1.25.2024

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




This was an assistant county attorney in Houston who worked on CPS cases. She ended up gambling on a jury trial and wound up convicted of a felony. She received two years probation. Noteworthy is that she was represented by a Dan Gogdell who was one of Ken Paxton's crotchety defense lawyers in his impeachment trial. (The judge tried to help her out by granting her Motion for New Trial but an appellate court overturned that action.)

  • Back when Southern states balked at court-ordered school integration, the president sent in U.S. troops to order compliance.  I don't know if this border situation gets to that point, but this is reaching a bizarro status.


    • Abbott issued a statement yesterday to justify his defiance of the Supreme Court order by citing a different Supreme Court case. Incredibly, the citation was actually to a losing dissenting opinion in Arizona vs United States where Arizona lost trying to do the same thing Texas is doing.. 
  • There was a death last night in crash involving a wrong way driver on 114 near Northwest High School. 
  • This endorsement is a big deal in the swing states. And Trump made a critical mistake last year when he went to a non-union shop to give a speech during the strike. Those boys will remember that.


  • That number seems awfully high.

    • Flashback from 2021 when Abbott made us a promise. Video.

       
  • Taylor Swift fake AI porn images are making news this morning. The world is headed to a very weird place. 

     
  • Ken Paxton is very upset that the judge is making him sit for a deposition after admitting all liability in the Whistleblowers lawsuit.

  • And his other legal case is a mess. Special prosecutors were appointed years ago in Collin County but its commissioners, being Paxton fans, refused to pay them. And getting paid is all that the prosecutors have been focused on ever since. The actual prosecution hasn't even moved one iota.
  • It's only on Mondays, but that will make it the best show on TV all week long. Love that guy. 

  • I had completely forgotten that she existed. Remember when Mark Cuban hired her in 2018 to simply make some very bad press go away?

  • With Michigan's Jim Harbaugh leaving for the NFL's Chargers yesterday, now three of the final four college playoff teams have lost their coach. Only Texas remains intact. Maybe Michigan could hire Steve Sarkisian and give us a clean sweep.
  • Legally nerdy stuff: The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has decided to hear whether geo-warrants for Google's data are legal.  There's a 100% chance they will say yes.
  • Messenger - Above the Fold

at 8:31 AM

1.24.2024

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




Justin Bieber was out there making headlines.

  • New Hamphire election:
    • Trump wins by a little less than expected but a big win neverthelss. 

    • He was downright mean in his victory speech, and oddly criticized Nikki Haley's dress. Video

    • The dress, in case you are interested:

    • Nikki Haley vowed to stay in the race which caused a liquored up Marjorie Taylor Greene to come up with a solution. Video.

    • Tim Scott, who only became a senator because Nikki Haley appointed him, appears to be a smarmy person.

    • Trump threw in some lies in his victory speech. Claiming he has won a New Hampshire general election is verifiably false. 

    • Texas' John Cornyn kissed the ring last night. 
    • Barring a wild shift in Republican public sentiment before Super Tuesday, Trump will get the nomination. It's like January 6th never happened, or, more likely, far more people support the overthrowing of democracy than we ever realized.

  • Because the law doesn't mean anything to authoritarians. 

  • After the White Supremacist controversy, a Watchdog has figured out that the Texas Oilman PAC has reincarnated themselves into a new PAC name. 

  • Caught my eye. But as I understand it, the image was displayed by a Zoom attendee from the public. So it was someone who gambled on doing a bit. 

  • I wouldn't think that the Supreme Court case allowing a coach to voluntarily pray on the field after the game would somehow mean that the East Texas school can do this. Story.

  • COVID update. Wild swings in how I feel.  I'll think I'm over the worst of it and then I'm knocked down a few hours later. This morning is far better. I'm monitoring my breathing because, even though the new strain of COVID isn't like the original, this thing makes me nervous. I'm good in that department.  

at 8:31 AM

1.23.2024

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




To post this back then, I must have thought meat sold in a parking lot was curious. But what gets my attention now is the gas price.

  • After avoiding COVID for the last few years, it finally got me yesterday. At least that's what a home test and a crappy feeling body tells me. This will be an abbreviated version Random Thoughts.
    • It involves chills, achiness, and congestion. I wouldn't say it is as bad as the flu, but it ain't fun. 
  • On my best day, I'm never going to the Cotton Bowl to watch a soccer match in 40 degree weather and drizzling. 

  • This will drive a lot of people nuts, but even a right wing Supreme Court knows that the borders belong to the federal government. The ruling was 5-4 yesterday.


  • I have no idea. Video.

  • No one trusts anyone.

  • I'll be glade when the Kelce brothers are gone from my TV.
  • I apologize for this illness generated effort. 


at 8:30 AM

1.22.2024

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




That's Dallas Cowboy's Josh Brent. The jury opted for a sentence of probation, but the judge ordered 180 days in the Dallas County Jail as a condition of the probation. The probation was for 10 years so that means it should end this week.

  • A lost cause.

    • We should of known it was over the moment he showed up with this footwear.

  • If Kenneth Paxton thought that he would avoid a deposition in his Whistleblower Cases simply by filing a pleading admitting liability, a judge told him on Monday afternoon he was mistaken.


  • I don't know who the prosecutors are, but they might be as dumb as I've ever seen. This makes no sense. 

  • Trump had a stellar weekend:
    • He wants full immunity and, if a president goes "rogue", there's nothing you can do about it.  Video

    • He resurrected his "very fine people" line as he referred to the worst dictators in the world. Video.

    • Trump then confused Nancy Pelosi with Nikki Haley and said that Haley was responsible for January 6th.  He's getting worse. Video.



  • The Business Second™ from Friday afternoon.

     
  • NFL Update.

  • Sports Illustrated is all but dead after every employee was laid off on Friday.


  • A 20 year old amateur golfer won a PGA event this weekend. But because of his amateur status, he can't collect the winnings of  $1.5 million. (The last person to do it was Phil Mickelson in 1991.)



at 8:30 AM

1.19.2024

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

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at 2:30 PM
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