12.13.2022

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




Tomorrow is the 10 year anniversary of Sandy Hook. Above is what I posted that morning which was the first indication I had of how bad it was. Those numbers turned out to be exactly right. 

  • Athena Strand tidbits I've picked up.
    • It looks like Bill Ray of Fort Worth has been court appointed as the defendant's attorney per county records.
    • The feeling I'm getting is that authorities do not believe portions of the original confession are true -- I mentioned Friday that I didn't believe parts of it either. 
    • There is a subsequent statement given by the defendant.  I don't know what's in it. 
  • Nothing like waking up to a tornado warning. Decatur even fired off the warning sirens at 7:12 a.m. The official warning was set to expire at 7:45 . . . 

    • . . . but they refined and narrowed the area to east of Decatur around 7:20 a.m.

    • Edit: There are some reports of damage southeast of Decatur. This looks like a video of roof damage.  Here's a video with some very colorful Wise County language of what appears to be two guys filming a tornado this morning.
    • Edit: This is the bulletin from FEMA hot off the presses. We've got a possible serious injury.

    • Edit: 287 south of Decatur closed due to debris (?) per National Weather Service at 8:29 a.m.  And FM 703 south of Decatur is closed due to downed power lines and debris.
  • Two people were injured, but not killed, in a small plane crash in Carrollton last night. Honestly, I'm surprised these images are from the same story but they are. 



  • I told you I thought the officer in his Fort Worth murder trial should testify, and he did. This should be enough to obtain a not guilty verdict. But don't run off to Vegas to bet big money on it.

  • Crypto is a scam.


  • "Let me just have a grand jury indict a guy with two of the most heinous offenses imaginable, destroy his life, and then just dismiss the cases later for 'insufficient evidence'." - Some prosecutor's attitude in this case.

  • Even an arrest that doesn't result in charges causes immeasurable damage. From yesterday:

  • I thought I was keeping up with the chaos out there, but I completely missed that the El Paso District Attorney flat out resigned a few days ago. A capital murder case against a mass murderer is just languishing.


  • The Special Master is officially gone in Trump's Document Case after an appellate court had to tell a renegade federal judge she was out of her mind for not dismissing the case from the beginning. She dutifully complied yesterday. All she did was muck up the works for a couple of months. 


  • Holy cow. Crazy Texas's own Don Huffines would have become crazy Kari Lake's chief of staff.

    • And how crazy is Huffines? Here's a recent example: 

  • Wow. It was just announced Mike Leach has now passed away. He was 61. 


at 8:24 AM

12.12.2022

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




The fallout to the Intoxication Manslaughter wreck involving the Dallas Cowboy was big news
  • This does not sound good at all. It's heart-breaking. He is 61. 

     
  • Breaking news out of the University of Texas:


  • WFAA had a report on the story behind the casket. A private funeral was Friday followed by a cremation afterwards.

    • Motorcyclists road from Azle to Wise County yesterday.

  • "Brady lists . . .  are compiled and maintained by prosecutors to monitor law enforcement misconduct and disclose information pertaining to the credibility of law enforcement personnel to counsel during the course of a trial." Also included in the list is a former Bowie police officer and a Chief Deputy from that neck of the woods.

  • A QAnon sitting member of Congress said on Friday that she could have won the Insurrection if she and Steve Bannon had been in charge because the rioters would have all been armed. Video. Incredible. January 6th was just a test run. They'll do it again. The proof is right there in front of us. 

    • The guy on the left got 4 years on Friday. It's not enough. The guy on the right has pled guilty and expected to receive the same sentence. 

  • Elon Musk, who is acting crazier and crazier, goes forward with his pay-for-a-blue-checkmark plan today, but it will cost more than he initially said. 

  • The Texas legislature keeps getting dumber and dumber.

  • As we head to a future right out of Black Mirror . . . 

  • $858 billion for one year, and we don't even blink an eye anymore. And historically about 55% of that goes to private contractors like Lockheed-Martin. It truly is a military–industrial complex.

