes: Not much to it. I bet hurricane news coverage is split 90% to 10% on pre-coverage vs. post-coverage.
  • I had Schlotzsky's for the first time in forever. Pretty, pretty good. 
  • Funny. (I think this is out of South Carolina): 
  • More Harambe comedy:
  • "AUSTIN — A week after Longhorns used sex toys to protest Texas' new campus carry law, a Frisco-based gun-rights activist has released a video that depicts the fictional shooting death of a young University of Texas student" who the same name as one of the protest organizers. Pushing it? Yep. But tap the brakes if your reaction to certain speech is to be offended and then your next knee jerk reaction is that criminalize that speech. 
  • Some wonder what retiring Dallas Police Chief Brown will do next, and many assume he'll go into politics. I don't think so. If he's smart, he tries to get a gig like that crazy David Clarke on Fox News. The only trouble is that Brown might be so reasonable that no network will want him. 
  • App State almost beat Tennessee last night. On the first week of broadcast of the obscure Big Ten Network a few years back, I stumbled upon live the crazy upset of App State over Michigan. I felt like I was the only person watching it on TV.
  • Baylor plays tonight. I fear a horrible year despite a ton of talent. There's a weird funk of depression hovering over that place. 
  • Northwest's high school quarterback is named Prince Mavula.  I picture him breaking the huddle wearing long flowing robes. 
  • Trump is up early this morning watching MSNBC: 
  • Things that the goofy Texas Supreme Court justice tweeted yesterday. (By my count, the Texas Supreme Court has been on a two month vacation):
  • Brock Turner, the Stanford student given six months in jail, was released this morning as reporters were standing by. ("Brock Tanner" sounds like something out of Boogie Nights.)




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9.01.2016

Let's Check In On Neighbor County




Link to story.
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It Rained In Lubbock Yesterday


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City of Decatur Lawyer Fee Collusion History


A faithful reader sent me this.

It looks like the local Decatur lawyers got together in 1951 (or earlier) and agreed on a minimum fee for routine matters in civil practice. And then they put the collusion down on paper.

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Random Thursday Morning Thoughts


  • "The state’s highest criminal court Wednesday morning dismissed all three appeals filed on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s behalf, saying his lawyers neglected to include everything needed on the petitions." However, the court gave them 10 days to fix it. That's one odd thing about appeals: At the trial court level, missing a deadline can be fatal to your case. Once a case is appealed, you can screw up, the court will tell you screwed up, but the court will always give you a chance to fix it. 
  • There hasn’t been a criminal defense lawyer on the U.S. Supreme Court in 25 years. 
  • Sounds like a movie: A Penn State professor who police say was pushed off an 80-foot rock quarry ledge died slowly and possibly was alive and immobile for up to two days.
  • Call back country humor in the Update this morning with a reference to the long known cause of many an accident: He tried to "straighten out the curb". Edit: CURVE!
  • Do police get overtime pay for attending a funeral in full uniform?
  • I told you that there's something weird about the case in Johnson County about the lady which allegedly withheld medical care for her child for attention. Yesterday, at a court hearing, she even had that "this case is different" look. 
  • Halloween idea: Sexy Harambe outfit.
  • Someone explain Trump's  “ideological certification test” for immigration that he mentioned last night. He said, "I only want to admit people who share our values and love our people." Truly, what "values" does Trump want to impose upon those who wish to come here?
  • And how did he get away with this last night: "The result of her misconduct was the release of thousands and thousands of dangerous criminal aliens who should have been sent home to their countries. Instead we have them all over the place. Probably a couple in this room as a matter of fact, but I hope not." So he's seen a couple of people in the room who look like "criminal aliens"?
  • But he is gaining on Hillary.

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8.31.2016

Not Gonna Make It


She intends to walk 10 miles a day* which, by my Bridgeport taught ciphering skills, has her arriving on January 15, 2017.
_____
*Showing her wisdom, she added "or until someone in D.C. takes notice."
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My Stadium Bragging Montage


Faithful readers know I'm a fan of sports stadiums. (It's weird. I know.)  But for over twenty-five years I've made it a point to try and visit major stadiums in the U.S. My criteria for making the following list is to actually have bought a ticket and watched all (or portion) of a game that counts. The list follows.

