5.16.2022

Random Monday Morning Thoughts






Facebook went public a $38.00 a share 10 years ago this week. Since then it peaked at $379 until the recent pullback  . . . 


  • There are moments in your life when you will always remember where you were when you heard certain news. Saturday was one of those times. What a gut punch. We all loved Allen. Who didn't love Allen? He was 47 and simply collapsed. 

  • A racist domestic terrorist, motivated by Replacement Theory, traveled 200 miles to do a mass shooting in a predominately black neighborhood grocery store with an AR-15. Ten are dead. He livestreamed it all. 



    • Replacement Theory is based on the belief that white Christians are slowly being replaced by Blacks, Hispanics (especially illegal immigrants), Jews, Muslims or anyone else "not like us." It has become a common theme of mass shootings. (El Paso, ChristChurch, etc.)
    • It has been promoted by Fox News, and especially Tucker Carlson, for years.   Watch him do it. He's done it over 400 times. 



    • Others in Congress run on it. Matt Gaetz, for example: 

    • We heard it just a handful of years ago when Trump refused to bring the hammer down on the "Jews Will Not Replace Us" crowd at Charlottesville. 

  • There was a small pro-choice rally at the Wise County Courthouse on Saturday. 

  • The escaped TDC inmate is still on the loose. I'm surprised by that.  

  • A Texas kid shows up with a whip to confront his black neighbor. When parents go to confront the kid's dad, and he fires a handgun. Video.


  • Hours later, ERCOT issued a warning for Texans to keep there thermostats at 78 on Saturday or that blackouts could occur because six power plants had tripped offline.  I have no idea what the guys at the table are supposed to doing right before an impending crisis, but sitting around for a photo op ain't one of them. 

  • Delkus watch: Four days into his 10 day forecast and we've yet to hit one of his predicted highs. (I'm using official highs at DFW Airport.) 

  • The Little Ball of Insurrection posted a long diatribe trying to explain that her begging and grifting for money is not begging and grifting. It's bizarre.

  • Jen Psaki, outgoing press secretary for President Biden, took time to pose with Fox News White House Correspondent, Peter Doocy.   Things like this are normal for all administrations who do not consider the media to be an "enemy of the people." Which is all of them except one. 

  • Former Tea Party state rep darling Jonathan Stickland is upset that Birdville High School made an unconventional choice for its Prom King (not realizing that kids love to troll adults.)  Side note: Stickland didn't graduate from high school. 


  • This tweet is Idiocracy. The next time one person sues another person for money, but somehow the defendant is sentenced to jail, please let me know.  

  • An Arkansas fan was able to round up a racoon which was on the loose with his bare hands. Video. 

  • Former SMU and Arkansas football coach, Chad Morris, who took over as a high school coach at power house Allen, abruptly quit on Friday after only one year and hardly anyone noticed. 


at 8:30 AM

5.13.2022

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

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at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts





NBC 5 treated her pretty harshly by taking her off the air and  then not letting her back on after she pled guilty and received 18 months probation. But, as most people do, she bounced back OK.  She currently has a gig as co-host of WFAA-TV's "Good Morning Texas."  

  • Two are dead and three are injured after a shooting in Deep Ellum at around 2:00 a.m. this morning. It sounds like the police will have lots of video of it, but none has been released yet.  Best I can tell, the location is at Crowdus and Elm: 


    • This was from yesterday:

  • Decatur's relay team had a wild day in Austin. In the 4 x 100 they were disqualified after a false start. But then a little later they ran the 4 x 200 and got a gold medal.   The UIL's one false start = automatic disqualification is one of the harshest rules in sports.

    • Am I crazy, or did Decatur's 4 x 100 relay team also get disqualified for a false start at the state meet around 1980? Or did they get third? I was there and one of the two happened.  
  • Looking more at the bodycam from the search of Delaware lacrosse team bus in Georgia, I discovered this girl who might be my favorite 4th Amendment scholar of all time. She asks the officer (@10:21), "How did we go from driving in the wrong lane to [you] going through our bags looking for marijuana?"  Girl, you are preaching what many of us have been asking for years. 

  • We had 50 indictments filed yesterday in Wise County. 
  • We've got a TDC inmate on the run in Leon County after he got out of his "restraints" and attacked the bus driver. Shots were fired at him as he ran away. 


  • I'm confused, are they pro-life or not pro-life? Or do brown babies not count?

     

  • Elon Musk confirmed a news story in the middle of the night that his Twitter deal is on hold. I told you I was skeptical that he would go through with it. 


  • These probable Insurrectionists will ignore the subpoenas and then nothing will happen to them. The law doesn't matter any longer. 

  • My Pete Delkus 10 day temperature predictor watch is on! I'll be using the official temperature at DFW airport (which was 92 degrees yesterday and which I added to his graphic.) He missed Day #1 by three degrees. I'll update it on Monday. 

  • Seems big: Britney Griner was in a Russian courtroom this morning regarding her detention. It will continue for at least another 30 days. Edit: Here's a pic of her.

