Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• The big news this morning is that former Patriot and convicted killer Aaron Hernandez, 27, hanged himself in his jail cell. That guy was a straight up gangsta. (Odd legal note: He was serving a life sentence but the case was on appeal. In Texas, if a defendant dies during an appeal, the appeal is simply dismissed. In Massachusetts, however, they actually vacate the conviction. So Aaron Hernandez will technically not be a convicted murderer once the court issues the order.)
  
• ESPN had an interesting article on the Raiders move to Las Vegas (and how Jerry Jones intervened to get the deal done.) But in the article, there was a paragraph about how Vegas is going downhill. It's been about five years since I was there, and I didn't get that feeling. Is it true?
  
  
• And Another (Ohio): 
  
• This is a heck of a photo from I-35 moments after the West, Texas explosion four years ago. I had never seen it before. (And I continue to believe the ATF claiming the explosion was the result of arson but not explaining how exactly it was arson or having any idea who was behind it is the biggest B.S. "justify my government job because we are working so hard" report we've had in the last decade.)
  
  
• At Bridgeport elementary, we started doing square dancing in the fifth grade during P.E. That is, until some parents complained that dancing was against their religious beliefs. We stopped doing it immediately. 
• Baylor has hired its first female president. Question: Has any major Texas university, or Big 12 school for that matter, ever had a female president? 
• On the day the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her dad met Chinese leader Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, China granted preliminary approval for three new trademarks for one of Ivanka's companies selling jewelry, bags and spa service. The first family will get filthy rich exploiting the President's position. 
• All the idiotic things Infowars founder Alex Jones has said over the years is about to cost him custody of his children in a trial going on in Austin. 
• Pete Sessions will get an opponent in next year's election who is a former NFL player and current civil rights lawyer (assuming he wins the Democratic primary.) Note: Hillary beat Trump in Sessions' district last year. 
• Last night in "Tucker Carlson Dumb Face". Buddy, close your mouth:
  
• If key members of Congress condition Tax Reform on Trump releasing his tax returns, there will be no Tax Reform. He won't do it. 
• Reports are surfacing the Fox News is about to cut ties with Bill O'Reilly. Told ya.