Ten years later, Justices of the Peace still don't have that authority under Texas law.
- This guy (allegedly) shot and killed eight people at three different Asian massage parlors in the Georgia yesterday afternoon. I suppose it's wrong to say he looks exactly how I expected him to look.
- Here's the first profile of the guy which has come out:
- This Dan Patrick vs. Greg Abbott thing really ramped up last night:
- A couple of weeks ago Patrick demanded that Abbott seek the resignation of PUC chairman Arthur D’Andrea because D'Andrea "refused to reprice billions of ERCOT transactions during February’s winter storm." Abbott said no.
- Then last night the news breaks that Texas Monthly has audio of a teleconference where just days ago D’Andrea "took pains to ease investors’ concerns that electricity trades, transacted at the highest prices the market allows, might be reversed, potentially costing trading firms and publicly traded generating companies millions of dollars."
- So not only is D'Andrea refusing to reprice the costs, he's patting the heads of Wall Street telling them he's on their side. That doesn't look good.
- Patrick was immediately giddy last night about the breaking news of the existence of the audio:
- Even before the evening was over, Abbott abruptly reacted and change gears as he he sought, and got, the resignation of D'Andrea. That was fast. Most of the news agencies reporting the resignation didn't even know about the Texas Monthly obtained audio.
- (Side note to all of this: Here is the scene from the 2005 Enron documentary demonstrating how they made money by manipulating power plants being taken off the "deregulated" California grid to create a shortage.)
- And Patrick is continuing his war with trying to reverse the "overcharges" during the February ice storm by passing legislation. He rammed a bill which would do just that through the Senate. But now the House, with the implicit approval of Abbott, is basically calling Patrick a socialist and a commie and balking at the idea. Man, Austin is fighting.
- Weird story: Two people were killed in a home Tuesday after a powerful commercial fireworks explosion in Ontario, California. Here's a heck of a video of when it began. (Thanks emailer.)
- President Biden will hold his first press conference on March 25th. It's overdue.
- The immigrant teenagers being housed in Dallas are admittedly a problem -- not because they are brown people crossing the border but because they are teenagers. (Abbott is running up there today at noon for a press conference in order to try to make some much needed political profit off of the situation.)
- I've refrained from commenting on the Pennsylvania cheerleader mom who made "deep fakes" of rival cheerleaders falsely showing them vaping (and maybe naked and drinking) because I can't get enough of the facts. But, as much as you don't like it, there are some huge free speech issues here. It's one thing to sue someone for defamation, but in this case the State is accusing the mom of a crime for making something up. If she had just said that the other cheerleader was vaping, that wouldn't be a crime.
- Denton restaurant throwing down some attitude:
- It's St. Patrick's Day so it's time to relive one of the greatest news reports of all time. All hail the Alabama Leprechaun.
- I'm still reconstructing my Liberally Lean Weather Team, but in an effort to regain credibility they have told me to keep an eye on Mississippi today.
- Time's awastin': Sign up for the Liberally Lean Tourney. Remember the tricked up scoring system:
- Messenger: Above the Fold
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