Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Just now (I have no idea what the facts are).
  
• Edit: Updated. Looks like it was found in D.C. by a mail screener. Obama a target as well. Edit: White House responds. Edit: CNN offices in NYC evacuated. Just a normal morning in America, it seems. 
• A model World War II Nazi plane crash landed on the 101 in Los Angeles yesterday. Thanks, Hitler. 
  
  
  
  
• NBC's Megyn Kelly got in trouble for supporting dressing up in "blackface" yesterday.  (NBC Nightly News really chastised her last night proving they would not protect one of their own.) But I had forgotten, while at Fox News, Megyn assured us that both Santa Claus and Jesus were white. Really.
• Who said the following about a murder, Tony Soprano or Trump?: "They had a very bad original concept. It was carried out poorly and the cover-up was one of the worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups. It's very simple. Bad deal. Should have never been thought of. Somebody really messed up."  
  
• Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced yesterday that she "had been diagnosed with dementia," "probably Alzheimer's disease" and is "no longer able to participate in public life." She joined the Court in 1981, and we never ever once learned if she liked beer.
• There's a murder-for-hire going on in Dallas and that judge is heavily leaning to the prosecution. On the first day she allowed character evidence from the victim's family which, although relevant in the punishment phase, is absolutely inadmissible in the guilt/not guilt phase. Plus, she has allowed prosecutors to hang a picture on the wall of the victim. (Trust me, the government doesn't need any help in that case from the bench.)
  
• Random Actor Thought: Whatever happened to Darryl Hannah?
• It's a weird world we live in when the wife of a U.S. Supreme Court justice posts on Facebook a photo from 2012 claiming the current "caravan" is responsible. 
  
• I fear Ebola more than I fear The Caravan, and I don't fear Ebola at all.
• Almost 24 hours after the rest of us learned about the Cowboys' trade, the Star-Telegram posted this. I told ya, there is something weird about the paper's online presence: 
  
• Up in the bell tower of the Wise County Courthouse. Pretty glamorous, no?
  
  
• This was in Los Colinas yesterday morning. Yep, wild hogs. 
  
• For years I've been suspicious about and have written about Chris Faulkner, a self proclaimed "Frack-meister", who I believed was nothing but a con man. Yesterday he pled guilty in federal court and now faces 12 years in prison. Credit to this blogger who was after him from the start. I first heard of Faulkner when he was a sponsor of the Mark Davis radio show.

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  Hey, I got a shout-out from the U.S. Attorney

• The only political ad I think is effective is the one which starts with Pete Sessions at his own town hall meeting saying to supporters, "I think I now understand why you're so frustrated: You don't know how to listen!"
  
• The fiasco that is the Waco Twin Peak Biker cases is even funneling down to a local JP election. The incumbent JP is being attacked for signing 177 arrest warrants based upon identical affidavits and setting a bond of $1 million for each one. Unfortunately, the challenger is a Libertarian so people will blindly vote against her. 
• The DA for Navarro County (Corsicana) died overnight. 
• Messenger: Above The Fold

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• The stock market is set to drop hugely again this morning. (Down 374 points as I publish this.)
• Last night a man  was "grazed" in his head by a bullet after stopping because of a "road rage" incident in South Arlington. Both cars had stopped after side-swiping one another. Something is fishy about this incident. 
• The early voting turnout was insane for both Democratic and Republican Texas counties. I wonder if one of these days we will have smart TVs that won't play political ads once we vote. (I wrote that in jest, but I can see that happening. It makes sense. We won't be bothered and candidates save money by targeting their ads on others.)
  
• TCU's Gary Patterson might have some explaining to do. His star player was arrested over the weekend for an alleged assault of his girlfriend. Ok, that's bad. But then the news broke he "was arrested last spring in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on multiple charges including battery against a woman who is believed to be the same girlfriend." A warrant has been out all season for his arrest for missing a court date in that case. 
• Local sports anchor and recent social activist Dale Hansen hadn't voted in 46 years.
• For sale at the Trump rally yesterday in Houston.
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• Trump at the rally: "There's this word -- nationalist. I'm not supposed to use it, but I'm a nationalist. I'm a nationalist. Use that word."  No, you're not supposed to say you're a White Nationalist. You're getting close. I'll give you time.

