3.30.2018

The Bridgeport Index Announces It Will Start Printing Some Stories in Spanish


And then all hell broke loose on Facebook on the holiest weekend of the year.

Mr. Bridwell, not only is it a wise business decision, it is a courageous decision in this day and time. I've never been prouder of my hometown paper. And, based upon the comments, I've never been sadder.

Edit: Proof. Everyone go buy an Index. Merchants, advertise to show your support.


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

 Mrs. LL helping me put the kayak in for the summer.
 TxDot workers?
 America at 5:00 p.m. on every work day.

 'I've told you to put down the phone and pay attention to me!"
Dog Dive Afternoon



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We Are Now In Full Idiocracy Mode




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Random Friday Morning Thoughts


  • The worst thing about being a criminal defense attorney is that you are rarely negotiating with the State from a position of strength. You have to appeal to fairness, consistency, and a sense of justice.
  • We have Harris County deputy news as this guy is arrested on child porn. (Side note: It got my attention that "The Grand Prairie Police Department, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Texas Rangers and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office participated in the investigation, along with the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force." That's a lot of agencies. But what's Grand Prairie doing in there?): 
  • This is what the Astros shifted to when Gallo was up to bat yesterday at the Rangers' home opener. It's insane. And it is also insane that a professional baseball player can't lay down a bunt towards third.
  • It gives me great comfort to know that Roseanne Barr is a Trump fan and that Trump called her to congratulate her for the great ratings of the reboot of her show.
  • Speaking of -- this is real. Those cookies are shaped as people: 
  • And most people don't remember this: 
  • By the end of the year, Fort Worth police might be able to shoot from the air if they get their wish. It's the continued militarization of police.
  • The "flyover" at the Rangers home opener occurred before the national anthem and during a moment of silence?
  • How much is this Greg Abbott trip to India costing us? He went sight-seeing at the Taj Mahal yesterday.
  • Rangers' beat writer Evan Grant was on The Ticket yesterday before the home opener and actually seemed distracted because he was in the dining area. And now we see this: 

  • Laura Ingraham is learning that saying stupid things about a survivor of the Parkland shooting has consequences. Advertisers are fleeing (current count is 7) because the 17 year old kid fought back. She apologized once she realized she was in financial trouble. 
  • And this is local radio talk show host Mark Davis, formerly of WBAP, in a nutshell. He comes to Ingraham's defense in a multi-Twitter rant last night, sanctimounsly lectures everyone, yet does not realize he has a greater sin.  Does 660 The Answer advertisers know he did this earlier this week?
    Last night
    Earlier this week: He approved calling those teenagers who
    survived Parkland "little bastards."
  • Hot opinions at UNT:

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3.29.2018

Random Thought Girl Leaves White House




And Trump's exit is right out of Arrested Development:




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Southlake Police Doing Bits And Attacking The Rangers

They deleted it. Someone is earning taxpayer dollars running that account.

But the city went into damage control. All of these people are being paid with taxpayer dollars, too:




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Random Thursday Morning Thoughts


