Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

 

• Texas hospitalizations: There you have it. We've been following this graph for months, and we've now reached an all time high. 
  
  
  
• The House approved $2,000 for stimulus checks, but there's no way the Senate goes along with it. You'll be stuck with $600. But the Senate will override Trump's veto of the military funding bill to make sure we throw $740 billion at the business of war. Unless Bernie steps in . . . 
  
  
  
• But if that military funding bill goes through with the override, say goodbye to confederate names on military bases! Oh, the horror! And our National Monuments will be torn down!  What's worse, you won't even be able to complain about it over 5G because it'll be gone too! (Side note: Someone needs to alert the funny farm on this man.)
  
  
  
• Did you see that Southlake and Arlington Martin played a high school playoff game on Christmas Eve? And it was a night game. That's the only time they could fit it in?
• The amateurs in DFW are rolling out this map. I need to remind you that I've yet to make a prediction, but I appreciate them trying to intimidate me by putting the wet/snow line right over Decatur. 
  
  
  
• Here's a Christmas present I received of college T-shirts. There is a riddle in there as to how they are all related in some way and it is has nothing to do with sports.
  
  
  
• The race to fill Drew Springer's now vacant Texas House seat has been set for a special election for January 23rd. And I would like to announce that Liberally Lean is being lobbied by the two announced candidates. I actually got a call from David Spiller from Jack County yesterday as he was out kissing babies and back slapping ranchers, but I've also been contacted directly by a family member of Jason Brinkley of Cooke County who tells me that they (the person who contacted me) is a "long time fan of your blog."  Can I moderate a debate where I just get to relay wheels off questions from Liberally Lean readers who could not possibly handle the situation maturely? I've even got my expensive graphic departments working on it: 
  
  
  
• Dumbest man in Texas? 
  
  
  
• I've been keeping my eye on the Lottery Case on appeal out of Wichita Falls. To refresh your memory, that's the case where the guy was convicted of Aggravated Sexual Assault and received life in prison when his lawyers made the "strategic decision" not to put up any fight whatsoever. (I got locked in when I learned the guy's mom won the lottery and paid the lawyers, who were out of Plano, a reported $600,000.)  Anyway, the case was appealed last December and another lawyer was put in place.  So what's the status? That lawyer had a THIRD request for an extension of time to file the Defendant's Brief granted this month. It is now due in late March. (It was originally due in March 2019 but he got a six month extension back then.) The defendant is sitting in prison. 
• I'm told not to call it a cult. 
  
  
  
• Sports: This seems like a perfect time to bet on the Sooners, right? Warning: Sports betting is dangerous.
  
  
  
• Sports II: I see a recurring name. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• John Fetterman is the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, and he's on Twitter wanting Dan Patrick to pay up. In the immortal words of Teddy KGB in Rounders, "Pay the man his money."
  
  
  
• Google "Mimi Groves" if you want to have an internal debate with yourself.
• Be sure to bug everyone by asking, "How was your Christmas?"

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Texas hospitalizations: We are 7 occupied beds short of the record we set in July.
  
  
  
• Well, we had a terrorist bombing in Nashville, but we still don't know exactly what the motivation was. (Although the New York Post says this morning that he was a 5G conspiracy nut.) There was a video floating around containing the audio of a warning being broadcast, but I don't know if it was authentic or if what we are hearing was a police warning. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Trump signed the Stimulus Bill last night. You'll still only get $600 regardless of what he says. I'm not sure what the hold up was about. 
• And if you can decipher this tweet, you are smarter than me. 
  
  
  
• No charges will be filed against the Wise County Sheriff dog shooter.
• This post by a CNN reporter stopped me down on Christmas morning. Their baby died of cancer. I cannot imagine going through that and, at least for me, made all the Christmas brouhaha celebrated by the rest of us seem silly.  (Sorry for the downer, but I can't stop thinking about it.)
  
  
  
• I was reading this Atlantic article of Christmas Eve and ran across the paragraph I reproduced below. Here's the audio of the song she referenced, and I then spent a good 30 minutes going down a rabbit hole about it and its author. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The poor man got eviscerated for this picture. 
  
  
  
• A Christmas observation by someone as he was watching It's A Wonderful Life. 
  
  
  
• Here's the type of camera that Fox used for those funky high-def/blurry background images from the Cowboys game. It's a Sony A7R IV which retails for $10,000 (which is a lot less than I would expect.)
  
  
  
• But that camera didn't capture this. (You weren't the only person who saw it.)
  
  
  
• I know there are already rumors for snow later this week, but everyone needs to tap the brakes until after I issue my Declaration From Upon High in a day or two. I've got to get out my maps and TI calculator first. 
• I'm watching The Flight Attendant (not bad), and this scene that I saw last night made me both simultaneously laugh and grown after dealing with the Wise County Criminal Justice System in the Lauren Whitener/Aric Maxwell case this year.  Below, the protagonist learns that the cops have stumbled upon evidence which will certainly be misinterpreted and cause them to jump to conclusions:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• I had a couple of people reach out to me as to how to contact BagOfNothing but didn't say why. I just checked on his blog and now I know why. I feel bad about just now seeing that. Life can be overwhelming but, when it knocks us to our knees and overtakes us in a way we can't comprehend, almost all of us keep its impact hidden. Until you can't. Give the guy credit for putting it out there. 
• Messenger: Above the Fold 

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

 

• Let me look out the window. Well, the courthouse is locked up tighter than a drum. The streets look vacant. Let me check for the Messenger's Update. Nope. It's not there. But, rest assured dear reader, the HWMISB™ is here even on Christmas Eve. 
• Texas Hospitalizations: +275. That's a huge daily jump. 
  
