Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

You remember this happening in Wisconsin?

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• Beto, who will be in Decatur today at noon, dropped a mother of all expletives (language warning) at someone who mocked him last night, and the crowd in Mineral Wells went crazy. "It may be funny to you . . . . " 
  
  
  
• Trump took The Fifth. 
• I don't blame Trump for taking the 5th Amendment at his deposition yesterday. It's his right. Heck, he needs to assert it. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• But I do fault him for being dumb enough to ever say things like this. From 2016: 
  
  
  
• Hey, in future criminal trials can I use Trump's statement that he issued yesterday as he entered his deposition to explain why he was taking the 5th? "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the great Donald Trump once said [insert highlighted part]."
  
  
  
• As to the search of Trump's home, the Republican Party officially continued to turn on law enforcement yesterday as they signed on to Trump's defense of: "The cops planted evidence!"  
• It was first floated by a Trump lawyer on the evening of the raid.
  
  
  
• Trump then ran with it on his own social network. 
  
  
  
• Rand Paul and the Fox crowd yesterday morning. 
  
  
  
• This really was amazing: 
  
  
  
• I am and it is. 
  
  
  
• Some suggest that, with Trump owning the Supreme Court, we might end up with a new Mar-a-Lago rule of law out of all of this. Heck, we already have suggestions . . . 
  
  
  
• The New York Times has filed a civil suit to try and get the search warrant affidavit. I have no idea if this has any merit or basis. 
  
  
  
• I learned for the first time yesterday that Heisman trophy winner Robert Griffin III's high school coach at Copperas Cove, Jack Welch, was a Bridgeport graduate. 
  
  
  
  
• Wise County's congressional rep Ronny Jackson just said on a podcast that he once ate a plate of male dog reproductive organs. (Yep.)
  
  
  
• We finally have a result in the Sheriff Joe mayor's race. He lost again. 
  
  
  
• If you want to see a quick 360 video from the coach's tower at Cowboys camp to show what the field and surroundings look like, here ya go.  It's pretty cool. 
  
  
  
• Construction is over! Smooth sailing through Waco! . . . 

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.