Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• The grand jury chose not to indict the Dallas officers involved in the shooting of the mentally disturbed guy holding a screwdriver on his doorstep after his mother called the police because of his erratic behavior. Hey, I'm not sure the cops should be charged with a crime, but they sure chose to use deadly force in the blink of an eye. Isn't there something short of a bullet that can be used in that situation? Whatever happened to say . . . uh . . . tasers?
• I'm not making any accusations, but there does seem something a little odd about the death of that Bridgeport boy. 
• I've spent very little time in hospitals, but I've been inside a couple recently. They seem to be kept functioning by thirty-somethings which move pretty fast and do a pretty good job. 
• I'm proud to learn that I had never heard of the Kylie Kenner Challenge until I heard two young ladies talk about it up at the courthouse this week. 
• If I click on the Star-Telegram home page, leave it there for just a few seconds and then click the "back" browser, it appears that I have visited the site 8 consecutive times. Some of you tech geeks explain that. 
• I mentioned that I had a "nemesis" on my jury panel this week, but it's hard to explain because I want to be fair to the guy, and I might even be wrong. Here's the deal: I believe he was audibly scoffing when I spoke to the potential jurors about some basic principles of a criminal jury trial. (I've talked to one other person in the courtroom that morning who heard it. Others didn't.) I didn't want to ask him if he disagreed with something I said because he had already said something that caused me to know I didn't want him on the jury. (Yes, there are ways I could have used him to actually make my points, but I had a sense of danger.)   Later, when he and the rest of those not announced to be on the jury were excused to leave, he got everyone's attention to announce that a young man who served in the military was on the panel. I may be wrong about him, but there are people like that: Incredibly patriotic but have a hard time appreciating rights the Constitution provides those for a person on trial for an alleged crime. Sir, if you didn't scoff, I apologize. And if you did, thank you. That's something I wanted to know. 
• We've had another "And Another" out of Dallas. I'll admit it: Even I'm tired of my "And Another" bit. 
• With the new Star Wars trailer out, I'm going to say something for the millionth time: I do not understand the fascination with that series, and I'm a guy who loves Star Trek.  I actually saw the original Star Wars at Northeast Mall as a kid. But you know who really loves that stuff?: People ten years and younger than me. 
• Whomever comments about departures of assistant prosecutors under the new Tarrant County DA, they been busy over the last couple of days mentioning that there have been more departures this week. 
• At the beginning of a story from a Lubbock paper about a lady eating three 72 ounce steaks "not being recommended by a doctor", there was this disclaimer: "(Editor’s note: A phrase toward the end of this story may be too graphic for some people.)"  Can you find it? I can't after a quick scan. Is this the equivalent of "click bait" to get you to actually read a story? 
• I was just scanning through Texas front pages for this morning and came across the following. I know nothing about it other than it involves and auto wreck, but I'll check out what it is about.