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2011 was a wild weather year. It started with the ice storm screwing up Super Bowl week in the metroplex, then there was a crazy run of 100+ days, and then there were fires. The Cliffs at Possum Kingdom even got hit in that blaze above. And 10 years ago today, a big fire broke out between Boyd and Paradise that sent metroplex news helicopters out. Photos.
- Ok, we went up by over 200 yesterday breaking three straight days of declines. I'm still thinking this is the peak, but I'm not betting a lot of money on it.
- Is it really a mask "mandate" if everyone can opt out of the mandate?
- That just feels good to read.
- Look what local police in the U.S. will be deprived of.
- New Orleans being without power and water in this heat seems like a really big deal. No definitive word yet on when it will be restored.
- A state Republican didn't like that a Texas district judge prevented the arrest of Democrats who broke quorum so he's introduced a bill to impeach him. His authoritarian measure found no one else to co-sponsor the bill. The representative is a former pastor who majored in "Youth Ministry" and comes from, surprise, East Texas.
- An attorney representing 17 of the Trump Insurrectionist is reportedly ill with COVID. This filing with the Court carries with it a heck of a footnote.
- The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas issued a press release announcing that JPS in Fort Worth has to pay $3.3 million in a "whistleblower lawsuit", but I was confused because it was a lawsuit brought by a private citizen. Why is the U.S. Attorney taking credit? Get this:
- "The allegations resolved by this settlement were originally filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which permits private persons with evidence of fraud to sue on behalf of the government and to share in any proceeds."
- So a private citizen gets to act as a prosecutor seeking money and keep a big cut if they win.
- "Under the Act, the United States [Attorney] may intervene in such an action or permit the whistleblower to pursue it." But here, the government didn't intervene at all. They instead just "worked collaboratively" with her attorney. I think that's weird.
- The private citizen got $912,635.
- Side note: It's always strange when a governmental entity gets hit with a big fine or lawsuit. It's the taxpayer which ultimately pays.
- Colleyville and Southlake seem to have a lot in common.
- Whatever happened to the cobra in Grand Prairie which was on the loose?
- There's some business headlines I read which make me think I've been doing it wrong all my life.
- I'm ten episodes into Billions, and I've got to tell you I have serious problem with the corny writing. There are at least a couple of times in every episode where the dialogue literally makes me cringe and eye-roll. Then again, maybe gummy supplement power brokers talk differently than what I would expect.
- Random college football thought: I think Oklahoma has everything to lose by moving to the SEC. How that tiny state has had a super power in football defies all logic. And if they ever lose their edge, they may never get it back. Nebraska going to the Big 10 should be a major warning and a case study. No one in the 1990s would ever think they could become what they have now become. And I don't know it they'll ever get it back. It could happen to OU.
