Random Monday Morning Thoughts

I had forgotten J.D. got over 50% in a three man race. (This was technically from 10 years ago last week, but I'm going to be scrambling for material because a decade ago I took off for vacation so there aren't any posts to choose from.)

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• In a Liberally Lean Exclusive™, my intrepid team of reporters has learned that Decatur lawyer Paul Belew has taken the first steps to run for election as judge of the 271st Judicial District which covers Wise and Jack counties.  The election is two years away. 
  
  
  
• I think this is an example how local newspapers and local media affiliates -- all of them -- are suffering due to staff cuts.  This criminal case against the Affluenza Mom was pending for eight years and it, along with the case against her son, Ethan Couch, made headlines everywhere. But she quietly pled guilty and received 180 days, credit for time served, last November and we are just now finding out about it.
  
  
  
• The Texas Tribune notes the Wise County race, which is headed to a run-off, and its Texas Oilman PAC connection.  And this is the first time I've seen in mainstream print that Hopper's son works for the Jonathan Stickland's Pale Horse Strategies (since renamed) whose offices were the epicenter of the Nick Fuentes brouhaha. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Katie Britt's cringe-worthy Republican Rebuttal to the State of the Union took a wild turn this weekend.
• There was on part of it where she said she had spoke with a woman immigrant who had been trafficked and how we wouldn't accept that in a "third world country" much less in America. Video.
  
  
  
• A TikTok sleuth quickly found out that she was lying. The woman does exist but she isn't someone who quietly confided in the Senator. Nope, she has speaking engagements everywhere, even in front of Congress, about being trafficked. But, get this: It occurred over 20 years ago when she was 12 and when George W. Bush was President, and had nothing to with America  -- it happened deep in Mexico. This guy did a fantastic job. Video. 
  
  
  
• Scarlett Johansson then gives and Oscar-worthy performance recreating this whole mess on Saturday Night Live. Video. (Side note: Look how well they recreated the imagery of the whole thing.)
  
  
  
• Even Fox News had to confront her with the lie yesterday -- all because a TikTok guy is doing what journalists should do.
  
  
  
• Fox4Terry was on the job this weekend. That was one heck of a wreck.
  
  
  
• Oh, my. Carey Birmingham, 60, was sentenced last week in Harris County for shooting his wife Patricia, 48, after discovering she had an affair.  It was an all-female jury (pretty wild for Texas) and, if I'm reading the story correctly, they also found that he acted in "sudden passion" which would have capped the sentence at 20 years anyway. Here's the video (which ends before the shot.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Trump news:
• He mocked Joe Biden's stutter over the weekend. Video.
  
  
  
• He sounded like a drunken uncle last night when he got mad during the Oscars.
  
  
  
• Jimmy Kimmel then read the Tweet on stage and responded with a very funny retort. Video.
  
  
  
• Rare Royal Family News from me: Questions surrounded the health of the Princess of Wales over the last two months so the Royals decided to release a photoshopped picture of her. They were quickly busted for it. She released this statement this morning: "Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused." Sheesh.
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Junior's not wrong. The normal and regular Republicans have been conquered.
  
  
  
• Women's College Basketball fight yesterday! Kind of. Video.
  
  
  
  
  
• Hot Sports Opinion: There's no way I pay Micah Parsons the big money. Once paid, his motivation, which wanes as the season goes on anyway, will be gone.  Think Albert Haynesworth from back in the day who was once signed as a huge free agent by Washington, and was immediately a shadow of himself.