Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Alvord made the news! Both on CBS and The Ticket!:
  
• Sports will put you in the hospital in more ways than one: 
  
• Another obscure law I learned about at my seminar which proves the Texas legislature is insane: 
  
• Also at the seminar, a conversation came up about providing to the defendant everything the State has in its possession per the Michael Morton Act. Someone piped up and said, "That Act only applies to lawyers and not pro se defendants." I almost became unglued. (Frankly I don't know if it does or it doesn't because the District Attorney and County Attorney in Wise County turn over everything.)
• Nothing to see here: Trump's lawyer received approximately $500k after the election from a company linked to Russian Oligarch with ties to Putin.
• Something weird is going on over at Fox 4:
  
• What the heck? This is early May!:
  
• Stormy's lawyer is baiting him. And Giuliana might be dumb enough to to take it: 
  
• Southwest, you have a problem: "A Southwest Airlines flight headed from Nashville to Dallas-Love Field on Monday night had an issue getting one of its wing flaps extended and made an unscheduled landing at DFW International Airport, about 20 miles short of its destination."
• s

Random Tuesday Morning Thought

• This seminar is nothing like I thought it would be. The speakers are energetic and fantastic.  The whole theme is to follow the rules and treat people with respect. 
• Did you that there is a defense to Public Intoxication if a doctor has prescribed alcohol to you? Anyone else confused?
• I haven't been to the pool but when I walked by it they were playing the Margaritaville Station off of satellite radio. Kill me.
• This is a crazy story:
  
• Oil hit $70 yesterday.
• I haven't done a Tucker Carlson dumb face tweet in a while. I saw one last night: 
  
• The New Yorker publishes an article about the abuse of women by New York's AG Eric Schneiderman abusing women. He resigned within four hours. Who would have thought that a Democrat would take immediate responsibility?
• Flashback from the President of the United States. At least he doesn't have fake hair:
  
• Your federal government:
  
• I am now of the belief Tony Romo is the equivalent of a millennial. He "sent a sincere message" to Jason Witten but publishes it on Twitter. And he called him "bro". Talk to him in private instead of doing a "look at me" message". 
• To all Texas state government employees: The state is probably making pension/retirement promises that they won't be able to keep. 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I said Michael Cohen was the worst lawyer in America. I retract that. It is Rudy Giuliani who is ignorantly throwing his client. Donald Trump, under the bus every time he appears on TV. Here is a tip: Stay off TV.
• For those who missed it, Giuliani said he couldn't rule out other women being paid off other than Stormy Daniels.
• Speaking of shooting yourself in the leg: 
  
• Ouch:
  
• That volcano eruption on the Big Island in Hawaii is crazy: 
  
• This is beyond impressive. (And I even know who David Clyde is):
  
• I'm at a municipal judge seminar (I hate seminars), but this has been fantastic so far. Highlights
• We had a speaker talk about how to deal with unstable people. Treat them with respect. 
• We had someone talk about how to spot autistic people and whether it is legal to deal with them differently. He has an autistic son.
• One line: "Have you read the DSM-5? The only thing more boring is Tolstoy." I was the only one in the room who laughed. 
• Something said: "Bodycams reward good officers."
• One speaker went on a tangent about how people spend too much time on their phones. "Go to a restaurant and look at a table. No one is talking. They are all looking at their phones." The judge beside me was texting and didn't hear a word he said at that moment. 
• Sheesh:
  
• Here are the results for Saturday's municipal election in Wise County. The turnout is shockingly embarrassing. But look at tiny Runaway Bay. Comparatively, the turnout was huge. At least they care out there. 
• And why in the world do we have a different date for the run-off election for county/precinct positions on a different date (May 22nd). Why not do last Saturday when all the voting locations were staffed? 
• This Irish Travellers case, which led to a civil case verdict last week in Tarrant County, needs to be read by everyone. The last I heard they were in White Settlement, but I don't know if they are still there. 

Above The Fold

Full page PDF.

