Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• When a Sports Genius like myself tells you to take the Las Vegas under for total season wins by the Cowboys, you take the under.
• An NFL owner who routinely gets drunk on Johnny Walker Blue may have a player who will be banned for life for smoking weed. Makes perfect sense. 
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• The case involving the shooting by the man in his own apartment by the Dallas police officer is off to a ridiculous start. It happened late Thursday night but by Friday morning the Dallas PD announced a warrant for Manslaughter was coming and that the case had been handed over to the Texas Rangers. First, that was moving way too fast. And second, if you are turning over the investigation, it is that agency that makes the call on the arrest. (They ultimately did.)  And even that agency, if it has any brains at all, better include the DA in the decision to make any charging decisions at all. 
  
• The arrest is for Manslaughter. I've preached and preached that proving "recklessness", the key element of Manslaughter, is an incredibly high burden that most prosecutors and law enforcement do no understand. This will be a very hard case to prove (assuming the Grand Jury even indicts it.) 
• And let me rant against the Medical Examiner's office for the millionth time. It has ruled the shooting a "homicide." First, that includes everything from murder to criminally negligent homicide, so everyone calm down. Secondly, the ME has no business in classifying killings in that way since it requires reaching a conclusion about the mindset of the shooter which you can't deduce by examining a dead body. The only thing the ME should say was that the persons death was caused by a bullet causing certain damage to another's organs which caused that person to die. 
• Ann Coulter brought along her conservative values to the conversation: 
  
• The Aggie/Clemson game looked like a great scene and turned out to live up to its billing. And the Aggie Cops weren't messing around with crowd control: 
  
• That Aggie fumble near the end of the game through the end zone gives me Tired Head when it comes to Pylon Rules. If a receiver catches a ball in the front corner of the end zone with both feet in bounds but the ball gets to his hands by traveling outside of the pylon, it's a touchdown, right? What if a runner goes right down the sideline untouched and on his feet but for some reason showboats and extends the ball straight out to his side where the ball hovers out of bounds and outside the pylon as he crosses the goal line untouched? Touchdown? If not, why isn't the ball marked down when he first held it out over the out of bounds line?
• You know what cures Tired Head? Taco dog!
  
• This weekend I went to a sporting even which had mobile ticketing only (paperless ticket.) First, it worked like a charm although it felt like I was using black magic. Second, that sure will kill the scalping business at the venue. 
• A federal judge came out swinging in a voter suppression case out of Florida: 
  
• In case you missed it, we now have the hero we've all been waiting for. (Trump's campaign actually went up on stage and kicked him out and replaced him with a Fake Fan.)
  
• I needed new tennis shoes in a very bad way, and I had to factor in the brand in my purchasing decision. 
• Ted Cruz said that Democrats want to turn Texas into ‘tofu, silicon, dyed-hair’ California. He doesn't spend much time in Texas, does he?
• And she takes offense to that remark:
  
• Since I got sick last Spring, my physical comfort level has changed by three degrees. I mean, what used to be a perfect temperature per the thermostat has now changed where I like it three degrees higher than before.

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

 Fake clues: (1) Over-acting kids, (2) Since when is closing your eyes to blow out candles a thing?

 (4) Mom having zero reaction of, "What happened!?" (5) Mom not getting mad.

 Upon review, the call stands. Gun fumbled by robber recovered by home team. Incomplete crime.  

(Nice, yet unnecessary, door kick on the way out.)

 I do no support the fat shaming this group engaged in. Really. Seriously.

Ok, maybe a little funny.

 I do support dumb shaming. 

 Get me this dog!

"Have a couple of kids," they said. "It'll be fun," they said.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• What an incredible screw up. You are reading this headline correctly: 
  
• Ticket fans of Wise County: On the football "pick 'em" segment this morning, the Musers picked against a guy named Derrick, a coach, from Bridgeport. Sounded like a funny guy.
• A police chase through the stockyards during the middle of the day yesterday left an innocent woman dead after a seven car wreck. It was right in the heart of the area at Main and Exchange.
• Bridgeport's Colin Jones will be a captain for the Carolina Panthers this year. They open with Dallas on Sunday.
  
• Huh?
  
• "JUIZ DE FORA, Brazil (Reuters) - The leading candidate in Brazil’s presidential election is in serious but stable condition after being stabbed by an assailant at a campaign rally on Thursday." There is video of it, but I'll let you find it. 
• No radio commercial should ever include a siren or a car horn. No TV commercial should ever include a door bell ringing. 
• I was trying to explain "competitive video gaming" to my dad, and I did a horrible job because I think the concept of thousands of people coming to watch others play a video game is incomprehensible. Now Mark Cuban has opened a 20,000 square foot gaming complex in Deep Ellum. (This comes on the heels of Arlington announcing it will create a 100,000 square foot esports "stadium".)
• For the Press Secretary to issue this, using words like "gutless" and "failing", and printing the phone number which was done only for harassment purposes, is a new low.  Sarah Sanders wouldn't have sniffed a job under any former Republican President. Where have you gone (the late) Tony Snow or Dana Perino? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you. 
  
  
  

Just do it.

• The death of Burt Reynolds was jolting. My favs: Deliverance, Smokey and the Bandit, and Boogie Nights. Here is a fantastic clip of him from the WFAA archives when he was at the Cotton Bowl promoting Semi-Tough.   And that voice is that of Bill O'Reilly when he worked for Channel 8.
  
