11.16.2022

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




There were few details given other than he was found with his family. But little did we know then that a few years later that player would make the news for a ghastly crime against a jogger near White Rock Lake. 


  • For a second there yesterday, we thought the Russians had bombed Poland. It turned out to be a Ukrainian defense missile that went off course. It hit a farm and killed two. 

  • Combine the missile strike with people up in arms for not being able to buy Taylor Swift tickets through Ticketmaster online because of servers crashing, and you got this:
  • A man climbed on top of a tractor-trailer in Houston and danced as it went down a freeway. It did not end well. 

  • Elon sent an email last night. (Actual text here.) 

  • Trump's presidential announcement last night -- which seemed strangely "low energy" -- was met with brutal honesty by the "lame stream media." 
    • Washington Post and the New York Times


    • NBC News

    • National Public Radio

    • But the conservative New York Post was downright brutal:


  • My hot expert political thoughts on Trump:
    • He can't win the presidency. He is, and has been, the most hated man in America. People didn't turn out to vote for Biden -- they turned out because they will crawl across broken glass to vote against Trump. And in light of January 6th, that number next time will be even larger and have even more passion. It would be like the Democrats running Hillary. 
    • But can he win the Republican nomination? The numbers work better for him there. That's assuming he fields a multitude of opponents. There are at least half of all Republicans who are his disciples and who will follow him to the end of the Earth (or the nation). And even if that number is a third, that's enough to win almost every state in the primaries when you start divvying up the votes.  
    • I don't know if he wins if it was only a DeSantis vs. Trump in the primaries, but I don't see just DeSantis being the only one to challenge him. That would take a concerted effort of all non-Trump Republicans to rally around DeSantis, and that's just not going to happen. 
    • And Trump holds the ultimate Trump card and nuclear option: If he ends up losing a couple of primaries, he could threaten to run as his own third party.  And he's nutty enough to do it and the establishment Republicans know it.  If he actually did that, the Republican Party is literally destroyed in the next election.  In that regard, he holds them hostage. 
    • What a mess for the GOP. 
    • All that being said, I know better than to underestimate that guy. 
  • DeSantis fired back at Trump yesterday.  But he had quite a bit of shake-voice when he did it. I hear others says that he does not have the personality to deal with Trump one on one. 

  • Attorney news from up north a bit.

  • A Georgia judge yesterday ruled that the state's abortion law was unconstitutional because it was passed when Roe v. Wade was still the law of the land. If it was unconstitutional when passed, he wrote, it is forever void and Dobbs could not revive it.  I honestly have never thought about that, and have no idea if that's right. 

    • But what a footnote.

  • It keeps getting worse. 

  • Speaking of Republican problems, Marge thought it was a good idea to go on Infowars with Alex Jones yesterday before going to vote for Kevin McCarthy as the new speaker. 

    • The Republicans might end up with only 220 seats. With 218 needed as a majority, small coalitions can be a voting block. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and our own Ronny Jackson could be a crazy theoretical threesome.

  • In light of the shooting, UVA has cancelled Saturday's football game against No. 23 Coastal Carolina. 
  • Messenger - Above the Fold

at 8:31 AM

11.15.2022

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




He's been at it a long time now.

  • The biggest election denier since Trump was officially beaten last night in Arizona.

    • She is taking the loss with all the class you would expect. And she certainly set herself up with this remark.

    • Liz Chaney reminded Lake of something last night. Actual link here. 

    • Flashback: She thought posing for this pic in anticipation of Trump's arrival would help her. 

  • Republican good news: They are now just one short of reaching the 218 majority in the House. That probably comes today. 
  • The Rhome mayor was sued because of a Facebook post. The case has now been settled by a mediation agreement where she will remove the post and then post a new apology. 

  • Police chase deaths in the last 24 hours: A Grand Prairie officer was killed last night, and two people in a fleeing vehicle were killed yesterday afternoon. 


  • Keller ISD went woke last night. Gotta protect the kids from all that gayness out there. 

     

  • A huge and moving silent turnout at the University of Virginia last night in honor of three football players shot dead. 

