8.07.2023

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




Remember this? As his final year began, there was a massive controversy because Johnny Football had allegedly made money for signing his autograph. Sounds almost quaint today. Relevant: A new Netflix documentary on Manziel has just been released, and it sounds pretty insane. 

  • A Northside hangout of many a Wise County resident, the Cadillac bar, burned on Saturday night. There are a ton of photos out there, but this is one of the first ones which was taken. 

  • Horse carnage near and far:
  • After being warned at his Arraignment regarding his conduct, Trump spent the weekend defying the judge's order. It will be very interesting to see if a no nonsense federal judge will put up with this.  Trump might actually end up in jail on a bond condition revocation -- anyone else would.  Regardless, I'd come down hard on him right not and not let this get normalized in the January 6th case. 
    • Threatens everyone.

    • Attacks judge.

    • Attacks prosecutor.

    • Attacks witness.

  • And Trump still has random yet nutty posts. How the Republican Party has just embraced conduct like this is insane to me. Are they trying to lose? The man is not OK. 

  • Abbott will sign the transgendered sports bill (a bill to solve a problem which doesn't exist) at TWU today. Choosing TWU is an interesting choice  -- it's public so they can't refuse him. He's looking for a protest just to get some press. 

  • Local radio news: The Ticket has sued Dan and Jake, citing a six month non-compete clause, for starting a podcast after the station let them go last month. (PDF of lawsuit). I note that the filing misspelled the local VP's name but he signed the verification anyway.


  • Other local radio news: WBAP has parted ways with afternoon host Rick Roberts -- a guy who sounded like a Nazi most of the time and never rebuked his many blatantly racist callers. ("Good call!" he would always say.)  Interestingly, in their new job posting, they don't want "another political talk show." What else is there on AM radio these days? 

  • Random Drudge Report featured headline: "How Dallas-Fort Worth became America's boomtown . . . "

  • College football is basically the only sport I follow these days, and the implosion of the PAC 12 on Friday was one of the most bonkers things I've ever seen. In the blink of an eye, Oregon and Washington fled to the Big 10 while Arizona, Arizona State and Utah defected to the Big 12.
    The Big 12 in 2024.

    This is really mind-blowing
    The Big 10 is really spread out. 


    • Maybe one of the greatest hires of all time was the Big 12 hiring the very aggressive and very shrewd Brett Yormark last year. What he has done is nothing short of amazing. And the PAC 12 commissioner, George Kliavkoff never saw it coming: 

  • Legal stuff: A panel of the Fifth Circuit went all progressive on Friday and stuck down Mississippi's law which bans people convicted of a felony from ever voting again.  (Prediction: The rest of the court will overturn this en banc.)

  • The brawl on the riverfront in Montgomery, Alabama is wild.  But it's important to watch the clip that started it all for context. 
  • Just got a tip on Decatur ISD political candidate financial filing. I'll have it tomorrow. 


at 8:31 AM

8.04.2023

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

Bonus (but linked only because of language.)
at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts





A decade later, I still love that teaser/trailer/commercial. And here's a breakdown of Ozymandias on Wikipedia.

  • I don't think we yet realize just how a significant day yesterday was. It's the most significant prosecution of Trump yet, and it has to be done. The consequences of letting him get away with all that led up to January 6th is too great.   

    • The courtroom sketches seem to cement the need to have cameras in the courtroom. 


    • He's still a clear and present danger to the United States.

  • Pretty emotional video clip filmed while fighting the Runaway Bay fire. 

  • Greg Abbott's buoys have already killed a child. "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in."


  • Did the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office just kill another one? 

  • "THROCKMORTON (KFDX/KJTL) — Throckmorton County sheriff resigns, blames lack of help. Doc Wigington, resigned unexpectedly Thursday blaming a lack of help with law enforcement. According to a social media post, he said that for 8 months, he has been without a full-time deputy and only a couple of part-time deputies and that the trooper and game warden are being deployed to the border and Austin."  I'd quit, too.

  • I love that the Justice Department is still rounding up the Insurrectionists. We learned yesterday that they got this guy from Brady on Monday.



  • So your just paying $1 million when you didn't do anything wrong?

  • Wise County Courthouse renovation: I can't get it to work on my laptop, but when viewed from a phone, you can get a panoramic view of the third floor of the courthouse which is now gutted.  For those familiar with it, you can now walk straight from the jury/commissioners room all the way to the other side. All the walls are gone.
    Taken from jury room looking east. The two doors are the bathrooms.

  • Legal/local stuff: A Wise County criminal case was affirmed on appeal late yesterday.  Very legal nerdy stuff: The decision deals with an interesting "commitment question" during voir dire regarding the range of punishment.  The the trial judge ruled, and the appellate court agreed, that you can't ask this:

    • Nerdy stuff continued: The defense lawyer was trying to get the hard-liners stricken for cause. The way to do it seems to be limited to asking: "Could you assess the minimum punishment of 25 years." That question is OK.  From the defense standpoint, you hope they will be honest and say "no." Then the judge would have to remove them for not being able to consider the "full range of punishment" of 25 years to life.
  • Time which has passed since the Wise County Sheriff's Office, despite having a full male DNA profile, has failed to solve the murder of Lauren Whitener in her home at Lake Bridgeport: 4 years and 30 days.

at 8:30 AM

8.03.2023

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




Eagles tight end Riley Cooper found himself in hot water 10 years ago after cell phone footage caught him using some objectionable  language at a Kenny Chesney concert.  Then, for fun, this photo of him back at Florida alongside Tim Tebow throwing a ball to convicted murderer and the now-deceased Aaron Hernandez. 

  • People feared Runaway Bay would burn down yesterday.

     

    • Screenshot of the tracking of aircraft fighting the fire. 

  • Meanwhile, a big fire broke out along 287 right past Rhome. A drone video shows how it spread from there.





  • This make no sense to me. Just see how a free speech defense goes when, say, you try to hire a hit man and then end up being charged with solicitation of murder. Plus, if you are relegated to not contesting the facts and have to look for a defense in the law, you are in deep trouble. (His first court appearance in D.C. is at 3:00 p.m. CST today.)

  • The Dallas Morning News found out the identify of the two Southlake police officers who were fired after the swastika incident, and also determined how they got outed. Doh!

  • We've now got some background info on the naked guy who was arrested in Denton. I posted exclusive Pulitzer Prize winning photos of his arrest yesterday.

  • Well look who is coming to the defense of Trump: The crooked Texas Attorney General who is in the middle of an impeachment process instigated by the normal Republicans in the legislature. 

    • Side note: Although her identify was widely known, Paxton's own lawyers have identified by name the woman he is alleged to had an affair with who is an integral part of the impeachment allegations. Laura Olson is her name. I haven't seen a picture of her and Paxton are together, but she has hung out with other Texas bigwigs. 



  • In what might have been the one of the most cringy "tough talking" crime fighting press conferences I've seen in a while, yesterday Greg Abbott, the $300,000 Man, and the Sheriff of Tarrant County spoke about a new law regarding doing donuts in intersections. 

    He thought this was a catchy soundbite? 

    You couldn't even find the Uvalde shooter a few feet away.

    There's a greater chance you die in his jail as an inmate. 

  • Getting past the world war implications for a second, those are some really cool Moscow buildings. 

  • Recent prices at the pump: Are we getting price gouged by the oil companies again?
  • Messenger: Above the Fold

at 8:31 AM
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