Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• "Whenever we hear about news from Wise County it always seems to be wheels off" - Gordon Keith on KTCK 1310 The Ticket this morning. He's so right. Are we that backwoods or do we just have an inordinate amount of backwood stories? 
  
• And the Rhome story has gone national.
  
• There was a Paige Harkings from Paradise who was a passenger in a car wreck in 2012 where the driver was killed. I don't know if it is the same Paige Harkings but that person was eighteen at the time so that matches up. So we either have the same person or an unfortunate name.
• Ever heard of Moore's Ford Lynchings? Me neither. But a federal appellate court ruled yesterday that we will get to see transcripts of the grand jury testimony in 1946 which led to (surprise!) no indictments. I'm interested because I want to see how a federal grand jury and its prosecutor did business at that time. I just wish it was a state grand jury instead of a federal one because I bet that proceeding would have been shockingly a sham. 
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• Wise County taxing entities will have to return almost $3 million because of a Texas Supreme Court decision last year. That's not exciting reading but it sure is a big deal. 
• Hey, I was called out on Facebook for my bullet point about a business in Decatur charging 50 cents admission. The question arose yesterday up at he courthouse whether this sign outside the establishment was just an "antique" for sell or are they truly charging admission. What would you think if you walked towards the place? And, yes, the business is called "Cowgirl Crap."
  
  
• Below is Ted Cruz complaining about the national debt in 2011.  It passed $22 trillion yesterday. 
  
• Sheriff Joe, who has been convicted of contempt of court, pardoned by Trump, defeated for re-election for Sheriff, and crushed in a Senate campaign, was going to speak in Arlington in April. That is, until the appearance was cancelled since no one was buying tickets. So sad. 
• There are no judges more insufferable than federal judges. Story. (This case involved
  "the same prosecutor [which was] involved in a 2017 court session in which Judge Hughes made remarks characterized by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as 'demeaning, inappropriate and beneath the dignity of a federal judge.'")
  
• I've been saying something is going on out there: "A record 7 million Americans are 90 days or more behind on their auto loan payments."
• El Chapo was convicted yesterday in New York.  They actually had a juror read the verdict? Really? I thought that was only in the movies. 
  
• Well, actually they found no "direct" evidence. So, yes, a committee of politicians in the Republican controlled Senate who do not have the benefit of a grand jury did not find a signed contract agreeing to collusion. So he has that going for him. 
  
• And Trump is about to cave on the Wall and the Budget again as the Friday deadline approaches. And how his base doesn't crucify him for the lie of "And Mexico is going to pay for it!",  will always be a mystery to me. 
  
• Some trials can be so boring and tedious that the jury will acquit the defendant because they didn't pay attention and because the facts don't appear to be that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. (See U.S. vs. John Wiley Price.)  Then again, sometimes a different defense strategy is used:

  

  "That's a bold strategy, Cotton."

• And people wonder how a tax-the-rich theme actually gains political traction:
  
• Messenger: Above The Fold (They must have put the "Wednesday" edition to bed early because the Children-In-Kennels story didn't make the cut.)

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Edit at 10:45 a.m. We've got some breaking news catching the eyes of DFW Media. Channel 5 had the first big write up. after WFAA seemed to be the first to post pictures.
  
• We have some of the dumbest lawmakers in Texas. Aren't you boys promising something about school funding reform and increasing teacher pay? 
  
• I watched a little bit of Jennifer Lopez at the Grammy's. I didn't know she was 49. Hey, now. And I'll say it again: She was a better Selena than Selena was.
  
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• OU's Kyler Murray said yesterday that he is 100% committed to the NFL. Hot sports opinion: That's dumb. You can be an average player in baseball and make a lot more money for many, many years.  In the NFL, you better be a top ten pick (he's not) to get that first big contract, or be great during your first four years and hit it big with the second contract (he won't.)  And then there's this:
  
• A new Houston misdemeanor judge who just took office on January 1st has died of "health related" reasons. She was 57. 
• Another government shutdown is scheduled for Friday (with some murmuring about a proposed deal) and Trump isn't getting $5 billion for the silly Wall. And I don't think Trump will declare a "national emergency" to build it. At least he doesn't sound like the country is in a state of emergency. 
  
• Yesterday Trump jumped all over the report that his favorable rating was 52%. What he forgot to mention was that it was a Rasmussen poll -- the one poll which always has him outperforming every other poll. (The aggregate favorability rating of Trump based on all polls was 40.4% yesterday.)
• I was reminded yesterday that it was the ninth anniversary of 10 inches of snow in North Texas. That was insane and insanely fun. Here's a list of the top metroplex snowstorms.  
• We've got a not guilty verdict in Tarrant County for Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child. If convicted, he was facing a minimum of 25 years in prison (and up to life) without parole.
  
