5.31.2019

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






at 2:00 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts


  • The Decatur girls softball team will remember that state semi-final forever. Outhit their opponent 15-4, left the bases loaded with one out in the final inning, committed six errors, and lost by two runs. 
  • UNT will have four football games airing on Facebook this season. A decade ago we would have thought that was insane. What's it going to be like in 2029? Virtual reality 50 yard line seats on pay-per-view seems to be very likely.
  • If you're an assistant U.S. Attorney and your wife threatens to call your boss about you consuming edibles so you freak out and decide to go ahead and confess to your boss about the marijuana use as well as lying about it on federally mandated forms, you won't get prosecuted. (Probably fired, but not prosecuted.)
  • You see that guy in the background in this pic from the Oval Office this year? Well, we just learned Kim Jong Un executed him because the summit in Hanoi didn't go well. 
  • From a school in El Paso:
    This is the heritage of which they speak.
  • I saw an acquaintance at the courthouse yesterday talking on a cellphone in a prohibited place. I faked taking a picture of her and jokingly threatened to make her a bullet point to publicize the error of her ways. Her response? A very dismissive "I don't care as long as I don't look fat."  We need more attitude like that in this world. 
  • If I had moved a bit this morning, I could have captured chicken tenders or a Whopper at the end of the rainbow in Decatur.  
  • The National Spelling Bee (which ended in a weird eight way tie) was on ESPN last night but one of its alternate channels had a "play along" split screen where multiple choice answers were given. You could watch how the nation was voting as the time was running down. Even with Google, the nation was often wrong.
     
  • A guy set himself on fire near the White House this week. I'm not sure you want to Google the name Arnav Gupta. It's the craziest fire image since the monk set himself ablaze in Saigon in 1963. 
  • Trump has announced new tariffs on Mexico so we'll all be paying a new tax to the treasury.  We've gone so far off the rails no one even cares. 
  • "Uber posted losses of $1 billion on revenue of $3.1 billion for the first quarter of 2019 in what was its first earnings report as a public company." For the life of me, I don't understand this. Doesn't this mean they had $4.1 billion in expenses?  How? They don't have stores. They don't have cars (or the accompanying insurance and maintenance.) They don't have factories. Every driver is an independent contractor responsible for their own cars, maintenance, insurance and gas.  How does Uber have that much in expenses?


at 8:34 AM

5.30.2019

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts



  • While Trump was having a "Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!" moment this morning, he admitted that Russia helped him get elected: 
    (He was late this morning because of this tweet.)
  • There was a scary moment last night in the Astros/Cubs game where a four year old was struck by a foul ball.  Early reports are that she'll be Ok, although the place stopped down after it happened. (Has there ever been a person die due to a foul ball at a major league game? Yep. Last year.)
  • On Sunday night, Dallas went a little nuts over a report of a missing four year old child. By morning, the news was that the father had made the report up. So, yes, he's been charged with a crime, but even I was surprised to learn it's just a Class C misdemeanor (fine only) with a specific Penal Code provision covering the crime. 
  • Someone emailed me this week for the sole purpose of telling me that I needed to go to Odessa to see what the oil boom has done -- and not in a good way. It's chaotic. And the new issue of Texas Monthly has a story about the same thing.
  • With all this hoopla over Art Briles being hired by Mt. Vernon, I was curious what the school's record was over the last few years. I found it. (By the way, coach Josh Finney left to take a job at Winnsboro, which is also a 3A school, who went 2-8 last year. That's seems a little odd since he seemed to have a good thing going.)
  • A bill was introduced in both the House and Senate to eliminate the County Attorney in Cooke County and combine the office with the DA's office. Both died (the bills, not the prosecutors). I thought stuff like that was always a done deal. 
  • In case you missed Robert Mueller's statement yesterday, here it is:
  • It would be a lot easier to hold those press conferences in the White House press room, but Sarah Sanders doesn't do that any longer. 
    Sanders in a "Nothing to see here" moment yesterday
  • Mob boss or Texas Sheriff? (This guy had quite the history.)
  • Just an average day on social media: Some Tony Romo fan with a Twitter account posts a pic of car, with license plate visible, which he accuses of speeding through a school zone this morning, and the Fort Worth Police Department wants information in response. 
  • Someone in the White House wanted the U.S.S. John McCain "out of sight" during Trump's visit to Japan, so a tarp was placed over its name. Trump denied ordering it but said this morning that the person who did was "well meaning." 


