Random Friday Morning Thoughts

I think the county eventually paid up on this case, but I don't know the amount.

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• TikTok: What a mess.
• Up until yesterday, it looked like TikTok was toast come Sunday.  Congress passed a law banning it and the Supreme Court, with the case pending before it, had not intervened to stop the law from going into effect on January 19th. 
• Well, late yesterday the Supreme Court surprisingly announced it "may announce opinions" this morning. Most people think this may very well be a final decision, or maybe at least a decision on a temporary stay, on the TikTok ban. Release time is at 9:00 a.m. 
  
  
  
• Then it got even a little confusing last night when the Biden Administration made this announcement. They will take a hands off approach on Sunday, his last full day in office.
  
  
  
• And Trump now loves TikTok, but I'm not sure how he could stop a federal law if the Supreme Court upholds it. But then again, the rules don't matter any longer. 
• The shooting of the suspect by police was caught on video.
  
  
  
• Man, the Keller ISD School Board got an earful last night after the public learned through social media that some of the members were intending to split the school district along Highway 377 and kick out three of its four high schools and feeder schools. The superintendent announced she is prepared to quit over the insane plan. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A lot of the attacks by the public were of lawyer Tim Davis, who advises the school board, who might be the brains behind the plan to split.  He was also the lawyer for Grapevine-Colleyville ISD when they went all nuts on the made-up controversy over "critical race theory."
• Although the public comments started off with a guy doing a bit. This is why we can't have nice things. 
  
  
  
• Elon Musk's SpaceX had another launch last night:
• The good: The booster safely returned and did that cool docking maneuver.
  
  
  
• The bad: The most important part, the rocket that the booster was attached to, blew up.
  
   
  
  
  
• I'm not sure this is the greatest idea on the heels of what just happened on Bourbon Street.
  
  
  
• The Business Second™: I'm surprised there were 10 acres available at LBJ and Hillcrest.
  
  
  
• Media Stuff: I'm a fan of the Texas Tribune, but something weird is going on. Unless I'm missing it - and I've searched and searched - there's not a single reference to Nate Paul's guilty plea.  And there's been no publication that has covered Ken Paxton scandals as much as the Texas Tribune. This seems very, very odd. Even intentional.
• Legal news: If you ever read the SCOTUSBlog, you will be interested in the indictment yesterday on tax evasion charges of the rich lawyer who runs it. It's based upon non-reported gambling winnings. And we are talking big winnings. 
  
  
  
• Very legal nerdy stuff: A couple of months back I had a bullet point about an appellate case holding that a drug dog's nose protruding inside the passenger compartment of a vehicle constituted an illegal search. Well, yesterday the Court of Criminal Appeals granted a PDR in the case. 
• Lauren Whitener Clock*: 5 years and 197 days. (*I'm still workshopping the wording.)