8.24.2018

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




  • From a faithful reader after I called out Fort Worth's Heim's BBQ yesterday: Check out the "HNIC" acronym on the owner's personal Twitter page.  Does that mean what Urban Dictionary says it means?

  • Hey prosecutors, the Texas Governor needs time to think about whether a criminal defendant should legally be able to cooperate with you against another defendant or potential defendant:
  • Hot prediction on the Balch Springs cop murder trial: They will find him guilty of Agg Assault and give him probation. My alternative verdict is a complete Not Guilty.
  • The prosecutor in the case is nicknamed "Bulldog" -- a sure sign that he's full of himself and doesn't understand nuances. At one point, he held up a picture of the dead kid and asked the defendant, "You shot him in the back of the head, didn't you?" A smart juror is offended by questions like that because that fact is not in dispute. The question is whether the defendant had a reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary to protect a fellow officer. Stop your cheap theatrics.
  • DPS, which can afford freakin' gun boats on the Rio Grande, wants to close 87 DPS offices. Decatur is not on the list. Denton, which always has a packed parking lot, is. 
  • "And Another" update from Plano: Probation (with 120 days in the county jail as a condition.)
  • Ted Cruz, a sex scandal, Diamond and Silk, Michael Cohen and the National Enquirer: My head is spinning because of the following. Michael Cohen, Trump's ex personal lawyer, use to silence the women of Trump's affairs by funneling money to the National Enquirer who would then buy the story from the female and then never print anything. In fact, David Pecker, the publisher of the Enquirer, was granted immunity in this week's Cohen prosecution. But let's have a flashback to 2016 when Fox News' darlings Diamond and Silk promoted a story of a Ted Cruz sex scandal. (It was in the middle of the Republican primaries at the time.) Look what Cohen said when he chimed in to to conversation. What all was going on behind the scenes?
  • The Rangers gave Cole Hamels to the Cubs for nothing. I was all for it because he was awful. My, how things have changed. He had a win with a complete game last night giving up only one earned run and has an ERA under 1.00 since being traded. 
  • When you have a bad week you do the obvious: Decide to visit a children's hospital and tell the press about it. 
    A Barron spotting!
  • Vote in local elections: 
  • Look what conservative Christian radio host Mark Davis retweeted. This is Trump's hard core base. As is their right, they simply do not care. But don't hold up a cross and a Bible while proclaiming you are from the party of "family values." 
  • "Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Thursday challenged Fox News contributor Geraldo Rivera to a debate." Riveria accepted. Now that I want to see. Give me Geraldo.
  • From the Update: "Five people were arrested on drug charges following a search of a Decatur home Thursday morning. At about 5 a.m., Wise County Sheriff’s deputies and investigators executed a search warrant on a North Cowan Street residence . . . . " (More).  It's kind of rare to see the Sheriff's office involved in bust within the city limits. I would think there were some Decatur cops involved. (And I wouldn't want to be the prosecutor who gets the message of, "Hey, since you went home yesterday you've got five new drug cases.")