Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• I the the "attack ad" on Angela (and Ken) Paxton by Phillip Huffines is pretty good -- at least as far as attack ads go.
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• Christmas Eve might not be an official holiday, but I think it is extremely underrated.
  
  
• Check out Birdville ISD's  "How Comfortable Am I" questionnaire for sixth graders. 
  
• The Olympic "medal count" should be broken down on a per capita basis to make it fair.
• Denton PD is doing bits this morning: 
  
• This is amazing: Trump's lawyer (who might be the worst lawyer in the country) said in a statement to the New York Times that he paid an adult film star linked to Trump $130,000 out of his own pocket. There is so much wrong with this: (1) He tacitly admits that Trump had an affair with her, (2) It's an illegal back door campaign contribution, and (3) He violated the attorney-client privilege if he consulted with Trump about it -- something he certainly did.
  
  
• The guy accused of killing the Richardson police officer has an oddly shaped head (and a history of mental problems.) 
  
• Twin Peaks Biker update: The DA has dismissed 13 cases (that had been pending almost three years), refused prosecution in eight others that had not been indicted, and recused his office in another. After the recusal, the Texas AG's office refused to take his place. What a disaster.
• The Denton County DA's office is getting sued again by one of its own prosecutors.
• I saw someone post a video of a basketball game in Paradise where there was quite the foul/take down (which I think wasn't called.) But now it's gone.
• If you look at the Fox 4 website and scroll down you can never get to the bottom. The site keeps loading click bait after click bait (all with headlines that don't obviously indicate they are all ads.) 
• The Southlake school board sure is leaving the high school football coach hanging.

I've Found A Good Ruskie

Meet curler Anastasia Bryzgalova.  And for you Russian hackers who undoubtedly have been spying on me for the last couple of years, that's Анастасия Брызгалова to you.

But keep her in your thoughts. She busted it today.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Former Cowboy and Baylor running back Lincoln Coleman has gone missing for the second time in a year. Edit: He's safe. He was in a homeless shelter. 
• This is real: 
  
• No question that he has never seen Blazing Saddles.
  
  
• Or met this guy:
  
• Johnny Football is on a redemption tour. I wish him well, but he'll never be on an NFL roster again. 
• Trump submitted a $4.4 trillion budget to Congress yesterday which would increase the national debt by $9.84 billion. Fortunately, Congress will ignore it. (And the budget needs a line item of "Cost to print budget.")
  
• Random Sports: Frank Reich has been named coach of the Indianapolis Colts. Most remember him as the QB of the Bills who brought the team back from a 35-3 deficit against the Oilers in a playoff game. But did you also know in college he came off the bench for Maryland when Miami had them down 31-0 and he led Maryland to a 42-40 win? 
• And another. (She's also the wife of a Texas high school athletic director and former Baylor player.)
  
• The painting of Obama was unveiled at the "National Portrait Gallery" yesterday. Is that where it will stay? Will there be a different one for the White House? 
• A Texas police department originally posted this with the phrase "Let the memes begin."
  
• The Fort Worth mayor was in Washington yesterday for Trump's announcement of his infrastructure "plan." Question: Who paid for her travel?

The Future Is Going To Be Weird

This is one of the most terrifying things I’ve seen in all my life pic.twitter.com/Yp9xlhdKC9

— Alan White (@aljwhite) February 12, 2018

Obama's Official Portrait Just Unveiled

Well, this is, uh, different.

This Did Stop Me Down A Little Last Night

Adam Rippon why would you say this to everyone watching around the world? Give me a Xanax and a drink 😮 What does everyone think about this rant? Rt answers if its ok or not ok. Thank you all for your honesty my peeps. Lil boys & girls looking up to you #representUSA #BeALeader pic.twitter.com/Z2O9YyBpLq

— Joe Mendez (@2jmen10) February 12, 2018

But it looks like Joe Mendez stopped down a little more.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The Nunes memo was released by Trump over the objection from the Justice Department and the FBI. The Democratic memo was withheld by Trump. Ok, got it. 
• Why does Trump enter into wars he doesn't need to? #MeToo
  
• Speaking of people who aren't very smart, the disgraced Fox News star, Bill O'Reilly, came to Trump's defense and immediately got smacked down by a former Fox News star.
  
