11.07.2024

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




Random pic from Wise County courthouse 10 years ago.  How's that complete renovation going?

  • Yep, I'm processing the election, but we have never seen what we are about to see: 
    • A president-elect who promises to exercise presidential powers in an unprecedented authoritarian way,
    • Will appoint an Attorney General who will 100% do his bidding with a Justice Department full of yes men prosecutors (and Ken Paxton is on the potential AG list), 
    • Trump will have the full approval and support with no pushback from the Senate or the House, 
    • And the Supreme Court, which has three of his appointees, will not stop him. 
    • Get ready. The only restraint will be the one that Trump forces upon himself.
  • For years, Republicans worried about the Hispanic population growing to be a force in Texas politics.  They had nothing to worry about at all. It's getting better for the GOP.  Hillary won 27 Texas counties. Biden won 22.  Harris won 12. 
    Biden vs. Trump

    Harris vs. Trump

    • Starr County turned red for the first time in over 100 years.
    • Look at these stunning numbers:


  • Another fun Republican fact:

  • Ok, here's a strange one: Remember the gal who ran for Texas Railroad Commission who became semi-famous for an ad where she rode a pump jack virtually topless? Well . . . 

    • She ran for D.A. as a Republican in a district composed of three very rural counties in West Texas (Ward, Reeves, and Loving) against a long-time Democratic D.A. Well, she won.


    • Here's a New York Times article (gift link) on how she ended up there. She was basically recruited to target one of the few remaining Democratic DAs in the state. 
  • Hurricane Rafael hit Cuba and then completely changed directions.
    Two days ago

    This morning

  • Might as well. No need to wait for Trump's AG to do it. 

  • SMU will post historic local media clips from time to time and yesterday they gave us this one. 
    • But I didn't know anything about him and used ChatCPT's new* web search function to find the answer.



       
    • * "As of November 7, 2024, ChatGPT's web search functionality is available to ChatGPT Plus and Team subscribers, as well as SearchGPT waitlist users. OpenAI plans to roll out this feature to free users over the coming months."
  • Messenger - Above the Fold

at 8:30 AM

11.06.2024

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts





Good gawd. 

  • [Insert musical background] "Hello darkness, my old friend . . . ."
  • When I'm wrong, I'll admit that I was wrong. And I've never been more wrong. 
  • I'm still trying to process all of this because I haven't yet. 
  • This was full onslaught of a win. From all accounts, Trump won all the states he was expected to and then won, or will win, all of the "battleground" states. He'll even win the popular vote. Incredible. Unbelievable. 

  • North Carolina elects a Democratic governor, but voted for Trump over Harris. Florida votes over 50% in favor of abortion protection, but choses Trump. 
  • So what happened? I don't know. The conventional wisdom is that the Hispanic male vote was a big difference. (A record 46% for Trump per exit polling.) But it's much, much more than just that. 
  • Or maybe electing a black woman is a big ask in today's America. 
  • But I do know there will be no "stop the steal" campaign. There will be no attack of the Capitol. And Joe Biden will show up on inauguration day. 
  • I take Trump at his word.  There will be mass deportations of illegal immigrants, he is your "retribution", he will imprison his enemies, pardon the Insurrectionists, he will silence media outlets he doesn't like, allow a "violent day" of policing coupled with police immunity, and he intends to be a dictator "from day one." And, make no mistake, there will be no guardrails this time around. There will be no one around him to tell him no. 
  • Republicans took back the Senate and will probably increase their margin in the House.  Once again, no guardrails. 
  • I actually watched Trump's acceptance speech live at around 2:00 in the morning. "We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible and it is now clear that we've achieved the most incredible political thing. Look what happened! Is this crazy?"
    • He also spent two minutes on Elon's "spaceship", stopped down the speech for a full minute to invite golfer Bryson DeChambeau to the stage (video), and for someone reason let UFC CEO Dana White take the microphone. 

  • The federal criminal cases are now dead.  The state cases are legally alive but might as well be dead.  

    • And will his Justice Department prosecute Jack Smith, the federal special prosecutor?
  • Wise County didn't disappoint. (Side note: Hey Wise County, your court and jail web site is down this morning.) 

  • Side note on how big a Republican victory this was. Even in deep blue Harris County, Texas, Republican judges were beating Democratic judges in district court races. 

