3.12.2024

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




Not to be a downer, but I was glancing at an election results story in the Messenger from 10 years ago and saw this -- which stopped me down. Four of those six have since passed away. And very suddenly for each.

  • This is a wild story.  The defendant killed himself during the trial so he obviously didn't show up the following morning for closing arguments. Unaware what had happened, the judge then started the case back up without him, and the jury actually retired to deliberate. Thirty-two minutes later, the jury was discharged once everyone figured out the defendant was dead.  And there's another crazy aspect: The defendant was represented by his lawyer brother. 

  • Dak is making headlines, but it isn't contract related. "Here we go . . . ." 
    • Wait, this "threat" came from a law firm?  

    • WFAA has the story this morning with a lot of details. If I understand it correctly, she alleges sexual assault while Dak, acknowledging that he hung out with her one night, denies that. "Levin McCathern, Prescott's attorney, confirmed in an interview with WFAA that Prescott had a relationship with the woman, but denies doing the things she alleges." "She was a waitress at a bar he frequented," McCathern said.
    • Dak's lawsuit says the statute of limitations had expired on any civil suit that the woman could have brought so she tried to do an end around by threatening to go to the police if she didn't give her $100 million.  
    • Oddly, Dak's lawsuit attached  to the lawsuit the 11 page demand letter from her lawyer which included lots of seedy allegations. So it is now a public record. I'd link to a copy but I haven't found it yet. 
    • I don't like this for Dak: He is represented by the same guy who represented Michael Irvin in his weird lawsuit against Marriott (which just quietly went away.)

  • Considering that the "new norm" is for Paxton to target any judge in the the next election when they rule against him, that's a bold move by this judge. 

  • Compare and contrast. It is happening all over again:
    • Trump in 2024 a couple of years after his failed Insurrection:

    • Hitler in 1924 a year after his failed Insurrection: 

  • You want to know how MAGA extremists have taken over the Regular Republicans in Texas? I think I figured it out. This is a stunning decline in voter participation: 

  • Trump taking over the RNC by Trump's daughter-in-law now being in charge, and the amount of money he will syphon from it, is a significant story. And the purge of Regular Republicans began yesterday with 60 people in the RNC being fired. Thing about it: You worked at the RNC for a living, and you weren't MAGA enough. 


  • What is Truth Social worth? $99.95?

  • Kirk Cousins signed as a free agent with Atlanta yesterday in a deal for four years and $180 million with $100 million guaranteed. For a guy who was drafted in the fourth round by Washington, after they had already taken RG3 in the first round, he has parlayed the system into a gold mine. 


  • We thought Hamas is holding six Americans in Gaza. That number became five this morning when we learned that Itay Chen, 19, was actually killed on October 7th. His parents attended the State of the Union message. 
at 8:30 AM

3.11.2024

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




I had forgotten J.D. got over 50% in a three man race. (This was technically from 10 years ago last week, but I'm going to be scrambling for material because a decade ago I took off for vacation so there aren't any posts to choose from.)

  • In a Liberally Lean Exclusive™, my intrepid team of reporters has learned that Decatur lawyer Paul Belew has taken the first steps to run for election as judge of the 271st Judicial District which covers Wise and Jack counties.  The election is two years away. 

  • I think this is an example how local newspapers and local media affiliates -- all of them -- are suffering due to staff cuts.  This criminal case against the Affluenza Mom was pending for eight years and it, along with the case against her son, Ethan Couch, made headlines everywhere. But she quietly pled guilty and received 180 days, credit for time served, last November and we are just now finding out about it.

  • The Texas Tribune notes the Wise County race, which is headed to a run-off, and its Texas Oilman PAC connection.  And this is the first time I've seen in mainstream print that Hopper's son works for the Jonathan Stickland's Pale Horse Strategies (since renamed) whose offices were the epicenter of the Nick Fuentes brouhaha. 


  • Katie Britt's cringe-worthy Republican Rebuttal to the State of the Union took a wild turn this weekend.
    • There was on part of it where she said she had spoke with a woman immigrant who had been trafficked and how we wouldn't accept that in a "third world country" much less in America. Video.

