Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

The low was 68 this morning. 

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• Protest updates.
• An army of NYPD officers descended, through a window, upon a building at Columbia which had been occupied by protestors. Amazingly, things ended quietly and smoothly. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• But everyone might want to keep an eye on UCLA.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The University of North Texas managed to have a protest yesterday. Somehow police over there understand if you just let them be, everything is peaceful. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Southlake High School cancelled classes today.
  
  
  
• Trouble in Austin not related to protestors.
  
  
  
• Bridgeport High won a state title. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The new Tim O'Hare administration in Tarrant County is beginning to hit its stride.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• This isn't real, is it?
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A barber ends up saving a young child who was sprinting towards a busy intersection in Connecticut. Video.
  
  
  
• Update from yesterday's trial: 
• He's still cold.
  
  
  
• But Fox News told me he wouldn't let Trump go.
  
  
  
• There is no one more embarrassing that AG Ken Paxton. And did the taxpayers pay for his trip to New York to sit there?
  
  
  
• Legal nerdy stuff: The Fifth Circuit saved IBM from a $1.6 billion jury verdict yesterday.
  
  
  
• All I can hear in my head is Jerry saying "Blockchain com!"
  
• One of the biggest misconceptions I see with regard to the all the protests is "Hate speech is illegal."  Of course, it is not. 

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

The Heisman Trophy winner got involved in Crab-gate. 

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•  "Three members of a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force were fatally shot during a standoff Monday while trying to serve a warrant in Charlotte. A Charlotte police officer died hours later from injuries he suffered during the incident. Four other law enforcement officers were wounded, and the person they were pursuing was killed."
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I really don't understand UT being so heavy handed with protestors. Scenes from Austin yesterday:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Compare to Columbia where protestors took over a building last night. You can't be doing that. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• But this is nothing compared to 1968.
  
  
  
• JPS tried to kill an open records request by the Star-Telegram to get information for this story but failed.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Here's an example of how much the Republican party has changed. This is the county judge of Tarrant County taking sides in Republic run-offs races. Back in the day, no Republican elected official would ever take sides in a Republican vs. Republican race. But they do now.  And when they do, it is always an Ultra-MAGA extremists trying to get another ultra-MAGA guy elected. (Yep, municipal races don't have party affiliation but its generally Republican vs. Republican in them.)
  
  
  
• You just knew this was coming.
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
  
• Bridgeport is in the lead in the state golf tournament. The final day is today.
  
  
  
• The Texas Tribune has updated its searchable database for state salaries.  Below is an overview of the salaries for DPS. The purple circle represents all the troopers. The red arrow was drawn by me and represents you know who.
  
  
  
• Legal stuff: Some district and county clerks in Texas are now being sued by for not making records filed with them available to the public on “the same business day” they are received.
  
  
  
• Trump has had four of the last six days off from his criminal trial. He campaigned on none of them. 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

The auto accident taking the life of JP Terri Johnson 

dominated the news for a week back then.

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• Oklahoma, for a small state, gets pummeled by tornadoes far more than Texas does. Or it sure feels that way.
  
   
  
  
  
• Dateline San Antonio.  Video from the crowd caught the chaos.
  
  
  
• It may be the greatest unforced error of all time to admit in your own book that you personally executed your own dog because you didn't like him. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Sports radio station The Freak, led by Ticket-ex Mike Rhyner, went belly up on Friday after a year and a half on the air.
  
  
  
• A lawyer who represented Dan and Jake in their fight against the Ticket over their non-compete agreement says that he had been trying to arrange the purchase of the station and bring the employees with it. 
  
  
  
• This might be one of the biggest loads I've ever seen towed.  And it fell its trailer and killed two people in a nearby car on Saturday near Temple. 
  
  
  
• This video lived up to the bill. Anyone else but a cocky D.A. would have been arrested on the spot. Story.
  

  
  
  
• Trump criminal trial will resume today. I would think the best way to defend it is to admit the affair and the payoffs, but argue that all the actions are not crimes. But instead, Trump is going to deny everything including that he slept with Stormy Daniels.  That's dumb. From the opening statements that I finally read: 
  
  
  
• Birthday nugget about Jerry Seinfeld:
  
  
  
• Random anniversary of a news story that I had never heard of. "On April 27, 1978, in one of the deadliest construction accidents in U.S. history, fifty-one workers fell to their deaths when scaffolding attached to an unfinished cooling tower collapsed in Willow Island, West Virginia."
  
  
  
• NFL draft recap:
  
  
  
• New NFL rule.
  
  
  
• Breaking: He's back. 
  
  
  
• I think Jerry Jones has now officially entered the Al Davis stage of life. He's acting a little crazier than normal.