Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Drive in on 287 from Decatur to Fort Worth and right before you get to I-35 you'll see a left lane exit to get on an tollway.  The sign that goes across the roadway to notify you has three license plate scanners for the three lanes that go underneath it. The two right-most lanes are simply going onto the "regular" I-35 where you don't have to pay toll. Why does TxDot have those readers for those two lanes? 
• A Texas state senator, Don Huffines, went to Russia to warn the Russians not to meddle in our elections. I bet that scared them. (Any maybe he tried to put them in an American made car from his family's dealership.) 
  
• Our governor just made up a quote in the middle of the night. Churchill never said such a thing.: 
  
• Speaking of Abbott, I was excited when I heard he would announce a proposal for "bail bond reform" today in Waco. The current trend is to eliminate discrimination against the poor in the bail bond system where indigent folks stay in jail pending trial simply because they don't have the money to get out. Alas, Abbott intends to make it harder to make bail in some cases. 
  
• That Paul Manafort trial might be taking a wrong term. The prosecutor and the judge have been getting into it in front of the jury and there is no better way to turn off a jury than for a judge to give the impression he is not neutral. 
• Notice to the ladies working the counter out at the DPS office in Decatur: 
  
• A graduating Aggie decided to do a bit. I just wished they played the Florida Gators this Fall so we could see this picture photoshopped in all sorts of ways. 
  
• The stadium arms race continues: The Evil Empire will begin a $175 million renovation project to DKR Stadium.  It is "unclear" if they will add more seats but my money says yes. Texas' current capacity is 100,119. Aggie is 102,733.
• Sheriff Joe, who is about to be crushed in a U.S. Senate election just like Sacha Baron Cohen crushed him on Sunday night, decided it would be a good idea to trot out Ted Nugent. 
  
  
• As high school football ramps up, do you think your little Johnny will play in the NFL? Consider the case of Johnathan Gray out of Aledo -- easily an all-time top five Texas high school running back. After playing for UT, he went undrafted. "He went to the rookie camp for the New York Giants; and then camps for the Calgary Stampeders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders. He never played a game for any of those teams."
• So Sad! (Although I'm not sure why they are wasting time on it if it is "not their call."):
  
• WFAA's John McCaa has announced his upcoming retirement. I heard someone call him a "great journalist" this morning. He is very good at what he does which is read news, but I've never considered local anchors "journalists."
• Nutcase Alex Jones was banned from almost all of the leading social media sites yesterday. (If you aren't familiar with him, he makes claims like "Sandy Hook was staged.") The far right wing was clutching its collective pearls yesterday yelling "Free speech!" and "First Amendment!" Hey, take a civics class. Oh, and Jones also sells supplements which are supposed to make you lose weight but apparently only make you tan: 
  
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• Ticket fans: Netflix must have paid for the constant segments dedicated to "Last Chance U."

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• This man cared waaaaay too much about Randy Moss be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.
  
• Early on Sunday, Trump admitted that the now famous Trump Tower meeting with the Russians was about getting dirt on Hillary. This is amazing because: (1) He had previously dictated a statement, which is now shown to be a blatant lie, claiming the meeting was about adoption, and (2) He threw Donald Jr. under the bus but covered his own arse by claiming "I did not know about it!" No, sir, it is clearly illegal. Can Trump make Mueller's life any easier?
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  "Daddy! Why!?"
• And this craziness almost makes us forget that last week he said AG Jeff Sessions "should" stop Mueller's Russian "witch hunt". Such a demand by Nixon, made in private but which eventually came to light because of the release of the tapes, was enough to make him correctly and honestly realize he was done:
  
• Also almost forgotten: Trump had a bizarre late night Friday tweet attacking Lebron James of all people. You want to go after Lebron?
  
• Make no mistake about it, they and many, many others believe this:
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• The following was on Friday, and it gave me great joy. If you click on the tweet, you'll get better photos and videos in the comments. The neighborhood kids and adults were having a blast. 
  
• There was a White Supremacy rally in Oregon over the weekend. Sometimes recruiting for that club must be even harder than it already is:
  
• What was more surprising about Johnny Football's CFL debut? (1) The fact the threw four interceptions in the first half, or (2) That he was facing 76 year old defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville (who is looking pretty good): 
  
• This is great advice, but technically misleading. Legally, that sign must be posted "at the time and place" of the alleged violation in order for "driving in left lane - not passing" to be a crime. See Tex. Transp. Code § 544.004(b). It's been the subject of litigation as recently as 2013 where our highest criminal court determined there was no violation when the sign was posted some 15 to 20 miles away. 
  