• This is a little weird. Dan Patrick is donating money to Craig Estes opponent and already calling the opponent "Senator."
  
  
• I'll say it: The Winter Olympics are kind of boring.
• Castle Hills in Lewisville is building a community of rent houses. Check out the starting price: 
  
• A U.S. drone killed 11 in Pakistan. So as warfare evolves, does the the U.S. need to be paying over $100 million each for the F-35?
• Very random Walter Payton stat: He passed 34 times with 11 completions (with an average of 30 yards), a bizarre 8 of them went for touchdowns, and 6 were intercepted. 
• The Messenger listed the top romantic comedies. Glaring omissions: (About Last Night with a ridiculously young Rob Lowe and Demi Moore) and the very underrated Shop Girl: “How is it possible to miss a woman whom you kept at a distance, so that when she was gone you would not miss her?"
  
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• I'm going to go out of a limb and say, "Yes."
  
• Having a puppy is good in theory but a beating in practice.
• VP Pence didn't make contact with the sister of the North Korean leader during the opening ceremony.  But the fact that Pence had the father of the American who was tortured by North Korea by his side put him in a dicey situation. 

Above The Fold

Full page PDF.

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

"Ma'am, could I visit with you about Timothy Treadwell?"

Got a little wide there. Caution flag is now out.

Little Nancy apparently found the WWE channel.

When a failed bit turns out to be better than the actual bit.

Man, those carnival games overseas are tough!

And It Starts Off With The Worst Shooting Ever

Ladies and Gentlemen: the most maddening game of tic tac toe you will ever watch, set to the tune of Yakety Sax pic.twitter.com/tS8Z9FTv04

— NBC Sports Northwest (@NBCSNorthwest) February 9, 2018

This Flu Season Is Getting Weird

North Texas fitness trainer, 27, dies from flu https://t.co/pGwyo5lMNe pic.twitter.com/5f18KcK6oC

— FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) February 9, 2018

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Music Trivia: Who first made Muskrat Love popular? I was adamant at the courthouse yesterday that it was Captain and Tennille. Some guy put me in my place by shocking me with the correct answer: America.
• -1,033.16
• Kim Jong-un's sister will attend the Olympics as a representative of North Korea. She has served, and I am not making this up, as the head of their "Propaganda and Agitation Department."  That sounds like a cool job.
• Proof that I am a legal genius: I have been preaching this since the arrest and indictment of 154 bikers.
  
• Congress avoided a shutdown by agreeing to increase spending by $600 billion over the next two years. This is on top of the $1.5 trillion deficit hit caused by the tax bill. Let Fiscal Conservatism Reign! (Side note: How is a "last minute bill" over 600 pages long?)
• I don't know what "local" Wise County School district this is, but they are re-enforcing stereotypes. Boys can be president. Girls just need to be cute.
  
• The Navy Seal who shot Bin Laden doesn't think too much of Trump wanting a military parade.
  
• It was said time and time again yesterday that NFL QB Jimmy Garoppolo "is now the highest paid player in the NFL, in terms of average annual cash value," with a contract of $137.5 million over five years. That number is meaningless because he can be cut at any time. The key is the guaranteed money and, admittedly, his is nothing to sneeze at: $74 million. But compare Matt Stafford's contract of last year at 5 years for $125 million with $82 million guaranteed. 
• "Former independent counsel Ken Starr says in a new interview that if he were President Trump's attorney he would advise Trump about the risks he faces by possibly sitting down with Robert Mueller, the special counsel in charge of the Russia investigation." Ya think? You wouldn't just send him over to Mueller without talking to him? (Starr, who was a disaster as Bill Clinton's prosecutor and a disaster as president of Baylor, has never tried a case.) 
• I heard on the radio this morning that there will be a high school fishing tournament on Lake Texoma tomorrow. With that cold front coming in, can you imagine anything more miserable? Edit: There are a bunch of Decatur kids entered.

Speaking Of Basketball Fights

👀 pic.twitter.com/0DE0e8q2uY

— Šęth Âltømørę (@Sethy_Boyy) February 7, 2018

This is from Pennsylvania.

