Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

County Judge J.D. Clark in his younger days as a swashbuckler in Chico. It was part of the Messenger's "Quotes of the Year."

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• If you've been online in the last 24 hours, you've probably seen the craziest judge-attacked-by-defendant footage in the history of such footage.  It just has so much. The leaping ability, The judge's glasses going flying. A court worker throwing weak punches. And one guy just standing around. It is a must see. And I want a wide angle of this whole scene. Link. 
  
  
  
• A Internet sleuth looked at past court records and found that the defendant had been found incompetent to stand trial last May but his competency, as is so often the case in the criminal justice system, had somehow been deemed to be "restored."
• The great Wise County Courthouse restoration is continuing and now they have found some interior windows that used to be hidden within a wall. I love it all. (For those familiar with the building, I'm guessing those would look into where the district clerk's office was recently located.)
  
  
  
• We got new Epstein material, but I'm not particularly interested for some reason. And it doesn't sound like there's much new info. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Sixty-one Republican lawmakers from D.C.  made a publicity tour of the border yesterday -- and probably not a bad political stunt on their part.  But you might want to know that they had their own personal escort being paid by you: The one and only $345,250 Man. 
  
  
  
• Fox News had an awkward moment when they brought on a psychic to tell us what she saw in store for Trump in 2024, and she drew a Tarot death card. Video.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Call me a germ-a-phobe, but do we really want a bunch of previously used containers from the outside constantly infiltrating a coffee or food joint?
  
  
  
• This murder was a big "ten years ago" story in recent months. He doesn't have much of a chance
  

  
  
  
• About a year ago, a video went viral out of Houston when a restaurant customer shot a robber of a taqueria. Now the Harris County grand jury has declined to indict him. I don't think that's a big surprise. 
  
  
  
• This is from the Tarrant County District Attorney's PR Magazine. Did the Tarrant County taxpayers pay for these three to go to D.C. just to watch Supreme Court arguments (the audio of which is broadcasted live) in a case they weren't a party to? I understand their interest, and the office did file an 11 page "friend of the court brief", but the case argued by others involved a federal criminal prosecution. 
  
  
  
• Here's some fun Texas trivia. In yellow are Texas towns who share the name of a county but who aren't located within that county. For example, Bowie, Texas is not in Bowie County; Parker, Texas isn't in Parker County, etc.  At least I think it's fun. 
  
  
  
• Messenger: Above the Fold