3.07.2023

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts





When the now defunct Deadspin got hold of a memo of Tech's plan to create an image around Kliff Kingsbury, their newly hired 33 year old football coach. Sadly, the nickname that actually stuck -- "Coach Bro" -- isn't mentioned in the memo.


  • That was a quick court appearance yesterday, but the civil lawyers showed up and managed to get in front of the cameras.  You'll notice that our D.A. keeps a low profile and has not granted one single TV interview. 

    • The media presence was about what was expected. KXAS and Fox 4 showed up. 

    • Maybe the most interesting thing about the court appearance were the modifications to the building.  Normally, inmates make about a a 50 feet outside walk up a ramp against the back of the building (under the covered parking) to a door on the corner. That was done yesterday, but a big blue tarp was put up to cover that walk.  
      • This is the way it normally looks:

      • Here is what it looked like yesterday:


         
    • Wild speculation: That tarp wasn't there because to block media cameras, that was there because of a potential security threat to the defendant.  Regardless, it was all taken down immediately after the brief hearing was over. 
    • Side note: That building is being used for the district court while the courthouse is being slowly renovated.
  • That kidnapping video from Mexico is not good. "A video posted to social media on Friday showed men with assault rifles and body armor loading four people into the bed of a white pickup in broad daylight. One was alive and sitting up, but the others seemed either dead or wounded. At least one person appeared to lift his head from the pavement before being dragged to the truck." 

    • The New York Times also reported that a relative said that three of the four were accompanying another who went to Mexico for "stomach tuck surgery."
  • The Czech Stop in West had a little trouble last night. 

  • "A former Denton County sheriff’s investigator pleaded no contest to insurance fraud Monday after he obtained an insurance policy on his personal vehicle following a crash with a Sanger police car."  It really wasn't the crime of the century: He got into a wreck in his personal vehicle but didn't have liability insurance. He then immediately ran to his agent, got liability insurance, and provided the card to the Sanger police which showed an effective date as the same as the wreck.  He got one day in jail, credit for time served.

  • This is great: Police are complaining about what they say was an illegal search and seizure. Facts: A drug dog hits "near" two lockers and a backpack in the officers common locker room area. Investigators then get a search warrant for the two lockers and the backpack.  Dope was found in one of the lockers, but dope was not found in one officer's backpack or his own locker.  Now the police are mad because the search warrant is a public record and it has the innocent officer's name in it. Welcome to the party, boys. 

    • What about the drugs, you ask? "In regards to the drugs, investigators did not find any link between the substance and any Fort Worth Police Department employee, Heise said. The locker room is accessed by officers, other employees and people who are part of investigations that are escorted through the building, she said." Riiiiight. 
  • I'm not following the high profile Wichita Falls murder case which was transferred to Tarrant County on a change of venue all that closely, but the Wichita Falls paper has an up to the minute blog which is really detailed and really good. But I can also report that the signage outside the courtroom in Tarrant County is about as spare as there is. 

  • This seems a little uncomfortably messy out of San Antonio.
  • So Tucker Carlson has access to 44,000 hours of January 6th footage, and his big reveal last night was that the Insurrectionist Shaman at times casually strolled through the Capitol with guards watching him? In other news, parts of the Zapruder film show that Kennedy's motorcade was perfectly normal.

  • How everyone accepts how the NFL does business in mind-boggling. Yesterday, the Cowboys put the "franchise tag" on Tony Pollard. So look what happens to the man.
    •  He will not allowed to go onto the open market to the highest bidder where he hopefully would have gotten a three to four year deal with lots of guaranteed money. 
    • And after another year of wear and tear on a running backs body, his value on the open market will plummet next year. 
    • All of this this is after he was drafted four years ago and forced to play for only one team for a salary "slot" which could not be negotiated. 
    • And what do the Cowboys do to announce the franchise tag? They promote this this anti-capitalistic tactic on Twitter and had the gall to place a BlockChain.com ad in the corner to make make money off of the announcement. 

  • I can personally attest to a wildly higher car insurance rate this year . . . 

3.06.2023

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




Five years after the mortgage bond crisis and four years into the Obama Administration, the stock market finally recovered to a new high at 14,250 on March 5, 2013. For comparison, it sits at 33,390 today. 


  • CPS was there late Friday afternoon and made the decision to remove the children. She called 911 at that time -- I'm presuming for assistance. "Authorities did not say what prompted the CPS worker to call the emergency line." Five minutes later, the police arrived and made the discovery.  


