4.08.2025

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




And with that, a decade of problems for Ken Paxton had begun.

  • Final Liberally Lean Bracket Standings:

  • The University of Houston again failed to win the national championship last night after blowing a late lead. I think we all know why:

  • Trump vs. The Courts had a big day yesterday.
    • Case #1. In using the Alien Enemies Act to sweep up and immediately deport anyone the Trump Administration claims is a gang member, the Supreme Court avoided  made two rulings . . . 

      • The first ruling is that anyone swept off the street does have the right to challenge their removal in court and must be given a "reasonable" time between being snatched up and moved out of the country to do so. Practically, I don't know anyone swept off the streets is going to be able to quickly find, much less hire, a lawyer to make the court challenge so that pretty means 95%(?) or more will just be summarily deported. 

      • I was a little surprised that the government actually conceded the due process point -- that those detained under the Act were entitled to a court hearing. (See below) That's not what the Trump talking heads have been saying. 

      • And Trump has to be happy with the second ruling: The court said any challenge to deportation must be made where the detainee is held.  So now the plan will be (as Trump has already done), to immediately ship them to a holding center in Texas where a Trump-friendly judge will be waiting for any of them wishing to challenge their imminent deportation. So that 5% which can mount a court challenge are doomed anyway. 
    • Case #2. In the case where the federal judge had ordered the Trump Administration, by midnight, to bring back the guy who was wrongfully deported to the El Salvadorian prison, Trump had a loss and then a victory all in the same day.

      • The loss occurred early in the day when the D.C. Court of Appeals upheld the district judge's ruling. And they were very blunt about it. 

      • The win came later in the day when the Supreme Court put everything on hold. I have no idea what's going on here. 
         


  • Tariff wars: Trump had a message to you - "Don't be stupid!"

    • Let's check in on Fox News.
  • I don't think this is getting enough coverage: All over the country, student visas of college students are suddenly being revoked. 
  • With crises breaking out everywhere, Trump was excited about at least one thing yesterday. 
    • Later, as the Dodgers were welcomed to the White House, this happened:
  • Just a bit too far.
     
  • Go Team Roundup!

  • I've mentioned before that the company which is trying to create a woolly mammoth has Decatur ties (Ben Lamm and the Armes family). Well, the company just created a living and breathing dire wolf right out of Game of Thrones. The event was featured on ABC's World News Tonight last night and now on the cover of Time magazine. 



at 8:30 AM

4.07.2025

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




A state prosecution would end in a hung jury. A subsequent federal prosecution resulted in a 20 year sentence. 

  • A weekend timeline regarding the Trump Tariffs and his self-inflicted gunshot wound to the economy.  
    • On Friday, the stock market crashed, and Trump headed off to the golf course. The Wall Street Journal summarized it: 

    • His henchmen, meanwhile, tried to do damage control. Stephen Miller makes Joseph Goebbels seem charming as he lies with anger.

    • The White House provided a statement on Saturday: Was the news going to be that Trump was backing down on tariffs? Nope. We were told that Trump had advanced to the club championship for Sunday. Very Kim Jong Un.

    • On the Sunday morning talk shows, Trump administration officials floundered in  trying to justify why the tariffs were being imposed in the first place.  Get your little screwdrivers ready:

    • Yesterday on Air Force One, after four days of golfing and with the Monday morning stock market futures plummeting, Trump got to the important stuff. 

    • Then he fired off this tweet to indicate that he's not backing down on the tariffs as he threw in a few lies. 

  • Watch this development: A federal judge has ordered the Trump Administration to return by midnight tonight the man who was wrongly sent to the El Salvador prison.  The White House responded Friday night with a shocking retort:

    • And on Saturday: 


  • Protests occurred across the nation on Saturday. (And I found my favorite sign.)


  • Never mind that Congress passed a law banning it which was then upheld by the Supreme Court. But what do laws mean these days, right? 

  • Measles update.
     

  • Man, that's one big root system. 

  • Remember that big pile up in Austin where the truck driver was arrested for DWI?. The toxicology report came back and found no alcohol and no drugs.  The police have said the are "aware of the report" and  they are working with the DA to figure out the "appropriate charges."
    ™

  • The Business Second™.

  • Texas Tech spring football practice on Friday afternoon: 

  • Stock market opens right now with the Dow down 1,125.



at 8:30 AM

4.04.2025

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




The former Wise County attorney in charge of misdemeanors passed away 10 years ago. The blurb above is from when he was in office. It was some wild days back then, but Hale, when it comes to marijuana, was just way ahead of his time.  

  • The hours after "Liberation Day" didn't feels too liberating.

    • Here comes China:

  • As the markets were crashing, Trump headed to Mar-a-Lago to watch a Saudi-funded LIV golf tournament at his own course.

     

    • And in case you wondering if he had anywhere else to be this weekend. 
  • Let's check in on Fox News was covering the tariffs impact on the markets. .


  • On his way to Florida on Air Force One, he showed off the new "Trump Card" which allows immigrants to buy their way into the U.S. for $5 million.

  • The fact that Laura Loomer even sets foot in the Oval Office, much less give advice that Trump heeds, is amazing.




      
  • I don't know if I would have hired this guy, but the proposed development in Collin County, which will welcome those of the Islamic faith, needs to fight back over the bigotry trying to stop it.  Affluent white Christians live in their own little enclaves all the time -- and then simply move to another one once it is no longer all white. When Muslims try to do it, everyone yells "Sharia law!!!"

  • This is an update on the the car that went into the Trinity River last weekend which led to the death of a child and mother (later at the hospital.)  But "Fort Worth police said they 'are not at liberty to say' what information led investigators to believe the crash was intentional." Uh, that's kind of important. 

  • Tell Wise County representative Andy Hopper not to sell out our public schools. The school vouchers are a scam to move your tax dollars to private religious schools which you have no control over and can't afford.

  • Lauren Whitener Clock: 5 years and 276 days. 

at 8:30 AM
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