3.19.2020

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts


  • Alvord had quite the storm last night. This is the graphic from Fox 4 showing unusually high winds with Alvord right in the cross-hairs. Shout out to fellow weatherman Dan Henry who pronounced the town's name the old school way: "Alvoid."  Channel 5's Rick Mitchell had a weird pronounciation of "AL-verd." 
  • The storm first passed by Chico where a tornado on the ground was confirmed. I don't know "Aaron Jayjack" but he posted a great video on Twitter where you could clearly see the tornado when lightning caused it to be visible.  That's a big time twister.
  • And now to the board. Oh, my! We closed out yesterday with 2,548 new cases bringing the total to 9,259. Yep, 27% of that total came from yesterday alone. And get ready. It's only going to get worse. Much worse.
  • The district court in Wise County announced yesterday that it is shutting down until May 4th. That's probably an optomistic date. As for inmates with pending charges, I think, but I'm not sure, that if a deal can be worked out to get inmates out that they'll still be processed.
  • Gov. Abbott is just tearing up laws left and right whether or not he has the authority to do so. And no one complains. Expecially about this. 
  • And another law by Abbott: Your expiring driver's license remains valid. This was done because DPS is closing its offices. That makes sense: If there is any place in Texas where a large mass of people gather due to a complete disregard for efficiency and concern for the public, it is a DPS driver's license office. 
  • The Permian Basin has been rocked: Oil dropped below $20 a barrel yesterday before ending at $21.10. It was $51 a month ago. (And this isn't all coronavirus related. Our friends in Saudi Arabia, when they are not cutting up American journalists and producing the 9/11 terrorists, is in a price war with Russia.)
  • Incompetency Update. (A Pandemic Team, if it had been allowed to remain in existence, would have corrected this.)

  • Have a seat, grandpa. MERS and the Swine Flu had nothing to do with China. Google is your friend although it's not as much fun as bashing the Chinese. And I wonder if he knows anyone who has eaten a frog, snake, deer, squirrel, turtle, alligator, rabbit, or "rocky mountain oysters."
  • This video has been everywhere, but it is a must see. I think my favorite is the gal -- and her voice -- who says, "We're just trying to get drunk before everything cloooooooosssseeeeessssss."
    If that looks like the mark from a punch
    on ol' Brady, it would be understandable.
  • Is the Fort Worth PD rightfully no longer arresting anyone for Class C offenses (punishable by fine only)? Yes. Is this the worst denial in the history of ever about the new policy? Yes. Seriously, I don't understand this. Just admit you're not willing to do something stupid that might infect an entire jail. It's OK to be smart and reasonable instead of Tough on Crime all the time. 
  • And on to other things ever so briefly . . . 
  • Lake Bridgeport is now a full and rising. Keep a watch on this. With the ground saturated and more rains to come over the next couple of months, you could see unusual flooding. Remember the time the 380 bridge at Runaway Bay had to be shut down? 
  • If you want to become mega-rich in the NFL, be either a great quarterback or a quarterback who is slightly under average but can throw in a brief stretch of "very good" from time to time. If you are the latter, you only sign short term big deals because no team trusts you despite wanting you, and there will always another team waiting in line when they give up on you. Cousins and Foles are exhibits A and B.  Phillip Rivers, who because of age is now average, might be able to pull this off again next year -- his $25 million deal with the Colts is only for one year.
  • Sports talk radio news: The ESPN affilliate in Waco which employs DFW's Matt Mosley and local fav David Smoak fired everyone and announced they would just air the national feed.