4.16.2024

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts





I posted this back then. It's a photo of the wreckage of two USAF aircraft which collided over Bridgeport in 1958, killing 18 people.

  • We are through the first day of jury selection in Trump's Manhattan trial.  Half the jurors have been dismissed for saying the can't be fair, Trump may have fallen asleep, and he's complaining the judge won't let him go to Barron's graduation (although the graduation is over a month away, it falls on a Friday evening and he could make it, and the judge hasn't formally ruled on the request.)


    • This is a pretty good indication why it is slow-going right now.
  • Good lord. "Police say the three dogs were all shepherd mixes, approximately 80 pounds and belonged to the homeowner."


  • The Decatur School Board got a little heated last night when the topic of required board member continued education not being completed came up.  I've got it cued up for you on YouTube.

  • I thought this was a weird tidbit in the Messenger's Update yesterday when it had a blurb about an auto accident: "Due to DPS no longer providing details on non-fatality accidents, no additional information is available." What's up with that?
  • Hot opinion: There sure has been a lot made out of this incident which really turned out to be a typical car involving  excessive speed. And as far as the criminal cases are concerned, no one's going to get locked up.  And the civil cases are worth something, but not this:

  • Story. I suppose he's either sick or didn't get back in time from a free weekend cruise paid for by Harlan Crowe.

  • The Business Second™. But people get bent out of shape when they see someone using EBT/SNAP cards at Walmart?

  • The Second Business Second™.

     

  • Caitlin Clark became the #1 pick in the WNBA draft last night. These numbers are real. 

  • The Supreme Court today will hear arguments in a statutory construction case which will have a huge impact on January 6th prosecutions.

    • Legal nerdy stuff: I think the statute is pretty clear. However, if the "(1)" have been moved right in front of "impair", then I think the defendants would have a good point. On the other hand, that word "otherwise" is weird. Why is it in there at all?

  • Legal nerdy #2: Love this dissent yesterday in a case where the Supreme Court refused to hear whether an illegally obtained confession was "harmless" error when it was admitted into evidence. In general, an error seems to always be "harmless" to everyone other than the person's whose trial who was tainted by it. 

  • NASCAR can have it's spring race at the Texas Motor Speedway and you barely even hear about it these days. 

at 8:30 AM

4.15.2024

Random Monday Morning Thoughts





With the NFL draft a couple of weeks away, Johnny Football was at the Rangers game 
with model Kyndal Kyaire.

  • Iran launched 300 drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday. No deaths or  no major damage occurred as almost everyone was intercepted by air defense systems. 


    • Before they had even entered in Israel air space, Iran issued a statement saying that the attack was in response to Israel's earlier act of aggression, but that "the matter can be deemed concluded."

    • I doesn't seem that Iran had any real expectation of anything actually striking Israel. This almost seemed like a symbolic act as much as anything. And maybe that's the only reason WWIII hasn't broken out. 
  • Trump's first criminal trial starts today in Manhattan as jury selection begins. 


    • Stormy's a fiery little gal.  Side note: It's hard to believe that Trump would refer to her as "Horseface" while he was president. 

  • A guy who was denied a CDL license retaliated against DPS in Benham. 


  • New this morning: Another example of things that used to be considered an accident now being treated as a crime. 

  • This warning from Friday doesn't bode well for the summer. 

  • Update on two women who went missing in Oklahoma. No details released.



  • A fight broke out at some fancy horse race in England and the photos coming out of it, and the crowd in general, are fabulous. 

  • Trump and the word "beautiful."
    • On Friday discussing the patchwork framework of completely different abortion laws across the country:

    • Trump in Pennsylvania on Saturday:

      • Flashback:

  • The tax consequences of selling the Dallas Mavericks. 

  • At Mar-a-Lago last Friday:

  • The Business Second™.  A fancy home development is going in at the end of Bonds Ranch Road not far from the Wise County line. 


  • Photo of the week from The Masters.  That's actually the hand of Verne Lundquist.  

  • It is Tax Day, but I've always thought the "taxation is theft" crowd is nuts. 

at 8:30 AM

4.12.2024

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




A $3 million verdict over fracking would be reversed three years later on appeal.

  • From the car chase, to the trial, to the verdict, I can't think of a bigger cultural phenomena in my lifetime than the O.J. Simpson case. 
    All four of these men are now deceased.


    • I remember watching the verdict being read in Matties on the courthouse square in Decatur. I was D.A. at the time -- a time where there was no Internet and finding a TV outside of your home was no easy task.  Matties had a big screen TV in its far west room, and  I stood in the back, with my entire office, as the verdict was read.  I had a buddy confidently predict a not guilty verdict earlier that morning.
    • Simpson got lucky with the murder verdict, but later got royally screwed with a real 9 year sentence out of Las Vegas for robbery. Not the best PR for the criminal justice system. 
    • While the murder trial was going on, Larry King Live on CNN dedicated its hour to the trial every single night. If I remember correctly, Charles Grodin did the same thing on CNBC.
    • But the Simpson saga changed the media forever.  From that time forward, any big event would get wall to wall, not-stop coverage until something bigger came along.  

    • Wait a second. Maybe the Los Angeles Times accidentally revealed who the "real killer" was, but just jumped the gun a little bit?



  • Fifty-seven? How can you have 57 "highest priorities"?

  • So two guys are in a common area of the high tone Anatole in Dallas, after attending a jewelers convention, and one of them , age 41, approached the other, 69 year old David Ettinger, about “a comment he made towards Ettinger’s spouse earlier in the evening.” and Ettinger “grabbed his arm” in response. The 41 year old then pushed Ettinger, who fell backwards and struck his head on the floor. Ettinger later died. Weird. 


  • Trump wants to hire one of the dumbest men in Texas, Sid Miller? 

  • No way.

  • I kind I wish I knew more about a 19 year old elected district clerk in Texas who just doesn't want to work. 

  • Let's check in on Fox News. 

  • Sergio Garcia rocking Baylor or Oregon colors yesterday at the Masters.  Unrelated:  Tiger Woods did well yesterday but, mark my words, as soon as his wheels fall off he'll start limping. 

  • 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: 4 years and 291 days.

at 8:30 AM
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)