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Just a funny pic from the 2012 campaign trail this week.
- I've said this a million times before: America loves news of an impending hurricane. After it hits, our attention is done with it, but we'll obsess about it incessantly before it makes landfall.
- A man from Alvord who spent 10 years in prison had the case dismissed yesterday by a Tarrant County judge after Texas' highest criminal court declared him actually innocent and ordered the judge to do so. If you want to delve into the details of this mess (including the withholding of evidence by the DA's office) here is that high court opinion from last month. The concurrence really gets into the facts.
- They aren't up for an election this time, but remember the names Judge Yeary and Judge Slaughter on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. They would not have found the man innocent. They always make rulings like that.
- One of Texas Seven who received a death sentence is closer to a new trial because of the judge making anti-Jewish comments.
- I've got a crazy connection to this case. That guy was almost executed in 2019 but a Motion for Stay of Execution was granted. And in that Motion, this blog was cited in a footnote for something I wrote about the judge in 2006.
- I don't understand any of this, but the guy behind it, Ben Lamm, has Decatur roots.
- I think this tweet yesterday by DPS is misleading propaganda if not an outright lie. Stay with me here:
- We know that the head of DPS is in full support of being used as political prop for Gov. Abbott and his cronies -- DPS Director Steve McCraw will show up on stage at all of Abbott's political stunts. Currently, Abbott is running attack ads against Beto across the state over the dangers of fentanyl and Beto wanting "open borders." (Sheesh.)
- So, considering all of that, look at the wording of tweet. It says a "substance" made the trooper ill and a "substance" in the car tested positive for fentanyl. But it doesn't say the those substances were the same -- that is, that the trooper was made sick because of the fentanyl. (Those claims of sickness by simple exposure by other agencies have been proven to be a lie.)
- Note that this post could be literally true if the trooper was made sick by the "substance" of carbon monoxide fumes and then a different sealed "substance", testing positive for fentanyl, was later found in a "container" in the trunk.
- The post suspiciously doesn't say when this happened or who the trooper was. There is no bodycam released. And there are no references to any arrest or a defendant's name.
- And do a Google search for "fentanyl" and "trooper". There are no news stories about a trooper getting sick in Bexar County happening at all. But there are handful of media (Fox News in particular) who are treating the above tweet as if it happened yesterday. The tweet is their only source.
- DPS is deceiving you.
- As a call back to my bullet point yesterday about Terry Bradshaw buying property in Montague County, a faithful reader called my attention to the purchase being printed in, of all things, the Montague County Shopper.
- This may be behind a paywall, but it this case is really interesting. A stepfather who was also a deputy believed, according to him, that his 17 year old stepdaughter was having an affair with a married man and getting drugs from someone. As a result of that belief, he went through her phone to find out what she was up to. But while doing so, he found a nude selfie of the stepdaughter. He then emailed it to himself. Was he doing so to persevere evidence? Was he just being seedy? In an interesting twist, it was her school's internal software program that picked up on the email because the phone was set to use the stepdaughter's school email account by default. The stepdaughter signed an affidavit of non-prosecution, but a special prosecutor was brought in (some DA out of West Texas), and this thing is going to trial. From what limited information I have: I'm guessing a not guilty verdict. Side note: Reporter Trish Choate always writes great stories.
- Random out-of-state DA news. His daughter was arrested in connection with his stabbing.
- "San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus did not specify whether Savannah Graziano was shot by the responding deputies or her father."
- But I think I can guess.
- In May, the paper switched from printing a paper seven days a week to using a daily digital edition six days a week and printing one weekend edition.
- What's Hurricane Ian doing right now?
- Edit: I forgot. Messenger: Above the Fold
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