at 8:30 AM

5.29.2019

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts



  • I finally went into the Decatur QuikTrip because I was laughing at everyone being so giddy about it. Verdict: Pretty dang impressive for a convenience store. And shout out to the male cashier who was able to keep two lines on either side of the cash register moving at mind-blowing pace. I would be fired from that job within 30 minutes. 
  • I'm no demolition expert, but taking a wrecking ball to the gutted hotel after the fire in Dallas, especially the way everyone is standing around, doesn't look that safe. (Here's a quick video of the ball hitting the side of the thing.)
  • So you think I'm too hard on Pete Delkus? The guy predicts rainfall to within a hundredth of an inch yet also predicts wide variances (0.59 in Archer City and 3.29 in Graham). It's ridiculous to even create the graphic.  
  • I've been moaning about it for years, but the Texas drivers surcharge law will be gone. And here's a bonus: If you still owe money from past charges, as of 9/1/19 all of that government debt is forgiven. (If you were found guilty of DWI in the last two years, that's a big chunk of change you just avoided.) 
  • And despite all the hoopla and false promises of Gov. Greg Abbott, there was no meaningful marijuana reform this session.
  • Channel 5 was setting up for a live shot (?) in Decatur this morning. I'm guessing it's for the Decatur Softball team heading to the state tourney. (That may be a wild guess, but the van was inside the barricade for the street closure.)
  • She's an extra but a big time extra with good gigs in both HBO's Games of Thrones and Chernobyl within the last month.
  • He's just embarrassing himself now: 
  • I had no idea the Korean War claimed around 35,000 American lives fighting against Kim Jong Un's grandfather. Everyone goes nuts about Vietnam's 50,000 number, but that's an amazing number for a three year war. 
    Even the war's memorial is underrated.
  • Former WFAA anchors Ron Corning and Alexa Conomos are teaming up for a weekly podcast. There is no way they can make any money from that. And promoting it with Conomos saying, "Ron and I were always known for telling it like it is" doesn't help. You read a teleprompter. 
  • The Texas Secretary of State has resigned after the fake voting scandal. He couldn't even survive in a land of political sugar daddies in Austin. And it's a good thing no one peddled that lie. Oh, wait. 
  • Messenger: Above the Fold. 

at 8:32 AM

5.28.2019

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




  • In a convoluted screw-up, after September 1st you can go to work as a plumber without a license to do so in Texas. That's because there won't be a requirement to have a license. Since I have a reputation of being able to fix any broken toilet, you might be looking at the next Messenger "Best Plumber in Wise County" award winner. 
  • Trump wished the Japanese troops a "happy Memorial Day." (I'm just glad it wasn't December 7th so he couldn't fire off a "Happy Pearl Harbor Day!")
  • Update to yesterday's Mount Everest post: 11 people have died in the last 10 days. A Colorado attorney is the latest.
  • I had some buddies tell me about the Dr. Death podcast about Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a neurosurgeon out of Dallas. They told me the story is so crazy that I wouldn't believe it.  They were right. 
  • In what might be the most historically confusing and equally disrespectful tweet ever, Texas Live! out of Arlington posted this on Memorial Day and immediately took it down. (The soldier "holding" the taco died four months after the photo was taken.)
  • My "Let's Get Out Of Here" post on Friday will often include a wheels off video from the "Block or Charge" Twitter account. He posted something that got him suspended in the last couple of days.   
  • I won't disclose the subject matter, but a Wise County Facebook account set up for complaints and accolades turned into one of the wildest gossip threads of all time yesterday afternoon before it was taken down. It was full scorched earth. 
  • I can't say I'm that familiar with the old Ambassador Hotel in Dallas, but it went up in flames early this morning. (The photo doesn't even do it justice as this quick loading video shows.)
     
  • Edit: Just saw this update:
  • A pretty good documentary about a contestant on The Price is Right is Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew To Much. (Although it should be called The Contestant Who Legally Memorized Prices).
     
