It's Friday. Let's Get Out Of Here.

That didn't turn out like I expected.

There's a reason you don't see Olympians wear sweats, hoss.

She tells her friends: "I work out all the time. I'm very regimented."

I normally don't post fights, but this is impressive. (I think he's done that before.)

"I'll just shut this gate and round him up . . . I NEED BACKUP. I NEED BACKUP!"

This Is A New One

Texas judge interrupts jury, says God told him defendant is not guilty. https://t.co/FDRZOnimJO

— Mark D. Wilson (@MDWilsonSA) January 19, 2018

The jury continued with their deiliberations "and you'll never believe what happened next!"

Those Hood County Republicans Are Serious

Most local political parties will accept anyone who wants to put an "R" or "D" by their name.

But not in Hood County. If the local party doesn't like you, they will disown you.

(Thanks emailer.)

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• A lot going on here. (It was by Love Field):
  
• The jury in the Zoe Hastings murder trial in Dallas enters its third day of deliberations. Honestly, I didn't follow the trial to closely, but the defendant's "DNA [was] on the murder weapon." I wonder what's going on. 
• Hey, a church can give away its tithes to anyone or any group it wants to. But I'm not sure how often the money is donated to an agency supported by tax dollars. It's their absolute right, but it is not exactly Lottie Moon. 
  
• It's not a big deal, but one of the weirdest string of  comments yesterday was from a guy that said a withdrawal from a bank account should be put down as a credit in the balance book. I don't know if he was doing a bit, but he was insistent. But let's put it to the test. I have $1,000 in the bank. I withdraw $100 so he says add it. That puts the balance at $1,100. I make a deposit of $200 so, according to him credits are subtracted, my balance is $900.
• Radio guy Mark Davis said yesterday during an appearance on Fox 4 that "it should not be easy to become an American citizen."  It was easy for me. It was easy for you. It was easy for Davis. And it won't be hard for any baby born today on American soil.
• The DA in the case of the couple which held their children prisoner for years in their home in California held a news conference yesterday giving details of the case. He then said, "We will not try this case in the media but in the courtroom." Dude, you voluntarily called a press conferences to reveal facts.
• I would think the vast majority of doctors would laugh at this. They are in the business of healing, regardless of who it is. And did I miss the news story where a doctor wanted to not treat an individual for religious reasons but was forced to?
  
• Don't Google "Forbes" and "Trump."
• The Star-Telegram has picked up the "Presidential Candidate Arrest" story out of Wise County. It looks like he is still in jail. 
• This seems like a big deal for corporate America. "Tucked into the massive $1.5 trillion tax overhaul that Congress approved last month was the elimination of the 50 percent tax deduction that firms had long been able to take on business-related expenses for 'entertainment, amusement, or recreation.'” I presume that would include meals at high tone restaurants, too.
  
• State employees can take a paid day off today in honor of "Confederate Heroes Day." Wait, what? (Side note: Oddly, all state offices are still open. For those who come to work, they can choose another day off. I have no idea what happens if 99% of a state office has employees take the day off yet remains "open".)

I'm Not Buying This For A Second

Kid opens up package to find a bong and claims he only ordered an X box controller.

"What the frick" 😭😭😭@oldrowofficial

A post shared by Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) on Jan 17, 2018 at 6:15am PST

Then a video appears of a kid opening up a package with an X box controller and proclaims, "I ordered a bong!"


Obviously a bit. Who in the heck records opening up spare packages anyway?

DPS Arrests Presidential Candidate In Decatur

Well, a Libertarian candidate:

(More.)

And the guy decided to video it:

Part 1

Part 2


HEY, KEEP ME OUT OF THIS!

The charges:

Random Thursday Morning Thoughs

• The footage of the Tarrant County College astronomy teacher acting nutty in class in a crazy outfit, as well as Fox 4 catching him later as he talks from his apartment balcony, is high entertainment. 
  
• The U.S. Government commissioned a study regarding ways to strengthen DWI laws. It suggested lowering the legal limit to 0.05 depending on (1) the size of the individual, and (2) whether the person had recently eaten. Not only is 0.05 a ridiculous number, the "recently eaten" standard is unworkable. Ok, I'll stipulate a steak dinner counts. But what if it were four hours ago? What about six? What does "recent" mean? And what if a person at one small appetizer two hours ago? Would that count?
• There are no federal DWI laws just state DWI laws. Astute readers will wonder how the federal government can dictate state DWI laws in the first place. Just like when all states went to 0.08 in the 1990s, Washington just told the states that it would withhold highway funds if they didn't change their laws. (For you CDL holders out there, that's the same reason you can't get deferred on Class Cs. The feds forced the state's to change its laws.)
• Trump's ex-porn star girlfriend (once again, while Trump was married with a new baby Barron) gave an interview to In Touch magazine in 2011 where she confirmed the tryst. 
• Worth watching (and quick loading): A big boat runs over a fishing boat as the fishermen/fisherwoman jump into the water. 
  
