Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

This story was on page 7 (full pdf) of the Messenger back then, and I thought at the time that it should get more attention. I never heard anything else about it. 

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• The Update has a story of WCSO deputies shooting and killing a man last night.
• Big headline in the Morning News but absolutely no facts in the story other than the name of the church: Lake Country Church in Saginaw.  Edit: The Star-Telegram story at least had: "A pastor was wrongfully let go from his position at a Fort Worth church due to baseless allegations of looking at inappropriate images, his attorney says."
  
  
  
• More tricked up explosions by Israel:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A DPS trooper was seriously injured in Ector County.
• Yesterday prediction monitor:
• I missed this one by thinking it would only be a quarter percent. 
  
  
  
• Got this one right as a judge denied bail yesterday afternoon. 
  
  
  
• The Star-Telegram picked up a story out of Decatur.  There was this sentence regarding the proposed Trump roadway: "Google Maps images show a few potholes along the short stretch of asphalt, which doesn’t even have center striping."
  
  
  
• They are an open fire hydrant of lies:
• From the cover of the Wall Street Journal today:
  
• This turned out to be a lie yesterday, but the richest man in the world just spread it to millions without fact checking. But he does crap like this all the time. 
  
  
  
• Idiocracy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Former TCU star Jalen Reagor was not happy about being relegated to New England's practice squad so he posted this photograph on Instagram to indicate he felt like a sports car under a carport.  The Patriots then cut him later that day.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Messenger - Above the Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

And America would never recover

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• Israel infiltrated hundreds of pagers intended to go to Hezbollah causing them to simultaneously explode yesterday killing 11 and injuring 2,700. Everyone seems really impressed that Israel pulled this off, but allow me to retort: (1) You really didn't do anything significant to dismantle Hezbollah other than aggravate them, (2) this will only hurt any chance of getting the remaining hostages released by Hamas, (3) importantly, having hundreds of exploding devices go off when you don't have any idea exactly where they will be at the time of the detonation seems incredibly reckless, and  (4) The fact that a little girl was killed is nothing to cheer about.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• As with almost all news these days, there isn't a lot of details. The name of the judge has not yet been released, but the attempted murder did have some facts listed: A man came into a couple's home after midnight and shot them -- with the woman being hit 11 (!) times. I what must be some type of Christmas miracle, she will recover. More details are expected to be released today.
  
  
  
• I would be bet it will be many years before he is ever free again. 
  
  
  
• Is he a Geico salesman now? 
  
  
  
• Retraction explained:
• This headline about the Trump "attempted assassination attempt" in the Dallas Morning News yesterday  . . . . 
  
  
  
• gave rise to this . . . 
  
  
  
• This list has Decatur as a participating office but there isn't a lot of information otherwise. You still need an appointment (good luck with all of that) and the office will only be open until noon on two upcoming Saturdays.
  
• Crazy things said at rally's yesterday.
• I'm surprised the whole crowd didn't take off running. Video.
  
  
  
• What is their obsession with pissing off voters who don't have children? Video.
  
  
  
• Because he got paid to do so!
  
  
  
• A real ad on my Twitter timeline this morning:
  
  
  
• The Business Second™. One is in McKinney and the other is in Pilot Point. There won't be a single tract of land in North Texas that isn't developed over the next several years.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Second Business Second™:The Fed should announce interest rate cuts between 0.25 and 0.50 percent.  I'm guessing 0.25.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

She got a big kick out covering Wise County. No one else has cared as much. 

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• We have a pipeline fire near Houston. Take a look at how close those house are to it. They eventually caught fire despite being pelted with water all day.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Earthquake near Midland last night.  Blame past fracking. 
  
  
   
  
  
  
• The $350,000 Man will be a lap dog until the very end. He was at Abbott's side yesterday.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• But he actually took on a different role when he spoke up during the press conference, referring to undocumented immigrants as "cockroaches" that are part of an "infestation." That is the language that is used before an extermination. Video.
• This is kind of under the radar: There is still a federal grand jury investigative Texas AG Ken Paxton for bribery. And they heard testimony as recently as last month. From Bloomberg Law: 
  
  
  
• Regarding the Trump new "assassination attempt", mess around with Google maps, satellite view, and street view here.  And look how close you can get to the the tee-boxes for hole #7.  That's less than 60 feet. (The guy was actually positioned further to the east on hole #6.)  But, honestly, what's to prevent a drive-by with one or more AR-15s spraying into those bushes? I think I'd cut out the golf at that location for a while. 

  

  Tee-boxes for #7.

  

  

  

  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  
• Spin vs. Reality:
• The statement: "One of our officers was shot while protecting our subway system."
  
  
  
  
• The story: The officer was actually shot by other cops. They had opened fired on someone accused of not paying a subway fare, and also hit two bystanders. Now, in fairness, police at least say the man "charged" at them "with a knife". But still. 
  
• In a world built on grift, Trump introduced another one last night in the final weeks of a presidential campaign. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Pure clickbait. What he actually said to Wired magazine was, “If I had enough money to do it, which I don’t, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.”  And he is a pauper compared to what it takes to buy either of those entities. 
  
  
  
• NIL is getting weirder.
  
  
  
• DFW is now the #4 media market in the nation. It had been #5 for about 20 years. 
  
  
  
• Random Entertainment Thought: Movies sure have gone downhill.  It's just sequels and/or superhero dreck over the last few years.