Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• "Former Parker County court-at-law Judge Debra [DuPont] Rogers' hanging death in her Aledo home has been ruled a suicide." It's hard to find any background on this story or her history.
• I took a portion of the 8th Grade History practice STAAR test last night. I think I might be held back this Fall.
• Prosper High School will give breathalyzer tests to all students wishing to enter the prom. Heck, why not take blood? Or a full body search? Search their cars? Check their text messages? 
• White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer had Mike Huckabee's daughter fill in for him at the  daily press conference yesterday. As she got peppered with questions regarding the firing of FBI Director Comey, she came across as America's Baghdad Bob.
• And her dad needs to stay off Twitter.
  

  

  Uh, that would be CCN and not CNN

  
  

  

  Oh, no, you didn't.

• I'm worried about the headline writers at the Dallas Morning News:
  
• Character actor Michael Parks died yesterday. He was in Kill Bill 1 and 2, Death Proof , Django Unchained,  and Dusk til Dawn. See a pattern there?  I was also surprised to see he was Bronson in a long forgotten TV series from my childhood that was only on for two seasons: Then Came Bronson.
  
• Trumpland Shocking News (that many faithful readers will ignore) : Just days ago, fired FBI Director Comey asked for more money and prosecutors from the Justice Department to continue the Russia investigation. Who did he specifically ask? Deputy AG Rod J. Rosenstein who just authored the memo, at Trump's direction, that Trump would then rely upon to fire Comey. And after that, Rosenstein threatened to resign once he was painted as the reason for the firing. Fake news? Even the Drudge Report is citing these stories which are everywhere.
  
   
• And Trump thought it was a good idea to meet with the Russians yesterday: 
  
  
  
• Ex Cowboy running back and former Baylor great Lincoln Coleman was reported to have been missing for eight days. Reports this morning are that he has been found. Weird. 
  
• For all of you who think its easy to collect from the government for civil rights violations, the Sixth Circuit reminded us all again that it is not: 
  
• Just a funny picture of Jason Garrett, Jerry Jones, and John Daly at Cowboys Country Club before noon yesterday: 
  
• "'Big Black,' co-star of MTV show 'Rob & Big,' reportedly died in Plano" Never heard of him. 

Above The Fold

On Sunday: Southwest Flight From Dallas To Burbank

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Oh, I'll get to Comey. 
• The ACLU, since Texas has passed an unconstitutional "show me your papers" law, has issued a travel advisory for the state.
  
  
• There is a photo floating around of a fat guy naked on top of a shark (presumably the shark is dead since he's in a boat), and everyone from Deadspin to Bleacher Report is on the hunt to find out who it is. The  first culprit was the University of Florida's football coach but he has denied it. Yesterday, the resemblance to big game hunter and fisherman Jimmy John Liautaud -- yep, that's the sandwich king Jimmy John, became the odds on favorite. (You're on your own for research on this one.)
• The saga of Baylor's undrafted K.D. Cannon continues. He was picked up by the Jets yesterday after the 49ers paid him $45,000 and then immediately cut him last weekend.
• There might be as many as 7,000 bodies buried under the medical campus of Ole Miss.  Mississippi State Asylum was on the site from 1855 to 1935. This gives a whole new meaning to Ghosts of Mississippi.
• Legal nerd stuff: The conviction of former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez was set aside yesterday because of his suicide.   As someone pointed out the other day, Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 7.1(a)(2) is very similar to Massachusetts. If a defendant dies during the pendency of an appeal in Texas, the appeal is then "abated." Since an abatement would mean the deceased's conviction never becomes "final",  the case remains technically and legally forever unresolved. (Texas doesn't "set it aside", however.)
• And now on to the bombshell news yesterday about the firing of FBI Director James Comey  by Trump. (Fun fact: Comey is 6'8" tall.) 
• The Right's Version of the Truth: Trump fired Comey because of the way he handled the Hillary email "scandal" last year as outlined in the "Rosenstein memo" -- which is exactly the excuse Trump used to fire him. Left's Version of the Truth: Trump fired Comey because the FBI was investigating alleged Russia/Trump connections and Trump wanted to stop it.
• Democrat example:
  
   
• Why not an independent prosecutor to get to the bottom of the Russian allegations. Heck, one was appointed in the 1990s to investigate a 1970s land deal. 
• Fun fact #2: Richard Nixon never fired the FBI Director. (That nugget was actually sent out on the official Richard Nixon Library twitter feed last night.)
• A guy most likely to be in a fetal position all night: White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer as he thinks about facing the press corp this afternoon. 
• You can always tell when the Trump White House is in crisis mode because they roll out Kellyanne Conway to take a beating in the press.  They served her up to Anderson Cooper last night. DFW TV critic Ed Bark was not impressed. 
  
