Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Kids, no way. Firefighters? That bugs me, too. But I can't come up with a reason to ban them from public medians. (Assuming they aren't in the actual "middle" of an intersection.)
• 
• Wise County felony court numbers (the red dots) over last 18 months. (Those are official State stats, but I have my doubts. For example, that fourth "0" in the last column belongs to Williamson County with a population of a half a million. Nevertheless, those Wise County numbers seem about right.): 
  
• The report also lists Wise County's 2015 population as 62,953 which also seems correct.
• Flashback: MTV News reports on the Texxas Jam at the Cotton Bowl.  
• Did you see the fight in New York City where one guy pulls out a machete? How about the guy shooting out the tires of an ATT truck for parking in front of his house? How about the plane landing on a Long Island highway before he got to a bridge?
• The goofiest Texas politician managed to pose for a goofy photo last night: 
  
• The City of Dallas now has a female and African American police chief, and Dallas County has a female and African American D.A. as well as a Hispanic, female, and openly gay Sheriff. 
• And another (Georgia)
  
• Trump news: (1) Everyone will be reminded today what he said about war hero John McCain (2) For some reason Trump gave a rambling, and at times incomprehensible , interview to the New York Times, (3) He remarkably said that he wouldn't have hired AG Sessions if he knew he would recuse himself and hire a special counsel for the Russia Investigation, (3A) He thinks a 21 year old can get health insurance for $12 a year, (4) The Senate Judiciary Committee wants Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort to testify before them next week, and (5) They want Jr. to bring a ton of documents and items including those related to the Ritz Carlton Moscow Hotel. Oh, my.
• Prosper ISD is going to build a $48 million football stadium? Prosper!?
• Jason Garrett is tone deaf.
  
  
• So the Dallas police have suspended the investigation into Zeke. Serious question: When is the last time you ever heard of a police agency suspending an investigation? I've heard of suspending a search but never an investigation.  It's normally, "We will continue to pursue every lead."
• You boys have a right to be angry:
  
  
• Why do cops steal so many traffic signs?
  
• There's a lot of freaking out about HBO announcing a series where slavery still exists in the South and America is headed to a civil war. Heck, has no one has seen Man In The High Castle? It's about America losing World War II -- Germany controls the east coast and Japan controls the west coast. 
• It's "Dollar Day" at the Dallas Zoo. Who knew a heat stroke could be so cheap?

Oh, My!

#BREAKING: Several boats are on fire after a reported explosion on Lake Texoma https://t.co/4pQYl285lj pic.twitter.com/n1L0mOnMsv

— NBC DFW (@NBCDFW) July 19, 2017

The Party Of Small Government

JUST IN: DOJ new asset forfeiture policy - police can seize property from people not charged w/crime even in states where it's been banned. pic.twitter.com/P8K0g80m4E

— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCBS) July 19, 2017

(h/t)

Texas State Senator, an extreme conservative, is not pleased:

.@KonniBurton says she's "extremely disappointed" in Jeff Sessions' expanded civil asset forfeiture policy. #txlege pic.twitter.com/jSm6O8hBWH

— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) July 19, 2017

Check Out The Song In The Background -- Subtle Humor

Link

I didn't know Channel 33 had such a tricked up newscast.

(Credit: A friend who wouldn't want me to name him/her.)

Above The Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• "Meet a new breed of prosecutor." "From Texas to Florida to Illinois, many of these young prosecutors are eschewing the death penalty, talking rehabilitation as much as punishment, and often refusing to charge people for minor offenses. While their numbers are small, they are taking over DA offices at a crucial moment." (In other news, a Harris County prosecutor was disciplined for "inappropriate comments" to female prosecutors.)
• 
• Lockheed Martin had a job fair yesterday in Fort Worth and made 600 job offers "on the spot." That vetting process seems a little thin. 
• Let me limit my daily Trump rant to three things. Yesterday, (1) We learned that the eighth person in the room for the Trump Jr. meeting, which Jr. didn't mention in his effort at complete transparency, was a Russian real estate company employee, (2) The White House named an ambassador to Russia and misspelled his name in a press release, and (3) Trump had a second undisclosed meeting with Putin at the G-20. He went into damage control last night although it sounds like he is admitting to the meeting. 
  
