Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Odd thing that happened to me when I walked into the courthouse on Monday: I was asked my opinion about the segment of "Second Date Update" on KSCS where the guy took a first date to a strip club for dinner since he was a VIP member. (I haven't listened to KSCS in years but the podcast of that segment is here.) I haven't listened, but transparently the guy thought it would be funny to do a bit since his date was a former stripper.  Being an expert on bits and relationships (but, of course, not strip clubs), I'm still forming an opinion. 
• This interactive map is fascinating. The New York Times breaks down in incredible detail the red and blue areas across the country based upon the 2016 presidential election. It looks like the most liberal area in Wise County is the Lake Bridgeport area where only 77% went for Trump.

  

  Nationwide

  

  Decatur (with the cursor hovering over Lake Bridgeport)

• I'm not sure about that cross with upside down flags draped over it that Sheriff Joe is sporting.
  
  
• The "State of the Team" by Jerry Jones was uneventful yesterday other than he said the organization will support the Flag and Papa John's.
• Prediction: Sean Lee will get hurt and miss a significant amount of time. 
• It looks like the "red flag laws" -- proposals in Texas to keep guns out of the hands of people who are dangerous and give indications of "red flags" about it -- are going no where. And I agree. There is no way you can craft a law which sets a standard of "he shouldn't own a gun." Heck, I know dozens of people I think shouldn't own a gun. 
• Legal nerd stuff: Texas' highest criminal court will decide if the state's Revenge Porn law, which a lower court struck down, violates the constitutional right to Free Speech. (The winning brief is here.) It's a great question as I've mentioned before. You say something to someone else, they can repeat it. You write a letter to someone, they can share it. It you send a scantily clad photo of yourself to them, why can they distribute it? 
• Just the other day I said we have heard nothing from the Maverick's new PR person who was brought in with pomp and circumstances to rid the Mavs of inappropriate workplace sexual practices. Well, she stepped in it. For some reason she managed to get involved in an area unrelated to her job and piss off the the Dallas PD.
  
• I watched the first episode of Sharp Objects on HBO with Amy Adams. Verdict: Dark, a little slow, but majestically filmed. And it left me wanting Episode Two. (I think I have a thing for Amy Adams.) 
  
• Newsweek cover 45 years ago:
  
• Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was destroyed yesterday. There is something poetic about his star being next to that of Kevin Spacey (which remains untouched.) 
  
  
  
  
• Nutcase Alex Jones is having some of his videos banned by Youtube. That's fine. A private company can ban whoever they wish. 
• Trump doesn't understand the relationship between a private company and the First Amendment. "Shadow banning", even if true, is not illegal by any stretch of the imagination. 
  
• On the other hand, you should be extremely disturbed by the White House banning a CNN reporter yesterday for asking tough questions about Trump trying to silence the Playboy model he "allegedly" had an affair with. It is the job of the press to ask tough questions -- especially tough questions directed towards the government. 
  
• No one hates Baylor more than the Star-Telegram's Mac Engel. But that is his right . . . 

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Dude, (1) Putin said in front of you and the world last week that he wanted you to win, (2) Then you invited him to the White House!, and (3) You've denied the existence of any meddling before:
• 
• And maybe the scariest thing Trump has ever said occurred yesterday in Kansas City in front of VFW assembly. We have entered into the 1984 playbook: 
  
• And shout out to the VFW national office which was offended by Trump's "Fake News" rant causing some sheeple vets to get into the act: 
  
• The Rangers turned in a laughable performance last night. The box score is all you need to know: 
  
• I mentioned on Monday that the Sweetie Pie's sign indicating there was no waiting was gone. Well, it's back. They must now take it inside at night. 
• As a music and marriage expert, let me fix this list. The only ones that should be on there are: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9b, 12, 13b, 13c, 13d, 13e, 13g, 22b, and the (not listed) Margaritteville. 
  
• Hey, while you weren't paying attention, Trump gave a $12 billion bailout to farmers who are financially strapped because of Trump's tariff policies. (And don't worry about that "appropriations" thing in the Constitution.)
• The Evil Empire has new uniforms designed by Nike for the upcoming season. Some of the Orange Bloods are concerned about the color of the "burnt" orange. (That kind of looks like Tennessee.) 

• 

  Old vs. New

• Nerdy legal stuff: The Ninth Circuit is issuing decisions on a 2-1 vote when one of the 2 in the majority died four months before they released the opinion. 
• Ol' Borat is single-handedly draining the right wing swamp.
  
• Oh, my:
  
• More proof that the NFL Player's union is weak. #1 Pick Baker Mayfield signed a deal yesterday for a guaranteed $34 million. Eight years ago, #1 pick Sam Bradford (same position, same school) got a deal guaranteeing $50 million with a chance to make $28 million more if played for the life of his contract. 
• What percentage of the American population asked, "Who is Demi Lovato?" yesterday?
• Why every major newspaper's web site is a design disaster is one of tech's great mysteries. Pop up ads, video playing randomly, the same headline repeated four times, ads ad nauseam, slow loading, drop down lists that aren't obviously drop down lists, news stories in video instead of text, and not being able to find a story that you know the publication has put out. 
• Messenger: Above The Fold

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Why did it take so long for Fox News to can Kimberly Guilfoyle who is dating Donald Trump Jr.?
• The Dallas Morning News had an article about people who go to the stop of skyscrapers and stand on the edge. Moronic. 
  
• A Carrollton lawn company made the Drudge Report. (The owner says it is an "old" card.)
  
  
• That's one serious fire. (But my radar goes off every time that happens to a closed restaurant.)
  
  
• Cowboys training camp starts this week and currently on the roster is former Baylor receiver K.D. Cannon -- a guy who managed to get released by three different teams last year without ever playing a down. He posted this a couple of days ago. 
  
