Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• It's Labor Day. There is no Messenger Update, local news stations have skeleton crews, and metroplex papers are so thin you could floss with them.  But guess who is here providing priceless, quality content?: The hardest working man in show business. 
• If Trump is not lying above the venue, there will be a ton of empty seats. He couldn't fill up the American Airlines Center much less Jerry World or the NRG Stadium.
  
• And this recent Trump/Cruz weird love fest has caused everyone to unearth their crazy contempt for each other from just two years ago. The biggest liar in the history of politics had a theme that Cruz couldn't tell the truth (after attacking his wife and saying his dad was involved in the JFK assassination):
•  Examples:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• And Cruz went scorched earth on Trump back then as well calling him a "pathological liar," "utterly amoral," "a narcissist at a level I don't think this country's ever seen" and "a serial philanderer."
  
• Fox News shamed a black man for making an honest living: 
  
• It seems like you'll oftentimes hear prosecutors say, "It wasn't the verdict that we hoped for, but we will never argue with or criticize a jury." Uh, by saying that you kind of are, right? 
• Hot: Chico Dragon running back Nico Starnes who, against Petrolia, ran for 303 yards and five TDs on just 13 carries. Not: Decatur Eagles' passing line of five completions and six interceptions on 25 attempts.
  
• Not sure about this political cartoon which perhaps inadvertently shows John McCain moving in to bomb the Pearly Gates.
  
  
• George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and especially Meghan McCain took shots at Trump (who was golfing) during John McCain's funeral on Saturday.
  
• Trump heard about it and got mad:
•                                
• The name. A sword. A DJ. Seems like a scene out of Kill Bill.
• 
• I pray that a new misdemeanor case I've been retained on has facts consistent with my client's version. It truly will be a great, "He got arrested for WHAT?!" story. 
• Get this: The high school football season is two weeks old in California. After the first two games, Healdsburg High was 0-2 after losing 0-41 and 0-61. The team had 18 players and after the two big loses, six players quit. The coach then held an anonymous team vote where they decided to pack it up and call it a season. 
• I saw one highlight of Diamond Hill's win over Conrad (breaking the state's longest losing streak), and I think I know how they won. Conrad's version of tackling was, (1) Try to wrap your arms around the runner's upper torso, (2) if successful, try to sling the runner to the ground, and (3) remain standing at all times. It was ridiculous. 
• "L. Gaga":
  
• Twin Peaks Biker Cases Update: "A judge, who said Friday he has been 'troubled by the whole Twin Peaks matter from its inception,' put off the trials of bikers in his court until after the first of the year because he wants the new McLennan County district attorney to review how the remaining Twin Peaks cases will be handled." I knew this was a fiasco from Day One. 
• College football: (1) OU looks scary, (2) UT fans have Tom Herman -- who always seems Wheels Off -- on a very short leash, (3) The receiver who made that first  great TD catch for the Evil Empire transferred from Baylor (4) Auburn beat Washington behind their QB - a transfer from Baylor, (5) Penn State "upset" Appalachian State in overtime in a thriller, (6) There seem like a ton of targeting ejections this weekend. (7) The craziest play you probably didn't see.
  
• Kevin Von Erich might have taken one too many blows to the head. North Texas won 46-23: 
  
• TCU played Southern (Alabama). Why on Earth was it a day game?
  
• Messenger: Above The Fold.

It's Friday. Let's Get Out Of Here.

 Get me this owl!

 I pray that beaver sneaks into his house tonight and wakes him up.

 They forgot to build stairs in that place?

This almost happened on the Decatur courthouse square yesterday during lunch. Really.

 Nice job, kid. But as President of ACME Insurance Company, I find you uninsurable in the future.

That reminds me. I've been feeling more and more stiff joint pain lately.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• I missed the story yesterday morning that we had another parking lot shooting at a Fort Worth strip club that left one dead and three injured. That will hurt Corset's Cabaret on Yelp.
• There are lots of buy outs going on at the Austin American Statesman and even the Publisher and Editor announced they were leaving this week. I think a former Messenger reporter took a buyout as well. 
• All of Trump's denials on Twitter can pretty much be interpreted as admissions at this point. (And he has not had a single one this morning. Someone better check on him.)
• The Aggies laid Reveille VIII to rest outside of Kyle Field last night (the dog died back in June). They forgot to make the grave big enough and had to stop down to dig it a little wider. 
  
• I'm still having trouble believing the Rockwall County Republican Party did this. And just who in that lilly white town are they trying to appeal to?
  
  
• It. Will. Never. End.
  
• The first kickoff aired by ESPN for the college football season saw this happen last night:
  
• I noted a few weeks back that Diamond Hill Jarvis had a chance to break the state losing streak record since they were sitting at 77 straight loses. It all came to an end last night as they beat Conrad, 40-12. (Conrad is a high school around Greenville Avenue and Walnut Hill in Dallas).
• Stuff like this drive me crazy. The judges of Texas' two highest courts (Texas Supreme Court and Texas Court of Criminal Appeals) met before a legislative panel about bail reform yesterday. The Texas Supreme Court has no criminal jurisdiction and the judges on it wouldn't know how a bail bond works, legally or practically, if it hit them in the face.
  
• Texas bail bond reform is basically about helping the poor. That judge from the Texas Supreme Court cares so much about the poor  that when he was hit with ethics charges over a decade ago he wanted the taxpayers to be responsible for $340,000 in his legal fees to defend himself. 
• This was in 1956 (!!!): Students in Mansfield opposed integration by hanging a black man in effigy over the school doors.
  
