8.21.2023

Random Monday Morning Thoughts





This was quite the scandal because he also sounded a little liquored up. He was just coming off a failed race against Ted Cruz for the Senate and, at the time he made the call, Dan Patrick was after his job for Lt. Governor. Things didn't get any better for him. 
  • Weather:
    • We broke a record yesterday.

    • This week is killin' us. 

    • Saw this last night. Honestly, I don't know why we are in more "danger" of a fire than other areas of North Texas unless the red also corresponds with the worst part of the drought. It may.

    • Some high school games in the metroplex have begun announcing a delayed start time for varsity games. I haven't heard anything about Wise County games. Side note: We use to kickoff at 8:00 p.m. back in the day for every game. 

    • That apocalypse of Hurricane Hilary hitting California was probably a tad bit overblown.  This photo was floating around yesterday -- if you look closely, it's just a wet parking lot around Dodger Stadium. 

  • Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick last week appointed a retired judge to preside over Ken Paxton's impeachment trial in the Texas Senate.  The judge accepted the appointment and then immediately turned it down when he realized he had once contributed $250 to Paxton's opponent in the last election. (Compare and contrast Justice Thomas sitting on the Supreme Court and won't recuse himself after personally receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in perks.)


  • Trump, citing a new CBS Poll showing him with 62% in the Republican primary, announced he won't be taking part in the Fox News debate this week.  That same poll that Trump endorsed had this amazing result as well: Trump supporters believe him more than pastors or friends/family. 


    • How other leaders in the Republican polls in August went on to do in the Iowa Caucus:

  • Remember that "Blue Alert" that went off on our phones last week -- an alert which led to the guy being arrested a couple of days later only 6 miles from where the Houston incident happened? This is what the cops did to the house to make that arrest. 

  • If you wanted to know more about this, good luck. "Investigators say the stabbing stemmed from a domestic situation."   But here is the street it happened on from Google Streetview.

  • Lake Bridgeport is low, but I've noticed that water hasn't been released this summer to Eagle Mountain lake like you typically see. You know why? The Tarrant County Water Board now has the option of  "pumping significant amounts of water from the east Texas lakes, Richland Chambers and Cedar Creek, to its western reservoirs." And they are doing it. That tidbit is buried in this story which also says,  “Without that pumping, Bridgeport would be seven feet lower and Eagle Mountain would be over five and a half feet lower.” 

  • From the campaign trail: In addition to calling Trump supporters "listless vessels", DeSantis' bus got stuck in Iowa.


  • Random nerdy legal stuff: Fun two page order where a patent troll was ordered last week by a federal court to pay $191,302.18 in attorney's fees as a sanction for filing a frivolous lawsuit against Google.

  • The case of alleged murder-for-hire involving a lawyer which I was monitoring last week involving the Texas AG's office ended in a hung jury. 

  • Shoutout to WCSO for fixing its jail inmate list pdf. 

at 8:30 AM

8.18.2023

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts



That was definitely from 10 years ago because it sure isn't true today. Gov. Abbott's border ploy has taken these guys off the road, and away from their homes, by sending them down to the Valley. Other than commercial vehicle enforcement, you never see a trooper on the side of the road any longer. 

  •  How could I not lead with this? It was just a rumor the day before, but yesterday it went down. The Official Liberally Lean Girl is getting a divorce.  Someone might want to check on her because I'm a tad bit worried about her mental health.

  • I forgot this yesterday. Did everyone get rocked in the middle of the night by this alert? And is there any need for this to be sent out in North Texas as well as all over the state? He was captured last night 6.5 miles away from the original incident.  

  • Ugh.

  • Trump's lawyers have requested a trial date in April of 2026 for  the January 6th indictment.

    • That gave rise to a funny MSNBC graphic last night:

    • For counter-programming, Fox News brought on a law student to talk about the Georgia indictments. Wait. What? 

  • After he was indicted in Georgia, Trump promised us a press conference on Monday where, after two years and dozens of baseless lawsuits, he would reveal a report that "conclusively" and "irrefutably" proves that he wasn't lying about The Big Lie. Well, he cancelled it last night.  It's right out of Joseph Goebbels playbook. 
  • The company owned by the man who funded the PAC behind the takeover of the Decatur School Board, Monty Bennett, is having financial trouble. 


  • This is not a good look, but they don't care: Both the trial judge and the appellate judge who have gutted the availability of  the Morning After Pill were together in Fort Worth yesterday one day after the Fifth Circuit appellate ruling. They were in the warm bosom of the Federalist Society. 

  • Business news quick hit.

  • Legal nerdy stuff. Citing an ongoing example, I mentioned on Monday how you never want the AG's office to help your DA's office at trial. He was an update yesterday from the current trial I mentioned. It doesn't seem to be going well:

  • The WCSO is still neglecting in the official Inmate List provided to the public by PDF. It has not been updated since 8/9.
  • 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: 4 years and 43 days.


at 8:31 AM

8.17.2023

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




I was reminded while looking at this August 2013 edition of the Messenger that the paper used to be car crash photo central. (Full pdf of that page is here if you want to read it.)

  • Continuing that theme, a faithful reader sent in this pic this morning from the Big Z convenience store in Rhome where a vehicle has ended up under a tractor-trailer. This is the same location where a truck smashed into the building a couple of weeks ago shutting down the Giant Burger restaurant indefinitely. 


  • A young Decatur man killed on a Dallas jobsite was the focus of a WFAA segment last night. The family's attorney, Bridgeport's own Michelle Simpson Tuegel is featured. (I've said it a hundred times. She's got the greatest PR guy in the history of PR guys.)


  • New filings in the Ken Paxton impeachment bring some news:
    • This is the juicy part. His donor/bribery buddy set up a fake Uber account so Paxton could be ushered to and fro to hook up with his paramour. So seedy.


    • But this is what really got the ball rolling and the strongest basis for impeachment. So slimy. 

    • Here's a reminder that the "Wise County Conservatives" (who meet in a church) and disgraced Rep. Ronny Jackson are against the the impeachment and support Ken Paxton. 

  • We've already got a threat by an Ultra MAGA extremist against the Trump trial judge in D.C. which has led to an arrest. She is from Alvin, Texas. 


    • This is what she said (unedited): 

  • STAAR testing results have been released here. Here are Decatur's: 

  • The Trump controlled Fifth Circuit sided with the radical Amarillo federal judge who practically outlawed the morning after pill despite it being approved by the FDA over 20 years ago.


    • It's underreported that the lead lawyer against the pill is the wife of this guy: 

  • New polls from the AP and Fox this morning show why the normal Republicans have a problem with Trump as the nominee: He can't win a general election.  Why the other GOP candidates just don't say, "I like the guy and thank the guy, but he simply can't win and we've got to move on" is beyond me.  


  • Very nerdy legal stuff for criminal practitioners: A case out of the Dallas appellate court two days ago struck down some standard terms and conditions imposed by a trial court which I see all the time including (1) avoid "injurious or vicious habits" and (2) no alcohol consumption.   It also struck down the (strange) conditions that the defendant couldn't seek early termination or a motion to modify without the consent of the state. Note: These are are all conditions which were imposed by the trial court and were not agreed to as apart of a plea bargain.
  • The WCSO pdf of jail inmates is still not fixed.
  • Messenger - Above the Fold


at 8:30 AM
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