• Do people "balance" their "checkbooks" any longer. Or in modern terms, keep track of beginning balance then subtract debits and add credits in order to see if the ending balance matches the bank's balance?
• The murder trial in Wise County may go on for two weeks. Here's the Messenger story about the incident when it happened. 
• Fascinating: 
  
• Dallas and Austin are also on this list. But this whole show is basically a PR campaign for Amazon. Are they going to narrow the list to 10 later and announce it? Then five? It's kind of like a high school football player announcing he has narrowed his recruitment choices to three schools. 
  
• Tom Brady hurt his throwing hand when he made contact with another player. He had to miss a press conference later in the day because he was getting medical attention. If he hit the helmet of another player after he released the ball, look out. (It was a long time ago, but Baylor's J.J. Joe did that during practice back in the day and had to miss the next game against Texas.)
• We might actually have a federal government shutdown tomorrow. 

You Can Take The Trump Cognitive Test

Here. The brief "Attention" and "Language" portions technically requires someone else to read what is required of you.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• It's a cold morning for that to happen. 
  
• Someone told me a story of three people dying a few months back due to an incident at a Best Western in Perryton when the indoor pool malfunctioned and carbon monoxide was released upwards into the rooms above the pool. Two of those people were from Bridgeport. There is very, very little coverage of this event. 
• A Canadian judge resigned after remarking to law students "that she felt uncomfortable having to walk into a room 'full of big dark people' during judicial dispute resolutions, and that she was used to being in an 'ivory tower,' where she’s 'removed from the riff raff.'” (Good. Although I'm of the firm belief that "riff raff" is a funny term.)
• The White House doctor who performed Trump's annual checkup said that Trump asked him to give him a cognitive test. There is no way Trump knows the word "cognitive."
• The Wise County marijuana bust has now made it to the DFW news outlets. They need to ask why the WCSO stole the 287 sign. 
  
• Trump's porn star girlfriend, who he saw while he was married, spoke to Slate in 2016.
• Dallas lawyer Doug Mulder has died. He might be most famous for being a prosecutor on a case which led to the movie A Thin Blue Line detailing how the conviction, which included a death sentence, was wrongful.  When I was DA in the the 1990s he actually came up to my office. He was representing a guy in a drug case where there had been a seizure of the defendant's car. He wanted to give the State the car in exchange for a lenient sentence on the criminal case. I said, "It sounds like your trying to negotiate the criminal case and civil case together." His reply, "That's exactly what I'm doing."
• Wow: Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski has committed suicide. He was a sophomore who started at the end of the year including the Holiday Bowl. 
• Let's see what Trump is doing this morning: 
  
• Bonham ISD has shut down school for a week because of a flu outbreak. 
• National Park News: Nearly all members of a board advising the National Park Service abruptly quit Monday night out of frustration that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had refused to meet with them or convene a single meeting last year. (And, by the way, the fee to enter a park has doubled to $80 a vehicle.)

Above The Fold

Full PDF.

Ice Road Truckers

Icy Texas road causes 18-wheeler to crash into traffic light https://t.co/ZKIaF6X7AL pic.twitter.com/KOppJ6CFc6

— FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) January 16, 2018

But the woman doing the camera work and the play-by-play needs a little work.

If You Thought Cats Were Weird . . .

. . . let me introduce you to the weirdest couple with a cat. I feel sorry for the cat having owners who decided to have a psycho photo shoot. Dear Cat: Make a run for it as soon as possible.

Maybe They Are Just Invisible?

WATCH: Sen. Orrin Hatch removes a pair of glasses he's not wearing pic.twitter.com/QXCCb4RHzn

— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) January 16, 2018

I can't laugh too much. I've spent 10 minutes before looking for my reading glasses only to realize I had moved them to the top of my head.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Texas Tech fans swarmed the court over a win over WVU and a WVU player slugs a TCU fan. The result: Tech was fined $25,000. 
• If you decided to travel down I-45 to Houston this morning, you aren't very smart. 
• Fox 4 sent Jenny Anchondo down I-45. She looked like she did not like her job as she was stuck in traffic.
  
