7.06.2021

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




And ten years have slipped through our fingers.   

  • Want to know exactly how close to the season's start that the Decatur School Board got rid of its coach? 

  • In case you missed it, here's the video of a 61 year old lady crashing the Rockwall Independence Day Parade on a tractor and cops having a tough time stopping her. 

  • In case you missed it #2. (Video from Toledo, OH.)

  • A 24-year old professional hockey player was sitting in a hot tub with friends, someone set off heavy fireworks near by,  at least one falls over, and it sends a rocket blast directly into the hockey player’s chest and kills him.

  • Someone is creating a statue of the late James Wood of Decatur. 

  • Dallas Morning News poll: If Matthew McConaughey ran for governor, would you vote for him, Abbott, or someone else?

  • If you haven't checked in on the price of oil since the pandemic hit, you would be in for a shock. 


  • I'll answer that: It is not built along the ocean. 

  • We've already reached the Black Mirror phase of warfare.

  • Graphic of the 2020 election.  Wise County, predictably all red, is in the upper left hand corner. But the blue in Denton County and Collin County is interesting. Source.

  • No, the United States Women's Soccer Team did not disrespect a 98 year old WW2 veteran. The fake news distribution on this was high yesterday. 



  • Random sports: I've mentioned before that most people have forgotten that after Roger Staubach's "Hail Mary" to Drew Pearson in 1975 that an official was hit in the head with a thrown liquor bottle. I've now discovered the whole game is on youtube. I've got the game cued up to that moment here. 

  • Lonesome Dove update: I'm still working on it. I'm on Chapter 47 (page 397 of 946 to be exact.) Observation: I'll take the dialogue from Deadwood over Larry McMurtry's attempt at it every day of the week. He's killing me. 



at 8:32 AM

7.05.2021

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




Ten years to the day.    
  • It a National Holiday, businesses are closed, there is no Messenger Update, but here I am. THWMISB©.
  • More fallout from the way the Decatur School Board treated AD and football coach Mike Fuller?

  • The Wise County Sheriff's Office had us covered at Wise County Park yesterday. They even broke out the RV.  

    Is that communications poll really needed these days?
  • An interloping con man does what he was expected to do:

  • "All right, Martha, you distract them by busting out into the National Anthem while I grab us some Mountain Dew and sugar cookies before they can get to 'em." (Video in link.)

  • The event was cancelled because it was a presentation about the book, Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth. The far right is going to be involved in actual book burning before it is all said and done. 

  • I finished my Texas Ranger book (it's great) and held my breath when the next to final chapter covered the screwed up investigation of Henry Lee Lucas. But the book portrayed Wise County's own Phil Ryan as basically the only Ranger who knew Lucas was a fraud from the get go. It was the incompetent Sheriff of Williamson County and former Texas Ranger Jim Boutwell who was primarily responsible for the disaster. (He was also responsible the famous wrongful conviction of Michael Morton.)  
    • Related and recommended: The Confession Killer on Netflix where Phil Ryan makes an appearance.

  • The Gulf of Mexico caught fire because of gas leak on Friday.  We are literally going to destroy this planet, aren't we? Video.
  • As of yesterday, the barrier went down at the White House.  Back to normalcy continues. 


  • I haven't dogged Dennis Prager in a while, but he kind of deserves it when he posts a picture of a flag that has 54 stars. And he did it twice. 



  • Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of the photo which appeared at the end of The Shining (and I honestly didn't even remember there was a photo at the end of the movie.)

  • Legal news from late Friday which lawyers will be interested in.  The lawsuit was based upon the State Bar being involved in lobbying for dirty liberal causes. Fifth Circuit opinion here. (Most of us are just surprised to learn the State Bar does anything with the $235 they steal from us every year.)

  • The Rangers have a pitcher who made the All-Star team who has an ERA under 2.00? When's the last time a Ranger pitcher had an ERA that low at the All-Star break? Ever?

  • Ever thought about the last words of the Declaration of Independence? We "mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." 


at 8:29 AM

7.02.2021

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




Still holds up after 10 years.    

  • Today's Messenger does a good job today revealing what went down during the escape of Royce Wood by reviewing affidavits filed by law enforcement. Brody Brown, the officer who was with the officer who was struck by a bullet, Rex Richie, clearly told an investigator that Wood fired at them while he fled and that he (Brown) returned fire. But as to how Richie was struck, all we know is this sentence which, I suppose, is subject to interpretation.  

  • That was weird weather yesterday evening when the cold front came through. This shot was taken on highway 287 between Rhome and Decatur. 

  • Remember how I have called Uber a "house of cards" because of their financial statements? (They've never declared a profit because they are wasting money on unnecessary expenses including inflated salaries.) 
    • Well, first let me remind you of this bullet point from 8/21/19 after Uber announced they were bringing 3,000 "high paying" jobs to Dallas:

    • Now check out yesterday's story where Uber announced that it won't be 3,000 jobs after all but instead that number is now only 500 (assuming everything goes right.)

    • They can blame the pandemic all they want, but this isn't pandemic related. They certainly aren't bullish on their post-pandemic future in Dallas. 
  • She tested positive for weed, and we are going to ban her? We are the dumbest country -- a country where weed is legal in 19 states. (Edit: The ban is official this morning.)

