Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

Parker County records are online so I searched to find out what happened to them. There's no record of the cases every having been filed.  There's always more to the story.

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• Chaos at UT-Austin as 54 Pro-Palestine peaceful protestors -- those who object to Israel killing over 34,000 people in Gaza -- were arrested by DPS and campus police in riot gear. Video.
  
  
  
• At first they just stood around which kind of reminded us all of Uvalde.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Greg Abbott called the protestors antisemites (an incredible indictment) but, even more, believes they should be arrested simply because of their beliefs.  This really is stunning. 
  
  
  
• Flashback from last summer:
  
  
  
• Acting like Brownshirts, DPS threw a local Fox affiliate's cameraman to the ground and then arrested him. Video.
  

  
• Think this guy has enough ammo?
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The assistant chief of campus police needs to rein it in a little bit. She's issuing commands "in the name of the People of the State of Texas" --  a phrase which I've never heard of.
  
  
  
• How is it that everyone but the police and those in charge understand that if you just allow (and ignore) any protest on a college campus, which happens every day, that everything will be just fine? It's only when you show up with a small army that the problem becomes worse. 
• Story.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A 17 student shot and killed and 18 year old student at Arlington Bowie High School yesterday. "Arlington Police Chief Al Jones said officers found the victim, Etavion Barnes, Barnes unresponsive on the ground when they arrived to respond to a shots-fired call outside the portable buildings on the Bowie High School campus at about 2:50 p.m."
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Arizona finally got around to issuing indictments in Trump's fake electors scandal.  What in the world took so long?  All the 11 fake electors who signed off on the scheme in front of a camera were indicted as well. 
  

  
  
  
• A mass murder in Oklahoma pretty much flew under the radar.
  
  
  
• Hamas released a video of an American being held hostage in (possibly) Gaza.
  
  
  
• The judge in Dallas had to recuse herself because she said out loud that she thought the defendant would be convicted, but it was her critique of the lawyers that got my attention. Side note: Why in the world is she giving up a district judgeship to run for a statewide office as a Democrat which she will 100% lose. 
  
  
  
  

  

  From her website.

  
  
• Ted Cruz showed up in Wise County last night to support a candidate running for the Texas legislature.  Here's a look at the crowd.
  

  

  

  
  
  
  
• Good. It spewed lies every single day. 
  
  
  
• The Supreme Court hears oral arguments today in Trump's silly "absolute immunity" claim. Regardless of the outcome, they've already bailed Trump out be delaying his federal prosecution in D.C. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• From a reporter from CBS Sports:
  
  
  
• Messenger - Above the Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

North Texas sheriffs sure seen to flirt with trouble a lot. 

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• Trump trial update: Not much
• Some high school kids skipped school to watch the trial, including a gal in John Lennon glasses. She was pretty funny during the interview. 
  
  
  
• But the only witness at the trial was David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer.  We all knew it was true, but he testified he made up stories to help Trump while killing those which would hurt him.  So let's have some flashbacks. He was big on lying about Hillary and Cruz: 
  
  
  

• I had forgotten this one about Cruz.
  
  
  
• And to think Trump rails about "fake news" all the time. 
• Update on the story about the controversial text message sent out by a PAC which attacked a Decatur ISD school board candidate.
• The text:  
  
  
  
• The Messenger story on this is really good.
  
  
  
• Being the hardest working man in show business™, I was in contact with the founder of the PAC, Mike Drury, who told me that the PAC is funded by "no big donors, just small amounts so far.  The PAC has no affiliation with the Republican Party or the right wing conservative groups."
• New Bloomberg poll shows Trump with a new surge in the battleground states.
  
  
   
  
  
  
• Video.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• After dozens die, someone actually takes some action. 
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• I suppose this is legal nerdy stuff. Story.
  
  
  
• Notable trooper fight with DPS:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Business Second™. Seems big.
  
  
  
• The older I get the more I learn that I completely oblivious to things which have supposedly "taken over the Internet."
  
  
  
• "The Houston Texans surprised fans by unveiling their new jersey on 67-foot-tall Sam Houston statue in Huntsville."
  
  
  
• Big sports breaking news: Former USC running back Reggie Bush will have his Heisman Trophy reinstated today. 
  
  
  
• Tesla announced yesterday afternoon that earnings were down 47% for the quarter, but for some reason its stock is set to open 10% higher than yesterday's close. 

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

A defendant being shot to death in a federal courtroom is something you don't see every day. 

Video. Story.

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• Wise County early voting for city and school elections: 
  
  
  
• I've got my hands on some information regarding the new PAC and the Decatur School Board, but I'm still vetting it. But it may have roots in an attempted move of Decatur ISD from TASB (the Texas Association of School Boards) to the far right organization and billionaire supported outfit called TEE. 
• Here's hot sports opinion: I don't think Trump is going to be convicted in this Manhattan trial. Whenever you hear everything that the prosecution says is true, and your initially reaction is, "So what?" or "Is that really a big deal?", you're doomed. 
  
  
  
• For what it is worth, I bet Trump is sanctioned today monetarily for violating the court's gag order. He clearly did it yesterday by attaching Michael Cohen and saying the jury is 95% Democrat.  A hearing is scheduled. 
• Daily transcripts of the trial will be published here, but they won't be available until sometime the next day. 
• This is bad. Video.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I meant to mention this last week. A scammer called an 81 year old man in order to dupe him out of money by telling him "he needed to pay $12,000 to get his nephew out of jail . . . [and] threatened to kill him and his nephew if he didn't pay the ransom."  The scammer convinces him to leave the money in a box outside of his house and it would be picked up. The scammers then sent an innocent Uber driver to pick up the package, and once there, the older man -- now wise to the situation -- shot and killed the Uber driver believing she was in on the scam.  The whole thing is horrible.
  
  
  
• So they couldn't do simple math? 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I think this is a heck of a photo of a house fire in Lantana from yesterday. "Crews arrived in less than 5 min and began a fast attack and stopped the fire at the garage. Three occupants were inside the home at the time of the fire and were able to escape unharmed."
  
  
  
• If you want to know what White Christian Nationalism looks like (with extra emphasis on the white), take a look at this Fort Worth Texas state house rep's tweet:
  
  
  
• Let's check in on Fox News:
  
  
  
  
• The Business Second™. Who could have predicted that the sale of Elon Musk's electric cars, bought by a customer base who is in favor of going "green", would not buy those cars once they found out that the manufacturer was really a right wing Nazi sympathizer nutcase? 
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I rescued a desperately flapping butterfly from a spider web this weekend, and it might have been the most satisfying thing I've done all year. 
• I can't get a handle on the protests at the Ivy League schools.  But since they are all private schools, they can crack down on speech -- even protected speech -- all they want.