  

  "I'm sorry. My wife is ugly and my dad did help kill JFK."

• Weirdest Trump line at the rally: He said people with “little boats” wanted to go out into the storm during Hurricane Harvey to “show their wife how great they are.”
• I'm not familiar with this political race but this is funny.
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• Former Carolina Panther Rae Carruth was released from prison yesterday after 18 years. I've been hearing good things about this seven part podcast about the whole crazy case. 
  
• Bridgeport High School has Boston Dynamics in its cross-hairs.
  
• The lottery being up to $1.6 billion is a perfect Idiocracy moment for this day and time.
• The Dallas Observer has a long story about the trend of THC edibles being brought back from Colorado via 287. Amazingly, there is no reference to Wise County.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• You've probably seen the dance floor collapse at Clemson which left dozens injured, but it was nothing compared to the wedding reception disaster in Israel in 2001 where 23 died. 
  
• Here's the explanation from the NFL with video of the penalty right before the missed final field goal.) I told you boys to take the Under on season wins at 8.5.
• The next time you think the Star-Telegram is liberal, remember this political cartoon from last week.  Good lord.
  
• Ted Cruz and local radio guy Mark Davis tried to do a Facebook Live presentation, and it was a technological meltdown of biblical proportions. 
  
• Early voting in Houston this morning -- a Democratic stronghold:
  
• I wrote a while back about the prosecution of several people associated with Schlitterbahn after the death of a young boy at a park in Kansas City. The prosecutors in that case seemed a little over the top in my opinion (the 47 page indictment read like a seedy novel). Well, last week they started their crusade with prosecuting two lower levels employees for lying during the investigation. Result? Not Guilty on both. 
• Well the Saudis are now saying that Jamal Khashoggi died during a fight. No one is buying that lie. And we want to sell millions worth of arms to a country that stupid?
• Dude, Trump hasn't even bothered to appoint one. 
  
• For defense lawyers: We have a new case on the issue of "Is a defendant entitled to an evidentiary hearing on a violation of the terms of a pretrial intervention [pretrial diversion] agreement before the agreement may be terminated? No."  The scary part is that prosecutors could unilaterally kill a PTD agreement for no reason whatsoever. Practically, that is never going to happen for two reasons: (1) If a prosecutor offers PTD, he wants it to be successfully completed, and (2) No prosecutor wants his reputation ruined by doing such a thing. The news would spread to every lawyer, judge, clerk and staff in a New York minute.
• I love the look of the Oregon's strength coach.
  
• I'm convinced no one is in charge of the Star-Telegram's web site on weekend nights. Compare the large (and outdated) lead story with the automated update (circled) on their homepage on Saturday morning.
  
  
• College football: (1) The funniest thing you'll see over the weekend. (Quick loading video.) (2) Nebraska was 0-6 and still 90,000 showed up. (3) OU will win the Big 12. (4) The best unconventional Star Spangled Banner you will ever hear. 
• The very ethically challenged and far right wing Heritage Foundation had been holding a secret training program for clerks of federal judges where the clerks had to sign an agreement not to disclose what they "learned." It has now been shut down. It sounded like a Star Chamber training ground.
• I said a week ago I said there is something very fishy about the "caravan" appearing just days before the mid-terms. Marco Rubio thinks it is manufactured. I do to. He is just confused as to who did the manufacturing.  
  
• Want to get a hotel during the West Texas oil boom?
  
• Messenger: Above The Fold. 

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

I LIVE WITH A TINY PREDATOR (sorry for my shriek) pic.twitter.com/nOjzbH5Pwf

— Summer (@summer95) October 11, 2018

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Let’s add a bull to zorb football, what could go wrong? pic.twitter.com/lL4tcMgNHi

— Darwin Award 🔞 (@AwardsDarwin) October 14, 2018

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Pup is upset with Karen pic.twitter.com/YTrg5hSkHw

— Oregon I.T. not IT ⚾ (@OregonJOBS2) October 17, 2018

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If you're wondering what the Boston Dynamics Robot will look like dancing to Smooth by Santana featuring Rob Thomas, I've got you covered. pic.twitter.com/LoDNAT0Po0

— cuppycup (@cuppycup) October 18, 2018

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Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• The Baby Jessica 2.0 event was not a TV ratings blockbuster.
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• This mannequin in a window in Decatur, right off the square, is one of the creepiest things in the history of ever.
  
