Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Stephen Hawking has died. A Texas legislature member sent his thoughts and prayers in Christian love:
  xcd 
  
• Man, that was a close race for Congress in Pennsylvania last night but, barring a recount, a Democrat has won. And that's in a district where Trump won by 20 points and where he traveled to campaign for him. The Day of Reckoning is coming. Fast. 
  
• Chico now has a curfew for those under 16 years old from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.  For the life of me, I've never understood the constitutionality of government imposed curfews. It is the ultimate Nanny State.
• Well done, New York Post. Well done.  I love call back jokes.
  
  
  
  
• The family of one of the guys killed in the helicopter crash in the East River has filed a lawsuit. Uh, you want to mourn and bury the guy first? 
• The Bradford Pear has two weeks of glory.
• Trump deleted this yesterday after someone pointed out the typo. (By the way, Mueller was a marine.)
  
• Random book-in photo:
  
• The Dallas Morning News picks up on a topic I've been preaching for years. The guy is an embarrassment.
  
• An Alabama Sheriff thinks it's OK to pocket $750,000 in grants for inmate food in a personal account and go off and buy a second house for $740,000. 

  

  "Give me a Diablo sandwich, a Dr. Pepper, and make it quick."

• Trump wants a "Space Force . . . ’cause we’re doing a tremendous amount of work in space." Who is advising him? Trey Parker?
• I mocked the Redskins for taking Kirk Cousins in the same draft has RG3.  Cousins is expected to sign a three year fully guaranteed  contract with the Vikings for $84 million.  The last two years he has earned $20 million and $24 million from the Redskins when they put the franchise tag on him. And he is an average quarterback.
• Funny moment a couple of days ago when Mrs. LL and I were driving through Decatur and see a guy on a bicycle on the shoulder. of the road. I say to her, "You. On the bicycle. Tonight only. The Blues Brothers." She laughed out loud and said, "I cannot believe I understood that and laughed at it."
• Yesterday we learned our governor opposed the "bathroom bill" but was too much of a coward to say it publicly.
• Time is running out for the Liberally Lean Pick 'Em Tourney. (Mrs. LL yelled at me about the $20,000 prize, but I explained it was impossible for anyone to correctly guess every single game. She looked at me with a "It'll probably happen to you" face.)

This Is Wild

The guy grabs a pen and goes after the witness and ends up being killed by bailiff/federal marshal. Both the defendant and the witness were gang members. This occurred in federal court in 2014, but the video was ordered released yesterday.

An original news story about the incident and the defendant's background is here.

If There Is Any Doubt Wise County Is Red

This is a pic a took of a fairly small magazine rack at an unnamed grocery store. I went up to it a few months ago looking for a football magazine and nothing sports related could be found. But if you have an interest in guns, that place is the mother-lode.

And what is not in the picture is the slew of magazines in the Doomsday Prepper genre.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Breaking: 
  
• More Breaking: The chaos continues. Trump has fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Calling Trump a "moron" probably didn't help with his job security, but how that decent guy didn't quit before now is a mystery.  (Shockingly, a Secretary of State Department spokesman just said Tillerson didn't know it was coming and had no idea why it happened. If true, Trump fired Tillerson via Twitter this morning.)
• Flashback from 12/1/17:
  
• And yesterday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders wouldn't name or blame Russia for poisoning an ex-spy in the U.K. with nerve gas. Their Prime Minister did. Tillerson did. 
  
• Package bombs are going off at homes in Austin. We may have a modern day Unabomber on our hands. 
  
• The helicopter crash in the East River which took the lives of two young Dallas men was more than preventable. The pilot "told investigators that one of the passenger's bags may have inadvertently bumped the emergency fuel shutoff." 
• And this is just in the primary: 
• 
• They just keep coming: 
  
• The Stormy Daniels scandal is delicious. Now we learn that she lives in Forney and that a notary public might have screwed up in not signing Trump's Don't-Tell-The-Public-About-Our-Affair-While-I-Was-Cheating-On-My-New-Third-Wife agreement. 
  
• There sure looks like a lot of fighting during Spring Break in Port Aransas.
  
