Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Across the nation, flags are at half-staff this morning because of the death of John McCain -- Except at the White House because of Trump. Incredible. (At 7:55 a.m., the flags were at full staff at the Wise County Courthouse. I presume that's an oversight which will be fixed very soon.)
  
• There were eight turnovers by the Cowboys last night in a meaningless pre-season game. Mrs. LL had a free ticket to a suite last night but left at halftime. (You would have to pay me to go to -- and my price would be high.) 
• On Friday, reporters started researching Twitter about references to John McCain. This 10 year old Tweet, found by this guy, did not have a SINGLE reply despite Obama asking for them. He would have been trolled to death today.
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• Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer had to issue an apology for the way he handled his first apology. He seems like a miserable human being. So do others . . . 
  
• I find this so weird: Fewer and fewer young people have a driver's license. "For example, the percentages for 20- to 24-year-olds [who had a license] in 1983, 2008, 2011, and 2014 were 91.8%, 82.0%, 79.7%, and 76.7%. . . . ." 
• Trump got to color with some kids on Friday. He colored the U.S. flag incorrectly. You've got those stripes wrong, buddy. Never be afraid to ask for help from those around you.
  
• It was such a busy news week that I'm not even going to mention Trump jokingly one time kissed Giuliani's cleavage while Giuliani was dressed in drag, or that Trump invited a QAnon conspiracy theorist to the Oval Office last week, or that Trump rejected a proposal to issue an official White House statement on John McCain's passing.
  
  
  
  
• While watching a very old OU/Texas game on Saturday on the Longhorn Network (I'm living full throttle), I heard the announcers say that the game between aTm and Houston was scheduled to kickoff at 10:30 p.m. in the Astrodome "after the baseball game." I had to look it up: It actually kicked off at 11:32 p.m on October 11, 1980. The Astros had a playoff game that day and it took a while to get the field ready
• And lets check in on Christian DFW radio host Mark Davis had to say while McCain's body was still warm:  

                                       

• I don't even have to click on the link to know who it is. 
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• The Texas prison system just voted to drastically slash the cost of inmate phone calls. The new contract will be 6 cents per minute instead of 26 cents. Texas has been exploiting prisoners through the phone system for years. I don't know what the rate is at the Wise County jail.
• There was a (very confusing) story in the Dallas Morning News about a lawsuit over an agreement on a cocktail napkin.  Sound interesting? It's not because the story was written so poorly.  But I was struck by this paragraph explaining why the fight over the napkin was ultimately resolved by a settlement. I question any lawyer who thinks appellate work is harder than trial work. It's not even in the same ballpark. How do they not know that? 
  
• There is no question there are thousands of lawyers in the "litigation section" of big law firms who have never been involved as first chair in a jury trial. I bet that number is 80%, and I might be undershooting it. 
• Audio of the shooting in Jacksonville yesterday. The shooter was a 24 year old white male from a gated community in South Baltimore, MD who lost a video gaming tournament. (Totally irrelevant: I hung out at Jacksonville Landing back on one of my football trips.)
  
• I became a grand-uncle (or whatever you call it) over the weekend.
• Messenger: Above The Fold

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

 Your Freshman year on this side. Graduation on the other. 

 I think I'd watch this over ESPN's constant Little League baseball games.

 I'm insane now.

 Bits are still fun.

 "I'm an owl. It's called a yawn. You got a problem with that?"

And Bob was just a litttttttle slow on that release.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

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• From a faithful reader after I called out Fort Worth's Heim's BBQ yesterday: Check out the "HNIC" acronym on the owner's personal Twitter page.  Does that mean what Urban Dictionary says it means?
  
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• Hey prosecutors, the Texas Governor needs time to think about whether a criminal defendant should legally be able to cooperate with you against another defendant or potential defendant:
  
• Hot prediction on the Balch Springs cop murder trial: They will find him guilty of Agg Assault and give him probation. My alternative verdict is a complete Not Guilty.
• The prosecutor in the case is nicknamed "Bulldog" -- a sure sign that he's full of himself and doesn't understand nuances. At one point, he held up a picture of the dead kid and asked the defendant, "You shot him in the back of the head, didn't you?" A smart juror is offended by questions like that because that fact is not in dispute. The question is whether the defendant had a reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary to protect a fellow officer. Stop your cheap theatrics.
• DPS, which can afford freakin' gun boats on the Rio Grande, wants to close 87 DPS offices. Decatur is not on the list. Denton, which always has a packed parking lot, is. 
• "And Another" update from Plano: Probation (with 120 days in the county jail as a condition.)
  