Edit: We have another one in Texas.

ICYMI, a fight on the court led to fans coming onto the court and spelled an early end to Tuesday's basketball game between Cole and Karnes City. The spat will go before the District 26-3A Executive Committee and UIL State Executive Committee. https://t.co/44EgjgSSar #txhshoops

— Adam Zuvanich (@AZuvanich) February 8, 2018

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• The Waco DA continues to back down. He has now dismissed one of the Twin Peaks cases and recused his office from another. And he indicated to a judge he intends to dismiss five other cases.  There is no way he survives the Republican primary next month, right? 
• Trump lost another "trusted advisor" yesterday as Rob Porter resigned after his two ex-wives came out with stories of abuse. He hires the best people.
• KXAS had a story last night regarding campaign signs on county property. They said it's OK in Tarrant County.  I had never thought about this. Is this a constitutional issue or just a policy of Tarrant County? What about Wise County? Could someone put up a huge sign on the property across from the sheriff's office that is owned by the county on 380? What about the courthouse lawn? 
• I'm now infatuated with FarmersOnly.Com. Those commercials are insane. It's a dating site for country people who just happen to be white. (I saw a commercial last night with five couples around a "bonfire". All were lilly white. Even a light skin Hispanic didn't couldn't make the cut.) 

  

  From another commercial

• I haven't heard much about former WFAA reporter Brett Shipp who is running for Congress as a Democrat in a crowded field. 
• Below was Trump late last year. Yesterday the FBI said, "To date none of the more than 650 interviews completed, locations searched, or evidence collected and analyzed have produced evidence that would support the existence of a scuffle, altercation, or attack.” But who cares about facts?
  
• I saw a note yesterday that Tech had the lowest ranked recruiting class of any Power 5 school. If that's true, Coach Bro should be on the shortest of leashes.
• I'm reading this and it is really interesting. Although long and detailed, it is a history lesson of how Americans uniquely want to believe the unbelievable (from dreams of a New World, to the Gold Rush, to crazy religious beliefs and sects, to snake oil salesman, to Houdini, to the occult, to aliens, to magical weight loss, to modern day "False Flags", etc.) 
  
• There was an earthquake in Taiwan this week and it gave rise to this lasting image:
  
  
• I think this is when I lost all interest in the Cowboys and the NFL: When free agency was created and Randall Cunningham, who spent 11 years in Philadelphia, came to Dallas in 2000. 
  
• Someone alerted me to some type of "business opportunity" going around Decatur. I think it was called "Pure" (I'm not sure), but I was a little concerned when a buddy showed me the company's web site which spent most of its time trying to convince the reader it is not a pyramid scheme. (Someone help me out on the company name and website.)

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

This one got corrupted. This is what it was or, more precisely,  what's left of it.

• A store in Decatur charging 50 cents to enter.
• Waze and NYPD. 
• Attorney suspended. https://twitter.com/associatesmind/status/1093156025576894464
• Hypothetical on the radio yesterday: Would you exchange $1 billion for your sense of taste? That's a no brainer. I'd do it for a million. 
• https://twitter.com/shaunking/status/1092998198757638144 A link about the lady put in prison for illegal voting. 
• https://www.versustexas.com/criminal/tarrant-county-criminal-cases/  A link containing the analysis of prosecutions in Tarrant County.
• https://www.dallasnews.com/news/haltom-city/2019/02/05/amtrak-train-kills-pedestrian-trinity-railway-express-tracks-haltom-city A link of a talk show host who was killed by a train. 
• The Tarrant County District Clerk's office is imaging old records and last week found Clyde Barrow's indictment for murder of a Southlake officer (which was later dismissed because "Defendant deceased.")
  
• Bob Stoops and the XFL
• Kicker Matt Bryant was cut and was a Cowboy for two weeks over a decade ago
• North Carolina reporter: " Randomly flipped through the 1979 UNC-Chapel Hill yearbook today just to kill some time, and found this photo on one of the fraternities' pages. Holy [crap]."
  
• A worker dangling in Sundance Square after an accident. 
• Some other stuff I can't remember