Above The Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• The big news this morning is that former Patriot and convicted killer Aaron Hernandez, 27, hanged himself in his jail cell. That guy was a straight up gangsta. (Odd legal note: He was serving a life sentence but the case was on appeal. In Texas, if a defendant dies during an appeal, the appeal is simply dismissed. In Massachusetts, however, they actually vacate the conviction. So Aaron Hernandez will technically not be a convicted murderer once the court issues the order.)
  
• ESPN had an interesting article on the Raiders move to Las Vegas (and how Jerry Jones intervened to get the deal done.) But in the article, there was a paragraph about how Vegas is going downhill. It's been about five years since I was there, and I didn't get that feeling. Is it true?
  
  
• And Another (Ohio): 
  
• This is a heck of a photo from I-35 moments after the West, Texas explosion four years ago. I had never seen it before. (And I continue to believe the ATF claiming the explosion was the result of arson but not explaining how exactly it was arson or having any idea who was behind it is the biggest B.S. "justify my government job because we are working so hard" report we've had in the last decade.)
  
  
• At Bridgeport elementary, we started doing square dancing in the fifth grade during P.E. That is, until some parents complained that dancing was against their religious beliefs. We stopped doing it immediately. 
• Baylor has hired its first female president. Question: Has any major Texas university, or Big 12 school for that matter, ever had a female president? 
• On the day the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her dad met Chinese leader Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, China granted preliminary approval for three new trademarks for one of Ivanka's companies selling jewelry, bags and spa service. The first family will get filthy rich exploiting the President's position. 
• All the idiotic things Infowars founder Alex Jones has said over the years is about to cost him custody of his children in a trial going on in Austin. 
• Pete Sessions will get an opponent in next year's election who is a former NFL player and current civil rights lawyer (assuming he wins the Democratic primary.) Note: Hillary beat Trump in Sessions' district last year. 
• Last night in "Tucker Carlson Dumb Face". Buddy, close your mouth:
  
• If key members of Congress condition Tax Reform on Trump releasing his tax returns, there will be no Tax Reform. He won't do it. 
• Reports are surfacing the Fox News is about to cut ties with Bill O'Reilly. Told ya. 

It's Over

Story.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Someone streamed together Trump's campaign promises to never golf as President because he would be working too hard. I especially loved, "If you're in the White House, why would you ever want to leave the White House?"  
• I always seem to spend a little bit of time watching part of The Ten Commandments on Easter weekend, but there's no way I'm watching a marathon movie interrupted every 10 minutes with commercials. However, I did decide that Pharaoh's outfit is pretty spiffy:
  
• When did the original Frilly's in Decatur close? 
• CNBC doing comedy with the "(left)" in the graphic. 
  
• Fort Worth PD now has dirt bikes. Yep, dirt bikes.
  
  
• A car dealership and a sponsoring radio station apparently has never heard about the lawsuit arising from Hands On A Hardbody. 
  
• No matter when I blow by Tucker Carlson and no matter who he is interviewing, I'm guaranteed to see "Dumb Face" that rivals that of Eli Manning: 

  

  Side note: Watch this girl destroy him. 

  
  
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• Rich Little is making the rounds today on radio shows promoting a gig in Arlington. He was an impersonator who had his hey day back when I was a little kid. I've I always thought he was average at best, and always projected a persona of "Well, here's Rich Little trying to impersonate someone but it's more Rich Little than anything else." (I was curious how much ticket costs since I figured sales were lagging, but got sidetracked when the website showed there were only two rows left where seats were available. There is no way that is true. He wouldn't be doing radio promotions if it were.)
• I got a call yesterday informing me that people placed on Pre-Trial Diversion in Wise County are required by the probation department to sign an amendment that prevents them from voting during the probation even though they are legally eligible to vote. I'm trying to confirm this. If true, I bet this comes as a huge surprise to every prosecutor and judge in the courthouse. And I bet that practice will end today. Edit: I received a quick call from the head of probation to me saying, "Not true." And he appears to be right. All probationers are provided a form of potential collateral consequences but it is not a signed amendment to the terms and conditions of probation. I'm getting a copy of the form and will link it here later. Edit: Here is what they are given at probation. I now question my source's ability to read. 
• Wired.com needs to work on it's ad placement:
  
• The NFL Draft is coming up, and as the years go by I find it more and more unfair every year. A player will be chosen by a team, and he won't have any voice as to who it will be. Then he will paid a preset amount (way below market value) because the NFL wanted it that way. Before the current salary structure was put into place, the #1 pick in the draft in 2010, Sam Bradford, signed a six year $78 million contract with $50 million guaranteed. Last year the #1 pick was paid a $28 million four year deal with $18.6 guaranteed. You think the NFL is making more now or in 2010? As a recent SI article said, "The NFL sure does love money."
• Do I have this right?: Decatur ISD, Bridgeport ISD and Paradise ISD are all looking for a superintendent? 