• Ted Cruz, a sex scandal, Diamond and Silk, Michael Cohen and the National Enquirer: My head is spinning because of the following. Michael Cohen, Trump's ex personal lawyer, use to silence the women of Trump's affairs by funneling money to the National Enquirer who would then buy the story from the female and then never print anything. In fact, David Pecker, the publisher of the Enquirer, was granted immunity in this week's Cohen prosecution. But let's have a flashback to 2016 when Fox News' darlings Diamond and Silk promoted a story of a Ted Cruz sex scandal. (It was in the middle of the Republican primaries at the time.) Look what Cohen said when he chimed in to to conversation. What all was going on behind the scenes?
  
  
• The Rangers gave Cole Hamels to the Cubs for nothing. I was all for it because he was awful. My, how things have changed. He had a win with a complete game last night giving up only one earned run and has an ERA under 1.00 since being traded. 
• When you have a bad week you do the obvious: Decide to visit a children's hospital and tell the press about it. 

  

  A Barron spotting!

• Vote in local elections: 
  
• Look what conservative Christian radio host Mark Davis retweeted. This is Trump's hard core base. As is their right, they simply do not care. But don't hold up a cross and a Bible while proclaiming you are from the party of "family values." 
  
• "Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Thursday challenged Fox News contributor Geraldo Rivera to a debate." Riveria accepted. Now that I want to see. Give me Geraldo.
• From the Update: "Five people were arrested on drug charges following a search of a Decatur home Thursday morning. At about 5 a.m., Wise County Sheriff’s deputies and investigators executed a search warrant on a North Cowan Street residence . . . . " (More).  It's kind of rare to see the Sheriff's office involved in bust within the city limits. I would think there were some Decatur cops involved. (And I wouldn't want to be the prosecutor who gets the message of, "Hey, since you went home yesterday you've got five new drug cases.")

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• "A 13-year-old Crowley Independent School District student died Wednesday night after collapsing during football practice, officials said."
• This was from Trump at 1:10 a.m. EST. He's up in the middle of the night and living in terror about the future.
  
  
• Pretty cool little chart: 
  
• Unreasonable irritation of mine: People who gush about Whataburger. (Hey, I like their burgers too, but it's no euphoric experience.)
• I'm very confused about the new "Update Live" that the Messenger has rolled out. It's the Publisher sitting at a nondescript table reading the Update out loud.
• Dear Fort Worth Baylor fans, Mr. Heim, of the over-hyped Heim BBQ, routinely attacks your school. This example was relatively tame as he made fun of person he doesn't know and probably faces a daily struggle which is a little more difficult than the fear of getting a bad Yelp review. He took it down. I invite you to go somewhere else for your BBQ.
  
• What? "This little piggy went to market" doesn't mean he went shopping? How was I not told!?
• Cowboys center Travis Frederick has been diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome. Let me Google that for you. This does not sound good -- primarily because he seems like a guy who would be willing to walk away if there was any chance continued play would exacerbate the situation.
• It looks like a nude selfie of Dak Prescott is out there. Let me not Google that for you.
• I have never understood why judges on the Texas Supreme Court (and some other courts) take the entire month of August off (and then some.) Any you boys in the private sector get to do that at taxpayer expense? 
  
• Sarah Sanders had to walk out in front of the Washington press corp yesterday. She didn't disappoint.
  
• It took a while, but two officers eventually cost Dallas well over a half million dollars. 
  
• That's a lot of pills: "Denton County: Search leads to discovery of 120,000 pills (hydrocodone, oxycodone, fentanyl, morphine and dilaudid) and 14 firearms (6 stolen)."
• The worst Baptist pastor in America is at it again as he rolls out a new book to make money. And I'm seeing a theme: He always seems to know God's "secrets." That's the same marketing scheme that we've seen in infomercials for years. 

  

  These people know real estate secrets!!!!

  

  Jeffress knows God's seven secrets!!!!!

