Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Fox 4 had a story last night about some Fort Worth standoff where two women were brought out and a reporter told us that "both were handcuffed with zip ties for their own safety. Moments later they were released and are not suspects". (I would give you a link but going to the new Fox 4 website is like sinking in quicksand while blindfolded.)
• Donald Trump entered the Alabama football stadium last weekend for his rally to the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd and exited to Twisted Sister. 
• Throw in Trump (and other Republicans) current attack on the constitutional requirement regarding "anchor babies", and this is getting insane. Those who already love you (politically speaking) may love you more for these hard lines, but your chance for love by others is being destroyed.
• Loved this moment on Meet The Press from last week: Donald Trump doubled down on calling Hillary Clinton "the worst Secretary of State in the history of this country."  Host Chuck Todd then asked,  "Well, it begs the question. I'm a history buff. Who was the worst before her then in your mind?"  What a great question. If you believe X is worse that A through W, you need to know A through W before you can compare them to X. Of course, Trump just went on an irrelevant rant. 
• Wise County will given sheriff's deputies a $1 an hour pay raise. What's an entry level deputy make per hour?
• Lots of news story said yesterday we saw "the largest single day point drop in the history of the stock market." Technically true. But isn't it the percentage that it dropped a more important stat?
• The NFL for some reason put a video on its website of a Rookie Symposium where Chris Carter told the new guys they needed a "fall guy" to run with. That is, someone to take the blame for you if you get caught breaking the law.  It really was amazing. But I'm almost more amazed that a reporter with the often praised Monday Morning Quarterback controlled by Peter King was in the room at the time. He didn't report Carter's statements because the NFL told him not to.  And you wonder why Peter King is considered a lap dog for the NFL. 
• Dale Hansen went Unplugged on Baylor last night (and signed the screen to let us know the views coming out of his mouth are really his words.). It wasn't much of an effort. But the weirdest thing is that he brought the University of Texas into it. He said, "Texas football coach Charlie Strong says he knows how to handle the Sam Ukuwachus of the world, and I hope he does. I really do. But I just don't know if he really means what he says, and — unfortunately — we'll probably have the chance to find out."  Does Hansen know something that's coming? If he doesn't, the shot at UT is just plain bizzare.
• There were 32 million email addresses released by the hackers of Ashley Madison -- the adultery site. And to think that many who opposed the same sex marriage decision by the Supreme Court said it would destroy the sanctity of marriage. 
• Ad disguise: KXAS, The Dallas Morning News, and The Ticket all mentioned yesterday that Whataburger will be available for delivery by some service called DoorDash.  Really? That's just a coincidence? I don't know if they were ads for Whataburger, DoorDash, or both.  KXAS even did a preview of their 6:00 p.m. news by teasing the Whataburger story. (A story that was so important they didn't get to it for 17 minutes.)  The Ticket was weird because The Hardline, which talked about it, acted for minutes like they had never heard of DoorDash when they talked about the app just a month or two ago. 
• If those weren't ads, Whataburger is a master in getting in the news. Recall just in the last couple of months their were stories about it cutting its breakfast hours (and then coverage again when those hours went back to normal) and there was news coverage of the chain opposing Open Carry. 
• "Judge denies request by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to skip his arraignment on Thursday" in Collin County. That reminded me of a couple Texas laws which make no sense and/or ignored. "Art. 26.011. WAIVER OF ARRAIGNMENT. An attorney representing a defendant may present a [written] waiver of arraignment, and the clerk of the court may not require the presence of the defendant as a condition of accepting the waiver." Ummkay. But the "clerk" never requires anyone's appearance. If the statute read the "judge may not require", this would make more sense. Also, there is "Art. 26.03. TIME OF ARRAIGNMENT. No arraignment shall take place until the expiration of at least two entire days after the day on which a copy of the indictment was served on the defendant . . . . " The defendant will certainly eventually see the indictment, but he is never  "served" with an indictment. They are supposed to be, but there is no legal repercussions if they are not. So that formal process is ignored.