Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

Was this the beginning of the book banning craze? (Although Highland Park put that particular book back on the shelves the following year.)

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• She didn't last long.  And the resignation looks like a compromise. If they had fired her, they would owe her on her full contract through July, 2026.  Instead, in lieu of being fired she was allowed to resign from her position as superintendent but continue her employment at her current salary through just the school year 2025. So she avoids a firing in exchange for giving up a year's salary. But at $335,000 a year, I would have told them to fire me. 
  
  
  
• In watching this video, I quickly went from "Is that it?" to "Oh, my!"
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The bees were in a hollowed out tree trunk, and officials think the hive had been there for years.
  

  

  
  
  
  
• As with most local news stories these days, we don't know any of the details. But this sentence from the article tells me there is a big back story that we don't know about: "Officers believed the alleged assault was isolated since the victim said he thinks 'he was targeted in retaliation for a previous incident.'”  Something weird is going on. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• I was wrong about how the newly created 15th Court of Appeals would probably side with Paxton. It didn't. It will now go to the Texas Supreme Court which is a wild card on something like this. 
  
  
  
• Missouri last night:
  
  
  
• Also Missouri:
  
  
  
• So you are involved in welfare scandals, get called in front of Congressional panel investigating welfare fraud, and then conveniently use that moment to change the headlines? Got it. 
  
  
  
• Trump:
• Trump on why Ukraine should just roll over to the Russians: “Somebody told me the other day, they beat Hitler, they beat Napoleon. That's what they do.” Video.  Someone want to tell him about Afghanistan in the early 1980s? 
  
  
  
• Trump's take on tariffs is mind-boggling. It's pretty simple to understand: Tariffs aren't paid by the foreign manufacturer like he says. Tariffs are taxes paid by the American consumer on the importing end. Trump either does not understand that or he continues to lie. Either is equally plausible. 
  
  
  
• Wow. UNLV is 3-0 and knocking on the door of AP Top 25 and now this happens. This sounds like a broken NIL money promise:
  

  

  
  
  
  
• You know, every year at this time we have a fluff piece on the local news stations where they cover the erecting of Big Tex at the state fair. Their newsrooms are now so strapped they can't even do that now. 

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

The father of  County Judge J.D. Clark died in an accident. He was only 52 at the time. 

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• "MONTAGUE COUNTY (KFDX/KJTL) — A man faces five felony charges after officials with the Montague County Sheriff’s Office said he ran over multiple vehicles with a 'monster truck' at Rednecks with Paychecks in Saint Jo, causing two victims to be hospitalized."
  
  
  
• According to one of his childhood friends, former Decatur, TCU, and Chicago Bear football player James Maness has passed away at the age of 61. He was inducted into the TCU Hall of Fame in 2007. 
  
  
  
• I understand Israel's state of rage over the past year, but they will be subject to attacks for decades to come for the way they've handled all of this. 
  
  

  
  
  
  
• Dueling other headlines. Only one of the six defendants was found civilly liable and ordered to pay $40,000. 
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
• Random historical tidbit: An actual poll tax receipt from Wise County from 1946. Source.
  
  
  
• Trump from last night's rally:
• He is really worried about how much women hate him. Video.
  
  
  
• He's just going to round up people who are legally here because they look different. And the crowd eats it up. Video.
  
  
  
• Legal stuff re the current status of the January 6th prosecution of Trump in D.C. federal court:  Because of the Supreme Court immunity ruling, they are trying to sort through which of Trump's acts were "official." To do so, prosecutor Jack Smith wants to file a 180 page brief to detail Trump's actions -- where the public would learn things we don't yet know. That's 4x the legal limit so he has to ask for permission (PDF).  Trump opposed that yesterday (PDF). 
  
  
  
• The Business Second™. The last K-Mart store, located in Bridgehampton, New York, will close next month. That chain was the Walmart of the country when I was a kid. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Obviously this is fake news from last night because I read on the Internet that Hamlin died because of the COVID vaccine on the football field last year and was replaced with a body double. 
  
  
  
• I occasionally glance at the New York Post to see what propaganda they are spewing, and they didn't disappoint this morning with "Democrat talking points" . . . . 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

This was pretty big news at the time because it happened while it was at a college party. He said it was consensual and testified on his own behalf.  In googling his name, I found out that someone with his exact same name was licensed as a lawyer five years later. I don't know if it is him.

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• News in the capital murder case against Tanner Horner: Venue will be changed from Wise County to Tarrant County.  I think they have to. move the defendant to the Tarrant County jail "before" the "next term of court" which should be 1/1/25. But no trial date has been set yet. 
  
  
  
• Speaking of not guilty verdict by a jury in a sexual assault charge, Wise County had one on Friday.  (CR23253 if you want to look it up in the county records.)
• Ages 14, 24, and 49 in three separate incidences:
  
  
  
• All we know is that a private group rented out a portion of the school and that the problem was caused by the air-conditioning was automatically shut off at 4:00 p.m. 
  
  
  
• Story.
  
  
  
• Israel.
• Overnight. After destroying Gaza over the last few months, Israel is really focusing on Lebanon. The pagers were last week, and now this:
  
  
  
  
  
• But they aren't down with Gaza as they bombed a school on Saturday.
  
  
  
• If you wanted to know how Georgia voted on election night, you will have to wait for a very long time. The Trump majority on the five member state election board voted 3-2 to go back to the stone age.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• She allegedly left her mom there for 24 hours to boot. 
  
  
  
• This is interesting because he alleged that he was fired for signing an affidavit in support of a defense motion for transfer of venue saying he didn't think a defendant could receive a fair trial. This is the lawyer's profile. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Trump
• He say America is in shambles and we can't afford groceries, but he wants his groupies to fork over money on this grift of "Trump Coins"? Incredible. 
  
  
  
  
• Making friends again.
  
  
  
• Dear "depressed" women, he promises to fix you:
  
  
  
• Two within 17 days fifty years ago.
  
  
  
• Sports:
• I'd be sad, not because of the score, because of my life decision of wearing that hat in front of my family. 
  
  
  
• In a bizarre turn of events in the TCU/SMU game, the Frogs head coach was given two back to back unsportsmanlike conduct penalites and kicked out of the game. Then to make it weirder, offensive coordinator Kendal Briles, Art Briles son, suddenly became the acting coach of TCU.
  
  
  
• I forgot to mention last week that the Messenger had a story of Wise County residents inundating the Sheriff's Office with questions about "Venezuelan gangs." So just in case you were wondering if OAN and News Max were inundating the viewing habits of our residents, we have our answer.