Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

  Hot political opinions.

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•  Still no updated news or arrests in connection with the "murder case" where the body was found in Cottondale. 
  
  
  
• The video of the mother who walked into Irving PD to tell them she had killed her children, ages 1 and 6, is jolting. The first mother-infantide high profile case that comes to mind is Andrea Yates in 2001 followed by Dena Schlosser in 2004.
  
  
  
• White Evangelicals not taking the the COVID vaccine? This corresponds to the doses  being readily available in conservative West Texas where people weren't taking advantage of easy access to the vaccine. 
  
  
  
• I was reading a Star-Telegram story about the odd indictment of two school board members in Southlake for alleged violations of the Open Meeting Act, but then got distracted when I ended up finally looking at the ads at the bottom. America is dumb and gullible.  
  
  
  
• Brookshires in Bridgeport closed on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. for Easter. I find that very confusing. I would understand closing all day. I'd understand closing Sunday morning. I'd even understand opening at 5:00. But why close at 5:00?  
• I'm as confused as you are about the Tiger Woods crash. Last week we heard that the Sheriff's Office wouldn't release the "cause" of the wreck, even though they "knew" it, because of privacy reasons. This morning, TMZ now says the Sheriff's Office will release their findings this morning. 
  
  
  
• Another confusing part of the TMZ story is where they report the Sheriff's Office didn't get a warrant for Tiger's cell phone records to determine if he was on the phone at the time of the crash because it "felt it did not have probable cause to get a warrant for cellphone records." But remember this?
  
  
  
• Boldest Wise County restaurant which I hope has wild success: The Indian food place, Punjabi Dhabba, in Alvord.
  
  
   
• Matt Gaetz news: (1) He sought a pardon from Trump for all crimes, (2) He's speaking at a women's sponsored event ("Women for America First") at Trump's Doral club. He's probably going to be disappointed with the age of the crowd at the latter. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• This video of Bryson DeChambeau on the practice range is flat out weird. I'm not saying he's all hyped up on drugs, but that has all the signs of someone being messed up.  
  
  
  
• This is the exit from westbound 380 to go northbound on 287 in Decatur. The number of times that cars and trucks have failed to negotiate that turn is beyond ridiculous. I bet that guardrail has been replaced well more than a dozen times because of people plowing right into it because they didn't slow down. But no longer. After the last repair about six months ago, TxDOT put up a simple traffic cone (about where I put the red x, I think) and some other red reflectors. No one has hit in months. It's like magic. This could be a case study on how humans react to certain colors and visual clues. 
  
  
  
• Legal nerd stuff. Do they have to forego running for re-election in their current position since they are seeking the Supreme Court seat? If so, that's a curious decision. You can (and they did) win as a Democrat for the Dallas appellate district, but they aren't winning in a statewide Supreme Court race. At least not yet. 
  
  
  
• Messenger: Above the Fold

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

I haven't thought about this since I posted this tweet 10 years ago, nor has the DPS Twitter account referenced the chant since then. Do they still do it?   

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• Baylor 86, Gonzaga 70. That was a thrashing. For a guy (me) who first saw them play in the old barn which was the Heart O' Texas Coliseum in Waco, it was a long time coming.  
  

  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
• Baylor refused to cancel classes today. 
• We've got what looks like another murder in Wise County with the body of Michael Bolling, 61, having been found near Cottondale. In reading in between the lines, it doesn't sound like a gunshot wound, but I haven't heard the cause of death. Note: The "48 hour" rule of solving the case is now in effect. (I don't understand this quote from the Sheriff: “There were injuries that made it look as if it was a murder.”)
  

  

  

  
  

  
  
  
  
• Six dead in Allen. One of the two killers involved in the suicide pact left an Instagram note which seemed bizarrely calm. Excerpts here. Note: The excerpt in that link did not include this crazy tidbit: "The brother also noted that he was disappointed with the way the sitcom The Office ended."
  

  

  
  
  
  
• The official attendance announced at the Ranger game yesterday was 38,238.  These ladies decided to a bit. 

  

  Pic submitted by Faithful Reader Michelle.

  
  
• The Rangers have "Dallas Truck World" written on the back of the mound. 
  
  
  
• The governor didn't show up yesterday as he decided to protest MLB's decision to pull the All-Star Game out of Georgia.  It's hard to tell the snowflakes these days without a program.  (They moved the game to Colorado which happens to mail a ballot to every registered voter.)
  