  • The number of ransomware attacks made on government entities (and payments to be free from them)  would stun us. We just never learn about it because it is something they don't want to publicize. It's happened here in Wise County more than a couple of times. 

  • That's a long and questionable way to get to "What are alligators?"

  • Trump will make his big announcement tonight. In the end, there's a chance that Lindsey Graham will turn out to have been right all along. The Republican primaries will be the wildest thing we've ever seen.  

  • Herschel Walker made another nonsensical comment yesterday and it even sounds nuttier than it reads. How is he in a run-off? 

  • The world's population counter just zoomed past a milestone this morning.

  • Victor Kiriakis (actually John Aniston - and Jennifer Aniston's dad) has died. I remember him on Days Of Our Lives back when I was in high school.  Now I'm wondering how Bo and Hope are doing. 

  • I said yesterday that 300 to 500 bills would be pre-filed in the Texas legislature before Thanksgiving. I got that number from TDCAA -- the official prosecutor's site.  The number of bills filed after just one day turned out to be 849 based upon numbers from the House and Senate.  A whole lot of damage is going to be done.


at 8:32 AM

11.14.2022

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




From Random Thoughts on 11/14/12. 

  • There were a lot of videos of the mid-air collision that killed six in Dallas on Saturday. I think the top four are here (planes coming in towards the camera), here (screenshot below), here, and here. 

  • Over the weekend, Nevada and Arizona were called for the Democrats. The Senate, and President Biden's ability to have his federal judges confirmed, remains intact. (I'll break down my wrongful reliance on 538's prediction later.)

  • Election denier, both past and present, Kari Lake is probably going to lose the Arizona governor's race.  It's amazing how if they lose it's "Fraud!" but if they win "The system worked!" 
     
    • Saturday Night Live had a spot on imitation of her, complete with her trademarked "soft lens", as well as a great depiction of the Fox and Friends hosts:

  • The FTX crypto implosion turned into a bankruptcy and scandal as its founder was rumored to be headed for South America (which he denied) but with billions being unaccounted for. 

    • What makes Americans so gullible? Maybe because we are conditioned to be. Yep, that's the FTX founder on the right: 

  • College carnage: 
    • Shooting at UVA last night. The schools is still in "shelter in place" this morning since the gunman is still on the lose, but police have identified who they they are looking for, and  he is a former student and football player.  Edit: A current linebacker was just named as one of the victims.

    • Ruled a homicide in Idaho. The bodies were found yesterday afternoon. 

  • Elon Musk's  new Twitter verification system is going great. It was was abruptly put on hold on Friday, but the mess is still out there. 
  • Trump news:
    • Tiffany got married this weekend and, I'll admit, this is a nice family photo -- with the exception of one person not following the rules. 

    • Trump is now a major headache for the Republican Party. And he's a child. This was before the wedding: 
       

       
  • "Walther was a pastor at the Faith Baptist Church in Round Rock for the past 18 years, said David Clawson, a deacon at the church."  It looks like he wasn't the pastor, but the church's website -- and that's a big church -- has scrubbed him so I can't figure out what position he held.  Story.


  • Three images from the TCU/Texas game.  And, yes, I should have never doubted the Frogs.
    • Before the game, the UT coach was sporting a wild suit. 

    • Those first quarter stats. If I heard the broadcast correctly, it was the fewest number of combined yards for a first quarter in any college game all year. 

    • Best crowd shot

  • We had one of the Top Five all time catches yesterday in the wild Vikings/Bills game. Video.

  • Legal nerdy stuff: Federal law makes it a crime for a person to possess a firearm if he is subject to a family violence protective order (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8)).  Well, maybe not. Last Thursday a Trump federal judge in West Texas struck the law down citing the Supreme Court's Bruen decision from earlier this year. And this is one nausea inducing opening paragraphs: 

  • Legal nerdy stuff #2: The Texas legislature -- the same one which banned all abortion with no exceptions -- began pre-filing bills for the upcoming session at 8:00 a.m. this morning. Between 300-500 bills are expected to be filed before Thanksgiving. 



at 8:30 AM

11.11.2022

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

at 2:30 PM
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