12.19.2023

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




Background on the "Death at Six Flags" story is here.

  • Greg Abbott has signed the most obvious unconstitutional law passed in decades. There is a lot of time wasting and expense, both past and future, that goes into a political stunt. 


  • We've got some clearer pictures of the pedestrian-through-the-windshield incident. Incredible.


  • Random weather thought: I don't remember a milder November and December in my lifetime. The Liberally Lean First Alert Weather Team™ is bored. 

  • The prosecution of Netflix, brought on by crazy Texas DA Lucas Babin who indicted Netflix on criminal child porn charges because of a French drama film, has officially been killed by the Fifth Circuit. Yesterday, the court upheld a lower federal district court judge who said the prosecution was brought in bad faith and couldn't possibly succeed.  It never had a chance, so Netflix had gone to a federal court to stop it. 


     
    • And I still can't get over who the DA is in that case. 
       

  • Insurrectionist gathering.

  • One of life's great mysteries is how Wise County is not the home of a single indicted Insurrectionist. But there's still time, two more people were charged yesterday.

  • Legal silliness: This verdict came down yesterday. "The [seven] former students and parents said that they had become sick from chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, that had leaked from light fixtures at the school."  But I'm a bit confused because later in the story it said light fixtures containing PCBs haven't been manufactured since 1979. Regardless, I seriously question causation in any case like this.

  • Very random Texas election nugget: From my review, there were two individuals who tried to get on the ballot to run for a judgeship in the Texas primary next March but who were rejected by their political party of choice. Both were Democrats and one of them was an incumbent in Houston. I want to know more. 

  • The North Dallas Tollway is soon going to be one county away from Oklahoma.


  • Mark Cuban selling his beloved Mavericks and still not holding a press conference or giving an interview is beyond weird. Something is fishy. Is he in some kind of money trouble? Crypto related? Just scatter-shooting here. 


at 8:30 AM

12.18.2023

Random Monday Morning Thoughts





I had forgotten about that fun little controversy.

  • We've got a weird and wacky case from over the weekend. On Saturday night, a 911 caller contacted White Settlement PD to tell them of a car in a parking lot of a Jack In The Box looked like it had been in a wreck and the driver was slumped over the steering wheel. Cops will find and determine:

    • There was a body in the passenger seat which had gone through the windshield. (That is one heck of a dent on the hood.)

    • The car had been sitting in that parking lot for just over three hours -- that's with the dead body in the passenger seat and  the driver beside him. 
    • The car had been in Arlington around 6:00 p.m. but evidence shows that he struck a person near Dallas at I-30 and Cockrell Hill road (40 miles from the Jack in the Box.)
    • The driver was "detained". 

    • We don't know the name of the deceased. 
    • If all of this sounds familiar, a similar case happened in Fort Worth in 2001.
  • The crazy lies surrounding the election have cost people and companies so much money (not to mention criminal convictions.) First, Fox News had to pay $787 million, and now Rudy is on the hook for $148 million. 



    • I was hoping this is Rudy's lawyer, but it's actually just some "associate." However, I cannot stop looking at this.

  • Two fires on Friday with dramatic pictures:
    • An apartment complex under construction in Rowlett


    • A home in Lucas (which is in Collin County.)

  • Trump went full Hitler again this weekend. He's not even hiding it any longer since this line was from the teleprompter.  You have been warned. 

  • I had seen headlines about Prestonwood's Baptist Church's Christmas show, but didn't think much about it. Then I saw this one minute quick video compilation of everything that went on in it. Oh, my. 

  • Tone deaf, or just deaf, politicians over the weekend:
  • The Business Second™: Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan are smiling from their graves this morning. 

  • The high school football finals at Jerry World were all blowouts, but we did get this (real) image from the last game. DeSoto won 74-14.

  • I finally finished Mad Men. Verdict: Two huge thumbs up. One of my all-time favorite series.


at 8:31 AM

12.15.2023

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




The New York Post and been New York Posting for a long time now.

  • As part of Sidney Powell's plea bargain in the Georgia insurrection case, she had to write a "letter of apology." Below is the whole thing. I don't blame her.  That's a childish condition of the plea.


  • A modern day Christmas story in four Acts:
    • Act I. This is really pretty simple. If the government opens up its property to any group, it has to open it up to all religions no matter how out of the mainstream they are. To do otherwise, would be "establishing"/endorsing one religion over another as well as censoring speech based upon its content. Both violate the First Amendment. It's not hard. (Side note: The group isn't a Satanic cult at all. They are actually just a "freedom from religion" outfit.)



    • Act II: One guy apparently didn't get the message. And don't celebrate this - that's embarrassing. Instead blame your elected officials for being dumb enough to open up government property to all comers.

    • Act III: And we also have an arrest. "The Iowa Department of Public Safety says 35-year-old Michael Cassidy of Lauderdale, Mississippi, was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief." But wait. We have a plot twist. He just happens to be running for a state House seat in Mississippi as a "Christian conservative."  


    • Act IV: And, in a routine we know all to well, the grifting has begun. This is all so exhausting. 

  • Four years. Not enough. But do all these people look the same? 


  • Want to watch a 60 second "public service message" which will absolutely stop you down (or outrage you if you are of a certain type)?

  • I call that a successful escape. Video. The sanctuary is "a 232-acre farm home to nearly 450 animals, including cows and bulls, sheep, goats, horses and chickens in rural Suffolk County — about 55 miles northwest of Newark."



  • Interesting if you are, well, interested in that sort of thing. Link. It was released this morning. 


  • Also released this morning: A deep dive by the New York Times. I have a gift link here.
     

  • The Business Second™: Mortgage rates have begun their fall.

  • The Business 2nd Second™: Pastor Robert Jeffress' empire has invaded Waco.

  • Stuff like this shouldn't be a news story. It happens all the time -- and for far less things than a state championship game. 


  • Legal nerdy stuff: Everyone was roasting the defense attorneys in the comments under this headline -- "they should be disbarred," one said -- but that legal theory is spot on. At least in Texas, the degree of theft is based upon the "fair market value" of the property stolen. And although the jury doesn't have to agree, they are entitled to consider whether the sale price is the fair market value. 

  • Legal nerdy stuff 2: Judge Don Willett is a wingnut, but he sure can write. And yesterday he was spot-out when writing about a crazy case out of Midland that made it to the Fifth Circuit:


  • 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: 4 years and 172 days.

at 8:31 AM
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