  • I've got a huge complaint about Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee: It relies heavily on geography but doesn't give you any guidelines as to what part of a state the author it talking about. (Just a simple, "Close to present day Laramie, Wyoming", for example, would be a huge help.) You need a map to have the book truly make sense. 
  • We had a snake at a Walmart in Denton County. It's "just a rat snake" but still quite the sight. Photo below.  (However, I remind you of the Great Decatur Rat Snake Incident of 2009 -- exactly 10 years ago -- which involved the local legal community moving in to gawk.)
  • As badly as the city of Boston treated Bill Buckner, you would think his death would make it above the fold. 




at 8:31 AM

5.27.2019

Random Monday Morning Thoughts



  • It's Monday. Everything is closed. There is no Wise County Messenger Update. But here I am, the hardest working man . . . again.  
  • The Messenger did post an update yesterday about a fatality accident north of Decatur on FM 51 which occurred on Saturday.
  • Being from the mean streets of the west side of Wise County, it almost pains me to say this: With the Decatur High School's softball team making the state finals over the weekend, I'm hard pressed to think of a school with a greater success rate in UIL sports than this school year. The boys' basketball made the state tourney, football made it the state semi-finals, a cross-country state title, baseball made a playoff run, and I'm sure I'm missing something. 
  • Art Briles was named the head football coach of tiny Mt. Vernon high school and it was fascinating about how it broke. And it was a pretty well kept secret because everyone should have known something was up when a school board meeting was set for 5:30 on the Friday before a three day weekend. (And I'll never get use to technology since that tiny school was able to pipe in Briles live from France on Skype. See it here.)
    • As to whether its good or bad, I don't know. Letting the guy coach in a town of 2,500 doesn't seem unreasonable. But I understand the complaints.
    • I don't understand the Star-Telegram stretching it this morning trying to find a connection to a TCU student's murder by a serial killer that has no connection with Baylor or Briles: 
  • "Hey, Barry, the next time a cop orders me out of my car do I have to comply?" Naaa. Just tell him your facing an existential question and you'll get back to him once you decide. Heck, I'll even write about your situation and use a glamour shot. 
  • This picture looks fake but it is not. Last week there was a traffic jam on the way to the top of Mount Everest. Story  (And that's no easy journey. I remember being so naive that I was shocked when reading Into Thin Air that the author, an experienced climber, was taking something like six months off to train before the climb.)
  • Since it's a holiday, do yourself a favor and watch a couple of quick loading videos of elephants protecting themselves in the wild. (And see the coolest guide in the world).  
  • NFL legend Bart Starr has died. I actually saw him play in person when I was a little kid (without having any idea who he was) in the Cotton Bowl.  He went 9 of 21 for 83 yards, no TDs, and one INT.
  • Remember I told you about the fake "drunk Pelosi" video on Friday morning? At the same time, Fox and Friends were either oblivious to it or blatantly spreading it by having those two goofballs on the show who mocked Pelosi and her drinking. Steve Doocey came back later and apologized but said he was "unfamiliar" with the doctored video. 
  • The Texas softball pitcher getting hit in the face by her own catcher is one of the most cringe-worthy things I've ever seen. She'll be fine. 
  • The Texas House passed the school funding and tax bill late Saturday. I still don't know if it is smoke and mirrors and I bet our own rep doesn't either. Why am I picking on him? Rep. Phil King was absent from the vote. Of the 150 House reps, only 11 were not there. King was one of them.  
  • Legal nerd stuff. If Gov. Abbott doesn't veto it, Texas will have the biggest change in DWI law since the early 1980s: For offenses after 9/1/19, a person will be eligible for deferred adjudication for first time DWI so long as you don't have a CDL, don't have a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 or higher, and agree to an ignition interlock device as part of the probation. (I'm still trying to sort this out since it all went down Saturday evening in some type of compromise. Here's the bill in its current state. I think I'm right.)
  • Two Texas guys tried to jump a bridge in Louisiana and died doing so. I had to look it up to see the landscape that led to their decision and here it is. Using my superior Google map skills, the gap is 170 feet. (And that's a weird swing action on the bridge to let boats pass.) 
  • What the . . . . ??? Is he insane? (And he deleted it and then reposted to correct the spelling of Biden's name --- like that's the disturbing part that needed to be deleted/change.) 
  • Going into Memorial Day weekend, the Army thought it would be a good idea to post this. I don't think they got the responses in the comments they expected. Brutal. People don't like how vets are treated once they come home.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold
Largest newspaper in Japan



at 8:30 AM
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