Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

It came as quite the shock a few hours later when it was discovered the former SMU player was alive and well and living in Desoto. He had been misidentified. 

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• Wait. Ken Paxton has ruled that we can't hear the 911 tape of an alleged crime being committed against Ken Paxton? Once you get past the absurdity of the procedure of it all, why wouldn't he want the public to hear it?
  
  
  
• These proclamations are dumb.  The residents of those counties will be far more inconvenienced by the typical elementary school pick-up line than the day of the eclipse. 
  
  
  
• A Fox News poll says Republicans have an abortion problem in that 59% now believe it should be legal all or most of the time. Only 7% support at total ban which is what Texas lawmakers have enacted. 
  
  
  
• Ok, that's a funny screenshot from ultra-conservative Newsmax.
  
  
  
• Pay attention. Gov. Abbott and his cronies in Austin are simply trying to kill public education so they can kneel to school vouchers which will only benefit the rich with your tax dollars. 
  
  
  
• This is jaw-droppingly stupid (and even made it to Twitter's "Bad Legal Takes" account.)  The Texas government is now mandating that colleges crack down on free speech.  It's 100% illegal government censorship based upon the content of the speech. You can't do that. Man, this isn't your daddy's Republican party any more. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Random Fun Pic: A ticket to see the Beatles at the Dallas Convention Center on 9/18/64 for the price of $5.53. 
  
  
  
• Retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is making the rounds promoting a new book, but I don't think I've ever seen someone turn all their books around in a bookcase. 
  
  
  
• A trigger warning in a legal pleading? PDF. 
  
  
  
• The Business Second™. That's a lot of money. SRS is "a leading construction materials distributor [which] supplies to the home building and remodeling trade and serves professional roofers, landscapers and pool contractors." So they deliver stuff to construction sites? (Fun fact: SRS has been owned since 2018 by a Gordon Gekko-like equity firm.)
  
  
  
• Have I ever said how much I hate the very concept of The Masked Singer, and how I think it is the dumbest TV show ever produced?

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

The application form was even revealed. 

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• Paxton's criminal case ended with a thud after almost a decade. It's a pre-trial diversion agreement with no admission of guilt (which almost all of them have.) Two systems of justice?
  
  
  
• Trump selling a Bible for $60 + shipping would be the ultimate deal breaker for any Christian just a few years ago. And his video promotion of it is incredibly cringey. "Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country, and I truly believe that we need to bring them back. All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many. It’s my favorite book."
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Late yesterday, the Fifth Circuit converted its denial of "administrative stay" into a denied "temporary stay" while it decides the constitutionality of S.B. 4 - the immigration bill. That means Texas can't enforce the new law. 
  
• Amazingly, the ruling was a 2-1 decision that took 121 pages to explain. They could have just said, "We are bound by Arizona v. United States" and be done with it.  
• But it's a great indication of how the same judges will rule on the merits, and the dissent knows it. 
  
  
• A good look of what the cargo ship in Baltimore hit. 
  
  
  
• The Baltimore harbor and its shipping business was at the heart of Season 2 of The Wire.
  
  
  
• The video is behind a paywall, but I decided to take a look at it. It's bad. The cop just slammed him face first into the concrete while the guy was handcuffed. He was out cold after that.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• DPS has a new toy, but it will not help in getting your license renewed at your local DPS office.
  
  
  
• A 35-year-old Birdville ISD 7th grade math teacher decided to do a bit.
  
  
   
  
  
  
• Some people are flat out weird.
  
  
  
• Former Evil Empire great Vince Young goes down. Video.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The NFL is taking over Wednesdays.
  
  
  
• Lake Bridgeport is 15.14 feet low with summer on the horizon. 

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

That Twitter account out of Denton no longer posts photos, but it gave us some doozies back in the day.

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• We have a massive and dramatic bridge collapse in Baltimore as a huge cargo ship enroute to Sri Lanka struck it at 1:28 a.m. Video of collapse here which seems to show the ship losing power seconds before striking the Francis Scott Key bridge. 
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  
• First pictures by dawn's early light. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Ransomware attacks happen all the time, but we rarely hear about the actual amounts that they want (which is what they will be paid.)
  
  
  
• Wise County Judge J.D. Clark posed at the top of the courthouse yesterday. Later in the day, the scaffolding around the top of it was taken down. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• This could be a major NBA scandal. A player tanks after massive bets were placed on the "under" for his personal "total points scored" prop bet line. 
  
  
  
• Trump ticker:
• Trump got 10 extra days to come up with the massive bond in his New York civil fraud trial, but the amount of the required bond was reduced to $175 million yesterday. 
• Uh, I'm pretty sure this is a crime. Edit: This is fake. I was duped.  
  
  
  
• The Biden campaign is running a different campaign than Trump has ever faced before.
  
  
  
• The weakest case against him will probably go to trial on April 15th.
  
  
  
• They are coming for you abortion pills today.
  
  
  
  
• The Wise County courthouse is doing better than the Wichita County courthouse. 
  
  
  
• The Business Second™.
  
  
  
• In Texas, unless officers actually witness a crime taking place in their "presence", they must get a warrant before making any arrest. (There are some exceptions but very, very few.)
  
  
  
  
• Yes, I'm aware of a certain video catching fire over in Bridgeport regarding a "confrontation", but I don't know how to handle it. 
• I started complaining about license plate readers years ago . . . .