Liberally Lean From The Land Of Dairy Queen

5.18.2022

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

This was about a softball game for little girls. How weird were those rules?

Election results:

Trump backed Dr. Oz will have to wait for mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania to be counted before he will know if he won. Obviously, if he loses there was extreme mail-in voter fraud. If he wins, everything is copacetic. (And Sean Hannity's effort two days ago to sabotage Kathy Barnette worked.)
The Republican nominee for Pennsylvania Governor will be a full blooded QAnon and White Christian Nationalist. He also marched on the Capitol as a Trump Insurrectionist and was so involved in the "Fake Electors" plot that he was subpoenaed by the January 6th Committee.
MAGA Man Down: Madison Cawthorn lost the Republican nomination in North Carolina. Being an Insurrectionist wasn't enough to bring him down, but once he started bragging about Republican sex parties and cocaine use, the party turned on him. You can't cross that line.

After a video of the incident appeared online, Coppell ISD seems to have found itself in hot water for suspending a victim of an assault for three days but the bully only for one day. And the school district deleting its Twitter account in the midst of the outrage is not a good look.
A jury panel was called up to the Wise County Courthouse yesterday for a criminal case involving a Chico man, but something went wrong during jury selection and 12 people couldn't be selected. I still haven't received the details.
Twitter and Elon musk traded barbs yesterday. I told you I didn't think this deal would ever go through, and it will never go through.
As an award winning self-proclaimed political expert, let me give Beto a little advice: Get off the guns. You want to be pro-weed, pro-legalized gambling, or even pro-choice? Jump on it. But being anti-gun is not a winning issue in Texas.
Two cave-ins involving sand killing kids in two different parts of the country.
It could be behind a paywall, but here is McCartney's 36 song set list, a review, and some quick loading videos from his concert last night. (Nope, I didn't go. Gordon Keith on The Ticket said this morning that he bought tickets yesterday on the secondary market - sounded like Stubhub or something similar -- for $750 a ticket before fees.)
Arriving at Dickie's Arena yesterday.
Delkus update. The point of this was to prove 10 day forecasts are silly and usually have some fear built into them for ratings. Such is the case here. (Although he might get lucky over the next couple of days before the cool weekend hits.)
This will only be relevant to people my age, by the character who played Charlene Darling of the Darling Mountain Family from the Andy Griffith Show has passed away. It's amazing how well-written that show was (along with The Dick Van Dyke Show and Green Acres and the like) even though television was just in its early stages. And after watching Being the Ricardos the other day, I've even got a new appreciation even for the subtleties of I Love Lucy. Compare all of those to the cringy writing and over-acting of, say, Three's Company, Happy Days, and other shows of the 1970s.
Even Jerry knows there's money in warehouses.
I like this photo on the cover of the Abilene paper today.
Messenger: Above the Fold

5.17.2022

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

Random not guilty verdict in Wise County 10 years ago.

Funeral services for Allen Williamson have been set for 10:30 a.m. Thursday, May 19, 2022 at First Baptist Church in Decatur. His obituary is up. I'll always think of him as a former assistant district attorney in Wise County -- that's what brought him here in the first place. Still can't believe he's gone. And that phrase -- "Can you believe . . . ?" -- was uttered everywhere I went yesterday.
We've got five days of early voting for the runoff races from the March primaries, and it won't take many votes to get elected. There's state races (the AG Paxton/Bush race comes to mind), a Wise County race for County Clerk, and Bridgeport will probably have the heaviest voting in the county because a county commissioner's race is going on there as well. Yesterday's first day totals:

There are just under 50,000 registered voters in Wise County.
In this runoff race, you are limited to the same party you voted for/in last March. If you didn't vote in March, you can still vote in the runoff and choose either a Republican or Democrat ballot. No one will be limited in November because of how they voted in the primaries.
Did you know that in 2020 an amazing 84% of Wise County voters cast their ballot in early voting? That shattered all past records.

In non-ballot news, if I had to bet who will get selected by Wise County Commissioners to fill the spot of the retiring Judge Stephen Wren for Wise County Court at Law #2, I'd go with Dana Manoushagian out of Bridgeport.
Fox News' Sean Hannity really doesn't want Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Kathy Barnette to win tonight's primary race. He threw everything at her last night even going so far as to complain about her attacking gays, attacking Obama, and being in the crowd of Trump Insurrectionist marching to the Capitol on January 6th -- all things which would normally be badges of honor on Fox News.

He doesn't think Barnette can win in the general election in November which, of course, means that a Pennsylvania critical Senate seat would go to the Democrats. The polls have tonight's Republican race tight right now.

Before we forgot about them as just victims of another mass shooting in America, here are the names and faces of Buffalo.