It's Friday. Let's Get Out Of Here.

Our cat in the house

Tax dollars at work?

Is this real?

I'm having flashbacks to the old Six Flags "Sombrero Ride"

and whatever that ride that would spin, push you up against the side of the wall 

and the floor would drop out. 

Get me this dog!

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• The Jason Witten retirement press conference was fantastic. But someone needs to explain this to me: "Jason Witten to Jerry Jones:  'From you I learned to never circumcise a mosquito.'"
• Now we learn that the Russians were behind Jade Helm and our Texas governor bought into it. 
• They stole another sign! 
  
• The outgoing DA in Waco has dismissed 15 more Twin Peaks Biker cases. His decision to indict everyone and not understand that he couldn't prove the cases will forever make him a laughingstock. The morale in the DA's office has to be at an all time low. 
• My guess is that he's finally dismissing these cases, yet slowly, because he knows the new DA will do it in his first month in office and hold a press conference about what a travesty of justice occurred. That would crush the outgoing DA's reputation even more -- assuming that is possible. 
• From a couple of days ago: 
  
• The College Sophomore Not In The House came home from school last night and immediately told me she was a College Junior. I used to joke with Mrs. LL that "they grow up so fast." I had no idea how true that statement was. 
• Funny moment at the courthouse yesterday when an employee (and friend) said something I vehemently disagreed with when I was in a different room and, when she saw me walk around the corner, look up at me and said, "I better shut up." 
• Wow: Peter King, the sportswriter who has made a living out of writing jibberish, is moving to NBC from Sports Illustrated. 
• There was a hung jury in Wise County this week on the lowest level of felony drug possession. I'm told the jury was split 8-4, but I don't know if that is 8 for guilty or 8 for not guilty. David Pearson was the defense lawyer with a little assistance from Paul Belew. I know nothing about the facts of the case. 
• Trump is going to speak at the NRA Convention in Dallas today. There is no question he will go "off script" because he's under so much pressure. I bet he says something insane because he'll get riled up by a crowd that loves him. 

Sorry For The "S Bomb" In This Person's Tweet But . . .

This shit happened in my my own front yard last night !! I don’t care what this dude did, there is no justifiable reason for what the cop did. They had him restrained and the cop deadass kicks him in the head. pic.twitter.com/hK2FpwYqrg

— Steel (@j_tennyson_) May 2, 2018

. . . a man needs to be fired. And the word needs to be spread.

The local news organizations in Columbus, Ohio are all over it. The national news will soon follow if the word gets out.

Oh, My!

At least one phone call between a phone line associated with Cohen and the White House was intercepted, according to one person with direct knowledge. https://t.co/Uhm1pAi4UH

— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 3, 2018

If a Republican led Justice Department did this, things are going to get bad for Trump.

Edit: NBC,  has clarified the story saying they should have called it a "pen register". The Justice Department monitored who he called, who called him, and when. The Justice Department did it for a reason. 

Firing It Up!

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

HOLY COW: Rudy Giuliani, another new Donald Trump lawyer, admits that Trump reimbursed former lawyer Michael Cohen for the payoff to Stormy Daniels. Trump had previously denied that -- on camera. And the fact that it happened on Sean Hannity's TV show makes it even better.  

 Breaking: Rudy was just on Fox and Friends and admitted the payment was campaign related. Trump hires the best people. 

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders must have her head in her hands as she awaits the next press conference.  On March 7, she denied Trump had any knowledge about the Daniels payments: “I’ve had conversations with the President about this…There was no knowledge of any payments from the president.”

D Magazine reports that the parent company of the Star-Telegram has gutted its staff.

There was yet another accidental military aircraft crash -- this time in Georgia. Nine are believed dead. And there is even a video of it. 

