Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

WFAA was getting a little edgy back then. And this wasn't even a DFW family -- they were in Florida. 

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• The Hardest Working Man in Show Business™. 
• The Supreme Court was not out Christmas shopping late yesterday afternoon, as it handed down a big decision.  It was a 5-3 ruling with Kavanaugh and Roberts joining the three liberal judges.  Seems like the Supreme Court might be reeling in Trump, right? 
  
  
  
• Not so fast. Kavanaugh wrote a concurrence and basically said that Trump should have instead used the Insurrection Act or, amazingly, just sent in the U.S. military instead of the National Guard.   It's over. 
  
  
  
  
• ♪ "It's beginning to look a lot like Chrissssssss . . . . "♪
  
  
  
• Response times for Dallas PD are incredible. (h/t Bud Kennedy)
  
  
  
• This is fantastic. Go inside Trump's Oval Office.  (Gift link.)
  
  
  
• “I am aware that the timing could not be worse,” the US Attorney’s Office leadership wrote in an emergency email to the office on Tuesday. “For some the holidays are about to begin, but I know that for others the holidays are coming to an end.”   
  
  
  
• Of all of the Epstein documents, this one by a assistant U.S. Attorney seems important. The  memos referred to in it have yet be released. 
  
  
  
• Howard Lutnick lies everytime he opens his mouth.  And with no pushback here from Fox News.  These two are whoppers:
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• The Business Second™.  Say what?
  
  
  
• Random thought: Did they ever catch this guy? 
  
  
  
• Messenger - Above the Fold

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

This was real story with multiple news agencies running with it.  There's never be a single thing written about it since. 

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• Allegedly friendly fire.
  
  
  
• Every time I see a story about an "influencer" my first question is always, "Who?"
  
  
  
• So it will be just short of the record high set in .  . .  2021?
  
  
  
• A new batch of Epstein files has been released and this time the Justice Department is truly acting as Trump's defense lawyer in their press release. They aren't even pretending not to be.
  
  
  
  
• I've been burying the lede.  This must be at least one of the things the Justice Department and the Administration are worried about: A letter allegedly written by Epstein to another famous sex offender, Larry Nassar, days before Epstein's death. And Epstein references Trump. Oh, my! (Source files of DOJ's release: Here and here and here) 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
•  An assistant U.S. Attorney wrote in 2020: "Donald Trump traveled on Epstein's private jet many more times than previously has been reported...including during the period we would expect to charge in a Maxwell case...didn't want any of this to be a surprise down the road"
  


• It just keeps getting dumber and dumber. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Speaking of . . . 
  
• JD Vance has entered the cosplay world. 
  
  
  
• Welcome to the Autocracy update:
• How close is Trump to shutting down the New York Times? Seriously. If you woke up one morning and found it to have happened, would you be surprised?
  
  
  
• ICE has a new online ad. 
  
  
  
• Answer: Decatur's own Nate Palmer.
  
• This is really the cover of the USA Today this morning. A paid ad - and a wild one at that. 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

The Affluenza Kid was on the run, and we got a photo of the Tarrant County sheriff  before he went all cowboy hat, all the time. 

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• I'm not sure any place within 100 miles of the metroplex is safe to ride a bike for long distances.
  
   
  
  
  
• And don't think for a second that motorcycles are any safer. 
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Video.
  

  

  
  
  
  
• A deep dive (via gift link) regarding a current headline. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The release of the Epstein files on Friday turned out about as well as you expected. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• And Trump's personal defense firm, the Justice Department, only made things worse for him. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• A 60 Minutes segment on the Trump administration’s deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s CECOT prison, which the network had been promoted for days, was spiked at the last second yesterday by the new head of CBS.  We now live in a country where the the leading investigative reporting team is silenced because of fear of retribution from the government. It's over. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Does Trump act like a man who plans on leaving? 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA had their annual convention over the weekend: 
• This was weird.
  

  

  
  
  
  
• This is no longer weird. 
  
  
  
• We had an NFL player grab and slap a taunting fan yesterday. Video.
  
  
  
• The Aggies had a big weekend. A heartbreaking loss to Miami in the playoffs on Saturday, a national championship in volleyball on Sunday, and Johnny Football no-showing for ESPN'a College Game Day after he "attended the Jake Paul-Anthony Joshua boxing match the night before in Miami."
  
  
  
• Extremely legal nerdy stuff: The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed a case on Friday (odd) when it held that no rational juror could find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was lawfully trying to be detained by an officer -- an essential element of the charge of Evading Detention.