• I'll never get tired of Time magazine covers: 
  
• I wonder if Trump is taking comfort in that his top lawyer, Rudy "Truth Isn't Truth" Giuliani, is golfing in Scotland during the worst week of his presidency.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• It was a shockingly bad day for the President and All Of His Men:
• Michael Cohen admitted his guilt in federal court yesterday and is willing to go to prison for five years. And that admission was to paying for the silence of Stormy Daniels and a Playboy model with the intention of influencing the election "in coordination with and at the direction of " Trump. Yep,  thrice married Trump directed his lawyer to commit a federal crime because he had affairs with at least two other women.
• At the same time of the plea, Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was found guilty in federal court of eight counts. 
• And moments later Republican Duncan Hunter, one of the first Congressmen to voice his support for Trump, was indicted for illegal use of campaign funds. The indictment is insane. Sample:
  
• And, to wrap it up, Trump started the day tweeting support for a Wyoming Governor candidate: "“Go VOTE TODAY for Foster Friess - He will be a fantastic Governor! Strong on Crime, Borders [and] 2nd Amendment. Loves our Military [and] our Vets. He has my complete and total Endorsement!” Friess ended up losing BIGLY last night.
• Trump with unintentional comedy this morning:
  
• He doesn't have any credibility, but the Colorado guy who is alleged to have killed his pregnant wife and two young kids has come up with a explanation. He claims he was having an affair, his wife got angry and killed the two kids, and then he killed her in a rage. With three dead bodies, that's about as creative as you can get. 
  
• I feel like John Travolta in Pulp Fiction whenever I walk in to the courthouse entrance security room, see no one in my direct line of sight, and then immediately hear, "Come on in, Barry." 
   
• Here's my own interesting twist on the story of the guy who killed his 18 month old outside of the apartment complex in Lewisville last Sunday while shouting Christian verses. Did you know last Monday was the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) which celebrates and commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son?  The guy wasn't Muslim, but seems to be a religious guy with a screw loose. Connection? [Edit: BagOfNothing made reference to the Abraham theory yesterday. I just saw it. He didn't reference Eid-al-Adha -- that's mine.]
• I'm not saying someone found a real (not figurative) snake in the courthouse, but someone found a snake in the courthouse. 
• I was involved in a flower bed project with small retaining walls the other day. With an axe in my hand and a crowbar, mallet, chisel, and level nearby, Mrs. LL walked up and asked, "What's the plan, Phil?" (That's a Modern Family line.)
• The death of Mollie Tibbetts is already being politicized.  Compare and contrast:
  
  
  
  
• Note: The aforementioned Colorado guy who killed his family was a white U.S. citizen. 
• This police chase in Dallas in the middle of the day through a residential neighborhood left seven injured in five cars. (Police deny it was a "chase".)
  
• Messenger: Above The Fold.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• I watched CNN's docu-series The 2000s episode on music Sunday night. Let me tell you something: Not a bad little decade for music. 
• I didn't watch the VMA's last night, but it looks like Madonna's tribute to Aretha Franklin got ripped: 
  
• I'm seeing this video of the cop running down a suspect everywhere. It's over four years old. 
  
• Does Rudy Giuliani stay drunk?
  
  
• Is not spending money you don't need saving taxpayer dollars? (Maybe the DA's budget in Tarrant County is too high: $25 million a year.)
  
• He said that? He started off investigating a penny-ante real estate deal about Whitewater and ended up spending $70 million with nothing to show it for. (And he had a steady hand on the wheel during the Baylor scandal, didn't he?)
  
  
• WFAA's sports guy Mike Leslie really gets on my nerves for some reason. 
• The number of Beto O'Rourke yard signs in Decatur has got my attention.
• Every teacher should be offended by this grandstanding from a governor who could not care less about public education. And what's this "wants" business? There is nothing more meaningless. How you gonna pay for it, hoss? 
  
• More concern about the Star-Telegram's home page: This morning four of the five "latest" news stories concern the Rangers -- a team that is in last place with the season almost over. (They later updated it to make it three Rangers stories, a story about beach volleyball, a food story, and an ad.)
  
• The AP Top 25 came out yesterday.  It dawned on me that we live in a day when once perennial powerhouse Nebraska no longer even receives a single vote.
• Trump honored a border patrol agent yesterday but ended up going Full Trump. He always goes Full Trump. 
  
• Paul Manafort trial: Day Three completed and still no verdict. 
• I'm not following this Arlington City Council term limit debate all that closely, but it appears they will have to put the issue to voters after a petition requiring the vote was presented to them. "The city council  members [on Monday at a council meeting] made it clear they're against term limits and will join together at the polls to fight." They better be careful using public funds or public time to advocate a position. If my memory serves me correctly, the Decatur School Board ran into trouble in the 2000s when they used public funds to encourage a bond passage. I would think the same rule would apply if a city council used public funds to encourage the defeat of a term limit proposal.  
• Breaking:  Missing Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts is found dead.