Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Individual-1's paranoia continues this morning as he he tells us not once, but twice, there is no "Smocking Gun." (And it is pure 1984 as how he slowly has begun referring to Mueller's investigation as "the Dems.") And he went on to admit to paying off women for their silence -- something he has lied about in the past -- as just a "private" transaction.
  
• Never forget who Mueller, a Republican appointed by a Republican, is per Fox News:
  
• Random death notable to fans of the great movie Night Shift:  Tim Rossovich. 

  

  "Awful good. She meant awful good."

• Very random find that means nothing: Less than two years before 9/11, a 19 year old student pilot from Saudia Arabia crashed near Boyd. His instructor was from Yemen.
  
  
• This is amazing. A basketball card has turned up with the Menendez Brothers in the background. And sleuths have figured out that the photo was taken after they killed their parents.
  
• CourtTV is coming back.
• Dave Campbell's Texas Football says that Decatur has had the fifth hardest schedule in the state to this point, and only one other team is still alive in the playoffs which has had a harder road.
• TCU's starting quarterback will transfer. Something is going on in the Gary Patterson empire.
• Trump told us he would hire the best people. Now he thinks his first hire as Secretary of State (who was the CEO of ExxonMobile when it was making record profits) was "dumb as a rock." We are learning that the best people are smart enough to not want to work for him. 

                                               

• I think those "win probability" charts overstate the chances of winning or losing at any point during the game, but this one is pretty funny.  (Here's the play as time expired in case you missed it.)
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• I mentioned it on Friday, but I finally finished it: Get Me Roger Stone on Netflix is an absolute must-see for any political junkie. It is fantastic.
• Questioned posed to me: Was there just one hearse that transported George H.W. Bush's body in both D.C. and Texas?  It sure looks like it. But if true that meant there was a second plane carrying the hearse which somehow had to beat Bush's plane to its destinations after delivering the body to Air Force 1. (I know the Presidential limo used by Trump and other presidents travels in a separate C17 military plane.)
  
• How Joe Barton, who was involved in a salacious sex scandal over a year ago, thought it was fine to serve out the remainder of his term at taxpayer's expense instead of resigning is shameful.
  
• Ray Liotta in that Chantix commercial sounds like he has a head injury and looks like he has had a Botox malfunction.
• Messenger: Above The Fold.

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

Salmon crossing a road in Washington pic.twitter.com/8YxMMyP4xw

— Gaml .y (@m_yosry2012) November 30, 2018

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powerful pic.twitter.com/LCu46mmD8u

— Egg Zog (@DrZoggle) November 28, 2018

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These ducks experience snow for the first time and are not impressed 😂 pic.twitter.com/unODj1gD5A

— laney (@misslaneym) December 3, 2018

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Bush Family motorcade makes a pit stop at Buc-ee’s on Highway 290 to College Station. #howTexasisthat pic.twitter.com/OaFifDfwxJ

— Rusty Surette (@KBTXRusty) December 6, 2018

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ANGRY. RUN. CHAMPION. 🏆 @gmfb@KingHenry_2 99 YARDS TO THE HOUSE! pic.twitter.com/FCCLpgDVA0

— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) December 7, 2018

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Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• The founder of the Texas Tribune is considering creating a competitor to the Star-Telegram. The Star-Telegram reporters responded. 
• The Decatur Eagles won again last night before a sparse crowd (a Thursday road trip to Lubbock ain't easy), and were rewarded with the next game being in Jerry World on Friday. What a treat. Heck, any adult would be giddy about playing just a flag-football game there. 
• Interesting legal question. It all started with a screwed up arrest of a lady who then began to criticize the sheriff's office on Facebook. It hurt the sheriff's feelings so he blocked her. 
  
• After the Bridgeport girls basketball team's bus accident last week, stories like this make me do a double take.
  
• Text Me Merry Christmas feat. Kristen Bell is a thing?
• Kevin Hart was named host of the Oscars and then  backed out 48 hours later because of being a horrible comedian past homophobic tweets.
  
• There was a Maserati parked at the Wise County courthouse yesterday. Obviously an out-of-towner. And to make things confusing, the only thing going on was a misdemeanor criminal docket. No one associated with those things could afford (or want) a Maserati. 
• Fox Business had to apologize for a Congressman firing off anti-Semitism yesterday. That Congressman was from Texas who would easily win an award for Most Likely To Fire Off Anti-Semitic Opinions. 

