Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

Basically the last old-fashioned gas station in the county shut down 10 years ago.  Dennis Hudson had just won back his long-time side gig as constable, and decided to close his place in Decatur.

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• Since Dobbs, we had the first state-wide vote in the country over the right to choose last night. And in one of the most conservative states in the land, the right to abortion won in a landslide. 
  
  
  
• Trump beat Biden there by 15 points. But even there, the abortion vote wasn't close. This is a big deal. 
  
  
  
• Every Texas state politician should be asked this question: Do you support letting the people decide the abortion issue by allowing a state-wide vote on whether the Texas Constitution should be amended to reflect the will of the people regardless of the result?
• Dallas County seems to one of the few jurisdictions where judges allow the prosecutor to display the victim's photograph in a prominent location in the courtroom throughout the trial. The cynic in me says the judges allow it because they get name recognition points from photos like this. 
  
  
  
• It's the one year anniversary of the escaped Grand Prairie cobra being on the run. His owner, who looked like you expected him to look, was arrested on a misdemeanor, but I don't know whatever happened to that case. 
  
  
  
• The city of Wichita Falls and Wichita County are making news for high government salaries.
• A city councilman in Wichita Falls was shut down after he tried to speak at the "public forum" part of the agenda. He was arguing against salary increases for the top city earners, and argued that the money should be distributed to "the workers bees -- the people that are out there on the streets and deserve it." 
  
  
  
  
• And the county was under scrutiny over the weekend. Look at this excerpt which lists some salaries.  (As always, click to enlarge.)
  
  
  
• Jon Stewart single handily shamed the Republicans into passing the Burn Pit Bill yesterday. They quickly caved last night with only 11 holding out.  Ted Cruz, as he tends to do, took a beating in this fiasco.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Parker County has done a Parker County thing by declaring its residents "under and imminent threat of disaster" due to the "invasion" of illegal immigrants. Even a representative of the small band on Wise County Conservatives, who meet in a church, showed up to support it.  
  
  
  
• Random things I learned at the courthouse yesterday:
• Normally, at this time of year, crickets are overwhelming the place. But this year there isn't a single one to be seen.  Speculation by an elected official: A drought is bad for crickets.
• Someone drinks this stuff:
  
  
  
• Vin Scully passed away last night. My earliest memories of him are of his play-by-play calls of the Cotton Bowl game.  He was also the TV voice of Dwight Clark's "The Catch" against the Cowboys (video) as well as Kirk Gibson's home run in the World Series in 1988 (video.)
  
  
  
• I suppose there was a reason six Porsches were lined up in a parking lot behind Sweetie Pie's in Decatur on Friday. 
  
  
  
• Did you know there's a public database of you, your address, and whether you've voted in the general election over the years?
• Messenger: Above the Fold

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

That was my hot take after Cruz won the Senate primary. I couldn't have been more wrong. You may not hear about the Tea Party anymore, but that's because the Tea Party became the Republican Party in Texas.

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• The killing of  al Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri in a drone strike will probably be quickly forgotten. But he was a big player for 9/11 and much of the acclaimed book, The Looming Tower, on the terrorist organization was dedicated to him. He just never became a household name. 
  
  
  
• Mostly unnoticed by many is that the killing was done by the CIA and not the military.  
  
  
  
  
• He was hit on the balcony of his home in a pretty "upscale" neighborhood in Kabul not far from our now abandoned embassy.
  
  
  
• That's it post-strike:
  
  
  
• And look what we killed him with. That thing doesn't have any explosives on it. Those blades, which can cut through metal and concrete, are what do the damage. 
  
  
  
• Keep 'em coming. But the Justice Department wanted 15 years.  
  
  
  
• Just a reminder of how quickly Dallas police released the video footage of the lady firing the gun at Love Field followed by an officer shooting her with seconds. Compare and contrast DPS' response when they don't want you to see what happened. Story. 
  
