- Oh, my! Talk about an October Surprise! The President of Anti-Maskers Everywhere has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
- That news knocked this off its first bullet point status. Texas Hospitalizations: 3,190 (-150)
- If I were to be a big conspiracy theorist, I'd predict that later today or early tomorrow we hear news that all the positive tests out of the West Wing were false-positives due to a "bad batch" of tests. Now I don't think that's going to happen, but (1) it would allow him to say it is proof that all the COVID numbers are inflated, and, more importantly, (2) it sure knocked some shocking First Lady news off the front page.
- Melania was recorded launching her own War on Christmas. (Audio.) Listen, Missy, we in America care about Christmas stuff! And you might want to check with the Baby Jesus about things like this before you start firing off these Slovenian commie views!
- Also in that clip, she revealed she was telling the truth when she wore that "I Don't Care" jacket.
- Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany had a banner day yesterday.
- In her press conference, she wasn't wearing a mask despite knowing that Hope Hicks had tested positive and the whole inner circle might be infected.
- Fox News' John Roberts got royally put out with her for mincing her words when he asked her to just say the White House condemns white supremacy. (Video). Afterwards, he went on his own rant about her as well as those who criticize him for demanding accountability from the Trump Administration. "Stop blaming the media! I'm tired of it!" (Watch.)
- McEnany got mad when she was pressed to identify "the river" where "they" found "a lot of ballots in" as Trump falsely claimed in the debate. Instead of saying the President was just making crap up, she berates the reporter. It's great. Come on girl, just name the river like the guy is asking. (Video.)
- McEnany also said yesterday that Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett was a "Rhodes Scholar." She's not. Barrett got her B.A. undergraduate degree from Rhodes College in Tennessee. Sheesh. That caused some astute Cheers watchers to recall this great exchange:
- For a party comfortably in power, the Texas Republicans are absolutely paranoid about more people voting. Why is that? And doesn't crap like this fall clearly within the purview of the county election authorities?
- I was sad to see the passing of long time Star-Telegram reporter Mitch Mitchell. I had just spoken with him! He was funny and smart. My last exchange to him was him asking me "Why would the Sheriff say that?" Me: "I don't have a clue." Mitch (laughing): "Well I think I'll just give him a call and ask him."
- This got a Fort Worth cop justifiably fired. Good lord, man.
- The Harris County DA's office is a dumpster fire. The judge granted directed verdicts in a case which should have never been brought against company officials after a chemical fire.
- Messenger: Above the Fold
- Texas hospitalizations: 3,344 (+93) I'm still calling this a "flattening", but I'm not so sure a steady increase isn't beginning.
- A Hood County constable picked a bad time to disclose he's a Proud Boy supporter. (He's also a former Houston police officer.)
- At least Cornyn is honest enough to admit that he doesn't care about covering pre-existing conditions.
- Make no mistake about it: Next spring the Supreme Court will strike down Obamacare on the legal basis that the repeal of the individual mandate "tax" destroyed the only way it was constitutional. And its death will take with it coverage for pre-existing conditions. (I think we forget that the Republican lead lawsuit to kill Obamacare started and flourished because of the ruling of Fort Worth federal district judge Reed O’Connor. By the way, O'Connor used to work for John Cornyn.)
- And Another. (Actually a six months jail sentence imposed in Wisconsin instead of a new arrest.)
- Legal stuff which is kind of in the weeds:
- Since I've gone back and taken a hard look at the Michael Morton case, here's the appellant court opinion from 2010 where the court ordered the testing of the bandana over the objection of the Williamson County D.A. This was before it was known that the bandana actually contained the DNA of the victim and the real killer. It's interesting to read the opinion discuss how it "might" contain relevant evidence.
- I looked up the name of the assistant D.A. who was assigned to fight the testing on appeal by his boss, John Bradley. The name was Doug Arnold. It was familiar to me so I look it up, and this is what I found. Williamson County, folks. Williamson County. Everyone who takes part in a travesty down there becomes a judge.
- Someone check on Rudy this morning.
- I'm suspicious of anyone who posts random Bible verses on social media. It's kind of a "Hey, look at me! I'm such a good person that I'm thinking about the Bible this morning and you're not!" And that's especially true when it comes from a politician. (And, yes, I can't stand this guy. I think Jeff Leach is the ultimate fraud.)
- The fact that this kid is being turned into some type of folk hero is disturbing.
- I rarely mention baseball because I find it ridiculously boring (and always have.) But the Minnesota Twins losing 18 straight playoff games got my attention because I don't understand how that can possibly happen. They have now been eliminated in the first round by being swept in 2020 (2 games), 2019 (3 games), 2017 (1 game wildcard), 2010 (3 games), 2009 (3 games), 2006 (3 games), 2004 (lost 3 of the last four.) That's impossible.
