Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Fox News was not happy with the change in the Senate filibuster rule that will now make it next to impossible for the minority Republicans to block judicial candidates. Now a simple majority rules on the issue. What a concept. 
• Just when I thought it was dead, Slate.com picked up the Judge Jerry Ray chastising the Tarrant County jury story.  They called the judge "dyspeptic." (I admit I had to look it up.)
• And the incident also became a full story in the Texas Lawyer trade publication (paywall?) as of yesterday (where it's pseudo viral status was attributed to everyone and their dog except me.)
• For all the hubbub about the JFK 50th Anniversary Celebration(?) at Dealey Plaza, the timing with the weather could not have been worse. It is miserable out there. (Check out Gordon Keith's set up where he is reporting live from there, and under a tarp, this morning. It is beyond funny and beyond beaten.)
• David McCullough will speak at the Dallas ceremony today. I fell in love with his voice as the narrator of Ken Burns' The Civil War and on an audiobook where I listened to him read his 1776.
• Fox 4 News showed the sand trucks last night and said they were "standing by." Seriously. 
• JFK tidbit: Dallas federal district judge Sarah T. Hughes swore in LBJ on Air Force One that day but beforehand the whole federal courthouse was scrambling to find the text of the Oath of Office. It is Hughes understanding that someone actually called the Attorney General to get the text. But it's actually right there in the Constitution. You could win a Jeopardy answer with that trivia someday. 
• I watched a program last night on the two hours immediately after the assassination. It said that most believed LBJ hurried to be sworn in so that AG Bobby Kennedy couldn't come up with a way to keep him from being President. I scoffed. Then later in the program they played audio from years later of LBJ saying he basically couldn't get in the oval office for three days and he had thought Bobby was trying to figure a way to keep him from assuming the role of the President. 
• They also had audio of LBJ calling Rose Kennedy, JFK's mom, from Air Force One as it flew back to Washington. Her first words were, "Hello, Mr. President." 
• There is a guy tweeting historic photos of Kennedy in Fort Worth and Dallas and he appears to be trying to post them at the moment they happened 50 years ago. Fort Worth photos are being posted right now. 
• Some of the protesters were not being nice to Republicans yesterday at Dealey Plaza.
• Yesterday a Boeing 747 cargo plan landed at the wrong airport in Kansas described as "rural" (surprise!) For awhile they were concerned that the runway might not be long enough for takeoff but the engineers and slide-rulers did the calculations and said it was OK. It took off a few hours later -- with new pilots.
• I know I rile up only one commenter when I dog Dennis Prager, but if you want a taste of what Prager is about read his recent column on five ways to "ensure your child won't" be a liberal. I can summarize it for you: Brainwash him so he won't have the ability to make his own decisions. Incredible. (But, man, he can fire up the masses -- that thing had over a 1,000 comments when I looked yesterday.)
• Speaking of riling people up, Mark Davis' column in the Dallas Morning News on the Cheney sisters gay marriage controversy got people riled up as well. (Davis has been writing there for years but the News interestingly doesn't list him on their "columnists" page.)
• Jerry Jones saying yesterday that head coach Jason Garrett will return as the Cowboys coach in 2014 is like a politician saying he won't run for President. If they later do the opposite, they will just say, "I believed that then but circumstances changed."
• Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon is on Twitter and is full of self-promotion with a "lock 'em all up" attitude.  So I don't know why I was stunned yesterday to read a new case, In Re Ligon, 408 S.W.3d 888 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 2013, no pet. h.) where he tried to prosecute a trespass case where he was the victim! When a judge threw him off the case and appointed the equivalent of a special prosecutor so the defendant could receive a fair trial, Ligon amazingly appealed the decision. There's a word for that: Hubris. As anyone could guess, he lost the appeal. And to think he is responsible for exercising judgment in other cases that can destroy lives. 
• Baylor/OSU Nerd Stat Thought that makes me feel better: Of the all-time offensive Top 10 teams based upon yards per game, Baylor has a shocking three teams on the list: Teams from 2011, 2012, and 2013. And most of those teams are just high flying air-raid teams but not Baylor. Of those teams on the list, Baylor has three of the top four rushing offenses.