Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Straight ticket voting in Texas is gone beginning in 2020. I can't believe the Republicans in the legislature did that. (But apparently Democrat straight ticket voting in Texas' largest counties is the reason. They see what is coming.)
• Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord by saying,  "I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris." That pretty much sums that guy up. (And I bet he backed out because the NATO leaders mocked him during his speech last week. He takes that very seriously.)
• French President Macron wished to retort:  "We all share the same responsibility: make our planet great again."
• The Ryan/Ventura fight will become a mural in Deep Ellum. I've seen the video taken from center field a million times, but I had no idea Pudge was holding Ventura during the beat down. Let me speak blasphemy by saying that fight might not have been that great. 
  
• This is bizarre and sad. An 18 year old kid plowed into a home in Mesquite last night, allegedly while drunk, and killed a guy sleeping in his bed. (Credit Fox 4.)
  
  
• The parking lots adjacent to the Decatur courthouse square have been mysteriously empty for the last two weeks.
• After the hung jury in the Agg Assault case of the Fort Worth cop, I predicted the D.A.'s office would wisely not retry him. I was right. 
• Hot opinion I stole from others: It might not be a bad idea if the Texas Legislature was a full time job. Right now they meet briefly every two years and pass half-cocked laws that do nothing but cause havoc.
• "Anthony Robinson, a longtime employee of the Dallas County district attorney's office, avoided federal prison Wednesday despite admitting taking a $200,000 bribe from a man attempting to keep his name off the sex offender registry.  Robinson rose through the ranks to become District Attorney Craig Watkins' chief investigator from 2007 to 2013." You kidding me?
• Is the routine practice of having inmates shackled for routine court appearances unconstitutional? The Ninth Circuit says so. 
  
• The Soon To Be Freshman in the House wanted me to catch for her softball pitching yesterday. I hadn't done it in a year. Let me tell you something: Those pitches come in fast. I finally put on a mask. And she managed to bust part of the fence behind me. That's one window and one fence in one week.
• Wordkyle. Our blog turns our lonely eyes to you: 
  
• Remember the crazy RV police chase that ended in fire in Arlington last week? Here's the gal that jumped out of it: 
  
• In the seventh inning of the Washington/Oregon softball world series game last night, I'm fairly certain I saw the Washington pitcher intentionally hit a batter (that was idiotic) and then a pinch runner for the hit batter try to break the ankles of the second baseman on a slide. Mean Girls.