Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• As the Texas Senate was debating (and then passing) a bill yesterday afternoon which makes it harder for cities and towns to remove Confederate monuments, someone covering the proceedings noted that Jefferson Davis was watching it all from the front of the hall. How is this possible?
  
• We had a rare trade secret verdict in state district court this week in Tarrant County with a Decatur firm involved.   (Very nerdy stuff: I think the defendant's in that case tried to remove the case to federal court. If this is the same case, it actually went to Judge John McBride - eek!-- who sent it back to state court because the petition for removal was not timely filled.)
• The Stars apparently played last night.
  
• A Colorado school shooting leaves one dead (age 18) and eight others injured, and we don't even blink.  
  
• That's a lot of eggs. 
  
• Art of the Con:  He claimed over a billion dollars in losses between 1985 and 1994, and paid no taxes in eight of those years.  He's just a guy born rich, conned people, and doesn't pay taxes. Yep. He represents the rural common man.
  
  
• Even Fox News is covering the story this morning:
  
• From the Sandra Bland video: This is not a good look for any trooper (or any other law enforcement officer.)
  
• Sheriff Joe, who now is a convicted felon with no job and, despite his best efforts, can't get Trump to appoint him to anything, is trying to pick a fight with George Lopez. Lopez is ignoring him. This is a tough one for me. I don't like Sheriff Joe because he is a racist. I can't stand Lopez because he's a bad comedian. 
  
• I just experienced the most awkward moment in the history of legal seminars.  After a presentation on the dry topic of the reporting of domestic violence convictions, the speaker played this this very short PSA to leave the room with an impact. She got her wish. What do you think the room was like when during the pause of the couple of seconds before the ending graphic/message of the PSA pops up, someone in the room busted out laughing? (You've got to see it to understand it, and I encourage you to.)
• Wait a second! Isn't this guy a lawyer who used to comment on stories for Fox 4? (The story refers to him as Desoto PD's public information officer instead of a detective.) Did he walk away from the law business? Or is this an odd side gig? 
  
• I finally got around to reading this  Texas Monthly story, and it's fantastic.
  
  
• Of all the dumb things that Trump says, it boggles the mind that he has absolutely no understanding that a tariff is paid by American citizens as a tax which then goes to the federal government. He just did it again. 
  
• Messenger: Above the Fold
• Stickland called vaccines "sorcery" yesterday . . . .