2.04.2022

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




A child was mauled, but survived, in Lake Worth by a dog. The next day, while news reporters were on the scene, a brawl almost broke out between neighbors. Fox 4's Lari Barager was seen  getting out of the way in this pretty funny screenshot. Unfortunately, the video has now been lost to the ages. In looking for an update about the mauling, I found out the owners of the dog were actually arrested and were sentenced to probation. 


  • I don't have to tell you it's icy out there, but it's a million times worse than it was yesterday morning. Here's a great pic of downtown Dallas from early this morning showing just that:

  • Wise County will hit 33 degrees today in the late afternoon.  But you will see melting on the roads even when the temperature is in the upper 20s so long as there is direct sun.  The clouds should move out before noon. 
  • “We are dealing with one of the most significant icing events that we’ve had in the state of Texas in at least several decades.” - Gov. Abbott yesterday lying about the severity of the winter storm in order to take credit for the power simply staying on. 

  • I kept seeing "Jen Myers", a meteorologist with Oncor, popping up on my TV screen. She looked familiar, but I didn't realize it was the same gal who used to be with Fox 4. She's just changed her hair when she changed jobs. 


  • I'm concerned about this girl. There have been a lot of abductions by UNT of young ladies over the years, and there's at least a couple of them which have never been solved.   I think this is her Twitter account which links to this photo gallery. If so, she's a UNT soccer player. 

  • Financial quick hits from yesterday: 
    • Facebook dropped 85 points (26%) causing overreaction everywhere. But it will be fine. It's had big drops before in the last five years. 

    • Oh, my. 

    • Amazon Prime is getting kind of pricey. (Honestly, I thought I was paying about $80 a year, but they snuck a price change in there a couple of years ago I completely missed.)

  • There was the "light pillar" phenomenon in Amarillo late yesterday afternoon. 


  • Wise  County's Congressional Rep. Ronny Jackson is taking credit for something he voted against. Link. And the Wichita Falls paper needs to call him on it instead of regurgitating his press releases. 

  • The Lottery-Winner-Paid-Lawyer-$450,000 case out of Wichita Falls was finally appealed again. His petition asking the court to review the case was due on 1/26/22 after the court had granted an extension to file it. He barely made it. Here it is if interested

    • I've railed a great deal about this case, but it really is amazing. Boiled down to its core, the lawyer thought she could win on appeal by simply doing absolutely nothing at trial and later claim he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to an effective defense. Her client got a life sentence. The appellate court in Fort Worth said the conviction would stand because the client went along with his lawyer's plan.  But can he really agree to it? He's sitting by an attorney who has been paid almost a half million dollars, and he's supposed to not trust her that she's right? Now, barring a miracle, he'll spend the rest of his life in prison, and he never put on whatever defense he had.
  • Callback to yesterday's post about a judge who wouldn't let a lawyer take of his mask for oral arguments before the appellate court:  A complaint has been filed. Good. Nothing will become of it, but good.  

  • Most legal nerdy thing I even posted which will interest no one: If you want to see a pro se litigant actually convince the Texas Supreme Court to hear his appeal even after they denied it, look at his pleadings in this case.  (Edit: Link fixed. And I forgot to mention it is out of Palo Pinto.) Call me crazy, but I think they are fantastically written, and his unorthodox use of graphics is golden. 

  • 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: 945 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold