Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

I'm not going to pass up the chance to remember this bank robber's school of choice. He would get arrested the next year, but I can't readily find out what happened with him. 

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• This is one of the worst wrecks in Wise County history.  I'm pretty sure this is the driver's Facebook page with a variety of what are now heartbreaking photos.
  
  
  
  

  

  

  
  

  
  
  
  
• Inflation numbers were just released.  It "slowed down a tick to 3.4% year over year -- that's in line with what economists were expecting and down from 3.5% in March."
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Google rolled out its new AI yesterday. We are not prepared for what is coming.
  
  
  
• Every case I've ever handled that involved a charge of "Unlawful Restraint" had something really wonky about it. There are no details about this case, however. 
  
  
  
• Good grief.
  
  
  
• I think Trump's main lawyer just acts very strange in front of the cameras. He might be a cyborg.
  
  
  
• Mike Johnson went to Trump's trial yesterday, but never entered the courthouse.  Incredible. 
  
  
  
• If you want a fascinating crash course on the history of Southlake, with reproduction of old newspaper articles, this thread is fantastic. The author of it just released this book. 
  
  
  
• Noticed that the Wise County Messenger was losing a reporter. 
  
  
  
• I think its weird to show up hours early to get a cheap and fake Rangers World Series ring. 
  
  
  
• Might want to have thought about that first, hoss. 
  
  
  
• The Star-Telegram explained that the Fox 4 News story about a high rise in Fort Worth selling at auction for a fraction of its value was very misleading. 

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

Ten years ago, Decatur's high school principal became the superintendent for Eastland ISD. I looked him up and learned he's now the superintendent for Krum ISD as of 2022.

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• Speaking of school boards, the open forum for Decatur ISD is getting feisty. All the board meetings are archived by video here. 
• Trump trial quick hits:
• Day 17: Michael Cohen should be cross-examined today. 
• Anderson Cooper on CNN always has a panel show covering the day in Trump's trial, and I was proud to see last night this New York criminal defense lawyer saying exactly what I have been saying: Trump needs to argue that "legal expense" isn't a false entry at all. 
  
  
  
• We are beginning to see some Trump sycophants showing up to support Trump.  Yesterday is was J.D. Vance and Tommy Tuberville were in the courtroom. Today it will be House Speaker Johnson in the gallery. Already spotted are Vivek Ramaswamy and Byron Donalds.
  
  
  
• Buddy, welcome to the typical day in criminal court. 
  
  
  
• Gov. Abbott was lying yesterday as he tried to defend the cutting of funding for Texas public schools. The school funding bill was killed because it included a voucher provision which would have even further gutted public education -- especially in rural areas.
  

  

  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Is he talking about regular Christianity or MAGA Christianity? 
  
  
  
• I didn't mention Trump's weird Hannibal Lecter rant from this weekend, but they took note of it overseas.
  
  
  
• Google is rolling out a new results page with AI generated answers to search questions at the top. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Business Second™: Highway 287 around Bonds Ranch Road is about to get busier.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Business Second Second™.  Someone explain all of this to me. The debtor defaults on a $13 million note for a property in downtown Fort Worth valued at $104.5 million on the tax rolls, and the bank is able to now own the whole building by buying it at their forced foreclosure auction on the courthouse steps for $12.3 million?  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• So if the Cowboys decide to extend Dak, what's it going to cost now?
  
  
  
• I mentioned this Northwest ISD kid a couple of weeks ago but never followed up. At just 15 years old, he won the 800 meters in 5A as a freshman at the state meet. Here's the video of the last 200 meters. The Star-Telegram has him on their home page this morning. 
  
  
  
• If you've got 10 minutes, you have to watch the commencement speaker for Ohio State University. I can't get over it. Link.
  
  
  
• I made a huge typo yesterday (surprise!). I should have written that Gov. Abbott is in a commercial saying he can't trust Andy Hopper.

Ramdom Monday Morning Thought

Now he's in a run-off for Sheriff. 

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• Michael Cohen takes the stand this morning in Trump's business records case. This will be a disaster.
  
   
  
  
  
• This happened in Fort Worth last week. The  video is insane.
  
  
  
• A Decatur teenager is turning heads in the bull riding circuit -- especially after this weekend in Fort Worth. 
  
  
  
• Wise County Judge J.D. Clark got royally complemented in this opinion piece in the Dallas Morning News.
  
  
  
• No way Melania was going to let him do it once she found out about it. 
  
  
  
• Heck of a photo.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Dallas Morning News has a long feature on tollways, and had this graphic. Although it focuses on Texas, how does Oklahoma have so many toll road miles?
  
  
  
• This new New York Times poll is both relevant and concerning as it looks at the battleground states. 
  
  
  
• Pop culture deaths:
• It is one of the greatest scenes in cinema history. Video.
  
  
  
• In 1968, when protestors took over the president's office of Columbia University, this guy's photograph appeared in Life magazine. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Legal quick hits: 
• Holy witchcraft! In one of the craziest indictments you will ever see, the Collin County D.A.'s office charged a person with aggravated assault by "soliciting an unknown individual to put a  spell" on someone and used his hands as a "deadly weapon" while doing it.  And the defendant pled guilty to it! Thread.
  
  
  
• The Fifth Circuit's far right wing judge James Ho is now just casually citing to the Bible.
  
  
  
• On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled against a "wrongful life" claim -- suing a doctor when he screws up a sterilization procedure and a healthy child results. Opinion
  
  
  
• I saw a TV ad of Gov. Greg Abbott telling me that "he cannot trust Andy Hopper" and telling me to vote for Dr. Lynn Stucky in Wise County's run-off race.