Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

Yep.

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• We've got a tiny bit more information regarding the shooting of a man by Wise County deputies Monday night. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner says he died from "multiple" gunshot wounds.
  
  
  
• And don't freak out that the Manner of Death is listed as "HOMICIDE."  That's just archaic ME language for "not natural and at the hands of another."   (I'm restraining myself from going on my typical ME rant about how they should only be stating, in medical terms, how a person died  -- Not the surrounding non-medical circumstances. Just leave it at "multiple gunshot wounds" and stop.)
• "MONTAGUE, Texas — Suspended Clay County Sheriff Jeffrey Lyde will serve 30 days in Hardeman County Jail, pay fines, permanently surrendered his law enforcement license and gave up his right to appeal as part of an agreement for his punishment for two misdemeanor crimes." I can't believe they actually got him. But see how smart the prosecutors are? They cut a deal on punishment after the conviction but only if he gave up his right to appeal. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Gaza's only power plant shut down this morning. Now more that 2 million people have no electricity. I think this is going to be a humanitarian disaster. 

  

  
  
• Not Mary Lou! But you're telling me she didn't have insurance and has to resort to a GoFundMe equivalent?
  
  
  
  
• Texas Scorecard, an arm of the West Texas Oil Men PAC, has jumped on the fact that Jacksboro's David Spiller now has an opponent in House District 68. And they framed it in the way you would expect the Ultra-MAGA Extremists to frame it. 
  
  
  
• It took a couple of days for the media to confirm the online reports, but we had us some Nazis in Fort Worth last weekend. (And this is in addition to the Tarrant County meeting between the Nazi meeting and Jonathan Stickland who runs the oil money PAC.)  And Torchy's Tacos issued quite the blunt response. 
  
  
  
  
• This really is an amazing photo comparison of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany. 
  
  
  
  
• Always worry about the loudest. And the headline doesn't even mention the strip clubs, pills, and misuse of donor money. 
  
  
  
• The Business Second: If you know anyone with an ownership interest in Pioneer, based in Irving, celebrate for them. Fun Fact: Pioneer was formed in 1997 when MESA, Inc., founded by T. Boone Pickens, merged with another company. This deal was announced this morning.
  
  
  
• Other ExxonMobil news isn't as rosy.  I know nothing about the facts of this case, but the mere fact that it happened "at La Quinta Inn & Suites hotel in Magnolia, Texas" where police "spoke with a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by a man in one of the hotel rooms" tells me that there is probably a back story here which might end up being a  reasonable doubt. Or more. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I have only a passing interest in baseball, but those last five games were predicted by absolutely no one. 
  
• The Republicans still don't have a Speaker of the House. 

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

This made headlines because two "bikers" in a larger group had "dragged a driver from his car in Upper Manhattan and beat him in front of his wife and baby daughter." It turned out that one of the two was an off duty undercover cop. Both men were ultimately convicted. 

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• Wise County Deputies shot and injured killed a man in the 100 block of Honeysuckle in Paradise last night after they responded to a domestic disturbance call. No names released yet. Edit: Update reports that the man was "identified as 37-year-old Edward Lander."
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I think this is just the tip of the iceberg.  Israel's response has historically been one of, "If my neighbor burns my tool shed down, I'll level his house and everything and everyone inside."  And I haven't heard near enough about the impact of no water or electricity on over 2 million people with no place to go. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• All of this makes me very uncomfortable.   He was a mess in court, and the jury convicted him in under 20 minutes. 
  
  
  
• Some Republicans in Austin went after the West Texas Oil Money PAC yesterday for hosting a Nazi. 
  
  
  
• Example
  
  
  
• More
  
  
  
• By the way, this is the guy who is in charge of administrating the PAC and for meeting with Nick Fuentes.   Jonathan Strickland is, and has always been, a miserable human being. And he's the ultimate simpleton. 
  
  
  
• The Voucher Scam fight officially began in Austin yesterday.  If you care about your kid's school, you should care about this.  
  
  
  
• He a nutcase and his campaign kickoff where he forgot to bring his speech with him is golden. And funny. Video.
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• I gave up on the NFL once I figured out that fans care more about the outcome than the players.
  
  
  
• Extremely nerdy legal stuff which is appeal related. The Fifth Circuit is getting weird. Yesterday a dissenting judge, who didn't write a dissent, instead just attached a fake majority opinion that he felt should have been written. (Opinion here. Look at page 1, the one paragraph dissent on page 5, and then page 6.)

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

We learned that Sky Mirror was coming to Jerry World. 

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• Well, this certainly rocked the weekend. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• This is easily the worst attack in the history of Israel.  Hamas, a terrorist organization which has controlled the Gaza Strip for the last 15 years, fired as many as 2,500 rockets into Israel while simultaneously breaching the fence barrier and doing land attacks with militants killing and taking people hostage. Over 800 are dead with at least nine Americans being killed. 
  
  
  
• If you are wondering how Hamas could pull that scale attack off without Israel not knowing anything about its planning, you aren't the only one. 
• Gaza is 6 miles wide and 25 miles long and home to 2.3 million people.  The actions of Hamas will cause probably thousands of innocent Palestinians to die because Israel will unload on that land -- they've already started with over 560 dead. Israel, which has been controlling who comes in and out of Gaza, just shockingly ordered all water, electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip to be shut down. 
  
  
  
• The attack by Hamas was an act of terrorism, horrific, and unjustified, but you cannot say it was "unprovoked" by Israel. Its conduct over the years causes blood to be on its hands as well. There's a lot of gray over there. But I'm just a white dude from small town Texas, so what do I know. 
• It was stunning to see the number of lies and misinformation about the attack  - especially on now unreliable Twitter. The biggest one was that Iran used the $5 billion recently paid by the U.S. to free hostages to fund the attack. Iran certainly helped, but that money wasn't used. It's sitting in a bank account in Qatar.  
  
  
  
• It's news from last week, but you may not have seen This belated video of the plane crashing in Arlington. A chain link fence did in fact stop it.
  
  
  
• Paxton Impeachment Fallout with Breaking News:
• Oh, my. Ken Paxton's announced this morning that he will file criminal complaints against all House Managers in their home county for allegedly violating Texas new anti-doxing law because of the document dump last week.  This will get a little uncomfortable over in Jacksboro where House Manager David Spiller resides. 
  
  
  
• More breaking news this morning: Spiller just got an opponent for his seat in Texas House District 68.
  
  
  
• I don't know why he released this on Friday, but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick issued the most scathing attack on the Texas House yet -- and in a very conversational style -- for the impeachment attempt. I'll say it again: Why did the representatives risk their jobs if they weren't sure the Senate would follow through with an impeachment conviction?
  
  
  
• Anyone surprised by this? The man who is charge of the West Texas Oil Men PAC, which is behind school board infiltration of Christian Nationalists and School Vouchers, hosted a the nationa's leading wanna-be Nazi. (This is the name Nazi who attended a dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Trump and Kanye which Trump got in hot water for and had to distance from.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Great moment in the Messenger's coverage of the Decatur Eagles away game on Friday occurred at halftime. He did get out. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Forbes had its annual list of 400 Richest Americans list. These are the Texans on it which (1) doesn't include Mark Cuban and (2) reveals that "pipelines" might even be a better gig than warehouses.
  
  
  
• You got to admit, that's a better bit than streaking. 
  
  
  
• I told you not to trust the OU/Texas line.  As for the Cowboys, you should never trust any NFL game.