9.28.2022

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




Just a funny pic from the 2012 campaign trail this week.

  • I've said this a million times before: America loves news of an impending hurricane. After it hits, our attention is done with it, but we'll obsess about it incessantly before it makes landfall. 

  • A man from Alvord who spent 10 years in prison had the case dismissed yesterday by a Tarrant County judge after Texas' highest criminal court declared him actually innocent and ordered the judge to do so. If you want to delve into the details of this mess (including the withholding of evidence by the DA's office) here is that high court opinion from last month. The concurrence really gets into the facts.

    • They aren't up for an election this time, but remember the names Judge Yeary and Judge Slaughter on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. They would not have found the man innocent. They always make rulings like that. 
  • One of Texas Seven who received a death sentence is closer to a new trial because of the judge making anti-Jewish comments.

     
    • I've got a crazy connection to this case. That guy was almost executed in 2019 but a Motion for Stay of Execution was granted. And in that Motion, this blog was cited in a footnote for something I wrote about the judge in 2006. 

  • I don't understand any of this, but the guy behind it, Ben Lamm, has Decatur roots. 

  • I think this tweet yesterday by DPS is misleading propaganda if not an outright lie. Stay with me here:

     
    • We know that the head of DPS is in full support of being used as political prop for Gov. Abbott and his cronies -- DPS Director Steve McCraw will show up on stage at all of Abbott's political stunts. Currently, Abbott is running attack ads against Beto across the state over the dangers of fentanyl and Beto wanting "open borders." (Sheesh.)  
    • So, considering all of that, look at the wording of tweet. It says a "substance" made the trooper ill and a "substance" in the car tested positive for fentanyl. But it doesn't say the those substances were the same -- that is, that the trooper was made sick because of the fentanyl. (Those claims of sickness by simple exposure by other agencies have been proven to be a lie.) 
    • Note that this post could be literally true if the trooper was made sick by the "substance" of carbon monoxide fumes and then a different sealed "substance", testing positive for fentanyl, was later found in a "container" in the trunk. 
    • The post suspiciously doesn't say when this happened or who the trooper was.  There is no bodycam released. And there are no references to any arrest or a defendant's name. 
    • And do a Google search for "fentanyl" and "trooper". There are no news stories about a trooper getting sick in Bexar County happening at all. But there are handful of media (Fox News in particular) who are treating the above tweet as if it happened yesterday. The tweet is their only source.
    • DPS is deceiving you. 

  •  As a call back to my bullet point yesterday about Terry Bradshaw buying property in Montague County, a faithful reader called my attention to the purchase being printed in, of all things, the Montague County Shopper.

  • This may be behind a paywall, but it this case is really interesting. A stepfather who was also a deputy believed, according to him, that his 17 year old stepdaughter was having an affair with a married man and getting drugs from someone. As a result of that belief, he went through her phone to find out what she was up to. But while doing so, he found a nude selfie of the stepdaughter. He then emailed it to himself. Was he doing so to persevere evidence? Was he just being seedy? In an interesting twist, it was her school's internal software program that picked up on the email because the phone was set to use the stepdaughter's school email account by default. The stepdaughter signed an affidavit of non-prosecution, but a special prosecutor was brought in (some DA out of West Texas), and this thing is going to trial. From what limited information I have: I'm guessing a not guilty verdict.  Side note: Reporter Trish Choate always writes great stories.

  • Random out-of-state DA news. His daughter was arrested in connection with his stabbing. 

  • "San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus did not specify whether Savannah Graziano was shot by the responding deputies or her father."

    • But I think I can guess.

  • In May, the paper switched from printing a paper seven days a week to using a daily digital edition six days a week and printing one weekend edition.

  • What's Hurricane Ian doing right now?
  • Edit: I forgot. Messenger: Above the Fold


at 8:30 AM

9.27.2022

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




I never heard much about this through the grapevine. 

  • Former Decatur great impressed his Atlanta Braves last night -- as they should be. Complete games are basically unheard of these days.  But what's up with the beard?

  • I spent five minutes trying to figure out how there would only be one to two inches of rain in around Tampa until I finally figured it out. 