                                              

• An Ohio woman was arrested in a Walmart for shoplifting. I'm guessing that's not high on her list of problems. 

                                             

• This is pretty interesting: A New York Times probability calculator for the Cowboys making the playoffs based upon how they do in their last four games. You can mix and match. Spoiler alert: If they win on Sunday they are very likely to be in regardless of what they do the next three games.  Lose on Sunday and they are likely out.
  
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• Trump is normally briefed in the evening by the Justice Department when the Special Counsel is going to make noteworthy court filings the next day, so let's check in on Trump's mental health: He has six tweets since late last night about the Russian probe, and this tweet of paranoia at 10:08 p.m. EST. Thirty-nine minutes later CNN had to evacuate its New York headquarters because of a bomb threat of five devices. 
  
• I can find any updates on it, but right now in Vegas there is a guy in a completely dark room (with a toilet and a fridge without a light) who will win $100,000 if he can remain there for 30 days. Details here. If he can't make it, he owes $100,000. There is no way I would get involved in that. The sensory deprivation with no concept of time would drive me insane within a week. 
• Here are your Top 10 movies for 2018 as the year wraps up. It's proof that the days of the traditional movie are over. 
  
• I kept seeing Roger Stone show up in the news about the Russian probe, and I was ashamed that  I really didn't know anything about him. So I've started watching the 2017 documentary Get Me Roger Stone on Netflix. He may be the most fascinating and corrupt political consulting nutcase I've ever heard about. I had no idea he was such a big player from way back.
  
• Delta has started using facial recognition software for check-ins at Atlanta's airport. Get ready. Once technology hits a tipping point, it will be everywhere in the blink of an eye. 

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• "And another" update. A wife of a football coach in Tennessee who was sentenced to three years is now being sued by the student/player. He's also sued her husband and the school.
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• We had a car chase in Fort Worth yesterday which ended with a guy just casually sitting in his car for about an hour while the military local police and DPS made preparations. 

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  Got to have assault weapons and gear

  

  You need two assault vehicles and a drone
  while everyone looks on

  

  And you had to start it with at least 20 police cars and a helicopter

• Has Fox News declared a war on Christmas?
  
• Trump can't go to a funeral without being Trump.
  

  

  No hand over his heart.

  

  The only couple not to recite the Apostles' Creed

• Decatur plays Hereford in the Texas high school football playoffs tonight. Fun facts: Hereford is the county seat of Deaf Smith County (technically pronounced "deef" but most people use "def"), has a city population of 15,370 (as of 2010), is named after the breed of cattle, and, because of the town's high content of fluoride in its water supply, has earned the title of  "The Town Without a Toothache"

  

  The courthouse in Hereford.

• "Keep doin' what ya doin', playboy, and keep chasin' that money."
  
• DPS and others have been sued in federal court over the insane "surcharge" program which has currently lead to an astonishing  1.4 million Texas driver's having lost their drivers license for failure to pay. I love the way it starts out . . . 
  
• Not only is this not true, it wouldn't be anything to brag about if it was.
  
• Golden Globe nominations were just announced (and I always find that awards show far more entertaining than watching the Academy Awards.) But Vice, that great looking movie about W and Chaney, led with six nominations. But how does it fall in the category of "Musical or Comedy"? 
  
• Nice touch by UT last night.
  
• The Dow just opened up with a 400 point loss and falling. 

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Several people have confirmed that the Decatur Sixth Grade pee-wee team did in fact play against a team from Argyle a few years back coached by the Saints' Sean Peyton a few years back. (I'm getting conflicting reports regarding his general attitude.)
• The comic book character "Tariff Man" truly has not a clue how tariffs work (and it is really, really simple to understand.)
  
• Bridgeport has a banner hanging over its main street proclaiming it is the "Christmas Capital of Wise County." The rest of you towns going to put up with that?
• A clip of Joel Osteen from 2017 has gained new life where he said, after noting he would be ridiculed if his kids wore raggedy clothes, that "When you look good, dress good, live in a nice place, excel in your career, generous with others, that bring's a smile to God's face."  With the exception of "generous with others", that whole statement is about as Biblically ignorant as you can get.
• The boys on my radio station switched shifts this morning. Because of that, four guys were watching Fox 4 News in the background and had never seen a certain early morning anchor before. Let's just say their reviews, at least with the audio down, were strong to quite strong. 
  
