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- The fires in California got close to the Ronald Reagan library yesterday.
- Josh Hamilton turned himself in to the Tarrant County Jail yesterday after allegations that last month he threw a chair and water bottle at his daughter. I'd tap the brakes on your outrage. The case began when his crazy ex-wife, Katie, sought a protective order against him because of the alleged incident. I'm guessing there's a lot more to this case than what we've heard so far. (Hey, he might be guilty, but the Injury to a Child charge isn't quite the high bar you might think. An allegation of even recklessly causing any amount of "pain", however slight, to someone under 15 years of age is all it takes.) And if you aren't familiar with Katie . . . .
"Investor" - Staying with the "Injury to a Child" charge, some of you might be asking, "Wait a second, wouldn't spanking my child be a crime? That causes pain." Technically, yes. But there's a defense "when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the force is necessary to discipline the child or to safeguard or promote his welfare." Every one of those cases of Injury to a Child is far from cut and dry.
- Another case which causes my patented Skeptism Meter to go off: The arrest of the guy in the Greenville shooting at the Halloween Party. Something's not right about that whole thing. Out of hundreds of people at a costume party, the arrest was based on "one unnamed witness." It wouldn't surprise me if the Hunt County Sheriff's Office jumped the gun.
- Legal nerd stuff. Texas' highest criminal court released an opinion yesterday which had an odd title in my browser's tab. (Side note: It was a reversal in a case where a judge didn't let the jury consider the "Mistake of Fact" defense - a defense which was big in the Amber Guyger trial.)
What you normally see in a tab for every opinion that court issues. 
What you saw yesterday on one released opinion. - Nothing like a random shoplifter choosing your home to hide from the cops only for the cops to destroy your home to get him. Moral of the story: The government owes you nothing.
- SMU, after decades of mediocrity, gets to be in the spotlight this week with a prime time game on national TV and having ESPN's Game Day cover the game. You know who won't be there: Long-suffering play by play man Rich Phillips. His full time gig is some type of PR position at the Texas Motor Speedway and it has its fall race this weekend. Of all the luck.
- A Trump nominee for a lifetime federal judgeship broke down and cried yesterday after being asked if he said he wouldn't be fair to the LGBT community. Spoiler alert: He didn't say that. But he also hadn't affirmatively said he would be fair, either. The question was prompted by an ABA letter which also said he was "arrogant, lazy, an ideologue, and lacking in knowledge of the day-to-day practice including procedural rules.” Ouch. (What do you think the reaction would be if a female nominee had cried like that?)
- I heard an ad on the Ticket this morning for The Ranches at Rolling Hills in Alvord. I had never heard of it. But it's website has a page which basically could be produced by the Chamber of Commerce of Wise County.
- Christie' Brinkley's ex-husband is 60 years old and is now engaged to a 21 year old. That violates the "half your age plus seven" rule.
- Whatever happened to (because I'm too lazy to Google it) the teenage wife of the actor from The Green Mile who divorced him? I used to post her pics all the time because, among other obvious reasons, she had crazy written all over her.
- I mentioned yesterday the 1912 public domain book of Dot Babb which is a first hand account of being kidnapped by the Comanches in Wise County. I started reading it last night and it's great. If you had trouble with the site, I put a PDF of the book at this link.
- Deadspin has been gutted over the last couple of days by mass resignations of protest against management who wanted them to "Stick to sports." I don't know who else would spend the time and effort for this classic that put them on the map. I remember running to Mrs. LL when this thing came across the screen with, "You aren't going to believe this!"
- I've told this a hundred times: My buddy Kevin Clark, many years ago, ran out of candy on Halloween late into the evening but some straggler came up and rang the doorbell. Looking for something to give away, he went to his change jar, grabbed a bunch of coins, and dumped them in the kid's basket. The kid turns around and screams into the dark void, "He's giving away MONEY!" and Kevin was suddenly inundated with kids who came running from everywhere.