• Serious question about that verdict: What is your initial reaction? (1) He's actually innocent, (2) He's guilty and got away with it, or (3) He might have been guilty but the jury had a reasonable doubt about it.  (And isn't it interesting that we all have a gut reaction without knowing any of the facts?)
• Random high school football news about a small town to the north:
  
• Trump is now mad at fact checkers. He even made reference to this at his white nationalist rally in El Paso last night.  So not only does he constantly lie, he now tells his base not to believe those who point out his lies. And, of course, they believe his "final, most essential command." 
  
  
• And his Enemy of the People rants caused one of his Base to go into the media area last night and attack a BBC cameraman. It even interrupted Trump. It's a small example, but that's the reaction he wants.
• I had a faithful reader send me the text (and photos) of the blog post I accidentally deleted last week. Sir, your dedication is admirable. (I just need to fix recreate it now.)
• I think the Star-Telegram got disrespected. All in the news this week is this Houston Chronicle/San Antonio Express report on sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches. The Star-Telegram did a multi-part investigation in December on the same subject about "fundamental Baptists" and it didn't get any traction. 
  
• Mrs. LL had some hesitation when I told her she would love the style and content of Dan Carlin of Hardcore History fame. She loved him. He's almost hypnotic. 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The Houston PD case where cops raided a house for heroin, found no heroin, and shot and killed a couple, is getting weirder. One of the cops has been suspended, and the Chief of Police acknowledges there are “questions regarding the circumstances surrounding the search warrant.” Oh, my. I asked the other day if it were possible there was no Confidential Informant and no undercover drug buy which was used as a basis for the search warrant. Great recap of the case here. 
• This isn't good.
  
• Here's  a pic from CNN of DPS and others "waiting" on the next "caravan". The whole involvement of DPS doing nothing but wasting taxpayers dollars there is embarrassing. First, that's a just a photo-op because no one on God's green earth believes anyone is crossing the border right there. Secondly, DPS shouldn't be involved in border security.
  
• With little fan fare, the Morning News' long time sports writer Rick Gosselin retired over the weekend. He was on The Ticket last week and didn't even give a hint about it.
• This was a huge loss by the Tarrant DA's office last week. They tried a woman for Capital Murder of Child, which carries with it an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted, and ended up with a conviction for the lowest level felony and a sentence of two years. 
  
  
• The Star-Telegram had a tremendous story about Alliance Baptist Church (off of North Tarrant Parkway in North Fort Worth) where a youth pastor was allowed to continue to be a member of the church after being indicted for a sex offense against a teenager, and the pastor didn't notify anyone in the congregation about the charges. And there were other instances of failure-to-tell.  As much culpability as the pastor may or may not have in not disclosing what he knew, I thought it was very odd that a judge chastised him when he testified at the sentencing hearing of the youth pastor. It is never the role of a judge to condemn a witness when someone else is on trial. Plus, the judge, Scott Wisch, was basically unintelligible based upon the transcript: 
  
• I can't believe I've waited this long to finally watch all of Season Five of The Wire. Cops. Prosecutors. Politics. The Media. It's perfect for me. 
• The Messenger's weekend edition had a front page story of over "100 pounds" of edibles seize by the Sheriff's Department. Thoughts: (1) It's a weird world when that can be purchased in Colorado legally over time but magically becomes a felony by traveling over a state line, (2) The drug dog hit on the weed which will 100% give rise to the legal question of: You didn't have probable cause to search but you called in the drug dog. Why? What's your reasonable suspicion to detain them for the dog?  Helpful hint: Out of state plates and being "nervous" isn't going to cut it. (3) The Sheriff expressed concern that some of the edibles were in the form of candy and are “prone to [accidentally] being abused by our children.” That ain't a problem. 
• The greatest block in NCAA basketball history might have occurred Saturday.
• Trump had a normal weekend: He expressed love for a ruthless dictator who continues to expand his nuclear program, and made a genocide Trail of Tears joke. 
  
  
  
  
• Elizabeth Warren fired back at a rally on Sunday: 
  
• Dude, you inherited a great economy, seven years of falling unemployment, and a country not at war. And you don't work hard. You spend over half of your "work day" in "Executive Time" watching Fox News and rarely get to the Oval Office by 11:00 a.m. (And, heaven forbid, you read a book about LBJ and hard work.)
  