  • Social media controls the world now. Time magazine named the Person Of The Year in 2006 as "You" because they saw it coming. And the magazine was mocked for it. The "lame stream" media is always wrong, right?
  • “I knew he was a shallow, lazy ignoramus, and I didn’t care.” -  Extremely conservative Ann Coulter on Trump two days ago at Columbia University.
  • Trump threw out another blatant lie this morning. Amazon has been collecting taxes for every state since March of 2017. Why does he hate Amazon? The owner of Amazon owns the Washington Post.  (Side note: Isn't the U.S. Postal system a "Delivery Boy" by definition?)
  • My long time iPad died a year ago, and I'm too cheap to buy another one. I used to carry it with me every time I went to the courthouse to take notes for any significant developments. So I tried an experiment: Buy a spiral notepad and keep a journal doing the same thing. I love it. Although I do get kidded for going "old school."
  • One weird thing I experimented with was writing my updated "to do" list every morning. I go back to the day before and look at the list, see what I accomplished, then write it all over again with deletions and additions. It reminds me the first thing in the morning of what I need to do. 
  • This doesn't sound good from the Ellis County DA's office. I wonder if it is ransomware:
  • Still one of the craziest local stories I've seen is when the computers at the Wise County Sheriff's Office were hacked by ransomware. And they ended up paying. (I can't remember the amount.) Boeing was hit by it yesterday.
  • There's a new HBO series called Barry.  I'm honored. (Seriously, not only was the first episode  fantastic, it recreated one of my favorite movie scenes of all time from True Romance)
  • A police "expert" on a conservative talk radio show said there are times when it is OK to turn off the mic on a body cam. Let me tell you, the answer is "never" when they are interacting with or investigating an individual. It's a red flag every time if it happens. 
  • Sheesh. By the way, this guy ran for district judge in 2014 and lost in the primary by less that 1% of the vote. His arrest warrant, which involves multiple allegations, is shocking. 
  • Did some administrator at Decatur ISD get fired? I need confirmation. 
  • One of my first bullet points after Trump was elected was about his conflict of interest problems because of his business interests, and I used his hotel in D.C. as an example. Yesterday a federal judge ruled that a lawsuit claiming Trump violated that conflict of interest because of the Emoluments Clause can go forward. (Let me simplify this: Let's say a judge in Decatur owned a bed and breakfast and lawyers from out of town came into town the day before court and just happened to pay to stay in that bed and breakfast before their court appearance. You comfortable with this?)
  • The Rangers open their season today. It will end on September 30th. By that time, the Texas Longhorns will have already played 41% of their regular season football games. 

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3.28.2018

Crazy Day For Wise County High School Students

Crash in Decatur at Hale and Trinity, and there was a Chico bus wreck.
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She Wouldn't Do Well On Jeopardy




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Above The Fold



Full page PDF.
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Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts


  • Well, Kim Jong Un went and visited with China's president. This will work out well. Those two are teaming up together. 
  • And another (Arizona): 
  • I actually mentioned a couple of weeks ago how this guy was the target of a cheap shot by a Baylor player when he was at TCU. Maybe it did cause a brain injury. These facts, if true, are bad. And the Seattle Seahawks immediately cut him: 
  • I should have fired it up yesterday.
  • Any of you boys ever taken that train from Fort Worth to Austin?
  • Mexico played Croatia at JerryWorld yesterday. You say you don't care? Many do: 80,000 showed up. 
  • On this day (well, yesterday) in 1977. I had never heard of this. 
  • Things got a little tense at a Sacramento City Council meeting in light of the shooting of Stephon Clark 20 times by police. The guy on the right is his brother.
  • Arlington High School is on lock down this morning, but it appears only to be as a precaution. 
  • "Former Disney Channel star Caroline Sunshine has traded her Mickey Mouse hat for a White House hard pass. Sunshine, 22, is the newest member of President Trump’s White House press team." Say what?

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3.27.2018

What Does Facebook Know About You?



Find out how to learn the answer here.

And I don't understand it because I never use Facebook, but if you use their Messenger on an Android phone, you might be in trouble.

This is a treasure trove for lawsuits, criminal cases, and divorces.
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Madison Avenue Thought This Would Be A Good Idea



They thought this would be a good idea? Slide a beer past African-Americans to a white gal with the slogan "Lighter is Better"?

(But I wonder if they knew what they were doing to get people talking about Heineken.)

Edit: It made national news everywhere. They even pulled the ad.

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Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

