2.15.2018

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts


  • Notice three things about this graphic: (1) Columbine no longer makes it in, (2) Three of the top ten have occurred within the last five months, and (3) an AR-15 was used in Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs, and Orlando.
  • This should be a lasting image but America will forget about Parkland by next week.
  • The Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929 (insert "irony") left only seven dead (all adults) yet led to the ban on Tommy Guns in 1934.
  • The footage of the robbery of a "game room" in Fort Worth is insane. 
  • It's complicated procedurally, but the Fifth Circuit ruled against Harris County and its standard bail bond fee "schedule" yesterday. The court ruled, in essence, that if the standard bond for a Class B misdemeanor is $2,000 for everyone, then a man with money can get out and a poor man sits in jail. Thus, the Equal Protection Clause is violated. The whole concept has bothered me for years. (Wise County doesn't have a standard fee schedule. Each bond is set by one of four JPs and the amounts are insanely inconsistent.)
  • What a waste of resources. Too many cops? Too many prosecutors? “This should be a notice to sex buyers out there,” said HCSO Vice Commander Jesse Inocencio.  “That you may just find your mug shot on the 5 o’clock news.” Sting arrests for the purpose of public shaming is not your job.
  • At least the Harris County DA's office has one less prosecutor
  • This was from yesterday. It reads like it is 1960.
  • Trump will address the nation at 10:00 a.m. What could go wrong?