5.17.2023

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




This one actually ended up with a not guilty by reason of insanity. 

  • This is a long and detailed story of the trouble in the Sanger PD. At the center of the storm is a former Decatur PD officer.

  • I have a source who I trust implicitly who told me he saw an AR-15 quickly transferred from one car to another, and one party to another, on the courthouse square in Decatur yesterday. Nothing illegal about it, but that would certainly get your attention. 
  • This isn't good. Due to health issues, the Democrat senator had been in California from February up until last week. Now she doesn't remember it. Rumors of her decline have been rampant. 


  • I'll admit that I'm shallow because every time I see a photo of the victim who was killed by the 12 year old armed with an AR-15 style gun in Keene, my mind starts wandering as to why someone would ever get a face tattoo. (And, by the way, that's his son and not the shooter. And, yes, the whole thing is awful.)

  • The guy below was all over the news after the Allen Mall Massacre. He had all sorts of hot sports opinions about guns, but also claimed he was there at the scene providing aid before cops arrived.  But then Allen PD did an odd thing on Saturday by issuing a statement saying he was not credible. You don't see that very often. I don't know exactly what's going on behind the scenes here. 

  • Political gossip.

    • I have an idea. 

  • Personal shopping observation. I was in Home Depot's home and garden area and ran across this item. Never mind it being overpriced (it's a planter), but why would they put a sign up that shows the item has had only one online review and it was just one star? 


  • Legal nerdy stuff. I always try to glance at the online "Tarrant County DA Trial Board", and I noticed the "panel busted" notation this week. So what's that, you ask? 
    • It's really a slang term to denote a situation where an entire panel disqualified themselves with an answer to a lawyer's question during jury selection. It normally happens when one juror gives a disqualifying answer such as stating that he would not being able to follow some aspect of the law applicable to the case. It then (somehow) becomes clear to the entire panel that such such an answer just guaranteed for that guy that he was not going to end up on the jury because of his answer.  
    • The other potential jurors aren't sure why, but they now know by just saying, "I don't think I'd be able to follow that law", they will be getting out of a potentially long jury service as well. And they know no one is going to yell at them or reprimand them for answering that way. So when the next potential juror is then asked if he agrees with the previous answer, and he says yes. And that emboldens the next in line who also answers yes. And the next. And the next. And suddenly you have an avalanche of disqualified jurors. Soon there's not enough left. Ergo, the "jury panel is busted." 
    • If it happens to a prosecutor who is asking the question, it's probably a screw up. He'll scramble to try to try and reword the question to save the panel.  If it happens to a defense lawyer, it normally means he got lucky and he'll roll with it before the judge can jump in and try save the panel.

  • I should have a business show on CNBC or Bloomberg. All I'd ever say is, "Warehouses, people!" Today's paper: 
  • What a price tag . . . 

at 8:30 AM

5.16.2023

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




Pete Delkus, in action, in front of the green screen. I have no idea where I found this back then. 

  • The Decatur School Board voted to arm teachers last night in a 6-1 vote in approving a "Guardian Program."   It does not sound like like local law enforcement is in favor of this. It also sounds like there was a dispute as to whether is was technically on the agenda. 


    • The meeting was a long one, lasting over three hours.  CRT and trans-kids took center stage at the end of the meeting. 
  • This was wild enough . . . 

    • . . . but about 30 minutes before he did so, video shows his chasing another woman with a baseball bat. That's right out of a horror movie. 

  • Don't look at the lawsuit filed against Rudy unless you are intestested in very seedy stuff.


  • I see a headline like this and I think, "Man, we sure do send a lot of people to prison."
  • If there's a camera, Rep. Jeff Leach will be in front of it. But someone might want to tell that crowd that's the only reason he is there. 

  • After not making an appearance among the throng of DPS officials at a press conference in Allen after the Outlet Mall Massacre, I saw yesterday that the $300,000 Man still has his normal job as being used as a prop for Gov. Abbott. 

  • An officer modeling a fake pregnancy drug smuggling apparatus makes for a good photo. It took me a second. 

  • My interest always perks up with DNA stories and this headline . . . 

    • . . . didn't prepare me for this blurb which had nothing to do with air. You could theoretically find that a killer lives in a nearby town by sampling a nearby river? That last sentence refers to the CODIS database which requires 20 DNA "markers."

  • I need to apologize to the Village People because they weren't at Mar-a-Lago this weekend. That was a a cover band to which Trump was dancing to. 

  • I've never cared about hockey before, and I'm not starting now.


at 8:30 AM

5.15.2023

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




That's a guy with a gun in the foreground. This was actually gang related which ended up getting the feds involved and a life sentence for two men resulted. Amazingly, no one was killed in the Mother's Day incident. 

