3.26.2021

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




Rebecca Black's "It's Friday" now has 151 million views, and, let me tell you something, that song ain't that bad. (If you want to see the 23 year old today, she's released a pretty catchy tune named "Girlfriend" just last month.)


  • Trump was on Fox News last night describing the Insurrection and went all 1984 on us: "It was zero threat, right from the start... Some of them went in, and they are hugging and kissing the police and the guards... a lot of the people were waved in, and then they walked in and they walked out."





  • Check out the video ad from "Big Dan Rodimer" as he tries to get the vacant Fort Worth area congressional seat. (He's got quite the resume: professional wrestler, attorney, and failed Nevada congressional candidate from 2020.) It's all that you think it will be. 

  • We've got new DPS Gun Boat photos!


  • Speaking of boats, we've still got one stuck in the Suez Canal and let's just say things are going very slowly to get it unstuck. 


  • Correction from yesterday: Local attorney Charles Tibbels provided me proof that he actually successfully pursued and won an "actual innocence" claim in Wise County. He did a very good job and, to their credit, had the cooperation from prosecutors and investigators. 
  • Remember the Tulia, Texas scandal involving fake drug charges which led to the disbanding of the lawless "Drug Task Forces" across Texas? The corruption was exposed by NAACP attorney Vanita Gupta who went on to be head of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department under President Obama. She has now been nominated by President Biden to be the #3 person in the Justice Department. However, she is being vigorously opposed by Sen. John Cornyn. You know who the cop at the center of the Tulia corruption who ended up in disgrace? Tom Coleman. You know who John Cornyn, when he was Attorney General in Texas,  gave a "Lawman of the Year" award to while he was committing his crimes? Tom Coleman.

  • Here's a picture of the Georgia governor and his white cronies signing a Jim Crow law yesterday making it a crime, among other things, to give someone food and water while they are waiting to vote. They want to make it as hard to vote as possible. Is that a plantation in that painting?


  • Jessica Walter, the actress who portrayed one of my most favorite characters of all time, has died. 

  • President Biden's first press conference went out without a hitch, but some people had their feelings hurt. 


  • Fun Dallas Cowboys fact:

  • Legal nerd stuff: That headline below, from two years ago, turned out to be partially true. The Tarrant County D.A.'s Office did attempt to try the guy again but, yesterday, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals, in a rare defense win, killed the case on double jeopardy grounds. Warning: It's complicated. (Lisa Mullen was the attorney on appeal.)

  • The new Sheriff in Clay County found out that an IT Department employee had (allegedly) falsified records in order to trick the State into believing the Sheriff's office's computers were capable of handling and securing criminal history information. A true report, officials say, would cause the office to fail a state audit. The employee has now been arrested.

  • Note to any potential Wise County Sheriff candidates: Our Sheriff and Rep. Phil King are attempting to change the qualifications to be on the ballot in order to require the candidate to hold a peace officer's license at the time of filing. Current law allows that license, which can be obtained after an 18 week course, to be obtained within two years of taking office after being duly elected. The Sheriff testified yesterday in Austin in support of the bill. (Video of the short testimony begins at 1:00:30 which includes (1) the quote "In my most humble yet most accurate opinion" and (2) new Jack County rep David Spiller on the far right.) 

  • Time which has passed since the Wise County Sheriff's Office has failed to solve the murder of Lauren Whitener in her home at Lake Bridgeport: 630 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold (the Bridgeport City Council gets called out in an editorial.)