Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Texas. It was right around June 10th when I noticed the uptick in hospitalizations, and began to sound the alarm on it. But, man, I had no idea what was coming:

  

  Hospitalizations

  
  

  

  New cases per day

• Wise County is still fighting to get some reliable data. We've been in a news blackout for the last eight days. This was last night's update:
  
• Random 'Rona Notes: 
• Most of the employees of the Wise County Clerk's office were tested for the Coronavirus after the outbreak, but they still don't have the results back. Seems like we need a system with a quicker turnaround. 
• Since when has Colleyville become ground zero for defiance? It was the first local city to balk at business restrictions and now we have this. 
  
• Update from yesterday's bullet point regarding Houston's hospital bed crisis: Yep, they are almost out of beds but they can pivot to continue to handle any surges. (It doesn't make sense to me either.) 
• Fred's Texas Cafe in the 7th Street area of Fort Worth opened on Wednesday after being closed for three months. It the immediately closed the very next day after a staff member tested positive. Do you think all restaurants are so cautious? Do most even monitor the health of the employees?
• Finally the easiest job in the world, the Governor of Texas, has to face a real world problem. It has gone about as well I expected. 
  
• The CDC said yesterday that it could be that for every one person who tests positive that there might be 10 who actually have the virus. The Coronavirus-Is-No-Big-Deal crowd jumped on that by pointing out that, if true, the death rate would be about the same rate as the flu. The Counterpoint-Crowd said "So? Don't you care about this number which will continue to rise?" Pick your side.
  
• Shelly Luther update (Spoiler: She's involved in Twitter fights).
  
  
  
  
• After years of special prosecutors whining that they aren't being paid a ridiculous amount they seek, the criminal case against AG Ken Paxton has been moved back to Collin County from whence it came. It had been moved to Harris County on a change of venue, and now it's going back. The case has now been languishing for five years. Heck, Paxton's lawyers just need to file a Speedy Trial motion and let's kill this thing. This whole process has given the criminal justice system another black eye. 
  
• NASCAR released a picture of the "noose" -- a noose which had been hanging there for months -- which gave rise to the Bubba Wallace brouhaha this week. It doesn't change anything.  This thing blew up because NASCAR wanted it to blow up so they could exploit it in a feel good we-are-all-united moment at the start of the delayed race.  (For those wondering how Bubba Wallace got assigned to that particularly garage, it was based on overall standings which change after every race.)
  
  
• A wild claim I heard on my TV box this morning isn't as wild as it seems: Trump sees he'll lose in November and, knowing that he can't stand being a "loser", he quits right now claiming the Fake News sabotaged him (and America), and then starts a Trump Revolution Network where his base of 38% pays $6.95 a month to join.  Would he monetize his presidency while he still can? You bet. Do I think it will happen? Naaaa.
  
• Do I think Trump will lose? After 2016, I'm out of the prediction business in presidential races. I learned my lesson. 
• I don't trust any American who cares about Liverpool today and especially one who wears a Liverpool jersey.  A real American would care more about whether James Madison can finally take down North Dakota State in Frisco in December this year.
• A COVID-free Decatur lawyer dropped this bad boy by my office yesterday. (Pen used for perspective. Don't make fun of my pen -- those old school Bics are the greatest pens in the history of ever.) 
  
• Legal nerd stuff: So what if cops get a warrant for a felony, the "victim" thinks it's silly or overkill, and the DA agree and wants to reduce the charge? Normally, the defendant would have to turn himself in on the felony, make bond, and then the DA could reduce the charge once the case got to his office.  In this case, the judge who was to set bond just "rejected" the charges (probably at the illegal (?) urging and contact of the DA.)  I don't think the judge can do that. He has the right to find no probable cause on a warrantless arrest and release the defendant, but I don't think he can "reject" the charges if the arrest is based upon an existing warrant. (But no one will complain so no one cares -- the most commonly used unwritten law in our system.) 
  
• Messenger: Above the Fold