Random Monday Morning Thoughts

Ten years ago, there was crazy flooding all over the state which gave rise to some crazy images. This one, of I-45 in Houston, was taken by former Wise County resident Cody Duty who worked for the the Houston Chronicle at the time. The paper used it on its front page, but for some reason cropped out the skyscrapers in the background which really gave it its punch. 

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• One more flashback: The flooding referenced above included the middle-of-the-night flood along the Blanco River in Wimberly, Texas which killed 12 people who were all in one home. The river suddenly went from 5' to 41'. The story was the feature of a great Texas Monthly article.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• He or she hit a kayaker.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• This story made a lot of headlines over the weekend, but it almost seems that every one of them has a slightly different fact pattern. Story.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Texas House, by a vote of 82-46, gave their final approval to the silly Ten Commandments bill -- on a Sunday.
  
  
  
• Trump gave the commencement address at West Point in a MAGA hat, talked crazy, and then left without shaking the graduates hands like every other recent president has done.  Video
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The New York Times needs to stop sane-washing him. 
  
  
  
• Trump's former (and very bad) personal lawyer, and now the acting U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, Alina Habba, showed up for some reason. 
  
  
  
  
• It is barely is blip on the radar when Trump does a flip flop on tariffs. He had one last night after a single phone call. The 50% threat last a two whole days. 
  
  
• The final approval by the legislature to the complete THC/Hemp ban passed last night. Now the only thing to stop it is a governor's veto. I doubt that will happen. But, the again, even Fox News doesn't like the ban:
  
  
  
• This guy has been on the lam for three full weeks now. 
  
  
  
• Tim O'Hare, the Tarrant County judge, is trying to gerrymander the four district commissioners court with new boundary lines for one purpose: Limit the minorities on the court to one commissioner.  The Texas GOP weighed in over the weekend calling the redistricting necessary to "safeguard our values" which is code for "Make our commissioners court as white as possible. "
  
  
  
• I never really follow the Van Cliburn competition in Fort Worth, but one of the final 18 contestants sat down on stage to compete on Saturday, stared at his hands, and then walked off. 
  
  
  
• Russia continued to bomb Ukraine over the weekend hitting 30 cities and villages.  It was just four weeks ago that Trump tweeted, "Vladimir, STOP!”
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Trump responsed on the tarmac late yesterday.  Maybe he'll write Putin a strongly worded letter. 
  
  
  
• Oh, he got worse last night. 
  
  
  
• Let's check in on Israel who we dare not criticize. 
  
  
  
  
• Legal nerdy stuff. There's a condescending end to this opinion. 
  
  
  
• More legal nerdy stuff: Gov. Abbott has already vetoed a bill that would make it a crime to be on public property within 250 feet of a school. (Text of version that was sent to Governor. Text of the original bill.)  Here's his explanation as to why he killed it -- as if he needed to explain it.
• Early this morning, Trump posted a "Happy Memorial Day" message which then went into a deranged rant. 
• THWMISB™