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

 That went from "pretty smooth" to "pretty painful" very quickly.

 Get me this dog!

 If you didn't have a glove made for catching a basketball, 

you probably could have made that catch.

 A metaphor for life.

 New sport idea: Keep the hair entangled and carry on. 

 Sir!

And to think I've been doing all sorts of liver experiments to 

simply catch catfish.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• More proof the Texas criminal justice system is screwed up (and Williamson County in particular): The County Judge has been criminally charged with Official Oppression after telling the Sheriff to stop tweeting. I've preached for years that just because something is technically a crime doesn't make it practically a crime. 
•  This question was in the Star-Telegram yesterday in Texas Gardening Guru Neil Sperry's column: “Why is my St. Augustine burning up? I’m watering it a couple of time weekly, but it’s just getter browner.”  His answer: "You’ve described classic symptoms of chinch bugs, and this looks to be a record year for the little pests . . . . " Far be it for me to question the expert, but I think the sun and drought probably has more to do with it. 
• The Drudge Report was basically tweeting out porn yesterday.  
• That Russian spy got around. She is seen here with Rick Santorum when he was a presidential candidate.
  
• I've mentioned that for decades I have a dream with the same theme: I'm in school (high school, college, or law), and I find myself on an unfamiliar campus trying to find my classes and learning it is near the end of a semester with finals coming up. Last night, I stumbled upon a Twitter thread where hundreds of people chimed in to say they suffer from the same dream. 
• Fort Worth PD is being very quiet about this bank robbery where shots were fired and bank employees were hit. (No money was taken - something very rare. The fact that people were injured - more rare.)
  
  
• I had a feeling this case would not end well. Mental health is a major issue. (If you want to do some morbid research, take a look at the website of the medical examiner's office for Tarrant County and see how many times "Suicide" is listed as the cause of death.)
  
• This was an incredible moment yesterday. And I bet the Toddler In Chief is going to be livid.
  
• Look at the bizarre "Bomb Squad" entry in today's Update. I have so many questions.
  
• I find this pretty shocking: Despite the population of Texas booming, misdemeanor DWI cases filed in Texas courts have basically been cut in half since 1985. (Source at p. 137)
  
• But misdemeanor drug cases (basically marijuana and prescription medication possessed without a prescription) have skyrocketed. 
  
  
  
• I saw this stat in the same document: The number of criminal cases for violations of the traffic laws of the State of Texas for the fiscal year 2016 was 2,050,299.
• Yet another case where the State couldn't prove "reckless":
  

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Edit: Oops: 1.5 hours late today. Didn't push a button!
• I didn't know the City of Boyd had evening city court. 
• Whatever happened to the "consultant" for the Dallas Mavericks who was hired after the workplace scandal? There was a splashy press conference and then we never heard from her again.
• I was Fake News yesterday when I said there would not be a White House press conference. There was. And I loved this question: "Why should this president have any credibility to Americans in what he says if in fact 24 hours later — or in this case, three hours later — the White House comes out and says, 'Just kidding'?"
• Trump has endorsed this guy for governor of Georgia. He has an ad where he tells us he even has a big truck in case he needs to deport "criminal illegal aliens" himself. 
  
• Highway 1 at Big Sur has reopened. (It was closed 14 months ago due to a landslide and took $54 million to repair.)
  
• There's an interesting case going on out of Collin County where a guy left his kid in a hot car. Yesterday the judge directed a verdict of Not Guilty on the Manslaughter charge but will let the jury consider a lesser charge of Criminal Negligence.  (I've written time and time again how some prosecutors don't know the tremendously difficult in proving the definition of "recklessness" which is the standard for Manslaughter.)
• The fact that Blockbuster is down to one store has been in the news. Question: Where does that store get its videos? There cannot possibly be a Blockbuster "corporate office" or warehouse that supplies videos to one store. 
• Eight tweets from Trump this morning and four of them complain about "Fake News." He's losing it.
• Fox 4 had a story last night on heat and the "Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps out of Chicago which are practicing up in Denton for a performance tonight."  All those boys were shirtless. I'm no expert, but I don't think that's the best way to beat the heat. Those who live in the Middle East wear loose fitting and light fabric -- they don't go shirtless.
  