  
  
• A guy stole an ambulance yesterday and went on a joy ride in Collin County. If you want to see the pretty entertaining end of it, here ya go. 
  
  
  
• Good grief. Shouldn't there be a lesser sanction than an indictment and arrest? Seems a little harsh.  Story. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• As of today, Kurt Cobain has been dead longer than he was alive. Side note: Haven't heard much of Courtney Love lately.  
  
  
  
• Final board. My scoring system was designed to reward upset picks in the first two rounds which might be enough to allow you to hold on even if you didn't pick the ultimate champion. That worked. I note that 15 of the top 50 picked Baylor to win it all but none of the top 4:
  
  
  
• For some reason I've heard this fact twice in the last couple of months: Plywood is now crazy expensive. It's running $60 a pop. 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

The County Commissioners in Anderson County had allowed for the Confederate Flag to be flown on the courthouse lawn for all of April, 2011, when it also declared, on a 3-2 vote, that it was "Confederate History and Heritage Month." The Palestine mayor was none to happy and called for an emergency meeting asking his city council to pass a resolution to tell the commissioners to reverse their decision. They didn't have to. Moments before the vote, the Commissioners announced the flag was being voluntarily being taken down by the Sons of the Confederacy -- the same group which had asked to fly in it the first place. 

Here's a line from the story: "A crowd of roughly 20 persons sang 'Dixie' after the flag was removed from the courthouse." Sheesh.

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• The number of attempted kidnapping of women in Denton County kept changing over the weekend, so I got my Liberally Lean Research and Graphics Development Department on it. How bizarre this all is. The current count seems to be four (although some reports put it at three.) The map below is my painstaking attempt to put a red "x" at all the locations referenced in the news although one of them is sometimes referred to as an attempt to "lure" someone towards him instead of an attempted kidnapping. Cops finally stopped what they believe to be the car involved in the incidents and arrested the guy for DWI yesterday afternoon. But they haven't come out and said it is the same guy involved in the four incidents yet. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Edit: Moments before my press deadline, a very Faithful Reader sent me this. The Denton County Jail is now showing charges of Aggravated Kidnapping have been placed on the guy. (I don't think the Dirty Liberal Lamestream Media has reported this yet.) His DL shows him to be a Lake Dallas resident. My source also says that he probably was released from a State Jail in October after a felony conviction out of Gregg County. 
  
  
  
• This would seem to be a huge problem in the Derek Chauvin trial: "Special Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell told jurors last Monday that while Hennepin County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker ruled Floyd's cause of death cardiac arrest, prosecutors would prove he died of asphyxia, or, lack of oxygen, while Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes." Keep an eye on this aspect of the case. 
  
  
  
• Major League Baseball will move the All-Star Game out of Atlanta after Georgia made it harder to vote. If that makes you mad, you still have to go to baseball games and watch it on TV because you are also against, and can't be part of, the Cancel Culture. 
  
  
  
• Fox News on-air broadcast will hardly touch the Matt Gaetz scandal, but its website doesn't shy away from it -- at least with the headlines. 
  
  
  
• The Trump campaign added a pre-checked box last Fall to its donation form causing a second automatic draft to occur. It ended having to refund $122 million once people complained. 
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• I used an electric chainsaw for a couple of hours on Saturday and was having so much fun that I was afraid I turn into Leatherface by the evening. 
• Jordan Speith drives me nuts because he and his caddy talk forever before he hits the the shot. He first got on my Irritation Radar in 2017 when he took a whole 20 minutes to decide where to take a drop at the British Open. Yesterday, he was almost as bad. For example, he and his caddy went back and forth for a few minutes about whether to lay up on 18 with a two shot lead. You don't need to think about that. And then Speith took out an eight iron and hooked it left anyway. 
  
  
  
• Ticket fans only: Former Ticket Ticker guy T.C. Fleming often mentioned how his parents shipped him off to "Excel" as a teenager for smoking weed (!!!).  Well now the Dallas Observer has a story about a project T.C. has about the experience. It's not so funny anymore. 
  
  
  
• Anyone want to tell him that neither team wanted his support?
  
  
  
• The Liberally Lean standings are here. My quick review reveals that only "Unemployed Random Thought Girl", in tenth place, has chosen Baylor tonight and, even if he's right, the points he'll gain (30) would only be enough to get him to fifth place. My tricked up scoring system has bitten him.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Speaking of Baylor, how did the Waco paper celebrate on Sunday the team making the finals the night before? By printing one of the most boring headlines ever. And the story even played second fiddle to something Chip and Joanna are doing.