Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

Of the many things I've forgotten is when radio man Mike Rhyner, then with The Ticket and now with The Fan Freak, got in a pretty good wreck. 

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• The Paxton Impeachment hearing is now underway. 
• Paxton's front lawyer, Tony Buzbee, is about what I expected. Juries actually fall for his schtick? 
  
  
  
  
• I've said all along: There was no way the House Republicans were going to stick their necks out with their impeachment vote unless they were sure the Senate would back them up now. Paxton will need 10 "no" votes from cronies in the Senate to save his job. So does he have it?
• Here's the math: There are 31 Senators. It takes 2/3 to Impeach. That is 21. (Sen. Angela Paxton can't vote she is counted in the 31. That's a big deal. If she wasn't counted then it would only take only 20 votes to impeach.) But the bottom line is that a vote of 21-9 or more will get him. To put it another way, Paxton needs at least 10.
• Yesterday, we got a huge preview where the entire Senate voted on various pre-trial motions filed by Paxton to dismiss the articles of impeachment.  He only had six that would back up his Motions to Dismiss across the board. Notably, one of them was Wise County's Sen. Tan Parker:
  
  
  
• The closest Paxton got to the needed 10 votes was a vote of 22-8 on his Motion to exclude any evidence of conduct before his most recent term of office. That appears to be his biggest defense of the "Prior Term Doctrine" or the "Forgiveness Doctrine." It's over, isn't it? 
• We have the biggest lick yet as a consequence for the Trump Insurrection. "Stand back and stand by!" / "Be there. Will be wild!"
  
  
  
• As if long waits weren't bad enough, DPS has screwed up and cancelled long-held appointments for today.  Maybe if they just had some extra money laying around to fix everything. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• You know, I didn't think much about the allegations against the "official" until you dig a little deeper and find out it is the court clerk who . . . 
  
  
  
• . . . has already profited off the case by publishing a book about it. That's a bad look. 
  
  
  
• This is getting weird.  One guy claimed to see the man in his house,  but I'm not sure everyone necessarily believed him.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• But the story creeps me out. I'm still disturbed by the escaped Texas prisoner who killed a family of five a year ago. 
• Nobody wears a tie any more (even when your boss does). Some of us old-timers will never get over this change in the profession.  
  
  
  
• This would seem to be a very ill-advised attempted career move.
  
  
  
• Political deep cut: Far right wing former Texas State Sen. Konni Burton seemingly just announced she's leaving Twitter because the further far right nutcases are doing nothing but "grifting" and "creating an angry mob [which] is particularly depressing because it's built on so many lies, not truth." She has been unabashed about her dislike of Trump.