• Speaking of Cowboys' camp, hasn't Jerry Jones been incredibly out-of-sight this summer? Have I just missed him? Or is it possible his health and energy isn't what it used to be?
• Paul McCartney walked across the Abbey Road crosswalk yesterday (photos and instagram video in the link). That almost gives me chills. 
• A couple takes $77,000 through DFW Airport and the FBI seizes it. (The Feds claimed the bag smelled of marijuana which, even if true, is the flimsiest of excuses to take the money.)
• Uh, because even Texas respected the right to bail so much that they put it in the Texas Constitution? (Don't worry, the DA's office is already trying to get a judge to, for all intents and purposes, make the guy pay more to a bonding company.)
  
• It hit 114 in Waco yesterday -- an all time record.
• I'm more interested in the story about ties than Stormy's divorce . . .

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Trump lost his mind again last night by threatening another country on Twitter. (But the last time he threatened someone with "fire and fury" they became BFFs.)
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• And the rest of his tweeting was just as crazy (since Friday he is up to 21 as of this writing). He went with the "witch hunt" narrative over a half dozen times, attacked the FBI and Justice Department, signed one tweet "your favorite president", and went back to calling the Russian meddling a "big hoax."
• Uh, people who aren't very smart and people who don't have a choice?
  
• Sports: (1) A New York Met was placed on the DL with "hand, foot and mouth" disease, (2) An evil and/or oblivious guy steals a foul ball from a kid and soon will become infamous (or maybe not), (3) There's something about Jordan Spieth that makes me not like him, (4) I didn't realize that three Wise County high school football teams made the playoffs last year with three total wins or less.
• The Messenger has a Wise County "history" page every weekend. From it, I learned this movie was playing in Decatur 50 years ago this week. A quick glance showed there was some crazy and cheezy movies which came out in the late '60s. 
  
• Trump's Supreme Court nominee once stressed at a round table discussion that United States vs. Nixon, the case requiring the soon to resign president to turn over his Oval Office audio recordings, may have been "erroneously" decided. It was an 8-0 decision. The nomination now makes sense.
  
• I don't know why I'm fascinated by this dinner photo randomly taken during the high school coach's clinic going on in Houston. Maybe it's the photo on the wall tying the whole thing together. 
  
• It was awful that a Dallas cop was killed during a funeral procession on Saturday. But minor side note: The Chief of Police said the person who ran into him was arrested on "suspicion of DWI". She, of all people, should know no one is arrested on simply a "suspicion."
  
• FBC Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress, in one of his many Fox News appearances instead of preparing for sermons or attending to his flock, said over the weekend that he supports Trump just like he supported Reagan who was a "womanizer" as well.
• Kudos to Lone Star Park for shutting down the races over the weekend in order to protect the horses. 
• And Trump does weird things -- like deleting the Tweet from Saturday night. Why?: 
  
• Sweetie Pie's restaurant on the square in Decatur had put up a hanging sign that said there was never any waiting for a table. I thought that was odd because (1) it seemed to be a promise that would be hard to keep or (2) a very odd selling point if it were true. It's now gone. 
• Messenger: Above The Fold.

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

 That went from "pretty smooth" to "pretty painful" very quickly.

 Get me this dog!

 If you didn't have a glove made for catching a basketball, 

you probably could have made that catch.

 A metaphor for life.

 New sport idea: Keep the hair entangled and carry on. 

 Sir!

And to think I've been doing all sorts of liver experiments to 

simply catch catfish.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• More proof the Texas criminal justice system is screwed up (and Williamson County in particular): The County Judge has been criminally charged with Official Oppression after telling the Sheriff to stop tweeting. I've preached for years that just because something is technically a crime doesn't make it practically a crime. 
•  This question was in the Star-Telegram yesterday in Texas Gardening Guru Neil Sperry's column: “Why is my St. Augustine burning up? I’m watering it a couple of time weekly, but it’s just getter browner.”  His answer: "You’ve described classic symptoms of chinch bugs, and this looks to be a record year for the little pests . . . . " Far be it for me to question the expert, but I think the sun and drought probably has more to do with it. 
• The Drudge Report was basically tweeting out porn yesterday.  
• That Russian spy got around. She is seen here with Rick Santorum when he was a presidential candidate.
  
• I've mentioned that for decades I have a dream with the same theme: I'm in school (high school, college, or law), and I find myself on an unfamiliar campus trying to find my classes and learning it is near the end of a semester with finals coming up. Last night, I stumbled upon a Twitter thread where hundreds of people chimed in to say they suffer from the same dream. 
• Fort Worth PD is being very quiet about this bank robbery where shots were fired and bank employees were hit. (No money was taken - something very rare. The fact that people were injured - more rare.)
  
  
• I had a feeling this case would not end well. Mental health is a major issue. (If you want to do some morbid research, take a look at the website of the medical examiner's office for Tarrant County and see how many times "Suicide" is listed as the cause of death.)
  
• This was an incredible moment yesterday. And I bet the Toddler In Chief is going to be livid.
  
• Look at the bizarre "Bomb Squad" entry in today's Update. I have so many questions.
  
• I find this pretty shocking: Despite the population of Texas booming, misdemeanor DWI cases filed in Texas courts have basically been cut in half since 1985. (Source at p. 137)
  
• But misdemeanor drug cases (basically marijuana and prescription medication possessed without a prescription) have skyrocketed. 
  
  
  
• I saw this stat in the same document: The number of criminal cases for violations of the traffic laws of the State of Texas for the fiscal year 2016 was 2,050,299.
• Yet another case where the State couldn't prove "reckless":