Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Here's a Pulitzer Prize winning photo I took before sunset on Sunday while on 380 of the Triple Red Double Dog Blood Fox Moon.
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• The House voted yesterday to bar Trump from exiting NATO by a vote of 372-22. (He talks about leaving it all the time.) One of the 22 was our dumbest Texas member. 
  
• It should only serve as a footnote, but someone pointed out to me that the missing Ennis lady who was found in a creek was at the same location where locals have heard sightings of  the "Chambers Creek monster."  I suppose 50 years from now, when the incident is nothing but history, this tragedy will inevitably become part of the legend. And that will certainly be true if they never find her car.
• Greatest line from someone yesterday on the Covington Catholic Controversy: Tell me if you voted for or against Trump, and I'll tell you what you saw after you watched the videos.
• Trump, in addition to shutting down the government, has also shutdown Sarah Sanders' press briefings. Amazing. It is the first administration in my lifetime that is scared of the press asking questions. Bush 1. Bush 2. Reagan. Clinton. Nixon. They weren't afraid. 
• I completely missed that Bono's restaurant in north of Decatur shut down on 11/13.  Their Facebook page has one last review on 11/12 which would give one the impression that the end was very near. 
• D Magazine has an article on local female newscasters and their fitness routine. (Nothing sexist there, right?) I'm a fan of Fox 4's Hanna Battah, but I question her answer of when she normally works out. Uh, she is on the air at 4:30 a.m.  
  
• Bad case out of Waco where a 17 year old girl without a license drove the wrong way at 3:00 a.m. and killed a Weatherford man. She received 10 years probation this week since no drugs or alcohol were involved. But she did receive 180 days in jail as a condition of probation which probably relates to the fact that she was dumb enough to test positive for weed and cocaine between the time she entered her plea up until the time the judge sentenced her.  
• The Cowboys' Cole Beasley sent the message below yesterday indicating the free agent might be gone. WBAP's Brian Estridge this morning had the hot opinion that Beasley "wasn't a #1 receiver" (something even my dumb dogs know) and co-host Stubie Doak said that one of the "black guys will have to do the rapping" if Beasley leaves.
  
• But count the number of beer ads.
  
• DPS seized $289,000 from a guy in Vega, Texas because he was driving down the road. Were there a bunch of drugs found? Nope. The just searched the vehicle, took the money, and, out of the blue, decided to charge him with "money laundering." Yes, that technically is a crime if it can be proven that the person concealed or possessed the money from criminal activity. Tell me trooper, what was the specific criminal activity? Drugs? Gambling? Extortion? Human Trafficking? Or are you just guessing? (I would think the very right winging and law-and-order Doomsday Preppers have a lot of cash laying around as well.)

                                        

• Decades ago, "asset forfeiture was limited to wresting ill-gotten gains from violent criminals. Today, it has a distinctive ‘Alice in Wonderland’ flavor, victimizing innocent citizens who’ve done nothing wrong.” - Fifth Circuit Federal Judge and Trump Appointee Don Willett.
• He's gone all Johnny Cochran on us this morning!
  
• Shutdown Day 33: #WhereAreThePesos
• Messenger: Above The Fold