Random Thursday Morning Thoughs

4/2/13:At Houston, Yu Darvish came within one batter of a perfect game before giving up a single up the middle. 

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• Can I interest you in being a teacher or administrator where one of your responsibilities is to revive overdosed students which Narcan which you need to be sure you have on hand? Story.
  
  
  
• [Editor's note: That is admittedly not the best bullet point to place in front of the following.]
• Today we will learn how the Texas House, and rural lawmakers in particular, feel about public schools and the movement to siphon money away from them into private schools.  The House will be voting on various budget amendments, but one legislator did something very clever: He has proposed an amendment, which must be voted on, to ban any taxpayer money from ever going to private schools. So even though this isn't the school voucher bill, we get a preview.  It will be the first clear sign whether the insane idea of private school vouchers has traction. How will Wise County's Rep. Lynn Stucky vote? How about Jacksboro's David Spiller?
  
  
  
• The hair salon owner who was the center COVID closings has been hospitalized. 
  
  
  
• Trump quick hits:
• Perverts? He's insane. He's a child. He's an insane child. 
  
• This came on the heels of his call yesterday to defund the police. (I suppose Al Capone would have wanted to defund the IRS.)
  
  
  
• I'm not sure why we need a courtroom artist since there were camera in the courtroom, but this is suitable for framing. 
  
  
  
• And someone kinda did. 
  
  
  
• In case you wondering how Stormy Daniels is doing these day, she granted an interview to Piers Morgan. 
  
  
  
• ProPublica has released a story about Dallas billionaire Harlan Crow (who is the son of Dallas real estate mogul Trammell Crow) lavishing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas with gifts and vacations over the years. 
  
  
  
• But one of the craziest things from the story was the reproduction of this painting which shows Crow and Thomas hanging out at a retreat.

• Random real estate. Good lord. The address is 1161 La Mirada Court.
  

  

• Legal nerdy stuff for criminal practitioners only: We had a defendant's PDR granted yesterday by the Court of Criminal Appeals on various prolonged-stop Rodriguez issues. (Actual PDR here. Summary of the grant here.)
• Legal nerdy stuff #2: Look at how the Dallas Court of Appeals granted a simple Motion for Extension of Time to file a brief by throwing shade at the attorney.

• Messenger: Above the Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

I posted this 10 years ago. This may be more legend than fact. 

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• Well, that was a wild day. Thoughts . . . 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The next court date isn't until December. By that time, either Georgia has indicted Trump for election tampering and/or the U.S. Government has indicted him for obstruction in the documents case or for the January 6th Insurrection.  In the end, yesterday might become an afterthought. 
• The circus outside was a bad circus for Trump because only the nutcases of Marjorie Taylor Greene and George Santos showed up for support. And they quickly fled. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• As she left, Greene gave one interview in her car to one of the nutty Trump cable networks where she said "President Trump is joining some of the most incredible people in history in being arrested today. Nelson Mandela was arrested, served time in prison. Jesus was arrested and murdered . . . . .". And to top it off, the reporter kissed her.  
  
  
  
• I'm actually sympathetic to Trump in some legal nerdy ways:
• In his defense, I think it's a little weird that its a misdemeanor in New York to "falsify business records" even with the records are kept internally or not kept at all. There is an element of "intent to defraud" but that's certainly a murky standard. (New York Penal Law §175.05)
• And I think it's weird that the the case gets to be upgraded to a felony when you additionally "intend to commit another crime" (§175.10) but the indictment, which is supposed to put you on notice of what the government says you did wrong, doesn't have to specify what that specific crime is. 
• Along those lines, the DA filed a 13 page "Statement of Facts" but even it doesn't cite the extra crime that Trump allegedly intended to commit.  Side note: I don't what the purpose of that document is. 
• My sympathy ends there. He was grifting off a fake mugshot even before the arraignment occurred.
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• Trump, despite the judge's warning, went of a rant last night of Mar-a-Lago.  I'll say it again and again: The normal Republicans have got to take control back of their party.  
  
