2.19.2021

It's Friday -- Let's Get Our of Here (If We Ever Got Here)

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

 


I have no memory of a computer being a contestant on Jeopardy. But if it could win then, it would dominate now. 
  • I probably took to much joy in watching Ted Cruz being scorched all day yesterday for running off to Cancun while Texas suffers. I may frame the picture of him in the Cancun airport as he headed back to do damage control:

    • I can just picture Cruz arriving at the Ritz-Carlton, changing into shorts , walking out on the balcony with his complimentary margarita, and then looking at his phone and seeing 198 messages. 
    • I like this pic, too. 

    • He continues to blame his daughters (10 and 12) for this fiasco. After all, he claims they wanted to go to Cancun since school was closed for the week and, being a "good dad", he said yes.  (Who amongst us hasn't taken our kids to Cancun on a whim?)
    • But actually that's not true. Leaked group text messages by Cruz's neighbors show that Cruz's wife strung that deal together. 

    • For a politician who literally cares about nothing other than being a politician, how could he possibly have been that dumb to be caught in a fiasco like this? 
    • Cruz ran into the loving arms Sean Hannity last night for damage control. But it was bizarre in it's own right. Watch his one minute explanation here.  (I actually watched  most of  Hannity for the first time in years just to see it and, let me tell you, I don't know how anyone can stomach Hannity's lies and propaganda. It was insane.) 

    • Funny lines that I saw about the whole mess: (1) We didn't send Mexico our "best people", did we? (2) We can't fault him for crossing the border. He was just looking for a better life for his family at the moment. (3) If Ted Cruz were an ordinary dude, and he did a Mexico round-trip in less than 17 hours, the DEA would be waiting on his lawn when he got home.
  • In a response that was anything but "candid", Gov. Abbott lied yesterday. 

  • And I think this "seconds or minutes" claim is a lie as well. That sounds like something ERCOT made up in order to deflect criticism. You know, "Don't be mad at us! We actually saved you!"

  • We haven't had mail delivered this week. I'm not complaining -- just an observation. 
  • Shout to Ms. LL for doing a heck of a job going to the grocery store before all this hit. We've been fine all week. 
  • I'm an idiot on things like this, but most of society's energy problems would be solved by huge and cheap batteries that could power a house, right? I mean, we have slowly gotten  to the point where electric cars run on batteries with capabilities we couldn't dream of.  Now just keep that technology going for home power storage.  Massive capacity. Store for extended periods. Cheap.  Problems solved. 
  • Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, who might be the secret sister of Marjorie Taylor Greene, attended a hearing by Zoom with guns prominently (and oddly) placed in the background. 


  • Look at Wednesday:

  • Sports: I don't really care about Carson Wentz being traded to the Colts, but his trade now leaves Dak as the only QB on this list which is still with the team that drafted him:

  • Time which has passed since the Wise County Sheriff's Office has failed to solve the murder of Lauren Whitener in her home at Lake Bridgeport: 595 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold 

at 8:32 AM

2.18.2021

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

 


Most have forgotten, but we had "rolling blackouts" during Super Bowl week 10 years ago. My thought then is the same now: There's something flat-out weird about it which doesn't make sense, and I can't help but wonder if we are being taken for a ride. 
  • With that introduction, this headline below didn't help yesterday: 

  • Even Oklahoma is somehow doing fine throughout this ordeal, and Arkansas taunted us yesterday by using snow plows on their side of Stateline Road in Texarkana. This whole week has revealed how Texas was unprepared, and it makes our braggadocio reputation seem hollow. silly, and forever unjustified.

  • A faithful reader between Decatur and Slidell sent me this pic yesterday. His power has been out since Monday.  Incredible. 

  • I bet Rick Perry didn't ask him if he was willing to make that sacrifice -- something which Perry thinks we are all willing to do just to act stupidly independent in the face of the federal government. (Hey, remember that Trump made Perry the Energy Secretary -- the same guy who got a D in college in a course named "Meats"?) 

  • I got to experience the joy of the snowstorm yesterday morning when the Family Dog decided to make a break for it. The mutt acted like he was free from a life a bondage with a miraculous series of zig-zagging sprints and changes of direction that covered a half mile. That dumb thing actually loved the snow, and the chase went on for 30 minutes.
  • I'm also proud to report I didn't break a bone when, during my pursuit of the wild beast through the streets, I hit a patch of ice, my feet came out from under me, and the upper part of my body came crashing down on the snowy pavement. An ambulance ride was flashing before my eyes on the way down to ground. I got lucky. 
  • I also had the joy of a experiencing a busted pipe later in the day. Fortunately, I saw it the second it happened and knew how to shut off the water at the main. 
  • Broken pipes are happening to everyone. The civil courts building in Dallas is not doing well:

  • I researched as to how hard it would be fix a pipe (if you can get to it), and it really doesn't look that hard at all. But good luck finding a tube/pipe cutter if you don't already own one. They are sold out all across the Southwest Proper. Literally.

