8.19.2022

It's Friday -- Let's Get Out of Here

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




He would be gone in less than 18 months. 

  • A little excitement overnight. "According to DPS, Amarillo police contacted the Texas Rangers to ask for help locating Rivas. They believed he was traveling to the DFW area. With the assistance of Texas Highway Patrol troopers, DPS aircraft, Fort Worth police, and Dallas police, Rivas was located in the DeSoto area . . . .  Because Rivas traveled through Wise County and it was the ranger from Wise County who arrested him, Rivas was transported to the Wise County jail, according to DPS."


  • Back in 2021, Officer Rex Richie, then with the Rhome Police Department, was shot in the leg by Royce Woods. Woods pled guilty to the charge this week, but his punishment trial is ongoing and is covered in today's Messenger. Go buy a copy or subscribe, but this caught my eye: 

  • Everyone needs to tap the brakes on the possibility of the search warrant affidavit being released in Trump's secret documents case. Let's wait until we see if the redaction's dark blocks cover more space that the released text. 

    • Despite Trump's bluster about wanting the release of the affidavit, his lawyer -- a former OAN employee, no less -- showed up in court yesterday and did not take a position on the release.  (She was probably too busy thinking, "Oh, this is what a courtroom looks like.")

    • Bobb then appeared on Fox News last night to say how much she really wants the affidavit released. Laura Ingraham, not amused, then told her she should have argued that in court or at least joined in with the media's court filings urging the release.

  • The contrast of two worlds:
    • I turned on Morning Joe this morning and heard a round table voicing concern about how the Trump Republicans, as well as Fox News prime time lineup, are putting the lives of FBI and IRS agents in jeopardy as they also bang the drumbeats of a civil war. Someone, and I don't remember who, had this great quote: "They are aroused by the belief that the federal government is their enemy." That's perfect.

    • Then and I got in my car and listened to WBAP where Hal Jay and new co-host Ernie Brown gave the floor to weatherman Brad Barton to repeat a conspiracy theory he had heard about the raid at Mar-a-Largo. Barton (who comes across as an absolute wild man whenever he fires off political opinions) said that said he's hearing that the FBI raid was secretly an attempt by the FBI to recover documents which contained the names of federal agents behind the "Russian Hoax" investigation which Trump had removed from the White House and was about to expose. Even Hal Jay and Brown pushed back against Barton.

  • Former Cowboy great Michael Irvin, wearing a fantastic "captain's hat", tried to break up an argument in a bar. He was unsuccessful as it turned into a fight. Video. 

  • News about local morning news this morning as the replacement for the retiring Tim Ryan on Fox 4's Good Day was announced.  I thought Hannah was going to get it.  

  • You see this headline and your going to have to track down the video, right? (Spoiler: That might get her in trouble in Finland, but it's not getting her in trouble in America -- at least not in today's America.)

  • Does this correlate to where the most book banning activists are? Seems to. 

  • And those Trump supporting activists are even causing election officials in heavily Republican Texas counties to resign. They are sick of putting up with them when they are just trying to do their jobs.  

  • This is a jaw-dropping amount of money. And CBS, who the SEC left to go to ESPN, immediately trolled the SEC by releasing a promotion of the Big 10 overlaid with the the SEC's long-time and familiar theme music which had to drive the SEC hard core fans nuts.
    • New Big 10 deal is for seven years. Hold that thought:

    • So what's the SEC thinking? They just signed a 10 year deal with ESPN about a year and a half ago which now looks like chicken feed. The Big 10 will get to sign another deal with the networks even before the SEC's deal has run its course: 

  • Update about yesterday's "10 Years Ago" about the lady who allegedly backed over swimmers in Lake Grapevine. A faithful reader sent me an archived story he found which said "Authorities identified the driver of the boat as Amanda Renee Harrolle, 33, of Lewisville. She was arrested Sunday and released from the Denton County Jail a few hours later after posting $20,000 bail." 
    • A search of Denton County records show that she pled guilty to a lesser included offense of Boating While Intoxicated and received 24 months probation which she successfully completed in 2018. (Case No. F-2012-2571-D. Bruce Isaacks represented her.)
  • Time which has passed since the Wise County Sheriff's Office, despite having a full male DNA profile, has failed to solve the murder of Lauren Whitener in her home at Lake Bridgeport: 3 years, 45 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold



at 8:29 AM

8.18.2022

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




The link to the story in the Star-Telegram is dead, and I can't find this old story anywhere. 

  • The was crazy flooding in West Fort Worth last night while other parts of Tarrant County didn't see a drop.

  • The Texas legal machinery of death was back in business last night. 

