4.20.2020

Random Monday Morning Thoughts


  • The Board. It's trending down but not as quickly as it rose. And additional testing might turn it into more of a plateau than a peak. Or maybe not.
  • Deaths. 
  • Texas:

  • Tarrant County (Where the persons in charge of reporting numbers must take the day off on Sunday. There's definitely a pattern. ): 
  • Wise County: 9 cases. 2 deaths. 
  • It's been 40 days since the night of Tom Hanks announcement, the NBA shut down, and Trump held his oval office press address.
  • I didn't know that Trump would take my Rural Uprising™ theory and make it a call for civil war and law breaking. This is shockingly reckless. 
  • Especially in light of the protesters looking very responsible.



  • Wow: This morning oil dropped below $12 a barrel. I've said it before: If there were no pandemic and the collapse of the oil field were the only story, Texas would still be in dire straits right now.
  • Gov. Abbott thought his task force on reopening Texas would instill confidence if he named it "Strike Force." It doesn't.
  • For the legal community, it doesn't look like anything will be happening at the courthouses at least until June per new state guidelines. "In-person proceedings of any size should be delayed until at least June 1." Courthouses may be the very last to open. It's one thing for people to make their own decisions as to when and where they will congregate, but forced co-mingling by the government in tight quarters is a totally different matter. 
  • This was left on a business owner's door in Denton. He put the orange "no" mark on it before posting it online. 
  • Speaking of Denton, the city government is considering layoffs. The loss of sales tax revenue for the cities and state will be a massive story in the upcoming months. 
  • Rep. Phil King on the Rural Uprising™. He's for it. 
  • We finally found something Senator John Cornyn cares about: A high end store that caters to to the rich. 
  • There aren't many details but a man was shot and killed during a turkey hunting accident in Young County.  A group of three men, all in their twenties, were from Jack County. Edit: The victim might have been from Bridgeport and worked in Decatur.
  • I watched some of the Global Citizen concert on the TV box on Saturday night and, even though I'm a music idiot, I stopped down for Eddie Vedder playing an organ, the Killers, and Billie Joe of Green Day.  All of those performances stripped down to simplicity make them arguably better than the original.  (Quick loading videos in the links). But most people were fascinated with the concept of Elton John shooting hoops in his spare time. 
  • If you want to educate yourself on our criminal justice system, Netflix is killing it right now. Its newly released The Innocence Files and How To Fix a Drug Scandal will make you question, as you always should, what prosecutors and their "experts" feed you. 

  • Bud Kennedy has a column on metroplex local officials supporting "Q." The post below is from the mayor pro-tem of Colleyville who was part of a wild lawsuit a year or so ago (which I still think is ongoing.)
  • Messenger: Above the Fold