Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

The commercial is still online. It just shows how much things have changed in ten years because now stuff like that is the mainstream.  (Willett, after transforming into an "Aw Shucks" guy on Twitter, managed to get appointed to the federal Fifth Circuit by Trump in 2017.) 

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• We've got video of the post-wreck capture of the Alabama killer who was on the run with the now deceased female jailer.  He's every bit of the 6'9" they said that he was. 
  
  
  
• Breaking inflation numbers from moment's ago: It's still bad but it has slowed. It's not just going to magically disappear overnight. 
  
  
  
• Before a jury trial was derailed yesterday in the Wise County district courtroom even before it began (the jury panel apparently saw the defendant shackled before jury selection), the ceiling above the judge's bench collapsed causing "10 gallons of water" to fall on the judge's chair. Fortunately, he wasn't sitting in the chair at the time. 
• Southlake Police were called about an actual water moccasin which found its way into a spacious closet of one of the city's homes. 
  
  
  
• D Magazine revealed the name of the kid who "put his hands on" the mother of the Suns player. 
  
  
  
• A guy with no flying experience landed a single engine Cesena with the help of air-traffic controllers yesterday in Florida after his pilot became incapacitated. There's only a portion of the flight recording which has been released so far, but what I've heard is wild. Air Traffic had no idea where he was so they first had him follow the coastline at 5,000 feet until they could pick him up on radar.  (If you want some crazy entertainment, go watch some Youtube videos of the complete recordings of other situations like this.)
  
  
  
• Elon Musk says that he would let Trump back on Twitter.  Now that he's a private citizen, I don't have any problem with that. In fact, we need to be reminded of just how crazy he is. (One of my favorite follows on Twitter is "Old Donald Trump Posts")
  
  
  
• But check on this standard that Musk said he would use to monitor the account of Trump and others.  I cannot believe a many spends $50 billion to buy the company because he didn't like its "censorship" standards, but apparently has never given a moment's thought as to what his standards will be. "Wrong" and "bad"? That's his lofty and high-minded rule? 
  
  
  
• The last respected remaining American institution has crumbled. 
  
  
  
• Update from last night regarding my political observation about a guy from yesterday.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• There's been a lot discussion of how the Ultra-MAGA candidates have taken over Southlake ISD with the help of Super PACs, but apparently those same PACs made huge inroads in Frisco ISD on Saturday. 
  
  
  
• Emotional distress from an NFL coach? Oh, come on. 
  
  
  
• Very legal nerdy niche stuff: For you lawyers who try DWI cases from time to time, there was a rare appellate defense win yesterday out of Houston in the somewhat common situation of a person being found asleep behind the driver's seat in a car with the engine running but with the transmission in park.  State v. Espinosa, No. 14-20-00751-CR (Tex.App.-Houston[14th Dist.] 2022).  There is a dissent.
• Fun attendance and tuition facts for the new Big 12:
  
  
  
• Messenger: Above the Fold

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

I noticed the name of Jack Koslow on this sign 10 years ago and wondered if he was the same guy who was a victim in one of the most infamous crimes in Fort Worth history. Indeed, he was. And he won his election and is still on the council. 

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• This is interesting. The slew of candidates endorsed by the "Wise County Conservatives" group went 1-8 in the local elections on Saturday for city council and school board races. It's almost as if their endorsement had a negative impact. (Thanks emailer for pointing this out.)
  
  
  
  
  
• It ended badly for the deputy on the run.
  
  
   
• So what exactly did the kid do to Chris Paul's mother at the Mavericks game?
  

  

  
  
  
  
• As far as the "inebriated" aspect of this, there are reports that the kid is 16 or 18. But a minor can possess or consume alcohol so long as he is in "visible presence" of his parent or guardian.
• Two of the three people found dead at the Sandals resort in the Bahamas have been identified.  I wonder if this was a carbon monoxide related? Those kind of deaths happen all the time even in hotels in America. It always seems to have something to do with the location of a nearby pool. 
  
  
  
• This just sold for $195 million. It was bought by 77 year old Larry Gagosian.
  
  
  
• The uber-right in Texas got very excited yesterday when Gov. Abbott made a statement supporting school vouchers. (Video.) Make no mistake about it: Those who support school vouchers want private religious schools (at least Christian schools, if they have their way) to be funded with your school tax dollars.   It would be the approval of a Kenneth Copeland Newark High School, Gateway Mega-Church Elementary, or Robert Jeffress FBC Junior High getting a piece of your property tax check.  (And the latest attacks using the made up claims of CRT and "Grooming" is all part of a master plan to disparage public schools in order to steer money to religious schools.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A copperhead crawled into a work drawer in Midlothian and bit the man when he reached down to grab a tool. His neighbor took this photo of the critter. 
  
