Random Tuesday Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• I watched a little of Fox News coverage of Mike Huckabee's presidential announcement and, of course, it was glowing. But in a news clip/political commercial, Fox said he was influenced by a massive "Jesus Rally" in Dallas, Texas in the 1970s where more than 100,000 attended. I had never heard of it. Wiki tells me it is was Explo '72 where much of the rally was held on the ground now occupied by Woodall Rogers Freeway and and there were also nightly rallies in the Cotton Bowl. 
• There has been a lot of buzz about the app and website "Periscope" which allowed people to watch the Mayweather/Paq fight on Saturday for free. It's pretty simple: Some people paid for the fight on pay per view, then directed their phones toward the TV screen, and the fight was broadcasted back to Periscope where others could simply watch what that person had paid to watch. That could be done for anything on TV and seems, or at least feels, to be illegal. (Isn't that the equivalent of the old Napster or Limewire which allowed users to transfer copyrighted data to one another through those sites?) 
• UncleBarky.com wrote about his experience Saturday night using Periscope and was pretty brazen about it. "So is this piracy? It’s hard to see it that way." He equates to buying the fight and then inviting 100 people over to watch it. 
• An opinion came out from a Texas appellate court yesterday reversing a case because of the shocking conduct of a judge during jury selection.  You can read the exchange here.  She actually threw a potential juror who was a Jehovah Witness in jail on the spot.  That witness expressed reservations of having to look at alleged child pornography in the trial because of religious reasons. The judge told him that "my God" says he should watch it and, if it grossed him out, "you can take it out on the person in punishment." (Good lord. Most judges would be talking about the Presumption of Innocence at that point.) But it gets really ramped up: She tells the potential juror that if he gets on the jury and fails to do what she orders him to do, she would lock him up. ""So you want to find out what my God will tell me to do? Let's test it, Buddy. Let's test it."  The judge's name was Susan Criss, who (thank my God) is no longer on the bench. 
• A guy who escaped from prison 56 years ago was arrested this week. He is now 79 and in a wheelchair.  But here's the kicker: The Ohio State Reformatory where he was previously imprisoned was the backdrop of the 1994 prison escape movie The Shawshank Redemption.
• Odd Back to the Future discussion yesterday with a buddy: When Marty first travels back to the past and ends up in the home of his mother when she was a teenager, he sees what will later be his uncle in a playpen.  "So you're my Uncle Joey? Better get used to these bars, kid," Marty tells him. The movie had begun with a very funny cake being thrown out because Joey "didn't make parole again."  But despite Marty making changes in the past which forever change his life and the life of his family when he returns to the future, we never know if Joey still ended up in prison.  (I told you it was an odd discussion.) 
• Crazy legal thought: What if every time a Draw a Muhammad Cartoon convention occurs some type of violence takes place. Every time.  It's a crime in Texas if a person "makes an offensive gesture or display in a public place, and the gesture or display tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace."  Now that's a heck of First Amendment free speech case. 
• Tech receiver gets busted for pot! If my Google Map search is correct, he would not have been committing a crime four hours away (by car) in a state in the United States.