4.11.2023

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




Oilfield generator fell off a truck in downtown Boyd.

  • Another day in America. We can now add banks to yet another place that we aren't safe from madmen with AR-15s.


    • Of course, he live-steamed it. 

    • Ted Cruz solved our mass murder problem just two ago. It didn't age well. Yep, it is real

  • There have been rumors for days, but now we know an extremely right-wing Texas legislator is accused of inviting an under 21 year old intern to his apartment and trying to get her liquored up and more.  Speculation is that criminal charges might follow. Story. (This is why little Briscoe Cain called him a "sexual predator.")

    • They always have a tell.


  • Well, that didn't take long. The other lawmaker will be put back in place tomorrow. And there's nothing the Tennessee legislature can do about it. They really played this well, didn't they?


  • Out of San Antonio. Story.

  • There is some outcry about Abbott's insane intend to pardon a man before a judgment has been signed and even before sentence has been imposed. (No sentencing date yet.) But it's not enough of an outcry.


  • Abbott hasn't given up on vouchers and gutting and defunding public schools. Don't let him do it. When a community loses its school, it loses its identity.

  • The abortion drug ban single handedly imposed by the activist judge in Amarillo was appealed yesterday to the Fifth Circuit which is heavily laden with activist judges.  

    • Remember these words by Justice Kavanaugh in his concurrence in Dobbs which overruled Roe v. Wade? 

    • Legal nerdy stuff:  The Plaintiffs in the case have to file a response "by midnight." If the stroke of midnight begins a new day, wouldn't you be a just a tiny bit nervous your response was due last night when the first second of April 11, 2023 occurred? 

  • Sports quick hits: (1) Kliff Kingsbury to USC, (2) A Rangers pitcher tied an American League record last night -- in a good way, (3) Decatur's Bryce Elder pitched 6.1 innings and gave up no earned runs for the Atlanta Braves. 
  • Back to reality, the death toll is indeed five. One person died last night after the USA Today went to press . . . 

at 8:30 AM

4.10.2023

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




A charter bus in Irving headed to Oklahoma.

  • The nuttiest and scariest event I've ever seen in Texas criminal justice history happened this weekend, and the press is slow to understand the gravity of it: Less that 24 hours after a jury convicted a man of murder in Austin, and even before punishment has been assessed, Gov. Abbott announced he will pardon the man.  Why? The victim was a part of Black Lives Matter. It is stunning. 

    • The basic facts are that an Uber driver, Daniel Perry, drove into a Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Austin. Some of the marchers, including a guy who will soon be dead, approached the vehicle. The victim, like everyone and their dog these days, was carrying a weapon. Without even the gun being pointed at him, Perry opened fired five times at close range and killed him.  Perry then fled. 

    • The trial took over a week. And more than 40 witnesses were heard from. The jury rejected self-defense and found him guilty of murder after after 18 hours of deliberations. It wasn't unexpected. Perry had written on social media of his desire to kill protestors. From the Fox affiliate in Austin covering the trial:

    • The deceased victim, in case you care, with his fiancé: 

    • Hours after the conviction, the far right-wing "law and order" crowd amazingly started calling for a pardon of Perry. The reason was simple: A white guy on "our side" killed a BLM protestor. Tucker Carlson went all in. 

    • And then Saturday afternoon, Gov. Abbott, a former Texas AG and Supreme Court judge, stunned me when did just that as he instructed his self-appointed parole board to recommend a pardon that he would rubber stamp. The trial was not televised. There were no transcripts yet to review. No appeal had been filed. Hell, the trial is still going on until a sentenced is assessed and the judgment signed, and that hasn't even had time to happen. We don't know if the killer is getting 5 years or 99 years. Nevertheless, an edict was issued to overturn the jury's less than day-old verdict.

    • Let's call this what it is: This is now state sanctioned murder and a call to arms for others. It's the authorization of a private army of storm troopers, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and the like. Remember "Stand back and stand by"? They now have their marching orders: We've got your back if you just "happen" to kill the other side. 

    • This is the absolute conduct of a fascist state.   I cannot scream the alarm louder than this. 
  • More lawlessness of a different nature: As expected, a Trump appointed district judge decided Friday night that, despite an abortion drug safely being on the market for 22 years after FDA approval, in his medical opinion it wasn't safe and banned it nationwide.   By the way, the judge is the kind of guy who puts his toddler in an anti-abortion t-shirt. From the Washington Post:


    • So now in Texas, a woman can't get the abortion drug, can't get a medical abortion under any circumstances, and there's a $10,000 Bounty law out there to make doubly sure it doesn't happen. 
  • The Pantego standoff, which turned out to be a 72 year old woman who had some kind of warrant, came to end Friday morning this way:  "She was observed smoking a cigarette on the back porch with a gun sitting beside her. As she was outside, SWAT officers moved in with less lethal rounds and took her into custody." But before that, police used a tank to punch a hole in the side of the house. That's very Waco-like.   ,

     




  • Weird Easter messages.
    • Wise County's troubled representative, Ronny Jackson, posted an Easter picture on Twitter but for some reason said the stock photo was "paid for" by supporters.

