3.03.2021

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




The pastor was Clint Dobson. One year later, Steven Lawayne Nelson, 25, was convicted of capital murder in Tarrant County and sentenced to death. The conviction was affirmed in 2015, but I think he's still on Death Row. (As far as the Midlothian City Councilman, I won't mention his name but there is no question he is still suffering repercussions from being falsely accused and indicted.)     
  • No mask mandate and Texas is 100% open!  Come to Texas where if the freezing weather doesn't kill you, the COVID will.

  • Now we get to start the unnecessary confusion as to when you do have to wear a mask despite the governor's announcement. The rule is pretty simple: If you go on someone else's property and they require it, either put one on or leave.  But I'm guessing those establishments still requiring masks today will give up the fight within the next 30 days because everyone will be ignoring their request.  
  • There were 429 new COVID cases and 14 new deaths in Tarrant County yesterday. Spring break is coming up. Doesn't it seem like Abbott jumped the gun a little bit? But make no mistake about it: This was all above votes. 
  • CVS is now offering free COVID vaccines for teachers. 

  • The Department of Defense inspector general will release a report today about Wise County congressional representative Ronnie Jackson. 

  • In a eye-brow raising auto wreck, 13 people were killed in a two vehicle collision in California where 25 people had been crammed into a Ford Expedition. 

     

  • There's a weird case out of Hutto, Texas involving a missing woman where there is lots  of circumstantial evidence against her husband, but they've only charged him with Tampering with Evidence so far. Yet police claim they found a letter of confession in his kitchen but which he claims was only part of a book. I'd like to see the "letter." 

  • Amazon unveiled a new app icon but then quietly changed it after people pointed out it looked a little like Hitler. 

  • This is how Fox News covered FBI Director Wray's testimony yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee about how the Trump Insurrections on January 6th constituted "domestic terrorism":




  • Waco has now become the hotbed of patent litigation, and it will even become hotter after what happened yesterday: A $2.1 billon dollar verdict against Intel.  Two notes about the case: (1) It was jury of seven which only deliberated a little over three hours -- so everyone feel comfortable that they understood everything?, and  (2) the lead lawyers weren't from Texas -- one was from Los Angeles and the other was from Boston. 

  • I think things like this are interesting: Here is the jury panel questionnaire for the upcoming trial of Officer Chauvin in the death of George Floyd. (Yep, they are about to have a trial in Minnesota.)
  • For the first time in my life I bought a leaf blower simply to help clean out the garage. I've never owned a leaf blower. Verdict: This is the greatest invention in the history of ever. How have I not known this? 
  • In 1983, Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw checked into a Louisiana hospital for surgery under and alias. The name he used? Tom Brady. 

  • Messenger: Above the Fold 


at 8:31 AM

3.02.2021

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts





The youtube link for the video is still good.     
  • Gov. Abbott is going to a Mexican restaurant in Lubbock today to make an announcement. He's either going to discontinue the "mask mandate" or announce that he is a big fan of fajitas.

  • As he has always done, Texas AG Ken Paxton ignored the law and filed a lawsuit just to placate the masses and seek publicity.  Griddy did nothing wrong. Everyone who signed up with them knew exactly what they were getting into. Yet, Paxton will sue them to get headlines. 

  • The first head has been lopped off in wake of the Texas Energy Fiasco with the resignation of the top person at the Public Utilities Commission, DeAnn Walker.  It'll be interesting to see if $850,000 a year guy  Bill Magness, the president of ERCOT, survives this thing. You know, he just might.  If there is one thing we've all learned after a major political screw-up is this: Just ride it out, let a little time pass, and you may survive. 

  • In a growing trend, Dallas PD no longer cares about the state's dumb laws of making it a crime to possess less than 2 ounces of marijuana and will no longer enforce it. Note: This isn't just Dallas police wanting to implement a "cite and release" law which allows them to simply hand a person a notice to appear in court instead of arrest them. Nope, they will neither arrest nor give a citation to appear. Fort Worth PD announced the same policy in November. 

  • Yesterday alone, there were four people arrested in Wise County for being in possession of marijuana under 2 ounces. That's it. There were no other companion offenses. (One guy was arrested by Bridgeport PD, one by Decatur PD, and two people by DPS.)
  • A convicted felon is running for mayor in Arlington, and he may or may not be eligible to do so.  But I got side-tracked by the highlighted statement below in the story. Grand juries don't convict anyone of anything -- they just hand down indictments. 

