Random Monday Morning Thoughts

Back in the day.

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• For almost two weeks, the PDF of the jail list from the Wise County Sheriff's Office has been down. Now the entire county courts, jail, and bond information website is inoperable because of an expired security certificate.  Anyone still working out there?  Edit: Website back up. Jail roster finally working as well.  
  
  
  
• Carnage on the Wise County roads over the weekend.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• It won't matter.
  
  
  
• I said the other day that if the Senate won't confirm Matt Gaetz or any of the other nutty nominees, that Trump will just declare a national emergency and do it anyway.  Now we've learned that he won't even have to go that far. He'll invoke a never used part of the Constitution: 
  
  
  
  
• And in order to get a "disagreement", one will be manufactured with the help of the House and Speaker Mike Johnson:
  
  
  
• Oh, but don't rule out that National Emergency declaration either. Trump reposted this at 4:03 a.m.:
  
  
  
• And now we'll have an FCC chief who believes the government should control what private companies publish. Get ready.
  

  

  
  
  
  
• We are the dumbest country and its about to get dumber.
  
  
  
• And in true Idiocracy fashion, Trump went to UFC on Saturday and brought along some of his cabinet nominees along with his BFF Elon Musk. And he threw in the House Speaker -- which is another clear signal that he will use recess appointments if these people aren't confirmed. 
  
  
  
• And on the plane eating McDonald's with RFK Jr. who will "Make America Healthy Again." 
  
  
  
• As if we didn't have enough to worry about with near-collisions, we've got a new one.
  
  
  
• Legal stuff: The Fifth Circuit has ruled that the proceedings where bonds are set by a magistrate after an arrest must be made public. I think this is a big deal. These are almost always done behind closed doors. 
  
  
  
• Kinda legal nerdy stuff. The Texas Supreme Court issued its decision on Friday on the case where a legislative committee recently stopped the execution of Robert Roberson.  The gist of it is that if they issue another subpoena to stop the next execution at the last minute, the execution will go forward. Before that, however, they are free to try again so long as it doesn't delay the next execution date.
  
  
  
• But look how Rep. Leach and others on the committee lied about two things in their statement after the opinion. First, they said they didn't issue the subpoena for the purpose of delaying the execution. That's a laughable lie. 
  
  
  
• The second lie (in blue) is that the Texas Supreme Court expressly ruled that the subpoena was valid. No they didn't. Leach, a lawyer, knows this. From the opinion:
  
  
  
• I told you that the Tyson-Paul fight would be a farce. But at least the curtains were closed at JerryWorld. At night. 
  
  
  
• For those who turn into Morning Joe, you had to be surprised and disappointed that Joe and Mika, some of the most vocal Trump critics, went to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend - especially after all that Trump has done to them.  The battle is truly lost.