Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Social media controls the world now. Time magazine named the Person Of The Year in 2006 as "You" because they saw it coming. And the magazine was mocked for it. The "lame stream" media is always wrong, right?
  
• “I knew he was a shallow, lazy ignoramus, and I didn’t care.” -  Extremely conservative Ann Coulter on Trump two days ago at Columbia University.
• Trump threw out another blatant lie this morning. Amazon has been collecting taxes for every state since March of 2017. Why does he hate Amazon? The owner of Amazon owns the Washington Post.  (Side note: Isn't the U.S. Postal system a "Delivery Boy" by definition?)
  
• My long time iPad died a year ago, and I'm too cheap to buy another one. I used to carry it with me every time I went to the courthouse to take notes for any significant developments. So I tried an experiment: Buy a spiral notepad and keep a journal doing the same thing. I love it. Although I do get kidded for going "old school."
• One weird thing I experimented with was writing my updated "to do" list every morning. I go back to the day before and look at the list, see what I accomplished, then write it all over again with deletions and additions. It reminds me the first thing in the morning of what I need to do. 
• This doesn't sound good from the Ellis County DA's office. I wonder if it is ransomware:
  
  
• Still one of the craziest local stories I've seen is when the computers at the Wise County Sheriff's Office were hacked by ransomware. And they ended up paying. (I can't remember the amount.) Boeing was hit by it yesterday.
• There's a new HBO series called Barry.  I'm honored. (Seriously, not only was the first episode  fantastic, it recreated one of my favorite movie scenes of all time from True Romance)
  
• A police "expert" on a conservative talk radio show said there are times when it is OK to turn off the mic on a body cam. Let me tell you, the answer is "never" when they are interacting with or investigating an individual. It's a red flag every time if it happens. 
• Sheesh. By the way, this guy ran for district judge in 2014 and lost in the primary by less that 1% of the vote. His arrest warrant, which involves multiple allegations, is shocking. 
  
• Did some administrator at Decatur ISD get fired? I need confirmation. 
• One of my first bullet points after Trump was elected was about his conflict of interest problems because of his business interests, and I used his hotel in D.C. as an example. Yesterday a federal judge ruled that a lawsuit claiming Trump violated that conflict of interest because of the Emoluments Clause can go forward. (Let me simplify this: Let's say a judge in Decatur owned a bed and breakfast and lawyers from out of town came into town the day before court and just happened to pay to stay in that bed and breakfast before their court appearance. You comfortable with this?)
• The Rangers open their season today. It will end on September 30th. By that time, the Texas Longhorns will have already played 41% of their regular season football games.