6.30.2025

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




I had forgotten the firestorm in Texas the Supreme Court's gay marriage decision stirred up. (More on that later this week.) But is started out calmly enough in Denton County. 

  • A horrible wreck in on I-20 in Terrell left five dead.

     

    • But it's way too early for DPS to haul off and arrest a truck driver for "falling asleep." And it's going to take way more than that to turn an accident into "manslaughter" or "aggravated assault with a deadly weapon." 



  • Elon is not happy with Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill.":

  • Everyone from Dan Patrick to John Cornyn to Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker are calling on the Tarrant County Republican Party chairman to resign after he posted an online poll.  Side note: He's done a ton of more offensive things than that. What took them so long?



  • Hulen Mall caught fire Friday evening. Video.


  • Do not defy the Fuhrer on the Big Beautiful Bill, or anything else.

    • Result the next day:

  • Even the Israeli justice system jumps when Trump tells them to. On Saturday, Trump threatened to withhold aid to Israel unless it stops the prosecution of Netanyahu. 

    • And then on Sunday: 

  • Pam Bondi news
    • More proof that it's over.

    • She's dumb as a box of rocks. In a press conference after national injunctions were basically eliminated by the Supreme Court, she said that Birthright Citizenship will be "decided in October" (there is no case currently pending before Supreme Court with that issue), "unless it comes down in the next few minutes" (there weren't even any cases left for the court to decide this term)  And it's the next term of the Supreme Court, not the next session. Video.

  • While the Senate debated passing a budget that would slash Medicaid and cause 12 million people to lose their healthcare, Jeff Bezos, the third wealthiest person in the world,  got married in three day star-studded affair in Venice. 

  • I'm sorry, what?

  • I had nothing to so with this on the Decatur square. (h/t Chris.)

  • We'll see more and more of stuff like this. "The U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York has opened a federal investigation into free-agent guard Malik Beasley related to gambling, his lawyer, Steve Haney, confirmed to The Athletic on Sunday."

  • I normally despise "fight videos", but it you haven't seen the brawl between the gals at the Star in Frisco, it's a must see. 

at 8:30 AM

6.27.2025

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




Kliff Kingsbury was still living large as Texas Tech's head coach.

  • He got 60 years as part of a plea bargain, but that's basically the same as the maximum of 99 years/life.  The rule is that he must serve either 1/2 of his sentence or 30 years, "whichever is less", before becoming eligible for parole.  So there's not much difference between 60 and anything above 60. 



  • "Two bounty hunters are in custody after a man was fatally shot near downtown Dallas Thursday morning."  Bounty hunters? They still exist?


  • Excitement in Houston last night.



    • But it didn't end like you would expect: With a hug.

  • From the official White House Twitter account.

  • The playbook for any authoritarian is to attack and threaten the media in hopes of controlling how things are reported in the future.


  • Story below. Legal nerdy stuff: This happens because the law says the State must be "ready" for trial within 60 days of a person's incarceration on a felony. Normally and practically, a prosecutor simply announcing ready (even if he's not) will suffice. From there, the case may not be be tried for many months or years into the future.  But you can't claim to be ready if the defendant hasn't been indicted -- the case hasn't even been filed in court. So the practice is to indict within 60 days and then announce "ready." But the consequences for dropping the ball and not getting the indictment are that the defendant is entitled to a PR bond to get out of jail. He can still be indicted and prosecuted in the future. 

  • Collin County state rep. Jeff Leach will be challenged by "KingdomLife" pastor Brandon Burden who got national attention (and especially mine) for a crazy sermon he gave days after January 6th. 

    • Flashback:

  • The Business Second - "Say what?" Edition:  (Gift link.)


  • Microsoft is changing the color and tone of its "Blue Screen of Death" in Windows.  Honestly, I very rarely see the current version of it any longer. 

    • However, back in the day, this version seemed to be on a constant loop. And when that happened, the machine was completely frozen:

  • In about 30+ minutes, the Supreme Court will release its final opinions of this term. Included in the cases will be Texas v. Pornhub, and one on birthright citizenship (which will actually just be about the legality of nationwide injunctions by individual district judges).
  • A Wise County criminal case was affirmed by the Fort Worth Court of Appeals in an opinion released last night.  The court didn't spend a lot of time on it, but one of the issues on appeal was the judge not granting a mistrial when a member of the audience watching the trial, who was connected to the defendant, sent a Facebook friend request to a jury member during the trial. 
  • Lauren Whitener Clock: 5 years and 358 days.


at 8:30 AM

6.26.2025

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts





I don't think I've ever seen this before or since.

  • The guy worked at Howe ISD (over by Sherman) but the report says he currently lives in Rhome. (Edit: Link fixed.)

  • The defendant claims he dumped the body over a bridge near Bowie, but authorities haven't been able to find it. 

  • Ok, this is crazy. After pumping $10,000 of the $30,000 into the Bitcoin machine and while still standing at the machine, she called an assistant district attorney in Tarrant County directly -- she had met him and heard him speak two times on elder abuse. 


  • Tarrant County Christian Nationalism
    • Republican Party Chair:

    • County Judge:

  • Man, Trump is really bent out of shape on the media calling him out on the use of the word "obliteration."  This morning they trotted out Pete Hegseth and Gen. John "Razin" Caine to fight back. However, despite for speaking jointly for over 45 minutes, they didn't have any new information. But Hegseth did go on a long rant about the media like any good authoritarian does.

    • Hegseth at one point said the media shouldn't have published the leaked report but instead, "Wave an American flag. Be proud of what we accomplished." Sheesh.
    • Hegseth, when he did talk about the Iran military operation, said:  “President Trump directed the most complex and secretive military operation in history.”  The folks behind D-Day would beg to differ.
    • And they never answer a question. Even Fox News is attacked for for asking for new information.  

  • Kari Lake testified in front of a congressional hearing yesterday on behalf of the Administration. It went about like you would expect.

  • Oh, please let his be true. (Brufke is a congressional reporter for Axios.)

  • A lot about this story gets my attention. How a publicity tactic by a Houston attorney worked. The facts of the case which are pretty wild. And there's also this: "The civil lawsuit says the two women are asking for $250,000 in damages."

  • Messenger - Above the Fold

at 8:30 AM
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