Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

Yep, he got probation out of Tarrant County for an Intoxication Manslaughter case arising out of a one vehicle wreck in downtown Fort Worth. But when I looked to find a link to the old story online, I found that four and half years later his probation was revoked, and he received 10 years in prison. 

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• A slew of faithful readers have informed be that the Bridgeport Methodist congregation did vote to split from the Methodist church.
• But at least one Fort Worth Baptist church is making news, too. And that's a big church.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• So Tiger has women he dates sign Non-Disclosure Agreements? And here's a nugget from the story: "The court papers state that those working on behalf of Woods’ . . .  convinced [her] to 'pack a suitcase for a short vacation and, when she arrived at the airport, they told her she had been locked out of her residence [on Jupiter Island], in violation of the oral tenancy agreement and in violation of Florida law.'”
  
  
  
• We've got another brawl on a flight. This time on a Southwest airliner out of Dallas on Monday.  Society is just a bunch of Barbarians.
  
  
  
• Big 12 Basketball is making its way to the news page -- and not in a good way:
• That didn't take long at Tech. 
  
  
  
• And we've got a developing situation at TCU.
  
  
  
• And let's do a 180 to Wise County basketball with something you don't see every day:
  
  
  
• I might be in the minority here. My view is that the Marriott says they kicked him out because they Irvin said something offensive.   They aren't the ones who may have overreacted and suspended him from his job. Blame that on ESPN.  And let's not go nuts and compare having to find a new hotel to an actual lynching -- in addition to suing Marriott for $100 million in Collin County.
  
  
   
• Final news notes on the Mexico kidnapping and murder.
• Here's a map of where everything happened for those who have been to Matamoros:
  
  
  
• Anyone remember this kidnapping and murder of a University of Texas student?
  
  
  
• I'm keeping an eye on a high profile Wichita Falls murder case. The State is relying on a so-called blood-splatter expert which should set off alarms to everyone that the case is very suspect. That's junk "science."
  
  
  
  
• This is exactly what you'll see in Texas as a reaction to silly politicians throwing a hissy fit over drag shows:  Mainstream bands will preform wearing dresses which, under the wording of proposed laws, should get them arrested. 
  
  
  
• And drag shows aren't the problem in Texas. News out of Wichita Falls yesterday  . . . 
  
  
  
• That's a lot of Kentuckians from one tree. And look how it all started: "She took on household responsibilities very early in her life when she married her first husband, Bill Taylor, in 1940. 'She was 16 when she married him. He was 50. That's a big difference,' Howell told Fox News Digital. 'He already had 10 children. His wife died having twins at home. He worked on the railroad. He had to get back to work. He needed somebody to take care of the kids.'" Good lord. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Very, very legal nerdy stuff: The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals yesterday decided to resolve whether a COVID related mask worn by a witness at trial in Tarrant County violated the Confrontation Clause. But it got there in a very strange way. The Court rejected the State's petition to review the lower court's decision reversing the case, but at the same time decided to hear the case on the Court's own motion, and set forth four specific questions that it wanted the parties to brief. They are up to something. 
• Messenger: Above the Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

I stand by that. And the trial went about as well as you would expect . . . 

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• It didn't look good when it happened.
  
   
  
  
  
• One of my only experiences in Matamoras was couple of hours trip across the border as a boy with my family while on vacation. It was the first time I ever saw true poverty as little girls came up to us selling candy. That memory has stayed with me all my life and had a profound impact on me. But that trip would not be made today. 
• Oklahoma legalized medical marijuana (where it is easy to get a card), but for some reason yesterday the state overwhelming rejected recreational weed. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• You've probably seen the video of this guy who was taken down by passengers. I'm kind of shocked he wasn't subdued the second he stood up after his rant.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• He continues to try and milk this, and I'm not sure what his angle is. In the days immediately after he got kicked out the hotel, he called into a radio station and basically admitted to being drunk and definitely said he didn't remember what the conversation was about.  He's in not position to refute anything. 
  
  
  
• Cities can't do this no matter how many headlines you see.
  
  
  
• Trump has become a full blown Seditionist and is now openly supporting the January 6th Insurrection. He added this to his promise for "retribution" yesterday. This is all so mind-blowing when you take a step back. I never thought I'd see it in my lifetime.
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Ironically, we learned last night from the Dominion lawsuit against Fox News that Tucker Carlson actually despises Trump: "I hate him passionately."   
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Bridgeport Chief of Police visited the Texas Peace Officers Memorial in Austin yesterday and pointed out the name of Randy White who was killed in the line of duty in Bridgeport on April 2, 2009.
  