The easy ones:
  • The Ballpark in Arlington
  • Ranger Stadium (torn down)
  • Cotton Bowl 
  • Texas Stadium (torn down)
  • Jerry World
  • TCU (but not since recent renovations)
  • SMU (new one and the old Ownby Stadium)
  • North Texas (Fouts Field only)
  • AAC (Stars only. Not Mavericks)
  • Reunion Arena
College Football Stadiums:
  • Baylor (old and new)
  • LSU
  • Florida 
  • Alabama
  • Tennessee
  • Ole Miss
  • Clemson
  • Georgia
  • Michigan 
  • Texas
  • aTm
  • UTEP
  • Kansas
  • Kansas State
  • Oklahoma
  • Arkansas
  • West Virginia
  • Rose Bowl (Texas vs. Michigan)
  • Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego (Tech vs. Cal)
  • Alamo Bowl (Baylor vs. Washington)
NFL Stadiums:
  • New Orleans Saints
  • Atlanta
  • Tennessee
  • New York Giants (the old Meadowlands)
  • Kansas City
  • Pittsburgh (actually saw Pitt Panthers play at Heinz Field)
Major League Baseball Stadiums:
  • Yankee Stadium (old not new stadium)
  • Boston's Fenway Park
  • Chicago' Wrigley
  • Chicago's Comisky
  • Colorado Rockies
  • Arizona Diamondbacks
  • Oakland Athletics
  • Seattle Mariners
  • Kansas City (playoff game)




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Rangers Won Last Night


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Above The Fold


Full readable page.
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Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts


  • Sheriff Joe in Arizona won a seventh term last night. That gave me Tired Head.
  • The prosecutor who couldn't convict Trayvon Martin's killer lost her re-election bid last night.
  • Some of you are thinking: "Was the presidential race yesterday, too? Did I miss it?"
  • Billionaire Democrat and progressive George Soros has channeled more than $3 million into seven local District Attorney campaigns in six states over the past year. He thinks the criminal justice system is screwed up.
  • What happened to all the earthquakes that were happening around the old Texas Stadium site? They've just suddenly stopped.
  • A coach at Northwest's Eaton High School has been placed on administrative leave after an "improper" sexual conduct charge was made by a former student who is now 20. The allegation is a one time touching of the breast over the clothes which wasn't reported for five years. If those are all the facts, I'd never convict. Even if I heard the girl, was inclined to believe that she was telling the truth, and even thought the event probably happened, I'd still have a doubt that I considered reasonable. And you know what any judge would instruct me if I was on the jury?: If you have a reasonable doubt, you can't convict.
  • There was a hearing yesterday of whether Hooters will be allowed in a certain part of downtown Fort Worth. That gave rise to this gem: 
  • Trump is going to Mexico today? Man, he has gone all in on trying to get the Hispanic and African-American vote and it is a strategy that cannot possibly work. I don't understand this. Get to Florida. Get to Ohio. Get to Pennsylvania. 
  • I still get excited about the start of college football season, it's the last organized sport I care about. 
  • "Weatherford police investigators as well as investigators from the Weatherford and Parker County Special Crimes unit and the multi-jurisdictional Fugitive Apprehension Team [that's four groups of officers] were working to apprehend the man who was wanted on two aggravated robbery warrants." They knew he was in a hotel room. He ended up dead. 
  • "We plan to do a full, immediate, and complete investigation, and we can assure that if any wrongdoing occurred appropriate action will be swiftly taken." - Something everyone has (or should have) in their PR playbook. (The key is the word "appropriate." It's couched as "what you would do" instead of "what we think is right.")



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8.30.2016

Homeland Security With A Hot Opinion



https://twitter.com/dhsgov/status/770372301187493888
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Southbound I-35 In Fort Worth



https://twitter.com/fwstphoto/status/770648121432866820
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So It's About The Vets?