• Someone pointed out to me that on Sunday the Texas Rangers have a day game. Projected attendance is? 
  
• Fort Worth PD announced the arrest of a guy for the beating of a girl on the street back in April. I feel like I missed that story. The girl is still in the hospital and might need a new heart. (And that guy looks eerily familiar to me.)
  
   
• Spiffy monuments have been put up in Boyd to commemorate its two State Champion football teams (and one Regional Championship team which must have members still around who lobbied to be included.)
• On the same day that UNC's football coach makes the crazy statements below, UT announces one of its offensive lineman will never play football against due to a concussion he received in Spring practice. 
  
• Putin made the cover of Time. (It's actually a morphed face of Trump and Putin although I see 90% Putin and 10% Trump.)
  
• Come on, Ted. Man up!
  
• That Russian spy who was arrested makes The Americans seem like a documentary . . . 

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Sounds like lots of Decatur was without electricity last night. 
• Well, Trump explained his Russian press conference fiasco with a statement yesterday. He said he meant to say "wouldn't" and not "would." Anyone believe that? Heck, Trump gave an interview to Sean Hannity the same night as the press conference and didn't apologize for a thing or make a correction.
• And while awkwardly reading his prepared remarks, the cameras caught that he had struck through the line about “bringing anyone responsible to justice" for the election hacking.
  
• But in case you believe that the last two days have been a disaster for Trump, he corrects you this morning: You are just dumb.
  
• Today's White House briefing has been cancelled. Come on, Sarah. Walk out there and defend him. Edit: I may have been wrong about this. I am Fake News.
• The Wise County Reunion begins on July 23rd. Projected high that day: 105. If you want to get your cabin ready on Sunday, you're in luck: It'll be 107.
  
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• August 28 primary for a Senate seat in Arizona: "A poll conducted by Phoenix-based OH Predictive Insights (OHPI) has McSally ahead with a little over 39 percent of the vote, followed by former state Sen. Kelli Ward at 24.5 percent and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio trailing far behind at nearly 14 percent. About 22 percent of voters remain undecided."
  
• This is misleading in the bicyclist case in Grand Prairie. "Accident Involving Death" actually refers to a section of the Texas Transportation Code which outlines the responsibilities you are under if involved in an accident which results in death. See §550.021. But the way it is labeled gives you the impression that you can be charged with a felony simply for being in an "accident" which resulted in death. 
  
• But that's a good starting place for the defense in that case: "The State has alleged she was involved in an accident. They don't say she caused his death. They don't say she committed Manslaughter. They don't even say she acted with Criminal Negligence."
• You don't think running backs in the NFL are ran into the ground? In 2014, DeMarco Murray set the single season rushing record for the Cowboys. He gained more yards that year than Emmitt Smith or Tony Dorsett ever did. He also carried the ball 392 times. Once again, more than Smith or Dorsett ever did.  Now he retires from the league after seven seasons.
• Messenger: Above The Fold

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Undoubtedly, Trump's worst day as president was yesterday as he stood before the world and took the word of a murderous former KGB agent who had hacked a U.S. election over the word of every intelligence agency of the U.S. as well as his staff.  Russia dominated us for all to see.
• Even Fox News couldn't defend him yesterday. And this morning, shockingly, even Fox and Friends turned on him: "But that moment is the one that’s going to stand out unless he comes out and corrects it."
  
• The next time Trump has one of his campaign rallies, remember yesterday when he tells his gullible audience, "I'm putting America first again!"
• Rare Random High School Football Thought: The coach of Odessa Permian quit yesterday to become the AD at Midland. That's kind of late notice for a season that is about to kick off.
• The NFL distributed more than $8 billion to its teams this summer. (That's $255 million each. Keep in mind the "salary cap" this year is $177 million for 2018.) That $255 million does not include revenue that each team makes on its own: Ticket sales, parking, concessions and every other possible side gig you can imagine. And the sales price of each franchise also continues to skyrocket.
• I've gone double country: I went from using liver as catfish bait to using liver baked in garlic powder cooked in the sun as catfish bait (in order to make it tougher so it'll stay on the hook.) Works like a charm. Nasty, but works like a charm. 
• It came across as a formal process, but the Not Guilty verdict by reason of insanity yesterday by a judge in Fort Worth was all orchestrated. The prosecution knew they couldn't "win", the defense knew it, all experts from both sides said she was insane, and the judge did the only thing he could: Not guilty. I only call it "orchestrated" because there were certainly meetings between the judge, defense, and prosecutor behind close doors (all ethical) to script the hearing out beforehand for the public and the cameras.
  
