10.16.2023

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




Pretty wild. If curious, this is what happened once he he was transported back to Pennsylvania.

  • "Let's to to the State Fair -- it'll be fun!"


  • Is there any chance that the the brakes are being tapped just a little on the expected ground invasion of Gaza?

  • So the Republicans nominated Jim Jordan, a major Trump Insurrectionist, as Speaker?  The House will vote on his nomination tomorrow, but there's no way the normal Republicans are going to elect this ultra-MAGA extremist. No way.

  • Suzanne Summers has died. I liked her despite Three's Company being one of the worst shows ever -- every episode was based on a "misunderstanding."

  • It should be a crime to tie a pay raise for teachers to a proposition which would gut public schools. 

  • Eclipse quick hits:
    • I honestly don't understand how you can see the eclipsed sun through the shadows of a tree. 

    • Cool shot of of it during college football Saturday: 

    • Don't forget we've got a total one coming in just a few months -- although Wise County folks will have to go travel just a few miles to get the full impact:

  • The Rangers won game #1 over the Astros last night. Explained: 

    • I all seriousness, this moment was amazing. 

  • The Star-Telegram has a front page story on the mess trying to head north during rush hour at the Decatur exit on I-35. 

  • Legal stuff: Below is from a formal complaint (pdf) filed against a federal bankruptcy judge in Texas. He then resigned. It might be bad to be living romantically with one of the lawyers whose law firm routinely appeared in cases before him -- and awarding that firm attorney's fees along the way.


  • Other legal stuff: Oh, please. Her office might try not indicting everything under the sun for a change. 

  • A 3:37 p.m. start time for the the Rangers today?

at 8:30 AM

10.13.2023

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




We read a story and forget it. But an incident like this would still haunt you. 

  •  If it wasn't officially a Clown Show before, it is certainly is now. Scalise couldn't get enough votes from his fellow Republicans. We are now on Day Ten of not having a House Speaker.


    • Speaking of our own clown show, look at these two tweets from troubled Wise County Rep. Ronny Jackson six days apart. 


  • This warning is just for PR. There's no way that many people can move that fast, and a lot of them are about to die because of it. And they are not telling them to leave the Gaza Strip entirely because they can't due to the blockade. They are just supposed to move to a different area of it. 


  • The Texas Tribune has compiled a list of who the Texas Oilman PAC has been giving money to.  The PAC is infamous for its support of Christian Nationalism and book bans, and recently got in hot water when its head, Jonathan Stickland, met with a neo-Nazi white supremist.  One of the largest recipients of money is a Wise County resident.


  • This guy was 100% screwed over. The blood test, which he volunteered to give, showed zero alcohol and zero drugs. 


  • The Dallas Morning News is gathering information about the costs of the Ken Paxton impeachment trial in the Texas Senate. This is the winning paragraph so far. They were personalized mugs, too.


  • I had never heard about this case out of Olney. 

  • The writer's strike might be over, but the actors' strike apparently is not.

  • Kids will always outsmart certain types of "adults."
     
  • Big 12 last night: The ending between WVU and Houston was wild. 22 seconds left: WVU scores 50-yard TD to take the lead. 3 seconds left: Houston scores 49-yard TD to win it. Video. 
  • 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 99 days.


at 8:31 AM

10.12.2023

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts





TMZ, which is normally surprisingly accurate in its reporting, whiffed on this one. The lead paragraph said the child was in "critical condition" which turned out to be wildly untrue. But Peterson had punished the child with a "switch" which would eventually lead to a two year probation. His attorney was Rusty Hardin. 

  • We have a ruling in the Tanner Horner Wise County capital murder case which has grinded to a halt -- but not a final ruling. Recall that the question on this pre-trial appeal is whether the district judge properly removed his court appointed lawyers from the case and replace them with a Regional Public Defender's Office (RPDO). 
    • Yesterday, Texas highest criminal court didn't say yes or no but instead said it wanted more information. Specifically, it wants to hear from Defendant Horner as to who he wants for lawyers. And they are telling our local judge to go find out for them. Here is the money part of the ruling (Respondent = Our Wise County judge. Real-Party-in-Interest = Defendant Horner. RPDO = The new lawyers):

    • This is very weird. Last week, the RPDO filed a response in the court as to why it should be left on the case, and they attached an unsworn statement from Horner that he wanted them to represent him. I jumped on that when I saw it. Apparently, the court didn't like it being unsworn either. They want to hear from Horner. 
    • But how is this going to work? The appellate court says they want our local district judge to "communicate directly" with Horner and "ask him" if he really wants the new lawyers to stay on the case.  That's very odd and bizarre language.  Is this supposed to take place at a hearing with Horner under oath? It should. But is the judge supposed to ask the questions instead of the lawyers? What's the judge going to do if Horner just refuses to cooperate or answer -- hold the guy who is already in jail in contempt? 
    • Well, whatever is going to happen, has to happen in seven days. It now looks like a hearing on the case is scheduled for Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. in the Wise County court. 
  • The Decatur PD Police Chief and his family were the focus on WFAA last night. Story here. Fundraiser link here.  



  • The shooting happened in Forest Hill  at 6:50 a.m. in an elementary school parking lot, but the amazing thing is they didn't call off school despite the fact that no arrests were made. 

  • Wait a second. Is Dan Patrick now the spokesman for the West Texas Oilmen PAC? (He might as well be. He received $3 million from it before the Paxton trial.)

    • Some Republicans in Austin continue to go after Jonathan Stickland, the head of the Oilman PAC. Honestly, I don't know how those West Texas guys don't fire him.

  • There is a ton of bad information about the Israel situation right now, and the New York Times has a great article (free) collecting some of the online falsehoods. 

    • But the President didn't help yesterday. That atrocity may very well have happened, but don't say it until you confirm it. 
       
  • We will spend another week focusing on the viciousness of the Hamas attack (25 Americans now confirmed dead, by the way), but once Israel opens up its full scale attack and invasion of the Gaza Strip, I don't know how we can ignore the 2 million citizens - about half who are under 18 years old -- which are trapped within it without food, water and electricity. This is part of Gaza yesterday:


  • The House still doesn't have a Speaker. Behind closed doors yesterday, a majority of Republicans decided to nominate Steve Scalise by a vote of 113-99. But he will have to win a floor vote, and will need 217 votes of the entire Congress. There are only 222 Republicans so he has no room for error -- and it doesn't look like he is even close yet. Chaos continues.

  • Oh, my. 


  • Messenger: Above the Fold


at 8:29 AM
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