Random Monday Morning Thoughts

I was in Destin 10 years ago for Spring Break. Actual pic during a beach walk. Let me tell you something, those Florida beaches and water are 100% different than the Texas coast. It's night and day. 

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• Since last Friday, we had the 16th largest bank in the country fail and be taken over by the FDIC.  With the vast majority of the deposits over the $250,000 government insurance limit, there were questions whether people and companies would ever see their money. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• But by last night, fearing a "run" on banks across the country, the government said everyone will get their money back. 
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
• And somehow, it won't cost the taxpayers a cent. I think I understand this. This wasn't a bad investment situation.  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• One week ago: 
  
  
  
• This is a very weird Wise County case out of Rhome on 287.
  
  
   
• Police are not only looking for the driver of the vehicle which didn't stop, but they are also looking for the 911 caller who might have been a witness. Oddly, police have a vague physical description of the 911 caller but no phone number or name. 
• And a truck can catch up to a motorcycle? "[T]he motorcycle attempted to race away and get away from the truck, but the truck continued to pursue him and chase him down, and then actually swerved toward him several times,"  Rhome Police Chief Eric Debus told  Fox 4.
• And the Chief of Police didn't provide any wiggle room that this wasn't an accident: “This was definitely a road rage incident,” he told the Messenger.
• Here's Rhome PD's press release:
  

  
  
• So Michael Irvin thought it was a good idea to sue the Marriott for slander? The Marriott fired back in a Motion on Friday with some very unflattering details. The unedited version is here. There is a 100% chance this case is going nowhere. 
  
• One thing which has seen a dramatic change over the last five years is how legal motions in high profile cases have turned into press releases. 
• But the federal judge royally chewed out Marriott for slow walking the release of the video to Irvin's lawyer. It seems that this lawyer had the honor of being Marriott's representative in federal court and taking the brunt of the judge's ire. 
  
• An East Texas police chief and officer were arrested for using a confidential drug informant to buy drugs for them (as in actually for them) on the downlow. 
  
• This story isn't getting near enough press. The ex-husband of a woman is suing three friends of his ex-wife for providing support for obtaining a drug to end her pregnancy with the man. The lawyers for the ex-husband are using text messages that the wife exchanged with her friends. 
  
• And the lawyers representing him are the author of the Texas abortion "bounty bill" as well as the guy below, state rep. Briscoe Cain.  Women, take notice what is happening in Austin.
  
• In an unrelated case, the federal judge who will probably ban the abortion pill for being "unsafe"  told the lawyers on a conference call with lawyers on Friday that he will have a hearing on Wednesday but, shockingly, the judge didn't want to place it immediately on the public docket. Someone on the call then leaked the info to the Texas Tribune. On the call, "[Judge] Kacsmaryk said he would delay putting the hearing on the public docket until late Tuesday to try to minimize disruptions and possible protests, and asked the lawyers on the call not to share information about it before then." That's the equivalent of trying to hide your court in the shadows from the press and public.
  

  

  
  
• Other news from Friday, which should be on every front page, was that the conservative leaders of the Texas legislature unveiled their plan to divert your tax dollars from the public schools to private Christian schools:
  

  

  
  

  

• Republican battles: 
• Mike Pence finally spoke out against Trump for riling up the people who wanted to kill him on January 6th: 
  
• Steven Bannon and Elon Musk are fighting: 
  
  
• It's time for the Liberally Lean Pick 'Em Tourney. Sign up here.  The scoring system will be tricked up like last year. The first couple of rounds are critically important and might be enough to win the whole thing. Upset picks get bonuses. There will be a slight bump picking the actual one-team winner, but it might not be enough.
  
• Here's the TV schedule for the first rounds of March Madness with channels and times