• Wise County probation took in almost a million dollars last fiscal year from fees alone.
  
• I hope this breaking news means as little to you as it does to me:
  
• Rain forecast. Important disclaimer: This is from Pete Delkus and not the Liberally Lean First Warn Weather Team.
  
• I've got yet another UT Breckyn Hager update. That goofball didn't smash his hand into an inanimate object after the OU game in anger did he? (I know which side I'd bet on.)
  
• Rudy Guiliani posted a tweet last week and accidentally created a hyperlink to a domain name ("G-20.In") that didn't exist. Someone immediately bought the domain, www.g-20.in, and uploaded one page saying Trump was a traitor. Last night, Guiliani, oblivious to this trickster who had widely promoted what he had done, blamed Twitter for allowing someone to "invade my text." The man doesn't understand how the Internet works. The man was named by Trump in 2017 as "an informal adviser on cybersecurity" for Trump's transition team. 
  
  
• Remember the number of times I've talked about retiring to the "jungle in Costa Rica"? Well, about that . . . . 
  
• The Bridgeport man who "set himself on fire and jumped from a bridge last Friday" has been identified as Lance Coe, 20, in the Update. There has to be some horrible back story to all of this. From 2014:
  
• I'm sure you've seen it, but it you haven't, take a moment to watch Bob Dole visit George H.W. Bush in the rotunda yesterday.
  
• Messenger: Above The Fold.
• The U.S. Postal Service taking a day off today in the middle of the Christmas holidays will not serve them well. It's probably a good thing, however, that the stock market is shut down today.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Breaking college football news: Ohio State coach Urban Meyer will step down after the bowl game. (At least he gave his bosses the heads up about something.)
• Isn't it time that the Southlake football team stop dying their collective hair blond? I know they have been doing it for years and years, but in this day and time it has kind of an Aryan Brotherhood feel to it. 
• Fort Worth PD will place, with a homeowner's permission, "bait" Amazon-like packages on doorsteps to catch thieves. Question: What level of crime would the thief be charged with? A theft charge is based upon value (regardless of whether the person actually knows the value of what he is stealing): For example, under $100 in value is like a traffic ticket, over $2,500 is a felony.  So what's in the packages which will determine its value? The PD Press Release doesn't say. (It also says the homeowner, who must have a video recording mechanism, won't be involved as a witness. That's a promise they can't legally keep.)
• Once Eric Trump said this, you just knew he was going to get killed in the comments. He must have forgot that daddy (aka "Individual 1") used to frolic with Stormy while married (among many others).
  
• "All state agencies, offices and departments will be closed on Wednesday for a day of mourning to honor former President George Herbert Walker Bush, Gov. Greg Abbott said in an executive order Monday."  Around here, I have no idea who is shutting down, but that could include DPS, all District Attorneys and the District Judges. (All are technically "state agencies.") Schools and universities were specifically excluded.
• Here's a shocking thread on President Bush. As President, he wanted to ratchet up the War on Drugs and to do so he wanted to address the nation holding up crack cocaine and say it was purchased in front of the White House. Since there wasn't any drug dealing going on in front of the White House, the DEA lured in a 19 year old high school kid to sell to an undercover agent. Bush got to hold up the crack. (Note: The 19 year old was tried twice and both trials resulted in hung juries. The feds tried him a third time, got a conviction, and he received ten years in prison serving over seven of it.)
  
• I've dogged UT's long haired Brecklyn Hager over the last couple of weeks and perhaps deservedly so. He got mauled in the OU game (quick video with three examples here), received a critical 15 yard penalty, and then deleted his Twitter account after the game. 
• Recommended: A fairly short podcast by Slate on Ruby Ridge. 
  
• Also recommended: Showtime's ongoing series Enemies: The President, Justice & The FBI. The more things change . . . . 
  
• A member of the "Texas Seven" (prison escapees who killed a cop outside of an Oshman's in Irving) is scheduled for execution tonight. Two years after  four of them were caught in a small town in Colorado, I actually went through there on the way to a tiny casino town. There were places selling "The Texas Seven Were Captured Here" t-shirts. 
  
• This front page from Galveston makes the cut below because of the crazy lead story: "A scammer posing as a county contractor in May tricked an employee in the county's purchasing department into changing how and where a $525,282 payment for road work would be made. The scammer has not been caught . . . . " Good, lord.