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

Kudos to the camera guy for anticipating the carnage which was to come. 

Top Gun: The Early Years

In his defense, I've always found the haircut pretty relaxing.

Secret video of aTm School of Engineering.  

Proof that a lion can be as dumb as a human. My weekend is ruined.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Sweetie Pie's on the courthouse square now has a hanging sign that reads, "Immediate Seating."  Uh, all the time? 
• The Supreme Court announced yesterday it would take a case to decide whether double jeopardy prevents both state and federal prosecutions for the same crime. Amazingly, the answer for all my life has been "no".  Is a change coming? Probably not. If Trump gets his way, the Court will probably just  issue an opinion that simply reads, "Sure. What's the problem? We affirm."
• Trump called the press "America's greatest enemy" the other day and has been railing on the media since day one. Conservative poster boy Milo Yiannopoulos said two days ago, “I can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight.” Now we have a guy walk into the offices of the  The Capital Gazette in Maryland and kill five. It's amazing what happens when nutcases are empowered. 
• Not sure I've ever heard this accurate twist:
  
  
• Just like I get rattled when there is news of a courthouse shooting, I bet there was tremendous uneasiness at the Messenger yesterday afternoon.
• And America has come to this: Cops guard the New York Times after the shooting in Maryland yesterday. 
  
• One of the reporters who saw her friends die had a hot and emotional opinion on Anderson Cooper shortly after the incident about people sending their "thoughts and prayers" .
• Remember when Gov. Abbott visited a gun range and, after admiring his target sheet, said,  “I’m gonna carry this around in case I see any reporters”?
• Since I read Elmer Gantry, I did a quick Wiki search on Sinclair Lewis. Look at this description for his 1935 novel It Can't Happen Here: "Published during the rise of fascism in Europe, the novel describes the rise of Berzelius 'Buzz' Windrip, a politician who defeats Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and is elected President of the United States, after fomenting fear and promising drastic economic and social reforms while promoting a return to patriotism and 'traditional' values. After his election, Windrip takes complete control of the government and imposes a plutocratic/totalitarian rule with the help of a ruthless paramilitary force, in the manner of Adolf Hitler  and the SS." Change "ruthless" to "weak" and that description is haunting considering our current political climate.
  
• I've been on to this alleged con man Chris Faulkner for years. I'm proud to announce he now has been arrested and federally charged. He used to sponsor Mark Davis' podcast, and I could tell he was a snake oil salesman within one minute. 
  
• Hey, over 1 million gallons of raw sewage is headed to White Rock Lake. Happy 4th of July!
• Buried in the news last night was the disturbing revelation that retiring Justice Kennedy's son, who worked at basically the only bank which will lend Trump money, Deutsche Bank, was the equivalent of Trump's personal banker while he was employed there.
• The Sophomore in the House is in Georgia. I got eye rolls as I hit her with, "That's the Night That The Lights Went Out in Georgia", "Georgia On My Mind", "Sweet Georgia Brown" (the Harlem Globetrotter's theme), and John Mayer's "Georgia, Why."  I forgot "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" and who knows how many others. That would be a great Jeopardy category.
• The Star-Telegram needs to update its home page. The TCU article, dated February 6th, is about a basketball game. 
  
• Trump told a "rally" in Wisconsin yesterday that Ronald Reagan never won that state. That's a lie. Reagan won it in 1984. A lie like that used to cause a politician to be disgraced. 
• The Capital put out its paper:
  

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Flashback: Someone mentioned Mister Busters to me the other day. Loved that place as a teenager. I think it was limited to Bridgeport and Decatur but I could be wrong. 
• Warning: Below is Trump intensive.
• Justice Kennedy will retire giving Trump an amazing/shocking/disgusting opportunity to appoint a second Supreme Court justice. I'm glad I'm closer to the end of my legal career than the beginning. Winners: the State (goodbye 4th Amendment), Big Business (Citizens United will never go away), Polluters (Money over preservation), Doomsday Preppers (2nd Amendment trumps all), and the Swamp (we are going back in time). The losers: Everyone else.
• CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin says Roe v. Wade will be overturned within 18 months. I don't think so. I believe that it will be severely limited but not overturned outright. 
• The confirmation process will be interesting. The Republicans, after refusing to give Obama's nominee a vote, ramrodded Gorsuch through by invoking the "nuclear option" in the Senate. They wouldn't do that again, would they? (Narrator: "They would.")
• How old is Junior? Did he really say, "lit"?
  
• I tend to agree with the Money Changer on this one since "consequential" doesn't necessarily mean "positive". I'm trying to think of other world leaders who could be considered to have been consequential. Hmmmmm.
  
• I stumbled across the ninth inning of the Arkansas/Oregon State world series game last night. I felt like a received a Sports Christmas Gift. Oregon State down to their last strike. Arkansas on the verge of a National Championship with a one run lead. Then . . . Oregon State wins 5-3. (Not to mention a foul ball that would of ended the game with an Arkansas win moments before. GIF of it here.)
  
• Funny graphic about Oklahoma's legalization of medical marijuana: 
  
• "Straight cash, homey."
  
• Ever since I mentioned Windows 10 on here a couple of times over the last week, I've been inundated with ads for Windows 10. 
• Stay with me here: Ronnie Bo Lee has been chosen to go into Baylor's Hall of Fame. I know you don't care but . . . the eventual 14 year NFL vet was in the same Religion class as my brother back in the day. After bombing a test (I think he made 50 or something like that), Lee said, "I guess this means I ain't gonna be no preacher."
• The Big Lead ranked the NFL coaches. There aren't many black coaches in the NFL but 4 of the bottom 5 made the list. (Jason Garrett, in what has to be a "yuge" mistake, was ranked 13th.)
• They on the clock?
  
