Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• There is a "person of interest" in the shooting death of the Houston doctor who treated George H.W. Bush. Let me correct that: The Chief of Police said, "We believe that this man is absolutely the killer." He better be right. 
• I don't know the kid, but Decatur's star athlete has decided to sit out this Fall's football season where he played QB last year at a very high level (3,887 yards and 37 touchdowns.) He'll play baseball for Oklahoma State next year. Probably a smart decision in the grand scheme of things, but you don't see this very often.
• Trump will do another campaign rally tonight (at your expense), but he is up this morning with his same old tired bit as the walls are caving in on him. This is not normal. 
  
• Fun fact: Justice Scalia actually smoked a pipe during his confirmation hearings. (You can see the smoke.)
  
• If you listen to the Ticket, you have been beaten down with Reagor Dykes commercials where Dykes comes across as the ultimate stereotypical "car salesman." Perhaps the listeners' prayers have been answered:
  
  
• Someone is stealing my bit! (h/t to faithful reader in Houston.)
  
  
• This is a great photo out of Austin:
  
• Legal nerd stuff: I've been involved in many, many jury selections, and I thought you had to speak English to be qualified to serve of a jury. My quick research this morning is a little stunning: You have to be able to "read and write" to be qualified but it doesn't say "in English." (Texas Code of Criminal Procedure 35.16(a)(11)). However, it is an Exemption if there is an "inability to comprehend or communicate in the English language that makes it impossible or very difficult for the person to serve on a jury." Texas Government Code 62.109. This is important: An exemption must be "claimed" by the juror. It is not an automatic disqualification. (And to "claim" that exemption there is the ridiculous requirement that he must file an affidavit sworn to before the district clerk.) For that Austin case above, it looks like the jury had already been empaneled and sworn when the guy brought the English problem to the judge's attention. Legal issue: Can a juror claim an exemption after being placed on a jury? The judge above seems to think so. I don't know if that is correct.
• We live in a new world when the head coach of Ohio State can be taken down within 12 hours of a Facebook report (by a laid off ESPN reporter) of not disclosing domestic abuse by one of his assistants. Urban Meyer is on paid administrative leave but it doesn't look good for him. But this old Nike T-shirt probably sold out in Michigan. 
  
• These articles always drive me crazy. Seceding is a dumb and ridiculous idea, but Texas has the absolute right to do it. It's called a civil war where one territory decides to break away. To believe otherwise is also to believe Lincoln could have ended the Civil War by telling the South, "Hey, you can't legally leave the Union! Stop it!"
  
• Talk radio fans my age could not avoid Art Bell back in the day. He was a conspiracy theorist who let his callers identify themselves, for safety purposes, as being from the West or East of the Rockies. For callers who were really paranoid and didn't want to be that specific, they could call in on "the wildcard line." (Funny bit.) Bell died in April and yesterday it was revealed it was due to a prescription overdose. Or so they say.
  
• Trump has been beaten up online for saying in Florida two days ago, in support of voter I.D. laws, that you even have to show a picture I.D. "if you go out and you want to buy groceries." 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• If these are Zebra Mussels, I'd like to exclusively report and present this photo I took proving Lake Bridgeport is currently being invaded. (They are about nickle size.)
  
  
  
• Messenger: Above the Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• That parking garage collapse in Irving (especially the second one caught on video) was insane. The rest of the cars in that thing are probably goners, because I don't know how you risk getting them out. If I'm the insurance company, just bite the bullet and write a check for the fair market value of the cars plus the loss of use and thank your lucky stars no one was hurt or killed.
• I'm assuming this is the new floor for basketball at TCU for the upcoming season. That's a little bizarre.
  
• Dad and mom(?), stepmom(?), sister(?) embarrass a kid at a ballgame. She's giving it the proverbial "what for".  Worth a watch.
  
• Here's an update from yesterday on the Change of Venue motion: I was right. 
  
• Update from yesterday on 3D guns:  (1) A judge stopped the distribution of the plans for the AR-15 type gun but it is practically too late. Once it is out there it's out there forever, and (2) Trump, your administration agreed to this! And why do you have to check with the NRA for marching orders!? 
  
• Seriously, Pete, how many people do you think called someone at 7:30 a.m. and asked, "You want to carpool today?"
  
• Random Big 12 thought: I don't know where to place West Virginia which has the best QB and WR in the conference. I've seen them projected as a Top 10 team behind OU, and I saw yesterday that a sport betting site places them behind OU, Texas and TCU.
• Other sports thought: All the sports talk radio shows are in Oxnard for Cowboys training camp. Do you think we want to hear countless interviews with players who never say anything of substance?
• Trump had a campaign rally in Florida last night, and this guy's observation is spot on.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I'm insane now. List of figures from left to right: Nikki Haley, James Mattis, Ben Carson, Trump, Jeff Sessions, Mike Pence, Melania Trump, Mike Pompeo, Sarah Sanders, Ivanka Trump, John Bolton, Kellyanne Conway, John Kelly.
  
