Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• The Board. We had 10,168 new cases yesterday bringing the total to 43,734.   New York has obviously become ground zero with 20,875 cases on their own. 
  
• Man, this puts the exponential rise in context (and it is current only through March 20th):
  
• I might as well go completely morbid and start posting death numbers since it's important in its own right. We had 140 new deaths yesterday taking the total to 553. 
  
• Let me tell you something. My post yesterday, which I shall nickname "The Rural Uprising" of those who believe we are severely over-reacting to the coronavirus, struck a big nerve. I've never been hit with so many emails telling me I hit the nail on the head. I was hearing from multiple complete strangers all with the same theme: "I normally disagree with you, but are exactly right on this one."
• Trump was basically expressing the Rural Uprising yesterday at the afternoon press conference.
  
• And the right wing politicians in Texas really ramped it up last night in much more blunt terms than I used. As someone told me, "Your theory has hit warp speed.": 
  
• And this morning Trump is expressing a "let's get back to work because the death count would be a small and acceptable level" sentiment with this retweet of Ann Coulter. This is going to get wild. 
  
• It's handwritten, but it's true. The chances of this impacting Trump's mindset is, I don't know, about 100%.
  
• I wonder what the City of Fort Worth will announce this morning. She certainly can't keep a secret: 
  
• Wise County and the City of Decatur joined the party yesterday, but I think the orders aren't any significantly different that what Gov. Abbott had already announced for Texas. It was not a shelter in place order.
• Sorriness from a DPS driver's license office:
  
   
• Mrs. LL went to Home Depot this weekend and the store was limiting the occupancy to 125 people. They had an employee stationed at the only entrance with a counter to impose the restriction. For example, as two people left she'd let two people in. (I was more shocked when she added, "Oh, and I replaced the outdoor keypad for the garage door opener.")
• One thing I am sure of is that we need a word other than "disaster" for these situations.
  
• Changing gears . . . 
• Kenny Rogers has died, and I'll offer my respects by saying Islands in the Stream is one of the worst songs ever made. And I found out why yesterday: It was written by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees  -- maybe the worst band in the history of ever. 
• The Joe Exotic series on Netflix is 100% insane. Heck, every character in it is insane. When Texas Monthly had a long article on him last year, the story was so good that I gave it a full bullet point. But this Netflix series takes it to a whole new level. (Side note: He can really, really sing.) 
  
• Jack County Judge Keith Umphress had filed a lawsuit saying that being forced to perform same-sex marriage violates his constitutional rights. "Umphress says he is a member of a 'Bible-believing church' that 'adheres to longstanding Christian teaching that marriage exists only between one man and one woman, and that homosexual conduct of any sort is immoral and contrary to Holy Scripture.' He says he will run for re-election in 2022 on a platform that opposes same-sex marriage." Platform? That's the platform for a county judge? I've always said it: If you think Wise County is conservative, just go west for a short distance. (Shout out to my friends over there. I haven't been in that courthouse in a while.)
• I've always thought his mysterious illness that kept him out of the 2018 season was suspicious. And he's walking away from a $7 million contract next year. It's certainly his right and I don't necessarily blame him, but he simply doesn't want to play. 
  
• Wise County Jail population as of this morning: 135.  I'm guessing that the average daily population for 2019 was 180 inmates. The number has plummeted as of late.