Above The Fold

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

 When I feel worse about the property damage than the guy's concussion

 As far as form tackles go, that's about as perfect as it can get for a goat.

 I'll never think the same about falling again. 

 Daddy loves bits. $100 says mom is on the couch rolling her eyes. 

 That look of failure. 

Life comes at you fast.

Breaking: This Is Crazy

CNN and other news organizations were blocked today from a White House press briefing. https://t.co/yH3feeMQHH

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) February 24, 2017

Banning those organizations from the daily White House press briefing (this one was oddly changed to an "off camera" one earlier in the day)? You kidding me. This should scare every single one of you to death.

And it sounds like other press organizations are walking out in protest or giving Spicer the beating of his life.

And this is what Trump said this morning!:

“I love the First Amendment. Nobody loves it better than me.” pic.twitter.com/Hxq6KD8fzJ

— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) February 24, 2017

When A Guy Tells You Not To Throw Him A Surprise Party

I Want The Back Story On This

VIDEO: 2 removed from court during Redford woman's sentencing for deadly DUI crash https://t.co/bZTtVvZz8D pic.twitter.com/LYkoyjoLOH

— Local 4 WDIV Detroit (@Local4News) February 23, 2017

It sounds like this is a horrible DWI case with a death and the defendant's family, at least one of them, are in the gallery "laughing and smirking." That's not on camera.

Ok, let's be clear. That's offensive. And dumb.

But here's what I'm curious about. The video starts with the judge admonishing a man for "smiling and laughing". It seems like he is the one who leaves at the beginning. He walks through the exit.

Then a woman gets up and walks out.  The judge has her hauled back in and sentenced to 93 days in jail for contempt. I don't know what she did in the gallery. I'm not sure she did anything. It almost seems the judge got pissed simply because she walked out during the judge's tirade. If that's true. We've got a Judge Judy on our hands.

Like I said, I want the background.

Or maybe the judge didn't like the outfit. 

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• The first time Ag Commish Sid Miller has not sounded like and idiot. And it involves The Wall!: 
  

I learned a lot last night from a guy who actually legally hires Mexicans trying to come to the U.S. It was fascinating how it worked, what he had to go through, and the cost involved. You guys know about H2B workers? I didn't. 

"I think we'll have another vacancy this summer." - Ted Cruz yesterday at CPAC about the Supreme Court. (He might actually be the Zodiac killer.) 

Decatur's power went completely out for a time this morning. In this day and time, everyone just stops down because no one can work. (A terror attack on the U.S.'s electrical grid would be devastating.) 

A woman who received a large settlement from Tarrant County in 2012 over allegations of sexual harassment against former DA Joe Shannon had died in Parker County. Age 48. Cause unknown. 

Dr. Robert Jeffres of FBC of Dallas, on the other hand, is working to make appearances on Fox News: 

Lone Star Law on Animal Planet featuring Texas Game Wardens is very entertaining. Overall, I (amazingly) have no complaints about what I've seen. There's not really a detailed understanding by them of the Fourth Amendment but most have the attitude of giving someone "the benefit of the doubt". (Which, now that I think about it, is probably the best interpretation of the Fourth Amendment for cops if they don't want their cases thrown out.) But one guy in Hunt County did bother me: "If I see a car parked off the side of  a country road, I'm going to detain them and investigate." (And he has no idea how that statement will come back to haunt him.)

I had the worst criminal law teacher ever at Baylor Law School. Why? Because he had never handled a criminal case a day in his life. If I taught it, I'd spend a day teaching about a certain aspect of search and seizure and then on the next day play an episode of Cops, Lone Star Law, or the like. I'd hit the pause button from time to time and ask: Anyone see anything that stood out about what just happened? 

Watch this story. White House Chief of Staff Priebus leaned on the FBI to kill these Trump/Russia connection rumors while the FBI is investigating that possible connection. That's mind blowing.  It's either corruption or stupidity. The White House doesn't tell the FBI what to do. Has no one in the White House ever read about how Watergate went down and what happens when you try to interfere with an investigation? It does not go well. 

The DA dodged a bullet. (She was cleared by another DA without the case going to a grand jury.)

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article134534064.html#storylink=cpy

Breaking

Decatur is suffering a complete electrical blackout.

Edit: Power back up at 8:19 a.m. I'm not sure how long it was out.

Bridgeport's New Head Football Coach Is . . .

. . . Art Briles.

Kidding. The actual new coach is Shannon Wilson  from Bullard ISD. He won state championships at Southlake in the late 2000's as the Defensive Coordinator.

It wil be announced tonight.

