7.30.2024

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts





The verdict would be released on appeal although the case would be settled in 2017 for an undisclosed amount. Ventura sued Chris Kyle for a passage in Kyle's book where he wrote that Ventura had said in a bar that the Navy SEALs “deserve to lose a few” in Iraq. Kyle was killed while the suit was first pending.

  • I'm surprised this story didn't get more pub yesterday: Local law enforcement were aware of the sniper some 45 minutes before Trump's shooting with one of them even snapping a picture of him and sharing it in a group chat with other officers.




  • A sinkhole developed in the middle of an "upscale apartment complex" in Houston yesterday.

  • I didn't have room for this yesterday: This is exactly the real-life plot of the movie "Open Water" except it has a happy ending for this Oklahoma couple. 


  • This guy died in March, but his family didn't announce it. The media just figured it out this week through public records.  (Gift link here which quickly summarizes the whole mess. The Wikipedia entry on the My Lai Massacre is incredibly detailed and incredibly good.)

  • Maybe the best photograph from the Olympics so far. Story behind it. 

  • Trump waffled last night in an interview with Laura Ingraham on whether he will debate Kamala Harris. He got one part really right, though: "I want to do a debate. But I also can say this. Everybody knows who I am."  Oh, yes, we do. 


  • They had the disaster at Uvalde, and you can't get an easy appointment at the DPS office, but they spend their time promoting a meaningless contest for best looking equipment? Equipment that your tax dollars paid for? 

  • The Business Second™. And we don't drill enough? "Key pipelines that transport barrels produced in the Permian Basin to the Port of Corpus Christi are more than 90% full, and companies that operate some of these lines say the congestion is likely to get worse. . . . Demand for the limited pipeline space comes at a time when the US is producing more crude oil than any other nation . . . ."


  • I've always been in the "I want my coaches to be in shape" camp. New Cowboy defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer doesn't meet that criteria. 

  • I knew that singer Chris Brown was sued over some alleged weird brouhaha at Dickie's Arena in Fort Worth, but I just learned that the Plaintiffs' lawyer is Tony Buzzbee. Yeah, that guy. 

at 8:30 AM

7.29.2024

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




That turned out to be Joe Mixon who went on to, and remains, in the NFL.  It wasn't until two years later that the Oklahoma Supreme Court ordered the bar's video released.  I don't know how he survived that scandal. 

  • I felt the earthquake on Friday but didn't notice the one of Saturday. They were both pretty much from the same location in West Texas. Blame fracking and water injection.



  • Kudos to the Star-Telegram doing a great job covering our area:
    • The feds went after an Alvord man.

    • They didn't say foul play was involved.

    • Landfill issues. "Wise County officials are concerned that a proposed construction waste landfill planned for a a rapidly growing near Boyd and Aurora could affect the West Fork of the Trinity River, a major water source for Fort Worth and other cities. When Wise County Judge J.D. Clark learned about the proposal, he began to ask questions." 


  • Local churches seems to be in a news loop.
  • Trump ear updates:
    • The FBI changed courses on Saturday and released an unsigned statement which simply read: “What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle."
    • Then a photo over the weekend taken by Alex Brandon of the Associated Press on July 27 and shared by photojournalist Pete Souza on Twitter shows a completely healed ear,

  • Trump mind-blowing quotes over the weekend:

    • Pandering to Christians and promising to install a dictatorship: “Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you Christians. Imma Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again, we’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote.” Video.
    • “[Kamala Harris] doesn’t like Jewish people.” Video Uh, she is married to a Jew. .
    • He is still election denying and is planning another Insurrection: "If they do not cheat, we win this state [Minnesota] easily. They have no shame, they cheat. You understand that, you crooked people. They cheated in the last election, and they will cheat in this election, but we are going get them." Video. That's dangerous.
    • He doubles down on abortion: "I want to thank the six Supreme Court justices, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett for the wisdom and the courage they showed in overturning Roe v. Wade." Video.
    • Good lord, he brought up Hannibal Lector again on Saturday. Video.
    • To a Bitcoin conference: “Have a good time with your Bitcoin and your Crypto and everything else you’re playing with.” Video. He has no idea what crypto is.
    • Another weird thing said at the Bitcoin conference: "If they win this election, every one of you will be gone. They will be vicious, they will be ruthless. They will do things that you wouldn't believe. But right now, because of me, they're leaving you alone. So please say thank you." Video.
  • Fox News promoted a poll's favorability/unfavorability ranking.

