Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

A guy was arrested on this but the case was later dismissed. 

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• A wild day in the Tanner Horner case as we met the defendant's alleged alter ego, "Zero."
  
  
  
• Game Warden Josh Espinosa was the first brief witness yesterday. He assisted in making the arrest of Horner who was on his delivery route at the time.  
  
  
  
• Texas Ranger Job* Espinosa spent most of the day on the stand as videos were shown to the jury. He managed to convince Horner to lead authorities to Athena's body. (*He is indeed named "Job, like the Good Book" he told them)
  
  
  
• "I'd rather die" than go away for a "long time" to prison, Horner told them in an interview at the Wise County Sheriff's Office.
  
  
  
• They let Horner smoke a cigarette before he would lead them to the body.  (If a person is cooperating in this situation, you would order them a lobster dinner if they wanted it.)
  
  
  
• Horner led officers to the Trinity River off of Bobo's Crossing. After her body was found, officer's told him "Thank you, Zero" and asked, "Zero, I need you. Can you come out?" 
  
  
  
• Side note: For a while, we got to the see the crowd milling around on the live stream during court breaks. 
  
  
  
• We won't get to see that any longer after this deputy told the video guy to have the camera face upwards when the trial isn't actually ongoing. 
  
  
  
• Quick hits on other things: 
• I can't make heads or tails out of this story.
  
  
  
  
• There was a shooting last night in far north Fort Worth yesterday evening. "Investigators determined the incident began as an argument between a man and a woman in a relationship near a parked car in a cul-de-sac. Neighbors who heard the commotion approached the vehicle to intervene. The situation escalated into a physical fight involving the couple and the residents. During the struggle, the woman involved in the initial argument pulled out a handgun and opened fire."
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
• Someone remind him that we bombed a school and killed over 160 girls. 

• By the time he's through with the film, he'll have the Mexican army being completely wiped out by Davy Crockett and his AR-15 while fighter jets made their way from Goliad.

• Messenger - Above the Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

Let me abandon my "10 Years Ago" post to bring front and center an image that was shown yesterday in the trial of Tanner Horner.  Without question, it is already the most famous photo in Wise County criminal justice history. 

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• For detailed reporting on the Horner trial, the Messenger is providing updates throughout the day without a paywall. It's good. I'll just give you some images from yesterday: 
  
• A packed house as the trial was about to begin. Moments later, the DA will have to give an opening statement that only minutes earlier he thought would be about guilt/innocence instead of  "just" the death penalty.
  
  
  
• DA James Stainton gave the opening. “You’re going to hear what a 250-pound man can do to a 67-pound child. It’s horrible . . . . One thing that you can’t unhear is the level of fight in a 7-year-old girl when she’s facing certain death."
  
  
  

• The defense lawyer opened with a very strange NBA basketball analogy of a guy who tore his Achilles tendon. 
  
  
  
• Paradise first grade teacher Lindsey Thompson was the first witness. She did a fantastic job. 
  
  
  
• Elizabeth Strand, stepmom at the time of the abduction. 
  
  
  
• The jeans that Athena was wearing at the time of her abduction.
  
• The FedEx package that was actually delivered at the the time of the abduction. 
  
  
  
• If the photo at the very top becomes the lasting image at this trial, this photo by Amanda McCoy of the Star-Telegram is a close second.
  
• Lane Akin, the former sheriff of Wise County, was emotional on the stand.  
  
  
  
• James McGuire, an FBI agent, was the first person to contact Horner as the investigation was unfolding. 
  
  
  
• ADA Patrick Berry, who normally takes the lead in most murder trials, finally got into the action. I suspect we will see a lot more of him. 
  
  
  
• WFAA does commentary on its feed. 
  
  
  
• Today at the trial, videos of Horner police interviews will be shown. 
• The War.
• After saying he would probably wipe out an entire "civilization" -- the single worse utterance of words by a president in the history of the United States -- Trump caved last night.  So we learned we have a madman as president who is willing to bluff genocide as a negotiating tactic.  
  
  
  
  
• When people ask how could the Holocaust happen under Hitler, yesterday you saw how. We all sat around waiting for 8:00 p.m. EST to see if Trump would destroy millions and millions of people.  And we would have let it happen.
  
  
  
• Trump went from requiring an "unconditional surrender" to this . . . 
  
  
  
  
• This morning, it appears that Iran will continue to collect a toll for the ships they allow to go through -- something that didn't exist before our attack of Iraq. And overnight, Iran fired missiles at the UAE, and Kuwait.
  
  
  
  
• One local news quick hit. 
• A Johnson County sheriff's deputy was shot and injured last night.  Side note: Notice how this Twitter blurb begins with "Gemini said."  There is no person named Gemini in the story.  Gemini is, however, the name of Google's AI. 
  

• Back to the Horner trial, the in-truck video recording system of the FedEx truck captured the audio of the murder. It, understandably, will be horrific.  I don't know how the live video feed from the courtroom is going to handle that. 

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

The last punch in the Republican Party's attempt to stop Trump.  

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• The long-awaited Tanner Horner capital murder case will start today, and it is being live-streamed by CourtTV on YouTube here.  It will also be shown on the WFAA+ app, and it should be on the Fox Local app as well. Edit: In a shocking move, Horner pled guilty moments ago.  The trial will now proceed on the death penalty issue. 
  
  
  
• And its getting media coverage the likes of which I haven't seen in a long tine. All these stories/posts have occurred within the last 24 hours: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
• Messenger story from yesterday evening.
  
  
  
• Gift link to a very long story. (And it includes a video link on Twitter of a new angle -- at least to me -- of her incredible inbounds pass to win the state championship.) 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Texas congressman was hitting on another staff member before his affair with the most recent one which led to her setting herself on fire. 
  

  

  
  
• "The woman's husband told police that she had vessel’s keys with her when she fell into the water, causing its engine to shut off. He had to paddle the 8-foot, hard-bottom boat for hours before he reached shore early Sunday, he said."  Story.
  

  

  
  
  
  
• New craziness this morning: "A whole civilization will die tonight . . . ."   Everyone just ignores his crazy threats of genocide as the rantings of a madman, until they are not. I doubt anything will happen today, but there's no one left in government who will stop him once he goes over the cliff.  
  

  
  
  
• Lets just' pull that back a little bit. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• J.D. Vance is using your taxpayer money this morning to campaign for wanna-be dictator Victor Orban in Hungary.  Incredible. 
  
  
  
  
• Rantings of Trump yesterday:
• Let's jail a journalist for not giving up a source. Hello fascism.  Video.
  
  
  
• That's what Hitler said about the Jews, rights? Video.
  
  
  
• Those poor kids have to be so confused.  Video.
  
  
  
• The embarrassment never ends.  Video.
  
  
  
  
• The Real Estate Second™. 
  
  
  
  
• Final Liberally Lean standings:
  
  
  
• Weird law enforcement fact: The city of Aledo didn't get its own police department until two months ago. Before then, they just contracted with the Parker County Sheriff's office.