This is unconfirmed but I'm comfortable enough to run with it

Love This Guy

His wife probably sent him to the store for the 8th time that day he had nothing to lose pic.twitter.com/QqO0KciOLu

— Comeaux (@Listen2Tony) February 21, 2017

(The actual back story is that he says he didn't even see the gun. There's a news report of it here but my Spanish speaking friends will have to tell me what it actually says. I'm kind of sad to hear that. I liked him better when he just didn't care.)

One Of The Craziest Things You'll Ever See

I saw the abbreviated version of this video a couple of days ago where it ended with the guy motionless on the ground. I didn't post it because I was sure he was dead. But this one was a longer video which shows the guy sitting up.

Longtime readers know I'm fascinated with the "Butterfly Effect". This one is a perfect example. Think of all the millions of events that had to occur before this in order for his head to be in the direct line of a runaway tire at that very split second in time.

[h/t Mike]

Get Me This Fast Dog!

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Trump repealed Obama's transgendered/bathroom guidelines which. legally, doesn't mean much. But I don't know why he did it. And, once again, he has trouble with consistency. This from last year: 
  
• Call me a skeptic: NASA, whose budget has been slashed, just happens to make an "amazing" announcement about seven "earth like planets" around a different star. This as a new budget  under a new President is being prepared. The problem is that no one can refute anything they say. (They could have said two or twelve plants and described their condition in any way they wanted. Who could call them out?)
• Commenters: I'm not going to post anything where you accuse someone of theft even if it is a public official. You want to call them a moron or incompetent, fine. But you can't anonymously accuse someone of breaking the law and without proof.
• I've been on three different major roadways in Wise County over the last couple of weeks where it looks like a blood bath happened on the highway. Someone had this suggestion of what is happening: People are hitting wild hogs. 
• Speaking of being skeptical, I hate crap like this: The Trump administration is accused of  being anti-Semitic so they send the VP to a damaged Jewish cemetery who then rakes leaves for two minutes for the cameras. 

  

  Other guy: "That's right, Mr. VP. That's how you rake."

• Major League Baseball has a new rule where an intentional walk no longer requires four balls. The pitcher can just signal that's what he wants to do and the hitter takes first base. That rule will hardly speed up games. But what it really is is a trial balloon about changing the rules in a sport which never changes rules. If the fans accept it, there will be more to come. 
• Someone needs to check on Ann. She's looking as bad as Kellyanne: 
  
• Boyd's own and former Ticket host Greg "The Hammer" Williams got mad at a black guy last night on Twitter and called him "Sambo." 
• Former Fox 4 Sean Hannity co-host and token liberal whipping boy, Alan Colmes has died. 
• Confederate flag takedown:

• The way my man jumped for the Confederate flag like Neo and Trinity jumping between buildings has me absolutely weak tho. 😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/qwmiLLAnIa

  — KYLE + (@kylebillable) February 23, 2017

• I watched Blackish for the first time last night. Not bad. But one of the craziest ad gimmicks I've ever seen occurred: They cut to a commercial, and it was the same Blackish characters continuing a scene but making it very clear that it was a Microsoft ad.  That didn't bother me. I knew it was an ad, and it's an entirely clever way of advertising. 
• What I hate are ads disguised as news stories: Case in point: Fox 4 doing a story last night of a preacher who had a "viral" video singing about Whataburger. They even interviewed him in a Whataburger where he sang about how great a particular burger was. Come on. Don't lie to us like that. 

Denton County Court Dress Policy

I've got no problem with the policy but the one about leggings is kind of funny. It sounds like you could have leggings that don't cover your butt in which case they would be disallowed. Those would be some very exotic leggings.  (I assume they are talking about a top not covering a gal's rear end while she is wearing leggings.) And when is the last time you saw the word "derriere"?

Uh, You're Doing It Wrong

A woman has been arrested after she did cartwheels during a field sobriety test, police say.  https://t.co/nNs7tXKCAI pic.twitter.com/PL0A041uun

— NBC DFW (@NBCDFW) February 22, 2017

Above The Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Bridgeport may, or so I've heard, announce their new head football coach tomorrow. 
• That Milo guy mired in a pedophilia comment scandal got fired by Breitbart yesterday. When you are a famous hardline conservative and Breitbart and CPAC don't want you, you've got big problems. 
• On Sunday there were about 40 or more pro-Trump supporters on the Basswood bridge over I-35W in North Fort Worth.  They had signs, banners, and flags. 
• Bad day on I-35E during rush hour yesterday: 
  
• The Selena movie was on for the millionth time this weekend. I think Jennifer Lopez was a better Selena than Selena was. 
• It is a major beating to get a replacement credit card with a new number when the old card was already set up for automatic bill pay on multiple accounts. 
• I had trouble updating the card on CenturyLink and had to call customer service. The lady referred me to another department and then began to whip me to no end with questions of whether I wanted to upgrade my service. 
• Some McKinney residents are worried about the location of the proposed 380 bypass. That reminded me that there use not to be a 380 bypass in Decatur and all traffic went right through the courthouse square -- rock trucks and all. 
• Does this happen?:
  
• The boys on WBAP this morning were stunned that the Democratic National Committee was considering as its president a Congressman out of Minnesota because he's a Muslim.  But, of course, the said they don't have anything against Muslims. Riiiight. They are constantly sounding like old men trying to send back soup in a deli. 
• Interesting thing going on with concert tickets to combat scalpers. The credit card you bought the tickets with becomes your ticket. You show up with card to get in. (That's the way airline tickets have worked for years.) 

