Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Odd drowning locations: Two people at Turner Falls in Oklahoma in the last week, and a teenager in a pond at Stonebridge Ranch Country Club in McKinney last night. 
• Trump can't block people on Twitter, a federal appeals court has ruled. It's really pretty simple: It's the equivalent of the county commissioner's having 30 minutes for an "open forum" from the public but with a rule of, "You can't speak if you are going to hurt our feelings."  The ruling applies to any government official who has an official social media account: From President to sheriff to school board member. 
• Ross Perot's passing is being acknowledged as it should be. But I had forgotten how he was mocked ruthlessly for using charts and graphs in his presidential campaigns. That was considered unconventional for a candidate. (Compare and contrast: "Little Rubio", "Lyin' Ted", etc.)
  
• That's a weird case of the Olney teacher being found dead by Lake Cooper where "foul play" is suspected. Side note: That's one small lake.   
  
• Pressure is mounting for Labor Secretary Alex Acosta to resign. He's the federal prosecutor who signed off on the "no prosecution" deal of Jeffrey Epstein when Epstein was accused of child trafficking in Florida. Prediction: He won't quit. It's a new political world out there, and the new rule is simply to ride it out and you'll survive. Memories are short. (Heck, the black faced Virginia governor survived.)
• A strip club, Shadow Cabaret, will host a golf tournament at Trump's Doral County Club in Florida where you get the "caddie girl of your choice."   Don't worry, "There would be no nudity at the resort . . . [since] the caddies would wear pink miniskirts and . . .  'a sexy white polo.' Afterward, however, the golfers and the dancers would return to another venue — the cabaret itself — for what [was] described as a 'very tasteful' burlesque show, which could involve nudity."
  
• Followup of interest to only a few: The dispute between former Wise County Attorney Todd Durden, now serving in that capacity for Kinney County, and that County Judge is getting nastier. But it looks like the judge knows that Durden will win so he's trying to kill a pending case by simply conceding and telling the appellate court the case is moot. (But the most interesting thing to me is that Durden now goes by a nickname.)
  
• I follow a ton of criminal lawyer accounts on Twitter, and I'm not even sure they are all real. But they are entertaining. 
  
• I can never remember what "Dew Point" means, and I've googled it more times than I also can't remember. 
• That's pretty big news out of Austin where UT says it will provide tuition and books for students coming from families who have a combined income of less than $65,000. But two things are certain: (1) Families will manipulate their incomes to fall under the $65,000 threshold, and (2) No right winger family will call this "socialism" if they are getting the benefit. 
  
• I don't think I've ever heard of this: One of the mini-Aggie schools is playing a team from Mexico in football. If they played it in El Paso they could promote it as The Brawl at The Wall.™ 
  
• Breaking! Local weather icon David Finfrock must be a Dirty Lib!
  
• Messenger: Above the Fold
  

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• I referred to the substance you put on your skin to prevent sunburn as "suntan lotion" yesterday, and the Kids-In-The-House for some reason thought that was hilarious. 
• There was a time when I would monitor motorcycle deaths on here because it seemed like they were happening all the time. I still think they are death machines. 
  
• I thought this pic was staged from a movie or something yet it actually was taken yesterday morning when a flash flood hit D.C.

  

  "Uh, I'm gonna be a little late."

• The new UIL marching band rules might catch some people by surprise. "Anyone entering the first and third years of high school is required to see a doctor [for a physical], along with any seventh- or eighth-grade students who march in a band. In the second and fourth years of high school, a medical history form is required. All paperwork is due by Aug. 1."
• Greg Abbott drives me insane. No politician panders more to the masses than him. "Despicable criminal"? First, the girl is legally a child. Secondly, she hasn't even been convicted and a former judge and Texas AG should know something about the presumption of innocence. (Heck, as far as any of us know she pulled the ice cream back out and bought it. Unlikely? Yes. But none of us know what actually happened.) Thirdly, he was silent when people died from listeria from Blue Bell in 2015 even though the company knew about the bacteria in one of its plants two years beforehand. 
  
• Pete Delkus didn't predict Jack County and western Wise County being soaked yesterday morning. 
• I don't have anything against the Jeffrey Epstein prosecution. But I've always had a huge problem with prosecutors grandstanding. This is grandstanding. 
  