• A Denton police officer was arrested on allegations of domestic violence (uh, biting) at 5:30 a.m. in the morning. Remember kids, nothing good happens at 5:30 in the morning. 
• The Republican on the committee made a decision without consulting the Democrats. That made Trump go ALL CAPS. You never go all caps. (And he doesn't quite realize the Mueller doesn't care about the committee or that Mueller has information they do not.)
  
• Just when I'm about to hit "publish" another one breaks. "Mr. McEntee was removed from the White House grounds on Monday afternoon without being allowed to collect his belongings." What's up with this?:
  
• Don't Forget about the $20,000 Liberally Lean Pick 'Em Tournament. Sign up here. 

The Liberally Lean Pick 'Em Tournament

The annual event has arrived. I think this link will work to sign up. In the spirit of Warren Buffett, I’ll reward a prize of $20,000 to anyone who picks a perfect bracket. And by that I mean EVERY single game. (That will never happen. Then again, a similar wager was made on Trump’s election.)

(The above is an ad in today's Dallas Morning News. I highly suggest picking one of those two teams to win it all.)

High School Basketball.

Would be DQ'd from further athletic competitions in any sport. https://t.co/RhzK3HlW4f

— "The Big D" Rusty Shackleford アダム (@TwoBitWhackJob) March 10, 2018

This is a crime. A literal crime.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Well, I survived my umbilical hernia surgery. They had some trouble cutting through my six pack, but all went well. 
• My surgeon did bits. Once it was done he told Mrs. LL that I now had an "innie" and could wear a Speedo again. 
• I got a prescription for hydrocodone. I took one. I haven't taken another since.  I hate that stuff. It makes me feel doped up but doesn't really change any pain. That seems to be what "pain killers" do. 
• On Friday, a U.S Citizen and a veteran killed three workers (all of them involved in mental health treatment and two of them doctors) at a VA Center in California.
• Someone yelled, "Does your husband play, too?" yesterday when Tiger Woods left a put short. 
• Told ya: Per Sarah Sanders Huckabee, the meeting between Trump and North Korea will not happen unless there are "concrete and verifiable" actions by North Korea. Yep, the White House is already backing off. 
• I'm still not sure what this was from UT's safeties coach ushering out the team for spring break:
  
• I'll get my Liberally Lean March Madness Pic 'Em Tourney up later today.
• In Trump's wheels off "rally" in Pennsylvania on Saturday (those are so weird), he said  "that allowing prosecutors to seek the death penalty for drug dealers . . . is 'a discussion we have to start thinking about. I don’t know if this country’s ready for it.'” He's the most constitutionally illiterate president in history.
  
• The Bowie Jackrabbits won a state championship in basketball as did Northwest High School. Edit: I shot 50% on that bullet point.
• A guy caught at 15.48 pound bass at Lake Fork earlier this month. I just buy lures at Walmart and throw them it the lake. What did he use?:
  
• There may have never been more felony criminal trials in a two month span in Wise County than over the last two months.
• Someone explain these American soccer attendance figures this weekend. One of these things is not like the other. 
  
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• Every educator in America needs to watch the 60 Minutes interview of  Education Secretary Betsy DeVoss from last night. She's clueless. For example, what does this even mean?: 
  
• The dumbest lawyer in the country, Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, is considering seeking an injunction to prevent 60 Minutes from airing its Stormy Daniels interview. Dude, ever heard of "prior restraint"? Ever heard of the Pentagon Papers? (Side note: What does she know? Trump normally wouldn't care about evidence of an affair. Is there something else?)

Above The Fold

Full page PDF.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• It might be slow around here today. I'm having MAJOR surgery. (Actually, it's a minor hernia repair but everyone around me is freaking out which makes me want to freak out.)
• Jaywalker, who just happens to be black, beaten by cops in North Carolina. Those guys are going to be indicted -- unless the South is trying to rise again. 
• There was a note from a Wise County jury to the court yesterday which, if what I heard is true, is amazing. I'll try to get a copy. 
  
• Trump is going to meet with the North Korean leader? That will never happen. Flashback:
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• And this guy will die on Trump Cross:
  
• Who would have thought something could go wrong?
  
