Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

 

• Texas Hospitalizations: +217 and now knocking on 12,000. It has really ramped up when I was expecting a plateau by now.
  
  
  
• A faithful reader pointed out that this official state map shows that the local Wise County hospital has 1,200 doses of Moderna on hand.  We both find that hard to believe. (If you go to the site, just click on the red dot in Wise County, and don't bother with the search boxes.) Edit: The hospital confirms to me this is, in fact, true.
  
  
  
• This was an actual tweet last night by one of Trump's greatest supporters (and from someone Trump has retweeted before.) They are all nuts. 
  
  
  
• But there must be some truth to that because Lin Wood is a man of faith.
  
  
• I was in the Liberally Lean Weather Lab late into the night, and I'm now prepared to make my prediction: We will get no snow. Zilch. Nada.  Most of the "experts" in DFW disagree. They are wrong. So let it be written. So let it be done. 
  
  
  

  

  Fake News

  
  
• A lady named Susan Wright from the Houston area was released from prison yesterday.  Her trial gave rise to one of the craziest courtroom stunts in Texas history with a female prosecutor straddling a male prosecutor on a bed brought into the courtroom. (The prosecutor, Kelly Siegler, was later found by a judge to have withheld evidence in a different high-profile murder case.)  
  
  
  
• My Fox News nomination for "Image of the Year":
  
  
  
• Claimed by some to be the most prolific killer in U.S. history, Samuel Little has died. But some question whether his confessions can be compared to those of Henry Lee Lucas.  Both cases have connections to Texas Rangers who live in Wise County. (James Holland and Phil Ryan.)
  

  

  
  
  
  
• I was thinking the other day that is has been months since we've heard about any Lotto jackpot getting so high that it becomes a headline. That's really the only time I pay attention to it. And I never pay attention to lottery scratch-off news. At least until . . . : 
  
  
  
• I'm sure you heard that Dawn Wells has died. Only Tina Louis (Ginger) survives.
  
  
  
• Sports:
• There is no way OU could have made the playoffs after starting 0-2 but they are more deserving of being in the final four than Notre Dame. And they will be better next year. And the year after that.  
• Arm bands gone wild:
  
  
  
• Watch Wisconsin accidentally destroy the Mayo Bowl trophy in the locker room. 
  
• My greatest take-away from 2020 might very well be how it has revealed how truly bonkers a large percentage of the U.S. population is. People I used to think were normal are now folks I wouldn't trust to care for a penny. "How can that person be so dumb?" is something I've uttered a thousand times this year. 
• There will be no Messenger Update today.  (This note brought to you by THWMISB™).

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Texas hospitalizations: A major jump of +424 after setting a record yesterday. 
  
  
  
• And don't forget that even though that's a Texas state-wide chart, it's right around us with a vengeance.
  
  
  
• We might want to pick up the pace. This isn't exactly, uh, warp speed:
  
  
  
• Not exactly the best news: 
  
  
  
• So, as I understand the story, TABC is "training" guys who work for private entities as beer deliverers (we've all seen them) to look for "signs" of human trafficking and then report back. Why? TABC can then just walk in the door because they have unlimited power to do so.  In this era where people almost got killed because of nutcase rumors in Pizzagate, what could possibly go wrong? 
  
  
  
  
  
  
•  Then again, sometimes even tips which seem really important lead to no action at all:
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Socialism!  (But, since he's on a roll, can he push for $4,000 while he's at it?)
  
  
  
• Two more people have died at the Tarrant County Jail. One due to COVID and one due to suicide. That would bring the total to 17 for the year. Incredible. 
• This is a great Jerry Jones recent quote that went under the radar about how he deals with the salary cap.  It's all clear now, right? Lights on? Lights off? 
  
  
  
• Don't talk to a Horns fan today. They'll tell you "they'rrreee baaaaack." Again. (Although that big man interception was most impressive.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• An OSU wide receiver might have opted-out of a bowl game at halftime last night. 
  
  
  
• Messenger: Above the Fold

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

 

• Texas hospitalizations: There you have it. We've been following this graph for months, and we've now reached an all time high. 
  
  
  
• The House approved $2,000 for stimulus checks, but there's no way the Senate goes along with it. You'll be stuck with $600. But the Senate will override Trump's veto of the military funding bill to make sure we throw $740 billion at the business of war. Unless Bernie steps in . . . 
  
  
  
• But if that military funding bill goes through with the override, say goodbye to confederate names on military bases! Oh, the horror! And our National Monuments will be torn down!  What's worse, you won't even be able to complain about it over 5G because it'll be gone too! (Side note: Someone needs to alert the funny farm on this man.)
  