• It seems like in high profile criminal cases you often hear of the defendant as being a "flight risk" when the government is advocating no bond or a high bond. Name the last high profile case where the defendant did not show up for court. 
• I like the story (stats like that never cease to amaze me), and I also like the illustrations. 
  
  
• The Fifth Circuit today will hear oral arguments in a widely watched Obamacare case. As background, a federal judge in Fort Worth, who you've never heard of and whose only prior experience was five years as an assistant DA in Tarrant County, struck down the law. Why (especially since the Supreme Court had already upheld the law)? Because Trump's Congress repealed the penalty you have to pay on your income taxes if you choose not to obtain insurance. Since the Supreme Court only upheld Obamacare because the penalty was a "tax" and, because Congress has the authority to impose taxes, the court said Congress had authority to impose Obamacare. Ergo, if there is no longer a penalty/tax then Congress didn't have the authority to pass the health care law. I can't believe I'm saying this, but the federal judge might be right. 
  
• I had no idea this happened two years ago. 
  
• "See! Constitutional scholar Steve Doocy thinks I'm right!" We live in Idiocracy. 
  
• The average rent in Dallas is $1,153.  And apartments are 94.9% full. 
• We might have Tropical Storm Barry form in the gulf. At this point, it doesn't appear that it will become a devastating hurricane and thereby ruining my name forever. (I.e. Katrina.)
  
• There is a 100% chance that the Change of Venue motion in the Amber Guyger case will be denied. And, despite their assertion, the defense team doesn't want it moved because of "media hysteria." They propose even moving the trial to Collin County. (For some reason I picture Seinfeld's Jackie Chiles saying, "This media hysteria is as bad as Blue Bell listeria!")

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Decatur ISD's school superintendent resigned on Friday. One thing I've learned in life: I would never want to be a school superintendent or a member of a school board. 
• I thought about this way too long. 
  
• Based upon the other shots, they weren't trying to re-create Anchorman -- just trying to be "wacky news people" who love working on the 4th of July outdoors.
• 
  
  
  
• You've got to love the Arizona governor getting all high and mighty and withdrawing incentives for Nike's move into a city because of the Betsy Ross Flag controversy only to be out in public at a function a few days later wearing Nikes. 
  
• Last Friday: Seinfeld debuted 30 years ago.  Last Saturday: It was 25th anniversary of  the release of Forrest Gump. And, by the way, the 2010s are over in six months. 
• Keller PD did a bit about Blue Bell, Fox 4 posts this, and people became outraged because the didn't know it was a bit.  (Yet another reason why I'm against cops doing bits on the taxpayer dime.)
  
• The New York U.S. attorney's office indicting Jeffrey Epstein on child sex trafficking between 2002-2008 sure got everyone's attention starting on Saturday night. (You either know about the case or will never care about the case.) Man, the stuff he knows and the people who he could inculpate. Side note: I didn't know Ken Starr was on his defense team when he ran into problems in Miami. 
• Trump about Epstein in 2002:
  
  
• Something I was surprised to see in James Michner's Texas that I'm reading: Texas was given approval by Congress to break into five different states whenever it wants. I knew about it and wrote about it last year, but I acted like I had discovered a golden nugget. Yet, it's thrown out in the book, written in 1985, with an "everyone knows that" feel.  
• The Rangers' Angels' catcher was run over at the plate yesterday. From this angle, it looks like the runner clearly went out of the baseline to go get him (watch his left foot.) This other angle makes me not so sure. 
  
• I tried to diagnosis a water sprinkler system problem where a zone was stuck in the "on" position (and I have no experience in water sprinklers.)  Having some indication (read "youtube told me") that it might be a valve, I looked for the protective box in the ground. The first picture is what the Internet told me it was supposed to look like.  The second is what I finally found and unearthed. Yep, no box. Just completely buried. Spliced wires everywhere. Two different manufacturers of the first two valves I found. And that was the way it was "professionally" installed. 

  

  Not mine.

   

  

  Mine.
• That's kind of like the fast food pics of what it's supposed to look like in the ad vs. what you get. 
• I was able to clean it up a bit more and identify the valve controlling the offending zone, disassemble it, and take a look at the diaphragm which, I'm told, can be the problem.  At this point in the pic below, I was like, "Well, so that's a diaphragm, huh?" I pulled it out, and it looked fine while realizing that I wouldn't know if it didn't look fine.   Did you know you can get a replacement for one of those valves -- the complete thing -- for about $20.00? That's the easiest way to get replacement parts, too -- buy the whole thing. I'll also re-splice those wires to clean up the connections. Oh, and buy a valve box. But Vegas money is rolling in on me calling in someone. 
  
