Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

It was raining like crazy for days in Wise County. 

---

• The Tanner Horner trial resumed yesterday with the defense presenting its case. 
• The biggest witness was Tanner Horner's mom, and she was an absolute mess.  Drug addict. Former stripper. Mental issues. You name it.
  
  
  
• But I think she absolutely caught the defense lawyer off guard when she blurted out that the defendant would have her care for his new child four years ago because "he was afraid he would hurt him."  The defense lawyer didn't exactly know what she meant by that, and was scared to ask. There was just a long and awkward pause before they moved on. 
• If I heard her correctly, Horner's dad died a couple of years ago. His brother is (or was) in prison because of this case out of Parker County. And according to that document, the brother had a conviction for burglary of a habitation on July 14, 1998, in the 271st District Court of Wise County.  
• The first witness for the defense, however, was this expert on "future dangerousness." He was qualified as an expert witness and testified that he was charging $450 an hour.  If the defense wanted to start off with a bang, this wasn't it. He bored everyone. 
  
  
  
• But his appearance led me to an exclusive Liberally Lean Investigation™: I was wondering how much in defense expenses had been billed to Wise County for this case, so I looked at the "Accounts Payable" printouts for the county (just) for the last four months. The figures below are what I came up. 
  
  
  
• Those are my totals, and may not be exactly correct. But I looked for line items that referenced cause number CR24559 and/or "sealed document." I feel confident, however, the actual expenditures for those months are at least the amounts listed.
• Note: Those figures do not include the salaries of the defense lawyers which the county is not responsible for due to an agreement with the "Regional Public Defender Office."
• Is this the socialism we were warned about?
  
• Two? 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Do you want to do this when we are in the middle of a war where a naval blockade is going on? 
  
  
  
• Get ready. There's no way Trump is going to allow an election in November to cause him to lose control of Congress. 
  
  
  
• Yep, get ready. 
  
  
  
• This really just happened this morning. The corruption knows no bottom. 
  
  
  
• Picture of the day from D.C. yesterday as AOC confronting RFK, Jr. yesterday.
  
  
  
• From last month:
  
  
  
• From yesterday:
  
  
  
• Snapshot of Congress yesterday: 
  
  
  
• He was later on Fox News touting a conspiracy theory while he sported cockeyed glasses.
  
  
  
• You bad mouth the government, and they will sick the FBI on you. It's over. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Jerry Jones got very, very close to falling to the floor yesterday. Video.
• Messenger - Above the Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

Maybe this isn't such a bad idea now. 

---

• Dateline Aubrey: 
  
  
  
  
• Sidenote: Those are some interesting looking houses so I wanted to check out the neighborhood via Google Streetview.  Nope. There is none. In fact, the latest image from Google Satellite shows the entire subdivision awaiting construction.  Edit: A faithful reader sent me an active listing for one of the homes.
  
  
  
• "A nude man who beat to death a stranger in Fort Worth was legally insane at the time he bludgeoned the grandfather with a piece of firewood and was on Tuesday acquitted of murder under an agreement between prosecutors and the defendant’s lawyers." And you might remember this case. Gift link. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Full video. Story.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Fifth Circuit might be the most predictable court in the country. 
  
  
  
• Side note: Hey, they are hiring.  It's the best paying clerk job you'll find. (And probably one of the most difficult.) 
  
  
  
• Palo Pinto County? Yep, "he owns a lakefront property on Possum Kingdom Lake, according to the online records." 
  
  
  
• .The War
• You knew this was coming. It's the sixth "extension" he's granted.  Trump is in a complete pickle as Iran now begins to dog-walk the U.S. 
  
  
• New this morning. 
  
  
  
  
• Hours after he said on CNBC that the Strait was open, he posted this yesterday afternoon. Up is down. Black is white.  
  
  
  
• Hegseth is going to get troops killed one way or another.  
  
  
  
  
  
• Flashback:
  
  
  
• Sports: The question of the day!
  
• Nerdy legal El Salvador criminal law news: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Oh, man.  And the the letter to the court admitting the error is almost painful to read.  Heads had to have rolled in that silk-suited firm. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Turning Point USA is at Baylor today. Donald Trump Jr. was supposed to be there but he cancelled yesterday so they are going with Ken Paxton instead. Baylor, what are you doing?  
  
  

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

A movie about him got him a new trial, but that new trial didn't work out too well.

---

• I missed the Elon Musk weighed in on the Athena Strand trial. 
  
  
  
• The mayor of Haslet called the sheriff's office after he and the City Administrator got into an argument about who gets to prepare the city council meeting agendas. Story.
  
  
  
• The husband was arrested on manslaughter charges which means that police believe the shooting was not intentional.  Link. 
  
  
  
• The congressman representing the southern part of Wise County got attention yesterday for some unbridled racism. 
  

  

  
  

  
  
  
• The place is at 2526 Manana Drive, Ste. 101 in Dallas  Gift link.  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Story.  One of the many videos is here.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
• Good lord. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• More negative national news.  This happened at 10:00 in the morning. The two dead are teenagers "and five other victims, between the ages of 14 and 19, were also hit by gunfire."
  
  
  
• Trump called into CNBC this morning and started lying very early.
  
  
  
• The Press Secretary got our hopes up yesterday after a poorly worded tweet. 
  
  
  
  
• The Business Second™:
  
  
   
  
  
  
• Very legal nerdy stuff: The Supreme Court issued a weird per curiam opinion yesterday summarily reversing a case below on the issue of reasonable suspicion to stop. It didn't really add anything to the law in that area, but just seemed to get into the weeds about the facts of the case. There were two dissents which included this: 
  
  
  
• Very legal nerdy stuff #2: A Texas case was reversed on appeal late last week for the rare reason that the judge should have struck a potential juror for cause.  The hard part for that as a lawyer is preserving error in the trial court -- it's tricky. But it was accurately done in that case by attorney Abel Reyna who I criticized to no end for the Waco Biker Shootout cases while he was D.A.