11.15.2018

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




  • CNN sued Trump for revoking reporter Jim Acosta's press pass. Yesterday, Fox News said it will support CNN in the litigation and file a "friend of the court" brief. Up is down. Black is white. 
  • A Parker County deputy was allegedly shot while investigating a deer blind. Yesterday, his body cam video was released. The shooter is not seen on the tape. The deputy says he didn't see the shooter. I was prepared to speculate that the deputy accidentally shot himself but it appears there were two shots fired and the property owner was with the deputy. Still, something it wrong with that story. (Side note: The Sheriff thought the shooter might have used a silencer. How common is that?)
  • Cue the high tone orchestra music! I've been in every single one:
  • The hiring bonus (not salary) at private law firms for (the very young) Supreme Court clerks is $400,000. Associate justices are paid $235,000 a year, and the Chief Justice gets $267,000.
  • Anyone else bugged by the Chevy commercial where the guy just casually walks out into the driveway to show his wife the him-and-her vehicles he bought for Christmas? And how does not any wife yell, "Have you lost your mind?!"
  • Per the Messenger, "The Decatur Police yesterday afternoon reported during a test of the 911 system for Rann Elementary a message was sent in error to parents saying there was an active shooter. There was no active shooter." I don't know how the message was sent (text? email? social media?) or how quickly the error was retracted. I expect the answer to the second question is, "Pretty [expletive deleted] quick!"
  • There have been a couple of reporters on the Mueller investigation who have noticed a "sealed file" in federal court which has a ton of activity surrounding a subpoena. It is now at the D.C. Court of Appeals. Yesterday the following happened. A subpoena for Trump? (And Trump has returned to his "Witch Hunt" screaming this morning and also falsely claimed that Mueller "worked for Obama for eight years". Uh, that was George W. Bush.)
  • Four Mar-a-Lago members are Ambassadors now (we have a new one.) None are qualified.
  • A former Dallas Cowboy, Jeff Rohrer, is marrying a man. I don't care. I do care about perhaps the worst line in the history of ever from the story in the New York Times: "The man who once spent four quarters chasing quarterback Vince Ferragamo on a Sunday, will look like a million bucks on his wedding day thanks to Salvatore Ferragamo, which provided the midnight blue tuxedos that will be worn by both grooms." Ugh. Never before has Vince Ferragamo been shoehorned into a story.
  • In this weird case involving a killing in the Tarrant County Jail, I could see this defense working with some people.
  • I asked this question last year. BagOfNothing asked it months before I did:
  • Mark Cuban was on The Ticket this morning and grilled about the sexual harassment that went on at the Dallas Mavericks organization. He seemed to want no part of the questions. His basic mantra was "It's behind us." As to whether he personally knew what was going on?: He can "tell you the salary of every NBA player, but I wasn't involved in the business side [where the harassment took place]" and "The facts are the facts, and I don't care what people think or write" (whatever that means.) He actually said that he thought he was there to talk basketball, but "that's my mistake not yours."
  • Messenger: Above The Fold