  • Good. The federal government had a self-imposed moratorium on the death penalty for nearly two decades until Attorney General Bill Barr (that pillar of virtue) lifted it in mid 2020. Then the federal government went on a killing spree and executed 13 people before Trump was voted out. 

  • Legislation that was passed which was under the radar: The Texas legislature approved House Bill 1518, which allows for sales of beer and wine to start at 10 a.m. on the Lord's Day. 
  • Let's check in on Texas lawyers:

  • I've read about this Corpus Christi case, and I'm hopeful about this documentary. 

  • That was a horrible effort by cops of attempting to safely blow up a bunch of fireworks. Video of explosion here.


  • Honor the 4th of July and its meaning by watching the video I plugged yesterday about the Trump Insurrection.  If it doesn't make you made, something is seriously wrong.  

  • I'm six episodes in on Deadwood. I like it. (Except for the voice of Calamity Jane.)
  • I'm making Mrs. LL rewatch Six Feet Under with me. She's never seen it, but I think she's locked in. (I told her very young Dwight Schrute will eventually make an appearance so she's excited.)
    No Dwight in this photo.

  • 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: 728 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold



at 8:34 AM

7.01.2021

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




This was on the front page of the Bridgeport Index, and I still can't believe it.   

  • Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy update: The local media hasn't figured it out yet, but a shockingly curt ruling yesterday by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals puts the conviction for Attempted Murder of Danita Thetford Tutt in serious jeopardy. But it's a hollow victory: Her five year sentence out of Tarrant County for Injury to a Child will stand, but the 10 year probated sentence for Attempted Murder will almost certainly be thrown out. (She's still in prison on the five year sentence, has already been denied parole once, but cannot be held past October 17, 2023.) 
  • The freeing of Bill Cosby yesterday was flat out weird. The headline is that a court ruled that Cosby should not have be prosecuted because the former DA and Cosby entered into an agreement where no criminal charges would be filed and, in exchange, Cosby would not and could not raise his Fifth Amendment right not to testify in a civil suit against him. That's not true at all.
    • First, there wasn't an "immunity agreement." Heck, there was no agreement at all.  It was only a decision and press release by the DA that Cosby "relied" upon to not invoke his Fifth Amendment rights.

    • Even if he wanted to, the DA couldn't make such an agreement. Heck, it's unethical and probably a crime. Think of this way: Say a drunk driver killed a woman in Wise County and the DA agreed that he wouldn't file criminal charges so that the defendant would have to testify in the civil suit which would help the man's family, and his lawyers, get money. The DA might get disbarred.
    • Importantly, there was no actual representation by the DA that Cosby would never be prosecuted. The prosecutor just announced that he was dropping the case based upon the evidence then in existence. 
    • Side note: The DA wasn't really helping the Plaintiff in the civil case out. So what if Cosby would have taken the Fifth Amendment? That's a Plaintiff's dream. A jury, in a civil case, are allowed to "draw negative inferences" from a defendant invoking the Fifth. 
    • And the court's decision yesterday was reversal with an acquittal. The only time you see that is when a case is reversed for insufficient evidence. It seems like the proper remedy would be to remand the case for a new trial where his deposition testimony couldn't be used. Nope, Cosby actually walked out of prison with complete double jeopardy protection. 

  • Mrs. Huxtable, though, decided to unleash an atomic bomb. 

  • Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld died yesterday. He was always mocked for his statement below but, I'll be honest, it always made perfect sense to me. 

  • Texas Politics: A Portrait. 

  • The Tarrant County Sheriff managed to get in front of the cameras with Abbott and Trump yesterday. It should be noted that:
    • He has jurisdiction of an area which is over 300 miles from border at its closet point. 
    • And he's really not in the business of law enforcement at all since so little of Tarrant County is unincorporated. Local police departments in Tarrant County are in charge. What he knows about fentanyl, and especially how it gets here, would fit on the head of a pin.  
    • His main job is to run the Tarrant County Jail which he fails miserably at -- 17 inmates died under his care last year.  
    • But, nevertheless, there he was . . . 

  • The just released New York Times video on the Trump Insurrection should be watched by anyone who is inclined to downplay what happened on January 6th. It's an amazing documentary all based on actual footage. 

  • Announced yesterday, and taking effect immediately at midnight, college athletes can now profit on the "name, image and likeness" or "NIL."   I'm all in favor of this, but this is going to an earth-shaking change in the area of recruiting, right? "You want to sell a bunch of T-shirts? Come to [insert marketing savvy school.]" And how do you stop big monied boosters from promising a recruit a perfectly legal contract for his NIL if he signs with the desired school? It's like legalizing SuperPACs for athletes. By the way, OU's Spencer Rattler already has a very cool logo to sell:

  • Legal nerd stuff:
    • A federal appellate court actually used the Internet slang "tl;dr" in an opinion. Judges, don't do that. 

    • Over-the-top nerdy: Yesterday, the first federal opinions which will carry with it a "F.4th" designation were released. 
  • A Wichita County Commissioner pleaded guilty to DWI yesterday. His sentence was routine: 180 days in jail but probated for 14 months, a $800 fine, and 60 hours of community service.  But he has to have an ignition interlock in his vehicle for the entire term of probation which was unusually harsh, but the case did involve a one car wreck. (Paywall.)



at 8:32 AM
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