6.15.2022

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts






The victim was 81.  Here's the WCSO's initial press release. Ultimately, there were a lot of guilty pleas: Roger Hammons (40 years - eligible for parole in 2032), Jimmy Murrell (50 years - eligible for parole in 2037), Michael Cordova (10 years - out of prison), and Sheri White (7 months to Theft of Firearm).

  •  In an effort to halt inflation, the Fed will probably raise interest rates by .75% today.

  • Here's a hot political opinion. There is no way the incumbent party wins a presidential election when inflation is this high. (I saw first hand what happened to Jimmy Carter,) But that's not the hot opinion, this is: I think Donald Trump is the only Republican who could possibly lose the next presidential election. Anyone other Republican, right now, looks like a shoo-in. 
  • We've got another Munchausen Syndrome arrest in Tarrant County.

    • Flashback to two stories from March of last year: 


  • I love this former lawyer of Trump, Eric Herschmann, who tried to stop Insurrectionist nutcase John Eastman in his tracks by giving him "the greatest free legal advice" he had ever given:

    • His testimony regarding the January 6th investigation is today. And he is no Dirty Lib. He "testified in Trump’s defense during his Senate impeachment trial, discussing in detail former Vice President Joe Biden’s work in Ukraine and his son’s membership on the board of a scandal-dogged energy firm there."
  • Dueling stories from yesterday:
  • DPS disputes that 13 troopers were in the hallway in Uvalde.  You believe them?

  • The story didn't disclose where exactly it was or what it cost, but it did tell us it was "on a 0.228-acre lot." Seems odd.

  • Republicans "flipped" a Congressional seat on the Texas border last night in a special election. But the seat is weird, because it will contested again in November when the race will appear on the regular ballot (and where the turnout will be heavier.)

  • Sheesh. Bonds Ranch Road is already about to implode due to traffic as they all try to get to 287 (which is the only feasible way out of all those residential developments along it.) Now there will be more. 

     



  • Signs we are doomed:
    • Although the majority of people still think Trump bears "significant responsibility" for January 6th, the a new poll actually shows that number going down. 

    • And Republicans who have won the party's nomination in the primaries so far have been by and large promoting The Big Lie. And these numbers don't even include the winners from last night. This is a really good Washington Post graphic:

  • Book reviews:
    • Not bad. It is heavy on Texas death penalty history:

    • Meh. After the first 75 pages about early militias, I learned nothing: 

  • You know what has become really bad? Local newscasts. 4, 8, and 11 have basically no news stories other than a couple of headlines we already know about. After that, it's just a meandering hodgepodge of nothingness. 
  • Messenger: Above the Fold

at 8:31 AM

6.14.2022

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




The actual killing occurred on June 9th. It made headlines two days later. Within a week, the DA had the case in front of the grand jury who declined to indict the man. It's a crazy story.

  • Call me nuts, but what happened in Duncanville yesterday should be national news. "Around 250 children were at the camp at the Duncanville Fieldhouse, which went on lockdown after the gunman fired shots. Police said the gunman attempted to enter a classroom, but the door was locked."

  • 13 DPS Troopers? Wow. This gets worse with each passing day.


    • We've got a long wait to find out the answers, especially when all law enforcement is fighting the release of the bodycams.

    • Your reminder that his guy still has a job at $300,000 a year. His unusual press conference throwing the Uvalde ISD Police Chief under the bus now makes a lot more sense if 13 troopers failed to act.  

  • January 6th Committee quick hits from yesterday's hearing.
    • The flick of the first flame of the The Big Lie was a drunk Rudy Giuliana on election night when everyone else knew is was over. 

    • AG William Barr thought Trump might be delusional when he listened to Rudy and, later, to the nutcase Sidney Powell.  (Make no mistake, Barr is no saint here. He contributed to the fiasco by doing nothing other than resigning via a letter which did not alert us to the attempted coup that was coming. Instead, he saved it all for a book deal.) 


    • And Trump wasn't delusional. He knew it was a lie. That's what makes what he did a crime. But, of course, he used that lie to rake in over a quarter of a billion dollars. 
      • Trump hotels were directly part of the grift.