• It drives me crazy when announcers in the football booth butcher the standard for overturning a play on the field when a play is under video review. You'll hear them say there must be evidence "beyond a reasonable doubt" or "absolute evidence" or "overwhelming evidence." Nope. They are making stuff up. In the NFL it is "clear and obvious evidence"   (recently changed from "incontrovertible visual evidence.") In college it is "indisputable video evidence." In sports and law, unlike politics, words have meaning. 
• Baylor and Tech abandon Jerry World starting next year and return to campus play in 2019 (Waco) and 2020 (Lubbock.)
• Attorneys not eligible to practice in Texas sorted by last name and county. (I don't know the majority of the names associated with Wise County.)
• Trump was off the rails last night at another rally -- this time in Montana. As people with a soul wait to figure out what happened to Jamal Khashoggi, he voiced support for violence against journalists. You might remember the crime he is referencing.
  
• Despite people telling me for years that I would have loved The West Wing, I had never seen an episode. Until last night. I watched the twenty year old premier, and I might just watch the whole series.
• Out of nowhere, the Fox News and Republicans are parroting a talking point that "Democrats are mobs." In other news, a White Nationalist Proud Boy was arrested in D.C. for mob violence.
• I was curious how Wise County voted in the 2016 Republican Primary for President since I had forgotten, so I looked it up: Cruz, 49.7% and Trump, 31.4%.
• That's a depressing photo.
  
• I had forgotten that Herschel Walker used to return kickoffs for the Cowboys. Here he is returning one but being run down by kicker Adam Vinatieri . Uh . . . Vinatieri is still playing in the NFL today.
• I've got a crazy idea: How about plea the case or try her?
  
• The Chief of Police for Fort Worth is quitting to take the top job in Baltimore. He has obviously not watched The Wire.
• Front page from Black Monday on October 19, 1987. That would be a drop of 5,583.46 points today.
  
• I turned on Dennis Prager for the first time in a couple of weeks and heard him say " . . . well that just goes to the moral state of the Left." Who knows what he was talking about. Five minutes later he had Bill O'Reilly on to promote his new book. You know, that O'Reilly who paid $32 million to settle sexual harassment claims and was fired from Fox News.
• Mark Cuban says don't take the lump sum if you win the lottery. Remember, this is advice from a guy who took $3 billion in 1999 and has parlayed it into the same $3 billion today.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• I don't think I've ever seen a picture of a guy wanted for misdemeanor theft in the Metroplex posted so often. It's does have a comedic theme to it, however.
  
• "AUSTIN — Lacking a good source of high-speed internet, Bridgeport kids have resorted to hanging out at fast-food restaurants to get online and do homework. That could change soon, thanks to a new cable that’s coming to town under a public-private partnership between the small Wise County city and a private company. " This is part of a vague story about upgraded Internet service that appeared in a Cleburne paper.
• If the dead and dismembered Jamal Khashoggi, a permanent American resident and Washington Post journalist, had been white and of European descent instead of originally from the Middle East and a Muslim, would Trump be acting differently? The question doesn't even need to be asked.
• Remember, folks, every life is precious but apparently not priceless.
  
• It looks like we had a Steve Bartman Incident in Houston last night when a fan may have (or may not) interfered with an Astro's home run which was then called an out.
  
  
  
• I think baseball ratings would be better if they played both the ALCS and NLCS at the same time (or at least overlap by an hour or so) so we could switch back and forth during the dead time. Crazy? I'd be more inclined to watch. 
• This was a tweet from the Official Spokesman for the City of Dallas PD about a Southlake observation. I've got a question. What the heck is a "modified felony traffic stop"?   I even Googled it. The best I can tell it is a made up term when cops draw down on a driver.
  