  • Not letting it ride: The 80-1 shot winner of the Kentucky Derby won't run make a run for the Triple Crown. 

  • Business quick headlines:
    • I keep telling you. There's money in warehouses.

    • This is not an overstatement: I have never in my entire life seen as much construction in the metroplex (and all around us) as I'm seeing right now. 

  • Extremely very legal nerd stuff for criminal practitioners only: Say a judge at an MTA hearing adjudicates the defendant guilty and imposes a 10 year sentence but tells him he will strongly consider shock probation. But later the judge and the defense lawyer figure out that because there's a deadly weapon finding, he can't get shock probation. Can the defense lawyer then potentially solve the problem by filing a Motion for New Trial to reconsider the sentence or adjudication? Yes, but if you don't assert "interest of justice" as one of the grounds in your motion, your client is screwed and will be going to prison for a long time. That's what the the Fort Worth Court of Appeals held yesterday. (The judge, George Gallagher, actually went along with the defense lawyer and put the defendant back on probation because of their screw-up.  But the DA's office were able to sabotage the judge, the defendant, and his lawyer by appealing. You know, because they tell us their job is to seek justice.)
  • 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: 1,043 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold

at 8:31 AM

5.12.2022

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts





There were two links in that post to find the book about Ricky Lee Green. One link is now dead and the other from Amazon now lists one used copy of the book for sale for $1,161.  (Amazon also tells me I bought a copy on January 21, 2003, but now I have no idea where it is.)

  • The Senate tried to pass a bill yesterday making abortion legal through federal law (which would trump whatever states do if Roe were to be overruled), but it failed 49-51.
    • They needed 60 votes anyway because of the filibuster rule. 
    • West Virginia's Joe Manchin was the lone Democrat to vote against it. 
    • Related: The Supreme Court meets today in conference, and it is the first time they have all got together since the opinion leak. 
  • That's a heck of a picture of a wild fire in California from yesterday/last night.

    • And those are some big homes destroyed. The main street that was hit was Coronado Pointe. I wanted to look at it on Google Streetview but it's gated. 

  • Southlake PD has backed off its claim that it was a poisonous water moccasin found in a closet. They posted this on Facebook (the department does a lot of social media cutesy bits):

  • Legal news quick hits:
    • #1. The South is still being the South.  Let me tell you something, the unconstitutional prolonged detention of people after a traffic stop based upon a hunch, bringing in an inept "drug dog" to do an open air sniff, followed by a full blow intrusive inspection of every part of a vehicle, is an epidemic of Biblical proportions in all Southern States including Texas.  

      • After the officer making the traffic stop of the lacrosse team bus was told of the drug dog "hit" by the canine officer, he said on video, "There's a bunch of dang school girls on the bus - there's probably some weed." (Bodycam video starting at around 6:40.)
      • He found no weed. Or anything else. Outrageous. 
    • #2 A three judge panel of the Fifth Circuit, in a 2-1 ruling, lost their minds late yesterday and reinstated Texas new (and ridiculous) law which prevents companies like Twitter and Facebook from censoring any user's post based upon the user's "viewpoint." This is an insane ruling and would be the death of the First Amendment.  Legal folks I follow who are much smarter than I am were losing their minds last night about it. This story should pick up steam in the media today.

    • #3 A guilty plea of a Trump Insurrectionists fell through yesterday when a defendant waffled in front of the judge. This type of exchange will cause a courtroom emergency brake to be pulled every time:



    • #4: The lady which was amazingly sentenced to prison for 5 years in Tarrant County for casting a provisional ballot got a reprieve yesterday as Texas' highest criminal court sent the case back to the Fort Worth Court of Appeals to determine if there was sufficient evidence on whether she "knowingly" voted illegally. 

       
      • Here's what the said the Fort Worth court of appeals got wrong: 

      • These were the prosecutors:

  • Richard Greene of the Messenger found this old (and odd) ad in the newspaper 25 years ago where Mitchell Energy denied having "sour gas." The oddity came about after the FBI stopped alleged bombers from blowing up the plant as a diversion for robbing an armored car. But . . . 

    • . . . it turned out that there wasn't much up of a scheme to blow it up at all as this Texas Monthly story explained. But that didn't stop the Feds from coloring it as a great Crime Fighting Adventure. 

  • Pete Delkus says we might reach record highs several times over the next 10 days. If I'm smart enough to remember, I'm going to track and post this everyday with the actual results to see how accurate he is. 

  • Am I missing it, or is there not much political advertising going on in the Bush v. Paxton race for Texas AG? The runoff is right around the corner. 

  • The Dallas Observer reflects on To Catch A Predator and how it came to a crazy end when an assistant DA near the metroplex got caught up in it and killed himself as cops moved in. He ended up with a Wikipedia page.

  • I finally got around to starting Succession. My review after Episode #1: Big thumbs up.

at 8:31 AM
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