  
  
• "Law and Order"
  
  
  
• And, of course: 
  

  
  
  
• I heard there was a little controversy at the local Decatur hospital when the COVID vaccine was distributed to people in line a couple of days ago. 
  
  
  
• Here's the quick loading, yet long form, video of the Keller police pepper spraying a guy on the sidewalk. It's getting a little national attention after being featured in the Star-Telegram.
  

  

  
  
  
  
• BOLO. Police are after this Jacksboro guy who may or may not have killed a man he was living with. He was last seen yesterday around Weatherford after he drove away from cops. The Star-Telegram says he is a "Jacksboro man accused of dumping a body in Parker County and assaulting a deputy." (My own hard-hitting research revealed he spent two weeks in the Parker County Jail on a parole violation in late August. He gave a Godley address as his home at the time.) 
  
  
  
• I was able to find out about his arrest because Parker County, like Wise County, uses Tyler Technologies software.  It's good for online searches but can be a bear to use for county workers as Wichita County is finding that out right now: 
  
  
  
• And that company makes a fortune in monthly and/or annual fees it charges to counties (in addition to a service charge for online filings statewide which it also monopolizes.)  I pulled the most recent Accounts Payable printout for Wise County and found this: 
  
  
  
• Flashback: When Trump ruined Christmas for a seven year old. 
  
  
  
• Fort Worth lawyers Terri Moore and Mark Daniel have been hired in a capital murder case in Wichita Falls and the local paper is giving them the royal treatment: 
  
  
  
• I mentioned yesterday that attorney David Spiller of Jacksboro was running for the Texas House. Take a look at that wildly drawn district which does not include Wise County. Alas, my incredible political influence will be of no help to him. 
  
  
  
• I'm sometimes curious as the Messenger's decision making process.  On Tuesday they did the very rare news blast about the Wise County deputy shooting his neighbor's dog, but then there is no mention about the incident at all in the Wednesday Update.  What gives? (Side note: Here's the Facebook post that started it all.) 
• We've got a Poltergeist situation in Denton: 

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

 

• Texas hospitalizations: "Oh, my" again! The peak during the second wave was 10,893 on July 22nd. We are closing in on that number. 

• So late yesterday, after almost all of Congress had left D.C., Trump threatened either to veto or simply not sign the Stimulus bill (and the entire government funding bill that goes along with it) unless our check is $2,000 instead of the $600 currently allocated.  That put Republicans in a panic and Democrats throwing him their support.  It's anyone's guess whether Trump is bluffing. 
  
  
  
• An off-duty deputy with the Wise County Sheriff's Office shot a neighbor's dog in Alvord after it allegedly tried to kill his cat while reportedly on his own property. Was it justified? Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said, “We are going to look at the evidence, and we will make a decision based on the evidence.”  That, of course, requires an objective and fair investigation and an accurate interpretation of what is and what is not evidence. 
• This news broke because the dog's owner posted a video of the aftermath on Facebook. Anyone got a link? I'll update this if I get one.  Edit: Here it is. 
• Trump can pardon and grant clemency to anyone he wants, but to pardon the four wannabee soldiers in Blackwater's massacre at Nisour Square is sickening.   But I suppose I shouldn't be shocked that Trump would give a pass to four war criminals who just happen to be white guys for the killing of 17 civilians who just happen to be Muslim. 
  
  
  
• We've got some political news. I would endorse David, but I don't want to jinx him with the figurative kiss of death. Although I would like to point out that he is a faithful reader of Liberally Lean so this could be our big break with a direct pipeline to Austin!  (I noticed the Cooke County judge is running as well, but I bet he's a dirty Lib.) 
  
  
  
  
• Funny moment that I had to keep to myself at the time: As I was getting checked out by a health care practitioner yesterday, he was humming the lyrics of "I'll go crazy, crazy on you" to Heart's 70s hit which was playing in the background. 
• Say what?! That crazy talk sounds like something out of the Bible. 
  
  
  
• This is on my list to read because it might be about my favorite political moment of the year. It came out yesterday in New York Magazine.
  
  
  
• Forewarn Liberally Lean Triple Reliable Weather Desk Bulletin: Temperature drop begins in Decatur at 11:15 a.m. with winds heavy from the North. 
• Is it a bad sign when Citibank sent me a fraud alert while Mrs. LL was out Christmas shopping? I even had to call them. (I said all was good but told their sweet employee, Rose, to monitor her purchases very closely and give me a shout anytime.) 
  
  
  
  
  
• Random sports photo that got my attention: A BYU player laying out for a catch yesterday. Click to enlarge. Here's the video. 
  
  
  
• Messenger: Above the Fold