11.03.2023

It's Friday -- Let's Get Out of Here

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Random Friday Morning Thoughts




The Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2013, and I posted the above graphic back then to show the highest paid players on their payroll.  Here is the 2023 Ranger salary list for comparison.

  • That was an insane wreck yesterday in Decatur when a vehicle left 287 and crashed into the vehicle of a guy who had just checked out of the Best Western and who was still in the parking lot. Both died. Even the front of the hotel was damaged. Good coverage by the Messenger.
  • So the schools of Arlington, Grand Prairie, Irving, Mansfield and Kennedale ISD will be closed Friday for a Rangers parade -- a parade which is a circle which guarantees that everyone will be gathered in one central location. What could go wrong? It starts at 12:15 p.m. 


    • I'm just guessing, but I think this is a wild over-estimation. 

    • The again, a rather rambunctious crowd was gathering at 5:00 a.m. Video.

  • David Spiller (R-Jacksboro) was proud of his anti-immigration bill (H.B. 4) being passed by the House in the Special Session. But this week the Senate gutted it causing a war yesterday between Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan. And Spiller was caught in crossfire. 


    • Spiller's response is here. Phelan's is here. 
    • I think this is all fallout over the Paxton attempted impeachment. 
  • I posted pics of the demolished trooper car near Houston the other day. Now here's the video. He ran into an Amazon truck.


  • The Business Second:

  • Wanna see a video of Queen (with Adam Lambert) at American Airlines Center last night singing "We Are The Champions" while a Rangers jersey made an appearance?



  • So lots of reaction videos to the Rangers winning are floating around, but I'm not sure I understand a society who goes to, say Texas Live! to watch it on the big screen, and then records the moment by videoing a TV instead of living it.

  • A kid from Paradise announced yesterday that he is signing his National Letter of Intent with the Aggies. That has to be the first big time college baseball player out of Paradise, right?

  • Time which has passed since the Wise County Sheriff's Office, despite having a full male DNA profile, has failed to solve the murder of Lauren Whitener in her home at Lake Bridgeport: 4 years and 120 days.

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11.02.2023

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




A very wheels off marriage came to a quick end. A marriage between a guy, age 51, from The Green Mile and some teen, 16 to be exact, who somehow became an internet sensation. 

  • The Texas Rangers won the World Series? I was beginning to believe it would never happen. It's been a long, long time.  

    • Parade route tomorrow:

  • He's going to Israel? Are you kidding me?! Tell me we aren't paying for this. Then again, if this means school vouchers are dead, take all the time you want on your little trip.

  • And it does sound like vouchers might indeed be dead.

  • Last night, habitual-liar and con man George Santos survived a vote to expel him from the House -- a resolution brought to the floor by Republicans. For some reason I don't understand, it ended up being 32 Democrats who saved him.

  • I didn't know Trump was in Dallas last night, but I learned about it from the Little Ball of Insurrection who is still a Little Ball of Insurrection. 

  • High interest rates weren't the only bad news for them. 

  • Bobby Knight passed away.  He was as nutty as the come, but I thought it was a stroke of genius for Tech to hire him out of nowhere in 2001. (Man, it doesn't seem like that long ago.)

  • The Business Second: Six Flags just announced that it is merging with someone outfit I have never heard of. 

  • Legal nerdy stuff. I don't even know how I came across this tweet, but it really stuck with me. It's from someone wanting to discuss an email from a young attorney in a big firm.  I cannot imagine being young and in the modern work environment where I had to apologize to a bunch of bosses for not being able to respond until after 7:30 p.m. from home.  No way would I live like that. 

  • Very, very nerdy legal stuff: We almost had a ruling out of the Court of Criminal Appeals whether it is improper for a prosecutor to argue in closing that (paraphrasing slightly): "The only reason we are having this jury trial is because the defendant is refusing to take responsibility." It was a DWI case out of Tarrant County case where the high Texas court had agreed over a year ago to decide the issue. That is, until yesterday when it changed its mind after the case had been fully briefed. 
  • Messenger - Above the Fold 

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11.01.2023

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




Matt Lauer dressed as Pamela Anderson on The Today Show. It would be four more years until the scandal dropped. 

  •  "A barrage of Israeli airstrikes leveled apartment buildings in Gaza's largest refugee camp near Gaza City on Tuesday." With images of more dead children hitting the airwaves, Israel is doing itself no favors. 

  • Oh, my. There's a car sticking out of that hole.  


  • I'm hearing that the "trafficking bust" at the Indian restaurant in Alvord will have some pretty shocking facts. There might have been a reason there was so much truck traffic. 
  • Trooper crash near Houston last night. 


  • Ranger quick hits:
    • Best moment from last night's game.

    • The Star-Telegram isn't afraid of jinxes. (As expected, the article behind it was written by Mac Engel who has turned into a kind of funny shock jock.)

  • Greg Abbott announced a "deal" yesterday on school vouchers, but I think it might still be dead -- as it should be. He's trying to bribe the House with teacher salary increases in exchange for his plan to send your tax money to unregulated religious private schools as subsidies.

  • She represented a portion of Wise County until recent gerrymandering. 

  • Political fun fact: The new Speaker of the House was once the dean of a Southern Baptist law school in Louisiana which never opened. (I didn't now whether to post this story or the other ones this morning that (1) he claims to not have a bank account and even says so on required financial disclosure forms, or (2) he gave legal advice and partnered with Exodus International - a now defunct gay conversion group.)


  • Wise County Courthouse ornaments are now on sale for $25. Proceeds go towards the ongoing restoration fund. The date makes them attractive since 2023 will always be the real year of the transformation. 

  • As shown in this exclusively obtained photo, the Wise County D.A.'s office all dressed up in the same outfit for Halloween -- an outfit which apparently mimics what that the elected D.A. wears to work all the time. Except for yesterday.  

  • If this was from a past Halloween, I don't care. The "dog" in the background was a very nice touch. 

    • Flashback:

  • My business show, It's Warehouses, People!™, is back on the air. The "185,569-square-foot cold storage facility at 5225 Investment Drive in Dallas . . .  along with others in Florida and Missouri, were acquired for almost $50 million."  They are just taunting us with that street name. 


  • The Las Vegas Raiders, who not too long ago fired Jon Gruden mid-contract and had to pay him a record $60 million, last night fired coach Josh McDaniels who has four full years left on his deal. He is now owed $40 million. (May I remind you that the NFL has a self-imposed "salary cap" for players.)


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