9.30.2020

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

 

  • Texas hospitalizations: 3,251 (+50)

  • It's a run-off in Senate District 30 between Drew Springer and Shelley Luther with both getting 32% of the vote.  I was right that Luther would make the run-off, but was wrong about her getting close to 50%. (One thing I was completely oblivious to was that there was a Democrat on the very same ballot. With that being the case, no one could possibly crack 50%.) 


  • In what may be the most amazing moment in presidential debate history, the President of the United States was given the greatest softball question of all time and gave a horrifying answer. "Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha and we've seen in Portland?"  He wouldn't do it. And then he embedded in history his place as a modern day racist George Wallace by specifically telling the the Proud Boys to "Stand back and stand by." Watch it. 

  • The Proud Boys immediately embraced his literal call to arms on social media. Donald Trump has given a white supremacist group a new slogan. 

  • Van Jones' reaction on CNN was perfect and chilling. Watch it.

  • I was on to the little Nazi group called the Proud Boys a long time ago but my first reference to them on here seems to be in 2017. I just threw them in on a Monday rant after Charlottesville happened. 
  • As to the debate as a whole, Dana Bash spoke for all of us and didn't mince words. "I'm just going to say it like it is. That was a s--- show . . . . We're on cable and we can say that." (Watch it.)

  • Appropriate.

  • Last night I longed for my childhood. 

  • I stole this from the today's Messenger. (Buy the paper. Give them your money.) Anyway, it's a photo from the Boyd Homecoming Parade. Is it just me, or do I spot something?

  • Heck of night in the music world. Helen Reddy and Mac Davis, both 78, died.  I didn't know until this morning that Davis wrote Elvis' "In The Ghetto" and "A Little Less Conversation." 

  • I don't know what the picture below is supposed to depict. The amount of 316 grams (11 ounces) of THC infused product is nothing. That would probably be nothing more than a couple of candy bar edibles or one canned drink legally purchased in Colorado.  And that arrest isn't anything to brag about. 

  • Did you know the Wise County Sheriff's Office maintains its own license plate reader around Alvord on 287 where it checks for rent cars or out-of-state tags possibly heading from Colorado? Deputies then stop those cars for silly traffic "offenses" like "following too closely" or "driving in left lane not passing." Then they search the cars, often illegally, just to find marijuana and marijuana products. And based upon their track record at the courthouse, most lawyers are finally educating themselves on what is an illegal prolonged detention. 
  • Messenger: Above the Fold



at 8:32 AM

9.29.2020

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

 

  • Texas hospitalizations: We are definitely in the leveling off period. For the record, I thought this would happen around 5,000. I was wrong. 

  • The corruption in Williamson County is amazing. Yesterday,  the Sheriff (who appears just a tad too cocky in his book-in photo below) as well as an assistant county attorney were indicted for evidence tampering.  It all stems from a destroyed video from the show Live PD who taped the sheriff's office killing a man after a traffic stop.  It may be unrelated but for some reason the assistant county attorney was at the scene of the incident (a practice I've always thought was dumb). 

  • Now's a good time to remind everyone to go back and visit the Michael Morton case out of Williamson County that appeared in Texas Monthly.  Morton spent over two decades in prison until DNA exonerated him. It was a ridiculously weak circumstantial evidence case brought by a Sheriff (who just happened to be a former Texas Ranger) and prosecuted by a District Attorney who would later be jailed because of his actions in the case. I reread it last weekend and had chills.
  • It's been a bad month for Texas sheriffs including this one.


  • The video of  the arrest of Trump's former campaign guru Brad Parscale has been released. He got liquored up and threatened to harm himself.  (Full video here.) Observations: (1) There was absolutely no reason for the cop to tackle the guy, (2) That's way better better treatment than he would have received if he were a black man. 

  • The grand jury declined to indict? The Tarrant County D.A. actually took the case to the grand jury? Come on, just write "refused/declined for prosecution" on the file and kill it. You don't need to use the grand jury for political cover in a case like this. 

  • Rudy Giuliani was on State TV this morning ironically questioning Joe Biden's mental faculties. This is his exact quote:  “He can’t do the prologue to the, to the, to, uh, to the Constitution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, any of them.”  Uh, uh, prologue? Watch.

  • A rattlesnake must have thought he was Pete Delkus. 

  • The election for state Senate District 30 is today. Certainly there will be a runoff. Here's a prediction: Shelley Luther makes the top two.  And is there any chance she clears 50% today and wins the thing outright? With this being the only race on the ballot and the only reason to go to the voting box, I've got a weird feeling about that. 

  • A presidential debate in the form of Jeopardy would be fantastic.

  • Ticket fans only: Jub Jub's truck got stolen this morning! It sounds like it was taken out of his driveway in Argyle. 
  • Did you see the highlights of the 5'6" Kansas State freshman running back who torched Oklahoma on Saturday? Quick loading video here. 
  • Hey, can a couple more of you to view my Emmy winning appearance on the Messenger's podcast where I talk about the Aric Maxwell/Lauren Whitener murder case debacle? I'm trying to set a record for most views and don't want to have to be like Trump and lie about the numbers. 
  • The cop on the right needs to be indicted for wearing that outfit . . . . 


at 8:30 AM

9.28.2020

Random Monday Morning Thoughts


  • Texas hospitalizations:  3,217. Notice the curve for the 7 day average is trending up, albeit slightly, for the first time since mid July. 