      • Trump was in the Easter spirit:

    • And he later in the day got even more in the spirit. He just posted this without any context or explanation:

  • One of my favorite representatives was really mad on Friday that the Texas House voted on a budget which prohibits school vouchers:

    • In case you have forgotten, this is Briscoe Cain:

    • They won't quit on school vouchers though. Kudos to the front page of the Dallas Morning News pointing out that school vouchers is a thinly veiled attempt to fund private Christian schools with taxpayer money with no strings attached.

  • You've probably seen the trees fall at the Masters. But here's one showing how close a photographer came to death as trees fall on both side of him. Video.

  • You might guess I'm really torqued up over the forthcoming pardon in the Austin case. But just look were we are in the last two years.  A jury's verdict now doesn't matter if the killer is on "our side."  If that side loses an election, they lie about the election being stolen and try to overturn it. In Tennessee, two minority duly elected reps on the "other side" are thrown out because of rules of "decorum."   And books are being banned and librarians threatened. We are headed to a dark, dark place.  Look at every graphic I posted above (but for the trees). They could all be from a Christian Nationalist Authoritarian State.

at 8:31 AM

4.07.2023

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




This was a nutty case out of Kansas. The "lover" was the County Attorney who resigned to take a job as an assistant district attorney in a nearby county. The Sheriff also resigned. Both disputed the meth allegation, however. 

  • There's been a police/suspect standoff all night long in Pantego and it is still going on. 

  • After last week's Tennessee shooting at the Christian school which left three adults and three nine year olds dead, young people protested gun laws at the Tennessee capitol. Three lawmakers, who just happen to be Democrats, supported them on the House floor which "violated decorum rules." 
    • Yesterday, the House, which is controlled by Republicans, decided to vote on whether to expel the the three representatives. Not censure. Not fine. Not publicly reprimand. Oh, no -- nothing like that. It was a vote to expel them so that the people they represent would no longer have a voice.
    • It's quiz time! These are three lawmakers. Guess which two were expelled and which one was not. Go ahead, guess. Hint: Remember we are talking about Tennessee.

    • Correct! In one of the most racist things I've seen lately (and that's saying a lot), the Tennessee House decided to put the two young black men "in their place" but allowed the white female to remain. 

    • Incredible. Did any of those backwood hillbillies voting to expel think about the optics of all this? 
  • Hallelujah. "The Texas House on Thursday approved a budget amendment opposing school vouchers — a major setback to Gov. Greg Abbott and other advocates for 'school choice' this legislative session." The vote was 85-62 in support of the amendment which prohibits public school money going to private schools. 

    • Wise County's Rep. Lynn Stucky: Voted against protecting taxpayer money and for school vouchers.
    • Jack County's Rep. David Spiller: Voted for protecting taxpayer money and against school vouchers. 

    • Note: The Texas Senate actually voted for a version of school vouchers yesterday, but the above House vote on the budget is a good sign that it is dead in the water. 

  • Social media is abuzz about something going on with a Texas legislator.  Michael Quinn Sullivan is a right-wing nut, but he's spreading rumors about the lawmaker who is also a right-wing nut.


  • This former Fort Worth city councilman was faced with an alleged probation violation on a DWI case in Johnson County. I have never had a client who, when given the options of 45 days in jail OR six more months of probation, would choose the jail time. He did. Something is going on here. 

  • A pretty good little past nugget was found as a follow-up to the story about Justice Clarence Thomas has been accepting a fortune in gifts from a Dallas billionaire.   Here is a photo of a Fifth Circuit Justice being sworn in by Thomas in the home library of that billionaire. Ted Cruz, warmed by the massive fireplace, was there as well:

    • Here's a different picture of the library for those interested.

    • And this nugget buried in the ProPublica story, although insignificant, gives me great amusement:

  • Did this guy used to work in Wise County? Story.

  • So I'm not sure exactly what the current controversy is over Anheuser-Busch, but I think country music singer Travis Tritt said drinking Bud Light will make you gay.  Or maybe he's mad about some type of advertising campaign by the company supporting gay people. Anyway, this is Travis Tritt:


  • It's Good Friday. You heathens be on your best behavior this weekend.

  • The Fort Worth Court of Appeals affirmed. a criminal case out of Wise County yesterday, but I really don't see anything noteworthy about it.
  • 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, 277 days.

at 8:33 AM
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