Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

Replacing repeat

• All the news organizations were all over the female trooper search story last night. I've seen crazier things happen during traffic stops over the last 25 years.
• I said I didn't think that lawsuit was going anywhere for this reason: Once the officer claims to smell the odor of marijuana he can search anywhere that the marijuana could reasonably be found. And it doesn't matter if he believes there is a misdemeanor or felony amount present. And, most importantly, it doesn't matter that he turns out to be wrong.
• You think the police don't have ridiculous power? Remember the Supreme Court case where they sanctioned the arrest of a Texas woman for the minor offense of not wearing a seatbelt?
• And remember the Supreme Court case which sanctions the strip searching of anyone arrested regardless of how minor the offense? Yep, he could have arrested both women for littering and they legally could have been striped strip searched at the jail.
• A lawyer on Fox 4 last night said it will be "up to the jury" to determine if the search was reasonable. I doubt a judge will ever let it get that far.
• How has police power come to this? Because you have elected "law and order" judges in Texas, and Presidents who haven't formed a Supreme Court that has valued civil rights since the 1960s. To use a quote that the Hard Right is familiar with: "America's chickens are coming home to roost." 
• Changing gears, I never dreamed that Cheaper Than Dirt would suspend online gun sales.
• None of these school shootings are committed by little girls. Always boys. 
• Our "elf on the shelf" was sitting on the kitchen counter this morning in front of what appeared to an elf made snow angle angel made in flower flour. [Edit: One of my greatest sentences apparently.]
• It's too long to post here, but I got an email from a lady yesterday who was upset with the law enforcement response she got in Wise County when she reported a dead and malnourished horse. 
• A Football Life on the NFL Channel is really good. Tonight they are doing an hour on The Immaculate Reception. 
• Few people remember that that playoff game occurred on a Saturday and was preceded by a famous Cowboys win over the 49ers where the Cowboys scored 17 points under Staubach in the fourth quarter to win 30-28. As a kid I remember my family picking my grandparents up for a Christmas dinner and my grandfather saying, "I think I just watched two of the most exciting games ever today."  I had no idea what he was talking about. 
• President Obama was named as Time's Man Of The Year this morning. Yeah, I know. That ol' liberal media.
• The Decatur home invasion guy will be charged with "burglary of a habitation with the intent to commit a sexual offense." Unless there is more to the story, that's a reach. 
• Mark Cuban passed a kidney stone last night and tweeted about it.  Good grief.
• Went to a high school band concert last night and noticed a uniformed officer standing by me in the back of the auditorium. I quickly learned he wasn't there for security but only to see his daughter perform. 
• Judge Robert Bork passed away this morning. (For those that don't remember, he was the first Supreme Court nominee to go through a confirmation process that looked like an MMA fight. He didn't get confirmed.)