12.13.2021

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




This is a big day. Ten years ago to the day is when I first discovered the DPS gun boats.   

  • Wise County attorney Paul Belew has officially filed to run for the office of Governor of the great state of Texas. (The filing fee is $3,750.)

    • For a list of everyone who has filed for state-wide offices (not county-wide), see here.
    • If you really like politics, here is a collection of every Texas Congressional House race up for election and the candidates who have filed. Some are very crowded. Example:

  • Our under-indictment Texas AG hung out a Trump's clubhouse on Friday. He posed with a nut who stood outside the Oval Office after January 6th with notes that read "martial law if necessary." And both are proud of it. 


  • We knew this was coming. Following the footsteps of Texas, California will now put a $10,000 bounty on those who sell "assault weapons" -- including AR-15s. And if your reaction is, "But there is a constitutional right to own an AR-15", well, that's kind of the whole point of the California governor's tactics.


  • Chris Wallace has immediately left Fox News for CNN. If there is anyone left over there in the "straight news" division, I don't know who it is. 

  • Elon Musk was just named Time's Person of the Year.
    Cover

    Didn't make the cover.

  • I wonder what the back story is on this. The girl's picture got my attention. 


    Credit @FOX4Terry for photos.

  • I have questions. 

  • Take a look at this photo of four Texas officers who must have captured a modern day Pablo Escobar since he had two bags of weed.  And zoom in on the money. That's a whopping $70 when the fifteen $1 bills they have displayed are counted. The drug "bust" actually made a newscast in Lufkin. 


  • Oddest thing you might see all day: Miss Universe winner Miss India impersonating a cat last night. (Video.)

  • Got to appreciate a guy who is hobbling off the field but stops to pick up some misplaced scissors on the turf.


    . 
  • When a story like this appears on the official NFL website, you know the NFL wants him gone. 

  • Unintended funny.

  • Just when I was sad that the UT Pole Assassin and her monkey had left the news, some hero came through. 

  • Football jargon: There is no reason - absolutely no reason - to ever insert the word "scrimmage" into a description of a play or production of yards. It means nothing. For example, " He had over 200 rushing yards from scrimmage" or "On the first play from scrimmage in the second quarter" or "On the first play from scrimmage after the fumble recovery." 


at 8:29 AM

12.10.2021

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




Man, that was a random hot sports opinion I issued. And accurate. #SportsGenius

  • I'd suggest picking up a Messenger or subscribing online to read the recap of the Ronnie Brezina murder trial this week. The background of the victim communicating her fears to others before the deadly event is really wild. The trial continues next week. 

  • It looks like the most contested race in Wise County will be for County Clerk. So far, we have four: John Curry, Blanca Tuma, Raquie Gasperson and Walter Harvey.
    • The filing deadline for all elections is Monday at 6:00 p.m. 
  • Just east of the Decatur water tower located at 287 and 380, you might have seen tons and tons of dirt brought in for some kind of project. I finally learned what is going on: The construction of a new apartment complex.
  • News from overseas this morning on Wikileaks. I honestly haven't figured out how I feel about this guy.
     

  • Verdicts from yesterday:


    (The AP didn't include this collage with the news bulletin.)

  • I don't remember the Dallas DA's race being this close four years ago. They will go at it again in March:

  • That letter is s a "b"! Spoiler alert: "The Kindred/Anderson family does not expect to receive any money from the judgment, according lead attorney John Flood."

  • The Cartel murder of the attorney in broad daylight at the Southlake town square might be one of the craziest things that has ever happened. We need a documentary on it. There is at least now a Spanish version in the works: 



  • January 6th investigation notes:
    • The DC Appellate Court ruled yesterday that the National Archives must turn over documents from the Trump Administration regarding January 6th. The only remaining remedy for Trump is a Supreme Court appeal.  My prediction: They won't touch it.  

    • And Republican Liz Chaney, who is on the committee, is going full speed ahead:
    • For Trump and his cohorts to create an actual Power Point presentation outlining their illegal coup to overturn an American election took great hutzpah. It is right out of a scene from The Wire where Stringer Bell has to ask, "What are you doing?" followed by "Is you taking notes on a [effing] criminal conspiracy?"

  • Hot real estate opinion: I think one of the biggest lies during the recent real estate boom is the sentence "Homes placed on the market routinely get multiple offers for more than the asking price."  To be true, there would have to be an plethora of realtors not knowing the market value of homes. 
  • Not only do I not understand comparing the burning of the Fox News Christmas tree to Pearl Harbor, I don't understand any of this.

  • For criminal law practitioners only: The Fort Worth Court of Appeals gave the Fourth Amendment a rare win yesterday. Shoutout to defense lawyer Ray Napolitan on the win. 
  • 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: 889 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold


at 8:30 AM

12.09.2021

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




A Decatur couple had made it into the old "Cheers and Jeers" column in the Star-Telegram.   

