Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Remember when I asked if I was the only man in America who was skeptical about the story of the jogger killing a mountain lion with his bare hands? Well, once again, my super instincts panned out when the news came out late last week that it was actually an orphaned kitten. (Heck, I'm not even sure that part of the story is true.)
• I recorded part one of the Michael Jackson documentary on HBO last night. (I also recorded a commercial free showing of Free Solo which I can't believe was on the National Geographic channel.) I'm very interested in both. 

  

  Not Michael Jackson.

• I'm not sure what is going on with this verdict out of Denton. The lawyer had already sued the school district in federal court and lost, so this trial might have been just for show. Maybe there's some small amount of money available from a parent's homeowner's insurance. 
  
• I've always been skeptical about the claim of Gil Brandt of Dallas Cowboys fame "bringing computers" into the NFL Draft. I've heard that all my life. So I tracked down the following excerpt from a book which lead to this revelation: This super computer, for each potential draftable player, multiplied 16 times a number of 1 through 9, added those numbers, and then ranked them. That's it. Color me unimpressed. (Throw in that the the number of 1 through 9 was completely subjective, and we have a computer which was just a glorified adding machine of questionable data.)
  
  
• Very random old movie thought: Was there a reason that Sandra Bullock's character drove the bus in Speed instead of the cop played by Keanu Reeves? Why didn't he just take over (at least from time to time)? Maybe they explained it in the plot, but I don't remember. 
  
• I've now stumbled upon The History Channel's Texas Rising to go along with the Texas history book I'm reading. The irony has dawned on me that the Texas revolution was fought primarily by men who were illegal immigrants into Mexico from the United States who got here by crossing shallow rivers. 
• There is not enough time to review Trump's two hour rambling speech at CPAC on Saturday. It went from "TIVO" to Andrew Jackson to Mark Meadows' wife to the "sleaze on top" of the FBI to the Russian probe being "bull----" to having a friend in New York who "is a stoned cold killer" to "I wasn't serious when I said I wanted Russia to find Hillary's emails." It was insane. (My favorite part was when he mocked his former Attorney General Jeff Sessions' Alabama accent.)
                                  
  
• Is every government twitter account ran by a 13 year old boy?
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• Speaking of, the Williamson County Sheriff didn't like Seth Myers' joke: "A Texas sheriff has placed cardboard cutouts of officers holding radar guns on the side of several roads to deter speeding . . . .And even one of those managed to shoot a black guy."
  
• This is a bad look for the Baylor administration, but they've got the right, as a private institution, to censor the student newspaper.
  
  
• The Dallas DA's office dismissed the Endangering a Child charge against the Richardson mom whose child was found strangled in drainage ditch. The simple reason was that they couldn't prove it. However, I'm not sure why it took them a year to figure that out while she was locked up. Side note: The Richardson PD was not pleased.
  
  
• Skechers ran this ad in major newspapers all over the nation this weekend as they tried to take advantage of the Duke's Zion Williamson blowing out his Nike. 
  
• The Decatur boys team is headed to the state tournament this weekend. They will play Liberty Hill in the semis -- a team they beat 57-37 earlier this year.  It looks like you can see all the semi and state final games (1A through 6A) here for $9.00 (And how did I miss Decatur beating Bridgeport 70-14 a few weeks back?)   
• I don't understand the appeal of Bernie Sanders, but this is quite the scene in Chicago last night:
  
• Messenger: Above The Fold.