• Grammy outfit of the night:
  
• I won't mention the insane Matthew Whitaker hearings on Friday, but there was a random observation by the CEO Evan Smith of the Texas Tribune, while Louie Gohmert was doing the "questioning", that both Gohmert and Texas Rep. Jeff Leach were both student body president at Baylor. (Good, lord.) Leach replied that he thought it must be a slow news day, and Evans fired back with a Twitter Assault (especially if you know the number of ridiculous resolutions introduced in the Texas legislature.)
  
  
  
  
• Messenger: Above The Fold. 

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

Wildlife photographer @RichardpPhoto was shooting in Yellowstone when a bison ran by his vehicle in full stride (H/T @MeredithFrost) pic.twitter.com/aS0CkR1yuq

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) February 5, 2019

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Patriot on Patriot violence#TodayInSports #PatriotsParade
pic.twitter.com/QaI8sJc3yL

— TodayInSports🗯 (@TodayInSports3) February 5, 2019

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Where do the lines cross? pic.twitter.com/QV1chkAXSC

— Mo Mo (@molratty) February 5, 2019

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A Giant Moose wandering in the streets of Alaska. I didn't know that they were that big.. pic.twitter.com/atTiaZALLt

— Back To Nature (@backt0nature) February 5, 2019

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For the past month, every time I've walked past a gas station with my girlfriend, I've turned the price of gas into a spot for a fictional Ontario FM radio station pic.twitter.com/9BvCKEQiu4

— ℳatt (@matttomic) February 2, 2019

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Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• The Wise County former deputy who just got arrested for child solicitation in Denton was booked into the Wise County jail yesterday on a "prohibited weapon" charge. I don't know anything about it other than it was based upon a warrant issued by JP#2. He was released on a $20,000 bond. 
• It's weird that Texas law allows JPs, who are normally not attorneys and have no criminal law experience, to get stuck with the task of reviewing an arrest affidavit, determining if there is a crime alleged, whether the affiant set forth facts to establish every element of the crime, and whether, as a whole, the affidavit meets the standard of probable cause.  How would you like to do that your first day on the job when a cop asks you to issue a warrant for a felony?
• That may be the first time I've ever screwed up a Random Thoughts post (see yesterday's). I had a previous skeleton draft with about five words on it still up on my laptop at home and somehow hit "publish" last night wiping out the one that was up all day. Anyway, here's the link to Tarrant County prosecutions which is about the only memorable thing about it. 
• Watch the Tarrant County DA, Sharen Wilson, get mad at the Commissioners' Court for not letting her use a Power Point presentation because of security concerns. (Go here. Under the video scroll down to "Criminal District Attorney Updates . . . ." and click on it. It works best on a desktop.) I love it when she passively-aggressively says, "I understand that I don't report to you . . . ."
  
• That's pretty impressive they Tarrant County government posts video of meetings with hyperlinks so you can jump to the part you want. Let's do that for Wise County -- that's probably cheap and easy technology.
• There's a lot going on with Jeff Bezo's going public with the emails of how the National Enquirer tried to blackmail him with racy photos. And make no mistake, Bezo's specifically mentioning the company, Trump, and the Saudis before he got to the reprinting of the threatening emails is not by accident. The National Enquirer specific blackmail threat was that they didn't want any reporting by Bezo's Washington Post about the Enquirer or its parent company being involved in "reporting" that was "politically motivated or influenced by political forces". Translated: Don't investigate any further about our ties to the Saudis and/or Trump or what they paid us to do.
  
  
• Three side notes to the Bezos story: (1) That deputy general counsel for the Enquirer compnay who was dumb enough to blackmail someone in an email will probably get disbarred, (2) The Enquirer has an immunity deal with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in the Cohen/Trump/Stormy crime which specifically is contingent upon them not breaking the law, and (3) How dumb are you to blackmail, in writing no less, the richest man in the world who owns the Washington Post?
• I'm seeing people complaining about paying more taxes this year. I'm no expert, but I've read that about 1 in 5 employees didn't have enough payroll taxes withheld during the year under new rules and regs. If that's the case with you, you aren't paying higher taxes -- you just got a loan piece by piece last year that is now due.
• I'm a Texas history idiot so I'm working on this book. I struggle to wrap my brain around how in the very early 1800s there was basically no one in the Texas area, sans a few Mexicans and Indians, until Stephen F. Austin started his colony. (I think Wise County first got settled around 1850 with around 300 people or so.) And in the grand scheme of things, that wasn't that long ago. 
  
• I didn't believe this at first but, yes, Gucci sold this until recently. Like real recently. (Probably was a big seller in Virginia.)
  