• Lot going on here: 
  
• Paul Ryan contemplated Dr. King's dream yesterday. He's certainly a man who is trying to make it come true.

  

  On right: Ryan with Republican congressional interns in 2016.

• Start watching more and more branch banks shut down. Wells Fargo plans to shut down 800 of them in the next two years. I guess the reason is that no one physically goes to the bank any longer for routine transactions. 
• Trump has two items on his schedule today. Meeting the leader of Kazakh at noon. And lunch at 12:30. That's it. Every school kid in America has a more grueling schedule.
• Yet he's watching Fox and Friends again this morning. (And just because coverage is deemed "negative" does that mean it's not accurate. For 2018 there has already been a ton of coverage for his S-Hole comment. Is that "negative"?)
• 
• The seizure of 677 pounds of high-grade marijuana during a traffic stop near Rhome over the weekend might be the largest amount ever discovered in Wise County. Now we'll see if it was discovered legally. 
• I've not delved into the story at the bottom of the DMN (below) where a lawyer went against his client's wishes and told the jury his client was guilty in a capital murder case. He thought it was the only way to avoid the death penalty. Sometimes admitting guilt when proof of guilt is overwhelming is the absolute best strategy to try to mitigate punishment.  The case gets argued before the Supreme Court on Wednesday, and I would think it will be reversed. You simply can't do that as a lawyer. In the end, you tell the client what you think they should do then they tell you what to do.  (Side note: After the trial, the lawyer decided he would never try another criminal case again. "I walked out of the courtroom saying I would never put myself through that again, emotionally.)

As A Kid . . .

Unbelievable new surveillance video shows a car hitting a median and launching into the second story of a Santa Ana dentist office. Driver and passenger transported with minor injuries. @NBCLA @ChristineNBCLA pic.twitter.com/Yw4poZXUNR

— Kenny Holmes (@KHOLMESlive) January 15, 2018

. . . I used to watch Speed Racer launch his car by pushing button "A".

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Anyone else not buying the story that the Missile Alert broadcast by the State of Hawaii was just human error by some guy?  (Side note: News footage shows a bunch of people running when the false warning was sent out. Where exactly were they running to?)

  

  (If true, it's the worst user interface design ever.)

• And Another (Idaho)
  
• Heck of a week for Trump: (1) Fire and Fury, (2) The Bannon fight, (3) S---hole storm, and (4)  Flip flopping on DACA every day, and (5) News came out he paid six figures to an adult film star to buy her silence about their sexual tryst while married to Melania. 
• And regarding the adult film star, I loved how both sides denied it. He paid her to never admit it happened. What is she going to do? Oddly, her publicist confirmed there is a nondisclosure agreement which was executed "after her allegations of misconduct. (Which, frankly, seems to defeat the purpose of having an nondisclosure agreement.) Note: He walked his comment back after receiving a letter from the porn star's lawyer. 
• I thought Wise County was going to get some icy roads tomorrow, now I don't thinks so. It looks like it will all hit South and East. We aren't even in the Winter Weather Advisory.
• Impressive: 
  
• Re: Those bikes in Dallas you can rent by credit card and then drop anywhere (and I do mean anywhere): How do they make money? They'll put a new one out and it might end up in the Trinity River. 
  
• In Turkey yesterday morning: 
  
• The ending of the Vikings/Saints is now right alongside The Hail Mary (1975), The Immaculate Reception (1972), and The Music City Miracle (2000).
• I thought this, in the Dallas Morning News, was a wax figure. But there's nothing in the story or caption under the photo to indicate it is anything other than a photo of her. 
  
• Eight years after the Haitian earthquake, NPR has a story of how Red Cross raised a half billion dollars for relief and has spent hardly anything on relief. I've always been a little suspicious of them.
• When you forget a password typically the website will send you a link to create a new one. Why don't they just email you your password? I mean, if it is hacker who has figured out your username but didn't know the password, what difference does it make whether he just learns the password or gets to reset it to something different?
• I was reminded that after Trump denigrated Africa that his two little dumplings didn't mind going there: 
  
• If you've got a teen who did the Tide Pod Challenge you've got a teen who isn't very bright.
• Teams that have not made the NFC Championship game in the last 20 years: Redskins, Lions, and Cowboys.
• Case Keenum, who is the quarterback for the Vikings, beat Decatur in a playoff game in 2004. He went 7-of-16 for 82 yards. Decatur's quarterback threw for 366.