Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• The Senate followed the House and raised the debt ceiling yesterday. Ted Cruz attempted the equivalent of a filibuster but, with the help of Sen. John Cornyn, he was slapped down. (They ain't got time for that.) Then the Senate passed the measure with every Democrat voting for it and every Republican voting against it. It's all about practical realities over grandstanding. 
• Hey, Mrs. LL! Read this!: "He’s corny, homophobic, manipulative, creepy, rude, boring, and not as attractive as ABC tries to convince me he is. [The Bachelor's] Juan Pablo is a special kind of mean disguised as a nice guy."
• The Northwest teenager who was killed in the wreck on icy roads this week attended Wise County's Aurora Baptist Church.
• And it is sadly refreshing the girl's parents haven't been on the news giving interviews. I was beginning to wonder if real grief was slowly disappearing.
• The Fifth Grader In The House asked if Dallas would ever host the Summer Olympics. You know, I thought it was crazy when Dallas submitted a bid many years ago, but not so much now. We currently have a facilities gold mine consisting of Cowboys Stadium, SMU's football stadium and a renovated basketball arena, TCU's renovated stadium and soon-to-be renovated basketball facility, The Ballpark in Arlington, Baylor's new stadium, and UNT's new stadium. Heck, there wouldn't be much to build. But the summer heat and those multiple "paddling sports" (invented name) would be the biggest problems.
• There's an Outlaw Monster Truck based in Decatur?
• I heard a political ad this morning that said, "And I'm a former U.S. Attorney. So I know a little something about defending the constitution." Huh? I've never met a prosecutor who was a big advocate of the Fourth Amendment. 
• The NCAA is proposing a new football rule that prevents offenses from snapping the ball with more than 30 seconds on the play clock. They claim it's for safety. It's really to slow down the up tempo offenses that the old guard is scared of. (Those offenses of Oregon, Baylor, Tech, and maybe TCU next year.) Case in point: The proposed rule doesn't apply during the last two minutes. So they don't care about safety in the last two minutes?
• In Mark Davis' most recent Morning News column, he tries to explain why he is against the legalization of marijuana. One of his points: "Most people consuming alcohol are not looking to get drunk; everyone smoking pot is looking to get high." The vitriolic comments he receives make me feel loved by comparison.
• That composite video of the women's downhill, showing what it would look like if two competitors raced at the same time may be one of the coolest things I've ever seen. (And that was a heck of a crash yesterday involving Marie Arvier-Marchand in the women's downhill -- but I can't find thed video of it.) 
• Hey, it's now the United States vs. Russia in hockey very early on Saturday morning. 
• I received a spam email intended for family law lawyers. The user name is "Divorce Marketing Group?" Sounds like a name for someone selling divorce.:
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• We knew when UT's Mack Brown resigned that he would assume some new vague position at the school with a salary of $500,000 annually. But yesterday we learned he will also receive a severance of $2.75  million. Wait. Don't you get a severance only when you are fired? 
• Dale Hansen's Unplugged this weekend (he signed the screen!) about the Missouri college player coming out as gay before the NFL Draft has gone viral. (But I'd like to point out that he delivered it as WFAA was scrolling the school delay/closing ticker at the bottom of the screen. Wise County towns are now famous.)
• Bad cops: (1) Fort Worth cop fired in traffic ticket scandal, (2) Dallas cop suspended over road rage incident, and (3) Ex-Arlington cop gets a year in jail for tipping off an illegal steroid dealer. 
• Heck of snow storm in the South and Northeast. The Duke/North Carolina game, which those people are crazy about, was cancelled last night.