Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Election Predictions (because I'm kind of an expert at this): (1) GOP keeps the Senate, (2) Dems take the House, (3) Cruz win by 6 points.  I'll believe the Texas Blue Wave when I see it, but 6 points or less means it is coming quickly. That being said, there is something weird in the air, and no one knows what this heavy turnout means.
• The hardest race to call is the Dallas DA. But if forced to put money on it, I'm taking Creuzot  over Faith Johnson. Straight ticket Democratic voting will hurt her in a razor thin race.
• Then again, I'm no political historian like this guy:
  
• I voted early and for the first time in my life I voted angrily. I understand all the memes of "Me voting in 2016 vs. Me voting in 2018." 
  
• I forgot to mention that America's most famous Klansman supports Trump's new (and fake) race-baiting promotion.
  
  
• That ad has now been banned by all major networks, including Fox News and Fox Business. So let this sink in: An ad created by Trump's campaign is too racist even to be shown by Fox News.
• The most ridiculous graphic by a local TV station in the history of graphics. (Look at those defensive players as he tries to explain how Amari Cooper will be like Dez Bryant.)
  
• Man, Jason Garrett was mad after last night's loss:
  
   
• That's was a horrible accident, but there is no way DPS can say why someone just runs off the road. Looking at a phone? Argument with passenger? Sleepy? Something else? Yep, all are possibilities and no one will ever know.  It's all conjecture.
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• Well, we've got another prostitution sting operation in Texas. This time 75 people were arrested. The mind boggles as to the expense of the taxpayers since agencies "working with [Montgomery County] sheriff’s office were the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, Houston Police Department, Conroe Police Department, Montgomery County Precinct 3 Constable’s Office, the Department of Public Safety, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Attorney General’s Office, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. State Department." Sheesh. (And solicitation of prostitution is a misdemeanor.) 
• I miss the old singing and dancing GAP ads. (I think they are bringing them back this year.)
• I had almost forgotten about this Harris County case. The first trial ended up in a mistrial. Yesterday, he was convicted the second time around. (I continue to believe that the Double Jeopardy Clause should bar retrial after a hung jury. The State should get one shot.)
  
• This is surprising: Lowe's is closing 20 stores. (But only one in Texas and it is not in Decatur.)
• Sean Hannity before and during Trump's rally last night. Liars gonna lie. (Buddy, your whole show is a Trump rally every day.)

  

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• Star-Telegram home page on Election Day: Five Cowboys stories under the "latest" news and the main story is on the team as well.
  
• Think about being a Washington D.C. resident. Today you are part of 700,000 people (more than the entire states of Vermont or Wyoming) and don't get to vote on a House or Senate member. 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Why did a Texas coach who won eight state championships and compiled a record of 192-10 at Richland Springs quit last month after seven games at his new head coaching job? Hint: His kid was threatened and he wouldn't put up with it.  Story.
• “I noticed all that beautiful barbed wire going up today. Barbed wire used properly can be a beautiful sight.” - Trump at a Montana rally this weekend after news footage showed U.S. troops laying barbed wire at the border.
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• We had a white middle aged man and military vet  kill two people and injure five at a yoga studio in Florida.
• I have a lot of questions about this "promoted" tweet (meaning paid) from Saturday from an account which has 12 followers. (And even more confusing is that up until late September the account simply retweeted Trump's rantings.)
  
• Some folks in Parker County support Cruz and fear "Deep State Demon Rats."  (h/t Bud Kennedy):
  
• College football: (1) I don't think I ever seen a quarterback look so frustrated as time was running out, basically say, "Screw it. Snap the ball!" and throw a rainbow laser like Will Grier did against Texas to win the game, (2) Oklahoma has to go the Morgantown for the last regular season game of the year and then will turn around the next week and face WVU again in the Big 12 Championship Game, (3) Tech might have beaten OU if their quarterback hadn't suffered a collapsed lung for the second time this season (4) Maybe my favorite meme of all time from the LSU/Alabama game set to "The Sound of Silence".
  
• We moved closer to Idiocracy on Friday when Trump and Iran conducted foreign policy with fake Game of Thrones posters:
  
• And HBO was not pleased with Trump's trademark violation:
  
• Some teachers in Idaho thought it would be good idea to go as Mexicans and a Wall for Halloween.
  
• I continue to worry about the Star-Telegram's home page. The "latest news" this morning are three stories on Stephen A. Smith (???) and one on high school football.
  
• I've heard sports radio stations and even conservative talk radio dedicate segments to the Bohemian Rhapsody film. That's paid promotion.
• Justin Nelson is taking no prisoners in his campaign against Ken Paxton. What a place to make a speech from:
  
• I would not mess with 60 year old Alec Baldwin.
  
• Messenger: Above The Fold.