  • Social media and media outlets are abuzz about Ted Cruz possibly being spotted going to Cancun yesterday. Between him, Perry and Abbott, is the GOP trying to lose Texas in the future? 


  • Rush Limbaugh has died. Judging from the online reaction, more than a few people didn't think very highly of him. I'm in that group.  Two generations of politicians thought that Limbaugh's online bombastic and callous persona was the way that an actual human being should act. And somehow it got them elected. 
  • Watch Trump's building in Atlantic city being imploded yesterday. (Hey, see that building to the right that is still standing today? It is where the Democrats held their 1964 convention. I found a photo of it below. Think LBJ felt a little pressure with those signs behind the stage?)


  • "The San Diego Padres and superstar shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. agreed to a 14-year, $340 million contract extension Wednesday night."  I'm torn on this. Did Tatis agree to too long of a contract? That amount might be considered cheap 10 years from now but, on the other hand, baseball is the one sport that might be in financial dire straits in a decade. 



at 8:30 AM

2.17.2021

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




Deion's house had broken pipes during the ice storm of 2011. (He has since sold the place and most of the land around it to a developer for a subdivision. Here is the home now on Zillow.)
  • Yesterday, I had to re-locate to a secure location just to make sure Liberally Lean wouldn't be kept down by Big Energy, The Man, The Weather, and any other co-conspirators. 
  • How is ERCOT doing? This was the headline yesterday afternoon. What a cluster this has turned out to be.

  • Your anger about the widespread power outage is in direct proportion to whether you have been affected by it. Random outrage example:

  • The most appropriate headline comes from the Texas Tribune: 

  • Gov. Abbott was all over TV acting mad about the situation.  Buddy, the Texas establishment has created this situation. You guys care more about whether the Mavericks play the National Anthem than whether the state will be crippled because of something called "cold weather." You and your cronies need to look in the mirror. 
  • No, it wasn't because of the windmills. Quit lying. And Fox News has been doing a lot of this in the last 24 hours 

  • Back to Abbott, you have got to have a special amount of hubris to lead a state that is as far away from implementing the "Green New Deal" as possible, but somehow blame this current disaster on AOC.  And he blamed windmills. That's a lie. And what's he doing wasting time on Hannity during a crisis? He's a con man, but just keep on voting for him. 

  • Remember Texas politicians mocking California for not being able to provide electricity?
    • Ted Cruz:

    • Dan Crenshaw:

  • Here's a graphic of the power grids. We are in the green one that cares about profits over the pubic welfare. 


  • ERCOT is a non-profit corporation. Here are the salaries headed by people with oil industry ties:
    $814,909



  • Did you know that ERCOT has asserted in Texas courts that it can't be sued claiming sovereign immunity and won? The Texas Supreme Court is now considering the case. That court, which is also full of politicians because they are elected, will now rule against them since they know everyone will be watching. Funny how that works. 
  • Any legislative hearings over ERCOT, and politicians were all pounding their chests for them yesterday, will just be for show. Just like the multiple round tables Abbott held on gun violence after the El Paso massacre, they will be held in order to look like something will be done.

  • If any changes are made, you can rest assured they will be so insignificant as to hardly be noticeable, yet certain groups and individuals will make a fortune implementing them. It's the way Texas does things. 
  • Downtown Dallas went into light saving mode last night. This, too, will last only a couple of days.  

  • Below is how not to be the mayor of Colorado City, Texas. I mean, literally. If you write that as mayor of Colorado City, Texas, as this guy did, you will find yourself being forced to resign within 24 hours. 

  • A busted pipe creates a waterfall in Victory Park in Uptown Dallas. Video.

  • A waterfall from the roof at the downtown Hilton in Fort Worth. Video.

  • The national level Republican Mommy and Daddy are fighting.