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Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts



  • According to Fox 4, Crimestoppers is offering a reward for vandals who damaged football fields in Chico, Alvord, and Paradise two weeks ago. Are we just now hearing about it? (And, finally, we actually hear about Wise County Crimestoppers possibly paying money.) 
  • Number of Zika cases tracked back to Olympics: 0. Number of people diagnosed with the disease in Tarrant County: 17.
  • I've never seen Willy Wonka.
  • Opponents of my Bad-Movie-No-Electricity Theory hit me with: Silverado, Glory, Tombstone, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Shakespere in Love, Elizabeth, Dances With Wolves, Unforegiven, The Piano, Last of the Mohicans, Amadeus, The Princess Bride, and Dangerous Liasons.  I'm thinking about Last of the Mohicans. The rest I shall reject in that they are consistent with my well reasoned theory.
  • Other than alt-right rants, the mainstream on Monday didn't seem to care about the Kaepernick protest. That was refreshing. 
  • But Rick Perry had an odd take on the Kaepernick situation on Fox and Friends this morning. "The reason that I wear this U.S. flag lapel pin is that I want to stand with our men and women of law enforcement."  That's really weird logic. If someone doesn't want to stand because of x (bad cops) that doesn't mean condemn him because you support something different (not bad cops.)
  • And I shouldn't have turned over to Fox and Friends because I was subjected to the very relevant Larry the Cable Guy. It's like that network is stuck in 1995. 
  • I forgot to mention that Trump's doctor looks like a Simpsons' character.
  • When I watch that American Ninja gal (I don't know her name), I wonder why she couldn't find one Olympic event to compete in.
  • Rick Perry will join Dancing With The Stars. Delicious. I'm looking forward to the behind-the-scenes interview with him because he rarely speaks unless the environment is controlled. (And when he was forced to, he would screw it up -- i.e. "oops" or speaking when high on pain medication.)
  • I'm not sure I've ever heard of the buy-every-paper-off-the-newsstand trick (as reported by the Update yesterday) executed in real life.
  • Brookhaven Community College had a mountain lion scare yesterday but me, even being a wildlife idiot, could have tolk you it wasn't a mountain lion. 
  • UT coach Charlie Strong still hasn't named a starting quarterback. If he trots Swoopes out there for the first player, UT might fire Strong before the first series of downs is over. 
  • I had never heard of Juan Gabriel . . . 



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8.29.2016

Dog vs. Car: Who Ya Got?

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Random Monday Morning Thoughts



  • I watched the MTV Music Awards last night, and I don't think I've ever had a question mark appear over my head more often. 
  • There was a quadruple high school football triple header at Jerry World #2 in Frisco over the weekend and the kids were doing bits: 
  • 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick caught heat over the weekend for not standing for the National Anthem as a protest. I don't care, and I'm not sure why anyone would get worked up in a lather about it. (And it took America a while to get worked up. This was the third game in a row he didn't stand but the first time anyone noticed.)
  • Anthony Wiener did it again.
  • A "K9 Deputy" in Oklahoma died after being left in a car for 36 hours. The dog's handler was fired.
  • A theory I've held for years: Any movie which (1) was released before 2000, and (2) does not depict electricity being used is . . . not any good. Exception is Gone With The Wind. Edit: I might have to make Braveheart an exception or move my date to 1995. I forgot about that. 
  • This month's Texas Monthly: 
  • Say Dak Prescott turns out to be a stud quarterback. In 2018 the starting QB for the Cowboys will make $630,000 and in 2019 it will be $720,000.
  • How does Vegas do it? The line on first college game of the year, California and Hawaii in Australia, had Cal at -20.5. They won by 20. (And had the ball on the one when the game ended.)
  • There was a raid on a Trophy Club home last year and last week a guy who lived there pled guilty to federal child porn charges. I thought this was interesting: "Last year, officials with Google Inc. alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children(NCMEC) about child pornography on an email address associated with Craft."
  • You would think they would have a different name other than "cousin" since it includes both male and females. We don't do it anywhere else: Brother/sister, aunt/uncle, niece/nephew.
  • The TWU volleyball coach resigned after eight players suffered from rhabdomyolysis but says it is "unrelated" to the incident and only for "personal reasons."  (She was actually on leave three days before practices began.)




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