Easter Bunny Violence

BAH GAWD HE'S BROKEN IN HALF! pic.twitter.com/MVgQzfkvbT

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) April 16, 2017

The Time The Feds Came To Wise County To Crush Incompetence

Link.

It was federal overkill to thwart a plan by a bunch of goofballs that could never pull it off. Maybe the best part are quotes from former Sheriff Phil Ryan.

Pray For This Young Man. He Might Be Dead.

I know I'm not supposed to laugh...but... pic.twitter.com/TzzQDAA3wU

— Matt Lisle (@CoachLisle) April 15, 2017

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The guy shooting the elderly man on the sidewalk for no reason and deciding to broadcast it on Facebook Live is sickening. Society is getting weird. Broadcasting crimes, and it is happening more and more, is right out a horror movie from twenty years ago which we wouldn't believe would actually happen. 
• Baylor, long criticized for the cream puff non-conference schedule, will play a home and home with Oregon. The bad news is that it doesn't start until 2027. Who knows what the teams will be like by then. 
• Very very obscure college baseball stat: Albany University played it's first 25 games on the road. That number would have been 34 but nine games were postponed or cancelled. I have no idea why. 
• There is a huge Separation of Church and State case to be heard at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. It centers around whether a church school should be excluded from state grants in Missouri to make playgrounds safer (and indirectly could impact the concept of school vouchers.) The church had sued.  A huge wrench was thrown into the case on Friday when the governor said, "Ok, we'll give the grants to churches." The Supreme Court, seeing the news, surprisingly asked all parties to submit emergency responses by Tuesday as to whether that makes the case moot. 
• I pointed out that a cop got fired for kicking a handcuffed man in the head. I didn't realize that another officer got fired for viciously punching the same guy in the head at the beginning of the traffic stop. 
• The White House announced that visitors logs will not be released as they had been under President Obama did. Flashback: 
  
• I stole this from a tweet by a Congressman: "The same WH that just agreed to sell your browsing history won't disclose visits to WH to protect privacy of lobbyists. Swamp wins again." That "Drain The Swamp" chant does seem ridiculous now. 
• I didn't realize that Trump only won Texas by 8 points. And let us never forget Trump won Wise County by 69 points.
• Tragedy at a rotating restaurant: "ATLANTA - A 5-year-old boy died from a head injury after he was caught in the rotator wall at the Sun Dial restaurant on the 72nd floor of the Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta on Friday, officials said." I'm never a fan of civil lawsuits, but there is no way that should be able to happen. 
• "The Secret Service has spent more than $35,000 on golf cart rentals at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort since his inauguration, CBS News reported Friday, as Trump begins another weekend in Florida." And I guess that taxpayer money is paid to the Trump resort. You would that Trump would just comp them.
• More horrible child news. Former Ravens tight end Todd Heap accidentally ran over his three year old child while backing out of his driveway.  I cannot imagine. 
  
• UT coach Tom Herman said the offenses would be "vanilla" in the Spring Game. The first play was a direct snap to a wide receiver who then launched a pass. Why? (Other than that, UT looked pretty good.) 
• There were a ton of protests this weekend demanding Trump release his taxes.  Flashback to 2014: "If I decide to run for office, I'll produce my tax returns, absolutely." - Donald Trump. 4 
• And those protests really hurt Trump's feelings. From yesterday:
  
• While Muslims get on there knees and kneel towards Mecca everyday, this was seen in San Antonio on Saturday on the most holiest of Christian weekends. 
• 
• Still get stunned by the casualty count from World War II  every time I see them. U.S.: 419,400 Soviet Union: 20,000,000 (and that might be a low estimate according to historians. Some put it at 26,000,000.)
• Donald Jr. has less game than his dad. And that's saying something.
  
• A Dallas area guy bid $330 on a "storage auction" (for anything in an abandoned storage unit) and discovered he now owns every edition of Sports Illustrated. And every issue is in mint condition. Heritage Auction thinks the collection is worth at least $50,000.
  
• Hurricane names for 2017:
  
• The oldest woman in the world died at the age of 117. That means everyone born in the 1800s is dead.

Above The Fold

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

That looks like it hurt. 

Pure marriage material. 

In surprised most kids make it to adulthood 

Show off.

Once again, people don't quite think things through. 

I could truly watch this all day. 

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• We dropped the Mother of All Bombs on Afghanistan yesterday.  It took $314 million to develop and has a unit cost of $16 million. We've used one. 
• If we keep lobbing bombs left and right in the middle east, we are going to get hard on our soil in the next four years. 
• There was a running bit over the last few days about "New United Mottos". This was the funniest: 
  
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• There was a big effort yesterday to express outrage about a guy on Survivor who outed another guy as transgendered. Come on. The show is taped and edited and packaged. It's not like he blurted it out on live TV. This was all calculated.
• An officer in Georgia was fired after walking up and kicking a handcuffed African-American who was on the ground in the head. (Video) Edit: Link fixed.
  