• There's something going on within the Decatur ISD school board. I'm not sure it was a procedural "nuclear option" that they went through last night, but it was done for a reason. 
• The Trump press conference buried the news yesterday of a Russian spy, who had cozied up to the NRA, being arrested for trying to set up a "back channel" to Trump. Social Media is abuzz this morning about a photo from the New York Times which might possibly show her in the Oval Office with other Russians in 2017.
  
• Edit: It looks like that may not be her. Someone made a funny about it: 
  
• The Big 12 Media Days are going on in Frisco. I'm shocked to learn that each team thinks they will do well this year. 
• Is the World Cup still going on? (For Ticket fans: Have you ever wanted to strangle the radio as much as you have with all the "soccer talk" they broadcast?)
• Trump famously said that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and his base would still love him. It figuratively happened yesterday.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The indictments by the Special Counsel of 12 Russian Intelligence Officers for hacking the computers of the Democratic National Convention and Hillary should shock you to the core. And the indictment is very detailed -- down to the minute that the attacks occurred. No one with an ounce of sense can say this is a Witch Hunt. Yet Trump did that THIS MORNING! He refuses to condemn Russia.
  
• And Trump referred to the indictments in a Tweet as "The stories you heard . . . . " Stories? You kidding me? If I stood up in front of a jury in Wise County after the prosecutor had read an indictment or information  and then said, "You just heard the government tell you a little story", I'd be laughed at. 
• And Hillary famously said in the "Your the puppet" debate that the Russians were trying to hack the election to get Trump elected. Think what you want of her, but she nailed it. 
• Trump on national TV in July of 2016: "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing [of Hillary]." The same day, according to the 29 page indictment, the Russians made their first effort to hack into Hillary's computers. Think about that. This is real.
• And so it begins: Both look ecstatic to be there. 
  
  
  
• I watched Boyhood over the weekend. Verdict: This thing is great. Intense and gut-wrenching. It is it is simultaneously a portrayal of the sadness and happiness of many a modern day family. You'll catch yourself thinking, "Been there" during parts of it. 
• There was a wreck in Southlake on Saturday when around 100 bikers were doing "stunts and wheelies" on 114.
• I want to be the guy who planned a two week trip to the Colorado mountains over a year ago.
  
• Someone ran over a guy while riding one of those new motorized scooters in Dallas: 
  
• Johnson and Johnson got hit with a $4.7 billion verdict for 22 women who claimed "asbestos in the company's talcum powder contributed to their ovarian cancer." I bet that gets reversed. Due to the current state of the appellate judiciary across the nation, Plaintiffs don't stand a chance. (The only worse position to be in is a criminal defendant trying to rely upon the 4th Amendment.)
• Speaking of, the Wise County Democrats will be hosting Delonia Watson tonight. She's a candidate for the Court of Appeals in Fort Worth that has jurisdiction over Wise County. Get this: She has a degree in Chemical Engineering from M.I.T. and a law degree from Harvard. And she just happens to be black. 
• I have an unusual number of people meet me for the first time and say, "I read your stuff so much that I feel like I know you." And they probably do know me. 
• A portion of the first episode of Who Is America? by Sacha Baron Cohen is must see. It is stunning. Here he shows a gun rights activist doing a set-up PSA for "Puppy Pistols" -- part of a Cohen invented program called "Kinderguardians" to arm pre-schoolers.  (But they only go as low as three years old because "they call it the Terrible Twos for a reason.")
  
• I'll give our High Sheriff credit for talking about meth and planning a forum on it. "[W]e can't arrest our way out of this problem," he said. No, he isn't saying they'll stop arresting people. He's just saying that locking people up will never solve the problem, and he is 100% correct.
• The police chief of the City of Denton is leaving to be the chief in Saginaw. Something seems wrong. 
• Messenger - Above The Fold