Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

That remains true a decade later. Except now you have to attack a fellow Republican.

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• The guy involved in the shooting in Bridgeport on Sunday was arrested but none of the charges have anything to do with murder or manslaughter.
  
  
  
• You don't see this charge very often. Police don't say how he "aided" the girl. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Ok that's some sorriness. Video. This was in Fort Worth outside the 820 loop not far from the old Civil War Museum.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• We had a serious basketball brawl break out last night involving, of all teams, Incarnate Word. Video.
  
  
  
• I don't understand, legally, where this case stands procedurally. She sued him once but dismissed it -- and even then I never understood what exactly she was asking for. But after she dropped it, I guess she filed a new lawsuit for paternity (?) but no one ever really exactly says that. 
  
   
  
  
  
• Side note: This is a reminder that the alleged daughter worked for Rep. Ronny Jackson so you have to question her judgment in general. 
  
  
  
• Trump has refused to criticize Putin for the death of Alexei Navalny. Below is all that he's said about it (using the same language as Russia in referring to it as a "sudden death.")  Trump, as he shockingly proved to the world in Helsinki in  2018, will never say a word against Putin. 
  
  
  
• And we learned yesterday how the Speaker of the House spends his time away from D.C. during a two week break. Answer: Mar-a-Lago.
  
  
  
• It's February? My weather team is on the verge of announcing that Spring is here to stay. 
  
  
  
• The Business Second™.
  
  
  
• The Second Business Second™. I think this is interesting. Vizio smart TVs have their own operating system (like FireTV or a RokuTV) and Walmart wants to pump its ads into its free channel streams. So it bought the whole company.
  
  
  
• Legal nerdy stuff:  Tell me if this, from a concurrence in an Alabama Supreme Court case, doesn't make your head spin. (This from the same state that became the first in the nation to execute a man with a mask full of nitrogen gas.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Having extra matching paint for wall touch up/tiny repairs around the house gives me great joy. 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

An actual ad that appeared in the Messenger. 

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• The string of murders in Wise County may have risen over the weekend after a man was arrested for shooting and killing a  39-year-old in Bridgeport yesterday afternoon. The story says that a man was "booked into the Wise County jail" but, if true, the official printout of the jail never showed the booking. That's weird.
  
   
• Keller ISD is a trainwreck.  Two ultra MAGA extremists were elected to the school board with the help of the Patriot Mobile PAC a couple of years ago  Last week, they had a Christian Nationalist film crew enter Central High School and interview students without parental consent. One of them, Sandi Walker, resigned over the weekend over the controversy. Here's how they were busted.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• This is the film crew's past work: 
  
  
  
• Rep. Lynn Stucky has gone on the offensive against his challenger who has received $155,000 (here and here) from the Texas Oilman PAC in an effort to buy a Wise County election. I've seen a ton of commercials on CNN and YouTube.  Good for him. He has to do it.
  
  
  
• I mentioned this couple being convicted last week, but I completely overlooked that they were the Forestburg folks.
  
  
  
• In light of the White House "prescription" scandal, the Washington Post did a deep dive over the weekend and came to a conclusion: Ronny Jackson has embarrassed us again. 
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
• New UT poll was released this morning. No real surprises.

  

  Trump 48% to Biden's 41%

  
  
  
  
  
• Trump blotter:
• On Friday he was hit with a massive civil fine in the New York fraud case. That's an A+ graphic from Fox News.
  
  
  
• He started a new grift in light of it. He started to sell sneakers for $400. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Good lord.  He wants to make cops his own personal stormtroopers. Video. 
  
  
  
• I'm sorry, what?
  
  
  
• Random things I learned this weekend:
• There's a massive Jefferson Davis monument in Kentucky. 
  
  
  
• Fifty years ago, a guy stole a military helicopter and landed it on the White House lawn. He avoided rounds of gunfire and was arrested, 
  
  
  
• Legal nerdy stuff: A local newspaper, the Polk County Enterprise, published a story saying a prosecutor who had recently been hired by the Polk County DA had once assisted in the prosecution of Michael Morton. He sued for defamation. He lost in the Texas Supreme Court on Friday. Now his name is in the books forever instead of just appearing in a local newspaper. 
• The head football coach of the Evil Empire will get a raise.
  
