Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

I had to go down my own rabbit hole to figure out what I was talking about. It caused a little bit of hubbub in the county when a guy decided to run for County Surveyor so the commissioner's court, in response, decided to put a proposition on the ballot to abolish the position. The ultimate result from later in the year  . . . 

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• There was a pretty big fire near Rhome last night. This video clip gives a pretty good indication of it's size. Those little red and blue lights seen in the screenshot are emergency vehicles.
  
  
  
• The Alex Jones video clip of him being confronted with the news that his lawyer inadvertently turned over two years of text messages to the lawyer who was cross-examining him went viral yesterday. But . . .
  
  
  
• As attention-grabbing as that moment was, there really weren't any texts from those two years that were all that relevant for impeachment. The set-up was great, but the payoff was underwhelming. 
• But how Jones' lawyer just sat on his hands during that entire exchange is amazing. Buddy, do something. Just make up an objection if you can't think of one.  
  
  
  
• "You know what perjury is?" is an amateur question and makes you sound like you learned trial work from watching Law and Order.  But everyone else out there seemed to eat it up.
• Don't get me wrong. I still hope Alex Jones gets hit with a billion dollar verdict. 
• The Brittney Griner trial is concluding this morning. It has to be a long sentence, right? I mean, a short sentence just hurts Russia's negotiating rights in a prisoner exchange. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Indiana Congresswoman, two young aides, killed in car crash.
  
  
  
• That made me curious as to how often a member of Congress dies while in office.  Answer: All the time (although normally it's from natural causes or sudden illness.)
• Oh, my. "The gas station clerk told officers [she] walked into the store and bought 50 cents worth of gasoline . . . .  Another witness told police they saw [her then] pump the gas into the back seat of the Jeep before walking around to the driver’s side and igniting it. The affidavit says witnesses saw the [victim] get out of the Jeep engulfed in flames and run through the parking lot before someone used a fire extinguisher on him."  There's probably video of that in the hands of police and prosecutors.
  
  
  
• John Eastman, who should be one of the first to be indicted, not only was committing treason but also trying to get rich while doing it. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Senate voted 95-1 yesterday to allow Sweden and Finland to enter NATO. The one Senator who voted against it did so to get attention. Guess which station and host obliged him last night.
  
  
  
• How other states would have voted if the Kansas abortion law were put to a vote (according to an analysis of the New York Times.) I think this is spot on. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• If you want to watch a weird 22 second clip of Congressman Madison Cawthorn play commando, here you go. 
  
  
  
• Former OU great and current Cardinal wide receiver Marquis "Hollywood" Brown was arrested for "criminal speeding" yesterday -- a crime I had never heard of. Apparently Arizona upgrades a speeding charge if you go faster than 20 miles over the speed limit. But that deserves an arrest? That's dumb.
  

  

  
  
  
  
• And another. I had to double-check to make sure this is different than the 1.7 million project that Hillwood just announced and which I referenced on Monday. It is. 
  
  
  
• Britney has an issue with you Catholics out there. 
  
  
  
• Very, very legal nerd stuff: If a judge dismissed a DWI case seven months after the arrest on the basis of a defense Speedy Trial claim, do you think it would stand up on appeal? Nope. (Opinion handed down yesterday.) I can't believe it was ever granted, but I'd love to practice in front of that judge. 

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.