Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

People showing up in public with long barreled firearms - something which has been somehow legal in Texas forever - was becoming a thing. I think the guy in the hat is Kory Watkins, who I haven't heard about in years.

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• The lady who believes in Jewish Space Lasers, has doubled down on lasers. This is real.
  

  

  

  
  

  
  
  
• This was on CNN last night.  Two other small Texas towns in the area were hit as well. I don't know how every government entity, large and small, is not scared to death about a cyber attack.  And we all need to fear the day we wake up and suddenly find the Internet simply not working.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Another example of how the Republican Party is now controlled by extremists that would make Ronald Reagan turn over in his grave:  A Speaker is about to be ousted because he supports Ukraine in its battle against Russian aggression and expansion.
  

  

  
  
  
  
• This is interesting, but none of the stories about it tell us anything of the circumstances of when and how she went missing. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Elon Musk is shocking dumb or shockingly reckless.  Does he ever think, "I wonder if I'm right about this?" before he speaks or writes something?   If you own a flag - any flag - you can burn it (even in a public area if open flames are allowed.) 
  
  
  
• More evidence that Trump has lost his mind:
• Not only is it weird to be ranting about Jimmy Kimmel at the crack of dawn, but he confused him with Al Pacino who was the person who actually presented the Best Picture award.
  
  
  
• If a party had unlimited jury strikes, how would you ever get a jury seated? Just object to every single person. But that never occurred to him. 
  
  
  
• Kind of legal nerdy stuff:
• I know no one is watching the Young Thug trial in Atlanta, but I've never seen a prosecutor very loudly argue with a judge and get away with it. And the judge needs some scene control. Video.
  
  
  
• This is a fantastic thread about a former Tarrant County prosecutor (name eventually revealed) who now has a job he doesn't need to have. 
  
  
  
• The Business Second.™ I go back in forth between "everyone is broke out there" to "who are these people with all this money?"
  
  
  
• If you like journalism, this part of this story is jaw-dropping.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Messenger - Above the Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

A drought led to the discovery of a body in Lake Granbury which had been missing since 1979. 

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• We've got seven.
  
  
   
  • Four men and three women
  • Two attorneys, a nurse, a software engineer, a teacher, an IT consultant and a salesman.
  • And although their names have not been disclosed, there's so much information out there about them that it wouldn't take much to figure it out. Example: 
    
    
    
  • Dismissed jurors were getting in front of a camera upon leaving the courthouse. 
    
    
    
  • Opening statements could begin Monday although that's probably optimistic. 
  • Trump, before court yesterday, laid out his complete defense -- that he made the payments as a "lawyers expense" -- to the viewing audience.  I loved watching the expression of his lawyer during the explanation. 
    
    
    
    
    
    
• The shingles are being removed from the Wise County Courthouse as part of the restoration project and now some of the original roofing -- made of shale -- have been discovered underneath. The new roof will match the way the roof looked in 1895. Link
  
  
  
• The new triple headed right wing block in Tarrant County (The County Judge, Sheriff, and DA) formed an "Election Integrity Unit" last year to much fanfare.  The results were predictably underwhelming. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Speaking of their county judge -- who is a MAGA extremists to the highest order -- showed his true colors yesterday when addressing a county commissioner. 
  
  
  
• He's out promoting the scam he's trying to pull off against teachers and public schools.
  
  
  
• OAN had to settle a defamation lawsuit brought be Smartmatic for its spreading of The Big Lie.  However, they are still facing a bigger lawsuit from Dominion who caused Fox News to fork over $787.5 million for the same conduct. 
  
  
  
• Kari Lake needs to stay on script. This was very Trump like.
  
  
  
  

  

  Lake (right) with the Little Ball of Insurrection

  
  
• Here's the video of it. There is no question the fix was in. 
  
  
  
• New this morning: The lady who sued Dak Prescott for sexual assault has dropped her civil suit that she filed in Dallas County. But Dak's "counter-suit" (a misnomer) is still pending in Collin County.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

I posted this back then. It's a photo of the wreckage of two USAF aircraft which collided over Bridgeport in 1958, killing 18 people.

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• We are through the first day of jury selection in Trump's Manhattan trial.  Half the jurors have been dismissed for saying the can't be fair, Trump may have fallen asleep, and he's complaining the judge won't let him go to Barron's graduation (although the graduation is over a month away, it falls on a Friday evening and he could make it, and the judge hasn't formally ruled on the request.)
  
  
  
  
• This is a pretty good indication why it is slow-going right now.
  
• Good lord. "Police say the three dogs were all shepherd mixes, approximately 80 pounds and belonged to the homeowner."
  

  

  
  
  
  
• The Decatur School Board got a little heated last night when the topic of required board member continued education not being completed came up.  I've got it cued up for you on YouTube.
  
  
  
• I thought this was a weird tidbit in the Messenger's Update yesterday when it had a blurb about an auto accident: "Due to DPS no longer providing details on non-fatality accidents, no additional information is available." What's up with that?
• Hot opinion: There sure has been a lot made out of this incident which really turned out to be a typical car involving  excessive speed. And as far as the criminal cases are concerned, no one's going to get locked up.  And the civil cases are worth something, but not this:
  
  
  
• Story. I suppose he's either sick or didn't get back in time from a free weekend cruise paid for by Harlan Crowe.
  
  
  
• The Business Second™. But people get bent out of shape when they see someone using EBT/SNAP cards at Walmart?
  
  
  
• The Second Business Second™.
  
  
   
  
  
  
• Caitlin Clark became the #1 pick in the WNBA draft last night. These numbers are real. 
  
  
  
  
• The Supreme Court today will hear arguments in a statutory construction case which will have a huge impact on January 6th prosecutions.
  
  
  
• Legal nerdy stuff: I think the statute is pretty clear. However, if the "(1)" have been moved right in front of "impair", then I think the defendants would have a good point. On the other hand, that word "otherwise" is weird. Why is it in there at all?
  
  
  
• Legal nerdy #2: Love this dissent yesterday in a case where the Supreme Court refused to hear whether an illegally obtained confession was "harmless" error when it was admitted into evidence. In general, an error seems to always be "harmless" to everyone other than the person's whose trial who was tainted by it. 
  
  
  
• NASCAR can have it's spring race at the Texas Motor Speedway and you barely even hear about it these days.