  • The Republicans in Georgia, in light of the last election results, are now trying to make it as hard as possible to vote. Things like this are happening all over the country. 

  • As America gets back to normal in this post-Trump era, the fencing has come down around St. John's church across from the White House.  

  • NFL Reporter Jane Slater got dogpiled on Twitter yesterday for promoting "unpaid" internships. She was oblivious to the fact that the only people of privilege can afford to work for free.  






  • Legal stuff: Yesterday the New Mexico Supreme Court heard an appeal of the largest wrongful death verdict in state history: $165 million. I noted that one of the issues, but not the main one, was the judge had an ex parte (one sided) communication with one of the lawyers. But, in the judge's defense, he handled it as best he could: 

  • Nerdy legal stuff: I was hoping the Supreme Court would agree to hear a pending case as to whether cops illegally prolong a traffic detention by simply running someone's criminal history. It's an open question.  Last week, the Court decided not to answer it for us. (I don't think the facts were as clean as they would like to decide the issue.) But for those who are interested in this area, here's a link for some of the great briefs filed in that case. 
  • There's is no way I give JJ Watt $23 million in guaranteed money on a two year contract like Arizona did yesterday. In addition to being on the decline, he's injury prone at this stage in his career. He played in only 3 games in 2016, 5 games in 2017, and 8 games in 2019. This season will be his 11th year in the NFL.  

  • Very random political thought: Whatever happened to Sen. Phil Gramm? 

at 8:30 AM

3.01.2021

Random Monday Morning Thoughts





I was referring to the Fort Worth Marathon that had been held the weekend before. Thomas would actually run the Boston Marathon two years later in 2013 -- the same year of the bombing. He had already finished and was back at his hotel when the bomb went off.    
  • So did you see the surgeon who appeared by Zoom for his trial in municipal court in California while he was in an operating room with a patient on the table? I've got a couple of theories. One, he is a nut who actually thought that was a good idea. Two, he's doing a bit. And he'd be able to pull off that bit because he's a plastic surgeon and probably runs and operates his own operating room in his office complex. That's routine. So he could have set it up with a friendly employee playing the role of patient just to jack with The Man. 

  • At the end of the ice storm, Mrs. LL ended up picking up milk in Fort Worth since it was in scarce supply in Wise County. After one week, I thought it would be a good idea to look at the expiration date on the bottle. Photo below -- this seems very wrong. That's just regular run of the mill 2% milk from Kroger: 

  • At CPAC, they lined up to tell a QAnon nutcase that they love her. Video. 

  • The Messenger had their annual "Best Of" issue, and I noticed that Charlie Tibbels won "Best Attorney." I shall be filing a lawsuit challenging the use of mail-in ballots and the voting procedure to Stop this Steal.  
  • Sketch artist draws the current view of the Supreme Court. 

  • The Wise County Jail population numbers are interesting after a year into the pandemic. Total inmates as of this morning is 167 - about 30 lower than pre-pandemic numbers. But the number of inmates who have been there for over 100 days is skewed much higher: 73 as of this morning. Pre-pandemic, that number averaged around 45.
  • Wise County congressional representative Ronny Jackson lied as to why he couldn't attend the House session on Friday (the one where the $1.9 million COVID relief bill passed over Republican objections) citing a "public health emergency." He actually was attending CPAC in Florida. 

  • Ted Cruz was also at CPAC. His comedy routine failed to mention that an 11 year old boy froze to death during the winter storm.  Video of Cruz delivering the line . . . 

  • Ken Paxton, who I believe will end up in federal prison for his most recent scandal, bragged about golfing with Trump on Friday. 

  • A Baylor graduate has been charged in the Trump Insurrection at the Capitol.

    • "In September Coffee began actively posting about QAnon conspiracies and releasing Instagram videos alleging the world was controlled by an all-powerful cabal of politicians, billionaires, propagandists, and Satanists‚ and that God had anointed Donald Trump to root out evil in the body politic."
    • A faithful reader pointed out that he might have made the roster for the Bears' football team.
  • Now we've got technology that makes old photos "come to life." Trust me on this one, click here to see Frederick Douglas move as he poses for the picture. (Obviously, it could be done with any still image. Here's an example of that.)

