10.22.2021

It's Friday -- Let's Get Out of Here

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




Rick Perry was going hard after Mitt Romney as we were a year out from the election. It would be a couple of weeks later when Perry will have his infamous "oops" debate moment.   

  • That's simply awful: Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set of Rust in New Mexico and it killed a film crew member, Halyna Hutchins, 42. The only other time I remember this happening was with Brandon Lee in 1993.

    • Thank God we don't have a certain president with a Twitter account who almost certainly would say something cringe-worthy offensive this morning. 
  • The cause of death of a UT linebacker was released yesterday.

    • A Texas lawmaker was able to somehow blame brown people. 

    • And to be clear, the quoted portion was from the Ehlinger family attorney. To call it "prescription anti-anxiety medication" is a little misleading.  That simply means that Xanax -- the unlaced kind -- can be obtained via a prescription. 
  • So the official cause of death of these three people found dead after hiking was revealed yesterday to be "hyperthermia and probable dehydration." And we are supposed to believe that's what killed all three of them and their dog? I suppose that's possible, but it is weird. They were found last August on the Hite Cove Trail in California. 
    Picture from an earlier date. 

    • But I will admit the most dehydrated I ever got -- to the point of being very concerned -- was a simple five mile flat hike in Palo Duro Canyon about 10 years ago. It caught me me completely off guard. And this was in the middle of my half marathon days when I was in very good shape. I still don't know what happened, but when your body needs water it really needs water. 
  • The Supreme Court denied a stay of execution last night in a case where, get this, the guy missed the deadline of choosing how he wanted to die. The State wanted to kill him in an alternative way. Good lord. 

    • I feel this in my bones:

  • This is really a screwed up process with this Steven Bannon subpoena situation.
    • With a normal subpoena issued in a court case, someone like Bannon files a Motion to Quash the subpoena. The court then holds a hearing to determine if there is any basis for the subpoena to be declared invalid (here, the Executive Privilege claim), and the whole matter is summarily dealt with. Simple and sweet. 
    • But here, the process is (1) Have the full House vote to pursue criminal contempt, (2) The Attorney General then decides if he wants to file a criminal case, (3) he gets an indictment if he does, (4) Bannon gets to argue the actual defense of a "good faith basis" (his Executive Privilege argument) to the criminal charge, and (5) he's either convicted or not. That will take forever.  And even then whether there actually is an Executive Privilege in this situation has not been decided -- just whether he had a good faith basis to believe it. 

    • As to the merits, I despise Steve Bannon but he probably has a "good faith basis" when he's hired a lawyer who tells him he has a good faith basis. And the lawyer's argument of Executive Privilege is far-fetched, but doesn't fall in the category of ridiculous. 
  • This is so legally nerdy that you have to be in the business to appreciate just how bizarre it is: The Dallas Court of Appeals just had to reverse a case because at trial the defense lawyer, prosecutor, and the judge all believed someone who is convicted of a basic State Jail Felony is not eligible for probation. Incredible. 
  • I ignored the first video I saw of this teacher doing an "Indian dance" in class because I figured there had to be an explanation. Now there's another one. She's a mess. Story.

  • Here's a random silly felony criminal case I saw out of Houston yesterday. Yep, a prosecutor managed to get an indictment from a grand jury for assault by bananas. It was later dismissed because the prosecutor magically decided he couldn't prove that being hit with bananas caused pain -- a necessary element. That's probably something he needed to think about beforehand. Put it on my tombstone: "Too many cops. Too many prosecutors." 

  • And another. My continuing bullet point of people-getting-rich-in-the-warehouse-industry.

  • What you saw in the Mavericks game last night is exactly what you are about to get. That was no fluke. 
  • Time which has passed since the Wise County Sheriff's Office has failed to solve the murder of Lauren Whitener in her home at Lake Bridgeport: 842 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold



at 8:29 AM

10.21.2021

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




I had found this on Joe Duty's Flickr page (which still exists and is fun to browse around on.) This photo was associated with Cottondale somehow.   

  • Brian Laundrie's remains have probably been found in an area not far from his family's home. "Laundrie's parents directed FBI agents and North Port police to the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park where 'some articles belonging to Brian were found,' Steven Bertolino, an attorney for the Laundrie family, said in a statement." And some reports have his dad being the first person who found one of those articles.  Suspicious? (But the best conspiracy theory I heard yesterday: A third person killed both him and Gabby Petito.)

    • In more than one way, America is now safer:

  • Well, I speculated that some Wise County resident would run for the newly drawn Texas state House District 64, but this isn't exactly what I envisioned. Andy Hopper, who was behind the small "Wise County Conservatives" group, announced yesterday he would seek election for that position. This is what happened the last time he ran for office: 

  • Trump announced a new social network where, instead of posts called Tweets, members will post "Truths", and "Retweets" will be branded "Retruths." That may be the most Orwellian thing ever. 

    • And this new social network will supposedly be a bastion of free speech where "Big Tech won't be allowed to censor our First Amendment rights." However, it has one big exception in its Terms of Service Agreement: You can't badmouth Trump or you'll be banned. Term no. 23 sets that out. 

    • This will be a disaster.
  • Wise County's "Largest Hog Hunting Contest In The World" is out with a new promotional video. I don't know anything about hog hunting, but I do know production value, and the video certainly has that. 


  • I'll give Arlington Police credit for one thing: They always release the bodycam footage, and make no attempts to cover it up. They always do. 

     

     
  • This Trump disciple is running for Governor in Nevada, and I get get her first ad out of my mind.  