• The Manafort trial began yesterday. The most impressive thing to me was in Day #1 they completed voir dire, opening statements, and got to the first witness. Federal courts don't mess around. (Speed is not a good thing sometimes.)
• Wait a second! That guy is an Aggie? 
  
• Worth a read by the great Skip Hollandsworth in this month's Texas Monthly: 
  
• This morning, Trump approved of the Florida crowd chanting "CNN sucks" last night and, shockingly, said AG Sessions "should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now . . . ."
• Messenger: Above The Fold [not available at the as of 8:31 a.m.]

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Fox 4's Mike Doocy cancelling an interview with Jerry Jones because Jones would not talk about the anthem controversy seems like the biggest non-story of training camp. 
• Jerry Jones seems to be getting angrier and angrier as time goes by. We all wondered when he would turn in to Al Davis and it might be happening right now. 

  

  Toe on the line, and cap on the head.

• The number of times Trump has tweeted the words "witch hunt."
  
  
• This motion will be denied if (1) the judge knows what he is doing, and (2) the State was smart enough to know the law that they have to file counter-affidavits. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 31.04. 
  
• Things I simply do not understand: 
  
• This 3D Printable Gun issue gives me Legal Tired Head. A guy comes up with a way to create a printable gun (you have to buy a couple of metal parts), and wants to upload the plans to the Internet. He and President Obama's State Department get into a fight as to whether that's legal. And this is important: The government won at the Fifth Circuit in late 2016 declaring that the practice would be a crime. (Opinion here.) But the Trump Administration came in a couple of months back and said, "That's fine, go ahead and upload the plans." Now everyone is freaking out. The legal issues seem endless: (1) Can the parties simply ignore the Fifth Circuit opinion which, if not overturned, should be the law of the land? Was the appeal still pending or the judgment final? Does that matter? (2) Does anyone else have standing to sue the federal government and the 3D company alleging the practice is unlawful and cite the Fifth Circuit opinion as authority? (For a deep dive, this is a good article.) And if that gun works (it does), the availability of the plans to make it has world wide implications. 
  
• "So sad" this morning:
  
• Funny: Trust me.  
• A small Texas town's ISD voted last night to go to six-man football down from twelve-man eleven-man. Someone posed a concern which might either be ridiculous or spot on.
  
• Everyone thought Rudy Giuliani was crazy yesterday when he said he didn't even know if collusion was a crime. Now this morning Trump shockingly begins to float out that alternative defense as well. This is insane.
  
• What's the old legal defense logic chain? "My client's dog did not bite you. If he did bite you, it didn't hurt. If the dog did bit you and it hurt, my client did not know his dog was dangerous." And if all that fails you default to: "My client doesn't even own a dog."
• There are bandits everywhere: So the FBI raids Michael Cohen's office and a federal judge appoints a private law firm to review all the documents to give an opinion as to which documents are privileged and which ones are not. The bill? $368,081.56.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The temperature was great this morning in Decatur, but the rain went heavy to northeast and heavy to the southwest.
  
• North Richland Hills P.D. now has a sniper. The chances of any police department ever needing a "sniper" is basically never. And the odds of NRH needing one is less than that. 
• Fishing talk: A buddy told me there are now trolling motors with GPS capabilities. You can basically put in the coordinates for a shore line and have it run itself. Kind of takes the sport out of it, doesn't it? (I found that Minn Kota sells one for $2,300.)
• Trump went on a Twitter rant on Sunday after he got through playing golf over the weekend. He fired off ten of them. The only one I'll mention is that the guy who promised you that he would build a wall that Mexico would pay for said he would shut down the government if the the American taxpayer didn't foot the bill.
• If I'm the U.S., I check the remains of servicemen brought back from N. Korea to see if they are real. "Remains that were returned in the past from North Korea were found to be mixed with those of unidentified individuals and even with animal bones."
• Six Feet Under was a great show that very few people seemed to have watched.
• A great moment on Friday when Trump Jr. (in the aqua shirt and camouflaged hat) and Special Counsel Robert Mueller (far left) were at the same airport gate in D.C.  That's a secret service agent behind Junior.
  
  
• This is where Junior he was headed: A fishing outing with the fired Fox News gal who has found her own scandal. 

  

  Posted by Junior.



Also by Junior.

• You know Ted Cruz is concerned when his campaign resorts to a staged "haircut" in Dallas as he answers questions. What a common man.
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• The Waco Biker Trials are now really heating up with a trial date for September 10th and . . . it has been continued. 
• My scam alert is going off:
  
• "Let me just chase down that soccer ball while the other player is contemplating kicking it back upfield . . . and I'M DEAD!"
• Messenger: Above The Fold

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

"Kids, momma is coming. Here's the story. Pay attention."

"I got wet for this? What kind of sorcery have I been exposed to?"

 This is old, but I'll never understand how the goofy mascot stayed on his feet.

 I don't know what is going on, yet I approve.

 I don't feel bad for the payoff.

All I can hear is Curly's frustrated voice from the Three Stooges.