  • The Middle East:
    • The strike of Hezbollah hitting a soccer field in Israel's Golan Heights made headlines but . . .  

    • . . . did you see what happened earlier that day?

  • Olympics.
    • Some learned after claiming the Olympic opening ceremonies mocked The Last Supper learned a  history lesson about Greek mythology and the Greek god Dionysus as well as a painting which hangs next door in the Louvre in Paris. Although other reports say organizers admitted that the Last Supper was, in fact, the inspiration. 


    • On a much lighter note, we were introduced to "Bob the Cap Catcher."

  • The price for Dak Prescott, if the Cowboys are so inclined, just went up: (1) Jordan Love and the Packers have agreed to a 4 year $220 million contract - all guaranteed, and (2) The Dolphins signed Tua Tagovailoa to a four-year contract extension for $212.4 million over four years with $167 million guaranteed.


at 8:30 AM

7.26.2024

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




There's a Wikipedia entry on the race. It looks like this UT car went about 100 more miles 
then gave up the ghost.

  • Looks like we had a jury verdict of acquittal in Wise County yesterday. The defense lawyer was Alexandria Cazares-Perez out of Dallas. The cause number is CR23349.  

  •  Once I saw the news of this happening in Lake Worth, I knew I was about to see Bridgeport's own, Police Chief J.T. Manoushagian, in front of the cameras. He always does very well.


  • As the Olympics open up today, there has been an incident in Paris. "Coordinated arson attacks disrupted service on three high-speed train lines in France on Friday, causing travel chaos across the nation on the day of the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Paris. Train service is expected to be affected through the weekend, causing travel issues for more than a million people, including French vacationers and Olympic athletes."


  • Last night, Trump backed out of the debate scheduled for ABC. That's a bad look. 

  • This guy thought he was set for life until his daddy got in trouble, and now he's gone. The plan was for him to take the role of lead pastor next year even before daddy's issues came to light. 

  • As nutty as J.D. Vance's "childless cat ladies" comment was, another clip has surfaced which is even nuttier.  He said that parents should be able to vote on behalf of their children. “Let’s give votes to all children in this country, but let’s give control over those votes to the parents of those children.” Video.


    • Trump might be rethinking his choice.

  • The New York Times suggests this morning that Trump was hit by the bullet. (Gift link.)

  • Let's check in on Fox News: Sean Hannity tried to end Kamala Harris' campaign with a clip showing she once joked about smoking weed. How will she ever recover?!  Edit: A faithful reader reminded me her marijuana prosecution record. This makes more sense now.
  • Google has gotten worse and worse over the years. I think this is a big development:

  • Legal stuff:
    • Legal nerdy stuff (kind of): I thought I understood how bail bonds work, but I'm a little lost in this scheme. They allegedly "conspired to falsify and obtain falsified co-signer financial reports so individuals with criminal offenses who would not meet the terms of their bonds, would be able to qualify."  I don't know what that means. I know that in Wise County that a bail bond is only signed by the bondman and the guy in jail and does not have a "co-signer" at all. And legally, even if there was a co-signer, that co-signer's financial status should have nothing to do with a person in jail being "able to qualify" for a bond. 
    • Random caption from the Fort Worth Court of Appeals yesterday:

    • Bad legal take from Trump.  If you want to buy a flag and burn it in your own backyard, that's free speech. It might be offensive, but that's goes to the very heart of free speech.  Now it is something completely different to set a flag - or anything - on fire in a public place. 
  • Sports fun fact: Of the 27 largest operating athletic budgets for public universities, 25 are either in the SEC or Big 10 The other two are Florida State and Clemson. 
  • 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: 5 years and 21 days.





at 8:30 AM
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