- Texas hospitalizations: 3,251 (+50)
- It's a run-off in Senate District 30 between Drew Springer and Shelley Luther with both getting 32% of the vote. I was right that Luther would make the run-off, but was wrong about her getting close to 50%. (One thing I was completely oblivious to was that there was a Democrat on the very same ballot. With that being the case, no one could possibly crack 50%.)
- In what may be the most amazing moment in presidential debate history, the President of the United States was given the greatest softball question of all time and gave a horrifying answer. "Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups and to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha and we've seen in Portland?" He wouldn't do it. And then he embedded in history his place as a modern day racist George Wallace by specifically telling the the Proud Boys to "Stand back and stand by." Watch it.
- The Proud Boys immediately embraced his literal call to arms on social media. Donald Trump has given a white supremacist group a new slogan.
- Van Jones' reaction on CNN was perfect and chilling. Watch it.
- I was on to the little Nazi group called the Proud Boys a long time ago but my first reference to them on here seems to be in 2017. I just threw them in on a Monday rant after Charlottesville happened.
- As to the debate as a whole, Dana Bash spoke for all of us and didn't mince words. "I'm just going to say it like it is. That was a s--- show . . . . We're on cable and we can say that." (Watch it.)
- Appropriate.
- Last night I longed for my childhood.
- I stole this from the today's Messenger. (Buy the paper. Give them your money.) Anyway, it's a photo from the Boyd Homecoming Parade. Is it just me, or do I spot something?
- Heck of night in the music world. Helen Reddy and Mac Davis, both 78, died. I didn't know until this morning that Davis wrote Elvis' "In The Ghetto" and "A Little Less Conversation."
- I don't know what the picture below is supposed to depict. The amount of 316 grams (11 ounces) of THC infused product is nothing. That would probably be nothing more than a couple of candy bar edibles or one canned drink legally purchased in Colorado. And that arrest isn't anything to brag about.
- Did you know the Wise County Sheriff's Office maintains its own license plate reader around Alvord on 287 where it checks for rent cars or out-of-state tags possibly heading from Colorado? Deputies then stop those cars for silly traffic "offenses" like "following too closely" or "driving in left lane not passing." Then they search the cars, often illegally, just to find marijuana and marijuana products. And based upon their track record at the courthouse, most lawyers are finally educating themselves on what is an illegal prolonged detention.
- Messenger: Above the Fold
- Texas hospitalizations: We are definitely in the leveling off period. For the record, I thought this would happen around 5,000. I was wrong.
- The corruption in Williamson County is amazing. Yesterday, the Sheriff (who appears just a tad too cocky in his book-in photo below) as well as an assistant county attorney were indicted for evidence tampering. It all stems from a destroyed video from the show Live PD who taped the sheriff's office killing a man after a traffic stop. It may be unrelated but for some reason the assistant county attorney was at the scene of the incident (a practice I've always thought was dumb).
- Now's a good time to remind everyone to go back and visit the Michael Morton case out of Williamson County that appeared in Texas Monthly. Morton spent over two decades in prison until DNA exonerated him. It was a ridiculously weak circumstantial evidence case brought by a Sheriff (who just happened to be a former Texas Ranger) and prosecuted by a District Attorney who would later be jailed because of his actions in the case. I reread it last weekend and had chills.
- It's been a bad month for Texas sheriffs including this one.
- The video of the arrest of Trump's former campaign guru Brad Parscale has been released. He got liquored up and threatened to harm himself. (Full video here.) Observations: (1) There was absolutely no reason for the cop to tackle the guy, (2) That's way better better treatment than he would have received if he were a black man.
- The grand jury declined to indict? The Tarrant County D.A. actually took the case to the grand jury? Come on, just write "refused/declined for prosecution" on the file and kill it. You don't need to use the grand jury for political cover in a case like this.
- Rudy Giuliani was on State TV this morning ironically questioning Joe Biden's mental faculties. This is his exact quote: “He can’t do the prologue to the, to the, to, uh, to the Constitution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, any of them.” Uh, uh, prologue? Watch.
- A rattlesnake must have thought he was Pete Delkus.
- The election for state Senate District 30 is today. Certainly there will be a runoff. Here's a prediction: Shelley Luther makes the top two. And is there any chance she clears 50% today and wins the thing outright? With this being the only race on the ballot and the only reason to go to the voting box, I've got a weird feeling about that.
- A presidential debate in the form of Jeopardy would be fantastic.
- Ticket fans only: Jub Jub's truck got stolen this morning! It sounds like it was taken out of his driveway in Argyle.
- Did you see the highlights of the 5'6" Kansas State freshman running back who torched Oklahoma on Saturday? Quick loading video here.
- Hey, can a couple more of you to view my Emmy winning appearance on the Messenger's podcast where I talk about the Aric Maxwell/Lauren Whitener murder case debacle? I'm trying to set a record for most views and don't want to have to be like Trump and lie about the numbers.
- The cop on the right needs to be indicted for wearing that outfit . . . .
.jpg)
