10.14.2024

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




We didn't know her name yet, but nurse Nina Pham, and possibly her dog, contracted Ebola.  It was a full fledged panic in the metroplex. 


  • From Saturday night. Sounds like he'll be OK.


  • I think this is easily the worst year ever for fatality wrecks in Wise County.

  • We are the dumbest country.

  • Israel is at is again. All of these are headlines in the last 48 hours:
    • Starvation:

    • Schools:

    • Hospitals:

  • Elon Musk is a nut, but SpaceX sure can build rockets. And they have come up with another way for boosters to return to earth.  Here's a video which shows how fast it initially came back to the ground yesterday morning (but with lots of cussing since no one can take a cell phone video without cussing.)

  • "One person was hurt and at least 10 boats were damaged when a fire broke out Sunday afternoon at Silver Lake Marina in Grapevine, sending a huge plume of black smoke billowing into the air."

  • I think Ted Cruz will beat Colin Allred, but the silliest ad Cruz has (other than a simulated Allred tackling female high school athletes) is the one using the Democratic Houston D.A. for an endorsement. This is how popular she was in Houston in her re-election bid in the Democratic primary earlier this year:

  • The Fifth Circuit strikes again. "A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled late Friday that U.S. District Judge Janis Jack's "intemperate conduct on the bench" could reasonably make an observer question her impartiality."

  • The Business Two Seconds™. 
    • I thought this was a huge deal, but they have 9,500 stores in the United States.

    • All at record highs.  If Trump were president, he would be taking credit for this every day. 

  • We all know that the Evil Empire is on its way to a 100%-guaranteed-can't-miss National Championship, but I'm a little worried about Cooper Manning's choice in cowboy hats. 

  • After vacating a "Shaken Baby Case" conviction last Wednesday, the Court of Criminal Appeals gave the go ahead on Friday to execute another man whose case involved similar evidence.  Conservative Republican lawmakers quickly expressed their outrage (below). But the only opinion issued by the court, a concurrence, explained that the case just wasn't based on questionable shaken baby "expert" testimony and there's more to it. 



  • Critical question: What is going on with the miles and miles of a concrete strip being put in the middle of the median on 380 going west out of Decatur towards Bridgeport? It looks like a sidewalk, but there's now way that can be what is being built. 

at 8:30 AM

10.11.2024

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




Uncle Nate turned out to be smarter than me on where the issue of NIL was headed. (And the running back was Todd Gurley who "received more than $3,000 for autographed memorabilia" and ended up suspended for four games because of it.) 

  • Big news in the Tanner Horner capital murder case: Judge Brock Smith is no longer presiding over the case.  Because of a weird quirk in the law, if a judge rules to change the venue of a case because of pretrial publicity -- as Judge Smith did in this case --  the only way the judge gets to "go with the case" to the new county is if the prosecutor, the defendant, and defendant's lawyer all agree to keep the judge. On Monday, Tanner Horner filed with the court a Notice indicating that he objects to Judge Smith staying on the case. That's all it takes.  So, now, not only will the case be tried in Tarrant County, but there will be a Tarrant County district judge assigned to handle the case is all respects from this point forward. And, as I understand it, Judge's Smith prior scheduling order setting the case for jury trial next year is now void. Everything now rests with the new judge whose identity is  currently unknown.  

  • Israel killed 22 last night as it bombed a neighborhood in Beirut. The attack was "near the site of an attack that killed nine rescue workers last week."  More disregard for innocent life. 


  • Texas is weird in how that a tiny parole board has complete discretion to do what they want. But, honestly, I'm surprised Gov. Abbott didn't pressure them to release her considering she was a white police officer. Remember, earlier this year he flat out pardoned a different white killer. 


  • I didn't mention it yesterday, but tearing down a perfectly good mansion is a really dumb financial decision. He couldn't just sell it and find some other tract of land to build on? Is that tract of land in Frisco, of all places, all that special? 

  • Speaking of dumb financial decisions.


  • More funny than bizarre, no? 




  • The Business Second™: You can own the home of Billy Joel. (Gift link.)

  • There's a missing woman near San Antonio which has everyone abuzz down there. The husband has been arrested, but on unrelated charges.  

  • This is a long running battle of a JP who was officially admonished for refusing to marry same sex couples.  Out of nowhere and after years, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct just changed its mind and withdrew the admonishment. Weird.  And I should note that in a different legal action the Jack County judge sued the Commission saying he felt the same way as the JP and wanted them to be enjoined from censoring him. I guess that lawsuit is now moot (assuming it is even still alive.)
  • 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 98 days. 

at 8:30 AM

10.10.2024

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




I was posting a lot from old Bridgeport Indexes back then, and this is a great one. Side note: Almost all the Index's had been digitized online here but now all the links are inactive. That's bad. 

  • Hurricane Milton seems to have had more hype than bang as it arrived about five hours earlier than expected.  The tornadoes yesterday appear to have been the biggest problem, although there was a ton of rain last night. 


    • The worst damage appears to be to the fabric roof of Tropicana Field.

    • The other big damage was a fallen crane in downtown St. Petersburg. 

  • There was a house destroyed, but it had nothing to do with the hurricane. Dak Prescott tore down his mansion in order to build a better one. (Video which includes Dak rounding up his dogs as the bulldozers move in.)



  • This is weird. Over the last couple of weeks, the coach was dogged online by some "online content provider" named ThatDaneshGuy about allegedly physically assaulting a minor in public. Last week I looked at some of the "viral footage" of the aftermath of the incident and really couldn't tell much about other than some lady screaming at the coach. Police investigated it and closed the case without charges. In any event, the coach is now dead and the circumstances weren't released. The stories have coded wording like it could be suicide, but no one has said that.


  • Another good inflation report this morning. 

  • This story is about the killer in the recent ambush of a Dallas police officer in south Dallas. I've dealt with "sovereign citizens" before and, let me tell you, it's a wild ride. 


  • Garth Strikes Back.

  • Trump has already attacked Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen, and now he goes after Howard Stern.  Sound strategy he's got there. 

  • A short documentary by The New Yorker available on YouTube which got my attention: "What happens when a lefty public defender agrees to represent right-wing January 6th rioters in court?"
  • Legal nerdy stuff: The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned  a "shaken baby syndrome" case yesterday after questioning whether it was based on junk science testimony. Interestingly, the "expert" who testified in that case is the same expert that prosecutors used in the case of Robert Roberson who is set to be executed in Texas in seven days. 
  • Messenger - Above the Fold


at 8:30 AM
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