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

Halloween is canceled pic.twitter.com/bu65MUQDwp

— Dwight (@keepdwightgirl) October 29, 2018

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reach into your local ocean and you shall find a BIG BOY SURPRISE pic.twitter.com/kh1LeEJ7nX

— Techpriest Artisan Reddus (@R3D_5T4R) October 29, 2018

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SOMEONE had a good Halloween... 😂🐶 pic.twitter.com/tKVQSZPTN5

— LADbible (@ladbible) November 1, 2018

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Wait for it. 😂🐧🐧🐧🐧

📽️ig: maestro320 pic.twitter.com/tldCGGitS6

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) October 30, 2018

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After 1.5 hours of tracking THAT horse... - bee_24#RedDeadRedempion2 #rdr2 pic.twitter.com/IZqpwBXp5O

— Red Dead Redemption 2 (@Rockstar_RDR2) November 2, 2018

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Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• If I had to bet, I'd lay money that the Fox 4 reporter didn't get the joke. 
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• A Fort Worth officer was not pleased with a defendant being found guilty of only a misdemeanor and sentenced to probation. He called the outcome just the “typical Tarrant County letdown” and noted “We call it Tolerant County for a reason.”  Buddy, you don't know as much you think you know. 
• Whatever happened to Honey Boo Boo?
• State Senate race: Incumbent Pat Fallon has spent $900,000. Challenger Kevin Lopez from Bridgeport has raised a little over $91,000. (Oddity about the Texas Senate: Did you know "in elections ending in years ending in 2, all seats are up for election. Half of the senators will serve a two-year term, based on a drawing; the other half will fill regular four-year terms." So each seat after an election in a 2 year will be either on a 4-4-2 term rotation or a 2-4-4 term rotation until then next "year ending in 2." I didn't know that until this morning. 
• Tarrant County DA Sharen Wilson's most recent campaign financial report filing for the last 30 days is here. She has spent an additional $20,500 on that consulting firm out of Austin. I still do not understand that. 
• Lake Bridgeport finally hit capacity yesterday morning. 
• Beyonce and Jay Z channeled Olympic history for Halloween.
  
• O.J. just doesn't care any longer. He is what kind of doctor?:
  
• $520,000 / $350,000 / $515,000: The amount Harris County has paid three private lawyers for court appointments in juvenile courts in one year. And it is based on a ridiculous caseload for each lawyer. Another eyebrow raiser is that the county has a public defender's office that says it could handle more juvenile appointments. Something ain't right. 
• I had honestly never heard of Jacob Wohl before this week. That little Hitler starter kit might just go to prison. 
• It's still earlier, but Jon Gruden's 10 year and $100 million contract to coach Oakland might be one for the ages. The Raiders are now 1-7 in his first year.
• I asked "Where's Rudy" yesterday and he showed up last night. He must have been drunk tweeting again since there is no Don James running for Senate. 
  
• I've got to ask my dad, but I think as a kid I was taken to all night Easter outdoor show at The Holy City of the Wichitas in Oklahoma.
• Trump says if the evil Caravan shows up and throws rocks, the U.S. Army will shoot them. He's a moron. Thankfully, there is not a single soldier who would do that. I think his base is satisfied with the Fear-The-Brown-People theme. He doesn't have to go full Shoot-The-Brown-People.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Halloween is fun as kid, a beating as a young adult, and then oddly gets entertaining again as you get older. 
• Ted Cruz admitted to being the Zodiac Killer yesterday. (At least his social media person has a sense of humor.)
  
• When the government solicits calls like this, I bet they are flooded with cases -- many of which can't be proven or have no merit. It will take a ton of work to sort them all out. 
  
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• Things I saw in movies, questioned what in the heck it was, and then forgot all about it. 
  
• Map of the 30 counties with the most number of registered voters (making up a whopping 78% of all voters.). It's almost proof that Wise County isn't part of the "metroplex" as it is left out in the upper left hand cluster of counties.  (And I-35 either created a lot of population or the population created the need for I-35.)
  
• Where'd Rudy Giuliani go?
• Our dryer is no longer heating and the refrigerator started making a loud noise this morning. How's your day? 
•  A girl sued a school around Waco after she received rope burns on her neck (racial overtones.) Her lawyers asked yesterday for $12 million from a jury but received only $68,000. But I loved this reversal of fortune quote from her lawyer: “I am very happy with the jury’s decision. We’ve got a case that the school’s position was that it was all an accident, it was minor, superficial and nothing happened that required medical attention. The jury obviously disagreed with that and awarded thousands of dollars to my client.”
• A former Springtown PD school resource officer was convicted of Indecency with a Child (a student) and sentenced to 12 years in prison.  
  
• There was a death penalty handed down in Dallas yesterday -- the first one in over five years. This picture of defendant Kristopher Love that the prosecution found was on the wall during closing arguments. (Lawyer stuff: Rule 403 jumps out at me to keep it out in the first place. It probably wouldn't work, but I'd try something.) Note: This photo was hard to find. Google images didn't help. I had to lift it out of Fox 4's coverage. I don't know if WFAA or KXAS ran with it. 
  
• Trump said he might send to up to 15,000 troops. Sheesh. Here's a reminder that he has never visited the troops overseas because he says he is "too busy." 
•  And Trump tweeted a racially charged ad yesterday. How does that crap work even with his base? #FearTheBrownPeople  This is basically Willie Horton all over again. 
  