• Former Decatur standout Grayson Muehlstein is listed as third string quarterback at TCU after Spring practice. The bad news is that incoming freshman Shawn Robinson is at #2 and that kid is great. He'll replace the spare Kenny Hill by game three.  
• Canada took the first steps yesterday to legalize weed. For the whole country.
• Bob Simpson, co-owner of the Texas Rangers, has put his 24,000 square foot Fort Worth house on the market for $7 million. It's in a development called Montserrat which is just outside the west 820 loop just south of the I-30 exit. I had no idea it was there. And there are some monster houses in it. (Satellite view). 
  
• Does Trump ever see son Barron?
• I'll admit, I don't know what "currency manipulator" means. At least I'm not the only one: 
  
• A loyal reader sent me a link to TMZ obtaining pictures of the Official Liberally Lean Girl on the beach in Hawaii. 
• Pretty big fire to an extension of the Bellagio hotel in Vegas last night. (Video)
• The U.S. screwed up yesterday and killed 18 friendly Syrian soldiers who were fighting ISIS.

"Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls"

RB Coach Used To Be Backup Dancer For MC Hammer

Can't Touch This!! @RealCoachCarter with the moves from his days being on tour with @MCHammer ! #LetsGo 👌 pic.twitter.com/a0pouTYL6c

— SanJoseStateFootball (@SJSUSpartanFB) April 8, 2017

Decides to prove it.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• I've have never seen such horrible reporting regarding Dallas' new "cite and release" policy for misdemeanor marijuana. So many news agencies say that Dallas has reduced the punishment for those crimes to nothing more than a Class C offense like speeding or jaywalking. That's completely 100% wrong.
• Here's what's the change is: Currently, Dallas PD arrest someone found in possession of a misdemeanor amount of marijuana. They are taken to jail. In a few hours they post bond, released, and are told to wait for a notice to appear before a court for either a Class B or Class A misdemeanor (depending on the amount possessed.) The new policy requires the officer to not arrest the defendant but to release him on his own personal recognizance on the spot, and tell the defendant to wait for notice to appear before a court for either a Class B or Class A misdemeanor. The only thing that has changed is that you are no longer initially taken to jail and have to bond out. 
• The Texas legislature approved "cite and release" 10 years ago. A trooper in Wise County (or any officer) can legally "cited and release" any misdemeanor marijuana defendant.  The only reason that doesn't happen is because of policies of the agencies. 
• The local media has been horrible. KXAS Channel 5 does not have a clue about the meaning of "cite and release". WFAA equally doesn't understand. The Answer's Mark Davis went on a 20 minute rant this morning about how the City of Dallas had "reduced" the penalty for marijuana to the equivalent of jay-walking. Fox 4 is interesting. They have had guests on which have been deadly accurate on what the "change" in Dallas PD police means. Then last night their graphics department proved they hadn't been watching Fox 4 news: 

  

  No, they didn't. 

• Nerdy legal point about how the new Dallas policy is probably unconstitutional: The new policy only allows Dallas residents to get the benefit of "cite and release." If you live out of county but are caught in Dallas, you go to jail and have to make bond. That probably violates the Equal Protection Clause. 
• I did miss the fact yesterday that Bill O'Reilly has taken an immediate and mysterious "two week vacation." It begins. 
• One of the first thing Trump did was institute a federal hiring freeze. Yesterday he reversed his own decision.
• Speaking of Trump, he's saber-rattling again on Twitter -- the perfect place to develop foreign policy. We're all gonna die. 
  
• "Secret A.T.F. Account Paid for $21,000 Nascar Suite and Las Vegas Trip." WBAP's Hal Jay this morning said he didn't care about the theft of taxpayer money and considered it just a bonus for "working hard and risking their lives." His co-workers, as they are doing more and more often, expressed shock at his position.
• The Bridgeport Bulls will be going to the state championship in soccer. How many state championships were left on the table over the last 10 to 15 years because the school refused to have a soccer program? 
• I don't know anything about Decatur High School, but I saw that Macy and Mallory Downe finished first and second in the 100 meter dash at the district meet. Are they twins? Sisters finishing first and second at district is beyond cool. 

Above The Fold

BagOfNothing Questioned God Is Pro Life vs The Passover . . .

This is the face of a man being treated for a case of hiccups which has lasted over 48 hours pic.twitter.com/GBj21zw8bn

— bagofnothing (@bagofnothing) April 12, 2017

. . . and this happens!

I hope God isn't turning him into a modern day Job.

Stay strong! But if they don't go away, you might get on The Today Show.

Get Me This Red Panda!

heck! bamboozled by a rock! pic.twitter.com/RXBVWv3MY2

— ragnarok the house (@CyanideZone) April 12, 2017

Came In A Little Hot

Well here it is. View from the front tire changer. #nascar #pitcrew #monsterenergycup pic.twitter.com/QtwWiDyZwP

— Zack Young (@JackmanZack) April 11, 2017