  • I saved another lost puppy dog over the weekend and got it back to its owner. I think I've found my new calling. 
  • The DA candidate who lost the Democrat nomination in the Dallas County primary by a little over 500 votes has now sued alleging "ineligible, illegal, and fraudulent mail-in ballots."  Mail-In ballots seem a little suspect in this day and time. 
  • The pastor of the FBC of Dallas never disappoints.
    He loves "Two Corinthians" and Muslims, too.
  • The incredibly decent former President Jimmy Carter, during his campaign, was scorched for referencing the Bible by saying, "I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do and God forgives me for it.” Trump could have an orgy on the White House lawn and Jeffers would praise him. And then he would put it on pay-per-view and call it "tithing".
  • On the other hand, he believes the Ten Commandments should be taught in public schools to end gun violence. "Thou shall not kill" sounds good, but the adultery part doesn't seem to be a priority with Jeffers. #Stormy
  • A Frisco couple was arrested in Massachusetts for possessing this in a Residence Inn. How many of my readers will be outraged?:
  • As a "sports columnist" for the Bridgeport High School paper, I once got called into the principal's office after I quoted one of our high school basketball players, after a loss to Archer City, as saying: "I don't know if they should be ranked, but they sure are going to beat the heck out of Chico." (They were in the same district.) The Chico ISD Superintendent got mad and called our principal who made me write an apology for "insulting" Chico's basketball team. I did it which proved I didn't have a clue about how journalism works. Neither did my "teacher" who never even remotely thought about saying, "No, he will not."
  • When I told my dad about it he didn't really care that I was called onto the carpet. But he said to me, and I remember this like yesterday, "I'm just surprised they actually read what you write all the way over in Chico." 
  • Don't you love how in Texas JP's (and sometimes County Judges) can determine the cause of death without any investigation or autopsy. (I had forgotten that Justice Scalia was declared dead of "natural causes" over the phone by a guy who didn't even go to the scene.)
  • Nice "gangsta rap" reference by an elected official in Colleyville: 
  • The father of Brown of Brown vs. Board of Education has died. You know that little Supreme Court decision that said it was unconstitutional to segregate schools under state and local laws? Shockingly, that decision was handed down in 1954. That wasn't long ago. 
  • The Ticket had a porn star on for two hours yesterday. She was actually incredibly smart and funny, but I couldn't believe what I was listening to in the morning hours.
  • For all you Wise County women out there, call Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, tell him that you had an affair with Trump and he will write you a check for $130,000 no questions asked. 
  • Facebook may be in trouble. A couple of years ago someone on the third floor of the courthouse told me that they had texted someone about buying something and then ads for that specific product started showing up on the Internet. I found that hard to believe. I believe it now. 

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3.26.2018

This Came Up Over The Weekend




Interesting question: "What's the rule? Does it count as a pitch?" Answer.
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Leader Board


Link.
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Random Monday Morning Thoughts


  • Riley Dodge is the new head coach at Southlake? He's 29. That certainly doesn't disqualify him, but coaching in your politically charged home town at such a young age seems less than ideal.
  • Trump signed a $1.3 trillion spending bill on Friday (which was 2,323 pages long) after calling it ridiculous and saying that no one had read it. 
  • But I'll give him credit this morning. I didn't think he had the guts (assuming it is not a stunt to distract): 
  • It used to be if there was a negligent death at a theme park that the company would be sued. Now they also get criminally indicted. Example: Schlitterbahn.
  • I've preached for over a decade that demographics are changing at a rapid pace. Look at this promotion from the Mavericks on the front page of the Saturday sports section of the Dallas Morning News:

  • This seems a little odd. I've often wondered if Crime Stoppers in Wise County ever pays out anything. Then I see a story this story where they are prominently mentioned for what seems to be a small crime of the theft of "numerous unshaped Resistol cowboy hats [and] Anderson Bean Boot Company Rataetna Chocolate Mad style boots" at NRS.
  • I was in downtown Fort Worth on Saturday for an unrelated reason, but ended up watching part of the March For Our Lives. I've never seen anything like it in my life.  And I love it that young people get politically active in anything. 
  • And if you didn't see this girl speak in D.C., you missed something pretty powerful:
  • Below is from local radio host Mark Davis, who actually says prayers on the radio and works for a Christian radio station. You kidding me? "Not inappropriate?"  
  • Trump is having trouble finding lawyers. Two more declined after meeting with him. (And Trump implied that the taxpayers were paying for his private lawyers.)
  • Trump, who tweets like a madman, has never mentioned Stormy Daniels. Hmmmmmm. (But we learned this morning that his lawyer's lawyer sent a "cease and desist" letter to Stormy demanding  an apology after last night's 60 Minutes episode. That's not how it works.)
  • Texas Tech, I feel your pain. Baylor has been to the Elite Eight twice in the last 10 years. It's hard to get there, and much harder to win once there.

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