Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

The victim was 81.  Here's the WCSO's initial press release. Ultimately, there were a lot of guilty pleas: Roger Hammons (40 years - eligible for parole in 2032), Jimmy Murrell (50 years - eligible for parole in 2037), Michael Cordova (10 years - out of prison), and Sheri White (7 months to Theft of Firearm).

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•  In an effort to halt inflation, the Fed will probably raise interest rates by .75% today.
  
  
  
• Here's a hot political opinion. There is no way the incumbent party wins a presidential election when inflation is this high. (I saw first hand what happened to Jimmy Carter,) But that's not the hot opinion, this is: I think Donald Trump is the only Republican who could possibly lose the next presidential election. Anyone other Republican, right now, looks like a shoo-in. 
• We've got another Munchausen Syndrome arrest in Tarrant County.
  
  
  
• Flashback to two stories from March of last year: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I love this former lawyer of Trump, Eric Herschmann, who tried to stop Insurrectionist nutcase John Eastman in his tracks by giving him "the greatest free legal advice" he had ever given:
  
  
  
• His testimony regarding the January 6th investigation is today. And he is no Dirty Lib. He "testified in Trump’s defense during his Senate impeachment trial, discussing in detail former Vice President Joe Biden’s work in Ukraine and his son’s membership on the board of a scandal-dogged energy firm there."
• Dueling stories from yesterday:
• Condemn:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• While some celebrate:
  
  
  
  
  
  
• DPS disputes that 13 troopers were in the hallway in Uvalde.  You believe them?
  
  
  
• The story didn't disclose where exactly it was or what it cost, but it did tell us it was "on a 0.228-acre lot." Seems odd.
  
  
  
• Republicans "flipped" a Congressional seat on the Texas border last night in a special election. But the seat is weird, because it will contested again in November when the race will appear on the regular ballot (and where the turnout will be heavier.)
  
  
  
• Sheesh. Bonds Ranch Road is already about to implode due to traffic as they all try to get to 287 (which is the only feasible way out of all those residential developments along it.) Now there will be more. 
  
  
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Signs we are doomed:
• Although the majority of people still think Trump bears "significant responsibility" for January 6th, the a new poll actually shows that number going down. 
  
  
  
• And Republicans who have won the party's nomination in the primaries so far have been by and large promoting The Big Lie. And these numbers don't even include the winners from last night. This is a really good Washington Post graphic:
  
  
  
• Book reviews:
• Not bad. It is heavy on Texas death penalty history:
  
  
  
• Meh. After the first 75 pages about early militias, I learned nothing: 
  
  
  
• You know what has become really bad? Local newscasts. 4, 8, and 11 have basically no news stories other than a couple of headlines we already know about. After that, it's just a meandering hodgepodge of nothingness. 
• Messenger: Above the Fold