1.13.2023

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

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Random Friday Morning Thoughts




A very then-conservative Drudge goes after the Obama Administration as the fallout from Sandy Hook continues. 

  • Lisa Marie has passed away at 54.  She did not look well at the Golden Globes on Tuesday. 

    • She was briefly married to Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage, and famously had Elvis' plane named after her (which you can actually still go in at Graceland -- a fun fact I just learned.) 
    • Here's a clip of her and Michael Jackson at the beginning of the 1994 MTV Awards which included the most awkward kiss in the history of ever. 

  • There was a felony trial this week in the district court in Decatur, and we had a rare not guilty verdict. The Messenger has a front page story about it today, and it will probably lead the Update. Glynn Vrba out of Denton was the defense lawyer. 

  • An "inquest" was filed yesterday in Wise County under cause number JP1-23-IN-0004 on behalf of "Athena Presley Monroe Strand." An "inquest" isn't really an accurate description since they are routine filings in Wise County with no substantive proceeding. What it probably really means is that the autopsy report has been completed. 
  • HCA is on the verge of purchasing the hospital in Decatur, and then I look up at the TV yesterday and see an NBC New's investigation into HCA.


  • Biden's own Classified Documents Fiasco is night and day different from Trump's, but I think it guts any Donald Trump prosecution.  That would have been a political hot potato before Biden's issues, now it would be a fiasco.  Very dumb on the President's part. 

  • Sheesh.

    • The county judge of Waller County married them last October in the courthouse. 

    • Side note: Waller County is down by Houston. I'm not sure I've ever really noticed how weirdly shaped all the counties are in that part of Texas.

  • When I tell you the story below identifies the problematic software being "Odyssey" created by Tyler Technologies, it will mean nothing to 99% of you. But for every person in charge of court management and court documentation in Texas, they are nodding in empathetic agreement. Tyler makes crappy software but basically has a monopoly on Texas case management software. They are getting so rich.

  • Here's almost-Cowboy Odell Beckham Jr. getting kicked off a plane last November - video. I don't know what I think about it. I'm not exactly sure he should have been kicked off, don't know why the whole plane had to be emptied, and not sure why he had to berate the old guy in a red shirt. 

  • Let me tell you, I like this guy's chances of beating that charge despite the caption below. He absolutely landed that backflip. Video from NowThis. Full video on YouTube. The case is pending. 

  • TCU did win a big consolation prize in that they did not have to associated with Marjorie congratulating them on the House floor. 

  • Good little Twitter thread by an investigative reporter, past inmate, and author -- I've mentioned her book. And it the thread includes some pretty interesting photos taken from inside TDC. This guy, who was no prince, never really had a chance after being put in a cage at a young age.

  • Time which has passed since the Wise County Sheriff's Office, despite having a full male DNA profile, has failed to solve the murder of Lauren Whitener in her home at Lake Bridgeport: 3 years, 192 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold

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1.12.2023

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




The number of suicides seems to always be increasing, but they have always been with us. You never know what someone is dealing with. 

  • Bridgeport ISD recently announced it is moving forward with a $185 million bond package, and Decatur ISD is going with a $313 million proposal, but neither can compare with Denton's announcement: 

  • Oh, my. I think I see a red-headed Wise County lawyer in there. Better pic in the link. 

  • So the new theme park in Frisco will be (1) a 1/4 of the size of other Universal  theme parks, (2) not at all like those other Universal Parks, (3) caters to younger children, and (4) will basically be a commercial for films like Shrek and Despicable Me.

  • Inflation news this morning: Down again. 

  • Yet another example of a car accident being transformed into a crime by law enforcement. 

  • The Fort Worth Fire Department sure has a good photographer while it is fighting fires. 

  • I still can't believe he said it out loud. (The trial judge is a Trump appointee, by the way.) 

  • Grab bag. Let's check in on some of my favorite people and organizations:
    • Nancy Grace is going to get to the bottom of those Idaho murders!

    • He has to be one of the greatest thinkers of all time. So deep. So profound.  

    • Speaking of. 

    • Fox News.

  • It really doesn't mean anything, but cops went out to the Idaho apartment a few weeks before the murders on a noise complaint and spoke to one of the soon-to-be victims. 

  • New issue of Texas Highways magazine features the Grasslands.

  • Lockheed-Martin is printing money by making a plane that seems to have nothing but problems.

  • Still a wild process to me: Texas Senators drew straws yesterday to determine which one of them will have to run for re-election in 2 years and who gets to wait 4 years. Wise County's senator (who 80% of us can't name) will have to run for re-election in 2 years.  (Each senator's seat either ended up with future terms of 2-4-4 or 4-4-2, and then the senators will draw straws again in 2033. Confusing.)

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1.11.2023

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




Should have been taken out when he was clearly injured in that playoff game. He was never the same. 

  • For two hours this morning, we had all airports across the nation shut down domestic takeoffs.  "A Federal Aviation Administration [computer] system that provides pilots with notices they need to read before flying is experiencing an outage, affecting flights in the United States." It wasn't a flight scheduling software, but another system which transmits safety information to pilots. Flights resumed as to 8:00 a.m. CST. But this was the earlier announcement:

  • The Star-Telegram has a front page story about the new Tarrant County DA. But the first thing he needs to do is hire a PR person to handle his sound-bites and refine his quotes because stuff like this ain't gonna cut it. Good grief: 

  • It looks like we've got a modern day Junction Boys. "A Tuesday letter sent by Rockwall-Heath principal Todd Bradford said several students 'needed medical attention, and in some cases, hospitalization,' "

  • Last Thursday, two people were killed in Fort Worth in separate incidents when they were hit by a train. It happened again last night.  And they were all people standing on the tracks. I would suspect suicide because this is one very common, albeit odd, ways to do it. 

  • Re: That shooting death of the man at Alliance Town Center near Dick's Sporting Goods after the auto accident. I don't think we ever learned the identity of the deceased. 

    • I tried to find out who it was on the Tarrant County ME's Office website was without success. But I was shocked to learn they had 49 bodies checked onto 1/1/23, the day of the Dick's shooting. How do the ME's keep up?
  • I think the guy in Houston will escape any criminal charges.  But he sure did seem to enjoy unloading his gun into the guy -- even when he was probably dead. (Video - very graphic version.)

  • The rains in California are torrential. Here's an aerial shot of a sink hole:

  • This is kind of a weird story. The lawyer was going to attend a city council meeting as the city's lawyer when the wreck occurred.  There is no allegation of drugs or alcohol being involved. This may be just another example of the trend of accidents becoming crimes when they never would have been in the past. 

  • Can we ask her to define it first?


  • Lets check in on a network which is no stranger to CRT propaganda, Newsmax.  We are turning into the dumbest nation. 


  • Fun with charts. The Tarrant Count DA's office has a dashboard of facts, and one of them is assistant district attorneys sorted by law school.

  • Fun with charts. Why does Mark Cuban get such a pass in Dallas-Fort Worth

  • Messenger: Above the Fold

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