Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

He spent 16 years at Texas. That bowl game he stuck around for did not go well. 

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• Texas Abortion battle: 
• Yesterday afternoon, the woman who the Texas government wants to force to give birth to a non-viable fetus fled the state to have the procedure. That doesn't violate Texas law. Not yet at least. 
  
  
  
• One little noticed fact is that her attorneys notified the Texas Supreme Court that she would have the abortion out of state but stressed that, under the law, the issue was not moot if the abortion happened and wanted the court to rule on the case anyway. (Letter.)
• The court obliged. Later yesterday afternoon: 
  
  
  
• It was a weird ruling.  Basically: "Hey, no one even has to ask a court to get an abortion in Texas under the new abortion law so long as your doctor says, to himself, the magic words that it is his opinion, based upon 'reasonable medical judgment', that the exceptions in the statute apply. But your doctor just said that he had a 'good faith belief' the exceptions existed and that's not enough. So we won't let the lower court greenlight the abortion that -- once again -- you didn't even have to ask the court for." Opinion here. 
• It's the lead story on The Today Show this morning. 
  
  
  
• The prosecutors of Trump in the Insurrection case pending in D.C. have Trump's deep cell phone data from January 6th. This was revealed in this court filing yesterday afternoon disclosing the summary of expected expert witness testimony.
  
  

  

  
  
  
  
• A jury has been empaneled to determine only one thing: How much Rudy Giuliani owes two election workers who he defamed by saying they were tampering with election results. He was already going to get killed in this case, but then yesterday, after jury selection, he doubled down and said the same exact thing again outside the courtroom. (Video.) That jury will bury him. Good. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Edit: The judge is chewing his lawyer out this morning for this. 
• But somehow charging $75 for parking and $20 for a margarita is legal. Can we arrest someone for that?
  

  

  
  
  
  
• I bet she will testify. She'll blame it on the guy and say that everything she did after he killed her (disposing of the body and fleeing with him) was done because she was scared of him. After all, she'll say, he stabbed a lady to death in cold blood. Heck, I wouldn't rule out that being at least a version of the truth. 
  
  
  
• Let check in on Fox News last night: A former "star" from from an MTV reality show is brought in during prime time to give tax opinions.
  
  
  
• Political news out of Waco: Although I appreciate his reasons (he thinks the nuts have taken over the local Republican Party), I don't think there's any chance at all that a Democrat can win down there.
  
  
  
• Contract details: Per the report, $680 million of the $700 million contract will be paid to Ohtani from 2034 to 2043. Hey, that's fine. But if I'm Ohtani, I'm not depending on the Dodgers or MLB to be in business and/or solvent in 2034.  I want the Dodgers to buy, with cash right now, an annuity which guarantees the money.  I bet they did. 
  
  
  
• Newspaper news: The New York Times hit a milestone this morning. 
  
  
  
• The Business Second: Every time the stock market had a positive day, Trump would talk about it.  But we hardly hear at all that the market is up a whopping 20% for the year.
  
  
  
• Fun Fact: The "That . . . guy is not real!" lady from the airplane viral video is 5'2" tall. 
  
  
  
• Yep, the Intoxication Manslaughter case in Wise County is still ongoing. The jury got the case shortly before noon yesterday. They then went to Sweetie Pies. There wasn't a verdict -- or at least one in time for the clerk to enter it -- before 5:00 yesterday.