7.27.2022

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




$23 a share? It currently sells for $159 a share. (But that's a far cry from its all time high of $378 in September of last year.)


  • The video of the shooter at Love Field, which also captured her being shot, is pretty wild. 


    • Isn't it amazing how quickly video can be released, even in a "pending" case, when police want it to?
    • And I also got my answer yesterday as to who "dropped her off" at the airport  -- it was Uber.  
  • Wise County received final approval yesterday for the grant to restore the courthouse's interior to its original specs. County Judge J.D. Clark did a fantastic job on this. In the end, I think this will be the most important county project in the last 50 years. That building is the most important, historic, and impressive structure in all of Wise County and there's not even a close second place. 

  • The defense lawyer should have cut a deal with the plaintiff's lawyer immediately after the verdict: "We will cut you a check right now if every juror can independently answer this question: How many millions are in a billion? If they can't, you take nothing." If that bet were to be made, Charter would never have to pay a dime. (And I'm not sure they ever will in this case. It's awful, but I'm not convinced of Charter's legal liability for a rouge employee.) Story in this Dallas case.

  • In Austin, a trial is underway to determine how much Alex Jones will have to pay Sandy Hook victims for his Infowars lies about the mass shooting being a "false flag." Liability has already been determined so the jury will just get to fill in an amount. I hope he gets crushed. He was also ordered yesterday by the judge to bring a $1 million check today to pay the other side's lawyers for discovery sanctions. After this trial, he'll get to face two other juries in other lawsuits. 

  • The news broke yesterday morning that Tony Dow, of Leave it to Beaver fame, had died. Every news agency reported it because it was based on an official announcement by his family . . . 

     
    • . . .  but then we had an emergency break in the afternoon.

  • That's Beto speaking to a crowd yesterday. You know where that was? Bowie. Of all places, Bowie.

  • With everything seemingly being turned upside down with the ultra-right in charge (abortion, government paid coaches leading prayers, the Voting Rights Act, Insurrection pandering, etc.), it wouldn't surprise me at all if Texas' "Robin Hood Plan" is the next to fall. The plan, which requires rich school districts to fork over a portion of its tax collection for the common good, is a perfect sitting duck. Just label it "socialism" to benefit minorities and you've got yourself a winning argument for the masses in today's environment. 

    • But, as the story points out, it is a bit odd that the the rich schools will be forced to turn over $3.3 billion in revenues this year when the state is sitting on a $27 budget surplus.
  • Let me tell you something, former Cowboys PR guy Rich Dalrymple would never have been caught in an important news conference with his foot on a chair and knee raised, all the while looking at his phone. 
    Stephen Jones, Mike McCarthy, Jerry Jones, and the new PR guy

  • The slow motion video of Packers QB Aaron Rodgers arriving at training camp, which was actually released by the Packers, is right out of Con Air. It's glorious. And gloriously funny.



  • Legal nerdy stuff: There's a federal judge in Waco which is so plaintiff friendly that his court had become the patent lawsuit filing capitol of America. One in four of all patent cases nationally were filed with him. Well, no more. Having time and time again been reversed on appeal for refusing to transfer cases when the law required it, he was slapped down yesterday and now any patent cases filed in his court will be transferred among him and ten other judges across the state  -- from El Paso to San Antonio. (There are lots of big firms who have opened up offices in Waco prior to the order who didn't see that coming.)

  • Messenger: Above the Fold