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- From 12/11/14 Random Thoughts: "I attended a retirement reception at the courthouse yesterday and met the guest of honor's mother. 'You make me so mad because of what you write!!'" she told me in equal amounts of authentic anger and sweetness." Ruth Cleveland Salyer, 73, will be buried today after a shockingly brief, yet courageous, battle with cancer.
- Let me tell you something, we've got a cluster going on in Waco with this gang gun battle. Things that jump out at me: (1) 170 of the gang members have been charged with a crime. That's beyond ridiculous and a great clue that police have no idea what they are doing. Prepare to learn of tons of cases being dismissed. Then again, the DA down there is a goofball. (2) In the meantime, gang members who were simply present (which isn't a crime and kind of a protected constitutional right) will sit in jail on a $1 million bond because there's a Justice of the Peace in Waco who also does not know what he's doing. (3) Note to media: There must be a "probable cause affidavit" prepared for every warrantless arrest in Texas. Demand to see all of them. And then do some comparison to determine how much copying and pasting was done. (4) Did the shooting begin in the restaurant of the parking lot? Waco PD Public Information Officer Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton doesn't know and said, “It will all come out in the wash at some point." (5) Swanton is way in over his head and seems to not understand that his title includes the word "information" and not "spin" or "propaganda". (6) Eighteen Waco officers in addition to state troopers were outside the restaurant when the fight began? You kidding me? This is right out of Minority Report where an army of cops were always at the scene of a "pre-crime" but in this case it still happened. No wonder Waco PD went on the defensive and blamed the restaurant while the blood was still wet on the pavement. (7) News cames out yesterday that maybe four or more of the dead were killed by cops but no one will confirm. It's probably not confirmed because it was a cluster and no one knows. (8). Going back to prosecuting 170 of the gang members, good luck: Gangs testifying against gangs? Eyewitness testimony when all the participants (and non-participants) are dressed alike? Chaos beyond comprehension? Yeah, good luck. (9) And here's a question every defense lawyer involved in this case needs to be prepared to ask: Did law enforcement officers on the scene prepare their reports after the fact independently or did they all huddle together to get a nice and cohesive description of the facts.
- Tell me what you think about this. A Texas Supreme Court Justice last night tweets a picture of his young son and himself video chatting on the Facetime app and informing us that his son had just recited Ephesians 4 "from memory". (The judge is in bed).
- In light of the Grapevine officer's no-bill for killing the motorist, I've heard more and more of this "Obey the cops and you won't get shot" nonsense. Hey, obey the cops or suffer the reasonable legal consequences makes sense. Obey the cops or die does not.
- Between the conservatives and Fox News already beating up Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. this GOP primary is going to be insane. And yesterday Lindsey Graham announced that he will, uh, announce that he will run for President. Prediction: He will be one of the first ones to quit. I've said Ted Cruz will get crushed but at least Cruz is smart and has a personality -- two traits that Graham does not possess.
- The Ticket has been playing the "mom shaming 13 year old for posting on Facebook" video. I suspect a seed of resentment has been planted in the 13 year old which will grow for decades.
- It has to be sweeps week. Fox 4's Becky Oliver had the most confusing and nonsensical and poorly written expose on some probate/guardianship matter last night which could only cause Steve Eager to say, "What a mess." Well, it was a mess of a report.
- I watched David Letterman for the first time in forever last night because I learned Eddie Vedder was going to perform "Better Man". But I was stunned to see that Letterman's monologue was even worse than I remembered -- it was cringe worthy -- and this is at a time when the best joke writers in the world should be involved. (But Vedder was kick arse. Video here.)