• The University of Texas almost had a disaster on its hands:

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• I just learned there is a Denton Braswell High School.
• There was an issue brewing in the Kavanugh hearing as to whether he had spoken to a lawyer in a particular firm about the investigation of Trump by Mueller. The managing partner of the firm issued the following statement. Dude, you have over 350 lawyers in your firm spread out over nine locations across the country. 
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• Trump trying to say "anonymous" at one of his therapy sessions rallies last night was funny.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• After yesterday, we should just go ahead and make "Crazy Train" our national anthem. 
• An Emirates plane had to be briefly quarantined because of a flu outbreak and Vanilla Ice was on board. (A sentence I never expected to write.)
  
• Regardless of what you believe about the incident, this photo taken immediately after Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh was asked to shake the hand of the Parkland father, is golden. (Credit: European Pressphoto Agency's Michael Reynolds.)
  
• Speaking of the hearing, this was a heck of a moment yesterday. Either she knows something or she bluffed Kavanaugh into thinking she knows something. Worth a couple of minutes of your time. 
  
• On a lighter note, trust me, you'll love this Congressman and former auctioneer going into character to shut down a protester in a different ongoing hearing. That's quality comedy. 
• Trump went ballistic yesterday afternoon over an anonymous New York Times Op-Ed by an insider in the White House. And he actually think its treasonous for someone to question his fitness to run the country. Now he's on a Snitchhunt and wants the person to be "turned over to the government." 
  
  
• Then again, he probably does want to kill the author. "Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death . . . . "18 U.S.C. § 2381.
• The greatest conspiracy theory of who wrote the Times piece is based upon the word "lodestar" which appears in it. The person who has used it multiple times in speeches in the past: VP Mike Pence. Others suggested looking at the writing style of the author who often starts a sentence with a conjunction and uses the em dash. That would make me a suspect.
  
• This is the leaflet that the guy had with him when he crashed into the Fox 4 studio yesterday. That guy is bonkers.
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• There was a story back in July about a Decatur man being arrested for Impersonating a Peace Officer. I'm late to this, but WFAA found the search warrant affidavit issued in Denton County for a somewhat related investigation of the guy. The subject of the search was this tricked up car located in Wise County.
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• Random Picture: The current probation department building in Decatur or "The Old Rogers Building."
  
• I've been going into the Wise County Courthouse for decades, and I've never noticed this engraving of the date of construction. (I didn't take the pic and have no idea where on the courthouse it is. And the date looks a bit cock-eyed.)
  
• Decatur Eagles, 1965. I spy a County Court at Law judge.
  
• The last three photos were stolen from a Decatur Facebook page here. 
• And he took that plane? I'm sure the Beaumont common man can relate.
  
• UCLA is a 30 point underdog against Oklahoma on Saturday. A weekly guest picker for the Messenger, who is a local car dealership rep, picked the Bruins to win outright.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Breaking: Someone just got mad at Fox 4 News: "A man crashed a truck into the side of our building this morning. He jumped out and started ranting. He’s in custody now but the bomb squad is on its way. He left behind a suspicious bag. Most have been evacuated and a few are working to keep the news on air from a secure location."
  

  

  A nut? A "fake news" disciple? Steve Eagar
  wanting more air time?

• Updates:
  
  
  
• I was listening to a Wise County 911 recording the other day and discovered that the Sheriff's Office has a dispatcher with a British accent. 
• Comments in a "Fortnite stream"? There is no communication stream where someone cannot hurl insults.
  
• Then again, since I shut down the comments, I haven't had one negative email sent to me about what appears on Liberally Lean. It's amazing how people back down when they have to sign their names.
• I forgot to mention this yesterday -- saw it on national news: 
  
• It seems silly listening to the audio broadcast of a home run during sports highlights on the radio. What's the point? 
• The Brett Kavanaugh hearing had its entertaining moments.
  
  
• I'll give the guy a break for this moment. There are nut cases everywhere, and I wouldn't want someone approaching me unexpectedly either. Throw in security grabbing Kavanaugh's arm very quickly, and getting out of there seems like the understandable thing to do. 
  
• Almost 20 years ago, we had a weather expert speak to the Decatur Lion's Club. I later felt stupid in asking whether the government had ever considered trying to control the weather since that could be powerful. (I used the example of dumping three feet of rain on opposing troops during a war.) Little did I know the government was experimenting with it in 1981.
  
• Ken Starr, for some reason, is releasing a book on the Clinton Scandal. NPR has an excerpt which shows just how out of touch he was. He says that Monica Lewinsky wasn't "arrested"  after FBI agents ambushed her while she was walking but simply "detained" and told she was free to leave. Never mind that she was "detained" for hours and, when wanting to walk around to wait for her mother to arrive, an FBI agent followed her. In criminal law, we call that a de facto arrest.
• I'm guessing it went down like this. Starr (to FBI agent): "Can we do that?" FBI agent: "Sure." Starr: "Oh, goody!" Starr knows nothing about criminal law.
• The political leanings of the the fans of every NFL team: 
  
• Bill Cosby was convicted in April. He still hasn't been sentenced. 
• The excerpts from the Bob Woodward book are insane. Trump wants to fight it by attacking the credibility of an author whom everyone respects. He'll lose yet another battle.
  
• Flashback to 2013: There's a Trump tweet for everything.
  
  
• And Trump defends himself this morning against allegations that he is clueless by proving it. The man has never heard of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. (And it's like saying, "Why doesn't Congress change that abortion law?" or the gay marriage "law" or that integration of schools "law.") 
  
• Messenger: Above The Fold.