7.08.2020

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




  • Wise County Active Cases: 49. It's ties the record.  And although it's just a small sample of data since we've resumed getting new numbers from the State, but this trend is not good.   
  • Texas: Hospitalizations continue to rise, and my predicted explosion of the reporting of new cases because of the holiday weekend came true. 

  • Trump said yesterday that he'll "put pressure" of the States to open schools this fall.  He has no guidelines to offer, yet he just wants to damn the torpedoes and try to force us into normalcy two months before an election in the middle of a pandemic. I don't know if it is safe to open schools or not, but safety isn't even a factor he is considering.
  • He' just 65 but  "falls" and has to be taken by ambulance to a hospital last month and we aren't told about it? The official line is that it is not related to at least two seizures he has suffered in the past. Oh, it seems fitting that the the leader of a court that we depend on to ensure justice and equality fell at a country club.
  • The original extreme "And Another" has died.  I had forgotten how absolutely wild the facts of that case were. (She later married the kid and they stayed married from 2004 to 2019 which is a longer run than a lot of us have had).
  • "You minion delegates go ahead and cozy up to one another. As for those of us you have elected, we'll just do this remotely if that's OK. But we're all in this together 100%!"
  • My alarms go off whenever I hear "our heritage" these days. 
  • With each passing day, I don't think college football is going to happen this fall. OU and Texas are going to play a football game in an empty stadium surrounded by a State Fair which was cancelled due to health concerns? I don't see it happening. 
  • "Miami lawyer wears hazmat uniform to federal court for sentencing hearing." He's either seriously concerned or he is doing a bit in protest of the court being in session. I think I would have slapped on a tie to make my intentions even more ambiguous.
  • Since I did an Old Timer's football note yesterday, I'll do another. It's this guy's birthday today. He's the first player I ever remember who I absolutely hated but also wanted him to be on my team. 
  • Here's a hot grocery opinion: Fruit, already cut up and packaged, is ridiculously expensive. 
  • Messenger: Above the Fold




at 8:32 AM

7.07.2020

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts


  • Texas
    Hospitalizations: This is will stop rising. Someday. Maybe.

    Still wonky reporting from the weekend. Expect a numbers explosion today
    when we to catch up.
  • Wise County Active cases: 49 (an all time record and 9 above yesterday's record). As always, these numbers are suspect. We've got more than that. 
  • I think there are more people scheduled to be at the Wise County Courthouse today than at any time in the last four months. (The dockets went out way before the recent crazy jump in COVID-19 cases.)
  • The federal government released a list (that's a searchable database link) of 660,000 firms who received a don't-have-to-pay-it-back PPP loan of at least $150,000. That's a whole lot of businesses gettin' them a piece of socialism, right? And get this: That's only 15% of the whole PPP pie. 
    • My favorite on the list: Robert Jeffress' First Baptist Church of Dallas which got between $2 million and $5 million (the government just gave a range and not a specific amount) in order to pay 293 employees.
    • There were 12,473 churches on that list who received your taxpayer money. So much for the separation of church and state.
  • A part-time assistant DA in Decatur was arrested for DWI over the weekend.  I hate it because I like the guy. He's honest, respected, and good at his job. But it's newsworthy.
  • It's 2020 and the President of the United States doesn't have a position on the Confederate flag. It was like an episode of the Twilight Zone yesterday. 
  • Just like I led the way in explaining Zeke Elliott's contract, let me explain Patrick Mahomes "record breaking 12 year, $500 million contact."  As always in the NFL, the key is the guaranteed money. Mahomes should care about how much he's going to get if he gets hurt or (miraculously) cut at any point.  In this case, it's weird.  In the beginning the guaranteed amount changes from year to year.  After year five, the deal basically become this: We can cut you at any time but we will have to pay you $40-$45 million once we do.  If the contract ends anytime during the first five years, the amount is significantly bigger. 
  • Look at how much ultra-conservative Empower Texans PAC money man Farris Wilks is handing over to try and get his son-in-law elected to Congress. 
  • The Texas bar exam was cancelled, but it will be offered online in October. I would have been crushed to have it cancelled three weeks before it was supposed to occur since I would have had at least six weeks of full time studying already invested.  In barely-related news, I learned that Virginia makes those sitting for the bar wear "court-appropriate attire" (although they'll let you leave the tie at home this year since tens of thousands of people in the country are dying.) And the tone of this notice makes me think that the person(s) who wrote it is insufferable. 
  • Ticket fans: This morning, Junior Miller talked about his trip to Colorado and his curiosity about the "Ludlow Massacre" since he passed a sign about it on the highway. After I made that trip last year, I made Ludlow a bullet point. He also compared it to Tienanmen Square which, as long time listeners know, I have a picture of Tank Man hanging on my office wall. Weird. Or not. 

at 8:33 AM

7.06.2020

Random Monday Morning Thoughts



  • Wise County active cases: 40 (but it hasn't been updated in over 48 hours)
  • Texas:
    The hospital numbers are still rising 

