5.22.2020

Random Friday Morning Thoughts


  • The Board (still flat-lining): 
  • Texas (still trending slightly down but that's three days in a row of 1,100+ new cases):
  • Wise County: Total 43. Active 11. So we've chalked up a -3 in the "Active" column since yesterday? Anyone else beginning to question the 100% accuracy of our numbers? 
  • There's trouble brewing in Brazil as a drone gave us some pics of some mass graves being dug. 
  • It was announced yesterday that a Texas Supreme Court justice has been diagnosed with the coronavirus.  I wonder if that will impact their normally hardline decisions.  People forget that they still haven't finally ruled on whether salon owner Shelley Luther has to serve seven days in jail for failing to follow the rules to protect others from the spreading of the virus. They only ordered her release on a PR bond until they decide.
  • Wylie Mayor Eric Hogue has found himself in the news after an email of the devout Church of Christ leader revealed he didn't want women leading the council in prayer.  (Theological side note: The Apostle Paul sure does cause a lot of problems for the "Bible is literally true" crowd. And they don't even have the "new covenant" excuse to bail them out.)
  • Trump, who would have read the above as "one Corinthians", gave us a great quote yesterday regarding the status of his health: "And I tested very positively in another sense. So this morning. I tested positively toward negative, right? So no, I tested perfectly this morning. Meaning I tested negative. But that's a way of saying it. Positively toward the negative." Watch.
  • Official Liberally Lean First Warn Thunder Truck Weather Center prediction: Beginning around 5:40 p.m. today, the rain will begin and then it'll be off and on for the next 48 hours. Beginning Sunday afternoon, it gets serious again and it should continue for a few days.
  • I've been watching Netflix's Trial By Media docuseries and yesterday saw the episode about something I had almost forgotten about: The "Subway Vigilante" case of Bernard Goetz. A few thoughts: (1) How did I miss that Joker seems to at least partially based on it? (2) How did Goetz have a degree from NYU in nuclear engineering and end up running a half arse electronics "business" from his home? (3) New York trial lawyers would fail miserably in Texas. (4) I had forgotten about New York's reputation for crime in the 1980s. The idea of going to Manhattan for vacation and riding the subways was unthinkable. (5) If Goetz hadn't turned himself in a few days later, they would have never found him. 
  • "About 20 people were tuned in to a Zoom conference call just after noon on Thursday when 72-year-old Dwight Powers unexpectedly slumped from his chair and disappeared off-screen." Oh, and happy Friday. 
  • One of these days Fox News is going to turn on Trump. And the fact he thinks a "news organization" is in existence to "help" a political party is somewhat shocking but, sadly, probably right in this case.
  • The topic of prosecutors hiding evidence is near and dear to my heart, and I'm all for exposing them since they can pretty much get away with it with personal impunity.  In Houston, the issue is coming up because the DA there is trying to fix past cases because of the shocking event last year where a cop lied to get a search warrant and two innocent people ended up being shot to death. If you care about past bad cops, this letter to the DA says, "you ought to be pulling your hair out" over one of your past bad prosecutors. 
  • I've got to think about this one. Certainly the odds of converting 4th and 15 these days is significantly higher than the near impossibility of recovering an onside kick under current rules. But would the odds be unfairly high? The comments give a lot to think about.
  • They just keep coming despite the court shutdown. Nineteen more Class A and Class B misdemeanors were filed In Wise County yesterday (including one for DWI for a former DPS trooper which has been flying under the radar.)
  • Messenger: Above the Fold (Yep, their weekend edition is now coming out on Friday instead of Saturday.)