5.09.2025

It's Friday -- Let's Get Out of Here

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Random Friday Morning Thoughts




It was Crane ISD in the story that went nationwide. Vice later published an article claiming that the outbreak wasn't true and began because of  a miscommunication by a local doctor to the school superintendent.  

  • Did you hear, just by chance, that there is a new Pope who is an American from Chicago? Finally, we can all come together in unity and peace and . . . . hold on . . . . 

  • In looking at the Rockwall County online records (since the news story is absolutely no help), it looks like this wasn't a plea bargain deal but instead a jury trial where the they probably found her guilty of two incidences of Indecency With a Child. As far as the sentences, they were "30 months" (kind of weird) on each to be served consecutively.


    • Legal nerdy stuff: I can't tell if she elected to have the jury or the judge assess punishment.   But since she almost certainly wanted probation, I'm guessing she chose the jury because that option would only be available via jury chosen punishment.  Heather Barbieri was the defense lawyer. 
  • "(AP) BREAKING: Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter, a judicial moderate and advocate for humanities and civics education, has died."

  • Let's check in on Trump's ever changing tariff policies the morning. Seems a tad bit high.   

  • Oh, good lord. And is there anyone still left over at Fox News or have they all been appointed to something? 

     

  • Follow-up news to Trump's appointment of a new Surgeon General.

  • Massachusetts is up in arms after an ICE raid on a residential street. It had a little bit of a Nazi feel to it.  Video,


  • Quick Trump hits: 
    • Is he going to abolish FEMA?

    • Huh?


    • Iwo Jima wasn't in Germany, and that World War II still continued on after May 8th.

  • We are the dumbest country.
  • It's kind of hard for a guy who used to make a living off of "Deep State" conspiracy theories once he becomes part of the Deep State. Video.

  • "BREAKING (Yahoo Sports): Bill Belichick's girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, is reportedly banned from UNC's football facility."
  • Lauren Whitener Clock: 5 years and 311 days.

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5.08.2025

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




It turned out he wasn't a suspect, and eventually had a long career in the NFL. But that guy got royally screwed on draft day. 

  • Published by D Magazine this morning. I've wondered about this, too. (h/t to BagOfNothing.)


  • The Ashlee Long case in Dallas is going to be a mess.  Yesterday there was a bond reduction hearing where the full surveillance video of the shooting was shown. Only bits and pieces of it were aired on the local news stations, but the whole unedited hearing is preserved, for now, on YouTube.  I've got it cued up to when the prosecutors walked the judge through the video. By the way, the victim's boyfriend is moron. 


  • Dateline Arizona: Ok, things are getting weird.  

    • The story describes it as a "Victim Impact Statement", but unlike Texas where victim statements are allowed after sentencing, this came before the judge imposed the sentence. Legal nerdy stuff: There is a serious 6th Amendment confrontation clause issue here. 
  • Just when you're processing that Trump called the head of the Federal Reserve a fool, you are buried in an avalanche of lies this morning.

  • Weird and goofy things the Texas legislature is currently doing:
    • Making it a crime to release a balloon outside. Really. It passed the House yesterday 97-40.

    • Setting up a Texas Star Chamber to decide if a federal law or action is, in their opinion, constitutional and, if not, then referring it to the legislature as a whole to "invalidate" it. Anyone down there ever heard of Separation of Powers? It doesn't work that way. If it did, the South sure could have used such a law after Brown v. Board of Education. The bill passed 94-53.



    • This bill is not to be confused with the one mandating the posting of the Ten Commandments in every school. 

  • Legal crazy stuff: The Fifth Circuit saw nothing wrong with a trial judge ordering criminal defendants in his court to obtain a GPS ankle monitor device and directing them to get it, at a cost of $300 a month, to a business ("ETOH") owned by his former law partner and current campaign donor. 

  • Messenger - Above the Fold


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5.07.2025

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




The cops agreed to go to the kid's school to briefly take the child into custody to teach him a lesson for misbehaving in class. And school officials weren't given a heads up first.  I can't find where anyone suffered any ramifications for this stunt. 

  •  Just two nuclear powers on the verge of a full scale war:


    • Don't worry. The U.S. is on top of it:

  • We lost another $70 million fighter jet from the same aircraft carrier. This time it rolled off the side during a landing. 

  • The Prime Minister of Canada was in the Oval Office yesterday and, I can't believe I have to write this, had to tell Trump . . . 


    • Our own Minister of Propaganda described the meeting this way:

  • Deportation news overnight: 
    • Ukraine?

    • And this "could happen as early as today."

  • It appears that Trump's nominee for U.S. Attorney for D.C. (who is a Stop the Steal supporter, who had never been a prosecutor before his interim appointment, and then dismissed his own client's case when he was) won't even get to a vote due to one lone Republican member who sits on the Justice Committee.



  • It doesn't even register that a law passed by Congress, signed by President Biden, and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court is just ignored by Trump.

  • Wise County's state rep yesterday voted against a gambling bill because he wants to protect us from it. (Have I mentioned he voted for school vouchers?)

  • Legal stuff: You can't get people interested in school vouchers, but it's a packed house in Austin this morning at 7:00 a.m. for the hearing on the big "tort reform" bill. Livestream. Seventy-five speakers have registered.


  • Cowboy news this morning:

  • Clever headline from a Canadian newspaper . . . 



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