  
  
  
• The reporter hasn't witnessed much in his life. 
  
  
  
• After reading the story, the Texas judge might have gotten away with it it she had gone through with the contempt proceeding for the incidents which caused the lawyers to be taken into custody in the first place. But she just abandoned it. 
  
  
  
• This Trump worship by the far right of the Republican Party is weird. I mean, seriously, we have never seen anything like this campaign sign by a Nebraska governor candidate.  I don't even know what to compare it to. 
  
  
  
• I have no idea why the organist for the Texas Rangers posted this pic without an explanation, but now I want to know what happened to the fire truck.   Edit: A faithful reader says, "That photo of the fire truck is from the 9/11 Memorial in New York and it was damaged on 9/11."
  
  
  
• I saw gas prices at $4.19 at three different places this morning. 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

We learned Fuzzy's was coming to the courthouse square.  It's still there, and its arrival seemed to mark the turning point of the rebirth of downtown Decatur. 

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• Local election breakdown. 
• It doesn't get much closer than this one. Probably deserves a recount.
  
  
  
• Also close.  But "Bilby" and "Lake Bridgeport" are kind of synonymous.
  
  
  
• This ended up being the most watched race in the west part of the county because of, well, the unusual campaign tactics of one of the candidates.
  
  
  
• A former Bridgeport police officer and current investigator with the Wise County Attorney's office replaced part of the old guard in Runaway Bay.
  
  
  
  
  
• Probably the most watched race on this side of the Big Sandy.
  
  
  
  
• You often don't see four candidates for one school board spot. There isn't a run-off since there wasn't a requirement to break the 50% threshold. 
  
  
  
  
• Three police officers from Dallas and Garland were indicted for their conduct during the Dallas George Floyd downtown riots.  The police associations (unions) of both forces were not happy. This guy, in a show of support, was at a news conference to denounce the charges. 
  
  
  
• Saturday. They called it attempted "suicide by cop" in Bridgeport.
  
  
  
• This is weird.  "On their arrival at the scene they were directed to the first villa. On entering a bedroom, they found a Caucasian male laying on the ground unresponsive," the Royal Bahama Police Force said in a statement. "An examination of the body was conducted, there was no signs of trauma found. The local doctor later pronounced the victim dead." The officers then proceeded to a second villa where they found another man unresponsive and "slumped the wall in the bathroom." A woman was also found unresponsive in a bedroom on a bed.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A sixteen year old got kicked out of the Mavericks game for "putting his hands on" the mother of Suns' star Chris Paul.  The kid looked a little in over his head. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Record temps over the weekend. 
  
  
  
• Still on the run!:
• Alabama deputy and her murder-lover.
  
  
  
• The guy who crashed into four teenagers, killing two, 10 days ago while driving the wrong way in North Dallas. He has been identified but not yet caught.
  
  
  
• And, amazingly, this guy, Abel Elias Acosta, 14, who allegedly killed three teenagers in a Garland convenience store last December. 
  
  
  
• The richest man in the world is very weird.
  
  
  
• Hood County book banning news. Incredible. 
  
  
  
• Maybe they were looking for this photo. (It's actually just something I came across this weekend. It struck me that (1) this ain't that long ago, and (2) "communism" was sloppily thrown around back then just like "socialism" is today. 
  
  
  
• Austin judge had a bad weekend. 
  
  
  
• I'm not particularly interested in the Kentucky Derby, but you can't avoid hearing about an 80 to 1 shot winning. And the race gave us a great post celebration pic, as well as the fantastic overhead video of the last minute of the race which I ended up watching over and over. 
  
  
  
• Coldplay can sneak into town and sell out the Cotton Bowl, and we hardly even notice. Here's a quick snippet of Yellow from Friday night. That's quite the scene. 
  
  
  
• At some point, I became a huge fan of Wichita Lineman by Glen Campbell even though it is nothing like the music I generally like. Anyway, this weekend I stumbled upon a music podcast breaking down the song. I have no musical training so I didn't understand a single thing the guy was talking about at some points, but it was still fantastic. Enthralling really.  
  
  
  
• I'll go to my grave believing that "And I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time" is the greatest lyric ever written in any song.