Lawful Metal

Chris Paul is a Rocket. Can't believe it. I imagine both Harden and Paul are going to find themselves in catch and shoot situations with one setting up the other. What they gave up wasn't substantial at all: I'll miss Mr. 94 Feet Patrick Beverley, but we clearly upgraded at the PG position. Dekker and Lou Williams aren't much and the first round pick will be in the high 20s. Reports are that the Rockets aren't done and hoping to move Ryan Anderson and change for Melo or Paul George. I'm not getting my hopes up, but who am I to doubt El Morey? EDIT: Wow, didn't realize we traded Montrezl Harrell and Kyle Wiltjer too. And we traded for guys named Darrun Hilliard and DeAndre Liggins just to throw them into this deal. I have no idea how any of this works. And we have apparently traded for guys named Tim Quarterman, Ryan Kelly, and Shawn Long. I wonder if these are real people, or just create-a-player on NBA 2k17 with a random name generator. Well, I have no idea who is on our roster now. But I think it's safe to say we have the best starting backcourt in the NBA now.

I can't believe they didn't have Titus ask Lavar Ball to join the Titus Brand.

Who are you to doubt Lord Tensai?

I can't complain too much. Rockets got the Coach of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, and Pat Bev won the NBA Hustle Award. Thats a good haul. Now please Morey don't trade Patrick Beverley.

Triple Doubles > wins apparently +2 rebounds / game was the difference first MVP to lose in the first round since ???

I think this all could've been cured by instead of just dumping Becky, Ellsworth should've climbed up to stop Becky, have Becky suplex him off taking her and Ellsworth out, leaving only Carmella to climb up and win. Same controversy, less bad optics. Plus we get Becky wasting Ellsworth again. we better get a Becky v. Ellsworth match at Summerslam.

I hope all of this is leading to Neville beating the hell out of Titus and hopefully returning to facing non-cruiserweights. Neville is legit and should be in the main event scene.

Viewed in a vacuum, I think Shibata v. Okada at Genesis is superior to Omega v. Okada at Wrestle Kingdom. What a star making moment for Shibata. Stone Cold Shibata. what a shame.

Big 2 ain't nothing on a big 3. Much less a big 4. And it might have worked!

At least those assholes waited until late in their career for mercenary ring hunting. They at least tried to win for themselves in their prime. and LeBron going to Miami was more like Garnett and Allen going to Boston than Durant to Golden State.

You can crack on James all you want but he took his team that only had one All-Star (and no one else on the team that had ever been an All-Star) and dragged them to the 3rd best record in the NBA and won a playoff series against the league MVP. I hope he comes back from San Antonio too. I still believe the concussion Gasol gave him in Game 5 was what caused the Game 6 abomination.

most worthless NBA title ever. Title was won in July when Durant quit the Thunder to join already the best team in the league. Golden State didn't need Durant, they just needed Durant not to be on the Thunder. I hope they all injure themselves celebrating this hollow and empty achievement.

Gone Girl is a straight up horror movie

Astros down 8-2 to the Twins score 11 in the 8th inning! Best record in baseball!

Median income for all lawyers in Texas is $60k. Criminal brings down the average. Civil pays more, but it's all paperwork and no court action. You get one big settlement it makes your year. You make the really big bucks if you work for the big firms. There's not a lot of those jobs though, so you have to graduate at the top of your class at a good law school. But nothing feels better than a not guilty verdict.

It gets worse. There are lawyers who get 4-5 appointments a day and plead them all out the same day and sending the clients to prison without getting discovery, without investigating. Judges and prosecutors love it because it doesn't clog up the docket and their gave to do less work. There was a study in my home county and there were appointed attorneys that made half a million pleading 4-5 cases everyday. They did the math and these lawyers spent on average 6 minutes per case. I don't know about y'all, but if I'm potentially going to prison, I'd want my lawyer to spend more than 6 minutes on my case. Fortunately, I have a good reputation and I make their indigent counsel plan look good by winning trials and getting good results for my appointed cases (my trial win last week was an appointed case). Other lawyers who try cases or take too long to plead their clients out are liable to be dropped from the appointed list if they don't plead them out quick enough. Honestly, I feel better about representing my indigent clients than I do about my retained clients, even though the retained clients are the only way I pay my bills. Just feels like a better fuck you to the system. TLDR - criminal justice system sucks and doesn't pay well unless you're a patsy who pleads everyone out without doing your job.

Ok. Generally speaking, if you want to do a good job on a case, you're going to spend 6 months to a year on a criminal defense case. Regardless of how many hours or how few, it's going to last that long just by how slow court operates and how slow the state operates in getting your discovery (including your videos, witness statements 911 calls etc.). You're also obligated to do your own investigation. If you and the state can't come to an agreement on punishment, then you're getting another delay when you get set for trial. And, because the court can only go to trial on one case at a time (and there can be up to 100 on the trial docket), you're looking at more delays until it's your turn. Public Defenders are part of a government office and are on salary regardless of how many or how few cases they have. Appointed counsel (like me and our hero) are private attorneys who get appointed on indigent clients. We get appointed, work a case until it's finished, then get paid an (allegedly) hourly rate. Somehow it's always a nice round number significantly lower than you'd think. And you only get paid at the end of a case. And because it's the government paying you, expect a payment 3-6 months after you submit the voucher. So, in short, it doesn't matter how many cases you get appointed to. You still have to finish them (plead guilty or go to trial) before you get paid (underpaid 3-6 months later). I primarily use appointed cases as free advertising to get retained work. Any money I make from appointed work is treated as bonus money because it comes so infrequently. If I solely depended on appointed cases I would not be able to support my family. Fortunately, word of mouth is great on appointed cases because expectations are super low. You do a decent job for an appointed case, they love you for life and will send all their friends and family to you. Whether they can pay is another question. That said, the scene in the first episode where he got $700 for a full jury trial is only unrealistic in that he got paid that quickly.

It's going to be a really long answer, but I'll start with the old Racehorse Haynes quote: "If you want to be a millionaire as a criminal defense lawyer, start with 2 million."

Dammit I want New Day to win Money in the Bank. Not Big E, not Kofi, not Xavier. New Day. And I want them to Freebird the briefcase, win the title and defend it Freebird style. not terribly interested in them as tag champs again.

Did a double feature of The Last Dragon and Streets of Fire. They don't make these "rock'n'roll" movies anymore. Last Dragon I watch all the time and it's still awesome. Funny thing I noticed this time around were the bit parts by William H. Macy and Chazz Palmentieri. Sho'Nuff steals the show as always. Streets of Fire was amazing. I feel like every single shot was perfectly crafted -- every shot, including multiple shots of puddles. Puddles! Of course Willem Dafoe's Raven is an absolutely iconic villain, and Diane Lane is gorgeous. Loved it. Classic.

Put another pelt on the wall, another Not Guilty. In fact I've never lost a trial in this particular county. This time a ridiculous assault case that never should have been filed. I don't know why they want me to keep kicking their asses but I'll oblige them.

I don't even like the Spurs but that was dirty dirty as hell to intentionally injure Kawhi like that. fuck the Warriors

Astros! Awesome play at the plate to beat the Yankees at Yankee stadium. At least the Astros aren't disappointing me now.

James Harden concussion theory: after this elbow to the head, Harden had an undiagnosed concussion. He played like garbage from this moment on of Game 5 and all of Game 6.

I'm sad about the loss tonight, but very proud of my Rockets for a very successful season. can't wait to see what Morey does in the offseason. Let's get another superstar to pair with Harden.