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.