    • And this is deep drilling, but look at what happened on Texas state appellate judge races across the state:

  • Regarding my prediction yesterday, they aren't going to take my trophy away, will they? 
  • Bright spot: At least a transgendered football player won't tackle me on the way to my car today. 
  • In the end, we found out who are country is.  Fear and anger wins. This is Trump's America. We've never seen anything like this. Good, bad, or catastrophic, we deserve the storm that is coming. 


at 8:30 AM

11.05.2024

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts





I don't think the fact that Republicans won in Wise County in 2014 deserved that large of a headline.

  • It's election day, so it's time to for my award winning prediction. But first, a flashback to my past accomplishments. (Yes, this is real and in my office.)

  • And so who do I follow-that up this time with my prediction to win the presidential election? With this: It will be Kamala Harris.
    • Why?
      • Lack of Motivation from Normal Republicans. For those which might have been inclined to vote for Trump four or eight years ago, they are now simply tired of him. He's the polar opposite of a shiny new object. And I think this will cause a lot of the normal Republicans to simply stay home. 
      • Motivation of the Haters: On the other end of the spectrum, if there were a vote for the most hated man in America, Trump would win. Those in that camp are motivated to crawl across broken glass to vote against him.
      • January 6th, and his current support of the Insurrectionists and how he called it a "day of love."

      • The overturning of Roe v. Wade. Don't underestimate the fury of women. 
      • He's never won the popular vote. And he's less popular now than then.
      • I have faith in the American people to banish that man to history and put this Bizarro World to bed. And I think the Normal Republicans wouldn't mind that at all. 
  • On a different note, Ted Cruz beats Collin Allred, and I don't think it will be all that close. 
    • Side note: Don't be fooled by the early voting number tonight which will show Allred ahead. Those numbers will primarily be from the metropolitan areas. Once the all the rural votes trickle in over the next two hours, Cruz will take back the lead. 
  • And I find this incredibly interesting. Early voting in red state Texas is actually down compared to four years ago. Is that a sign of lack of motivation of a red state?  Are the normal Republicans staying home? 


  • The day before the election, I never expected the Republicans to be focused on a squirrel. 

  • Marjorie sent a QAnon message this morning.  "Storm" is pure QAnon, and she was one of "17" Republicans to vote to not condemn QAnon in 2020.

  • Random news that I could find that wasn't election news: Two tourists crashed into each other on a jungle zipline in the U.S. Virgin islands. That's a pic from the company's website.


  • Oh, and an Amazon truck almost fell off an overpass in Dallas last night. 

  • Sports quick hits:
    • I'm not sure I even knew this was still going on. It sounds like it settled.

    • Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy has a hot sports opinion about the fans who criticize him. Audio. 

    • Aggie carnage. 

  • I feel overly stressed on election day, and am thinking to much about Pennsylvania.

at 8:30 AM

11.04.2024

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




The Republicans in the Texas legislature did away with straight ticket voting, and I'm not sure why. 
  • Hot prediction for tomorrow night: Fairly early in the evening, before anyone can possibly be declared a winner because most of the votes still need to be counted, Trump will take the stage and, without reservation, proclaim that he has won. His MAGA base will blindly believe him. It will be the first step in an attempted coop in the event he eventually loses.  We may be entering very, very dangerous times.



    • It's all part of a plan.


  • If you want a fantastic explainer on what various combination of the swing states can lead to victory for either Harris or Trump, here's a gift link to a New York Times article with very cool graphics. (It's a strange headline. The article spends equal time showing how Harris can win.)


  • But Trump is doing everything he possibly can in the final days to lose this race
    • If someone takes a shot at him, he's fine with the press being hit instead. Video

    • He simulated what? Video.

  • A police chase on Friday ended with a brief foot chase with a tremendous flip over a fence. Video.

    • Based upon the helicopter which was following the chase, he was headed to Wise County before detouring in Haslet.

  • Continuing the areas string of horrible wrecks, the metroplex had one very late on Halloween night which resulted in a chain reaction. The details began to come out on Friday afternoon. 


  • They are basically following the game plan that Baylor did in its scandal a few years back. Hire a law firm, have that firm do a private internal investigation, roll some heads, and then hope you've done some damage control from the lawsuits that are incoming. 

  • Did I hear this wrong, or did Pat McAfee drop a hard F bomb on College Game Day?  Video.

  • Random NFL pic from yesterday,

  • Liberally Lean Weather Team Flash Forecast: It will rain this morning in Wise County but with an absolute deluge for only about 30 minutes in a window from around about noon to 1:00 p.m. It will then quickly taper off completely by 2:00 p.m. 
  • Big election prediction coming tomorrow.

at 8:30 AM

11.01.2024

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

at 2:30 PM
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