Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Former UT coach Charlie Strong got berated by a judge in open court. She is 100% out of line: “Let’s just say my USF diploma is not proudly hanging in my office right now. And I have a message for your coach as well. Coach Strong, if you are listening, in the last couple of months there have been two arrests of your players — very violent felonies. This court, and I’m sure I’m not alone, questions whether you have control over your players. It’s fairly clear that you do not have control over them off the field and I guess only time will tell whether you have control over them on the field. I would implore you to think long and hard about whether being head coach at USF is a good fit for you before any other members of this community have to suffer at the hands of one of your players.”
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• There was a high profile case out of Fort Worth a couple of years back where a mortuary never cremated some bodies as promised. For some reason the State charged the owner with theft, and the Fort Worth Court of Appeals reversed the conviction. Texas's highest criminal court announced yesterday that it will review that decision.  Edit: Fort Worth reversed it because the State only proved a breach of contract which is not a crime. 
• Did you know that Texas keeps a database of every time you fill a prescription and your history can be obtained by a police officer just by asking? Between January 1, 2014, to March 10, 2017, police made 5,287 requests and 97% of them were granted.
• I've said it for years: Every person on probation in Wise County contributes $50 to Wise County Crime Stoppers, and I never hear of it paying out a dime. Who is in control of it, and how much is in that account? Is there any auditing?
  
• "DALLAS (AP) — Investigators say an Austin police officer who allegedly tried to fake his own death and flee to Mexico has been arrested at a Texas airport."
  
• There will be a vote in the House today on Repeal and Replace today, and the proposed bill is far from conservative. And that's why there is a 100% chance the Senate will kill it. Today is just a dog and pony show. 
• And the text of the bill hasn't been released - in fact it wasn't even finished late last night. Need I remind you of the Republican's 2010 "Pledge to America" which included: 
  
• FBI Director Comey is crazy. 
• What a bloody week. Yesterday we added to it with a murder/suicide at Northlake College in Irving and a double death at an Arlington sports bar.  When I heard about these two, I actually intended to write today why a concealed carry guy hasn't come to the defense in any of these cases. Well, it looks like that is what happened in Arlington. That rarely happens. In fact, I'm not sure I can think of another case in Texas.
• Romo got hit in the Arlington shooting: 
  
• Mark Davis said on Fox 4 this morning that activists might not get a murder charge in the Balch Springs case because murder requires "premeditation." Not true at all. 
• Things are going well at UT: 
  
• How would you rank your list if you had to give up one or more of Facebook, Google, Amazon, or Apple. I think that's easy: (1) Facebook, (2) Amazon, (3) Apple, then (4) Google.