Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• So there's a report that Freddie Gray, the individual whose death set off the Baltimore riots, might have tried to injure himself in a police van?  Other than the fact the report came from a document prepared by a police department who is under fire, the "witness" to that event was another person in police custody whose name was not disclosed, and this whole narrative sounds exactly like an episode of corruption right out of The Wire, I think we can call this a closed case. 
• The social media guy for the Houston Rockets (a Baylor grad, by the way) was fired after his horse-about-to-be-shot tweet. (Hey, to the guy who commented below who told me I was an idiot that I didn't understand the tweet was about rape, I'm a little worried about you. I think you inadvertently went through a Rorschach test when you looked at that tweet and saw something no one else did.) 
• I mentioned the other day that I was unfamiliar with the practice of metropolitan DA offices having a "list" of officers who have a past which indicates they may not be trustworthy. An officer's name will be revealed to be on that list to the defense lawyer if the officer is involved in a pending case. Makes sense. But I got to thinking. If a prosecutor has a history of unethical conduct which has been documented, shouldn't that fact be disclosed as well? Practically speaking, a prosecutor's reputation will follow him but not every defense lawyer might know about it.
• WBAP's Hal Jay this morning on NFL Draft day: "Everyone is talking about what the Cowboys should do. Hey, they went 13-3 last year. They don't really need to do anything." (I promise that's an accurate quote.)
• There is a plea hearing scheduled today in Parker County for the then 17 year old kid who killed his mother in sister in 2012. (He had been declared mentally incompetent to stand trial but maybe something has changed -- he's not allowed to plea to anything if still declared incompetent.) I'm very interested in what the deal is. 
• A soon to be famous and traumatized Navy SEAL showed up at Rick Perry's governors mansion in 2007 and Perry ended up befriending him and giving him a "spare bedroom"? 
• I know I wrote about it at the time, but in 2004 four people were murdered in a house in McKinney and it was a huge mystery as to what had happened.  Things got really muddied when a guy came forward and confessed to the crime. It was finally determined he was making it up. That guy is now in jail accused of stabbing his wife to death in a Dollar General parking lot in McKinney.
• If the Angels had come to the Rangers a week ago and said, "Pay us $6 million and we promise you that Josh Hamilton will never play for us again, we will not trade him to anyone else, and we will continue to suffer financial damage because we will pay his contract", I think the Rangers would have written the check. And I think that would be a smart move. 
• Once again, the legislature is considering repealing the monster that is the Driver Responsibility Surcharge Act.  And once again, they'll probably drop the ball. Edit: But there is hope because the Tea Party is now in favor of the repeal.