6.08.2021

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




And he actually died shortly thereafter.  A few months earlier, he had run into a bit of trouble:

  • The Internet broke this morning, but it seems to be up and running again.


  • This is really horrifying and about as far from conservatism as you can get. “Patriotic education” mandated by the government isn’t education; it’s propaganda.  


  • Will the "1836 Project" teach that:
    • Every person coming to Texas for land had to swear their allegiance to Mexico and to convert to Catholicism because Texas was, after all, Mexican territory? 
    • That immigrants who made that promise turned around and broke it and then took up arms against Mexico because Mexico didn't allow slaves? 
    • That completely broke and unable to fend for themselves, the Republic of Texas begged the United States to annex them only to take up arms against our country 16 years later in the Civil War?
    • That the first Constitution of Texas specifically legalized slavery? (Art. 8 Section 1.)
    • That Texans stole land and slaughtered the Comanches and Kiowas? 
    • What about the Lynching of Jesse Washington in Waco? The Slocum Massacre? The Lynching of Henry Smith in Paris?
    • No. Little Johnny will only be given a "Patriotic Education." 
  • And he's flat out lying below.  No, the law does not prohibit "any business" from requiring a "vaccine passport." Private businesses can require it all they want. It only applies to the very few businesses with state contracts. This is very Trumpesque of him.

  • The FBI recovered millions of dollars of money extorted via ransomware from Colonial Pipeline? I'm skeptical about this. You just don't "have" an address of a Bitcoin account. 
    (And that's not how you spell affidavit)

  • What a team! The "Grab 'em by the P" guy joins forces with a guy who harassed women so badly that even Fox News fired him and then had to pay the victims $32 million.  They will be in Dallas on December 19th when mistletoe will be abundant.


  • This resignation is a little weird. She only had 18 months left on her term.  

  • Wise County seems to have settled in with 1 in 4 of us fully vaccinated. 

  • Mint Dentistry has leased all 14,000 square feet of the very top floor of the Green Monster in Dallas.  The article, sadly, didn't give a price tag.

  • As an afterthought, I thought I'd look at the Mint Dentistry website. Oh, my.  Their office could be a TV series like Nip/Tuck only with dentists. 

  • Thamel is pretty reliable. "A pair of CFP meetings are expected to decide a specific recommendation, with a final decision, details and television contract determined later in the fall." Link.

    • Interesting:

  • A Fort Worth police officer got in a foot chase yesterday and left his car on the railroad tracks. A train came by and hit it. (You can click on the link if you want, but that's basically the whole story. No pictures.) 

at 8:30 AM

6.07.2021

Random Monday Morning Thoughts



I don't know whether to second guess my 90% number or not.  The 'whodunit" cases are almost always theft/burglary cases. 

  • Here's the reason for the rain and thunder rolling through Wise County this morning. At 7:02 a.m.:

  • It is an "11-minute flight that'll reach more than 60 miles above Earth." Still sounds crazy to me. 

  • Jon Rahm was leading the Memorial golf tournament by six strokes after the third round but had to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19. His pay day would have been $1.7 million. He chose not to be vaccinated, so it is hard to feel sorry for the guy. 


  • It was announced on Friday, Donald Trump was suspended from Facebook for another two years. On Saturday, his pants became big news. 

  • A Florida woman, 53, trashed an Outback Steakhouse. The video is a little NSFW but, to her credit, that's a healthy 53. 

  • An El Paso mom posted a 12 minute "short and simple" "explanation" on Youtube trying to explain why she posed as a her middle school daughter. Within 30 seconds, I felt sorry for her husband because she is unbearable. I think I'd rather hang out with the Outback Naked Lady. 



  • The Aggies make the cover of Dave Campbell's Texas Football.

  • The Dallas Morning News editorial board is living in Fantasyland if they believe this: 

  • I asked on Friday why an Edgewood police car was being used by an "off duty" Edgewood police officer to work a construction job on LBJ which was involved in a big wreck. A faithful reader says if you look closely that it may not be an Edgewood police car at all -- that many off duty officers are just driving cars which simply read "Police" on them.  But here it is hard to tell. 

  • I made reference the other day that I was reading a Texas Rangers book and gave it two big thumbs up. The author emailed me afterwards to say he's been a Liberally Lean reader for years even though he now lives in Pennsylvania! 

