6.13.2023

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




Running away from a misdemeanor probation revocation warrant eventually earned her 240 days in the Wise County jail. 

  • It's Trump surrender day at the Miami federal courthouse -- which, by the way, is a very modern courthouse. He is scheduled to appear at 2:00 p.m. CST. 

    • Meanwhile:

  • The majesty of sports.


  • Seems to be a lot going on in this criminal case out of Wichita Falls. 


  • Law enforcement used to be so secretive about this:

  • Local Weather Coverage Observation: Something that I noticed on Twitter is that every single time WFAA's Pete Delkus' account fires off a tweet that mentions an alert issued by the National Weather Service, that Fox 4's Evan Andrews account will then issue the exact same warning, letter for letter. (But it always adds the "Stay tuned ..." part.)  Fox 4 has to have some type of bot doing this because Andrews' tweet is always, without fail, seconds after Delkus' tweet. Example:
    Notice no space between the zero and the p. 

  • She ain't wrong.

     

  • Not that I care about San Francisco business news, but I wouldn't want to be a creditor on a $558 million note where my lien is on a mall. It would like having a lien on a church that defaults -- there's just not a whole lot of buyers out there for it. 

  • Congratulations? Buddy, it would be news if an elected D.A. was left off of that list. By definition an election ensures your inclusion regardless of who you are. 

  • Texas and Stanford played for a chance to go to the World Series last night and, tied in the bottom of the ninth and with two outs, Texas outfielders lost a fly ball in the lights. Video.

    • Predictably, Texas took the loss well.

  • Funny. The stadium at Iowa State has changed up its signage to welcome the four new teams to the Big 12 this fall.  But one observer noted that the logos for Texas and OU have been placed on a riveted panel which can be easily removed after the 2023-2024 season when the schools head off to the SEC. 

  • Extremely legal nerdy stuff for criminal practitioners only: Pretend you were appointed to do an appeal on an open plea to Intoxication Manslaughter, which included a plea of true to a Deadly Weapon paragraph, and where the defendant got the maximum of 20 years. If you looked at the judgment and it did not reflect a deadly weapon finding, would you ever urge on appeal that the judgment should be reformed and the finding placed there? It happened in Dallas and yesterday the appellate court obliged. (It had to be there as a basis for the Ineffective Assistance point of error but, if that's the case, don't raise Ineffective Assistance.)  Amazingly, the State in its brief urged there not be a deadly weapon finding, but the appellate court did it anyway. This is all a head scratcher. 



at 8:31 AM

6.12.2023

Random Monday Morning Thoughts





I've noticed that Random Thoughts used to kinder and gentler.

  • Did you know there was a triple murder/suicide in Cottondale in Wise County on Friday? Ernest Woods, 81, allegedly shot and killed Debra Woods, 65, and her son, Joseph Woods, 32. 

  • It seems unfair that that the Trump indictment referencing nuclear secrets got released on a Friday afternoon. He's in big, big trouble.  (Here is the New York Times download of the indictment with annotations. Pretty cool, and it is not behind a paywall.) 


    • But the caption alone is something just to stare at: 

    • Former Trump AG (and lap dog) Bill Barr also thinks there is trouble brewing.

    • We now have a photo forever to be associated with the federal indictment of a former president. And it is one wheels off photo.
      "Bed, Bath and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt"

    • There's even boxes behind the Dollar Store shower curtain. 

    • Good lord. And she's not the only one. I'm guessing there is some kind of domestic terrorism warning going out in law enforcement right now. Trump appears at the federal courthouse tomorrow afternoon.

  • I don't mention high school sports very often, but Boyd won the high school championship in baseball on Saturday. Video of on field celebration after the final out. 

  • The Unabomber has died in prison. I actually stood by his cabin in the now closed Newseum in D.C. a couple of years back.  It was presented as the real cabin and not a replica which I'm still very suspicious about. But it did have one of the greatest signs in the history of ever. 


  • Four kids were found on Friday after surviving a plane crash 40 days ago. Their ages are 14, 9, 4 and an "infant"





  • Ken Paxton's bribery mate who was was arrested on Friday looks a lot different in his book-in photo.


  • One of the busiest highways in northeast, I-95 in Philadelphia, collapsed yesterday. Here's video of a car driving over it before the collapse. (Language warning.)


    • Fun fact: It was right by Four Seasons Landscaping Company. 

  • Port-o-potty fire outside of Jerry World yesterday morning. Video.

  • Yep, the loonies are still after Cracker Barrel because of a rocking chair.

  • Say what?

  • Photos from the weekend campaign trail.
    • That's a big hat.

    • Sweaty DeSantis in Oklahoma. 

    • Good lord.

  • That's a huge photo for the front page of The New York Times:

at 8:30 AM

6.09.2023

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

(I checked. The kayakers are OK.)
at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




Add something else to the list I don't remember.  

  • The independent prosecutor has now indicted Trump on seven counts in Miami federal court. It's almost hard to wrap your brain around the fact that a former president has been charged. But he earned it. And Fox News can dismiss it all they want, but he's in serious trouble on this one - primarily because he can't keep his mouth shut. 

    • Just breaking: The case has initially been assigned to Trump-appointee U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon who bent over backwards last year in trying to appoint a "special master" in the documents case. This is quite the immediate plot twist. 

    • While the ultra-MAGA extremists rushed to his defense, Trump wasted no time in trying to make money off his new federal criminal issues. At least the man stays committed to the one thing he worships. 

    • The reaction on social media was crazy but none as crazy as this. I don't speak Insurrection so will someone interpret this from a congressman from Louisiana for me? That's a little disturbing. We live in dangerous times. 

  • And just as the Trump news broke, the guy who allegedly bribed Ken Paxton, and who is at the center of the impeachment scandal, was being booked into jail on federal charges. 

  • We are using floating borders now?

     
    Hey, look! The $300,000 Man/Abbott Prop was there.
    Don't worry about that drowning part.

    Pretty.

  • Now this is one particular incompetency finding which makes perfect since to me. The 43 year old lawyer is from Granbury.


  • Oh good grief.

    • Question: Does a teacher now have an absolute right to post the sign below? Seems so. Why wouldn't he or she? (This issue arose when the last session passed a law requiring schools in general to post similar signs so long as the signs were donated and not paid with public funds.) 
       
  • The Star-Telegram found out the names behind Ron DeSantis upcoming visit to Fort Worth where it will cost you $3,300 to see him.

    • I thought that last name looked familiar. Flashback: 

  • "Cracker Barrel has fallen."  This is exhausting. 

  • Legal stuff.
    • General: A capital murder defendant took the stand in his death penalty punishment phase in a case currently going on in Bell County. That's unusual. But this tidbit in the story really got my attention. Marks is the defendant. 

    • Legal Nerdy stuff: There was a sanctions hearing in the ChatGPT created brief case.  I don't think that lawyer Schwartz was qualified to be, uh, a lawyer. Oh, my. 

  • 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, 339 days.

at 8:31 AM
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