- Texas hospitalizations: +266. Tarrant County set a record yesterday.
- National hospitalizations put this Third Wave into perspective:
- Bridgeport High School reported "2 staff members and 12 students tested positive for COVID-19 over the Thanksgiving Break."
- I'm still rocked by the death of Judge Cude. And it was a kick in the stomach to realize that his death actually substracted one number from the Texas hospitalization numbers I post daily.
- Flowers were left on the judge's bench yesterday.
- That seal in the background was handmade by an inmate of the Wise County Jail circa 2004. The guy, my client at the time, had about eight DWIs and was headed to prison for another one. But we managed to let him serve a lot of his time in the county jail in exchange for letting him redo the courtroom because he was a skilled woodsman and artist. Every piece of wood in the courtroom was his handiwork.
- One other thing about the seal: The inmate told me that Judge Cude whipped him so much during the remodeling project about being a Texas Aggie that had secretly carved a longhorn into the seal. I was never able to definitively find it, and I never told the judge about it. (As I looked at it today, it seems possible that it might, ironically, be a set of upside down horns at the 6:00 o'clock position. If that's it, I'm now regretting not telling him.)
- The governor's office was responsive yesterday. And kudos to County Judge J.D. Clark for quickly taking the initiative to get this done. The county would have probably flown the flags at half-staff regardless of permission, but this was a nice touch.
- In case you haven't heard, the Cowboys are playing
Thursday night. Edit: No, it's now Monday afternoon. Double edit: No, now it's Tuesday at 7:05.
- I've had my second iPhone in a row crap out on me after a very short life span. This used to never happen.
- Sean Hannity last night had a moment of honesty: "I don't vet the information on this program." And it wasn't a misspeak. He intended to say it.
- Various bills are being filed in the Texas legislature. Here may be my favorite proposal so far: A Texas constitutional amendment to prevent any governor from limiting the sale of booze, guns, and explosives during an emergency. There are some things we just hold sacred.
- In Senate District 30, If you care about who defeated candidate Andy Hopper (he got 3.6% of the vote) thinks should win the run-off between Shelly Luther and Drew Springer, here you go. (Warning: That person, he says, "has solid core principles and is connected to solid conservatives such as Jonathan Stickland.")
- This was supposed to be news yesterday because somehow in the bizarro world we live in it's a big deal when a Republican states that Biden won the election. I was more surprised to learn she has actually been ambassador to the U.N. all this time.
- The Wichita Falls paper during casually mocking the poor during the holiday season.
- I actually have no idea what happens. The responses were funny.
- I meant to post yesterday the link to the video of the F1 driver emerging from the flaming wreckage. It's like a scene from the Terminator.
- Legal stuff: A guy who got kicked out of a Texas law school for bad grades is suing the school, and it has made its way all the way to the Texas Supreme Court. His claim isn't as crazy as it sounds (a professor, who graded on the curve, leaked exam questions to students who attended extra-study sessions which weren't authorized), but, let me tell you something, you have to be incredibly dumb to have a GPA 1.98 at Thurgood Marshall School of Law even if you did get screwed in one class.
- If I have to see one more reference to Undoing I'm going to have to break down and watch it. I had never heard of it until yesterday.
- At the Thanksgiving table, during a lull, I just abruptly blurted out, "I think Home Alone is a bad movie." Instead of getting a reaction of, "Where in the world did that come from?", a conversation began -- without me -- of the merits of Home Alone.
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