• Trump is getting his daily briefing from Fox and Friends this morning (and apparently believes Russia over every single U.S. Intelligence agency when they say "We didn't meddle!")
  
• Breaking: Trump will meet with his buddy Putin on July 16th in Helsinki. 

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• A 28 year old socialist female Latino beat a 10 term Democratic incumbent, Joe Crowley, in the primary in New York last night. These times, they are a changin'. 
• And she was at the border last weekend instead of campaigning in New York (although I guess that is a form of campaigning.)
  
• Proof that Trump is a narcissist.  Bow to the king! Uh, "his"?
  
• A Colleyville Heritage QB who is so good that he has an offer from Oklahoma just happened to have his dad take a job as assistant coach at Denton Ryan. He'll move with dad and enroll at Denton Ryan.
• Fox 4, which seems to be having lots of turnover, has hired a new reporter who is already doing fill-in weekday anchor duties. 
  
• Based upon the article, he'll never be convicted, and I'm not sure charges will even be filed. Crazy story, though. 
  
• Trump's Muslim Ban was upheld by the Supreme Court yesterday, 5-4. The theft of Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court seat is legitimately the greatest heist in world history.
• Here's the 1980 ABC opening of the Texas/OU game with some great footage of what Commerce Street used to look like on the night before the game. (Thanks, J.)
• Oklahoma voters approved medical marijuana last night. It's only a matter of time. 
• The home pages of local newspapers are getting worse. Look at the Dallas Morning News this morning. That paid ad referencing Tony Robins death (he is very much alive) is an ED ad.
  
• We've got a trifecta brewing: A drought, high winds, and 4th of July fireworks. 
• I miss "The Mooch."
  
• Wise County Messenger: Above the fold.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• On this day in 1962: 
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• In 2012, Joe Biden was refused service in a restaurant because the owner disagreed with him politically. The GOP then brought the restaurant owner to speak at a campaign rally. 
  
• There is one NFL player, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who has graduated from med school and still on a current roster. The NFL, in a massive blown PR opportunity, has denied his request to have "M.D." on the back of his jersey after his name. 
• There's a lot going on here: 
  
• Again? Someone might want to get this girl some help:
  
• Yesterday Mrs. LL told me "Happy Anniversary" which prompted me to reply, "It's tomorrow." At dinner, candles are out. I didn't say a word. She later hands me a gift, and I say, "Seriously, it's tomorrow." She pulls up a calendar, does some calculations, and then takes the gift back.
• Last week, Clarence Thomas was invited to the Oval Office on his birthday. Here is a picture including his four clerks. I'm not saying a word.
  
• I've heard there is Pittsburgh at one end and Philadelphia on the other and the equivalent of the Deep South is in between.
  
  
• Harley-Davidson, in light of Trump's Trade War, is laying people off and moving plants overseas. In the last 15 hours, Trump has attacked the company four times. 
• We've not had a "Decatur Beggar" sighting in quite some time. (He used to be spotted off FM 51 in Decatur and, oddly, off of 377 in Keller.) A faithful reader thinks he spotted him in Oklahoma City yesterday. Heck, why not up your game and run for judge?
  
• Why would anyone ever buy a Time Share?
• Still a great time waste: Can you ID the 50 states.
• Weird: "At 12:15 a.m. Sunday, the temperature was 85 degrees [in Breckenridge, Texas]. By 1:35 a.m., it had soared to 99 degrees, according to the National Weather Service."

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Mike Huckabee has apparently joined the White Nationalist club. (And he might have stolen the pic from Richard Spencer who posted it on his Nazi website in 2013.)
• 
• And his daughter, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, was denied service in a restaurant in Kentucky. Once again, it's kind of like not making a cake for a gay couple (which she 100% supported.)  Amazingly, she then used her official government Twitter account to shame a private business. 
• Trump to the rescue!:
  
  
  
  
• Former mayor pro-tem of Dallas, John Loza, who was two years younger than me, died after vomiting blood.
• Williamson County was busy. If I'm reading this correctly, they seized $80,000 out of one vehicle and $39,000 out of another last week. Always remember: In America, if you have large amounts of cash in your car and are committing no crime, the government will assume you are a criminal and try to take it.
• Conservative columnist George Will urges America to vote for Democrats in the mid-terms. \
• A Fort Worth lawyer was sentenced to five years in prison for trying to bilk insurance companies out $300,000. That seems a little harsh, but I'm all for it.
  
• The Democrats in Texas showed out in force on Friday for their state convention.
  
• Bridgeport old-timers like me can name another place: 
  
• UT released a weird one minute promotional video which is nothing more than the team jacking around in a pool. The name: "This is how we do it at UT."
• Shout out to a stranger who contacted me about my complaints about Windows 10. He pointed out that you can install a "shell" which makes Windows 10 look and act like the old classical Windows. Works like a charm. 
• We've got a new Internet star from over the weekend: "Permit Patty." She called the cops (captured on video) on a little black girl for selling water without a permit.
• This is great: Fox News brings on a couple of panelist to talk about Trump being branded a racist and the Trump supporter, and former employee, tells the black guy he is out of his "cotton-pickin' mind." He and Fox News later apologized.
  
  
• The 10 days leading UP TO the 4th of July. Ugh.: 
  
• Trump, on Sunday, acted once again like the Mad King with no regard for the Constitution. Everyone knows (See Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202  (1982); Zadvydas v. Davis,533 U.S. 678  (2001))  that once a person crosses the border, either legally or illegally, they have all the constitutional protections of a citizen. That includes the right to have the government follow all laws even if it requires a judge or a court case. 
  
• And I'm not going to even mention Trump's weird Sunday evening tweet attacking Jimmy Fallon, or that he accidentally endorsed a college student for Congress.
• Wise County Messenger: Above the fold.