  • I'm guessing this was just a freakish death. But if something weird was going on, it would require a different police recruit, who is just starting a new job, to talk. 

  • I met this guy when I was D.A. back in the 1990s. While he had a full time job as the Bexar County Medical Examiner, he had a "side gig" where he would privately contract himself out as a defense expert witness. Someone hired him on a case we were prosecuting. I thought that was weird.

  • You know one conspiracy theory I subscribe to? That the DEA is making up the Rainbow Fentanyl claim. 

  • Another thing I don't believe: That this will be built in Frisco by a bunch of YouTube video guys. Absolutely no way. 


  • The attempt to avoid the subpoena is the headline, but I think it's more interesting to learn when someone has been officially "served." 


  • A faithful reader, who I trust, wrote in response to my Terry Bradshaw ranch-for-sell in Oklahoma told me that Bradshaw just bought 150 acres in Montague County "in the Ringgold area." 
  • Cowboy thoughts:
    • Quarterback controversy, baby!

    • The thing I remember most from the game.

    • Remember that I had a way-too-long bullet point the other day about how an OU player did not score when he cut across the end zone, did not put a foot down in the end zone, and held the ball outside the pylon? Well the Giants' Saquon Barkley (animated, above) also cut across the end zone in his run, did not put a foot down, but he took the ball inside the pylon. But it was a little close because he started to move the ball towards his left and towards the pylon mid-flight to celebrate.  No one mentioned this.


  • Former Baylor coach Kim Mulkey's refusal to talk about her former player, Brittney Griner, is down right weird. Video.  (Baylor's current coach, Nicki Collen, talked about her for almost five minutes yesterday.)
  • Ron Washington made it to the White House yesterday.

at 8:25 AM

9.26.2022

Random Monday Morning Though




That bullet point is still valid a decade later.



  • There was an 18 wheeler on its side on 380 in front of Love's in Bridgeport this morning causing a weird early morning traffic jam. I don't know how that could happen. 
  • Russia had a school shooting a few hours ago. When we say we want them to be more like America we weren't talking about that part.


  • DPS troopers shot and killed someone Friday a little ways north on 287. This was barely reported by anyone.

  • I thought this would be deal. No one paid attention. 

  • Italy has a new prime minister which some people are saying is a throw back to the days of Mussolini.  Here she is with Steve Bannon which is not a good sign. And that's all I know about Italy politics.

  • Tomorrow the leader of the Oath Keepers goes on trial for his role in Trump Insurrection. It finally gets serious. 

    • Speaking of that guy, I've been meaning to mention this for months: I was at the Wise County Jail to see an inmate a several months back and noticed in the waiting room an old copy of The Atlantic magazine. The date on it was November 2020 and was printed and released before the election.  It was, in retrospect, shockingly deadly accurate. Amazing, in fact. It had an article about how Trump could attempt to disrupt the electoral college if he lost, and there was a separate article on the guy above standing by to help him. I even took photos I was so impressed by its prognostication. (I'm guessing that the powers at be didn't know the magazine was out there. It was gone the next time I went back.)



  • Metroplex radio news. The Eagle will become "The Freak" and transform itself into an all sports talk with ex-Ticket personalities coming on board to lead the way.

  • Another superintendent who doesn't want to put up with the nonsense of CRT, book banning, and nutcases showing up at school board meetings. (He didn't say that, but there's no question that's what's going on -- particularly with that school district.)

  • Terry Bradshaw's ranch up near the casino in Oklahoma is on the market for $22.5 million.  He used to have a ranch outside of Roanoke. 

  • A real score out of Nacogdoches from Saturday. 

  • UT fans are understandably pulling their hair out. They have lost everyone of these games in the last 12 months:




    • But don't blame their kicker. He's money. With a great name and even better hair. 

  • For everyone saying they've never seen a field goal attempt go off the top of the upright as it did in the Arkansas/Aggie game, the exact same thing happened three weeks ago. Video clip.
  • Moments ago: The NFL Pro Bowl is now officially dead.

at 8:30 AM

9.23.2022

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

at 2:30 PM
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