Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• I was out of pocket on Monday, but did the Messenger incorrectly report that Bridgeport ISD had been locked down due to the missing kid who has a gun? If they did, I don't blame them. I had a client tell me the same thing at the courthouse. 
• Ranger problem (or a baseball problem): "Tuesday’s game had a turnout of 21,805. On Monday, the gate was 18,401, the lowest for the club since July 2010." Yeah it is April, yeah it's a school night, and yeah the weather is a little cool. But those numbers are a problem for the first homestand of the season. (And the announced paid attendance is always grossly greater than the actual attendance.) 
• I had a faithful courthouse employee yesterday show me how recently installed security cameras were clear enough that she could read my open iPad if I stood in a certain place in the hallway.
• The Texas Senate passed a budget yesterday which includes $811 million for "border security".  Sen. Jane Nelson said, “I wish the federal government was assuming its responsibility so we could take that money and spend it on education, health and human service and other needs.” If the federal government gave Texas $811 million for border security today, there isn't any way that lady would spend that much on education and social programs. 
• And talk about waste, I'd bet anything that the number of Texas law enforcement officers assigned to the border are driving and sitting around in SUVs every day bored to death. (And we are about to get 300 to 500 new ones.) 
• And speaking of potential waste and corruption, DPS has contracted with some outfit called "Abrams Learning and Information Systems" which has been described as "helping to design the state's border program."  That contract and private company, which has cost you almost $20 million in five years, was under criminal investigation by the Travis County DA's office until Rick Perry killed the Public Integrity Unit of that DA's office. Perry said that he killed that Unit because of the DA's arrest for DWI and she couldn't be trusted. Is there more going on here? Do we have a smoking gun? But wait, there's more. The head of DPS, Steve McCraw, swore before a legislative committee last month that he ended the contract in July of 2009.  Turns out he signed an extension in 2010. That committee will call him back to explain himself. 
• McCraw, a public servant, makes $183,498 with benefits. 
• That jury in former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez's murder trial has been deliberating for almost a week.  What will drive me crazy is if they now come out with a guilty verdict. Not because he's not guilty, but because those 12 people have to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt. If you argue for a week, someone has a reasonable doubt. 
• I agree with the concept that you should try not to get a tax refund because "that means you've given the government an interest free loan." Then again, it's not that big of a deal. A one year CD (remember them?) will pay you around 1% -- if you're lucky. 
• Rick Perry says that if he runs for president he will do a better job because this time he is healthier and more prepared. I guess that means he won't be doped up on pain pills due to a back surgery. 
• The New York Post is sometimes nothing more than a high school bully . . .