Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

That one time that DPS almost used their krillion dollar gun boats. Side note: Can any of those guys now man a desk at the driver's license renewal office?

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• I posted on Monday a vague blurb I saw about a man being hit by a propeller at Eagle Mountain Lake, and we've now got a little bit more information. This is the the guy who was struck, and his GoFundMe says: "Kyle was unexpectedly thrown off the back of his boat while out on Eagle Mountain Lake near Fort Worth, Texas. He was backed up over and his thighs and knees were torn to shreds by the propellers."
  
  
  
• The Star-Telegram says the boat's driver was arrested for Boating While Intoxicated.
  
  
  
• My trademarked Something-Isn't-Right-Detector™ is going off with this story from a couple of days ago out of Mansfield. "Smith told KXAS-TV that she picked up Sasha in Grand Prairie early Sunday morning. Sasha told her mom she’d been drinking and didn’t want to drive herself. The two women were on their way to Smith’s home in Cleburne when the accident occurred. 'I said something to Sasha to make her laugh,' Smith said in an interview with KXAS. 'She leaned back on a door and flew out.'"
  
• Supreme Court opinions will now be released today at 9:00 a.m. along with new days added for this Thursday and Friday. Buckle up.
  
  
  
• One of the craziest members of Congress has won re-election. They don't have run-offs in Colorado.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• She showed up last night at her victory party wearing Trump Sneakers but apparently they were knock-off sneakers so Trump didn't get his grifter-cut off of them.

• Lots of odd people were involved in the Insurrection. 

• The MAGA Extremists claiming Biden will be on drugs in tomorrow's debate is painfully laughable.  But it is an extra level of comedy for this congressman to pull out a line right out of Talladega Nights when he says the President will be jacked up on Mountain Dew. Video.
  
  
  
• That recent Fox poll showing that democracy is the key issue in this campaign might not be as good for President Biden as I thought -- at least based on the results of this Washington Post poll.  We are the dumbest country. 

• The Evil Empire stole the head baseball coach of the Aggies yesterday, but if you haven't seen the coach torch a reporter less than 24 hours earlier for even asking about the possibility of leaving for Texas, it's worth the entire 54 seconds.   All coaches are nothing but mercenaries, but this one is a bad guy. Not for leaving, but for lying about it so blatantly when he didn't have to say anything. 

"I left my family to be the coach at Texas A&M. I took the job
at Texas A&M to never take another job again. That hasn't changed in my mind."

• Very legal nerdy stuff: You won't believe how a criminal defense appellate lawyer was roasted in a Dallas appellate opinion this week for having brought the same frivolous argumenta over twenty times since the court told him they won't work. Here's the dissent where it happened. (It's a dissent because the judge thinks they need to strike guy's brief stricken and order him to try again instead of having his client's conviction affirmed). And here's a great thread on it. 

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. 

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

I'm not sure what prompted me to do an online poll 10 years ago, and I really couldn't believe the results of this question. 

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• Johnson County wreck update: We now know that six of the dead are from Georgia, and the wreck was caused when a 17 year old driver of the other vehicle was passing in a no passing zone.
  
  
  
• Police Unnecessary Tools: Houston PD used a massive robot yesterday to destroy the cab of a truck just to to get a guy out of it when about a 1,000 different alternatives existed. Video.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• That's one way to appeal to the Trump worshippers. Long live Jefferson Davis and the Lost Cause!  Video from last night.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The flu has been the reason for 11% of all ER visits in Tarrant County as of yesterday.  I know it is hitting Wise County. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Mark Cuban finally appeared in front of reporters after the sale of the Mavericks was approved. I still say something weird is going on. 
• Cuban, who has always incorrectly thought he was the smartest man in the room, doesn't think he can handle real estate investing? Jerry Jones has made a fortune in it "on the fly." And why does he think he is "having to invest" in real estate anyway? 
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• And this is just nonsensical rambling for a guy who always loved owning the Mavericks. He's lying.  
  
  
  
• That's one way to keep from come getting beat. She'll move to the district "next year."
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• `Flashback: But it didn't work out for this guy.
  
  
  
• The decision banning Trump from the Colorado ballot was officially, and somewhat quietly, appealed to the Supreme Court yesterday. That, and that alone, puts Trump's name back on the ballot, and it will stay that way unless the Supreme Court gets around to saying otherwise.
• I don't think the arrest is related -- and it sure shouldn't be in this day and time. The guy hasn't played all year, and the Cowboys had to cut someone to make room for an incoming offensive lineman.
  
  
  
• My recent swim through Mad Men caused me to do a double-take while having Love, Actually on during the holidays and seeing that the Wisconsin bar scene included Mrs. Donald Draper. 
  
  
  
• Messenger - Above the Fold