• But I will point out that Sean Hannity was all over Trump last night as he was covering all of the day's developments:
  
• Baylor and Texas have lost an unusual amount of football players to "retirement" due to "medical issues" during the off season.  That's an ominous sign for the future of college football. Too big. Too fast.
• I'm still trying to figure out how a former Australian was killed by police when she is the one who called them.
  
• A nightclub fight, a kidnapped dog, and a shirtless race at a strip club was enough to get Jerry Jones in front of the cameras yesterday. And, man, the cameras showed up. (Oh, and don't worry about Zeke. Jerry says he's "evolving.")

  

  "Oh, and Decatur High won't pay me $12,500 so
  I'm kicking them out of The Star for their September game."

• I don't know why I laugh every time I think about a nightclub named "Clutch." 
• The church that burned in Chico has given rise to a gofundme page where they are asking for $50,000.
• This is a lawyer speaking at a luncheon/seminar in Fort Worth about what can be learned from Tiger Woods' DWI arrest. I'm fascinated by no one paying attention. I'm fascinated by the sunglasses.
  
• 30 for 30 will release its doc on the 1988 Dallas Carter High Cowboys on August 24th. I'm beyond excited about that one. 
• The failed Obamacare repeal and replace had some Congressmen skittish yesterday:
  
• I'm insane now: 
  
• Odd story: A Dallas doctor gets charged for allegedly over-prescribing opiates and running a "pill mill" leading to the death of seven people. Now his 17 year old stepdaughter has been found dead and dismembered in a pond.

Gender Reveal Gone Wrong

I think the concept is that you've got a ball with either pink or blue "dust" and the guy smashes it causing the big reveal.

He smashed it alright.

And anyone else think there might be a future problem with that relationship?

Current Dallas Cowboy and Former Baylor Bear

NFL's Terrance Williams Challenged to Foot Race Outside Dallas Strip Club https://t.co/vOLVFUUDsN

— TMZ (@TMZ) July 18, 2017

And there's something about the race occurring at 5:00 a.m. on Monday in Dallas which makes it extra special. (For the record, Williams said the race was at 3:00 a.m. and not 5:00 a.m. and, therefore, called it a "fake story.")

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• "Repeal and Replace" Obamacare is dead once again.  The Republican have the House. They have the Senate. And they have the Presidency. Yet, it's over. So much winning.
  
  
• Oh, my!
  
• There was a really wild story about a medical school dean at USC. He was full throttle. But I bet that happens far more than anyone is willing to admit. This is the "young companion" - not the dean.
  
  
• A gal who just happens to be transgendered managed to get a photo with Greg Abbott. (He didn't know.)
  
  
• If you don't watch Game of Thrones, skip this. If you do, it'll take you a second to recognize her: 
  
• The Balch Springs ex-cop was indicted yesterday for killing the young black kid. But I don't think the  Dallas D.A. knows what it is like to be D.A. You don't make guarantees:
  
  
• As far as the top three are concerned, most Texas prosecutors would call it theft.
  
  
• Heck of a day for the Cowboys: Zeke allegedly punched "DJ Dtrain" and Lucky Whitehead's dog was held by "Boogotti Kasino".  Edit: If you want to see the crazy Boogotti video wanting $20,000 for the dog, it is here. And I've issued language warnings before, but now I'm issuing a triple not double fake language warning. 
  
• What does this mean?:
  
  
• The Ticket has spent several segments spending the entire time promoting various HBO shows without one word of criticism. These are ads. (You really believe both The Hardline and The Musers think the documentary The Defiant Ones is worthy of a full segment?)
• Fox and Friends came to the defense of Ann Coulter this morning:
  
• I got this promotion yesterday in my Twitter timeline. Yep. Their super-computing-demographic-profiling-ad-targeting technology just proved I'm a little hipper than some of you boys believe.
  
  
• Those Whataburger commercials where people recount how they did anything and everything to get to Whataburger makes me very sad for them (if they were real.) And I like Whataburger.
• This is from Fox News. May I remind you Trump won Wise County with 83.8% of the vote.: 
  
• The Iran nuclear problem has suddenly been solved: 
  
• Here's the link to the college debt story referenced on the front page of the Morning News (below). It's entitled, "As Paperwork Goes Missing, Private Student Loan Debts May Be Wiped Away."
• It's Decatur Church vs. Oilfield Operating Company in the first paragraph of the Update. That caused me to think of "prescriptive easement" for the first time in 30 years. 