And also before we leave Buffalo to the history books, Tucker Carlson wanted you to know last night that it wasn't a white nationalist racist mass murderer who did the killing but simply a poor "mentally ill shooter." Sheesh.

You don't see the Tarrant County DA's office seek the death penalty all that often any longer, but they announced they would do so yesterday.
Wise County missed out on a gully washer Sunday night. It basically had a mindset of "Let's find the Trinity River and go east of it."
I think I saw the gas price at QuikTrip in Decatur at $4.38 this morning. They are normally the cheapest so that my be a warning of what's coming from others over the next week.
This California group arrested in Wise County for weed possession will finally make it to their gig tonight at Whiskey Garden off 7th Street in Fort Worth. It was cancelled last time because they were in our local hoosegow in April .
I didn't know that Paul McCartney's very first concert appearance in the United States after the Beatles broke up was at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth when he kicked of his Wings Over America tour in May of 1976. I'm pretty sure my brother and one of his buddies were there. (McCartney is at Dickies Arena tonight. Someone feel free to hook me up. I'll pay.)
I haven't watch Candy yet on Hulu, but I saw that the home in Wylie which was the scene of the murder is still standing and, in fact, recently sold for "over the $344,900 asking price." (Another example, also, of real estate prices being insane.)
So a meme posted on Facebook leads to a recall petition against a Denton City Council member and warrants a front page story in the Denton Record Chronicle? I don't get it. (And I'll admit to not being familiar with this "popular meme.")
Nerdy Political Tarrant County Criminal News: The legislature just created a new felony court which will be filled for a four year term in this November election. But because of when it was created, who goes on the ballot for that judgeship will be up to the Tarrant Republican and Democratic parties, and neither has selected their candidates yet. But, in the interim, the Governor can appoint someone to be judge immediately, however, the local Republican Party did something a little weird: They submitted for approval some guy named Andy Porter who will already be on the ballot for a different felony court: Criminal District Court No. 4. Why not just submit the exact same name that you will eventually choose to be the Republican nominee in November? Gov. Abbott may be asking the same thing since he has ignored them and not appointed anyone.

Delkus 10 day forecast update. It was a bad miss yesterday.

5.16.2022

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

Facebook went public a $38.00 a share 10 years ago this week. Since then it peaked at $379 until the recent pullback . . .

There are moments in your life when you will always remember where you were when you heard certain news. Saturday was one of those times. What a gut punch. We all loved Allen. Who didn't love Allen? He was 47 and simply collapsed.
A racist domestic terrorist, motivated by Replacement Theory, traveled 200 miles to do a mass shooting in a predominately black neighborhood grocery store with an AR-15. Ten are dead. He livestreamed it all.

Replacement Theory is based on the belief that white Christians are slowly being replaced by Blacks, Hispanics (especially illegal immigrants), Jews, Muslims or anyone else "not like us." It has become a common theme of mass shootings. (El Paso, ChristChurch, etc.)
It has been promoted by Fox News, and especially Tucker Carlson, for years. Watch him do it. He's done it over 400 times.
Others in Congress run on it. Matt Gaetz, for example:
We heard it just a handful of years ago when Trump refused to bring the hammer down on the "Jews Will Not Replace Us" crowd at Charlottesville.

There was a small pro-choice rally at the Wise County Courthouse on Saturday.
The escaped TDC inmate is still on the loose. I'm surprised by that.
A Texas kid shows up with a whip to confront his black neighbor. When parents go to confront the kid's dad, and he fires a handgun. Video.
Hours later, ERCOT issued a warning for Texans to keep there thermostats at 78 on Saturday or that blackouts could occur because six power plants had tripped offline. I have no idea what the guys at the table are supposed to doing right before an impending crisis, but sitting around for a photo op ain't one of them.
Delkus watch: Four days into his 10 day forecast and we've yet to hit one of his predicted highs. (I'm using official highs at DFW Airport.)
The Little Ball of Insurrection posted a long diatribe trying to explain that her begging and grifting for money is not begging and grifting. It's bizarre.
Jen Psaki, outgoing press secretary for President Biden, took time to pose with Fox News White House Correspondent, Peter Doocy. Things like this are normal for all administrations who do not consider the media to be an "enemy of the people." Which is all of them except one.
Former Tea Party state rep darling Jonathan Stickland is upset that Birdville High School made an unconventional choice for its Prom King (not realizing that kids love to troll adults.) Side note: Stickland didn't graduate from high school.
This tweet is Idiocracy. The next time one person sues another person for money, but somehow the defendant is sentenced to jail, please let me know.
An Arkansas fan was able to round up a racoon which was on the loose with his bare hands. Video.
Former SMU and Arkansas football coach, Chad Morris, who took over as a high school coach at power house Allen, abruptly quit on Friday after only one year and hardly anyone noticed.