Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

The WBAP reporter, Alan Scaia, survived (and actually mentioned the wreck the other day.) I believe the other driver survived as well. 

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• In normal times, it would be earthshaking news that the head of the FBI, the agency responsible for the identifying 1,561 insurrectionists who took part on January 6th and referring them for prosecution, is being forced out by a man who will pardon those insurrectionists "on Day One" and . . . 
  
  
  
• . . . will replace him with this wholly unqualified sycophant.
  
  
  
• Time has just named Trump the "Person of the Year." And he is. The fact that he was able to return to the presidency is one of the biggest stories in the entire history of America -- much less of the year. And once he he's done, and I expect carnage, he will probably end up being the most  significant president ever.  
  
  
  
• You'll probably be reminded today of Time's 1938 Person of the Year, and that being named as such is not a stamp of approval.
  
  
  
• I think it is a dumb, dumb move for North Carolina to hire this guy.  The fact that no NFL team wanted him should have been a good indication of his current market value, but they gave him a  3 year, $30 million deal. I predict failure. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Fun fact: UNC's first game next year is at home against TCU.
• There was a plane crash on a service road in Victoria, Texas yesterday, and a video caught it happening. (Language warning.)
  
  
  
• The president was busy this morning. 

• We live in strange days where the truth is elusive. 
• Example 1: Lockheed trying to knock down Internet rumors. 
  
  
  
• Example 2: The Defense Department having to to say a congressman is being nutty. (But the fact that we don't know the source of those drones is a little nutty on its own.)
  
  
  
• The relationship between the Trumps and the Saudis grows. 
  
  
  
• He was big player on TV when I was a kid. 
  
  
  
• Legal nerdy stuff. This actually happened in a Court of Criminal Appeals opinion yesterday. I had to look up the word, uttered an "oh, my", and had to figure out that he the judge was doing a bit. 
  
  
  
• Legal stuff: The outgoing DA in Houston is making plea offers in all capital murder cases for "life without parole" instead of the death penalty.  I'm not sure that's necessarily a big deal.  There are apparently over 60 (!) of those cases pending and in how many of them was the D.A.'s office going to seek the death penalty before this change? The story doesn't say. 
  
  
  
• Messenger - Above the Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

I had to check, but she is still on that Texas appellate court. Some of her DWI video is still out there. 

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• News from the Messenger:
  
  
  
• Alleged killer updates: 
• He's gone a little crazy, no? 
  
  
  
• He yelled, “It’s completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and the lived experience!” as he was going into court.   I don't know what that means.
• The "manifesto" he was carrying when arrested turned out to be pretty short.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• This is the guy who was retained as his lawyer for the extradition issue (which is a foregone conclusion) and for the Pennsylvania charges (which will never be prosecuted). So he's just a bit player, but that didn't stop him from getting in front of the cameras at every chance yesterday. He's a bit of goofball.
  

  

  
  
  
  
• I blame this case for making this song from the 1970s get stuck in my head. (Fun fact: He's alive and well at the age of 84.) 
  
  
  
• And he's back in the local jail. I guess the relationship with the gal from Uzbek didn't work out.  A news conference is today. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Welcome to the American Oligarchy.  If you are rich, we will let you bypass all those pesky environmental  regulations. But the masses just shrug. 
  
  
  
• A great new play:
• Act I: Junior dumps his fiancé for a girlfriend.
  
  
  
• Act II: Fiancé gets appointed to ambassador to Greece as a consolation prize.
  
  
   
  
  
  
• Matt Gaetz went from potential Attorney General for the U.S. to the only job that he was qualified for on the open market: A talk show host for the the crazy OAN network. 
  
  
  
• Oh, no!
  
  
  
• We learned on Monday night that the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have a member who suffers from alopecia. 
  
  
  
• The Breaking News Business Second™: 2.7%
  
  
  
• I hate every Liberty Mutual commercial -- from the dumb emu to anything with the statute of liberty in background. They are just so bad. 

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

That was cool.  And a photo from a Southwest flight was pretty great too 

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• As you know, the alleged killer in the CEO case on the Manhattan streets was captured in Pennsylvania yesterday at, of all places, a McDonald's.
  
  
  
• Odds and ends. 
  

  

  Fake ID used at NYC hostel

  
  

  

  The "ghost gun"

  
  

  

  Twitter banner

  
  
• He was an Ivy League graduate with a master's degree, and was valedictorian of his $40,000 a year private high school. Video of commencement speech. 
  
  
  
• So someone explain to me how none of the the thousands of people who knew him didn't figure out is was him from the police-released photos, but a McDonald's worker did?
• OK, I'm not a conspiracy guy, and I think the right man was captured. But I will admit that for a brilliant guy who pulled off a meticulous killing, the ending doesn't make a lot of sense: 

  

  (Stolen from some rando on Twitter)

  
  
  
• This somehow is a little surprising to New Yorkers but the case would never have even been brought in Texas (and probably most other places.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Oh, my. It happened yesterday afternoon.  
  
  
  
• There was a time when a high speed chase that ended up with a crash in downtown Fort Worth during rush hour yesterday where two guys took off on foot but who were apprehended would be all over the news. Now the only way we know about it through social media and the Lake Worth PD.
  
  
  
• "No other details were released", but we definitely should know. 
  
  
  
• Rep. Nancy Mace has been on a weird and extended anti-gay rant lately, was the subject of a discovered video which is best described as a gross drinking game. 
  
  
  
• This may be a big deal. There seems to be a 0% contained fire in Malibu this morning. Gift link with photos 
  
   
  
  
  
• Yesterday morning in Marshall, Texas. The church was 163 years old.  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• This kind of got buried because of all the big news yesterday. She may very well end up as a member of the U.S. Senate via appointment. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• What's he talking about? Does he understand how elections work now?
  
  
  
• Legal odd stuff: A federal court order to go to lunch together.  Full order here (it's real and even more entertaining.)
  
  
  
• Random example of why college football, the last sport I watch, is turning into a beating: Maalik Murphy, the one-time backup QB to Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning at the Evil Empire, but who transferred to Duke and led them to a 9-3 record this season, is in the transfer portal again this morning.