   
• Then again, we are, collectively, the dumbest country in the world and probably deserve whatever is coming regardless of what it is.  
  
• Speaking of. Wise County's Congressman continues to embarrass us every day. He called the New York District Attorney "Fat Alvin."  
  
  
  
• There was a 20 year old man, Justin Carl, booked into the Wise County jail yesterday on a murder charge. The "date of offense" listed is the same date as listed for the previous arrests of one juvenile and one 17 year old who were charged in the death of 19-year-old Matthew Ryan Brown of Decatur. 
  
  
  
• The 10 year sentence of the former Boyd assistant high school principal made the front page of the Star-Telegram.  That sentence was a the result of a plea bargain, and he'll have to serve at least five years before becoming eligible for parole.  
  
  
  
• The most significant event in U.S. politics may not have been Trump's arraignment yesterday. It might be that the swing state of Wisconsin is now firmly Democratic and will stay that way. In the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history, a Democrat won a statewide Supreme Court race by a shocking 10 points giving the court a 5-4 liberal majority for issues of abortion and gerrymandering. In the end, the fallout from Dobbs overturning Roe v. Wade will continue to cause shock waves.
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I finally took the time to watch the four minute video in this, now dropped, murder case in Tarrant County.  The mixture of everyone being armed and everyone quick to pull out their guns is what lead to needless death. (The full video is quick loading and amazingly can be found right now on the normally awful home page of the Star-Telegram.) A short 30 second version is here but it's not as informative.
  
  
  
• Heck of a pic of the Nashville gun protests at their capitol.
  
  
  
• I'm not sure what prompted Baylor to do this, but it dawned on me I was alive when Baylor had no black graduates. 
  
  
  
• I saw the term "arrested" thrown around a lot yesterday.  I think anyone who's ever been arrested would tell you that wasn't an arrest. 

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

Two Bridgeport men died in separate motorcycle accidents.

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•  A body was found over the weekend off of Cuba Road east of Bridgeport. The speculation is that it is the guy who stole and then abandoned a Mann Refrigeration truck in February, but who was never found. Until now. 
  
  
  
• Jacksboro news. He was 22.
  
  
  
• When I said I expected Trump to take a highly publicized motorcade from Trump Tower to the courthouse, I didn't expect it would start at Mar-a-Lago yesterday.  And the media coverage of him is a campaign gift of biblical proportions. Today will be insane. 
  

  

  As he left his home to go to Florida airport

  

  As he was landing
  
  
• As Trump was about to make the brief walk to Trump Tower in Manhattan, I wanted someone to yell into this guy's earpiece, "Straighten your tie!" It really bugged me. 
  
  
  
• It sounds like there won't be a book-in photo. But don't forget the greatest book-in photo of all time: Tom DeLay. 
  
  
  
• Seems not good in Richardson this morning.  A food truck, on its side, on a DART rail off of Central Expressway. 
  
  
  
• 152 rounds. Totally normally. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Crime creation. It's been a while since I've written, "Too many cops. Too many prosecutors.™"
  
  
  
  
• As more proof that Texas legislators have lost their minds, a new bill by Sen. Phil King wants to require the 10 Commandments, in the King James Version, to be posted in every public elementary school.
  
  
   
• Not to be outdone, another bill would allow public schools to replace certified counselors with someone who represents themselves as a "chaplain." 
  
  
  
• Very movie-like: A pro-Russian military blogger was given a piece of art at a speaking engagement, and then it blew up killing him.  Russia has arrested a woman for delivering the bomb, and is blaming Ukraine. Here is security video of the explosion as seen from outside. (I'm sure there is video of the explosion from inside, but it was not released.)

  

  Holding the gift moments before explosion

  
  

  

  Delivering the gift

  
  
• Stopped me down: The picture of wrestling kingpin Vince McMahon looking like Clark Gable as he appeared at press conference yesterday to announce the sale of the WWE. 
  
  
  
• How's the Michael Irvin defamation lawsuit against Marriott going?