1.27.2017

Random Friday Morning Thoughts



  • I don't want to talk about Trump, but this Administration has had such a bizarre first week that it is impossible not to. And yesterday bordered on insanity.
  • Yesterday, his press secretary (who won't have that job for long) came out and casually told reporters that Trump would build the wall with a 20% tariff on any imports from Mexico. You know what that means? You would pay a tax on anything from Mexico so you, and not Mexico, would pay for the wall. And, if Congress funds it first, you get to pay for it twice. (Even the Trump Administration knew it was such a massive screw-up they had the Chief of Staff "walk the comments back" within a couple of hours.)  Incredible. Do they not talk? Do they not think? 
  • And Texas leaders Abbott and Patrick said nothing yesterday as they sat back in horror. 
  • It seems like tons of people I know were sick this week. And now Willie Nelson cancels some shows in Vegas due to a "cold."
  • Mexico's President's cancelled a meeting with Trump because of all of this recklessness. What's next? Putin calling Mexico and asking if they need some help with their economy in exchange for placing some nuclear missiles there? You laugh? You don't know October of 1962?
  • And then Stephen Bannon, Trump’s chief White House strategist, said the media is the "opposition party" and told them "it should keep its mouth shut." That should send chills down your collective spins.  Has that guy not grown up in a free society?
     
  • That Fort Worth cop's 10 day suspension is beginning to look like a slip slap on the wrist. The Fort Worth Chief of Police may now be in trouble as the story gets national traction. (It was on NBC, CNN and more last night. ) 
  • And it is very odd that the Chief was the one to say all charges would be dropped against everyone involved (except the very odd Class C against the guy who allegedly choked the kid). That's normally the DA's call. And it should be a crime it took that long to announce that all three women who were forced on the ground and cuffed would not be officially charged.
  • And why don't good cops go on camera and condemn the guy for the way he handled the situation on the street? Lawyers will call out lawyers. Doctors will call out doctors.  
  • Bill O'Reilly last night: "I have to be respectful. I can't interview President Trump like I did candidate Trump." God help us. Fox News is doing the rope-a-dope because they don't know how to defend him. 
  • Whenever DFW lawyer Pete Shulte appears on local media to provide criminal law commentary, I normally agree with almost everything he says. (I actually say him at a routine driver's license hearing in Denton on Monday and he was far more brash than I expected. He wasn't rude, just a little loud for the most boring of hearings there are.) 
  • If you submit a comment from infowars or gatewaypundit, I'm not posting it. We're already full up on crazy here. 
  • There's a Ted Cruz vs. Deadspin fight that I have to get caught up on. 
  • Texas executed a man last night after it was delayed for four hours before the Supreme Court said it was OK to kill him.  There has to be a better way.