12.28.2023

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




I'm not sure what prompted me to do an online poll 10 years ago, and I really couldn't believe the results of this question. 

  • Johnson County wreck update: We now know that six of the dead are from Georgia, and the wreck was caused when a 17 year old driver of the other vehicle was passing in a no passing zone.

  • Police Unnecessary Tools: Houston PD used a massive robot yesterday to destroy the cab of a truck just to to get a guy out of it when about a 1,000 different alternatives existed. Video.


  • That's one way to appeal to the Trump worshippers. Long live Jefferson Davis and the Lost Cause!  Video from last night.



  • The flu has been the reason for 11% of all ER visits in Tarrant County as of yesterday.  I know it is hitting Wise County. 


  • Mark Cuban finally appeared in front of reporters after the sale of the Mavericks was approved. I still say something weird is going on. 
    • Cuban, who has always incorrectly thought he was the smartest man in the room, doesn't think he can handle real estate investing? Jerry Jones has made a fortune in it "on the fly." And why does he think he is "having to invest" in real estate anyway? 


    • And this is just nonsensical rambling for a guy who always loved owning the Mavericks. He's lying.  

  • That's one way to keep from come getting beat. She'll move to the district "next year."


    • `Flashback: But it didn't work out for this guy.

  • The decision banning Trump from the Colorado ballot was officially, and somewhat quietly, appealed to the Supreme Court yesterday. That, and that alone, puts Trump's name back on the ballot, and it will stay that way unless the Supreme Court gets around to saying otherwise.
  • I don't think the arrest is related -- and it sure shouldn't be in this day and time. The guy hasn't played all year, and the Cowboys had to cut someone to make room for an incoming offensive lineman.

  • My recent swim through Mad Men caused me to do a double-take while having Love, Actually on during the holidays and seeing that the Wisconsin bar scene included Mrs. Donald Draper. 

  • Messenger - Above the Fold


at 8:31 AM

12.27.2023

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




A lady with only 170 followers on Twitter fired off what she thought was a throw-away funny line but became a viral sensation -- the bad kind -- in the meantime. It was also kind of the end of "it's just online between us friends" era. Anything can come back to haunt you. 

  • Bad wreck in Johnson County yesterday afternoon. All of the dead were in one vehicle - the one at the bottom of the photo below.




  • An 18 year old who was nine months pregnant and one week overdue was the subject of a missing persons alert earlier this week. Yesterday, she was found dead, along with her boyfriend, in a  hospital parking lot in San Antonio. According to the police chief, "It's a very, very perplexing crime scene. Detectives are looking at this as a possible murder, but we're not sure. We can't say for sure what we have." That's not a good sign. 


  • Let me tell you, I think the renter here is being a bit of a drama queen. I'm not particularly fired up for finding dope in my AirBNB, but I'm not calling the cops.  (Maybe it was when he complained about having to throw out his leftovers from "brunch" because he was moving to a hotel that got me. Or maybe it was the statement of  "They could’ve come back wanting to shoot my family." Settle down, fella.)

     



  • The video of Rep. Jeff Leach turned out to be a pretty big bag of nothing.  He basically went around a road closure, but got out of his vehicle briefly during the event. A right wing group associated with the Texas Oilmen PAC has the video now but just described it instead of releasing it to the public.

    • But I will say Leach acted very weird afterwards when he met the officers involved at a Starbucks and gave them gift cards. We do have have bodycam footage of it. And he comes across as inadvertently being a bit more-holier-than-thou: "This has nothing to do, I want you to hear me here, with me running for office, with me running for re-election, with me being an elected official. This is just me—Jeff Leach as a citizen—feeling really bad about what happened that day and just wanting to make things right with you."

  • Man, this time of year is always a struggle to find news story because all the newsrooms are off for the holidays. I'm dealing with headlines like this telling us that folks who went away do, in fact, have to come back. 

  • Trump posted this word cloud yesterday of what voters think a second Trump term would bring. He thinks "revenge" and "dictatorship" are selling points.  And he's not wrong among the Ultra-MAGA-extremists.   

  • The most annoying non-Trump Republican presidential candidate is all but dropping out of the race. 


  • The Business Second™: Mortgage rateS as of this morning. 

  • Tomorrow's Pop Tart Bowl not only has the greatest name, but it also has the greatest trophy -- complete with two of the pastries at the top.

  • Texas State, who I will always know as Southwest Texas State, won its first game ever last night. They beat Rice, 45-21.

at 8:31 AM

12.26.2023

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts






There was one game left in the regular season, and this news came out of nowhere. He had a slight limp in his last game but, on the following Monday, that slight limp  turned out to be a herniated disc. The Cowboys were 8-7 and needed a win in the final game to make the playoffs. They had to turn to back-up . . . Kyle Orton. 


  • Let the post-Christmas depression begin. 
  • And this isn't exactly a feel good note I just saw. 

  • We had some Christmas Day air strikes by the U.S.  It was in response to a bomb-enabled drone hit. 

    • And that wasn't the only place Iran's name was making headlines.

  • An odd early Christmas Eve fire in Denton.


  • Put me in the group of confused people when I heard that the "founding member" of the Dixie Chicks had died, yet I didn't recognize her.  Laura Lynch wasn't with the group long before she was replaced with Natalie Maines.

    • But my confusion wasn't as bad a that of Fox News. They announced her death the next day by using the photo of a different Laura Lynch -- a person who is very  much alive and a Canadian reporter. 

  • Decatur based David's Western Wear had a fire at its Weatherford location. 

  • Random Christmas note: A car dealership in Dallas (by Campisi's restaurant) used to have this large Santa with an actual car sitting in his lap. 

  • Trump was in the Christmas spirit. "May they rot in hell!" Can you imagine being him? 

  • There was significant news in Trump's federal insurrection case on Friday when the Supreme Court denied Jack Smith's request to get immediately involved in Trump's "presidential immunity" claim. The case, and that claim, are currently in the middle of an appeal at the D.C. Circuit and the criminal prosecution has been stayed during that appeal.

    • This may not delay the case too much. Oral arguments at the D.C. Circuit are set for January 9th. I bet there would be a decision within two weeks.  Trump's lawyers worked on the holidays and filed their brief late Saturday night. 
  • If you haven't seen one player attack another well after a Saturday bowl game was over and while the school song was being played, here you go.   Story here.

  • Ohio State thinks DFW is in the desert. Give it a few more years and they might be right.

  • For those interested in the politics of prosecution in Texas: Here is a list of every upcoming District Attorney and County Attorney election in Texas with names. There are 206 uncontested elections (including two in Wise County) and 57 contested ones.

at 8:30 AM

12.22.2023

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

at 2:30 PM
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