Random Wednesday Morning Thought

• Someone ask me what I thought about Bridgeport ISD's proposed $90 million bond election and my response was, "With schools building $60 million stadiums, I don't even know what's reasonable anymore."  But then I see that the Messenger is reporting that Northwest ISD is going to try and pass one that is almost one billion dollars.  I remember when the entire school was out on the prairie along Highway 114.
• That's a little chilling. 
  
• I know Trump won't be convicted in the Senate so the only possible interesting moment could be this: If three Republican senators defect and vote for hearing witnesses (Romney and Collins are leaning that way but don't hold your breath), then it appears Chief Justice John Roberts would have to break the tie. That would be delicious. 

  

  "Who? Me?" 

• Trump has John Bolton, one of his "best people", in his cross-hairs this morning. Someone want to explain "World War Six" to me? World Wars III, IV and V sure would have been quick and non-destructive. 
  
• I know nothing about this case, but it had to be a wild ride this week in Tarrant County. A guy charged with a first degree felony decided to represent himself, is appointed stand-by counsel (just to get help if he asked for it), and then negotiated himself a six year plea bargain. (For an entertaining memo I found where a bunch of Texas lawyers candidly chimed in on the experience of being stand-by counsel, see this.)
  
• Coronavirus death count as of this morning: 132. The number of people who died in the U.S. by accidents in 2017: 169,936. By the flu/pneumonia: 55,672. By suicide: 47,173.  It's much ado about nothing. The only people who are panicking are those who are paid to panic. 
  
• In related news: The Dallas homicide rate for 2020 reached 16 last night. 
• Shoot your best shot. Story.
  
• Very random person for Super Bowl week: Tommy Brooker. The Kansas Chiefs, for three seasons, played as the Dallas Texans. Their last game for Dallas was the AFL Championship game which went to double overtime and was won on a field goal by Mr. Brooker. Here's the post game pic. He died last September. 
  
• Former Dallas Stars Eddie Belfour is in the news for being arrested for public intoxication. There's a lot of recalling when he was arrested in Dallas twenty years ago for the same thing and tried to bribe the officer for "$1 billion dollars." If I remember correctly, he actually started with a reasonable amount so he actually taught us how make a bribe while creating an "I was just kidding" defense at the same time in the event the officer happens to take offense. It would go something like this: "I'll give you $100 to let me go? No? How about $500 cash? No? Make it a $1,000. No? Really? $50,000? $100,000? How about a billion?!" And since your being arrested for being intoxicated anyway, it'll probably work.
  
• Name a time your heart was broken when you didn't have any expectations. 
• Legal stuff: In the world's worst magazine, the Texas Bar Journal, I just saw an article that began with this: "Can authorities compel a suspect to surrender the password to a protected device?" Three thoughts: (1) To my surprise, I learned something because I had never heard of the "foregone conclusion" exception to the Fifth Amendment before. But that simply reinforced my belief that appellate courts simply make stuff up, labeling them "exceptions", to help the State. (2) Let's get practical: How exactly is the government going to "compel" someone to give up their password? I guess you could threaten them with jail for contempt of a court order, but what if they are already in jail because they couldn't make bond?  (3) The article had to struggle to find any cases to even discuss the issue and had to resort to a Florida state court case and a Massachusetts state court case to fill out one single page in the magazine. One quick Google search revealed an uncited Pennsylvania Supreme Court case from November of last year which, in a 4-3 vote, discussed the issue extensively (and it even had an amicus brief which was available online.) The Bar Journal is the worst.
• I tried to watch The Irishman and, while it was fun to see all those stars, it had the same feel and pace of every other mobster movie. I've never been a fan of the genre. I feel like I'm in the minority. 
• I saw that BagOfNothing has "Kobe fatigue." I promise you I have a family member who said, "I think we're going to get tired of this." And that was said at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.
• Messenger: Above the Fold.