Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

Ouch. 

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• It was a wild day for Decatur's own Bryce Elder as the Atlanta Braves minor leaguer was told he would be called up to big leagues and would start last night's game against the Nationals. Oh, my!
  
  
  
• So how did he do? Fantastic.
  
  
  
  

  

  
  

  
  
• The first inning got off to a rocky start. He gave up two back to back hits to start the game, but a double play ball and a strike out got him out of trouble. Only one run was surrendered.
  
  
  
• Then he was incredible. Through innings 2 through 5, He retired 13 of the next 14 batters only giving up one hint. I was giddy for him, and I don't even know the guy. 
• I was curious if they would bring him out in the sixth inning because his pitch count was getting close to 80, and he was looking a little tired. They did, but probably shouldn't have. After giving up back to back homers and then a double, he was pulled.  But he was pulled to a standing ovation (video.) 
  
  
  
• That was tremendous performance.  I heard his parents scrambled and tried to get a last second flight in order to be in the stands and witness it first hand.   
  
  
  
• If you haven't seen the Abilene youth baseball coach shove the umpire after he was thrown out of the game at The Colony, you need to. Video
  
  
  
• When crazy Sid Miller thinks you're crazy, things are getting bad.
  
  
   
  
  
  
• Hail pictures out of Salado yesterday evening:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Quick hit headlines from yesterday.
• A guy fired 32 shots on a New York subway, injuring ten, but not killing anyone. He is still on the loose.
  
  
  
• Oklahoma enacted a law to lock people up over abortions. It carries with it a 10 year prison sentence and has no rape exception. Does anyone not seem to understand that, at least for the time being, Roe v. Wade is still the law of the land? When was it that we just started ignoring it?
  
  
  
• The South Dakota Attorney General was impeached for killing a pedestrian with his car, leaving he scene of the accident, and claiming he thought he hit a deer despite finding the guy's reading glasses in the passenger compartment of his car. (He was criminally charged but only fined $500.) It's a wild case. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The local media outlet in Starr County is trying to get answers on the dismissed murder-abortion indictment in Texas.  The DA is in hiding. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• And that reporter at least got her hands on the dismissed indictment: “Lizelle Herrera, Defendant, or or about the 7th day of January, 2022, and before the presentment of this indictment, in Starr County, Texas did then and there intentionally and knowingly cause they death of an individual J.A.H., by self induced abortion.”
• State Rep. Jeff Leach is everything bad about a pandering politician, and he is really seeking the  spotlight lately as he has taken up the cause of getting the death penalty overturned for Melissa Lucio.  (You can read about her case here.)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Leach has gone on all in for a reason I'm not exactly sure of. Lucio may have been wrongfully convicted -- lord knows there are failures at every turn in the Texas criminal justice system -- but I'm not sure why he has taken up this particular case.
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
• A Fifth Circuit panel actually overturned the conviction in 2019, but then the entire court, in an unusual move, decided to review the case and then overturned that panel's decision in a 10-7 ruling. She is scheduled to be executed on April 27th. 
• The DA who prosecuted the case, Armando Villalobos, is now in prison (!) after being "convicted of bribery and extortion in 2014 for accepting more than $100,000 in exchange for favorable outcomes in criminal trials." He received a 13 year sentence. 
• Back to Leach. Yesterday, to bring attention to the case, he empaneled the "Criminal Justice Reform, Interim Study Committee" which he is a the chair of (although having basically no experience in criminal justice and being an personal injury defense lawyer by trade).
  
  
  
• Anyway, Leach managed to strong arm the new DA into testifying by Zoom, but that DA was having none of it -- even bringing a little sass to the hearing.
  
  
  
• After the hearing, Leach posted pictures of him hugging the parents of the convicted killer. 
  
  
  
• Hey, I support his cause, but I don't know what his motivation is. His motivations for anything are normally based on self-promotion, so that's why I'm so suspicious. 
• The Tarrant County DA's office if off to rough start this week. Two of these losses are DWI cases where the breath/blood test was over twice the legal limit: 
  
  
  
• Messenger: Above the Fold