The State of Texas: February 9, 2016

Commercial Tuesday

In case you missed it, DeLorean is back at it. Everyone’s favorite car from the eighties is being put back in production, in Humble, Texas, of all places. Recently, the company put out a teaser commercial, and there is nary a Back to the Future Reference in the entire two minutes of cool.

Daily Roundup

Settled — It looks like those ~~dangerous~~ downtrodden refugees are coming to Texas after all. On Monday, a judge shot down Attorney General Ken Paxton’s efforts to block the resettlement of Syrian refugees by the federal government. In his decision, U.S. District Judge David Godbey said Paxton “failed to provide sufficient evidence showing that terrorists had infiltrated the refugee program, ‘much less that these particular refugees are terrorists intent on causing harm,'” according to the Austin American-Statesman. Judge Godbey didn’t denying there was a risk of refugees being terrorists, just that there was no concrete proof of it. The decision shouldn’t be too surprising since Godbey issued a similar ruling when the state attempted an emergency order blocking the refugees back in December. “The state’s next move is unclear; [a spokeswoman] said the AG’s office is ‘currently evaluating’ its legal options moving forward. In his ruling, Godbey said Texas is unlikely to succeed in the lawsuit because it has ‘no viable cause of action’ against the federal government,” according to the Texas Tribune. “Another, separate motion by the state asking the judge to temporarily bar the federal government from placing Syrian refugees in the state is still pending.”

No Kickback — So what’s it been like since open carry went into effect? A lot of whimper, little bang. To be fair, it hasn’t even two months yet, but so far, things have been a far cry from chaos predicted by the anti-firearm crowd. Retreading a Star-Telegram piece from three weeks ago, Fox News quotes a Fort Worth officer as saying “We do not have anything interesting to report. Two calls so far, no issues. We have no concerns and we have had no problems.” In its update, Fox reports that “In Bastrop County, despite anticipation that there would be a flood of 911 calls, none were logged the first weekend that the law went into effect.” As the story points out, however, cops still really dislike the law.

Disbarred — You may remember Anthony Graves from Pamela Colloff’s award-wining series of stories. Graves, of course, was wrongfully convicted and put on death row before being exonerated in 2006 (12 years on death row). And despite the fact that overzealous prosecutors rarely face punishment, there’s been some justice. “The disciplinary board of the Texas State Bar on Monday affirmed the agency’s decision to disbar Charles Sebesta, the former prosecutor who oversaw” the case, according to the Dallas Morning News. The state bar revoked Sebesta’s license back in June for “prosecutorial misconduct.” Sebesta “appealed that ruling, and last month his lawyers told the State Bar of Texas Board of Disciplinary Appeals that he should not be disbarred based on technicalities in the rules that govern lawyer discipline.” Despite withholding information and presenting false testimony that likely would’ve gotten Graves off, Sebesta still maintains he did the right thing. Good riddance.

Will Debbie Do Dallas? — If the Dallas City Council has its way, porn fans will have to find another place to congregate. eXXXotica, a porn convention, hosted an event back in August, much to the chagrin of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and others. Now, the city council (along with the back of billionaire downtown investors like Ray Hunt) are hoping to prevent the porn convention from coming a second time. On Wednesday, the city council “will vote on a resolution that would ban eXXXotica from coming back to the convention center,” though at least two members will vote against it. Not necessary because they love porn, but rather, “that the mayor’s resolution, if adopted, is clearly unconstitutional, just like the city’s ban on protests near highways and its ban on feeding the homeless without a permit,” writes the Dallas Observer. “The city got sued over both of those and ended up settling both cases after U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis took issue with both ordinances — it settled the highway protest case for $270,000 and the feeding case for $250,000.” At issue is are “public accommodation” laws as they relate to the city-owned Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. And “Legal issues aside, [the councilman said] eXXXotica didn’t really cause any problems last year. Plainclothes vice cops sent to the convention didn’t see anything illegal, and the dentist’s convention in town at the same time didn’t get any complaints.”

More Troubles — The details surrounding Johnny Manziel and his problems just keep getting worse. It was last week that Manziel got in trouble after an altercation with his girlfriend, which eventually led Fort Worth police searching for the football player,who was said to be running away and/or a danger to himself, with a helicopter. But in an affidavit for a protective order against Manziel, Colleen Crowley describes “a horrific night in which Manziel keeps her from leaving his hotel room, later throws her back in a car by her hair, slaps her so hard she loses hearing in one ear, and tells her, ‘Shut up or I’ll kill us both,'” as Deadspin and many others reported. Phones were smashed, kitchen knives were pulled, pretty much the worst kind of scenario. “Crowley’s request for a restraining order was granted, and it requires Manziel to stay away from her for two years, WFAA in Dallas has reported. Dallas police also are investigating.”