  
  
• News about local morning TV news. They have got to promote Hannah Battah (who was actually beside Tim Ryan this morning for the announcement of his retirement) from her early shift to replace him or they are going to lose her. But that would also result in two female co-hosts since she would be paired with long time host Lauren Przybyl.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• This is turning into a beat down. This has to have a noticeable impact on people's attitudes, right?  Grumpier? Less tolerant? Hopelessness exaggerated?
  
  
  
• I saw this headline out of Alabama a couple of days ago and was appalled. It's very Taliban like -- a dress code for women for executions. But I backed off once I saw the line that she "eventually got to witness the execution."  But then I saw why she got witness was allowed in: She "accepted a photographer’s offer to let her wear his rain gear — waterproof fisherman’s waders. The prison official approved that outfit." Good lord. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• This was at the Saudi LIV golf tournament stop this weekend at Trump's New Jersey golf course. The QAnon congresswoman as well as Fox News most nutty commentator were guests of honor. 
  
  
  
• Legal stuff: Bite mark comparison, "blood splatter" evidence, polygraphs, arson "experts" and more are all under justifiably under attack in a new book.
  
  
  
• C.D. Lamb has an odd idea of "full pads."
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Am I the only one confused about the appeal process in the NFL's disciplinary action against Deshaun Watson? They brought in a retired federal judge as a mediator for a big dog and pony show who then issued a long quasi-judicial opinion about her findings. But the NFL can now appeal the ruling straight to Commissioner Roger Goodell? Heck, Goodell is the NFL!  It's the equivalent of Z suing Y and all appeals going to Z for a final decision. 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

Ted Cruz beat David Dewhurst in the run-off in 2012. Compare his run-off votes to his earlier primary votes. I was stunned then, and still stunned now. He increased his voter count even though the total turnout, as expected, went down from the multi-candidate primary (1.4 million total votes) compared to the two person run-off (1.1 million total votes).

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• A motorist on Highway 199 in Azle shot a guy a motorcycle yesterday as they went down the road. That's about all we know.
  
  
  
• Everything about Uvalde is a cluster. We've now got a reversal of the decision to suspend the principal. 
  
  
  
• One thing very odd about the How-Much-Will-Alex-Jones-Have-To-Pay trial is that the judge allows the jury to submit written questions to the lawyers every day. (The judge screens them and decides which ones will be submitted.) I honestly think this is a great idea. But, admittedly, it could get weird. Here is an actual rejected question from Friday (source and source):
  
  
  
• If you haven't seen the lady open fire on a silver car after a road rage incident in Houston, here you go. 
  
  
  
• Two trials regarding crimes which were big news when they happened years ago are starting this month. 
• This one is local and starts today. The defendant was eventually caught in Justin in 2020 after being on the run since 2008. He is accused of murdering his daughters whose bodies were found in his abandoned taxi cab in Irving.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The other case is out of Ohio. It's so bizarre that it got a long feature story in the Washington Post over the weekend. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Got off?
  
  
  
• If you want to watch the recent CNN special about conservative West Texas oil money running Texas politics, you can do so here or here. Commercial free. It's very good. 
  
  
  
• That guy ended up in the crowd in England yesterday. There were no serious injuries. Video. 
  
  
  
• Trump would let Brittney Griner rot in a Russian prison.
  
  
  
• The ruling on former Houston Texan QB Deshaun Watson's suspension for Massage-gate was just been handed down: It is six games. That's a win for Watson (especially since all his salary is guaranteed.)
  
  
  
• I think the players' union knew what was coming. They issued this last night:
  
  
  
• The Cowboys had to shut down admitting new fans to its first official practice on Saturday after 4,000 people showed up. 
  
  
  
• Maybe I should become the next Jim Cramer because of my investment advice I gave you guys years ago? From the Morning News today: 
  
  
  
• Legal nerd stuff: Here's the court's scheduling order for the Musk/Twitter fight. Man, that's a short fuse. 
• On Friday, Exxon and Chevron release their quarterly net profit numbers. We are all suckers. 
  
  
  
• I have it confirmed that when Garth Brooks took the stage at JerryWorld on Saturday night, he looked surprised to see a full stadium.