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- The Impeachment Inquiry has become Quid Pro Oh!
- The Ukraine Problem surpassed Watergate yesterday with the testimony of Bill Taylor (the highest ranking diplomat to Ukraine, appointed by Trump, West Point graduate, and Vietnam Vet) who testified he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Everything we believed about the quid pro quo of Trump and the Ukraine turned out to be true. For his personal benefit for the 2020 campaign, he held up Congressionally approved funds the Ukraine needed to protect itself from the Russians. A PDF of his opening statement is here. Nothing else should be needed.
- Maybe the best part of the opening statement was how the ultra conservative John Bolton called the whole thing a "drug deal", that those involved needed to "brief the lawyers", and that if Trump made the call to the Ukraine president it "would be a disaster." He was right. And Bolton, who is a powder keg in his own right, hasn't even testified yet.
- And Sarah Sanders replacement, who is paid $170K a year to never hold a press conference, thought the following would be the best response yesterday. "Radical unelected bureaucrats?" Hey, Bill Taylor is you're guy. He's still on the job today.
- Uh, oh. He's watching Fox and Friends this morning, and he's now grasping at this new straw? So the defense is now, "Ok, I'll admit we were withholding military funding until they helped me with my 2020 campaign, but they didn't know that we were withholding funding!" He'll be a con man until the end. (And Ukraine officials did know and complained about it.)
- Edit/Breaking: Lookout! He just made a decision to tangle with the press!
- New numbers from one of the best polling services (before yesterday's testimony):
- TCU's uniform against Texas is concerning.
- The Bonnen Tape is causing some young Republican on young Republican violence. It's a preppy online gang war.
- Speaking of Bonnen, our County Judge, J.D. Clark, had an opinion piece in today's issue of the Messenger. He was none to pleased with Bonnen dissing local officials. As I've said, that's what did Bonnen in.
- Speaking of the Messenger, I'll just throw out this hidden gem from a crime story. Interested in context? Subscribe to the paper. Support local journalism. Don't be a cheapskate.
- Texas courts are beginning to throw a little shade at penny-ante marijuana prosecutions. Case in point: A Fort Worth case was reversed yesterday where the court took effort to note the weed in question was ".14 ounces" and "worth about $6."
- This is like Season Two of The Wire. They don't know what's going on yet, but the container came in from Bulgaria to a port in northern Wales before being trucked down to near London. (My Google map skills tell me that the travel by sea alone would be almost 4,000 miles by going through the Mediterranean.)
- Amber Guyger has filed a Notice of Appeal. She can always withdraw it later, but you don't see that change of heart happen very often.
- Somewhere along the line, cops decided that carrying a large amount of cash was in of itself a crime even when they can't prove anything else. Sure it's OK to wire a ton of cash from Goldman Sachs to Deutsche Bank, but if you have an Hispanic surname and driving on I-35 committing a "traffic violation" as viewed by the historically corrupt Williamson County law enforcement community, they'll accuse you of a felony. Suspicious? Yes. Probable cause? Nope. Eventual proof beyond a reasonable doubt? No way. Will the State try and extort the forfeiture of the money anyway? You know that I don't even have to answer that, but at least the courts are increasing slapping down such efforts.
And the cops are stealing road signs again. - Come on, if you're from Watuagua and had to serve Jamba Juice to people pulling up in their BMW's and Mercedes all day long, you'd be tempted too.
- “I’m not for prejudice but by golly, the white man has very few rights and they’re getting took more everyday.” Video.
- Messenger: Above the Fold