• I didn't know that even Fox News apologized for the Florida Republican nominee for governor's comments about "monkey this up."
• The man who has blown $77 million in taxpayer money by wasting it at his resorts for 147 weekend golf outings has announced that almost two million federal employees will not get a scheduled 2.1% raise next year. 

  

  "No money for you!!!"

• I got my new Texas Bar Journal magazine yesterday, and it included an article on "Pattern Recognition: An epiphany leads a Dallas attorney to her love of quilting."  It also included an article on networking a room suggesting, "With your arm extended and a smile on your face, walk up to an existing group of people and say, "Hi, I just wanted to come over and meet you all! I'm ______." Worst publication in America. (And if I ever get involved in "networking" I'll fill in that blank with "Beaten Down.")

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• The new hot Fox 4 employee is quickly moving up the ranks. I'm guessing Lauren Przybyl will continue from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. 
  
• An elderly Texas pastor received probation in Tarrant County for child porn. But I thought we were past the days of ridiculous signs: "James Rankin, 79, also was ordered by Judge Mollee B. Westfall to post a sign at his Hurst home that says, 'A person on probation for a child sex offense lives here.'” Why not just reject the plea bargain if you think he is such a threat?
• There was a lot that went on during that "Evangelical Dinner" the other night. And here's a reminder that churches are tax exempt: 
  
• A linebacker for the Cleveland Browns has been charged with . . . wait for it . . . Insider Trading. That's a first. And it might give rise to an interesting episode of Hard Knocks next week. (He was immediately cut.)
• The Balch Springs police officer received 15 years in prison last evening -- he'll have to serve at least half before becoming eligible for parole. A Notice of Appeal has been file, but I'd think long and hard about that. He could have received up to 99 years/Life, and I'm not feeling real good about a Not Guilty or Probation if he were to get a second chance. 
• Sarah Palin is not invited to John McCain's funeral. That "rising star" flamed out very dramatically.
• The Astrodome got off to a rough start:
  
  
• The McLennan County D.A.'s office has been a mess ever since the Twin Peaks Biker Fiasco, and they aren't slowing down. The office cut a probation deal in a sexual assault case with a expelled Baylor frat boy without telling the alleged victim. She read about it in the paper. A firestorm has now broken out. (There's a Fort Worth lawyer involved and the victim has retained a blast from the past: Vic Feazell.)
• He attacked one-half of the team that brought down Nixon in Watergate? You kidding me? 
• 
• The DPS Regional Director for District 1 (which includes Wise County) is open. 
• The Republican nominee for governor of Florida has already stepped in it. And he managed to throw in that his opponent was "articulate" before he fired off the "monkey" comment. (I heard more about this on right wing radio than I did the main stream media.)
  
  
• The Texas Republicans need to get a new social media person. Yesterday they took a shot at Beto for a very old DWI arrest that he never tried to hide. I'm sure this attack will appeal to all Texans. It certainly crushed George W's political career.  
  
• An Uber driver (and off duty cop) shot and killed a guy who was approaching him aggressively on the roadway after stopping. It's probably a justifiable shooting but the local Sheriff sure had a bold statement: ""Here's a message for the hotheads of the community: don't do that stuff," Judd said. "Good people carry guns. And they will shoot you a lot. Graveyard dead. Leave people alone. It's a new day in the state of Florida and the United States."

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• The political career of Sheriff Joe is over as he finishes a distant third in a three person race for the Republican nominee for November's Senate election.
  
  
• When I'm wrong, I'm wrong: I didn't think the Balch Springs officer would be convicted of murder but he was. Now the jury is deciding punishment and they won't have probation as an option.  (The jury would have been informed of that in voir dire if everyone was doing their jobs, so a compromise verdict of "Let's convict him of murder but give him probation later" didn't happen.)
• I wasn't the only one wrong. Check out this headline from Fox 4 shortly after the shooting last year: 
  
• Our Governor immediately weighed in on the verdict and played the Race Card.
  
• Interesting thought: I think people who play video games are goofballs. I think people who play Chess are high-minded. That may not be fair at all. 
• Fort Worth PD conducted a prostitution sting and arrested 30 saps. The streets are safe again!
• In one of the weirdest marriages ever, Ken Starr will join the big time plaintiff's litigation group, The Lanier Law Firm. (That's the firm which has Christmas parties where Faith Hill, Miley Cyrus, Bon Jovi (and more!) have performed.) What an odd fit. Starr's as stuff suited as they come, has never tried a case, and knows absolutely nothing about Texas state civil law. That's the antithesis of good plaintiff's lawyers. (But Lanier has already had a bad year at times being involved in "unequivocally deceptive" conduct as noted by the Fifth Circuit.)
• I've been told by a very reliable source that Walmart is having a Best Maid pickle shortage. I don't care, but my source is in a panic. Girl needs her pickles. Edit: A faithful reader pointed out this in depth article that points out being a supplier to Walmart can crush your profits. Bottom line: It ain't easy being a supplier.
  
• I'm no constitutional scholar, but a court which gives preferential treatment to one group over another would seem to have some Equal Protection Clause issues.
  
• UT coach Tom Herman, for some reason, won't just come out and say who will be calling the plays this fall.  He said this week that "we'll all be calling the plays." There is no way that's true. It's going to be one guy, and that one guy needs to embrace the public scrutiny.
• Maybe Herman is distracted because Ohio State has announced that he was in a strip club with the guy who is the source of the school's current scandal. 
  
• We are living in an endless loop. 
  
• He's a true scholar of history.

  

  Wait a second. Didn't an "anonymous source" play a big role from inside our intelligence agencies one time?

  
  
  
• Messenger: Above The Fold