  • I'm hearing we had a defense lawyer "aggressively" make a physical move towards a prosecutor on Monday during a hearing outside the presence of the jury in the Decatur murder trial being held this week in Jack County. I'll try to get the details. 
  • We got an unconstitutional Baby Jesus display in a Wise County government office! Someone get the ACLU on the horn! (The last time I did this, the office manager got very mad at me. Come on, we're having fun here, no?) Side note: Why is the Baby Jesus extra white?

  • This was a feel-good, and incredible, thread of pictures and video yesterday as a person was rescued from a car just feet from going over Niagara Falls. Unfortunately, she died over night.  

  • I think I like Finland politicians. 

  • When have a new arrestee in the Trump Insurrection. This time he is from Keller and not the brightest bulb in the room. 

  • The Sheriff in Clay County, who has been indicted for Official Oppression, held a nonsensical news conference where he tried to defend himself against the charges on why he held two people in jail after a JP had found no probable cause to hold them. 

    • I don't even have to say that he "allegedly" held two people after the finding of no probable cause because he actually admitted to doing it. (5:10) 
    • Instead he tried to throw the JP under the bus which made no sense to me. He claimed "the finding of no probable cause was irrelevant"  because he needed an actual order to release the couple. (8:35) That's a new one to me. A constitutionally required order finding probable cause is what gives him the authority to hold someone after a warrantless arrest. If there isn't a probable cause finding, he loses that authority. And that's what led to the indictment.
    • Legal nerdy stuff: He also seems to say that they tried to amend their affidavits to take another shot at establishing probable cause but the JP failed to rule on them.  Well, if he is of the position that he was waiting on a new probable cause determination (which I don't even think is allowed), art. 17.033(a) requires a person to be release when there has been the absence of a probable cause determination made within 24 hours. That law is in place (since 2001) to prevent a Sheriff from holding someone forever by saying, "Well, no judge has been in to make a probable cause decision, but I'm going to continue to hold the people because I don't have an order from a judge to release them."
    • But, once again, in this case there was a judge who reviewed the case within 24 hours and specifically made a no probable cause finding. But the two people were still held in jail. 
    • And anyone find it odd that the Sheriff used the official Clay County SO Facebook page and the actual sheriff's office, which is county property, for his personal defense?

  • This was a pic of Zeke before yesterday's practice, and I thought to myself that it looked like a simple, good, and probably inexpensive exercise bike. Nope. It's $1,750.

  • Thirty years ago today:

  • Hey, I mentioned the DFW advertising blitz of attorney Thomas J. Henry the other day. He's now made the front page of the San Antonio paper, and it doesn't look like it's in a good way. (Story is unfortunately behind a paywall.)

at 8:35 AM

12.08.2021

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts





Everyone was abuzz this week ten years ago about an "anti-gay ad" put out by then presidential candidate Rick Perry. I found it.   

  •  In the spirit of Christmas, a homeless man torched the Fox News Christmas Tree in Manhattan last night. 

  • With the deadline for local election filings quickly approaching, I would tell you exactly who was running for the Wise County races such as county commissioner, district clerk, county clerk, and county attorney if I was absolutely positive I had all the names. But since that information isn't available on the web, I can't. Incredible. 
  • There was a shooting in the "mall" in Killeen last night where one guy was hit "several times" but lived. The shooter is still on the run.  You would think it was a robbery based upon the photo, but it sounds like he just opened fire and left. A targeted hit? 

  • Here's a wild story that I was not familiar with. (And they do a deep dive into it with lots of links.)

  • COVID: My expert analysis for Texas data reveals that the decrease from the Summer Surge bottomed out on 11/20/21 and then the official Winter Surge began.  We cracked 3,000 in the hospital yesterday, but we are a long way from the 14,000 we reached in August.  I have no idea how high it will get. 
  • I seriously don't know what's going on here.

  • I guess we don't have to worry about Russia's 90,000 troops on the border of Ukraine after all. This is bizarre.

     
  • You've got to look for press coverage of the the Ghislaine Maxwell trial going on this week, and I find that a little surprising. This image was introduced into evidence a couple of days ago. 

  • Tell me you don't understand Texas civil law by telling me you've never heard of a General Denial.

  • Hey, just send me the document, Ok?

  • BYU fun fact: 

  • I've been told to read this book if you want to learn that FDR actually knew beforehand about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. ("It alleges that Franklin Roosevelt and his administration deliberately provoked and allowed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to bring the United States into World War II. Stinnett argues that the attacking fleet was detected by radio and intelligence intercepts, but the information was deliberately withheld from Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, the commander of the Pacific Fleet at that time.")

  • Every bowl game, teams, date, time, location, TV info, and betting line:

  • Messenger: Above the Fold



at 8:34 AM
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)