1.17.2025

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




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

  • 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.)

at 8:30 AM

1.16.2025

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




We had the great weed debate between Nancy Grace and a rapper.  It was gold. Video.

  • We had two law enforcement deaths in Texas yesterday. A police officer in Navasota and a deputy in Brazoria County.



  • I completely missed this from last month.

  • Yesterday: 

    • This morning: Not so fast. 

  • President Biden must be a Liberally Lean reader! From last night's address: “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy.” 


  • So what if Congress passed a law to ban TikTok because it is an instrument of data collection by the Chinese government? Let's invite the CEO to the inauguration. 



  • The next Attorney General under Trump continued to be an election denier at her confirmation hearing yesterday.  We're doomed. 


  • The guy who was in financial bed with Ken Paxton -- which led to the impeachment proceeding -- has cut a deal with federal prosecutors. 


  • He's crazy.

  • Honestly, that listing of the property at at 3736 Aviemore Drive in Fort Worth doesn't look like it's worth $17 million - making it the most expensive home in the city. 

  • "Bad decision, coach." I would have looked for another NIL deal instead if I were him. 

  • Messenger - Above the Fold

at 8:30 AM

1.15.2025

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




Rick Perry left the governor's mansion, and the oil field was about to go bust. 

  • There was a really, really bad wreck on 920 near Bridgeport yesterday morning.  The Messenger has a photo but it might be behind a paywall. We don't know any names yet of the two people seriously injured.


  • The West Texas Oilmen, who are always buying the legislature so they can ram through school vouchers, were unable to get their boy elected as House Speaker  yesterday.

    • Some ultra MAGA folks, including a group from Wise County, were "protesting" after the vote outside of the capitol.  Video

    • Ted Nugent really packed them in with a free concert nearby yesterday morning in Austin.



  • Welcome to the Oligarchy.


  • The Pete Hegseth confirmation hearing yesterday for Secretary of Defense turned out to be all for show. He'll be confirmed. But it was a bit uncomfortable for him to be asked about all his infidelity with his third wife looking on from behind him. 
    Standard answer from, of all things, a Fox News host.

    That probably guarantees confirmation

    • Wise County's representative Ronny Jackson is excited about Hegesth burning the Defense Department down. He literally said that:

  • This is pretty wild. A UTA professor and a lawyer from Temple were detained and/or arrested outside of the Commissioner's Court in Tarrant County yesterday. Videos.


  • Seems bad out of Houston.
     

  • Very legal nerdy stuff. There were lots of headlines yesterday that said "Special Counsel Report Say Trump Would Have Been Convicted in Election Case."  That's not true. The report said "the Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial."  That's not saying a jury would have convicted him. It's saying that if a jury convicted him then there was some evidence on each and every element of the charge that would survive an insufficiency argument on appeal. 

at 8:30 AM
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