• I wonder what local network news affiliates charge for a 30 second spot during election time? The demand for ad time has to be three to five times as much as what it normally is. They certainly must (and justifiably) jack up their rates accordingly. 
• The Government of Tennessee will kill a man tonight with an electric chair. It is 2018. (I guess in a fairness I need to point out that he declined lethal injection.)

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• This story is a twist, and I've got questions. In essence, you're just buying tainted cocaine for $30,000 instead of hiring a hit man, right? I guess he could have just poisoned the cocaine himself and cut out the middle man, but maybe he was scared that it would be impossible to do so and cover his tracks (which is probably true.)  It's almost impossible to do anything or even move without a digital/video footprint left behind. 
  
• Oh, no! Kanye has decided he has just been used as a tool for Trump! 
  
• A 19 year old neo-Nazi in Fort Worth has been charged with hanging racist banners on public property in Fort Worth. (It's the "public property" aspect which earned him a Class C misdemeanor. Put a bumper sticker on your car that says the same thing and you're home free.)
  
• I hate Fort Worth Nazi's.
• For any of you thinking the 14th Amendment doesn't demand birthright citizenship because of the phrase "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof", read this short yet scholarly article.  (You'll know more than 99.9% of the population about it.) It is written by a conservative and now federal judge who is a member of Federalist Society. Not conservative enough for you? What if I told you he was appointed by Trump to the Fifth Circuit last year? More proof? This is how he began his first opinion ever as a federal judge earlier this year: 
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• Clever:
  
• Trump getting off Air Force One yesterday in Pittsburgh without one single local, state or federal official there to greet him was very poetic. 
• It's Halloween and the 39th anniversary of me and my buddies being chased through the woods in Bridgeport by DPS troopers for throwing eggs. All but two of us escaped -- those two were briefly detained at city hall and then released. (Today we probably would have all been indicted for a multitude of felonies.)
• Here's the Southlake video I referenced yesterday. (Thanks, reader.) 
• And Another (New Jersey):
  
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• I've mentioned before the disaster that is Reagor Dykes Auto Group out of Lubbock which is in bankruptcy. The newspaper out there got a hold of a 22 minute audio recording of an employee meeting from last year where Dykes acts like a profane evangelist to sell cars. It's mesmerizing. If any of you have to work in an environment like that, do one thing: Quit.
• In today's edition of Fear The Brown People:
  
• Messenger: Above The Fold

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• I haven't seen the video of the Southlake High kids firing off racial slurs, but I'm not sure the high school has any right whatsoever to punish kids for something they say in their free time and not school related. At its core it is the government punishing someone for exercising legal free speech. (This made me recall the Supreme Court "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case which I hadn't thought about in years.)
  
• In an odd moment, I decided to carve a pumpkin for the first time in my life. Not to shoot low, I found a template for a somewhat elaborate design. Verdict? Mrs. LL said, "It's better than what I expected." I'm still trying to figure out if that was a compliment.
• Yesterday, the Supreme Court refused to hear No. 17-1636, California Sea Urchin Commission v. Combs. I mention this only because I learned there was a Sea Urchin Commission in California.
• In bizarre news this morning, Trump has decided he will do away with the constitutional right of birthright citizenship for anyone born on American soil. Yep. You read that insane sentence correctly. "It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You don't," Trump said. Oh, wait, there's more: He thinks he can do it by executive order. His Fear-Brown-People plan continues.

  

  Jesus being born in America denied citizenship by Trump

• The Cleveland Browns fired head coach Hue Jackson. Appearing on Hard Knocks is the dumbest thing he ever did because it gave him a rightfully deserved presumption of incompetence going into the season.
• Shephard Smith can be the voice of reason of State TV. His thoughts on the "caravan"  below are what I have been saying since day one. 
  
• Trump is sending thousands of troops to the border for that caravan that, if at all, won't be there for months. (What are they going to do? Shoot 'em?)  It's for show. It's a publicity stunt. It's to pander to his base. Did I mention his Fear-The-Brown-People mantra?
• One classmate shot and killed another in a hallway before classes started in North Carolina high school yesterday . Get this: They didn't cancel classes. This is modern day America. 
• "The Port Neches-Groves football team was ordered Monday to forfeit one of its wins after a coach was spotted in the press box using an iPad in violation of UIL rules."
• Conservative Matt Drudge of the The Drudge Report was none to pleased with Fox hosts yukking it up after the weekend of tragedies while discussing how it could hurt the vote.
  
  
• A Texas principal is on administrative leave after thinking it was a good idea on Facebook to write: “I worry about the USA looking like Mexico and South America with so many illegal aliens being welcomed to our country. Guess we are doomed to have a dirty country either way.”  (I guess if I don't think the Southlake kids can be legally punished, I'm not sure how I can take the position this guy can be punished.)
  
• Watch this bizarre story out of deep East Texas which no one understands yet: One Texas DA called for the Texas Rangers to investigate another Texas DA (a Baylor Law graduate) which prompted him to quit.