  • He decided to invoke a Bible verse about a slave serving his master. Really. Maybe he should have just used the husband-wife-subservient analogy. 

  • On Friday, a landscaper employee working in Southlake died.

    • Also on Friday, this graphic was on the cover of the USA Today. 

  • What's this about? And the FBI is offering a $50,000 reward but not releasing the names of the Americans?

  • Trump news:
    • This may be his wildest social post in months. 

    • And I don't know what was weirder about his appearance at CPAC: That he went full Hitler promising "retribution" or NewsMax grifting with a split screen for gold. 


    • Man, the Republicans have a huge problem on their hands with Trump. 
  • Let's check in on Wise County's crazy Congressman. Video.  (He also spoke at CPAC and his rapidity of speech makes me a little suspicious.)

  • Oddest tweet of the weekend came from an Oklahoma congressman.
  • Wise County used to be represented in the Texas House by Phil King. He's now moved on to the Texas Senate for a different district, and he also has gone full Christian Nationalist by proposing that the 10 Commandments be posted in every public school.

  • The Texas Tribune has a story on the troubled Bowie hospital getting help from Jacksboro's hospital.

  • The JonBenet Ramsey house is for sale, but it's a little pricey. Fun fact:  "In 2004, it was purchased for $1.05 million by its current owners, Tim Milner and his wife, Carol Schuller Milner, the daughter of 'Hour of Power' televangelist Robert H. Schuller."

  • More Murdaugh jurors are on TV this morning. Hey, they would have convicted him regardless of whether he testified. That was just a Hail Mary to try and prevent it.

  • Patrick Mahomes' brother proved he was a creep when a video surfaced this weekend of him aggressively kissing a hostess against her will.

  • More proof I'm a sports expert: The moment after Zeke Elliott signed his new contract extension in September of 2019  that guaranteed $50 million, I predicted he would be done after the 2022 season:

  • You know who is a Republican who might be able to win if he could somehow finagle the nomination away from Trump? Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire. I saw him on Showtime's The Circus last night. He's actually seems normal. 

3.03.2023

It's Friday -- Let's Get Out of Here






Random Friday Morning Thoughts




Highland Park High School was in the middle of a series of mysterious bomb threats that had the high-tone community in a tizzy.  Eventually, a single 16 year old student would be charged. I'm not sure whatever happened to him.


  • I'm not sure I've ever seen winds like that yesterday. I told you to keep your head on a swivel.
    • There are lots of photos of the storm out there, but this one in Weatherford was pretty good. The courthouse is to the right. Edit: A faithful reader at for the Wise County courthouse annex has informed me this photo is fake. Upon review, my source (the link) was the Star-Telegram and they attributed the photo as being from Facebook and originally posted by the Parker County Judge Pat Deen. The paper has now issued a correction and pretty much blamed the county judge. 

    • Here's the other good pic from the Messenger's office.

  • That was quick. 

    • The jury barely had time to read the verdict form and elect a foreperson. 
    • My own personal standard for what is "beyond a reasonable doubt" is very high.  But even I could have been talked into a guilty verdict. Maybe.  But I'm probably the worst State's juror you could possibly have. 
    • That being said, the speed of the guilty verdict is a little unsettling.
    • In this age of everyone-is-a-celebrity, a juror has already given an interview to Good Morning America.

    • The judge did a good job but he did a little grandstanding when he overruled a Defendant's motion to override the verdict: "The evidence of guilt is overwhelming. I deny the motion." Hey, just deny it. 
    • One thing that bugs me after any big trial is that suddenly every TV and radio commentator believes everything the losing side lawyers did was wrong and everything the winning side did was right.
    • Side note: Man, Murdaugh is a big guy.

  • Anyone check on her insanity or competency? Unlike the press release from the Tarrant County DA's office below, the Star-Telegram says there was evidence that she suffers from mental illness and "hears voices."  Andrea Yates anyone?


  • That was the maximum sentence for a 27 year old, and I wondered why in this Intoxication Manslaughter case out of Collin County. I got my answer: He had a blood-alcohol content of 0.377 and he had a prior DWI conviction out of Tarrant County.

  • In other DWI news:

  • Florida proposes as many weird laws as the Texas far right-wing.  The party of "small government"? Story.

  • Most "normal" Republicans are avoiding CPAC this week which has turned into an Ultra-MAGA convention as of the last few years. But Ted Cruz still goes and plays to the crazy Turmp hardliners,
  • That was a very weird experiment.

  • 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, 242 days.