  • Clean up a couple of mistakes and Decatur could have won that thing. 

  • One of the wildest games of the year was Friday night in the lower playoff division with Incarnate Word coming out a winner.

  • Weather: A dry cold front comes in for the last half of the week.

at 8:27 AM

12.09.2022

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




I had forgotten about Jovan Belcher incident.

  • Strand:
    • It finally became a public record yesterday at 1:31 p.m.! The complete probable cause arrest affidavit (pdf) is uploaded here.  Let me tell you something - I've got internal alarm bells going off because those facts in the affidavit don't add up.    My hunch is that whatever happened out in Cottondale did not go down as described in the affidavit.  

    • The autopsy will provide more information and it, too, is a public record. Certainly the autopsy has occurred but the report might not be finalized yet. 
    • Orchestrated by a law firm, the mother of Athena Strand held a press conference yesterday at the courthouse complete with a prop of the package of Barbies delivered by the alleged killer in his capacity as a Fed Ex driver. But the event was not about the upcoming criminal case but instead about suing people.  I want to be delicate here, but I don't think that was a good look at all. 


    • But the event did work in getting a lot of press coverage. However, my favorite photo is from the Dallas Morning News where they tried to get the artsy shot below.  Little did they know the image captured the Wise County District Attorney -- the man who will exclusively decide whether to seek the death penalty -- in the crowd.
      D.A. James Stainton (far left)
  • Oh, my. Someone got cold feet after being selected for top education job in Boyd. 

  • The Democrats somewhat surprisingly lost a member in the Senate this morning. 

  • Video footage of the actual prisoner swap yesterday involving Brittney Griner.

  • Here is absolutely wild dashcam footage of a wreck two days ago in Lewisville. A 2016 Chevrolet Corvette and a 2020 Ford Mustang can be seen passing on the right before all chaos breaks out. They had to be doing over 100 mph because the dashcam stamp shows that driver to be doing 83 mph.

  • Did you ever want to know what the actual Alamo footprint looks like superimposed over a satellite image from today? Here ya go. I tried to find an image like this last year without success when I was reading Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth -- a fantastic book.

  • I understand people being put off by high football coaches salary, but I'm taking a contrarian view here. Consider TCU and Decatur ISD and their incredible seasons.  Both may have paid a premium for their coaches this year (Decatur's coach even made the front page of the Star-Telegram), but consider their return on investment in two areas: (1) Tangible - The equivalent in advertising dollars and (2) Intangible but equally valuable - The simple good feelings generated in the communities they serve.  
    • As for TCU, they could not afford the amount of national advertising they have received this year. What's an ad on national TV cost per minute? They've been on national TV, in a positive light, for hours upon hours. 
    • As for Decatur, the coach might be being paid a premium of $30,000+, but being on the verge of a state championship game would probably be worth it to the Chamber of Commerce. And most parents wouldn't mind chipping in a few bucks for the sheer fun of it all. 
  • Legal nerdy stuff couple with current events: It's Texas Criminal Law 101 that if a person is incarcerated in jail on a felony and he can't make bond, but the State fails to indict him within 90 days of when his incarceration begins, then he is entitled to a PR bond or a bond reduction to an amount that he can actually afford it. An appellate court  had to reluctantly point this out yesterday in a case where the prosecutors in Panola County failed to indict the alleged killer of a deputy sheriff until 10 months had passed. Amazing. Here's the original story from 2020.

    • The court pointed out (footnote 1) that the State failed to utilize a portion of the State Constitution allowing a capital murder defendant to be held without bail if the State had taken the effort to jump through a couple of hoops. See TEX. CONST. art. I, § 11.
    • Here's a wild paragraph from the State's brief that makes me wonder what the heck is going on in that East Texas county.

  • Time which has passed since the Wise County Sheriff's Office, despite having a full male DNA profile, has failed to solve the murder of Lauren Whitener in her home at Lake Bridgeport: 3 years, 157 days.
  • Messenger - Above the Fold

at 8:29 AM
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