1.13.2023

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




A very then-conservative Drudge goes after the Obama Administration as the fallout from Sandy Hook continues. 


  • Lisa Marie has passed away at 54.  She did not look well at the Golden Globes on Tuesday. 

    • She was briefly married to Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage, and famously had Elvis' plane named after her (which you can actually still go in at Graceland -- a fun fact I just learned.) 
    • Here's a clip of her and Michael Jackson at the beginning of the 1994 MTV Awards which included the most awkward kiss in the history of ever. 

  • There was a felony trial this week in the district court in Decatur, and we had a rare not guilty verdict. The Messenger has a front page story about it today, and it will probably lead the Update. Glynn Vrba out of Denton was the defense lawyer. 

  • An "inquest" was filed yesterday in Wise County under cause number JP1-23-IN-0004 on behalf of "Athena Presley Monroe Strand." An "inquest" isn't really an accurate description since they are routine filings in Wise County with no substantive proceeding. What it probably really means is that the autopsy report has been completed. 
  • HCA is on the verge of purchasing the hospital in Decatur, and then I look up at the TV yesterday and see an NBC New's investigation into HCA.


  • Biden's own Classified Documents Fiasco is night and day different from Trump's, but I think it guts any Donald Trump prosecution.  That would have been a political hot potato before Biden's issues, now it would be a fiasco.  Very dumb on the President's part. 

  • Sheesh.

    • The county judge of Waller County married them last October in the courthouse. 

    • Side note: Waller County is down by Houston. I'm not sure I've ever really noticed how weirdly shaped all the counties are in that part of Texas.

  • When I tell you the story below identifies the problematic software being "Odyssey" created by Tyler Technologies, it will mean nothing to 99% of you. But for every person in charge of court management and court documentation in Texas, they are nodding in empathetic agreement. Tyler makes crappy software but basically has a monopoly on Texas case management software. They are getting so rich.

  • Here's almost-Cowboy Odell Beckham Jr. getting kicked off a plane last November - video. I don't know what I think about it. I'm not exactly sure he should have been kicked off, don't know why the whole plane had to be emptied, and not sure why he had to berate the old guy in a red shirt. 

  • Let me tell you, I like this guy's chances of beating that charge despite the caption below. He absolutely landed that backflip. Video from NowThis. Full video on YouTube. The case is pending. 

  • TCU did win a big consolation prize in that they did not have to associated with Marjorie congratulating them on the House floor. 

  • Good little Twitter thread by an investigative reporter, past inmate, and author -- I've mentioned her book. And it the thread includes some pretty interesting photos taken from inside TDC. This guy, who was no prince, never really had a chance after being put in a cage at a young age.

  • 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: 3 years, 192 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold