Random Monday Morning Thoughts

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Trump's first presidential debate. We had never seen anything quite like it.

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• Someone might want to tell him he lost last Thursday based upon insufficient evidence. 
  

  

  
  
• America. 
  
• Special emphasis on "wingsuit." 
  
  

  

  (Not actually him, but you get the idea.)

  
  
• Russia hit the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine overnight which was occupied at the time. 
  
  
  
  

  

  
  
• Random story linked on the Drudge Report this morning and the new issue of Texas Monthly. Completely unrelated stories, but it made me do a doubletake.
  
• This is not normal, and it's right out of 1933 Germany.  And, I'll say it again, he's not leaving in 2028. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Say what?
  
  
  
• Not only did he say this in 2015, he first said it in 2011. 
  
• Evil Empire vs. Tennessee notes: 
• “Unsportsmanlike conduct for simulating using the restroom.” Video.
• Trump did in fact showed up. With Natalie. 
  
  
  
• Dateline Danville, KY: "Seneca Driver (6-7, 250lbs) literally gronk-spiked a defensive back after an interception. The 5-star high school TE is committed to Oklahoma." Video The fact that guy popped back up after that is amazing. 
  
  
  
• I asked the Liberally Lean First Alert Weather Team about the chances for rain this week, and I was told, "Look out for late Wednesday into Thursday. Big weather!"

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

A little nostalgia with Decatur and Bridgeport playing for the last (?) time. But note that the then KVIL run twitter account's tweet misspelled @BridgeportHS and also linked to @BHSIndiansRadio which is an account for a high school in West Virginia.  Ah, simpler times. 

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• Thirteen years old. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The school is abandoned, they used a ladder, didn't steal anything, and were "between 20 and 22 years old."  Wouldn't a simple "get out of here" by the cops sufficed?
  
  
  
• This poor gal has been on the witness stand for two days reading her text messages between her and the American Idol defendant who is on trial for killing his wife.   There were over 150,000 communications between the two.
  
  
  
• Chinese Presidential Trip Update.
• I don't know the story behind this photo, but it's real and it's specatular. 
  
  
  
• Full guest list of last night's State Dinner. Welcome to the Oligarchy, 
• While Trump met with the communist leader,  he also released a weird campaign-like ad for TV that says the U.S. will never be a communist country which, ironically, was paid for by the U.S. government using your tax dollars. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• She's a true romantic. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Business Second™.
  
  
  
• The Second Business Second™.  The words "startup" and "$6.4 billion" in the same headline doesn't compute in my brain.
  
  
  
• Story (gift link.) Rich young men at Rivercrest Country Club in the 1920s. 
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
• Have I ever mentioned how I absolutely hate the Savannah Bannnas?
  
• Trump will attend the Texas vs. Tennessee game tomorrow.  I had no idea this happens: 
  
  
  
  
• Very legal nerdy stuff: A federal judge's order about a deposition seems almost fake, but it is not.
• Not necessarily legal nerdy stuff: Judges on the Court of Criminal Appeals went absolutely crazy yesterday in posting photographs in their released opinions: We've got multiple screenshots of a freshly wrecked car, an injured toddler photo in a murder case out of Wichita Falls (page 75), and, I can't believe it, photos of a dead child (pages 4-11) in the highly publicized Melissa Lucio death penalty case. 
• Lauren Whitener Clock: 7 years and 84 days.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

Way before George Floyd, two police shootings in one week (Terence Crutcher and Keith Scott) dominated headlines for a week. 

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• Decatur city hall seems to be hell-bent on inserting themselves into controversies they could easily avoid.  First, the ICE 287(g) controversy, and now this:
  
  
  
• Alternative headline: Decatur City Council is Anti-Trump; Goes Against MAGA! 
  
  
  
• I still think this "hazing" incident is going to turn out to be a big bag of nothing. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• All we know is what is in the police press releases, and that is nothing more than what's in the headlines.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Overnight: A court ruling that was expected came down.
  
• But so far this morning, all three networks have been denied access to the White House. We don't know yet whether this is just incompetence or defiance. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The President of China got the red-carpet treatment at Andrews Air Force Base last evening. 
• But a planned overhead fly-by scared Trump. Video.
  
  
  
• But look what Trump posted this morning. (And even little Natalie is in the background.)
  
  
  
• Every school needs an oligarch. 
  
  
  
• Delivered by whom? (It's available online.) 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Fun fact: I had always heard of the Nixon/Kennedy debate in 1960., and the impact it had on the election.  But I didn't know that there would not be another televised debate until 1976. The Ford/Carter debate was 50 years ago yesterday.
  
  
  
• Messenger - Above the Fold