  
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• The video of it is of horrible quality, but that's a heck of a story no one is talking about.
  
  
• Yeah, she says a lot of nutty things, but at one of her first hearings, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was superb. Simple "yes" or "no" questions which she already knew the answer to. It's Cross-Exam 101. Watch it and more here. 
  
• Trump, on the other hand, in giving a prepared speech at the Prayer Breakfast yesterday, said that "people of faith" had led the "abolition of civil rights." The man can't even read a teleprompter.
• We've got more Virginia politician racism news. Is it any wonder that the Blood and Soil boys showed up in that state a couple of years ago?
  
• As I write this, I noticed Trump's last five tweets are "NO COLLUSION" tweets, and he's gone into that weird bit where he refers to himself in the third person. 
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• The Huffington Post outed a prominent neo-Nazi online propagandist and he happens to live in Granbury. 
  
• The Supreme Court refused to stop the government from executing someone last night when he, a Muslim, complained that the State of Lousiana wouldn't let him have an imam with him at the time of execution. The State of Louisiana always allows Christian clergy in the room. That's a clear First Amendment problem as Justice Kagan wrote in her dissent. (Side note: Last year, the Supreme Court went out of its way to allow a Christian to sue the cops because she complained they wouldn't let her pray when cops came to visit her about a noise complaint.)
  
• The Wells Fargo banking online system went down yesterday. Wait until it happens to every major bank at the same time for an extended period of time. The country will shut down. 

Sleet and snow? No way.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Once again, Pete Delkus has failed us. Below was his prediction at 2:00 p.m. yesterday for this morning. Is it 55 this morning? No, I don't think it's 55 this morning. Later he said that Thursday morning would be "much warmer" than the afternoon. (Seriously, how much trouble is it to check the National Weather Service web site every now and then? You've got one job.)

• I won't name it, but there's a small store selling stuff off the square in Decatur that charges a 50 cent admission fee. (It counts as a credit against any purchase.) I've never heard of a cover charge for a retail store, and that placed doesn't appear to have a lot of foot traffic to start with.
• NYPD has demanded that Google not allow Waze to identify DWI checkpoints (which it does based upon user submitted information.)  Sorry, it doesn't work that way. That is the very definition of free speech that the government cannot censor. 

• This may only entertain lawyers who have been on the bottom of the totem pole in a law firm, but look what this newbie did to get suspended by the bar for six months.  
• Hypothetical on the radio yesterday: Would you take $1 billion if it meant you no longer had your sense of taste? That's a no brainer. I'd do it for a million and probably far less than that.
• There was a very active online thread yesterday saying the lady which (amazingly) was sent to prison for illegal voting in Tarrant County couldn't get released to a residential facility because the DA had filed  a "sewage charge" against her three days ago. (I can't verify this primarily because of the gawd awful online search system of criminal records they have.)
• Speaking of the Tarrant County DA's office, a law firm in Fort Worth just released an amazing data analysis of prosecutions in the county. It is top notch work, and I urge you to take a look at it. Prosecutions are up at a greater rate than population increases, case resolutions are down, the budget is up, and conviction rates in trials are shockingly low. Then there are crazy gems like this: Marijuana has somehow become Public Enemy #1 in Tarrant County compared to the rest of the state. 

• I had never heard of this "conservative talk show host" but he was killed after apparently jogging so close to a train in Haltom City that he was struck. Who jogs that close to a track? Plus, if your not between the rails it's not exactly the smoothest surface to jog upon. 
• The Tarrant County District Clerk's office is imaging old records and last week found Clyde Barrow's indictment for murder of the cop in Southlake off 114. The case was later dismissed because "Defendant deceased."

• Bob Stoops becoming the head coach of the Dallas XFL team is one of the weirdest sports stories I've heard. I would have never guessed that. (Side note: The team doesn't appear to have a president or even a mascot.)
• I saw that kicker Matt Bryant was released by the Falcons yesterday, and it got my attention since he had been with the league for 17 years. (He went 20 of 21 on field goals last year so I'm not sure why they fired him.) But this is why it gets a bullet point: The Dallas Cowboys signed him on August 17, 2004, and cut him two weeks later. 
• From a North Carolina reporter: "Randomly flipped through the 1979 UNC-Chapel Hill yearbook today just to kill some time, and found this photo on one of the fraternities' pages. Holy [crap]."

• That was quite the sight of a construction worker dangling in downtown Fort Worth. (He had a safety harness on which is the best PSA for wearing them ever.)

• Here's a thought about another racist video showing up in Southlake: Aren't there probably at least a hundred of those things created in the metroplex every week that we never hear about?