Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Lake Bridgeport has risen 2.5 feet in the last 24 hours. The National Weather Service said this morning that Wise County had mostly five to six inches of rain with up to seven inches up near Montague County. And it felt like it. 
• Nothing like be awakened at midnight by the 17 Year Old In The House who says, "My car is dead and it's in the middle of the street in front of the house."  As the problem was being solved, I remember asking a lot of questions that began with "why". She fielded all of them flawlessly. She's either a good kid or has a job as a presidential press secretary in her future.
• When the South Carolina church shooting news broke last night, it was shocking how the major network news stations were so slow to cover it. (The grumpiest man on Twitter, TV critic Ed Bark, was not pleased.) 
• Mark Davis opened his radio show this morning speaking about the shooting and sounding like a pastor at funeral. And it may in fact be a funeral for the There Is No Racism crowd. But I shook my head when he said, "We don't need to focus or even care about the motive of the shooter." Why not? Something uncomfortable about that? 
• ATT was hit with a $100 million fine for misleading wireless customers. I wonder where they will get the money to pay for that? Oh . . . .
• The University of Texas will sell beer and wine at football games this year. (West Virginia is the only current Big 12 team to already do so).  Corby Davidson of The Ticket said that it will discourage people from leaving the game during halftime to drink in the parking lot.  People may do that at TCU but going from your seat to go a tailgate/car is like a hike up Everest when you are at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium/Joe Jamail Field/W. A. "Tex" Moncrief, Jr.–V. F. "Doc" Neuhaus Athletic Center.
• I applaud Wise County's initiative to "reduce the number of people in jail with mental illness and to make sure they get the help" but, practically, I don't know how it is going to work. If someone is sitting in jail for Agg Assault with a $25,000 bond they can't make yet they are legally competent (but suffering some degree of mental illness), how is that going to change? 
• I noticed that there was a murder conviction yesterday in the Wise County trial. A few years back, the legislature took away a jury's option to grant probation in a murder case. Sound good? Now tell me you cannot envision one single situation where the taking the life of another would not be probation worthy. 
• For the first time ever in Texas, a law has been passed requiring all police agencies to report to the state information about any police involved shooting.  And it's 2015.