  
  
  
• The over/under line on the Texas Rangers for total season wins is 77.5. Take the under. #SportsGenius
• Lawyer to client in the Wise County courthouse yesterday: "What I want to do is resolve this case today [by a plea bargain.]" Buddy, I know you are from out of town and hate driving up here, but what you want is irrelevant. 
• I guess the nation is already tired about the gun control issue. We have the attention span of a toddler.
  
• Rick Carlisle calling the new allegations against Mark Cuban "fake news" and a "proven non-event" are over the top and irresponsible. The only logical response is, "I don't know what is true." He would never say that -- that's why he needed to keep his mouth shut. 
• Uh, oh. The Fort Worth judge story regarding his order to shock a defendant in court has been picked up by The Guardian with over 7 million Twitter followers.
• Justin Northwest, which is going to the state basketball final, has a center who is 6'7" and 336 pound center who comes off the bench. He also has signed with Oklahoma as an offensive lineman in football. 

I Want To Be On The Austin City Council

What's #atxcouncil up to today? We've had two people singing songs at the podium and now this.
"Let's put the den in density"
.... "I love this city" @MayorAdler says. pic.twitter.com/v3MCfAgcZp

— Elizabeth Findell (@efindell) March 8, 2018

I love bits. And those speakers have a lot of bits.

What's The Point Of This?

This move was 100% necessary, absolutely needed, and yea definitely the only way to do it

A post shared by Starting Nine (@starting9) on Mar 6, 2018 at 9:45am PST

And since I'm a softball genius (with one year of coaching experience which almost got me hired by Alabama), isn't she out of the batter's box?

Random Thursday Morning Thoughs

• Rep. Jeb Hensarling decided to get out of Congress. Someone named Bunni Pounds is in a  runoff to replace him. I'll leave it at that. 
• The Star-Telegram finally reported about the judge getting reversed on appeal after ordering a defendant to be shocked in court. In the story it says, "Texas Lawyer first reported the ruling Tuesday."  I would like to point out that the hardest working man in show business wrote about it on this blog on Friday.
• A few weeks ago I said that Trump's lawyer might be the dumbest lawyer in America. I also said, in regards to the Stormy Daniels, "What's Trump going to do? Sue her to say she is violating a confidentially agreement regarding adulterous sex?" Well, the lawyer did it. He obtained a restraining order to prevent the porn star from disclosing any details about the affair which he claims didn't happen. And Sarah Huckabee Sanders admitted the "arbitration win" yesterday in the press briefing. It's a Confederacy of Dunces. (Prediction: Sarah is in trouble.)
• Stolen quote: "Donald Trump cheated on his pregnant 3rd wife with a porn star, Stormy Daniels, who’s now suing him. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the man who won the Evangelical vote."
  
• There's a Texas court reporter shortage. Old timers like me know the cause of it: There is no longer a demand because of (1) worker's comp reform and (2) tort reform. If you your chances of getting a a job are low, you don't go to court reporting school.
• Say what? 
  
• There's nothing legally interesting about it, but the Fort Worth Court of Appeals affirmed a Wise County case late last week. It deals with the legality of how the Sheriff's office handled the case. 
• Nothing makes me laugh more than Fox and Friends trying to be "hip" by using "Diamond and Silk." ("Uh, huh! That's right!")
  
• The Colonial golf club has lost its sponsorship for its annual tournament. They unveiled a new logo yesterday for this year's tournament which might have been created with Microsoft Paint.
  
• There are parts of Fort Worth which now have flashing yellow left turn lights at heavily used intersections. A NASCAR driver could probably handle it. Everyone else is in a death trap.  
  
• For criminal lawyers: Here's a great roundup of the Texas results for the election for DA and Court of Criminal Appeals.

Oh, My!

#BREAKING: Human remains have been discovered in Anna. Authorities confirm this is an area they have been searching for Christina Morris. @FOX4

— Gillian Jones Hughes (@GillianNJones) March 7, 2018

Being A Member Of The Utah State Bar Has Its Privileges

Link.

Texas only sends out a worthless Bar Journal once a month.