• Travis County is considering merging the County Attorney and District Attorney's offices, and they are also considering creating a Public Defenders office. Regarding the latter, the always informative Grits For Breakfast has penned a post entitled: "Ignore self-interested complaints by defense bar over Travis County public defender creation."
• Speaking of Travis County, one judge shut his courtroom down for one day in protest over Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court. That's a little silly. But this tidbit got my attention: "Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt, the county’s top elected official, said the protest was inappropriate and cost taxpayers $58,000 — the cost to run a courtroom for a day." That is some creative/false/ill-informed accounting right there.
• Sheriff Joe is suing the New York Times for $147 million for an opinion piece entitled: "Well, at Least Sheriff Joe Isn’t Going to Congress -- Arpaio’s loss in Arizona’s Senate Republican primary is a fitting end to the public life of a truly sadistic man." There is a 100% chance that Sheriff Joe will lose this campaign, too.
• There were three misdemeanor and two felony Not Guilty verdicts (so far) in Tarrant County this week. One guilty verdict in a marijuana case had this odd sentence: "0/12 + $1 fine".  (See Trial Board.) Translated it means "no days in jail which is probated for 12 months." Yep, that's odd. That person could blow off probation and then be punished with zero days in jail.  Maybe a single digit was left off in front of the "0". 
• Ted Cruz forgot to buy TedCruz.com. It was originally sold in 2004 and has been used to troll Cruz since that time. This is what you see today:
  
• Messenger: Above The Fold (I forgot yesterday.)

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Well, yesterday we had the President of the United States called a porn star he had an affair with  "Horseface", and she responded by calling him "Tiny." It's been a good run, America. 
  
  
• If you are going to have an affair with a porn star while your wife is pregnant you should at least spell her name correctly. (And it's funny how Trump unwittingly called himself "a total con" in the last sentence.)
• Fun fact: On September 15, 1991 Troy Aikman had 11 completions on 25 attempts for only 121 yards. He was sacked 11 times. He is one of only seven quarterbacks to have as many sacks as completions in a single game. (Minimum of 10 attempts.)
  
  
• Quick loading video "Raging Llano River destroys bridge in Kingsland (Llano County)". The Hill Country is an active flood zone. 
  
• A faithful reader who was looking for a massage in Weatherford thinks she has found my doppelganger. 
  
• Even Brian Kilmeade had to abruptly clarify: "Great people just but bad leaders."
  
• "If you work in one of the many institutions through which addicts often pass — rehabs, hospitals, jails, courts — and treat them with the compassion and respect they deserve, thank you. If instead you see a junkie or thief or liar in front of you rather than a human being in need of help, consider a new profession." - Obituary of Madelyn Ellen Linsenmeir, 30.
• The owner of the Bunny Ranch and HBO star Dennis Hof abruptly died yesterday. Included in the  people who were the last to see him alive (and I am not making this up): Sheriff Joe, Tucker Carlson, and porn star Ron Jeremy.

  

  Speaking of odd groups:
  Joey Buttafuoco , "Kato" Kaelin, A Ticket Guy, and Dennis Hof.

• Weed becomes legal across Canada today, and yesterday it was announced that citizens with a conviction for possession of less than 30 grams (a tad over an ounce) would be pardoned. 
• Found footage: Former Dallas DA Henry Wade discussing prosecuting adult movie theaters and book stores in 1971. He said he had no problem getting convictions but the problem was that the juries weren't giving jail time. He didn't seem to understand that the juries were sending him a message. Those prosecutions exist nowhere in Texas today.
• Saudia Arabia is like Kavanaugh?
  
• "I don’t want to talk about any of the facts and they didn’t want to either." - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after being asked if the Saudis said Jamal Khashoggi, a permanent U.S. resident, was alive or dead. Do we have one competent person in that Administration? He traveled 12 hours to get there and they gave him an hour of their time including this yuk-it-up photo op.
  
• About three Twitter comments prompted this headline and story in the Star-Telegram:
  
• Breaking: Melania's plane had to go back to Andrew Air Force just now when smoke filled the cabin. All is well.