Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

To much fanfare, Allen High School's new 18,000 seat, $60 million stadium had its grand opening. It would be shut down two years later due to cracking and $10 million in repairs. 

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• A couple of weeks back a motorcyclist was shot and killed in Azle. That story is getting wild. The deceased man was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood and the shooter had a LGBTQ bumper sticker. Was there a confrontation earlier? Does it matter?  It certainly makes for an interesting criminal case. 
  
   
  

  

  
  
  
  
• This price of gas has fallen for 56 straight days. That explains the inflation numbers just released. 
  
  
  
• When was the last time he was under oath?
  
  
  
• Search warrant talk (Federal and Texas):
• Everyone keeps saying that Trump has "a copy of the warrant" which will "explain the reason for the search" of his Florida home.  He may have a copy, but it wouldn't explain it. There's a huge difference between the warrant (which just authorizes the search) and the search warrant affidavit (which explains in detail the cops' reasons for wanting to search).  The warrant, which is pretty bare-bones, has to be left at the scene. The affidavit does not.  And it's not a public record.
• Under Texas law, the search warrant affidavit is a public record even if no criminal case is pending. That's one of the greatest laws on the books.  (Tarrant County actually posts the documents online automatically if they were issued by a county judge or county JP.) 
• There is a huge flaw in the Texas public record law for search warrants at least when it comes to Wise County. You have to figure out which judge issued the warrant (simply by guessing) before you know where to ask for a copy of the affidavit. 
• Federal law requires that a Return be left which lists what items were taken.  I don't know much about that in federal cases. In Texas, the cops in state cases are really bad about doing so. And they are bad and sloppy about doing so because there is no penalty for failing to leave the Return. 
• This is from the former leader of the Dallas DA's Appellate Section. I did not know either of these facts which are pretty amazing and stunning. City judges are doing that many?
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A guy in Frisco who chartered a private jet along with the Little Ball of Insurrection™ has been sentenced to seven days in jail for his part in the riot. Are we trying to encourage Treason? We might as well send out engraved invitations for another attempted to coup to occur.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Oh, my.
  
  
  
• Air travel has been really jacked up over the last three days, and DFW is right at the top.
  
  
  
• I'm not sure Anne Heche is going to make it after crashing into a house in L.A. after allegedly driving drunk. Man, she was driving fast. (Video.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• This will only be interesting only to certain Wise County employees involved in criminal record-tracking, but it will be very interesting to them:
• I saw this problem coming 20 years ago: Newly filed felony cases are now being assigned the exact cause numbers which had previously been assigned decades ago to misdemeanors, and those misdemeanors are still young enough to also be in the county's Tyler Technologies computer database. 
• An example is below where a new felony was assigned a a cause number which already belonged to a 1990 misdemeanor. Now an online record search for CR23941 returns both cases. This is going to develop into a problem, right? E-filing, which relies on cause numbers, comes to mind.
  
  
  
• Pretty amazing: Earlier in the year, all hell broke loose when a Texas district attorney unbelievably charged Lizelle Herrera with murder after an alleged “self-induced abortion.” He later apologized and admitted the 26-year-old it should have never have happened since abortion was legal in Texas. Then comes Dobbs and now DAs might be suspended for not enforcing suddenly triggered abortion laws. 
• Radio news: I completely missed the WBAP has replaced Brian Estridge on the morning show. He had been paired with Hal Jay since 2009. Estridge claims he knew he would leave "since October" but, if he did, it is very odd that he failed to say goodbye on the air. 
• Nerdy political stuff: Here's the petition related to the tweet below.
  
  
  
• Messenger: Above the Fold

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

An 82 year old man suffering from a probable diabetic episode "hit four people in front of a Ross department store [in Lake Worth], including a 25-year-old woman, a 40-year-old woman and two children, ages four and five.  Seconds later, Martinez sped down the parking lot and hit two more children, including Savannah Deegear, who died a short time later."  Seven months later, a Tarrant County grand jury will decline to indict him. 

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•  Oh, my!
  
  
  
  
  
  
• So what was it about? The prevailing school of thought is that its about the unauthorized taking of classified documents, but we honestly don't know. There is in existence a sworn search warrant affidavit that will explain it all, but it is sealed -- something that is  routine. But in this case involving a criminal justice event which has never happened before in the history of the U.S., it needs to be released. The public has a right to know.
  
  
  
• Let's be clear: The the highest level of the Justice Department gave the go ahead for this search. From there, a federal judge had to approve the search after finding probable cause exists to believe a crime was committed. After that, the FBI then executed the search. And the FBI is led by this guy . . . 
  