  • A twelve year old was arrested for a murder at a Sonic in tiny Keene in Johnson County.

  • Elections have consequences -- just check out the new Decatur ISD school board agenda. All the strawman/non-existent hot button issues are on there: CRT,  transgender, etc.  But also pay attention to one which could have a real life impact: Arming teachers 

  • Online sports gambling was passed by the Texas House last week but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who runs the Senate, single-handedly decided daddy knows best on what you can do with the money and announced it won't even get a vote. 

  • House fire over the weekend in a pretty nice neighborhood which is actually right by the Saginaw Cutoff exit on 287. I think I've got the address pegged down to 12084 Alysse Way  Google Streetview here. It's owned by a couple who are both doctors. You can snoop way too much these days on the Internet.

  • Oh, come on. 

  • The man flat out lies. 

  • Ron DeSantis, who has not declared for a presidential run, made it to Iowa to campaign this weekend. Trump cancelled his appearance due to "weather."  This must have pleased DeSantis since this random photo of him was captured. 

  • White Extremism in America continues to flourish as the Patriot Front held a rally in D.C. over the weekend. 

     

    • I think my favorite conspiracy theory of the most gullible among us is that rallies like this aren't actually White Supremacists but a false flag created by face-covered FBI agents. Sheesh. Those groups are all around you. Just two years ago I took this photo in Decatur.

  • That crazy Ultra Right Wing conference at Trump's hotel got off with a bang on Friday with a speaker telling the crowd that the dirty libs in Hollywood were "drinking the blood of children." (Video here,) 

    • And then it ended with Trump calling in live to speak to absolutely-bonkers-felon Gen. Michael Flynn to tell him he would make him part of his administration again if he we wins the presidency. Video. Flynn also apparently has Trump in his phone as "Natalie (45)". We live in strange days.

  • Legal nerdy stuff: On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court, in a civil Batson challenge, ruled against a lawyer for using race as a basis to preemptively strike jurors from the panel. But I raised an eyebrow when I saw a sitting district judge tweeting about the case telling lawyers not to admit race base strikes on the record like that lawyer did. Uh, shouldn't the message be "Don't use race as your reason" instead of don't admit it you use race?

  • Legal nerdy stuff #2: As of this morning, there are six vacant federal district judgeships available in Texas. 
  • For the Succession fans out there: I continue to reside alone on an island alone by proclaiming that Logan is not dead. Now I think Roman is in on it. And I believe there will be a big "reveal episode" with flashbacks to certain scenes this season which will cause you believe you should have seen it coming all along.  And I acknowledge this island is very, very lonely, 

at 8:30 AM

5.12.2023

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




We had the Jodi Arias verdict and the beginning of two years of Benghazi hearings. 

  • Look, I like Chief Steve Stanford. I like him a lot. But the statement below was a little "out there." These boys -- who have had their faces plastered all over DFW -- are charged with a Class B misdemeanor. That's one level above a traffic ticket.

  • Rep. Jeff Leach might have run up to Allen last Saturday to get in front of the cameras to offer thoughts and prayers, but he's back in Austin working passionately to actually do something about it try and get sports betting passed.

  • Legal (alleged) crime blotter.
    • Lawyer out of Wichita Falls, Dean Colin Godfrey, 34. Story. Pay-walled.

    • Former Dean of St. Mary's Law School in San Antonio. Story. Pay-walled. 

  • Seems like a big deal: The Texas Supreme Court has approved, and made available online, do-it-yourself wills. 

  • Trump double-downed and repeated the accusation which cost him $5 million this week.  This gives rise to some pretty interesting legal theories/principals.  A jury has found Trump's statements to be (1) false (2) made with actual malice, and (3) that she had been harmed.  Once that verdict becomes final after appeals, those issues will forever been judicially determined. So when Trump says the exact same thing again, winning becomes real easy. I'm not sure the verdict form wouldn't just ask (1) Did he say it again? (2) How much does he have to pay?

  • I'm not sure what was going on at Mar-a-Lago last night, but Trump was hanging out with ladies and dancing to the Village People (video). 


  • Woah. Woah. Woah. Let's tap the brakes on this. 

  • Almost all of the NFL teams release a video promoting the newly announced schedules for the upcoming season.  This one by the Titans made me actually laugh out loud. It's two minutes. It's great. Do yourself a favor.

  • Extremely nerdy current events legal stuff for lawyers only: It made news this week when the Texas House made the historic decision to kick out a member for misconduct -- the first time in 100 years.  But check out how the  official Committee of General Investigating's landmark 16 page report, which recommended expulsion, handled legal citations. The committee is made up of five people - four are lawyers, including a law professor.  

  • 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, 310 days.

at 8:29 AM
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