  • "Hey, go work for an hour and I'll give you all of this!"

  • I don't know if this real, but I have no reason to doubt it.

  • Did you know the first player ever drafted in the NBA was born in Wise County, went to Slidell High School, played for Decatur Baptist, and later was a principal at Bridgeport High School? (Credit: Messenger's Richard Greene.) 
  • How Mad Were Boosters at the Evil Empire Revolt: "Emails obtained by The Texas Tribune show alumni and donors threatened to stop supporting the university financially and demanded that the university president take a stronger stance supporting "The Eyes of Texas'."
  • Today is the deadline for Texas police and sheriffs departments to submit racial-profiling data on 2020 traffic stops. Past data here. 


at 8:30 AM

2.26.2021

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts






I don't remember these drastic budget cuts at Chico ISD (or Dallas ISD for that matter). And I feel like I was right: We hadn't seen school cuts like that before. And we haven't seen them since.    
  • Some things never change: We dropped some bombs on the Middle East last night. 

  • So yesterday evening the news broke that the Minimum Wage provision won't go into the Senate's version of the Stimulus Package because a parliamentarian said it wasn't procedurally proper? What's going on? The Republicans rammed through three Supreme Court justices and the Democrat controlled Senate now can't pass a law which the majority of American's overwhelming support? 

  • Seriously?

  • There were hearings at the state legislature yesterday on the energy fiasco last night. As expected, it didn't reveal or fix anything of note.  But I did learn the number of people who might find their monthly of electric bills to be in the thousands of dollars: 

  • DeAnn Walker is the head of the Public Utilities Commission, and was basically the only one to get beat up by legislators because she didn't seem to know very much. “I don’t think I understood the situation and underlying issues until we’ve lived through this,” she said. 

  • Much like the golden calf, a golden Trump was rolled into the CPAC convention last night. Now if they can just avoid the 40 years of wandering in the desert.  

  • I missed this particular picture at the rally before the Trump Supporters Stormed The Capitol.  It's a lot like that old Apple "1984" commercial from the Super Bowl. 

  • I got the mailer from the Runaway Bay Mayor going after the Messenger for criticizing Rep. Ronny Jackson for supporting of The Big Lie.  If I understand the mailer, his defense is the The Big Lie isn't a lie at all. Sheesh. (By the way, the complained of item in the Messenger was an "editorial" and not an "article.") Side note: How much did this cost him? 

  • An update on a wild story: This guy just received 10 years in federal prison  "Mark Kuper, 44, of Aledo began his career as a surgeon. But after several malpractice lawsuits related to his surgeries, he converted his practice in 2014 to an unregistered pain management clinic, the feds say."  He tried to burn the receipts in 2017 but accidentally burned his mansion down. Any chances that guy was a little wheels off in his every day life? 

  • Lady Gaga's dog walker was shot and wounded and her two dogs were stolen. The singer has offered $500,000 for their return - "no questions asked."  I'm not sure what the dog walker and attempted murder victim thinks about the "no questions" part. 

  • Watch this deep-fake of Tom Cruise. There's a scary world coming. 

  • It's legal stuff most of you won't care about but Ethan Couch's mom, Tonya, tried to get her cases thrown out First Amendment grounds. The Fort Worth Court of Appeals shot it down yesterday. I think the arguments are pretty interesting. Her lawyers are Houston lawyer, and noted First Amendment scholar, Mark Bennett as well as Stephanie Patten out of Fort Worth. 
  • In the nerdiest of legal things, some lawyers got very excited yesterday when the Supreme Court used the notation "cleaned up" for the first time yesterday.  ("Cleaned up" basically means the court is quoting another opinion but not using a verbatim quote because internal quotation marks, brackets, and ellipses have been omitted. This new citation tool was first proposed in a 21 page legal article in 2017  here, and I'm a little concerned that I care enough to dedicate a bullet point to this. 

  • Twenty-two years after it debuted, I'm six episodes into The Sopranos. Pretty, pretty good. 
  • Time which has passed since the Wise County Sheriff's Office has failed to solve the murder of Lauren Whitener in her home at Lake Bridgeport: 602 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold


at 8:34 AM
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