  • We now know Trump's taxes and finances. The big story is not only his personal income taxes, but how he's about to be hit with crushing debt that is soon coming due. A man whose only claim to fame is being a great businessman is nothing but a New York con man. 

    • He has paid $750 in 2016 and 2017. In 10 of the last 15 years he has paid zero taxes. (He's paid more to Stormy Daniels than he has in those 15 years.)
    • He received a $72.9 million refund beginning in 2010 that the IRS is auditing for and which he might have to pay back.
    • He uses expenses like paying Ivanka $747,622 in "consulting fees".
    • The biggest takeaway: He has $421 million in personally guaranteed debt coming due in the next four years. 

    • The only money he's made is playing a business guy on The Apprentice which gave rise to this great line in the Times: "Ultimately, Mr. Trump has been more successful playing a business mogul than being one in real life."
    • Not a bad idea.

    • The story is 6 1/2 pages long in The New York Times. Moral of the story: Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel and paper by the ton. 
  • If Jeffress thinks Paul was talking about American law enforcement in Romans 13, he also must believe Paul was also writing about any entity of authority throughout history. “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities which exist have been established by God." Shout out, I suppose, to Hitler and Pol Pot. 

  • This is wild. He was replaced after the rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma that turned out to be a fiasco. Also there was an alleged $170 million money laundering scheme came which came to light last week. 

  • Oh, come on. Don't back down. We know you caused it and not the effects of long-term pancreatic cancer on a 87 year old woman. 

  • The heck with taxes and failed businesses, Trump is a bad human being. When questioned about this rambling allegation later in the day, he said "a lot of people say that" just "check the Internet." (Watch.)  How do words like this come out of the President of the United States?

  • Sports pics from the weekend (after you take a look at this quick clip of an Army player head-butting a coach and knock him for a loop, or one of the worst passes in college football history in the TCU game):
    I thought the UT player broke his neck

    Southpark was re-created in Denver

    Baylor failing at social distancing

    Ouch

  • Something doesn't seem quite right about this story. 

  • Is there some distillery in Bridgeport I don't know about? I came across an $80 per person "whiskey dinner" at a high-tone restaurant in Plano and a whiskey apparently made in Bridgeport was part of the first course. 

  • I've created a thread of links for those interested in the Lauren Whitener murder case here.


at 8:31 AM

9.25.2020

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

 
  • Texas hospitalizations: 3,204 (+9)

  • Due to the crazy rescheduling, Bridgeport will now have a Monday and a Wednesday football game this season. Add that to the list of things you would have never predicted in 2020.
  • When I was a kid, no extra-curricular activities of any kind were ever scheduled on Wednesday nights because that was a "church night."  The devoted/hard-core church goers always had a Wednesday evening "bible study" to go to in the main church sanctuary which was led by the pastor. You didn't mess with that. 
  • Watch a lady get tased for not wearing a mask at an 8th grade football game in Ohio. What is it you guys always say? "If an officer tells you do something then you do it. That way nothing bad will happen."

  • Uh, oh. Trump has competition for a major award.

  • A former Playboy model sued Fox News' Tucker Carlson for defamation. She lost yesterday because her lawyer's successfully argued that no one could possibly take him seriously. Really. Yet old white guys watch him every night and think what he is saying is gospel.

  • They stole my idea! I suggested it this week! (I said 20 years, but I'm still claiming it.)


  • Gov. Abbott, trying to calm down the Trump base who hates him because he won't declare COVID a hoax, proposed new penalties for rioting yesterday. Since I've never seen a rioting criminal case in Wise County, I had to look up the definition. What a mess. After reading the definition below, does anyone feel comfortable knowing what's a crime and what's not? The only thing clear is the "seven or more persons" part. And what about the requirement that it's an offense only if you "knowingly" participate in the riot. Does that mean you just knowingly engage in an assemblage of seven or more people where someone then suddenly goes off half-cocked on someone or does the State have to also prove you knew someone would go off half-cocked?

  • The following news story makes more sense now. Flashback: 

  • Legal technical stuff: Hey, it's none of my business and this has to be a mistake, but in looking at the Wise County district court's docket entries for a case set for hearing today (CR-16509), that "Satisfactory Order of Termination" of probation being filed before the State's Motion was filed would seem to be a problem. 

  • Below is a very obscure and random fun fact after last night's NFL game.  And I just like posting his picture:


  • My award winning appearance on the Messenger's podcast is now up on Facebook in video form. 
    Is that Brad Pitt?
  • It has now been announced that the DNA which solved the 46 year old Fort Worth cold case was actually extracted from sperm cells found on the victim's bra. Imagine that. Law enforcement in Tarrant County believes that sperm cell DNA found on the victim in a capital murder cases belongs to the killer. The Wise County Sheriff still won't admit that in the unsolved Lauren Whitener case. 
  • Messenger: Above the Fold



at 8:32 AM
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