Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

A Rupert Murdoch newspaper.

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• The fallout over 19 dead children in Uvalde continues. The head of the Texas Rangers quietly retired last month without so much as a whimper. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Gov. Abbott was caught off guard yesterday with a question about the resignation.  He said he didn't know anything about it and, shockingly, also said that he couldn't even remember "talking to the him" in the past.  
  
  
  
• After doing nothing for months, I woke up my highly paid Liberally Lean First Alert Weather Center, and they alerted me that it will be a very heavy line of storms going through Wise County about the time you go to work tomorrow.  And the high will only be 55 degrees.
  
  
  
• Early voting in Wise County after three days is still pretty heavy. Grand total is 4,780 which is just under 10% of all registered voters. 
  
  
  
• Kind of legal nerdy: I keep seeing reports that the alleged nurse killer at Harris Methodist was subject to a minimum 25 year sentence for his past case where he received only 8 years and for which he was out on parole at the time. That may be right, but I've yet to see the specifics on him. In Texas, in order to be subject to a 25 year minimum there needs to be two final felony convictions that (1) occur in a sequence and (2) which did not involve a probation. To put it an easier way, it gets triggered if a person is convicted, goes to prison, then gets out, commits another felony, gets convicted, goes to prison, and then gets out. Then the next time he commits a felony then he is subject to the 25 year minimum.  It sounds crazy when you write it out, doesn't it? 
  
  
  
• Quick hits about this story and headline.
  
  
  
• The guy was a member of the Pagans motorcycle group. The only time I had ever heard of the Pagans was in the very bad 1987 Dragnet movie starring Tom Hanks and Dan Ackroyd. Definitely not the same Pagans.
  
  
  
• The headline is weird when it says he was sentenced to a "total [of] 180 years and will run concurrently." What's the point of totaling up concurrent sentences? They were 50, 50, 50, and 30. 
• It happened at Eight Ball Billiards and Bar on Jacksboro Highway. In this street view image, the bar has a big sign saying it supports the constitution and free speech. I wouldn't want to test that free speech part inside there. 
  
  
  
• The Dallas Morning News has a front page chart on the number of people sitting in prison on pot cases in Texas. That's kind of misleading. Most marijuana cases are misdemeanors where people are subject to the local jail and not state prison. Heck, Wise County has 13 people right now in the local hoosegow with pending misdemeanor pot charges. 
  
  
  
• Oops.
  
  
  
• Corporate Office Invasion. He's doing great. 
  
  
  
• Corporate Office Invasion 2.0. I'm not sure this guy is all that far behind Kanye in the nuts department.  (He interestingly posted this morning to advertisers that he won't let Twitter become a "free-for-all hellscape." It was also just announced that Twitter will be de-listed from the NYSE tomorrow. I'm not real sure what either of those things really mean.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• This is how democracy dies: Calling an election fraudulent in case you lose. It's now in the playbook. Supported by Fox News. Video.
  
  
  
• I'd care more about the new Herschel Walker allegations if Gloria Allred was not involved. She taints anything she's involved in. 

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

I had stumbled across this image on Facebook from someone claiming it was a deer 

swimming across Eagle Mountain Lake. 

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• I wouldn't suggest this. 
  
  
  
• Control of the Senate, and the confirmation of federal judges, might come down to the race in Pennsylvania between John Fetterman and Dr. Oz. Last night they had their only debate.
  
  
  
• Fetterman, who has had a stroke, struggled with his communication skills. Badly. Video example. I have no idea if last night hurt him or helped him. I was surprised this morning to hear many conservatives think the issue make him sympathetic and/or inspiring as he struggles to recover from something he had no control of. I don't know. 
  
  
  
• Then Dr. Oz then stepped in it when he said that abortion you be a decision between the woman, her doctor, and "local political leaders."  Video. Who amongst us wouldn't want Ronny Jackson to have a decision in our daughter's decision? 
  
  
  
• This is one of the victims of the crazy doctor who has been indicted on federal charges for intentionally injecting IV bags with foreign substances.
  
