Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

The case was dismissed the following year when the trooper agreed "to give up his police license and never seek another job in law enforcement."

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• Happening right now.  The U.S. has been following this ship for a couple of weeks, and is  believed to be near Iceland right now. It put up a Russian flag a few days in. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• “The video is believed to have originated outside of the U.S. with the sole purpose of inciting fear,” police said. Other screenshots here.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The conservative PAC "Texans for Lawsuit Reform" has endorsed Lisa McEntire over Andy Hopper for the Wise County state house seat.  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Teachers fight back arguing the First Amendment. .
  
  
  
• It's official.  George Orwell's 1984 is no longer just a novel.  The government is now telling you their version of events until they’re accepted as truth. “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”  It's over. 
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• This isn't going to happen  - nor should it. But why is he acting like a mob boss extorting a weak shop owner?
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The country has lost its mind.
  

  

  
  
  
  
• "New CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil has sparked a fresh wave of ridicule after a cringeworthy segment in which he started crying on air." The segment here. 
  
  
  
• A real picture from yesterday. Video.
  
  
  
• College football is broken. 
  
  
  
• The number of people killed in the "arrest" of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro is now up to 75.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

. And within the indictment was a reference to a bar in Bridgeport. 

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• It's January 6th. This should have ended Trump for good.   Instead, it was the turning point in American history. It's over. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Dateline: Houston. (Video.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Story.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• This is a extra fact thrown in at the end of the story: "According to court documents, Stanley secured his dogs after McLennan County Sheriff’s Office deputies came to the RV park and found the dogs eating the body of a dead man in one of the cabins. It was determined the man died from natural causes and no charges were filed, officials said."
  
  
  
• He's a baby.
  
  
  
  
• Venezuela: 
• From the Department of State: 
  
• If Trump is now "running" Venezuela, he's off to a rocky start. Madura's second in command is now president. "Here's the new boss, same as the old boss."
  
  
  
• Does Trump think Venezuela helped "steal" the election so that's why he invaded them? He sure acted like it yesterday:
  
   
  
  
  
• The Business Second™.  Multi-mega billion dollar deal between companies you've never heard of. 
  
  
  
  
• Texas Tech signed the top player out of the portal for $5 million and celebrated in Times Square. 
  
  
  
• How the college football world has changed. SMU once had their football program cancelled for paying multiple players a total of $63,000. 
  
  
  
• CBS Evening News rolled out a new anchor yesterday. It did not go well. 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

Lots of Wise County crime and justice news that week.

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• Non-Venezuelan quick hits.
• "Around 2:40 a.m., officers noticed a vehicle headed the wrong way on Exchange Avenue in the Fort Worth Stockyards. According to police, the driver ignored commands to stop, made a U-turn and sped away."
  
  
  
• The trial begins today. WFAA will live stream it. 
  
  
  
• Story.
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Now that's a bus crash. 
  

• Now on to Venezuela: I don't know much about international affairs, but if we just replaced Maduro with his vice president, what was the point?
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
• Top Trump quotes at the press conference after the invasion of Venezuela. 
• "We are going to run the country." (Video) Reality: No we won't. And he has no plan. 
• “The oil business in Venezuela has been a bust…We're going to have our very large U.S. oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken oil infrastructure, and start making money."(Video) Reality:  Not a chance. Trump might believe it, but he's the only one.  
• "We are not afraid of boots on the ground. We had boots on the ground last night. We are not afraid of it. We’re going to run the country right. It’s going to make a lot of money. They stole our oil." (Video.) Reality: It will never happen. (Venezuela is two times the size of Iraq and half of it is jungle.)
• And right in the middle of the press conference, Trump's brain wandered to D.C.  "We haven't had a killing. We had the terrorist attack a few weeks ago. Uhhh. A little bit of a different kind of a threat. But we haven't had a killing in a long period of time. Six, seven months." (Video)  Reality: He can't stay on track. And there have been 59 homicides during that time frame. 
• Quick other hits about Venezuela:
• Pete Hegseth: "America can project our will anywhere, any time" (Video)
• AG Pam Bondi promised Maduro would face "the full wrath American justice."  Wrath?
• Well, this was embarrassing.
  
  
  
• Last night Trump said on Air Force one that we "need" Greenland next. Steven Miller's wife post even before he said it: 
  
  
  
  
  
  

• And buried in all that news, Trump posted a wild conspiracy theory that would have had him removed from office in a nano-second a few years ago when the country was sane. Side note: Moments ago, Walz announced he would not seek re-election.

• The Business Second™: Based upon this headline being on the Dallas Morning News home page a second ago, I'm a little worried about the newspaper being taken over by the hedge fund a couple of months back. 
  
• Random NFL tidbit: The New York Jets became the first team in NFL history to not get an interception in a full regular season.