Let's At Least Give Him Credit . . .

Denton PD: Man with painted body, clutching glass pipe, jumping in and out of traffic tells responding officers, "I am the law." #arrested pic.twitter.com/J5CCNaqp5Y

— Dionne Anglin (@DAnglinFox4) February 21, 2017

. . . If you're going to go -- go large.

We've Got Animal Chaos Right Now In Queens, NY

this very clearly appears to be a steer, not a cow pic.twitter.com/UZZ9JkMWBd

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) February 21, 2017

And there will be some video gold out of this once this thing finally comes to an end.

Edit: OH, NO! It's now dead!

Get Me This Fire Breathing Drone!

It's apparently used to clean power lines.

When The Beach Is No Longer Good Enough

This model dangled a heart-stopping 73 stories above the ground for a photoshoot without permission https://t.co/Th9WQFeoF9 pic.twitter.com/dRFz9yKepx

— CNN (@CNN) February 21, 2017

They could have inadvertently had this shot:

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• I thought about doing a bullet point about Milo Yiannopoulos, Breitbart, pedophilia, and Trump's support of the guy but you either already know about it or don't care about it. 
• Is this new Decatur store called Cow Girl Crap? 
  
• I had not thought about this regarding solar panels: Hail storms.
  
• An overlooked story of the weekend is the young guy who had been arrested for murdering his millionaire older girlfriend, Nicole Blahitka, in Fort Worth was shot and killed by police in Grand Prairie. 
• If a hospital overbills an indigent person with no insurance knowing it will never get paid, do they get to claim the full amount as an expense against revenues for tax purposes?
• How many times did the Republican controlled House vote to repeal Obamacare when they knew Obama would veto it? And they've not taken a vote to do since controlling the House, Senate and Presidency?
• I'm not sure I've ever seen a longer length of time between a federal indictment and trial than that in the John Wiley Price case that starts today. 
• I've got to research this story of the Dallas surgeon who received life in prison for a surgery which "maimed" someone. Something doesn't make sense. (Unless he was intentionally doing it time and time again.) 
• Nothing like arriving for work early but forgetting your keys. That leads to an abbreviated Random Thoughts. 

Speaking Of Fake News

NASCAR fans are outraged at the Monster Energy girls’ revealing outfits. https://t.co/l6tSycMZJo

— USA TODAY Sports (@USATODAYsports) February 19, 2017

There's no way that is true. This has to be USA Today agreeing to be paid to do a story about NASCAR and/or Monster.

That's Funny

This is Woodward and Bernstein. Nixon called them the enemy. They proved that no president is above the law. #NotTheEnemy pic.twitter.com/mU5Cx3JCuH

— Pixelated Boat (@pixelatedboat) February 19, 2017

(The account calls itself Fake News so it's a pretty funny bit.)

Random Monday Morning thoughts

• Trump's "tweet of the weekend": 
  
• Chris Wallace of Fox News was none too pleased with this attack on the free press, and he torched White House Chief of Staff Riece Prebius on Sunday because of it. "You don't get to tell the press what to do." 
• The Thunder Truck was in Wise County! (Several hours too early, though.) And, yes, I believe the Thunder Truck is a ridiculous bit.
  
  
• It sounds like San Antonio had a monster storm last night: 
  
• Trump: Six rounds of golf in 30 days. 
• Prestonwood Baptist Church is withholding funding from Southern Baptist Convention and Trump is one of the issues why. Jesus would be so proud of the the modern day mega-church. 
• We've got to deal with new weeds in February? 
• This battle between Wise County and Weatherford College regarding the county wanting a voting board member is getting interesting. Wise County pays a ton of tax dollars to them but gets no representation (but does get a lot of arrogant attitude.) If this were 1776, we would just take the campus in Wise County. 
• Our refrigerator, that isn't that old, is beginning to get loud. I'm guessing that is not a good sign. 
• I had no idea that when the headline came out last week that Wise County would be paying almost $50,000 to study "Internet infrastructure" that they were talking about Internet access across the county in general and not just for government offices. Isn't that a private sector issue? 
• I got to see the documentary The Tower this weekend, and it may now be my favorite documentary. It was gut-wrenching. 
• Oh  . . . 
  
• The "transgender wrestler" story gives me Tired Head.