• Trump's biggest problem is timing. Why fire Comey now for what he did last year in the email investigation? Actions which Trump praised at the time.  (And the second paragraph in Comey's firing letter is borderline bizarre -- he brings up Russia after explaining Russia had nothing to do with the firing.) 
• Why not just fire Comey for the incompetence he showed at the Senate hearing last week? 
• The College Freshman Who Is Not In The House is in Rwanda on a school trip. (Yep, Rwanda.) The Eighth Grader in the House is about to go on a multi-state school trip to the Northeast including, D.C., NYC, Gettysburg, Philadelphia and more. And those school sponsored trips are a million times cheaper than doing it on your own. I wanted to go to either of them as a chaperon on the condition I didn't have to do any chaperoning. 
• Both the Dallas Morning News and the New York Times reference Watergate on their front pages this morning.

Everyone Has To Do A Bit -- Some Odder Than Others

USA TODAY- A New Jersey high school student who hopes to become a funeral director has surprised her classmates by arriving at her prom in an open prop coffin. Megan Flaherty says she mainly wanted to have fun while attending Pennsauken High School’s junior prom Saturday. The 17-year-old says she checked with her date to make sure he had no reservations about her plans.

"FBI Directer Comey Is Crazy"

That is what I wrote last Thursday.  Today, he's yet again proving me correct.

Last week, this went down: "FBI director James Comey generated national headlines . . . with his dramatic testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, explaining his incredibly painful' decision to go public [days before the election] about the Hillary Clinton emails found on Anthony Weiner’s laptop.

Perhaps Comey’s most surprising revelation was that Huma Abedin — Weiner’s wife and a top Clinton deputy — had made 'a regular practice' of forwarding 'hundreds and thousands of Clinton messages to her husband, “some of which contain classified information.” Comey testified that Abedin had done this so that the disgraced former congressman could print them out for her boss."

I thought that was ridiculous then. Hundreds and thousands to be printed out? By Weiner? That guy won't get his own coffee.

Well the breaking news today is that "much" of what Comey testified to regarding regarding the forwarding and printing is wrong.  Reports are trickling in that maybe it just involved a "handful" of emails.  The FBI is trying to figure out how to correct the false testimony and is expected to send a letter to Congress later this week.

How does this happen? The leader of the FBI made a sworn statement before a Senate committee regarding one of the most sensational stories of the last election, and he completely screwed it up.

Edit: The FBI released the letter this afternoon and said the number of emails manually forwarded were "a small number."

Huge edit: Trump fired him this afternoon!

You Don't See A Lot Of Airport Fights

A post shared by Jary Romero (@kallejero) on May 8, 2017 at 7:40pm PDT

This was at Fort Lauderdale.

And we have the worst camera work ever.

That Didn't Go Well

republican congressman gets asked one follow up question, immediately walks out of interview https://t.co/g0czgiYRQ1 pic.twitter.com/N5YSmsG27d

— John Whitehouse (@existentialfish) May 9, 2017

But the kids looked a little amused at the end.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Yesterday I mentioned a sub two hour marathon almost being accomplished. I didn't realize it was a stunt by Nike giving someone every possible advantage to pull it off.  (It was on a specialized track with a pace car.)
• Some of the Dallas Cowboys took part in a home run competition in Frisco yesterday for charity. Dez Bryant missed the competition because he went to the Ballpark in Arlington. 
• The older lady being body slammed and thrown in to the pool in Florida after complaining about the noise at a party is hard to watch.
• The championship winning Desoto football coach kept his job last night but the proceedings were a little wheels off. It was reported that he requested any discussions about him by the school board take place in public which prevented them from discussing him in executive session. I'm not sure I knew that rule.
• And is there any question that the Texas Open Meeting law is violated every day?  Some city councils, commissioners, and school board members talk about the upcoming agenda all the time, right? 
• I'm not sure what David Spade was doing with the Cash Me Outside girl (and I'm not going to take the time to find out.)
  
• I keep waiting for the Texas housing market to crash -- and it will happen -- but this increase in prices over the last handful of years is unlike anything I've ever seen. 
• Fox 4 had a story of someone finding a dinosaur tracks in Springtown. Everyone was touching and rubbing them which seemed weird. 
  
• Balch Springs police officer Roy Abbott Oliver turned himself over the weekend on a murder warrant, and his book-in photo looks like he has had some sleepless nights. And I bet he has. 
  
• The Sally Yates testimony was action packed yesterday, and it was not a good day for the White House. On the evening shows, CNN, MSNBC and even the BBC led with it. Fox News led with Obama's speech from the weekend. 
• And the testimony freaked Trump out. He fired off seven tweets mentioning Yates and Russia, and even changed his Twitter banner (and then changed it back in the middle of the night.)
• I don't like it when we have a visiting judge because you never know what to expect. I don't know how criminal defense lawyers practice in unfamiliar courts. Knowing the ropes is more than half the battle. 

