Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

I was hot and heavy on the Silk Road article in Wired. It had been operated by the guy who was pardoned by Trump earlier this year.

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• Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd tap the brakes on this deal before declaring it the greatest thing since sliced bread.  The first step is for Hamas to release all of the hostages which is expected to happen Monday. If that doesn't happen, everything falls apart. 
  
  
  
  
• Case in point: Part of the agreement is for Israel to release some Palestinian prisoners, too.  We are seeing cracks in the deal already this morning:
  
  
  
• Trump was giddy about announcing the deal yesterday afternoon after Marco Rubio handed him a note that he needed to hurry up and approve the Truth Social post about it. 
  
  
  
• What's the hurry? Oh:  
  
  
  
• Ugh.
  
  
  
• Story.
  
• I googled the guy's name and came up with this from June: 
  
• Northwest ISD shows a little backbone.
  
  
  
• Does he think walking on one turns you gay? 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• It failed by a vote of 48-51 last night.  Congress might as well not exist. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• We are witnessing a made-up campaign against the Boogeyman of "Antifa" which the Trump Administration will use to declare all sorts of emergencies in order to do whatever they want -- from sending troops to American cities to controlling elections. Video.
  
  
  
• Girlfriend? Of a "founder"? Please.  And by "eliminate," does she mean "kill"? 
  
  
  
  
• Yes. Yes, she does. 
  
  
  
• The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump's insane social media post telling Pam Bondi to indict his enemies, including former FBI Director James Comey, was meant as a private personal message. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Under the radar news: The White House announced last night that  "On Friday morning, President Trump will visit Walter Reed Medical Center for a planned meeting and remarks with the troops. While there, President Trump will stop by for his routine yearly check up."  But he already had his yearly check-up in April.
• Legal nerdy stuff:  We had an appellate court opinion on Tuesday overturning the civil forfeiture of $41,680.00 found in a vehicle during a traffic stop. No criminal charges were ever filed. 
• Messenger - Above the Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

They were filming the Hulu mini-series, which starred James Franco, which would come out the next year. 

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• This happened yesterday evening. The ages of the boys were 5 and 7, but we don't know much more than that.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• They don't come out and say it, but this death seems to have occurred as the result of friendly fire. Also, the sheriff's office is housed in the courthouse and the incident occurred after an interrogation/interview. Story
  
  
  
• Oh, no.
  
  
   
  
  
  
• The state's biggest headline seeker announces an undercover investigation. No worries. You'll never hear another word about this.  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Troops from the Texas Army National Guard 36th Infantry Division arrived in Illinois yesterday. Those boys have had a few cheeseburgers.
  
  
  
• And Trump had suggestions of who they should arrest this morning. None of this is normal.  
  
  
  
• He had been here longer than ICE has existed.
  
  
  
  
• The Secretary of War (ugh) was cosplaying yesterday. 
  
  
  
• AG Pam Bondi's embarrassing appearance yesterday in front of Senate Judiciary Committee should scare us all. She was performing for an audience of one (Trump), and she acted exactly like his personal lawyer instead of the head of an independent Justice Department. More importantly, she had total scorn for the committee and feared absolutely no consequences for refusing to answer questions. It's as if she knows there will never again be a change of political powers in Washington.  It's over. 
  
  
  
• She even brought pre-written retorts of attack points (which she had trouble remembering.)
  
  
  
• Marjorie will save us. 
  
  
  
• And Fox?
  
  
  
• Texas Tech has officially unveiled a new logo which does away with the famous beveled look. 
  
  
  
• Dolly Parton's sister, via social media post, implied that Dolly was on her death bed yesterday. She has since apologized.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

Good times. 

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• Wise County Judge J.D. Clark provided a sneak peak of the almost-restored district courtroom, now with a balcony, yesterday. (Those support polls will have some fancy molding put around them.)
  
  
  
• Say what? Gift link.
  
  
  
• I saw the story over the weekend of two "teenagers" killed after "subway surfing" in New York, but I completely missed that their ages were finally revealed to be 12 and 13. 
  
  
  
• Oh, my.  Amazingly, no deaths among the three people on board. 
  
  
  
  
  
• We've finally got the video of the runway collision between two Delta aircraft at LaGuardia Airport in New York last week.  That seems ridiculously avoidable.
  
  
  
• I've already seen these ads on TV urging Dallas police officers to join ICE. How exactly does that make our cities safter?
  
  
  
• The government shutdown might be coming to an end as cracks are now appearing in the standoff.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Uh, yeah. The militarization of American cities isn’t happening with a parade of tanks. It’s a slow drip of troop deployments happening right before our eyes.
  
  
  
• This might be the most incriminating he’s ever looked in connection with the Epstein scandal.  Video.
  
  
  
• The Business Second™. U.S. bank Fifth Third on Monday agreed to buy Texas based Comerica in a deal which will make Fifth Third the ninth largest bank in America.  I'll admit I hadn't ever heard of "Fifth Third" bank before this.   
  
  
  
• The best stuff is often in the last paragraph of the story.  The company could be paid $50 million for the first year and up to $250 million by 2030.
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Last night: Trevor Lawrence fell down twice and then got up and ran for a score on this game winning play. Video.
  
  
  
• AG Pam Bondi is appearing before a Senate subcommittee at this moment. That should be good.