• Stuff I read that sounds incredibly dull yet incredibly bad: For the last full quarter, long term bonds are paying less interest than short term bonds. So what? For the last 50 years, every time that has happened for a quarter - every single time - a recession happened.
• "Britain's ambassador to the U.S. described President Trump as an 'insecure' and 'incompetent' leader of an administration marred by 'vicious infighting' and 'false claims' in a series of leaked diplomatic memos published by the Daily Mail."
• Messenger: Above The Fold.

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

I got drunk yesterday in the pool and kinda remember sending a weather forecast to this extremely attractive guy i have a crush on and then I found this pic.twitter.com/v9V1QTTlhu

— mercedes gable (@merrrcedesbenz) June 26, 2019

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Block or charge, @RexChapman? pic.twitter.com/SGMfOGAVPI

— drew olanoff (@yoda) July 2, 2019

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Y’all wanna see a nutmeg K? pic.twitter.com/KLtP8YTnni

— Cut4 (@Cut4) July 3, 2019

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Can everybody just Please look at this cat pic.twitter.com/GEPe1XzurJ

— danee, goddess of dinosaurs 🦖 (@itsdaneesaur) July 3, 2019

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Blocking negative vibes all Summer ‘19 😂 pic.twitter.com/QOFgdUxQ6R

— Anna-Lysa Gayle (@ABC7Annalysa) July 4, 2019

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Block or charge?🏀🎉🥂😱💦🤭 pic.twitter.com/HVBAllD5NY

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) July 5, 2019

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Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• In a great moment last night, controversial Iowa Congressman Steve King responded to a tweet. He deleted it later. Yep, he thought that was a real request. 
  
• The Update is reporting the death of a Lake Bridgeport woman this morning after a fire within a house. Here is where it happened. There are a set of town homes right there: 
  
• You'll see a ton of stories that the Lufkin-Bell-Bell-Ice-Cream-Licker is facing a Second Degree Felony. Tap the brakes on that. It ain't gonna happen.  Is there a statute that is entitled "Tampering With Consumer Product" and does it make a the crime a Second Degree Felony? Yes. But Law 101 is this: Read the definitions in the statute. In this case "Tamper" means "to alter or add a foreign substance to a consumer product to make it probable that the consumer product will cause serious bodily injury." (And "serious bodily injury" means "death, serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.") Licking ice cream and putting it back on the shelf is disgusting, but it's not a felony in Texas.

  

  And why is Fox 4 using a Fox 26 screenshot?
• Do you remember the first Product Tampering case that shook the nation? Hint. It was in 1982 and seven people died. I remember it, and the country was freaked out. 
• I'm beginning to believe Ring doesn't keep us safer, it just lets us realize the crazy stuff that happens outside our doors. 
  
• Trump stayed on script yesterday and didn't deviate at his rally on the 4th of July. As far as him saying the army "took over the airports" during the Revolutionary War (or the War of 1812 -- it's hard to tell), he probably just misread it. In fact, he butchered that entire section.
• But he finally got his wall. Man, that's a bad look on the 4th of July. Alternative line: He even put the Lincoln Memorial in a cage.
  
• Speaking of bad looks, let me present this lady at Trump's parade. In what might be the worst messaging in history, she is actually sympathetic to the immigrants' plight. But that's an odd way of showing it. 
  
• We really needed more coverage of this: The Qanon Conspiracy nuts actually thought JFK Jr. had faked his death and would appear yesterday at the rally and be named the new Vice-President. (This lady's vote counts as much as yours does.)
  
• I was all over Trump's tweet a couple of days ago about fighting the Census decision by the Supreme Court (which directly contradicted what the Justice Department who had told the federal judge the day before they were throwing in the towel.) The judge got slightly miffed and called an emergency hearing on Wednesday afternoon. The transcript is 15 pages and is pure gold. I don't know who government lawyer Mr. Gardner is, but he basically said, "I have no idea what is going on but don't kill me judge because, you know, it's Trump." And when the judge wanted them back in court today, this happened: 
  
• I'm finally giving James A. Michener's Texas a shot. After about 400 pages into this mammoth book, I'm hooked. (It's the second book I've read this year that places fictional characters into the backdrop of real history, and I'm beginning to believe it's a heck of away to learn.) 
  