     

  • Because of the reduction in COVID hospitalizations, as of yesterday "Wise County businesses can return 75 percent capacity."  Of course, we would have to find a business operating under 75% capacity for that news to matter.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold


at 8:30 AM

2.16.2021

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

  • This will be bare-bones. I’m a victim of Big Energy at the moment. 
  • We made it through the day yesterday, but the power then went out at midnight. It is still out. 
  • We are fine (thanks to my excellent survivalist skills and that Doomsday Preppers magazine I picked up at Brookshires), but this is dangerous for some people. 
  • I know people in Decatur who have been without power for 24 hours. Bridgeport, because of their unique power situation, is in good shape I’m told. 
  • And lots of people in the metroplex are told to boil their water on their non-working electric stoves. 
  • Saw this yesterday posted by a weekend Ticket host who had been without power . . . .

  • I don’t understand the energy grid issues, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know this is royally screwed up. This isn’t all due to an ice storm that snapped power lines across the state. This is all because of predictable cold weather. 
  • What the hell is Ercot anyway? And “transmission owners” are ordered to “shed megawatts”? 
  • Best I can tell, Texas has its owned screwed up grid because it had a beef with FDR. 
  • How much natural gas was wasted in West Texas fracking?
  • Should we add this event to our “Texas is the greatest state in the nation” list?
  • The Dallas Stars were shamed into canceling their game last night at the last minute. They didn’t see anything wrong with heating up an empty AAC. They have been tone deaf lately. 
  • Wichita Falls got to -8 last night.  
  • I’m putting Decatur officially at -4. 
  • Tarrant County is closed today, and I assume that includes District Clerk Tom Wilder’s office who has shown reckless disregard for the lives of his employees over the years. 
  • I tapped this out on a mobile device with frozen fingers. Hardest Working Man in Show Business. 

at 8:30 AM

2.15.2021

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

 

  • That hot opinion on melting was posted after the Super Bowl in Arlington was over. I guess we'll see if my observation was correct today and tomorrow. But, then again, we aren't going to even hit 20 degrees today.
  • I don't know if we have an "official" temperature anywhere in Decatur, but I'll put it at 1° this morning.  

  • Snow on the beach in Galveston this morning. 

  • The snow was great and impressive yesterday, but those flakes were never huge for a sustained amount of time. I don't think anything will ever match February 11, 2010. DFW Airport recorded 12.5 inches and Haslet topped out at 14.4 inches.
  • I haven't heard about Wise County being subject to "rolling blackouts" last night/this morning, but it's happening all around the state. They are supposed to be for 15 to 60 minutes, but I'm seeing lots of complaints out of the metroplex this morning that the power had been out for hours. 

  • If an employee of the Tarrant County District Clerk's office died in the I-35 pile-up because her boss, Tom Wilder, is a jerk who never closes the office and was willing to gamble with the lives of county employees, he needs to resign. It's the least he could do to show respect for her family. (Here's a link to the email referenced below.)


  • Horrible news that I'm sure you've heard  . . . 

  • Trump avoid impeachment for the second time, but the Senate at least got close to the 2/3rds that were needed: 57-43.   You might have missed it, but for about two hours on Saturday morning the trial almost turned into a substantive spectacle when the Senate surprisingly voted to hear witnesses. But then they immediately changed their minds. This statement of Republican Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler was put into the record by agreement in lieu of calling witnesses. 

  • If that bored you and you're just looking for an entertaining moment from Saturday, then this video clip is that. I think the Senate was laughing at his pronunciation of Philadelphia. And a very underrated part of the clip is at the end when he says, "I haven't laughed at any of you."

  • Ted Cruz isn't even trying any longer.
    • Uh, the Babylon Bee is parody. 

    • Great picture of him meeting with Trump's lawyers during the impeachment trial. 

  • Local legal related news: 

  • Random girl's basketball news:

  • If you've got a couple of spare minutes, check out the "comedy" routine of this guy. Video. 

  • I actually watched two movies over the weekend.
    • Bombshell - I really liked this, but it's for a niche audience. The best thing about it was Charlize Theron who was a dead ringer for Megyn Kelly. And the brief appearances of the fake Bill O'Reilly and the fake Sean Hannity were fun for a guy like me. 

    • The Last of  the Mohicans - I had never seen this, and I've got a shocking verdict on it: Big thumbs down. I loved Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York and There Will be Blood, but he really didn't have a chance to act in this thing. I found it incredibly corny with horribly designed action scenes.  And there were way too many close-ups of Day-Lewis running at me. (But I did love this line in the film: “I would rather make the gravest of mistakes than surrender my own judgment.”)

  • Pretty good graphic for federal judge appointments in Texas over the years:

  • I wonder if it is worth investing in a generator.


at 8:32 AM
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