Scattershooting Yet Again / You See, There Was This Duck And....

Is is that time again? By golly, I do believe so. I've got some more Scattershooting for all to read right here on City-Data, where it's great to be alive. And even the Easter Bunny is about ready to bring eggs to all the good kiddos out there, but only if he can survive crossing Interstate 95.

So, here we go....

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We go now from rabbits to ducks. Actually, we're going to the subject of weird dreams. Once upon a time, I had gotten six hours of needed sleep this very morning, and I turned off my alarm that's supposed to be the waker-upper. Problem was, I forgot to turn on the lamp. So, consequently, I ended up sleeping an extra hour when I was supposed to be waking up and listening to KFYO out of Lubbock on my computer. What ended up happening was a very strange dream. It was me. And there was a duck.

There were two scenes that occurred during the dream, but I have lost all memory and recollection of the first scene. The second scene, however, I remember well. Both involved this pesky duck. Why I was fighting with him, I'll never know. But the dream eventually would have me in what looked like a hotel lobby with a built-in cavern. And in that cavern was a river, and it had a giant toilet flusher. Yep, a river toilet! When flushed, all the contents would be swept away through the double doors. And the pesky duck which I was fighting with was among a group of animals that I was trying to flush away at the end of the dream. But the duck keep fighting back. I'd flush the river again, but the duck would keep coming back. Finally, I'd flush it once more, and the duck would be flushed away, until he managed to storm back through the closing of the double doors, and then he'd get out of the water entirely and walk past me through the hotel entrance out into the parking lot.

Then I woke up!

Now, that reminds of another scenario. I would I had a collection of U.S. senators in that river that I'd to flush away, but I'll have more with that subject later.

Because of a duck, I missed This Week in Lubbock. Oh, well....

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Austin radio jock Bob Cole once coined the phrase, "Ain't it great to be alive in Austin, Texas?". Well, in recent days, you may not want to ask longtime Austinite Dale Watson that question. Not too long ago, Dale decided to pack his bags and shock everyone with the announcement that he's leaving the city to move to Memphis. The country/honky-tonk singer has a business venture already going on up there, so he's going to spend more time with that. When I heard about it, it surprised me.

Two articles about it below:

http://kut.org/post/dale-watson-leav...as-sold-itself

https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/d...-austin-music/

Everybody's going to have an opinion. There's no denying Austin's rapid growth and vibrant economy. Dale had just gotten disgusted with what he felt was too much growth and too much change in what is still The Live Music Capital Of The World. How the Austin music scene will respond to this revelation remains to be seen, but hopefully, it will survive and continue to thrive. But for the face of Austin music, well, sometimes life has to go on.

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Speaking of Austin, that mad bomber that had been in the news four times in the last few weeks got exactly what he deserved. In a perfect justice system, he would have faced the death penalty. Well, he certainly had gotten it now.

Think about how much worse it could have gotten. Praise God that it didn't go any further.

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Leave it to the media to overhype a supposedly impending snowstorm event that was going to affect East Coast locales like Philadelphia, New York City, Baltimore, and others. Those places ended up not getting near as much snow as what was predicted. Powerful, um, destiny, if you please.

I understand that meteorologists sometimes get excited over certain events, but come on, now....

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Wanting a buy a new car? There are good deals which await us out there, but there are also some lemons, too. Here's a link discussing the latter:
http://www3.forbes.com/business/10-n...x+News+Opinion

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On the other side of the coin, some good news now from our buddy Newt Gingrich. It involves technological advances and how we're still staying on top of them.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/...awaits-us.html

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We will always remember the great evangelist, Dr. Billy Graham. He truly was America's pastor. Recent health issues, of course, took their toll, and Dr. Graham passed away at the age of 99. No adequate words can appropriately describe the incredible impact that man had on our country, its citizens, the world, and faith in general.

God had plans for him. He always did. Billy Graham's story and legacy will live on. There will never be another one. Meanwhile, his book, Life Wisdom, sits on my computer station in front of me. You should read it sometime.

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It's the end of another era, this one in the northwest side of Dallas. The Hampton Inn on I-35E at Walnut Hill Lane is no more, after having been one of the first Hampton locations ever in North Texas. That was more than thirty years ago. Still standing is the building, but it's going to be in someone else's hands going forward. Not sure yet which chain is going to operate it, but as is usually the case with transitions, it will have a cheesy, spare name temporarily until the next chain takes command.