• The son of former Dallas Cowboy Ken Norton Jr. who was trying to make the Miami Dolphins was in a car wreck and had to have his arm amputated at the scene. In a split second your life can change. 
  
• Odd conversation yesterday. Mrs. LL: "What do you have against concrete?" Me: "I don't like things that are permanent." Then awkward and confused silence. Until the College Kid In The House casually said, "That sure is a weird theme to live by."

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Edit: Breaking: The missing two year old in Denton has been found dead.  Update: "A neighbor got into their car this morning and discovered Sarbesh’s body."
• Vice President Mike Pence was abruptly called back to the White House and cancelled a speaking event in New Hampshire. The "most transparent Administration in history" won't tell us why other than his press secretary said, "Something came up." (The whole thing was weird. There is no way Pence is ever called back for any crisis because of his potential input.)
  
• I read the story. Truly, this makes no sense. His case, which involved a road rage stabbing, had no African-Americans involved in it.
  
• Another body was found in White Rock lake yesterday. Since when has that become such a repository for bodies? What is that, the third one this year?
• There's a missing two year old by UNT in Denton. He is said to have walked off while his mother thought he was taking a nap.  My alarm is going off. 
• On Monday, Trump vowed to continue to fight the Supreme Court decision that, temporarily at least, prevented the Administration from asking about citizenship status on this year's Census. Then in a stunning reversal yesterday, the Justice Department officially caved and said the Census questionnaire was headed to the printer without the question.
  
• But in what is bizarre even for Trump, no one must have told him that the Census fight was over because last night he thought the case was still going on. (Side note: Nice chant at the end of a tweet.)
  
• If a city is going to rent out places for banners, that city can't control the content of those banners. People of Fort Worth had this First Amendment lesson yesterday.
  
• Even assuming you think sucking up to a murderous dictator is good policy, at least get your facts straight. President Obama wasn't in office in 2008. (He deleted it.) 
  
• Let me precede the next bullet point with attempting to answer the the confusing question of: When are "charges filed" in misdemeanor cases? I've always taken the position that charges are filed when the prosecutor files a piece a paper (called an Information) with the County Clerk and it receives a cause number and becomes part of the public record. Charges aren't "filed" with an arrest. Charges aren't "filed" when a police agency sends the case over to the prosecutor.
• With that in mind, marijuana policy changes (or not) are trickling out across the state due to the unintended consequences of a recent legislative change: Galveston prosecutors will take the cases but not file charges until DPS can give them a lab report (unless the defendant admits that it's weed, then they'll go ahead and file it with the County Clerk.) The Harris County, Fort Bend County, Bexar County, and Nueces County DAs say don't even give them the cases unless you have a lab report because they won't file them. Montgomery County says they'll file the cases even without a lab report, and if the defendant demands a trial they'll wait until there is one. 
• Sports expert update: I fired off the hot sports opinion late last week that the Rangers were a "mirage." They are on a three game losing streak. 
• It's disturbing when a small town newspaper shuts down, but it's even more disturbing how they just announce it, fire everyone, and lock the doors. The Katy Times did it yesterday.  It's website didn't even acknowledge it.
  
  
• The Navy Seal accused of war crimes was found not guilty of murder. I missed on that one. Big time.  
• They don't know?
  
  
  

  

  I can think of a couple of things.
• Faithful readers know I've been searching for a pre-1950 photo of the Wise County district courtroom for years and finally we have the Leader We Need who also must be secretly referring to me as a "consultant." From the Update: "Wise County Judge J.D. Clark is working on the courthouse master plan update as part of the Texas historic courthouse program and is seeking the public’s help. 'Our consultants recommended I reach out to the community to see if anyone has historic photos of the courthouse, exterior and interior, that could be useful,” he said.'
• The "sipping tea cup" moment after an American goal in yesterday's women's World Cup immediately brought responses of how England would retaliate if they scored the next goal. Drinking from a 40 ounce Big Gulp? Holding a confusing 20 page medical bill? Firing an AR-15?