  • Greg Abbott appeared at at a Kingwood Tea Party event on Monday and said this below. I'm telling you, he got a brand new advisor about midway through last year when he was getting beat up his mask mandate and COVID business restrictions mandate.  He didn't talk this way before his makeover.   

  • Baylor lost its appeal yesterday to keep the Pepper Hamilton report confidential. A screw-up by the school's lawyers are the reason they'll have to turn it over. 
  • Travis Tritt on Fox News.
    • Now:
      Side note: "Sensation"? "Evil"? 

    • Then:

  • Fun baseball stat below.   The chances of seeing a starter go more than six innings these days are only 1 in 3.  Compare: Nolan Ryan threw 222 complete games.

  • ???? It's still up last time I checked.

  • Just for the photo . . .  
at 8:31 AM

10.20.2021

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




Ten years ago this week this blog was full of World Series posts.  This GIF was in one of them. The play, which is still amazing, happened in the 5th Inning of  Game 2 of the World Series against St. Louis. The Rangers won 2-1.  

  

  •  The Update lists that the services for "Alexius Mills, 29, and Dexter Mills of Bedford are pending at Hawkins Funeral Home in Boyd." She was killed by an alleged intoxicated driver last weekend in Arlington that had heavy media coverage. I'm pretty sure that Dexter is the name of the child who was delivered but died after the incident. 

  • After four years of Congressional subpoenas being ignored, is there any reason people are also ignoring summons for local jury service?

  • This plane crash on takeoff near Houston happened yesterday morning. "DPS officials said 21 people were on board and all made it out safe. One person was sent to the hospital with back injuries." They were headed to the Astros/Red Sox came in Boston. 


  • I'm nitpicking, but Texas still calls it "DWI" instead of "DUI."

  • Just when exactly did Ted Cruz completely lose any sense of statesmanship and dignity?

    • Never mind. 

  • Speaking of, I try to avoid Trump but this was really something yesterday. "[B]ut anyway," apparently, there is no bottom.  

  • President Biden's disapproval rating has now cracked 50%.

  • Attempted presidential assassin John Hinckley joined Twitter yesterday. (Anyone else scared about the abnormal is becoming the norm?) Yep, that's him. 

  • I had to jump start a car yesterday. These days the tricky part is finding the connections which aren't even near the battery (which might be anywhere.) Thank goodness for Youtube.
  • Weird image thread: 
    • This Dallas house really goes over the top.

    • I'm not sure what's going on with a statue of Harambe being strategically placed where it stares at the Raging Bull on Wall Street now surrounded by a bunch of bananas, but I kind of like it. 

    • This is really Trump's old lawyer, Michael Cohen, and Kanye West, wearing a mask, in Manhattan on Tuesday.

  • ESPN introduced a pretty simple, but really cool and badly needed graphic in its Monday night game to help determine if a first down occurred.

  • I'm two episodes into Showtime's Buried about the "repressed memory" murder trial, and I'm already screaming at the screen. And it's great. 

  • Messenger: Above the Fold.



at 8:30 AM

10.19.2021

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




Still one on my favorite entries I saw while looking at the "guestbook" at the Wise County Courthouse. The person's comment was "TO FIND Hope, help, & the Constitution?" With the bonus information being that the person wasn't able to put the time of his/her visit because "? no watch." 

  • Well, it's something at least.  Right before midnight last night, the legislature -- moving at lightning speed -- voted to allow the homestead exemption for property taxes to increase. I thought that would be more than $176 in savings, however. 

  • Yesterday, I mentioned that there was an Amtrak wreck in Oklahoma involving a trailer full of cars. I had no idea there was a video. Oh, my!

  • I've heard, but not confirmed, that the case was moved to Jacksboro after a hearing was held on Friday. (This is the murder case outside of the tanning salon in Decatur.)

  • From yesterday's Update. Maybe I'm missing something.

     

  • We haven't heard much about the victims, have we? I scanned the Ohio newspapers (that's where the missionary group is based out of) and didn't really even see any coverage about it. 

  • Dennis Prager has COVID.  Don't worry, the psuedo-intellectual told us yesterday he intentionally got COVID so he could build up his immune system in order not to get COVID. Really. 


  • Funny column describing Tony Romo's weird broadcast on Sunday's Cowboys game especially after a segment ran about cancer patients receiving a day of pampering at Gillette Stadium.

  • Yesterday, Trump sued to prevent the Select Committee investigating the January 6th Insurrection. Why did he do it? The National Archives wrote him and told him the documents he didn't want released would, in fact, be released on November 12th unless a court stops it.  

  • I think that is a strange hill to die on -- not literally, I hope -- especially when it costs you $3 million a year. 

  • So Cumulus launched this radio show to replace Rush Limbaugh's old show, it's been a huge success, and now the host now makes this threat? No way. This is a publicity stunt (which is working.) 

  • I didn't realize that Tarrant County voters will decide whether to give the DA's office its own building at a cost of $116 million. 

  • I hate all BBQ talk, and especially hate it when someone refers to it as "cue." Texas Monthly released its list of top Texas spots yesterday which I won't look at. 

  • Both Texas and Baylor are open this week before facing on October 30th.  It will be the fifth straight game that UT has had an 11:00 a.m. kickoff. What's up with that? And Kansas gets the prime time gig?

  • Forgot to mention yesterday about the three guys being tried this week in state court in Georgia for the murder of  Ahmaud Arbery: Why in the world are the three men being tried together in one trial? That's a disastrous prosecution decision.




at 8:33 AM
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