12.13.2024

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




Not exactly a Christmas pick-me-up here, but that was a pretty wild wreck.

  • The Paradise Panthers won't go to the state championship game, losing 27-19 last night.    Paradise took the lead at 3:44 left in the third on this play (video). They had them beat, but it all fell apart in in a brief period of time in the fourth quarter.

  • Well, that's insane. 

  • 'LAKELAND, Fla. — A Florida woman was arrested after law enforcement said she threatened an insurance company using the same words found on bullet casings in the UnitedHealthcare CEO's murder. According to an arrest affidavit from Lakeland police, the 42-year-old Briana Boston called BlueCross BlueShield about recently denied medical insurance claims. Near the end of the recorded call, Boston reportedly said, 'Delay, Deny, Depose. You people are next.'" (emphasis added).



    • It's that last part which probably got her in trouble. But it's vague enough where she should be in good shape. Not to mention First Amendment issues. (And someone pointed out that the statute she's charged under specifically excludes phone calls. Oops.)
  • Video.  That's some sorriness on the part of the driver. 

  • They were spraying lacquer in the garage in Saginaw. 

  • Add Bezos and Zuckerberg to the new American Oligarchy.  Lots of bending of the knee going on. 
     

  • We are about to have a New Jersey like drone scare because Oncor sent out notices that it was going to do inspections in Wise County.

  • Interesting, yet odd, political news. A newly elected D.A. from far West Texas went after newly elected Wise County rep Andy Hopper for being obsessed with partisan politics in the House Speaker's selection. 

  • Speaking of the Republican squabble over House Speaker, yesterday afternoon a protestor with a confederate flag showed up outside the home of Rep. Jeff Leach (a Republican who is voting differently than Hopper.)   Leach was hosting his annual Christmas Open House Toy Drive.

  • Some of President Biden's Clemency grants are curious.  Note, these aren't pardons, just slight sentence reductions and, I think, all had been moved to house arrest during COVID. Still, they are odd.
    • "President Biden commuted the sentence of Rita Crundwell, the woman who embezzled over $53 million from a small Illinois town and spent it on luxury goods, real estate, and a horse breeding business. "


    • A commutation for former Judge Michael T. Conahan "was convicted . . .  of funneling juvenile defendants to two private, for-profit detention centers in exchange for $2.1 million in kickbacks."
    • But there was also a false report of a "pardon" for Shanlin Jin, convicted of child porn out of Texas, being part of the 1,500 clemency announcements yesterday.  He was actually involved in a complicated prisoner swap deal with China back in November. 
  • The Zillow Gone Wild twitter account featured a $26 million, 30,000 square foot home in Southlake which is really over the top inside. 

  • Trump to August 20th on the campaign trail: Prices will come down.

    • Trump to Time magazine for its Person of the Year cover story: I think they'll come down but, hey, that's hard to do.
  • 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: 5 years and 162 days.

at 8:30 AM

12.12.2024

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




The WBAP reporter, Alan Scaia, survived (and actually mentioned the wreck the other day.) I believe the other driver survived as well. 

  • In normal times, it would be earthshaking news that the head of the FBI, the agency responsible for the identifying 1,561 insurrectionists who took part on January 6th and referring them for prosecution, is being forced out by a man who will pardon those insurrectionists "on Day One" and . . . 

    • . . . will replace him with this wholly unqualified sycophant.

  • Time has just named Trump the "Person of the Year." And he is. The fact that he was able to return to the presidency is one of the biggest stories in the entire history of America -- much less of the year. And once he he's done, and I expect carnage, he will probably end up being the most  significant president ever.  

    • You'll probably be reminded today of Time's 1938 Person of the Year, and that being named as such is not a stamp of approval.

  • I think it is a dumb, dumb move for North Carolina to hire this guy.  The fact that no NFL team wanted him should have been a good indication of his current market value, but they gave him a  3 year, $30 million deal. I predict failure. 


    • Fun fact: UNC's first game next year is at home against TCU.
  • There was a plane crash on a service road in Victoria, Texas yesterday, and a video caught it happening. (Language warning.)

  • The president was busy this morning. 

  • We live in strange days where the truth is elusive. 
    • Example 1: Lockheed trying to knock down Internet rumors. 

    • Example 2: The Defense Department having to to say a congressman is being nutty. (But the fact that we don't know the source of those drones is a little nutty on its own.)

  • The relationship between the Trumps and the Saudis grows. 

  • He was big player on TV when I was a kid. 

  • Legal nerdy stuff. This actually happened in a Court of Criminal Appeals opinion yesterday. I had to look up the word, uttered an "oh, my", and had to figure out that he the judge was doing a bit. 

  • Legal stuff: The outgoing DA in Houston is making plea offers in all capital murder cases for "life without parole" instead of the death penalty.  I'm not sure that's necessarily a big deal.  There are apparently over 60 (!) of those cases pending and in how many of them was the D.A.'s office going to seek the death penalty before this change? The story doesn't say. 

  • Messenger - Above the Fold

at 8:30 AM

12.11.2024

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




I had to check, but she is still on that Texas appellate court. Some of her DWI video is still out there. 

  • News from the Messenger:

  • Alleged killer updates: 
    • He's gone a little crazy, no? 

    • He yelled, “It’s completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and the lived experience!” as he was going into court.   I don't know what that means.
    • The "manifesto" he was carrying when arrested turned out to be pretty short.


    • This is the guy who was retained as his lawyer for the extradition issue (which is a foregone conclusion) and for the Pennsylvania charges (which will never be prosecuted). So he's just a bit player, but that didn't stop him from getting in front of the cameras at every chance yesterday. He's a bit of goofball.


    • I blame this case for making this song from the 1970s get stuck in my head. (Fun fact: He's alive and well at the age of 84.) 

  • And he's back in the local jail. I guess the relationship with the gal from Uzbek didn't work out.  A news conference is today. 


  • Welcome to the American Oligarchy.  If you are rich, we will let you bypass all those pesky environmental  regulations. But the masses just shrug. 

  • A great new play:
    • Act I: Junior dumps his fiancé for a girlfriend.

    • Act II: Fiancé gets appointed to ambassador to Greece as a consolation prize.

       

  • Matt Gaetz went from potential Attorney General for the U.S. to the only job that he was qualified for on the open market: A talk show host for the the crazy OAN network. 

  • Oh, no!

  • We learned on Monday night that the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have a member who suffers from alopecia. 

  • The Breaking News Business Second™: 2.7%

  • I hate every Liberty Mutual commercial -- from the dumb emu to anything with the statute of liberty in background. They are just so bad. 


at 8:30 AM
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