Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

The trial about the shooting of Trayvon Martin got underway.

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• The new inmate in the Wise County Jail for murder that I mentioned yesterday was a juvenile who had previously been "arrested" for an alleged crime from March that we already new about. But he ended up on the jail roster, and his identity revealed, because he has just been certified by Judge Greg Lowery to stand trial as an adult. 
• Dallas yesterday. Good grief.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Edit: There is an update. And the Dallas Morning News just posted a story on it 
• This is quite the story. He'll be on the New York City Council representing part of Harlem.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Matt Krause, the godfather of the recent book banning craze in Texas by Ultra-MAGA extremists, and a guy who then went on to be a failed Tarrant County DA candidate, is thinking about running for Tarrant county commissioner.  Ever thought about the private sector, hoss?
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Well, Trump has the black vote all sewn up with this missive. 
  
  
  
• Jerry Jones real estate development in Prosper alone would be enough to make him a major player in DFW business. It's a 500 acre tract purchased a couple of years ago which now has a million feet of retail space and a 300 unit apartment complex. And this has nothing to do with the The Star in Frisco and all of its retail. That man has his thumb in a lot of pies. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Supreme Court Nerdy Stuff: 
• When the court granted cert last year to determine the viability of the fringe “independent state legislature” theory -- a doctrine that says states can do whatever they want when it comes to elections and the courts can't touch it -- everyone said the sky was falling. That went out with a whimper yesterday in a 6-3 vote when the court said the theory, for all practical purposes, didn't exist. And even the three dissenters didn't vote in favor of the doctrine, they dissented because they thought the court shouldn't have ruled on the issue at all because the case was moot due to its procedural posture.
  
  
  
• Random SCOTUS thought: Yesterday the Supreme Court said that the constitution requires any state statute criminalizing "true threats" at least requires the prosecution to also require the defendant to be, at a minimum, at least "reckless" about understanding whether his words would be viewed as threatening violence. That is, no strict liability for words spoken -- kind of like defamation law. I used to say all the time that "constitutional law" is just making stuff up. And I still do.  Regardless of whether the decision is right or wrong, how do you get all of that from the very few words of: "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech"?
  
•  He was a baller at the University of Arkansas. I loved this play. Or this one.
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Hope springs eternal.
  
  
  
• The NCAA has wrapped up all sports for 2022-2023. Here are the national champions in every major sport. 
  
  
  
• I mentioned Decatur's Bryce Elder yesterday, and he picked up another win last night. From wire reports: "As for Elder, he strengthened his All-Star bid by exiting with an NL-best 2.44 ERA."

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

The Wendy Davis abortion filibuster was 10 years ago. Troopers were in the gallery even back then. 

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•  Everything's fine.
  
  
  
•  While looking at the Wise County Jail inmate list this morning, the entry below got my attention. I can't figure out if the arrest was because of an outstanding warrant out of some other county or if Wise County has a new murder case. He was booked in late yesterday afternoon, but a bond has already been set at $300,000. 
  
  
  
• We learned in May that the Justice Department had the recording, and the recent federal indictment actually quoted from it. Now we have the audio. "But that wasn't a document — Bret, there was no document," he told Fox News last week when confronted with the transcript. But the audio makes it clear there was definitely a classified document he was waving around at Bedminster in 2021.  And he knew it.
  
  
  
• There was nothing in the Watergate tapes even remotely damning as this. Trump is in big trouble. 
• Trump must have just woke up and saw the news. Anyone remember when he first said the documents were "planted"?
  
  
  
• But Trump had a win yesterday in court. And I support his lawyer in this regard. The concept of "sealed" anything in a criminal trial is wrong.  But the judge is giving the government a chance to try again to keep its witness list a secret.
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• That's a catchy headline, but the law they are referring to, which amends the Texas murder statute to include death by fentanyl, doesn't go effect until September 1st. You can't retroactively apply a new law to conduct in the past. (And the story actually finally says this, but why ruin a perfectly good headline?)
  
  
  
• Legal nerdy stuff: Here's the amendment to Texas Penal Code 19.02, the murder statute:
  
  
  
• There is no one who wouldn't believe this to be true.  
  
  
  
• It's no surprise that the state will seek the death penalty in the Idaho murder case of four college students. Side note:  It's been bugging me who he reminds me of, and I've decided it is Timothy McVeigh. Absolutely the same vibes. 
  
  
  
• Speaking of, I'm halfway through this book and it fantastic.  Toobin has always been a great writer. 
  
  
  
• Video. Story.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• With the All-Star break quickly approaching, Decatur's Bryce Elder is now the leader in the National League in ERA and third in all of baseball. Incredible.  He's 24, and this is his second season after being called up. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A decade after it ended, I've finally started Mad Men.  Big, big thumbs up. 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

Still wild. 

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• If you blinked, you missed a Russian coup against Putin over the weekend which left everyone confused. As I understand it, it would be like Blackwater declaring war against the U.S. Defense Secretary, begin marching towards D.C., shoot down some U.S. helicopters, and then the U.S. grant him asylum in Canada if he will call the whole thing off. And he did. From Saturday:
  
  
  
• Deaths during recreation:
• Story.
  
  
  
• Out of Stephenville. 
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• We have the dumbest governor. Yesterday, thinking it was real, he posted a fake story written by a parody site about Garth Brooks. The name of the site should have tipped him off. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• City of Fort Worth got hit with a cyber attack. But it wasn't ransomware. The hackers are just posting the date they stole. 
• You may remember the story below from earlier this year. On Friday, a Tarrant County juvenile judge in Friday refused the D.A.'s attempt to certify the shooter as an adult to be transferred to the adult system. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A new NBC poll shows Trump with a stranglehold on the Republican Party. Darker red is April. Lighter red is now. Likely Republican primary voters.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• In other Trump news:
• The prosecutors want the Miami documents case trial to be pushed back to December 11th. 
  
  
  
• On Saturday, Trump made a statement which, once again, will be played by the prosecution. He's going to convict himself. 
  
  
  
• He's nuts. 
  
  
  
• This Trump six second video of Trump gyrating and grunting at a different weekend event deserves to be in the hall of fame.   
  
• There was an incident in San Antonio on Friday that caused three officers to be arrested that very same day for murder. It made the New York Times on Saturday. I'm not sure about this at all. (Free link.)
  
  
  
  
• Sheesh.

• Hey, look who got quoted by the great Bud Kennedy in the Star-Telegram on Saturday.
  
  
  
• Legal nerdy stuff - civil: Can you rightfully bring a medical malpractice case in Texas for an "undesired pregnancy resulting in the birth of a normal, healthy child, caused by negligent performance of a sterilization procedure"? The Texas Supreme Court on Friday announced they will decide the issue.