      • As was Junior's girlfriend who got $60,000 for less than three minutes.



  • John Cornyn, who was one of the Republicans who struck the "gun deal" over the weekend, now wants you to know that he still worships at the foot of the Second Amendment.


  • This confrontation in Arlington outside of Texas Live over the weekend is something else. Extreme language warning. Video.

  • If you've got a trip planned for Yellowstone, you might want to call ahead. It has lost a bunch of roadways over the last couple of days.  This helicopter video is pretty incredible. 

  • Funny.


  • That commercial did have a snake oil feel to it. 

  • Here's a high-tone opinion of myself: Justice Gorsuch and I write with the same style and flow. 

  • Very legal nerdy stuff: Yesterday the Dallas Court of Appeals reversed a conviction of a man for Indecency With a Child for insufficient evidence based upon the corpus delicti rule. The case is, uh, different. "Thoughts, however inappropriate or disturbing, do not constitute a crime."

at 8:30 AM

6.13.2022

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




The Jerry Sandusky trial was going on back then. It gave rise to this photo which was really weird, and I don't think I've seen it since. But the trial ended like we expected . . . 


  • The economic news of skyrocketing inflation and the Fed raising interest rates is exactly like the 1970s -- with the exception of the crypto part which might be in a free fall this morning.

  • Breaking. The mob got to someone.  

  • "COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — Dozens of members of a white supremacist group the Patriot Front were arrested on Saturday in Idaho before they could act on plans to riot at a local Pride event, the police said." 

    • Six of the Patriot Front members who were arrested were, amazingly, from Tarrant County.

      • Josiah Daniel Buster, 24, of Watauga, Texas
      • Connor Patrick Moran, 23, of Watauga, Texas
      • Kieran Padraig Morris, 27, Haslet, Texas
      • Thomas Ryan Rousseau, 23, of Grapevine, Texas
      • Steven Derrick Tucker, 30, of Haslet, Texas
      • Graham Jones Whitsom, 31, of Haslet, Texas
    • Imagine driving 27 hours to Idaho just to terrorize gay people. 
    • Trivia: That town is in the same Idaho county as is Ruby Ridge so the boys were taken to the same jail that held Randy Weaver (who looked remarkably like Phil Dunphy from Modern Family back in the day.)

    • Flashback: Random thought from two years ago.

    • The arrest has some great Scooby Doo type moments (below), and the video of the cops opening up the back of the U-haul truck to find the Klan member wannabees is right out of a comedy/crime movie.


    • Hot legal opinion: It will be next to impossible to prove the charge of "conspiracy to riot." It wouldn't surprise me if the prosecutor rejected the cases. 
    • This Twitter thread is great. He's collected screen shots of headlines of the metroplex's own White Supremist Bermuda Triangle.


  • Yes, it's hot. 
    • Did you know ERCOT was a real time dashboard to show energy usage and capabilities? It's pretty cool.  
    • We've got a high pressure system parked over us which is exactly what happened during the 1980 Texas summer where we had that crazy string of 42 straight days of 100+ degrees. It began back then on June 23rd.  (We almost beat that streak in 2011 when we had 40 days of 100+. That streak began on July 2nd.)

    • It's hot across the entire Southwest, and you know it's really scorching when they set a record in Death Valley.

  • Friday news which should be on the front page: We've got a Supreme Court justice married to a woman who actively tried to overthrow the United States government. This story on Friday was in addition to the previous revaluations that she was in direct contact with Trump's Chief of Staff as Trump was planning the coup leading to January 6th. This is so bizarre.


  • There was almost a disastrous stampede of people at an Anti-Gun Violence rally in D.C. (Video.) Big credit to the lady on the mic who screamed "Do not run!" and stopped the crowd in its tracks.

  • By the way, all these headlines are meaningless. The "gun deal" is a big bag of nothing. 


  • @Fox4Terry was at it last night. 

  • Junior is selling steaks (another odd video of his.)

    • Flashback. Grifters gonna grift.

  • A great random Twitter thread of photos. 

  • There was a hit and run last night in Fort Worth that left two people on a motorcycle dead.


at 8:31 AM

6.10.2022

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

at 2:30 PM
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