• That wind yesterday would knock you down -- even someone as big and strong as me.
• I've got a small side gig as a municipal judge. I take it seriously, but dealing with people on Class Cs is pretty fun. Yesterday a lady entered into a plea bargain with the prosecutor, but I apologized to her that the docket took longer to dispose of than we all anticipated and that she had to wait for so long. "That's OK," she said. Then she paused and said, "I've never had a judge apologize to me before." That line could have been written by a sitcom writer.
• Another Southwest Airlines window broke. That company didn't need that news.
• Trump has changed lawyers again. He has now obtained Bill Clinton's impeachment lawyer.
• Foreclosures on property are held on the first Tuesday of each month on the southeast courthouse door in Wise County. This week, and I'm not sure what was going on, but I've never seen such a large crowd. Either a lot of properties were being foreclosed on or there were lots of buyers after one particular property.
• There is a Plano teen arrested for allegedly wanting to shoot-up Stonebriar Mall. He talked to Fox 4 News at the jail. Note: Shut up. But he seemed doped up. 
  
• The Fox 4 News morning show went on the air 30 minutes early today (4:00 a.m.) in anticipation for the storms. That didn't work out well.
• Redskins news:
  
  

Above The Fold

Full page PDF.

Edit: Wait a second! That's from the weekend. The new one isn't online as of noon.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• It was a tremendous service for W.B. Woodruff yesterday. A friend came up to me afterwards and told me after learning about W.B.'s history that he had never felt more inadequate in his life. I couldn't agree more. 
• And I learned that one of W.B.'s sons is a tremendous guitar player (he didn't play cords, he can pick), and the other one could be a motivational speaker and/or stand up comedian. 
• Trump's wheels off doctor said yesterday that (1) Trump dictated the letter about his health during the campaign, and (2) that his office was "raided" and Trump's records were seized. 
  
• Sarah Huckabee Sanders stood in front of the the press corp yesterday and said that none of the questions the Special Council want to ask Trump (which are now public) concerned Russian collusion. That is a bold face lie.  
  
• I'm going to say it for the millionth time: Watergate was a third rate burglary that got Nixon impeached. Tell you children to watch the news because history is coming.
• Speaking of Crooks and Liars, the "Stay Woke" commentor always says I wrote that Trump would nuke North Korea. No I did not. I said that "I fear" he will launch a nuclear war. Words have meaning. 
• Lisa Blue Baron lost the election for State Bar president in Texas. My faith in my colleagues has been restored. 
• Stories like this are stunning. A prosecutor either was incompetent by (1) not knowing how to try a case or (2) indicting an innocent man. 
  
• Wow. Just wow: 
  
• Kanye West, Trump's new BFF, called slavery a choice on TMZ. (By the way, to the one Dennis Prager fan out there, he referred to him yesterday as "conYEE".)
• Senate hopeful Beto O’Rourke wants to debate Ted Cruz in Spanish. That's a genius challenge since Cruz would never do it.

Random Wednesday Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Word broke late yesterday that Trump's Chief of Staff John Kelly called him and "idiot." Kelly denies it. Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called him a "moron" and was fired. Watch this. 
• It was a touching ceremony for Judge Fostel yesterday in the Wise County Courthouse as the courtroom was dedicated to him. 
• But I did learn that we now have a Wise County Women's Bar Association.  How did I not know this?
• What?
  
• I've continued to watch Green Acres, and it is quality comedy. 
  
• The clown car continues. The Vice President's doctor is behind the VA Director's embattled nomination. 
  
• Failed Alabama Senate candidate and alleged pedophile Roy Moore has sued his accusers. This will not end well. 
  
• And suing "Fictitious Defendants" might be an Alabama thing, but that's one of the weirdest thing I've ever seen. I would understand "Unnamed Defendants" (until their identity is obtained) but to call the "Fictitious" makes no sense. 
  
• What's the term? Uh, Snowflakes?
  
• The New York Times has obtained almost 50 questions that the Special Counsel wants to ask Trump. Oh, my! And it has freaked Trump out this morning. 
  
• The Rangers lost again last night, and the game took four hours. That sport is going to die.