  
  
• What's the difference? That's a stupid statement even for him. 
  
  
  
• Let's check in on the reaction of the "Law and Order" and "Back the Blue" crowd. I find all of this jaw-droppingly amazing. They have no idea if the case has merit or not.
• QAnon weights in:
  
  
  
• Wise County's own representative continues to embarrass us:
  
  
  
• An account run by Trump sycophant Rep. Jim Jordan puts a different twist on "no one is above the law":
  
  
  
• Hey, there's an innocent explanation! Trump was scrapbooking!
  
• Beto confirms his trip to Decatur.  I'm hearing rumors of protestors.
  
• Following in the steps of Parker County, Wise County Commissioners approved a proclamation yesterday calling illegal immigration an "invasion."  That's a shame. I suspect they know it's a meaningless and silly exercise, but they were bullied into doing so by the Trump Disciples who have taken over the local Republican Party.  
  
• A faithful reader pointed out to me that the photos appearing in billboards promoting Decatur ISD use stock photos instead of pictures of actual students. 
  
• The defendant took the stand in the "honor killing" case. I normally actually support a defendant testifying, but I wouldn't do it when the guy speaks Arabic and has to use a translator. And I also wouldn't recommend it when he has no explanation for being on the lam for a decade. Side note: The prosecutors are horrible, but even they can't lose this one.  
  
• Notable death. I can't begin to tell you how much Grease meant to the teenage girls of my generation.  But I didn't remember how bad the Let's Get Physical video was until I saw it yesterday.
  
• Another notable death. In addition to his writing style, I absolutely loved his voice.  I can still hear it every time I think of Ken Burns' documentary, The Civil War.
  
• This is going nowhere. 
  
• Random photo on the cover of the San Antonio paper showing the effects of the drought. That's Medina Lake which is only 10% full. Look at that dock on dry land which is a long way from the building/home.
  
• The USA Today's Coaches Poll is out and, as always, Texas makes an appearance. Although they came in at #18, one coach gave them a first place vote.  And we know it's not UT's coach because he doesn't get a vote.
  
• Turns out the OU coach the read the racial slur not once but multiple times.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

Technically, McKayla Maroney struck this pose on August 5, 2012.

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• Beto is coming to Decatur this week if this text is correct.
  
  
  
• This is awful. Yesterday evening, a truck pulling a trailer plowed into a home in White Settlement killing 18 year old Katey Kirkland. The vehicle was so far in the home that only its trailer (covered) was visible.  I think this is the Google streetview link. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• The person driving the fast moving car which killed six in Los Angeles has been identified and arrested. She is a traveling nurse out of Houston who worked for Kaiser Permanente.
  
  
  
• The City of Rhome has forced out the City Administrator with a "separation agreement" of $100,000+ but confusingly keeps her on at $50 an hour until a replacement is found. The 15 minute, sometimes contentious, meeting is here on YouTube.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The trial of the (poorly labeled) "honor killings" of the two teenage daughters in Irving continues this week. But this note caught my eye as proof that lawyers involved in even the most clear cut cases run into headaches.
  
  
  
• Friday roundup of stories we've already forgotten about:
• Alex Jones got hit with a $45.2 million punitive damage verdict.  There's a great deal of confusion as to how Texas' statutory cap on punitive damages will reduce that verdict. The statute says the cap is $750,000 but there are two plaintiffs so that would make it $1.5 million -- which is what Jones' lawyers say. But there is another argument made by the Plaintiffs' lawyer, and at least supported by one case, which says the the cap is $750K per Plaintiff per every "cause of action" they were successful upon which would make it around $9 million.  
  
  
  
• This was in Pennsylvania and hardly made the news.
  
  
  
• This occurred in Lafayette Park directly in front of the White House and is a popular tourist destination.
  
  
  
• What's Amazon really up to here by buying Roomba?
  
  
  
  
• They might want to focus on something down there other than screwing over this lady. She has been reassigned to "the position of assistant director of special education."
  
  
  
• Remember I told you on Friday to be on the lookout for the Republican Party (at least the Trump MAGA faction) using January 6th as a date of martyrdom just like the Nazis rallied around the date of Hitler's first failed coup attempt? Well on display over the weekend at CPAC in Dallas an actor in a cage playing a January 6th arrestee in a jail cell.  Really. Even Qanon Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene -- who spoke at the convention along with Trump, Abbott, Cruz, and every other mainstream Republican -- was there to comfort the crying actor. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Something seems weird about this. He's beloved in Norman and has been there a long, long time. 
  
  
  
• Everyone is yelling about the price of Insulin online, but I didn't have time for a deep dive.