Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

After a long (two hours) but slow (10 mph) police chase, which had people gathering on bridges in the metroplex to watch it, cops finally got the vehicle stopped by ramming it with a SWAT vehicle followed by an army of officers jumping out. (Video.)

---

• Everyone needs calm down with all these headlines. It will be appealed and/or ignored. And raise your hand if you've ever heard of the "U.S. Court of International Trade."
  
  
  
• And what purpose does Stephen Miller have in spreading the identities of the judges other than to intimidate. Or worse. 
  
  
  
• But do not ask Trump what he thinks about his nickname on Wall Street of "TACO" -- which stands for "Trump always chickens out" when it comes to imposing tariffs. 
  

  

  Mary Cassella of CNBC

  
  
• Musk is gone from the Trump Administration ending a chapter to one of the most colossal missteps anyone has ever taken. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• A window blew out on the fifth floor of the Texas Capitol last night during a storm and almost fell down to the rotunda. That's so far up, I'm not sure the public is even allowed there. 
  
  
  
• No word on why.  He was 56.
  
  
  
• A very, very large home caught fire in Mira Vista in Fort Worth yesterday morning, but I certainly wouldn't call it destroyed.  Video.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick held a silly press conference yesterday where he displayed a bunch of THC products. It had a very Reefer Madness feel to it.  During it, he called a reporter "stupid" for asking if there was a way to do a ban "where grown adults still have access to the products." 
  
  
  
• Gold.
  
  
  
• More crazy pardons are coming. Side note: There's no way he watched the trial because (1) he doesn't have the attention span, and (2) it was in federal court which doesn't allow TV cameras.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Trump appointed one of his personal lawyers, and more importantly a sycophant, to the Third Court of Appeals. 
  
  
  
• The Business Second™. Big news in Wichita Falls.
  
  
  
• "After receiving a call of shots fired shortly after midnight, cops found Foster with multiple gunshot wounds inside a car and died at Delta Health Center 35 minutes later." Story.
  
  
  
  
• Extremely legal nerdy stuff for criminal practitioners. The Court of Criminal Appeals ruled yesterday that a passenger has standing to challenge a vehicle search which occurs after an illegal prolonged detention under Rodriguez. (Honestly, I never really thought otherwise.) The case now goes back to the lower court to decide, presumably, if reasonable suspicion existed to prolong the traffic stop and, if so, can a detention for nearly an hour before a drug dog arrives be reasonable.
• Messenger - Above the Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

I was wrong about that. And in two weeks Trump would come down the golden escalator with his Build the Wall campaign. 

---

• We had an arrest in the Lake Grapevine case after the alleged driver of the jet ski was quickly identified. I'm surprised it took even that long with the clear picture we had of her. Plus, video emerged showing that the cops even had the license plate number of the car she drove away in. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Ken Paxton was very excited to learn both of the arrestees were "illegal aliens" that he could barely contain himself.  (The theme of Ann Coulter's book, above, is still playing well to the crowds.) He also tried to personally take credit for the arrest in a press release.  
  
  
   
• And Gov. Abbott then took to social media to render a verdict of the "death penalty" even though nothing about this incident makes it a capital crime. (I can't tell you how weird it is for a governor to weigh in at all in a criminal case.)
  
  
  
• We had another SpaceX failure by Elon yesterday evening -- or as he calls it, "a rapid unscheduled disassembly."
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Trump threatened Russia yesterday, and then the official Russian state media account openly mocked him in response. 
  
  
  
• More pardons by Mr. Law and Order.
• Mom pays $1 million to have her son freed. 
  
  
  
• Convicted of a $36 million fraud:
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Everyone in the Trump Administration acts like the Secretary of State except the Secretary of State (Marco Rubio.)
  
  
  
  
• He's not well.
  
  
  
• Say what?
  
  
  
• Wild: A guy who was featured 10 years ago for his participation in a veteran's court in San Francisco almost killed a woman last week during a burglary of a billionaire's home. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• We haven't heard much of an update on the Roy Cooper case (if there is a case), but hundreds turned out, including George Strait, for a memorial service for him at the Fort Worth Stockyards on Memorial Day. The Star-Telegram has a big spread on it.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

The statewide flooding that I mentioned yesterday (and which has its own Wikipedia entry), certainly included the metroplex.  Above, Loop 12 and its service road were shut down for over six hours leaving cars with no where to go. They eventually  brought in a crane to remove the center barriers so those cars could do a U-turn.

---

• Texas Parks and Wildlife officials investing the death of girl kayaking on Grapevine Lake, caused by being hit by a jet ski, have released the photo below of the person they said, unequivocally*, was operating that jet ski and then fled.  How has she not been identified? (*They better be right.)
  
  
  
• Dateline Liverpool. After seeing the videos, it is stunning that no one was killed. Two of the more graphic videos are here and here.  Here is video of what seems to have started it all. 

• The headline below is from 2023. I think that the murder trial of one of the defendants begins today in Wise County.
  
  
  
• Apparently we can't keep convicted law enforcement heads in prison:
• An escape:
  

  

  
  
• A pardon:
  
  
  
• If you haven't seen the video of the French president being shoved in the face by his wife -- and especially his reaction to it, here it is.
  
  
  
• Sheesh. Only the most important cases matter.
  
  
  
• Cosplay Kristi Noem is at it again.
  
  
  
• The escaped inmates from the New Orleans jail are being caught left and right. With three being captured yesterday, we are now down to two who are still on the run.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Texas legislature updates:
• A great war going on in the Texas House is how much veteran lawmaker Jeff Leach hates representative Brian Harrison (an Andy Hopper type who cares more about culture wars then getting things done) and vice-versa. Last night, Leach presented, and had passed, an omnibus new courts bill that suddenly deleted the creation of a new district court in Ellis County -- Harrison's county.  Leach said he deleted the court because Harrison didn't get him requested information about the need for the court before an April deadline. Harrison says that's a lie. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• A big tort reform bill, Senate Bill 30, passed the House last night, but it was gutted along the way. 
• The House approved the possession of sawed off shotguns last night.