• Caught my attention: Why are Academy Awards in this day in time limited to films released in "theaters"? Why not online? And if the old rules apply, why can't Netflix build one theater, release one film and play it one time, and have it eligible for an Oscar?
• At the prodding of a Faithful Reader, I listened to this Malcolm Gladwell podcast and learned a couple of things I didn't know. One, the U.S. Constitution allows a state to divide up into multiple states with the permission of that state and Congress. But here's the shocker: Congress has already given Texas permission, once it entered the Union, to divide up into four additional states. All we need is the Texas Legislature to act. (This was the subject of a Texas Law Review article in 2004.)  Think about this: The "old" Texas would have 10 Senators and, thus, basically control the country. But would they be blue or red? Someone has already create a map from a few years back.
  
• This is the first "promoted" tweet (a paid ad) that Robert Jeffress has ever released. And it has to do with death and vengeance with support only from Genesis. 
  
• Watch idiot parents fight at a youth baseball game in Plano. (Facebook video) It all started when a parent of the winning team yelled, "Hey, second place ain't bad" at the losing team. The Star-Telegram has a very slow-loading page explaining what happened. 

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

 Based upon the way she was acting, she sheep was justified.

 Fake? Drunk? Opiods? Sleepy? Medical Condition? Demon Possession?

 How'd they make it that far?

 Kudos to the back leg for the reflexive reaction to get out of the way of the bite.

 The flying flip flop adds insult to injury.

I posted this because I thought it was funny, 

but now I'm a little worried about that kid's arm.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• This photo from last Friday in a game involving the Rangers that deserves a prize. (The link has a better quality of the image, and a video which demonstrates a very sweet move put on by the guy a second before the photo was snapped):
  
• Former Baylor coach Art Briles has a new football coaching gig in Italy. Road trip! (But I don't know if I can put it on my "stadium journey" list since the team's stadium capacity is 1,000. Yep, this is it. That's all of the stands.)
  
  
  
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• Lawyer Kris Kobach had a great gig: Go to gullible municipalities and tell them he could craft ordinances to get rid of the those illegal immigrants and then, when those ordinances were challenged in court, he'd collect legal fees to help defend the cities. By any reasonable standard, the cities always lost. Farmers Branch, under the city council "leadership" of Plaintiff's lawyer Tim O'Hare, was one of the taxpayer money-wasting cities to the tune of $7 million. (That article from the Kansas City Star about Kobach, who is now running for Governor of Kansas, is scathing.)
  
• O'Hare went on to be a one term Republican Chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, but didn't run again because he was "just having a hard time juggling being a husband and father of four with running a law firm and real estate venture, serving as a Sunday School teacher and a Deacon at church . . . . "
• The college football Coaches' Poll is out: OU comes in at 5, TCU at 16, West Virginia at 20, Texas at 21, and OSU at 25. No Aggie. (Side note: At home games this year, UT will wear black cleats with black socks.)
• Don't look now, but we've got another big Ebola outbreak in the Congo with 20 dead.
• We're getting really close to Idiocracy's President, Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho, as we had Trump pose with a UFC fighter and his championship belt yesterday in the Oval Office.
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• Speaking of, this former wrestler won the position of mayor (our County Judge equivalent) in Knox County, Tennessee last night running as a Republican. Really.
  
• Anyone heard from the head of the Department of Energy, Rick Perry, lately? Is there any chance he is sitting around just collecting a government paycheck? And do you think that $28 million budget and 13,000 employees (not to mention the 90,000 contract employees) are being used efficiently?
• Sarah Sanders, who I absolutely believe has no soul, refused to say the press is not the "enemy of the people" yesterday. (And why does she read from notes whenever she goes on an anti-Free Press rant?)
  
• Even Ivanka was smarter than that.

• This following can't be understated. These Trump officials showed up unannounced at the White House briefing yesterday to announce that Russia's attempts to interfere with the 2018 elections are "real and ongoing", that "Our Democracy is in the crosshairs", and "We continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign by Russia to try to weaken and divide the United States.": Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, FBI Director Chris Wray, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, National Security Adviser John Bolton, and National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone. 
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• I think stats like this are silly. They are an anomaly but not impressive. Countless other lines would be better: What about four walks, a single, and a home run? Three walks, a single, and two doubles? Five singles and one walk? You get the idea.
  
• Fox News was disappointed with the job numbers released this morning. 
• From BagOfNothing this morning: "I was surprised at how easy and close parking at DFW Airport was. Any available spot was identified by a green LED light above and we literally parked across the street from the terminal entrance. For three nights the total cost was a reasonable $26 which was charged to my TollTag." Wait a second! Terminal parking at DFW is $24 a day. Edit: I'll be. He told me about this trick.
• Legal nerd stuff: Look at this short opinion just released by the Fort Worth Court of Appeals where the court, it would seem, accused a lawyer via footnote of being unethical. (And I'm not sure I've ever seen an appellate brief with one paragraph under the "Argument" section.) 
• Buried in the Update this morning is this out of Bridgeport ISD: Delinquent property tax payments are at an 11-year high. I'm telling you, there is something going on out there. People from everywhere seem to be struggling more than ever. 

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