9.13.2022

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




This was the origin of "Benghazi", occurring on 9/11/12.

  • Breaking inflation news: Not as good as the Biden Administration had hoped.  The decline in gas prices alone raised expectation that it would be less than 8.3%

    • Stock market reaction as of 8:28 a.m.:

  • Better map that I had yesterday regarding Ukraine's gains against Russia.

  • As 40 new Justice Department subpoenas were flying yesterday, there was a lot of online buzz about Trump having a meeting on his golf course with lots of people who weren't playing golf. The equivalent of a mafia mob meeting away from cameras and recording devices? Naaa. The guy in red is the golf course superintendent.  

  • This wasn't already the case?

    • Let's check out the reaction of Wise County's (very unstable) congressional rep. 

    • He really is a certifiable nut job. Yesterday, for example:

  • This sounds like a murder-suicide, but that's about the only information available. 

  • When Susan Smith killed her two kids in a lake in 1994, it was a national shockwave. The killing of three children over the weekend in New York, however, hardly makes anyone's radar. (But I guess the difference is that Smith seemed to be sane and calculating, while this woman might be very mentally unstable.)

  • "Roe v. Wade should be overturned so the states can decide the issue" didn't last long. 

  • I'm no sure how Dr. Oz expects to win Pennsylvania by turning his back on the far right like this. 

  • Courting the nutcases in plain sight: "[Last night] Trump shared a picture of himself wearing a Q lapel pin, overlaid with the QAnon phrases 'The Storm is Coming' and 'WWG1WGA,' on his Truth Social account . . . .. The post had been originally shared on Truth Social by an account called 'Patriots in Control,' before Trump re-shared it." 


  • There was a new Law & Order commercial during the Cowboys' game where the fictional DA was seen saying, "I want you to get a conviction, and I don't care how you do it."  Sheesh. We celebrate that?  Then I noticed that John Oliver was already planning to take the show to task on HBO. (Available on YouTube.)



  • TV quick hits: 
    • Succession won the Emmy for Best Drama last night. I'm a big fan. 

    • Better Call Saul has been nominated for 46 Emmys since 2015. It has never won any of them. 
    • I finally started Only Murderers in the Building and What We Do in The Shadows. Both have not disappointed so far. 
  • Those are significant line movements demonstrating that the early bettors were putting their money on Oklahoma and Miami in overwhelming numbers.

  • Remember on Friday when I told you to bet the Under on Cowboy total wins? How's that looking now?

at 8:31 AM

9.12.2022

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




Random old 9/11 tidbits I had forgotten.

  • "I think I may need to refer you to a big city doctor." He's out 4 to 6 weeks. 

  • The Jerry Walk with the Jones clan to the locker room after a loss looks tense. Video.

  • The superintendent for Northwest ISD passed away suddenly on Friday. All reports just refer to it the result of a "medical emergency."

  • Another serious high school football injury.

  • The big brother of the second grader from Paradise who was killed in the birthday party accident in Rhome caught a touchdown pass last Thursday (on a deflection.) Video.

  • There are lots of headlines this morning about Ukraine making tremendous advances over the last seven days against the Russians. The best I can tell, it's this small area which the Russians have abandoned:


  • A little more pressure to resign from the USA Today.

  • Tailgate fire in Miami Dolphins parking lot yesterday. 


  • Don Jr.'s girlfriend, Kim Guilfoyle, performed a dancing entrance at some spare rally yesterday in Kentucky on 9/11. Video. It's like she was channeling Gloria on Modern Family.

  • My Utah trip to watch a Baylor game quick hits:
    • BYU stadium experience: Incredible. With the mountains all around, the might be the most picturesque setting I've ever seen. And it's the loudest sober crowd you ever seen. 

    • Arches National Park: Huge thumbs up. Worth the trip in an of itself.  (And there is the dark note in that it was at the entrance to that park where Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie were stopped by police and the encounter caught on bodycam.)
    • Canyonlands National Park: Another big thumbs up as well. It is right beside Arches National Park but a completely different experience. 
    • Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City: Underwhelming. It is significantly smaller than what you would expect. And it doesn't help that it is surrounded by a 10' wall. 
    • A restaurant in Moab was doing some bits.  

    • Salt Lake City Airport has the longest walk between terminals I've ever seen. Seriously. It makes Miami or LaGuardia a small stroll in comparison. 
    • Am I "upset" at going to Utah to end up seeing Baylor lose in a double overtime? Just the opposite. Life is about experiences, and that one was a tremendous one. 
  • Oh, my. Now that the Aggies have lost to Appalachian State (and had only 186 yards in total offense), the video has surfaced from Yell Practice where the Aggies referred to them as a  "hillbilly college."

at 8:29 AM

9.09.2022

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




A Clemson player being baptized at practice seems to be something you wouldn't see today. Or maybe it's exactly like something you would see today. I'm torn.

  • I actually got a copyright violation notice from someone for reproducing the photo of a wooden arch at the Humble Hall in Rhome. OK, no biggie. But the public link to the photo on Facebook is here.
  • A faithful reader tells me that highway 114 headed to Roanoke is an absolute mess this morning due to a wreck at the Wise County / Denton County line. Here was the beginning of the traffic backup shortly before 7:00 a.m.:

  • New this morning: President Biden is going to Queen Elizabeth's funeral.

  • The new line of succession. 

  • Queen Elizabeth meeting every President since Harry Truman, except LBJ, really jumps out at me. 
    With Truman
    With Kennedy


    • People have inquired of the LBJ Library as to why Lyndon Johnson and the Queen never met up, and there's no really good answer according to them.  But it's probably important to note that Johnson didn't travel out of the country after JFK's assassination, and the ongoing Vietnam War didn't help British/US relations. 


  • This arrest in connection with a car running into a house last month seems to be a little bit of a reach. And it's also a reason you always shut up after a tragedy that could give rise to criminal or civil liability. Why the arrest? Detectives said the front seat passenger "was also impaired and contributed to the crash by grabbing the steering wheel just before the impact."



  • I really thought the Uvalde fiasco would cost this man his job, but he's still sticking around.

  • Uh oh.

     

  • There was a brief scare yesterday afternoon when we thought there was another mass shooter in Uvalde (two people were shot in a city park), and Gov. Abbott tweeted out the below and was understandably criticized for being out of touch and indifferent.

  • Justice Gorsuch revealed yesterday that there is an actual investigative committee in existence to find out who was behind the lead of the Dobbs abortion opinion draft, and that its findings will be in a "report." He didn't say if the report will be made public. But if it is not, it would be great if it, too, were leaked. 

  • I heard the reports of it taking up to 10 hours to get out of this years Burning Man event, but I did a double take when I saw this photo of the problem. 

  • If you are seeing the Cowboys season win total line at 9.5 or higher, take the Under.  Book it. 
  • And another.

  • 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, 66 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold

at 8:30 AM
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