Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• There is a "person of interest" in the shooting death of the Houston doctor who treated George H.W. Bush. Let me correct that: The Chief of Police said, "We believe that this man is absolutely the killer." He better be right. 
• I don't know the kid, but Decatur's star athlete has decided to sit out this Fall's football season where he played QB last year at a very high level (3,887 yards and 37 touchdowns.) He'll play baseball for Oklahoma State next year. Probably a smart decision in the grand scheme of things, but you don't see this very often.
• Trump will do another campaign rally tonight (at your expense), but he is up this morning with his same old tired bit as the walls are caving in on him. This is not normal. 
  
• Fun fact: Justice Scalia actually smoked a pipe during his confirmation hearings. (You can see the smoke.)
  
• If you listen to the Ticket, you have been beaten down with Reagor Dykes commercials where Dykes comes across as the ultimate stereotypical "car salesman." Perhaps the listeners' prayers have been answered:
  
  
• Someone is stealing my bit! (h/t to faithful reader in Houston.)
  
  
• This is a great photo out of Austin:
  
• Legal nerd stuff: I've been involved in many, many jury selections, and I thought you had to speak English to be qualified to serve of a jury. My quick research this morning is a little stunning: You have to be able to "read and write" to be qualified but it doesn't say "in English." (Texas Code of Criminal Procedure 35.16(a)(11)). However, it is an Exemption if there is an "inability to comprehend or communicate in the English language that makes it impossible or very difficult for the person to serve on a jury." Texas Government Code 62.109. This is important: An exemption must be "claimed" by the juror. It is not an automatic disqualification. (And to "claim" that exemption there is the ridiculous requirement that he must file an affidavit sworn to before the district clerk.) For that Austin case above, it looks like the jury had already been empaneled and sworn when the guy brought the English problem to the judge's attention. Legal issue: Can a juror claim an exemption after being placed on a jury? The judge above seems to think so. I don't know if that is correct.
• We live in a new world when the head coach of Ohio State can be taken down within 12 hours of a Facebook report (by a laid off ESPN reporter) of not disclosing domestic abuse by one of his assistants. Urban Meyer is on paid administrative leave but it doesn't look good for him. But this old Nike T-shirt probably sold out in Michigan. 
  
• These articles always drive me crazy. Seceding is a dumb and ridiculous idea, but Texas has the absolute right to do it. It's called a civil war where one territory decides to break away. To believe otherwise is also to believe Lincoln could have ended the Civil War by telling the South, "Hey, you can't legally leave the Union! Stop it!"
  
• Talk radio fans my age could not avoid Art Bell back in the day. He was a conspiracy theorist who let his callers identify themselves, for safety purposes, as being from the West or East of the Rockies. For callers who were really paranoid and didn't want to be that specific, they could call in on "the wildcard line." (Funny bit.) Bell died in April and yesterday it was revealed it was due to a prescription overdose. Or so they say.
  
• Trump has been beaten up online for saying in Florida two days ago, in support of voter I.D. laws, that you even have to show a picture I.D. "if you go out and you want to buy groceries." 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• If these are Zebra Mussels, I'd like to exclusively report and present this photo I took proving Lake Bridgeport is currently being invaded. (They are about nickle size.)
  
  
  
• Messenger: Above the Fold