  
  
• Fox 4's weather guy posted this photo of Lake Bridgeport this morning. The first real cold air will produce this wild looking smoke on the water. 
  
  
  
• I don't want to speak for the guy, but I bet he would be fine on going out that way. He just thought everyone deserved the free choice to take the risk. 
  
  
  
• Not only have home sales grinded to a halt, but so has refinancing because of lack of demand. There's almost no one who would benefit by doing so since you would first need to have a  mortgage with an interest rate which is higher than the current rates.  That's basically no one. 
  
  
  
• A Texas Supreme Court justice posted this picture yesterday. Whatever that is (a breakfast burrito?), one of them is plenty. You don't need two. Secondly, the names displayed above each plate is beyond pretentious. 
  
  
  
• But it's really the tone-deafness of stuff like this that gets me all torqued up. It's like saying, "Hey, look at me! You taxpayers are paying me a high salary but, while at work, I'm being served breakfast that you paid for. And I'll even jack around and post it to social media instead of working like you have to."
• Updates from yesterday all involving Aggies: (1) The rumor mill is that the Aggie freshman player suspensions were due to smoking weed in the locker room, but I can't find any legit news source confirming that. (2) The NFL says that the referee wasn't asking for a post-game autograph from former Bucs player Mike Evans but instead provided this bizarre explanation . . . 
  
  
  
• The most entertaining college game this weekend maybe Baylor and Texas Tech for one reason: Both teams are absolutely nuts about going for it on fourth down. And I love it. Here are the national leaders in attempts:
  
  
  
•  "Top Shots" are NFTs which I have previously proclaimed, and will always proclaim, to be the dumbest thing in the world. The concept of "owning" a video clip of an NBA game is beyond absurd. Yet many people were suckers.   The current sales of Top Shots have dropped off a cliff. And demand is the only thing that gives them value. It's over. NFTs, of any type, are digital Beanie Babies. Source:
  
  
  
• Editor's note: I'm not as grumpy today as I sound. 
• Messenger: Above the Fold

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

I'm not sure why I posted this pic of a scruffy Pete Delkus 10 years ago. 

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• The Star-Telegram continues it's coverage of Runaway Bay letting raw sewage run into Lake Bridgeport. And I'll say this again: This problem didn't catch them off guard. They knew about it for years. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• We had a surprising number of early voters yesterday in Wise County: 1,645.  On the first day of early voting last March -- for the primaries where, let's be real, that's where the only contested races really happen -- Wise County had only 436 voters.  By the way, we have 50,026 registered voters right now. 

  

  Source: Sabra Srader CERA, Election Administrator

  
  
• A new update regarding the DPS fallout over Uvalde.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Another day in America.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A play in two acts.
• The wife of a Supreme Court justice is nutty and wouldn't mind overthrowing an election.
  
  
  
• Yesterday that Supreme Court justice stopped a state government from investigating whether federal officials tried to overthrow its state election. Incredible. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• It's not supposed to work this way.
  
  
  
• Adidas should have done it last week but they finally did it this morning. This is a big financial hit to Kanye but maybe more for Adidas. Have I mentioned it's beginning to feel a lot like pre-WWII Germany around here? 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Britney Griner's had her appeal predictably denied moments ago by a Russian appellate court on the spot. She got to attend by video feed from her prison cell. 
  
  
  
• I just learned that a former Decatur High School graduate ('66) is going into the Texas Tech Hall of Fame this weekend. Edit: I was wrong. He was a Decatur resident but married a Decatur graduate -- Lynn Smith. Reuther graduated Tech in 1966. 
  
  
  
• Former Texas great Sam Ehlinger gets the start on Sunday for the Colts, and the job is his to keep for the rest of the season. He's never thrown a pass in an NFL game. 
  
• Trouble in Aggieland. 
  
  
  
• The NFL is reviewing two refs getting an autograph from Tampa Bay's Mike Evans.  They aren't supposed to do that. Video.
  
  
  
• Re: The Rangers hiring Bruce Bochy. Compared to the hiring of a football coach, the hiring of a major league baseball manager is basically inconsequential.