    • A TikTok sleuth quickly found out that she was lying. The woman does exist but she isn't someone who quietly confided in the Senator. Nope, she has speaking engagements everywhere, even in front of Congress, about being trafficked. But, get this: It occurred over 20 years ago when she was 12 and when George W. Bush was President, and had nothing to with America  -- it happened deep in Mexico. This guy did a fantastic job. Video. 

    • Scarlett Johansson then gives and Oscar-worthy performance recreating this whole mess on Saturday Night Live. Video. (Side note: Look how well they recreated the imagery of the whole thing.)

    • Even Fox News had to confront her with the lie yesterday -- all because a TikTok guy is doing what journalists should do.

  • Fox4Terry was on the job this weekend. That was one heck of a wreck.

  • Oh, my. Carey Birmingham, 60, was sentenced last week in Harris County for shooting his wife Patricia, 48, after discovering she had an affair.  It was an all-female jury (pretty wild for Texas) and, if I'm reading the story correctly, they also found that he acted in "sudden passion" which would have capped the sentence at 20 years anyway. Here's the video (which ends before the shot.)


  • Trump news:
    • He mocked Joe Biden's stutter over the weekend. Video.

    • He sounded like a drunken uncle last night when he got mad during the Oscars.

    • Jimmy Kimmel then read the Tweet on stage and responded with a very funny retort. Video.

  • Rare Royal Family News from me: Questions surrounded the health of the Princess of Wales over the last two months so the Royals decided to release a photoshopped picture of her. They were quickly busted for it. She released this statement this morning: "Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused." Sheesh.


  • Junior's not wrong. The normal and regular Republicans have been conquered.

  • Women's College Basketball fight yesterday! Kind of. Video.

  • Hot Sports Opinion: There's no way I pay Micah Parsons the big money. Once paid, his motivation, which wanes as the season goes on anyway, will be gone.  Think Albert Haynesworth from back in the day who was once signed as a huge free agent by Washington, and was immediately a shadow of himself.

at 8:30 AM

3.08.2024

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




I short summary won't do this one justice. A boy found dead in a bathtub in Frisco, the mother arrested before an ME's report put the case in complete doubt, and then seven months later both the lady and her husband were dead. Here's a long read on it. 

  • Biden did really well on the State of the Union although in this day and time no one is sitting through an hour long speech. But I did.

    • Let's check in on some GOP images. 


    • Was Rep. Ronny Jackson feeling uncomfortable as he was on his phone in the audience? 

    • If you want to see 21 seconds of the Republican response, check this out. It is like the first day of acting school. 

  • Oh, before I forget, we learned yesterday that Ronny Jackson has been lying about his military rank.
    Editor's note: This is not the photo that ran with the story, but it seems like a good time to remind everyone of that incident. 
     
  • The metroplex was far worse than Wise County yesterday.

  • I'm not sure what the purpose is of acknowledging by a press release "that its facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire" while denying any negligence. 

  • "UVALDE, Texas (AP) — An independent report commissioned by the City of Uvalde into a deadly 2022 school shooting found that none of the city’s officers violated department policy, infuriating families of some of the 19 children and two teachers who were killed in one of the deadliest classroom shootings in U.S. history." If the "department policy" was to stand around while kids die, I suppose it is right. 


  • The last thing we need is this on the State Board of Education. 


  • Speaking of vouchers, that's a big bullet point for the Texas Oilman PAC. They want to gut public education and move tax dollars to private, unregulated Christian schools. Andy Hopper, who the PAC has thrown a ton of money at with more to come, fell in line yesterday.  

    • Sidenote #1: That voucher proposition on the Republican ballot was horribly worded. It might as well have begun with, "Do you want to follow God's Word and have your personal hard earned savings follow your precious child instead of going to cross-dressing devil worshipers?" 
    • Sidenote #2. You are not "the representative of #HD64."
  • Let's check in FBC Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress to see what message of Christian love he was spreading last night. 

  • 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 289 days.

at 8:30 AM
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