And Nice Exit

Guy crashes his car and awkwardly drives away from a car show from cringe

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The family of the girl murdered by the stalker at North Lake College wants the entire school  renamed to "Janeera Gonzalez College" in memory of her.  That's a bit much. 
• Good to see that Trump endorsed and pseudo-Nazi Marine Le Pen get crushed in the France presidential election. 
• Saw an ad in the Messenger this week asking "Want to make six figures?" It was for a "Flag [auto] technician." What is that? 
• Trump this weekend: 
  
  
  
  
• I'm not sure what possessed me to mention  Baylor receiver K.D. Cannon last week who went undrafted and was signed as a free agent by the 49ers.  This weekend, he was cut after a mini-camp. That's unheard of. 
• We almost had a sub two hour marathon this weekend. A guy missed it by 26 seconds.
• I fell asleep in a hammock this weekend. Then I fell out of it. That'll wake you up. 
• According to Monster.com, Granbury is at full employment: 
  
• "Jury awards woman a record-setting $110.5M in lawsuit alleging using Johnson & Johnson's baby powder caused cancer." Puuuuleeeze.
• Mrs. LL this weekend, "Stop planting stuff!"  Me: "I'm a landscaping genius." Her: "No you're not."
• Angry Pete Delkus from last year: 
  
• Freaky judge:
  
• Alvord ISD's bond proposal was rejected by a 404-116 margin. That is one big defeat.
• There was a bit of a controversy about local EMS purchasing ATV's (now on hold, by the way), but someone asked me about his belief that Runaway Bay PD bought a couple of wave runners for Lake Bridgeport several years ago.

Above The Fold

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

That positioning as he's headed into the water sells this one. 

Don't worry, kid. You'll get the hang of it when you're older.

I was wrong. 

 A dumpster and a catapult!

Cliff Notes: Marriage, divorce, and remarriage.

Doggie Sleeper Cell! And a cocky one at that. 

I Don't Care About The NBA . . .

Steph Curry had Rudy Gobert dancing... 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/bVtp8A7e5W

— TotalProSports (@TotalProSports) May 5, 2017

. . . but I like comedy.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• We might need some news coverage of what is going on in Venezuela:

• It was a dog and pony show yesterday in the House for Repeal and Replace, and I've never seen the Republicans go off so half-cocked on a bill. The Senate might just scrap the whole thing and start from scratch. And they are in no hurry. 

  

  Not an Old White Man Convention

• Decatur's water this morning is a light shade of brown. 
• As pointed out by several commentors yesterday, UT's Police Department has no proof that the Stabber was stopped by a concealed handgun license holder. Now that was truly fake news.
• One or more persons who serve on the Wise County Crime Stoppers committee invited me in the comments to come to their meetings. I don't want to. But you obviously have all the information about the fund. so tell us all: (1) How much money is in the account, (2) How much has it paid out over, say, the last five years, and (3) What is the audit process.
• The Dallas Morning News predicted Baylor will go 8-4 this fall. I suspect 6-6 is more likely. And I'll take it.  
• Trophy Club apartments yesterday off of 114: 
  
• ISIS is suggesting those sympathetic to their cause in America to use gun shows for easy access to weapons.  They've got that right. 
• "In November 2016, a clip from an episode of the 1950s western television series Trackdown was published to YouTube, along with the claim that it 'predicted Donald Trump' by featuring a snake oil salesman character named 'Trump' who claimed that only he could prevent the end of the world … by building a wall around the town." It really is funny. They refer to him as Mr. Trump and at one point Trump threatens to sue. 
• "And Another" from Indiana: 
• 
• Every time I hear about Mayfest I think about the 1995 hail storm which almost killed people. 
• Flashback in honor of Cinco De Mayo:

  

  He really said, "I love Hispanics!" while eating a Taco Bowl.

• Background anyone?:
  
• The Balch Springs cop who killed the black teenager was once suspended two days for his interaction with prosecutors and his courtroom testimony in a DWI case where he said on the stand, "I don't understand the f---ing question." Let me tell you, we have a full blown psycho with a God Complex on our hands.

No Violence But This Is A Little Crazy

If I understand this right, the guy is with his family and had purchased a ticket for his son. But then they decide to send the son on an earlier flight in order to free up the seat so they could put a car seat in it for their two year old.  (Some people just hold an infant in their laps.)  But Delta had overbooked the flight, and wanted to use that seat for someone else.  The guy says no because he paid for the seat.

It gets weird because the flight attendants say everything from (paraphrasing) "the two year old can't be in the seat because the seat must match the passenger manifest" to "you aren't allowed to have a two year old in a car seat."

So how did this get resolved? Give the family the option to just hold the two year old? Nope.  Delta kicked the whole family off the plane. And we have the extra bonus of, " “You and your wife will be in jail and your kids will be in foster care” along the way if they didn't comply.

Story.