  
  
• I think every Methodist church in Wise County is staying within the fold. 
  
  
  
• Quarterback salaries in the NFL are way out of whack based upon what has happened in the last 48 hours: 
• $94 million guaranteed for this guy?
  
  
  
• $100 million guaranteed for this guy?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I'll do the Liberally Lean March Madness Pick 'Em Tourney again this year. It'll be up Monday.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

When the now defunct Deadspin got hold of a memo of Tech's plan to create an image around Kliff Kingsbury, their newly hired 33 year old football coach. Sadly, the nickname that actually stuck -- "Coach Bro" -- isn't mentioned in the memo.

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• That was a quick court appearance yesterday, but the civil lawyers showed up and managed to get in front of the cameras.  You'll notice that our D.A. keeps a low profile and has not granted one single TV interview. 
  
  
  
• The media presence was about what was expected. KXAS and Fox 4 showed up. 
  
  
  
  
• Maybe the most interesting thing about the court appearance were the modifications to the building.  Normally, inmates make about a a 50 feet outside walk up a ramp against the back of the building (under the covered parking) to a door on the corner. That was done yesterday, but a big blue tarp was put up to cover that walk.  
• This is the way it normally looks:
  
  
  
• Here is what it looked like yesterday:
  
  
  
  
  
   
• Wild speculation: That tarp wasn't there because to block media cameras, that was there because of a potential security threat to the defendant.  Regardless, it was all taken down immediately after the brief hearing was over. 
• Side note: That building is being used for the district court while the courthouse is being slowly renovated.
• That kidnapping video from Mexico is not good. "A video posted to social media on Friday showed men with assault rifles and body armor loading four people into the bed of a white pickup in broad daylight. One was alive and sitting up, but the others seemed either dead or wounded. At least one person appeared to lift his head from the pavement before being dragged to the truck." 
  
  
  
• The New York Times also reported that a relative said that three of the four were accompanying another who went to Mexico for "stomach tuck surgery."
• The Czech Stop in West had a little trouble last night. 
  
  
  
• "A former Denton County sheriff’s investigator pleaded no contest to insurance fraud Monday after he obtained an insurance policy on his personal vehicle following a crash with a Sanger police car."  It really wasn't the crime of the century: He got into a wreck in his personal vehicle but didn't have liability insurance. He then immediately ran to his agent, got liability insurance, and provided the card to the Sanger police which showed an effective date as the same as the wreck.  He got one day in jail, credit for time served.
  
  
  
• This is great: Police are complaining about what they say was an illegal search and seizure. Facts: A drug dog hits "near" two lockers and a backpack in the officers common locker room area. Investigators then get a search warrant for the two lockers and the backpack.  Dope was found in one of the lockers, but dope was not found in one officer's backpack or his own locker.  Now the police are mad because the search warrant is a public record and it has the innocent officer's name in it. Welcome to the party, boys. 
  
  
  
• What about the drugs, you ask? "In regards to the drugs, investigators did not find any link between the substance and any Fort Worth Police Department employee, Heise said. The locker room is accessed by officers, other employees and people who are part of investigations that are escorted through the building, she said." Riiiiight. 
• I'm not following the high profile Wichita Falls murder case which was transferred to Tarrant County on a change of venue all that closely, but the Wichita Falls paper has an up to the minute blog which is really detailed and really good. But I can also report that the signage outside the courtroom in Tarrant County is about as spare as there is. 
  
  
  
• This seems a little uncomfortably messy out of San Antonio.
  
• So Tucker Carlson has access to 44,000 hours of January 6th footage, and his big reveal last night was that the Insurrectionist Shaman at times casually strolled through the Capitol with guards watching him? In other news, parts of the Zapruder film show that Kennedy's motorcade was perfectly normal.
  
  
  
• How everyone accepts how the NFL does business in mind-boggling. Yesterday, the Cowboys put the "franchise tag" on Tony Pollard. So look what happens to the man.
•  He will not allowed to go onto the open market to the highest bidder where he hopefully would have gotten a three to four year deal with lots of guaranteed money. 
• And after another year of wear and tear on a running backs body, his value on the open market will plummet next year. 
• All of this this is after he was drafted four years ago and forced to play for only one team for a salary "slot" which could not be negotiated. 
• And what do the Cowboys do to announce the franchise tag? They promote this this anti-capitalistic tactic on Twitter and had the gall to place a BlockChain.com ad in the corner to make make money off of the announcement. 
  
  
  
• I can personally attest to a wildly higher car insurance rate this year . . .