                              

When You Can Have A Life Sized Tonka Set Delivered To Your Home

The potential photo ops are mind-boggling. The last time:

Edit/Update: It begins.

Edit: And the press secretary thought it would be a good idea as he takes pics with his phone. Trump can't help himself. He's a man-child who got giddy about a fire truck.

President Trump in fire truck.
Reflection of Press Secretary Sean Spicer #caughtgrammin'. pic.twitter.com/klwNZaEiNY

— CSPAN (@cspan) July 17, 2017

Edit: Oh, no, he didn't!!!!

Edit: Wait a second. Who paid for this? You or Lockheed Martin?

Who paid for the Marine One flight to the South Lawn for the WH photo op? pic.twitter.com/TiQpWYtEBn

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) July 17, 2017

Get Me This Dog!

Trump Tweets Mid-Morning! Conservatives Respond!

Edit: Some of you don't think Bill Kristol is a conservative? The founder and editor of The Weekly Standard is not a conservative? Do you not know his background?

Someone Kidnapped A Cowboy's Dog? (Lucky Whitehead's)

.@dallascowboys @ninjafast22 says his dog has been stolen is being held for ransom. @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/idk62peyeE

— Pat Doney (@PatDoneyNBC5) July 17, 2017

Above The Fold

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Breaking news about the dumbest Cowboy there is. Allegations are he punched a bouncer at the club Clutch: 

  

  "Who, me?"

• One TCU student and a recent graduate of Missouri were killed on Lake Palo Pinto over the weekend in a Jet Ski accident. (Sounds like it was in the middle of the night.)
• If you didn't see Ann Coulter throwing a Twitter hissy fit because she didn't get her assigned seat on a Delta flight, you should. By last count, she fired off 19 tweets because she was so upset (including one of a picture of the person who ended up in "her" seat and saying she had "dachshund legs.") It took a great turn when Delta responded to her letting her know that they would refund her $30. 
  
  
• There's one Dennis Prager fan out there, and the rest of you don't know who he is. I've been dogging Prager for years because he's a simpleton, and he didn't disappoint this weekend: 
  
• The only person dumber than Trump may be his lawyers,  After one goes on a profane filled email rant, another one, Jay Sekulow, was on ABC News' This Week and said this about the Trump Jr. meeting with the Russian lawyer: “If this was nefarious, why’d the Secret Service allow these people in? The president had Secret Service protection at that point. That raised a question with me.” The Secret Service immediately fired back and called him a liar. 
• Gordon Keith of The Ticket made a great point about Trump this morning: "He's the most American president we've ever had. He acts like us."
• Fox News' Shepard Smith to Fox News' Chris Wallace about the Trump Administration: "The deception, Chris, is mind-boggling . . . . why are we getting told all these lies?" Wallace: "I don't know what to say."
• Mrs. LL threw out chicken feed this weekend. Then we had two gangs of geese show up for a fight for it It wasn't pretty.:
  
• Lockheed Martin will hire 1,800 more workers for the F-35 (which price just increased). Hot opinion: In this day of drone warfare, do we need the F-35? 
• Mrs. LL and I went to Top Golf on Friday. Two thoughts: (1) It was an absolute scene and a blast, and (2) Their overhead has to be insane. And Mrs. LL, who has never swung a golf club, was really, really good. For any of you married guys, can you imagine giving golfing lessons (head still, left arm straight, transfer your weight, bend at the knees, this is how you grip it, relax) and your wife listening? She did. I kept waiting for the, "I'll do it if you'll stop talking."
• Who wears it better: North Korean generals or Sheriff David Clarke?: 
  
• Former Longhorn D'Onta Foreman was arrested for allegedly possessing weed and a gun. If the facts are what his lawyer says, he's home free. (And that's a very smart lawyer.) Question: How many Texans are possessing a handgun and/or weed at this moment?
• Shout out to the commentor who picked up my Pulp Fiction joke last week. (It was in my Blue Apron bullet point.)
• A church in Chico burned down. The pastor says they need stuff: 
  
• Is there any more meaningless stat for a pitcher that won/loss records? I.e. Nolan Ryan and Yu Darvish. 
• The eldest Bush's letter to W. I miss them both.