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Some tidbits from D.C. (and, in some cases, its unintended outer fringes):

President Donald Trump should have vetoed this latest bill that our Congress cooked up. As you know, this was a 2,200-page hot mess from the beginning, and it was purely intended to derail Trump's presidency. Now, wait a second. What has happened here? Wasn't it back in November when the tax cut law was passed, and Congress was all jubilant and everything, along with the president? Yes, and it looked like the Senate was on its way to turning the corner and things with Trump and Congress were going to work out just fine. The State of the Union address went very well, and things were going to be looking up.

Sadly, it didn't last.

So, the Senate once again does a complete 180-degree turn and is trying to distance from the president. Why? It's what the Washington Establishment does, folks. There's still "that feeling" about having an outsider trying to get things done in an insider world. Because of this, a spending bill was put together, only to be signed by President Trump, but only because of badly-needed military help which Trump believes needs to happen now. And the Senate is saying that they are not putting together any more bills and not do a budget, either. Sounds like Trump needs to get tough again. It also sounds like the American people need to get tough again, too, not on Trump, but on members of the House and Senate. Draining "the swamp" is not going to happen overnight. This is a long process that could take even more than the four years of Trump's first-term presidency.

And it's not just much of the news media that's showing hate for President Trump just because he's not a politician. ESPN's Max Kellerman recently went on a rant on the show First Take to show his obvious displeasure over the Houston Astros' invitation to the White House and how they accepted it. Well, they have to go, Max, as they were the winners, and the fact that it's an American tradition for the White House to recognize winners from the year before. Should it even matter who the President is? The players are excited about just having the opportunity just to visit the White House, regardless of who is in office.

Just shut up already, Max! Where was your Trump outrage last year, when the Chicago Cubs made two visits to the White House, one with Barack Obama in the last days of his miserable presidency, and another one with Trump? Where was your outrage then? You are a left-wing hypocrite, Max, and one of the reasons your once-great network is losing ratings. Too much politics. Just shut up, Max, and you and the others just keep your politics to yourselves. Just do the damn sports!!!

After all, sports teams that win championships are going to visit the White House so that they can be recognized for their achievements. That, alone, is more important than anything else. It's a tradition, and it must continue. Shame on the NBA teams that refused to go. Kudos, meanwhile, to Major League Baseball, the Cubs, and the Astros. They stand for the national anthem, not kneel.

And, by the way, if President Trump does not have a weekly Presidential address on the radio going on this weekend, then it's only fair that the lame media not present the left-wing opposition response, either. What's the point? I'm tired of left-wingers making every lame attempt at one-upping everybody else to gain whatever political advantage they can. They, too, need to be flushed away with that duck.

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The Rio Grande Valley area needs more news choices on TV (well, the English-language stations, anyway). KGBT-TV (Channel 4) had recently made some drastic changes with its news staff. The longtime CBS affiliate just let go of anchors Marcy Martinez and Eddie Flores, along with sports director Clay Williams. My question is, "Why?" Why would they just jettison out three popular anchors on a station long in second place to KRGV-TV (Channel 5), but who also had good news coverage, for the sake of change? Did the station need to be changed that much?

Channel 4 had loyal viewers for many years. It's not like they had any real threat from NBC affiliate KVEO-TV (Channel 23) or the FOX affiliate KFXV-TV (Channel 67 but branded as Channel 2). The latter two stations have not provided serious competition in recent years, so it's really just a two-station battle. KGBT should just be glad to even have ratings at all. Here's hoping that the changes will eventually bear good fruit, but I'm not optimistic. Sinclair Broadcasting (who owns the station) is going to have to have second thoughts about its decision-making if it's going to achieve true success.

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Red Lobster is coming up with a new idea.............for a waffle. "But Case, they don't serve breakfast, so why would they...." Actually, they're not going to serve breakfast, but they're going to innovate.

The connection below explains the what:

http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/20...t-waffles.html

Look, I like their cheddar-garlic biscuits as much as anyone, but I doubt this new idea is going to last.

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And in the fast food world, your writer had a bizarre experience while trying to get his breakfast on the way to work yesterday. I stopped at Whataburger in Grapevine, Texas, to get a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit (speaking of biscuits). And the cashier was a longtime familiar face who knew me, and perhaps, a little too well. He practically read my mind, as he immediately told his food preparers to make said sandwich the moment he saw me........and he didn't even bother taking my order.

Okay, now what if I wanted something different for takeout? He got it right this time, but mindreading in the fast food business is dangerous. This writer actually had to lecture him about taking orders anyway, regardless if it's the 347th bacon/egg/cheese biscuit I order from them.

Oh, and that receipt that came out? It was another survey for me to get a free Whataburger within thirty days. I just happened to be that every fifth person.

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Enjoy your upcoming Easter holiday as we celebrate the risen Christ.

And there you are.