  
   
  
  
  
• A guy who will stand over a three foot putt for five minutes isn't smart enough to turn in an accurate scorecard.
  
  
  
• I think Balance of Nature is the new MyPillow based upon the amount they advertise on right wing radio and TV. And I think it sounds like a scam. 

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

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A boy and his puppy.. 😊 pic.twitter.com/v1RLGkdhp1

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) February 9, 2024

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Me playing any kind of sports: pic.twitter.com/vfJWz88cwe

— Jurassic Snark (@underhandrea) February 13, 2024

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The dog’s reaction.. 😂

Sound on pic.twitter.com/YR1VQayxYx

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) February 13, 2024

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Ouch pic.twitter.com/6vPbbBoORa

— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) February 11, 2024

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Random Friday Morning Thoughts

County Judge candidates 10 years ago.

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• I got a call yesterday where someone asked, "What's going on at the courthouse? Walk outside and find out!"  The answer was a massive crane was brought into the square -- much to the delight of us small town gawkers like myself -- to begin the process of setting up scaffolding around the top of the courthouse as part of the restoration project. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• If you like court stuff, let me tell you that the DA in Georgia taking the stand to defend her affair with the special prosecutor was wildly entertaining. Thoughts . . . 
  
  
  
  
• She's extremely cocky and broke every rule of providing rambling answers. But the other lawyers failed to lay a glove on on her. She's back on the stand this morning.
• It looks like the defense has to prove that she started her affair with the special prosecutor before he was appointed in the Trump et. al. cases.  Unless the defense has some star witnesses today, they have failed to establish that.
• Did she benefit from the money the special prosecutor has earned by going with him on trips? She said no because "I paid him back in cash." I seriously doubt that.
• But I also doubt she will be disqualified, but this whole spectacle is a disaster. It's a bad, bad look. 
• This was a crazy moment at the beginning that happened while her lawyer was arguing that the DA shouldn't have to testify. The DA just walked into the courtroom and said, "That's OK. I'll do it."
  
  
  
• Trump has an actual trial date in the New York state case where he allegedly lied in a "business record" in connection with the Stormy Daniels payoff.   Of all the cases against him, it's the weakest.  Man, a "not guilty" verdict would be a gift of biblical proportions to Trump. 
  
  
  
• A coyote who is believed to have bitten some kids at a park in Arlington was caught. They actually gave him the death penalty in order to test him for rabies. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Sidenote: As a kid, the standard line when there was a story of a possible rapid animal being caught was, "They had to cut his head off and sent it to Austin to test it."  It was like a certifiable fact we all said with conviction. I have no idea if that was ever true. Edit: And I wrote this before the Ticket mentioned this this morning. 
  
  
• Breaking Russia news.  It looks like they killed a guy who is 47. 
  
  
  
• He was seen in court yesterday and seemed fine from a health standpoint.
  
  
  
• Flashback:
  
  
  
• I'm not sure what the Wise County Chief Deputy is doing at a press conference in Tyler. (I'm guessing the press conference followed the standard formula of "Drugs are flowing in but we are catching a ton of them and we just need more money to do it better.")
  
  
  
• I'm telling you, things are about to get really weird.  Here's a video example of the technology. Many more are on the official site here.  
  
  
  
• Fox News has promoted the "Biden received a $5 million bribe" in connection with Hunter and Burisma for years. We found out yesterday what was already suspected:  It was all a lie. 
  
  
  
• Here's all the times Ted Cruz promoted the lie on his podcast.
  
  
  
• Remember this case? This is the guy that Gov. Abbott shockingly said should be pardoned less than 24 hours after a jury convicted him. Pure authoritarian stuff.
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Tiger Woods badly shanked a shot yesterday. Video. In true Tiger fashion, he blamed "back spasms."  I would have thought he would have fallen back on "my gluts weren't firing."
  
  
  
• Legal stuff: I'm not sure the media has realized it yet, but yesterday evening the Fort Worth Court of Appeals affirmed the high profile manslaughter conviction of police officer Aaron Dean in connection with the death of Atatiana Jefferson.
• 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 235 days.