  • Legal kind of nerdy stuff: What price would you pay if during an appellate argument on Zoom an attorney "raised his middle finger to the camera" as opposing counsel was speaking? In Michigan we have an answer. (Spoiler alert: It's $3,000).
  • Legal nerd stuff:  A Trump federal judge is raising eyebrows with his opinion striking down California's ban on AR-15s. (And the next sentence's use of "Even if" is a a little nutty as well.)

  • I just mentioned him last week and noted that the "best I can tell, he's been out of the news since 2016." I spoke too soon. 

  • I told you the the World Series of College Softball was big entertainment, and I stand by that. They are down to the final four with two elimination games today. Unranked James Madison plays OU today at 3:00 p.m. (that's way too early) and Florida State takes on Alabama after 6:00 p.m.  And this play on Saturday by the James Madison pitcher against OSU was an "Oh, my":

  • I haven't mentioned the Mavericks during the playoffs because I don't care about the NBA.  And there's hard to find a more unlikeable trifecta of humans than Carlisle, Cuban and Doncic (yeah, he's great, but that constant whining during the regular season is over the top.)  And I bet Doncic gets away from those two as soon as possible. 


at 8:35 AM

6.04.2021

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




Ten years ago the Tea Party was a big player (and still is, I suppose, since the Republican Party seems to have morphed into the Tea Party.) And ten years later, JPs still can't issue search warrants for blood. The reference to "Wise County ties" refers to a local prosecutor testifying in favor of the bill in Austin.   

  • According to today's Messenger, the Bridgeport High School principal has called it quits because of an "offensive comment" made during a "meeting", but for some reason she won't disclose what it was. If it is that big of deal, tell us. We need to know. 

  • Breaking: Allen West just resigned as Texas GOP Chairman. 
  • All lanes of LBJ freeway in Dallas were shut down this morning because of a wreck involving a police car and a Maserati. What was the Edgewood police officer doing there some 60 miles away from that town? He's "working off duty" but using an Edgewood police car?


  • George P. Bush campaign giveaways demonstrate he is kneeling hard at the Alter of Trump. Enlarge here.

  • So it's not a good idea to give a Black employee an award during a Christmas party for being the “Least likely to be seen in the dark”? Yep, that's what happened.

  • Under the new Texas budget, Game Wardens with only 4 years of experience are getting a 12% raise to a salary of $73,000.
  • Here are salaries for DPS troopers: 

  • Legal nerd stuff with Wise County relevance: Yesterday evening, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals affirmed a local drug conviction. The entire appeal was based on whether a Wise County Sheriff's Deputy had the right to "frisk" the defendant who was simply detained -- a right which is dependent upon whether the deputy feared for his safety. During the frisk, the deputy found the dope, so if the frisk was illegal because he didn't fear for his safety, the dope couldn't be used against the defendant. Deputy Chad Lanier, this is your big day since the court ruled on your side. (For legal practitioners in the area, it's a good summary on "stop and frisk" law from our local appellate court -- a legal subject which I know for a fact has been pounded into the heads of local officers by a particular Wise County prosecutor.)
    • Very legal nerd stuff and kind of interesting: The appellate court, on its own, noticed that the judgement said that the enhancement paragraph were "Not True." Without a written finding of "True" by the trial judge, the defendant's sentence of 40 years would be illegal. However, the appellate court, again, on its own, just hauled off and changed it to "True" (page 29) even though the Reporter's Record of the proceedings did not reveal what the defendant's plea was to the enhancement allegations (footnote 14 at page 10.)  
  • Come again? He has videos on YouTube, you say? 


  • Random sinkhole in Mexico.

  • Hot sports opinion: The College World Series of softball began yesterday, and it is easily a Top Five sporting event of the year. The double elimination format needs to be used in pro sports. (And unranked James Madison beating #1 OU was as good as any MLB game you'll see all year.) Current bracket.
  • It's the birthday of the Mayor of Decatur -- something I've always remembered because it's on 6/4 and he is 6'4" tall. 
  • Time which has passed since the Wise County Sheriff's Office has failed to solve the murder of Lauren Whitener in her home at Lake Bridgeport: 700 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold



at 8:32 AM
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