  
  
• Did you see that Southlake and Arlington Martin played a high school playoff game on Christmas Eve? And it was a night game. That's the only time they could fit it in?
• The amateurs in DFW are rolling out this map. I need to remind you that I've yet to make a prediction, but I appreciate them trying to intimidate me by putting the wet/snow line right over Decatur. 
  
  
  
• Here's a Christmas present I received of college T-shirts. There is a riddle in there as to how they are all related in some way and it is has nothing to do with sports.
  
  
  
• The race to fill Drew Springer's now vacant Texas House seat has been set for a special election for January 23rd. And I would like to announce that Liberally Lean is being lobbied by the two announced candidates. I actually got a call from David Spiller from Jack County yesterday as he was out kissing babies and back slapping ranchers, but I've also been contacted directly by a family member of Jason Brinkley of Cooke County who tells me that they (the person who contacted me) is a "long time fan of your blog."  Can I moderate a debate where I just get to relay wheels off questions from Liberally Lean readers who could not possibly handle the situation maturely? I've even got my expensive graphic departments working on it: 
  
  
  
• Dumbest man in Texas? 
  
  
  
• I've been keeping my eye on the Lottery Case on appeal out of Wichita Falls. To refresh your memory, that's the case where the guy was convicted of Aggravated Sexual Assault and received life in prison when his lawyers made the "strategic decision" not to put up any fight whatsoever. (I got locked in when I learned the guy's mom won the lottery and paid the lawyers, who were out of Plano, a reported $600,000.)  Anyway, the case was appealed last December and another lawyer was put in place.  So what's the status? That lawyer had a THIRD request for an extension of time to file the Defendant's Brief granted this month. It is now due in late March. (It was originally due in March 2019 but he got a six month extension back then.) The defendant is sitting in prison. 
• I'm told not to call it a cult. 
  
  
  
• Sports: This seems like a perfect time to bet on the Sooners, right? Warning: Sports betting is dangerous.
  
  
  
• Sports II: I see a recurring name. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• John Fetterman is the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, and he's on Twitter wanting Dan Patrick to pay up. In the immortal words of Teddy KGB in Rounders, "Pay the man his money."
  
  
  
• Google "Mimi Groves" if you want to have an internal debate with yourself.
• Be sure to bug everyone by asking, "How was your Christmas?"

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Texas hospitalizations: We are 7 occupied beds short of the record we set in July.
  
  
  
• Well, we had a terrorist bombing in Nashville, but we still don't know exactly what the motivation was. (Although the New York Post says this morning that he was a 5G conspiracy nut.) There was a video floating around containing the audio of a warning being broadcast, but I don't know if it was authentic or if what we are hearing was a police warning. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Trump signed the Stimulus Bill last night. You'll still only get $600 regardless of what he says. I'm not sure what the hold up was about. 
• And if you can decipher this tweet, you are smarter than me. 
  
  
  
• No charges will be filed against the Wise County Sheriff dog shooter.
• This post by a CNN reporter stopped me down on Christmas morning. Their baby died of cancer. I cannot imagine going through that and, at least for me, made all the Christmas brouhaha celebrated by the rest of us seem silly.  (Sorry for the downer, but I can't stop thinking about it.)
  
  
  
• I was reading this Atlantic article of Christmas Eve and ran across the paragraph I reproduced below. Here's the audio of the song she referenced, and I then spent a good 30 minutes going down a rabbit hole about it and its author. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The poor man got eviscerated for this picture. 
  
  
  
• A Christmas observation by someone as he was watching It's A Wonderful Life. 
  
  
  
• Here's the type of camera that Fox used for those funky high-def/blurry background images from the Cowboys game. It's a Sony A7R IV which retails for $10,000 (which is a lot less than I would expect.)
  
  
  
• But that camera didn't capture this. (You weren't the only person who saw it.)
  
  
  
• I know there are already rumors for snow later this week, but everyone needs to tap the brakes until after I issue my Declaration From Upon High in a day or two. I've got to get out my maps and TI calculator first. 
• I'm watching The Flight Attendant (not bad), and this scene that I saw last night made me both simultaneously laugh and grown after dealing with the Wise County Criminal Justice System in the Lauren Whitener/Aric Maxwell case this year.  Below, the protagonist learns that the cops have stumbled upon evidence which will certainly be misinterpreted and cause them to jump to conclusions:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• I had a couple of people reach out to me as to how to contact BagOfNothing but didn't say why. I just checked on his blog and now I know why. I feel bad about just now seeing that. Life can be overwhelming but, when it knocks us to our knees and overtakes us in a way we can't comprehend, almost all of us keep its impact hidden. Until you can't. Give the guy credit for putting it out there. 
• Messenger: Above the Fold