    Daily new case numbers will be wonky because of holiday weekend reporting
  • Wait a second!
  • So the resumption of sports is going to happen without a hitch? (1) The Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings have shut down their practices before heading to the "bubble" because of positive cases.  (2) Below is a shot of the Seattle Mariners eating lunch together while social distancing at their abbreviated spring training. As those teams are going to get on planes for a 60 game season? (3) The quote of the weekend: “Sports are like the reward of a functional society.”
  • Someone needs to tell Trump he doesn't need the Klan vote.  Getting passed that Bubba Wallace had nothing to do with the noose controversy, he just hugged and kissed the Confederate flag. What a crazy hill to die on. Even Mississippi has turned on the Confederate flag.
  • The Supreme Court is about to rule on whether he has to release his taxes. That could come as early at 9:00 a.m. today. He's already on the brink of losing his mind. That could be the tipping point. 
  • Alan Dershowitz has always acted very odd about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. And it doesn't help when he tweets out things like this. Harvard Law's reputation takes a hit when one of its most notable graduates and professors (1) uses "hereby" in a tweet like it has some magical meaning, and (2) thinks he needs to "waive any right of privacy" in videos that he supposedly is not in. 
  • Junior's girlfriend has caught the 'Rona. She had just spoken at a gathering in South Dakota after attending a (maskless) high tone party in the Hamptons. 
  • At least he was polite after giving his order. 

  • Look, no one is going to get a ticket for not wearing a mask as required by Gov. Abbott's executive order -- especially in Wise County. And, per the order, you are supposed to only get a warning for a first offense.  Here's a legal question: How can can a ticket or warning be given if a cop doesn't have the authority to even momentarily "detain" anyone in violation of the order?  Answer: It can't be. Abbott is flying be the seat of his pants.
  • As of late last night, there's a bass boat at the bottom of Lake Bridgeport if anyone wants it. 

  • Fireworks!
  • The UT football player, DeMarvion Overshown, who announced late last week that he was boycotting playing until "changes" were made posted a screenshot of a reaction to his announcement.
  • I've watched the first full season of The Leftovers, and I have no idea if I love it or hate it.
  • Very random sports flashback for you old-timers out there: Quick loading video of Joe Theisman returning a punt. I had no idea.
  • Ticket fans only: Here's a clip of Mike Rhyner being interviewed by Julie Dobbs saying he left because "the station was no longer going to be able to play to my strengths and that I was going to be able to do the thing that I do. And it was just time for me to jump off and see if I could do it somewhere else and that's what's going to happen." 

at 8:34 AM

7.03.2020

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














at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts



  • Everything is shut down today for a holiday, but guess who's here? #THWMISB
  • Texas. I'm running out of things to say about this trajectory:
    Hospitalizations

    New daily cases
  • Wise County: Active cases at 36.
  • Listen up, Wise County. Since we've got more than 20 active cases, we have to put on a mask as of noon today. (Although I expect to see half the county gather at the Big Sandy to throw their masks into the water in protest.) 
    • But I am kind of surprised that Gov. Abbott mandated it. Just a few days ago  . . . 
    • But Abbott is a follower. And once Pence signaled on Sunday we should all wear masks, and even Trump signaled it was OK (so long as you look cool like the Lone Ranger), he thought he had his political cover to do it. 
    • But, man, he is taking it in the shorts from the right . . . 
    • Empower Texans is mad:
    • The renegade Collin County Judge immediately slapped back utilizing a loophole on gatherings of groups of more than 10: 
    • The Denton Sheriff, who has always struck me as simpleton, said he won't enforce the mask order.  (If we want to be consistent, wouldn't right wingers go absolutely nuts if he said he was "too busy" to enforce ICE detainers?)
    • If you ever find yourself agreeing with Ag Commissioner Sid Miller, you need to re-evaluate your entire belief system. 
    • The executive committee of Texas Republicans voted last night to move forward with their in person convention in Houston from July 13th through 18th.
    • Another sign of the Apocalypse: Decatur shut down Reunion 2020. 
  • And we are to believe the USC Trojans are going to fly into Texas to play Alabama at Jerry World two months from now?
  • I present to you the Two Weeks In The Life of Herman Cain in Three Acts:
    • Act I: June 20th
    • Act II: July 1st
    • Act III: Yesterday
  • I understand where he got his genes, but how dumb is Eric Trump? He posted this yesterday and then deleted it once he got bombarded with tons of photos showing his dad yukking it up with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Did he seriously not know Trump ran with that guy? Birds of a feather? 

  • I don't do any federal criminal practice, and I'm going to need someone to explain the Ghislaine Maxwell indictment to me. Is it now the the norm to put in an indictment a scandalous "Factual background" where they throw in some photos like a tabloid?  In state court, indictments just charge an offense with as little information as legally possible. The State's only obligation (which is exactly the same obligation as the feds in federal court) is to put the defendant on fair notice as to what crime it is the government says you committed and how. Nothing else.  Otherwise, prosecutors find themselves in the sometimes complicated fight of "If you plead it, you have to prove it."

  • Random things I think: How much did that graphic -- which is 100% needless -- cost the taxpayers to produce? 
  • It's the Fourth of July. Be careful out there:
  • Trouble on the 40 Acres.
  • Random facts I stole from someone else: (1) At this time last year, Dallas had 209 murders. The count right now is 37. That's astonishing. (2) We've not heard Jerry Jones speak in 70 days which is an all time record. Makes you think there might be more to it than the current Black Lives Matter resurgence which we think he is avoiding.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold. (I bet they had to scramble yesterday to get the mask mandate and other changing stories on the front page.)

at 8:32 AM
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