    • Hot opinion about it:

    • Last words:

  • There's no way the actually affidavit is released. It will be at some point, but not at this stage. 

  • These headlines are so misleading. This would make you think a mass of kids were found and rescued from some big room somewhere. In actuality, it involved 391 different state and federal investigations involving over 200 different agencies across the entire country with the numbers being the totals from a two week period. 

  • Rudy in a wheelchair last night at the Atlanta airport after his testimony before a grand jury investigating his election interference. 

  • If I had to bet right now who the Republican nominee for president will be, I'd bet on Ron DeSantis. But it's early. And I wouldn't bet a lot. 
    • But I don't know what this guy is thinking. He doesn't stand a chance, but he was in New Hampshire yesterday in an obvious campaign feeler move. 

  • I agree. Those deputies that run security at the Denton County Courthouse come across as soulless jerks. 

  • Random NBA news from yesterday.  With the new contract's guaranteed money, LeBron will have earned a total of $532 million in the league from salary alone during his career.

  • Random poster from boyhood. I can't remember if this was just an ad in a magazine, or if it was a full poster I got from dad's store in Bridgeport.

  • Nerdy legal stuff. A judge on the federal 2nd Circuit lambasted the prosecutors yesterday. That last line is fire. 

  • Extremely nerdy legal stuff for practitioners only: 
    • It's always a point of contention as to whether past bad conduct of cop is admissible by the defense in a case the officer worked on if his past bad act didn't rise to the level of a criminal conviction (which everyone agrees is admissible.) 
    • There was a Texas case which was reversed on appeal yesterday because the State only disclosed after the trial that an officer had improperly accessed a government database to get dirt on his wife and lover so he could use it in his divorce proceeding. 
    • The court held that the defendant was entitled to a new trial because that evidence could have been used to impeach the officer because it was relevant. Specifically, there had been a search and seizure issue submitted to the jury under 38.23 which would turn on the officer's truthfulness. It looks like the question involved whether images on the defendant's phone had been located "inadvertently" while the officer was handling the phone (with limited consent to see if was capable of "making a call") or whether he was intentionally rooting around on it. Since the past bad act was relevant to show the officer had done some illegal rooting around on computer devices without authorization in the past, it's relevant.
    • Bottom line: Not all bad acts are admissible, but they will be if you can nicely tie it to an issue in the case. 
    • The defense lawyer on trial and appeal was Jake Spiegelhauer out of Bryan, Texas. Good job. 
  • I'm into the second season of The Morning Show. It's very good, but I can't believe I went into thinking it was going to be some feel good comedy. 


at 8:31 AM

8.17.2022

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




That's a New York Times' headline. There were 200 cases and 10 deaths in the metroplex.

  • As expected, Liz Cheney lost her election in crazy Wyoming because she defied Trump and refused to be an election denier. For her work on the January 6th Committee alone, she deserves to be 2022's Time Person of the Year. 

    • Let's see how Junior handled it. 

  • A woman was killed and two Decatur people were sent to the hospital last night because of a wreck in Bridgeport. It happened at 380 and FM 1658 (the road that takes you to the Lake Bridgeport dam) when the woman supposedly ran the red light.

    • The Bridgeport Chief of Police described it this way: 

    • It sounds very much like this wreck about a year ago at the same exact location.

  • Keller ISD pulls the Bible from the shelves of all school libraries. They'll end up putting them back, but it's a eye-catching headline. (Although I've always thought that once a school board reads about Lot and his daughters, things will get interesting.)

  • So this is Greg Abbott's plan after Uvalde (2022 - 21 dead) , El Paso (2019 - 23 dead), Sutherland Springs church (2017 - 27 dead) , and Santa Fe High School (2018 - 10 dead)?  Chuck Norris is 82 years old, and Walker, Texas Ranger went of the air in 1999.

  • Rudy Giuliani arriving at the Atlanta courthouse moments ago to testify in front of a grand jury is a scene right out of the movies: A mass of reporters following him up majestic courthouse steps. (Video up close / Video from elevation across the street.) 


  • Oh, my.

  • I've heard of assistant district attorneys in smaller counties doing a little civil work on the side, but look at what the elected district attorney of New Orleans is doing. His salary for his government job, which he is keeping as well, is $185,000.

  • I'm not exactly sure what this is, but I think Decatur High will light up the emblem is they win. I could be wrong. 


  • Golfer Patrick Reed hired a crackpot lawyer to file a defamation suit against the Golf Channel and fellow golfer Brandel Chamblee. It's going nowhere. And Reed was dumb enough to put his home address in the caption so we can now take a look at his home. (I bet that's a heck of an electricity bill.)





  • Messenger: Above the Fold


at 8:31 AM
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)