Random Friday Morning Thoughts

Ten years ago to the day.  That was, and still is, a shocking moment.

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• Decatur school board candidate HollyAnn Petree condemned the negative text message sent out by a PAC earlier this week which attacked her opponent.  She  called the text "disrespectful", and said that “I am not gonna lie, it felt like a punch in the gut" according to the Messenger. If she tried to stop them, it didn't work. Another one went out last night around 6:00 p.m.   
  
  
  
• The absolute immunity case of Trump was argued yesterday.  Just a couple of general observations:
• Say what?
  
  
  
• This whole issue of absolute immunity could have been easily put to bed.  Trump's position is that he has absolute immunity for all official acts. That's silly. And if any other defendant had raised that exact argument without giving a back-up argument (i.e. he has at least some kind of immunity from the specific acts alleged in the indictment), he would have been booted out of court. But the case went sideways when the court greatly expanded the legal issue the moment they decided to hear it. They asked the parties to argue: 
  
  
  
  
  
• Justice Alito is finally concerned that being a criminal defendant is a really, really tough position to be in.  It just took someone he likes to be on trial to finally notice. 
  
  
  
• Metroplex schools are having a heck of a week. 
  
  
  
• This headline doesn't match what actually happened. The prosecutor didn't "drop" the charges. Instead, the judge who was in charge of setting bond amounts found that probably cause didn't exist for an arrest. (Every magistrate who sets bond is supposed to first review an arrest affidavit and make the probably cause determination. It rarely actually occurs, though.)
  
  
  
• Harvey Weinstein won his case on appeal.   Legal nerdy stuff: This was 404(b) error -- admitting prior bad acts that weren't included in the indictment. 
  
  
  
• This is an embarrassing development by the Tarrant County D.A.  Leave the woman alone.
  
  
   
  
  
  
• Trump's criminal trial continues today.  The first witness is still on the stand. 
  
  
  
• And since it was part of a movie, it was caught on video. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Horrible quality photo, but I saw a car with "Web Fire" branding on it the other day. What a flashback! It was the first and, at that time, the only Internet provider in Wise County in the mid to late 1990s.
  
  
  
  
• This is interesting when you contemplate how much power the states with next to no population have in the Senate -- especially when it comes to the Supreme Court.
  
  
  
• NFL Draft note: Despite signing Kirk Cousins to a four  year deal just a few weeks ago, the Falcons drafted Michael Penix in the first round with the eighth pick.  Everyone thinks Cousins will be upset. Sheesh. He's getting at least $100 million guaranteed of the $180 million contract. He'll get over it. 
  
  
  
• 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: 4 years and 298 days.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

Parker County records are online so I searched to find out what happened to them. There's no record of the cases every having been filed.  There's always more to the story.

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• Chaos at UT-Austin as 54 Pro-Palestine peaceful protestors -- those who object to Israel killing over 34,000 people in Gaza -- were arrested by DPS and campus police in riot gear. Video.
  
  
  
• At first they just stood around which kind of reminded us all of Uvalde.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Greg Abbott called the protestors antisemites (an incredible indictment) but, even more, believes they should be arrested simply because of their beliefs.  This really is stunning. 
  
  
  
• Flashback from last summer:
  
  
  
• Acting like Brownshirts, DPS threw a local Fox affiliate's cameraman to the ground and then arrested him. Video.
  

  
• Think this guy has enough ammo?
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The assistant chief of campus police needs to rein it in a little bit. She's issuing commands "in the name of the People of the State of Texas" --  a phrase which I've never heard of.
  
  
  
• How is it that everyone but the police and those in charge understand that if you just allow (and ignore) any protest on a college campus, which happens every day, that everything will be just fine? It's only when you show up with a small army that the problem becomes worse. 
• Story.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A 17 student shot and killed and 18 year old student at Arlington Bowie High School yesterday. "Arlington Police Chief Al Jones said officers found the victim, Etavion Barnes, Barnes unresponsive on the ground when they arrived to respond to a shots-fired call outside the portable buildings on the Bowie High School campus at about 2:50 p.m."
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Arizona finally got around to issuing indictments in Trump's fake electors scandal.  What in the world took so long?  All the 11 fake electors who signed off on the scheme in front of a camera were indicted as well. 
  

  
  
  
• A mass murder in Oklahoma pretty much flew under the radar.
  
  
  
• Hamas released a video of an American being held hostage in (possibly) Gaza.
  
  
  
• The judge in Dallas had to recuse herself because she said out loud that she thought the defendant would be convicted, but it was her critique of the lawyers that got my attention. Side note: Why in the world is she giving up a district judgeship to run for a statewide office as a Democrat which she will 100% lose. 
  
  
  
  

  

  From her website.

  
  
• Ted Cruz showed up in Wise County last night to support a candidate running for the Texas legislature.  Here's a look at the crowd.
  

  

  

  
  
  
  
• Good. It spewed lies every single day. 
  
  
  
• The Supreme Court hears oral arguments today in Trump's silly "absolute immunity" claim. Regardless of the outcome, they've already bailed Trump out be delaying his federal prosecution in D.C. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• From a reporter from CBS Sports:
  
  
  
• Messenger - Above the Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

North Texas sheriffs sure seen to flirt with trouble a lot. 

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• Trump trial update: Not much
• Some high school kids skipped school to watch the trial, including a gal in John Lennon glasses. She was pretty funny during the interview. 
  
  
  
• But the only witness at the trial was David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer.  We all knew it was true, but he testified he made up stories to help Trump while killing those which would hurt him.  So let's have some flashbacks. He was big on lying about Hillary and Cruz: 
  
  
  

• I had forgotten this one about Cruz.
  
  
  
• And to think Trump rails about "fake news" all the time. 
• Update on the story about the controversial text message sent out by a PAC which attacked a Decatur ISD school board candidate.
• The text:  
  
  
  
• The Messenger story on this is really good.
  
  
  
• Being the hardest working man in show business™, I was in contact with the founder of the PAC, Mike Drury, who told me that the PAC is funded by "no big donors, just small amounts so far.  The PAC has no affiliation with the Republican Party or the right wing conservative groups."
• New Bloomberg poll shows Trump with a new surge in the battleground states.
  
  
   
  
  
  
• Video.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• After dozens die, someone actually takes some action. 
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• I suppose this is legal nerdy stuff. Story.
  
  
  
• Notable trooper fight with DPS:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Business Second™. Seems big.
  
  
  
• The older I get the more I learn that I completely oblivious to things which have supposedly "taken over the Internet."
  
  
  
• "The Houston Texans surprised fans by unveiling their new jersey on 67-foot-tall Sam Houston statue in Huntsville."
  
  
  
• Big sports breaking news: Former USC running back Reggie Bush will have his Heisman Trophy reinstated today. 
  
  
  
• Tesla announced yesterday afternoon that earnings were down 47% for the quarter, but for some reason its stock is set to open 10% higher than yesterday's close.