Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The implosion of the building in Dallas over the weekend left the core of it, mostly composed of elevator shafts, still standing. But it was pretty crazy because that core dropped about 30 feet, planted, and then just leaned. Watch it. 
  
• Clayton Williams died over the weekend. Back in the day he challenged, but lost to, Ann Richards.  Political experts far smarter than I am said over the weekend that he lost because he admitted that he didn't pay taxes four years earlier. I have no memory of that whatsoever. I always thought it was the sexual assault joke that killed him. 
  
• As I continue to poo poo the Coronavirus Fear Train, I'd like to point out that the U.S. is going through the worst flu season in years. So bad, in fact, that the CDC estimates the number of deaths so far is at 14,000. 
• Another reason to side with the annoying guy who kept bumping the lady's reclined airplane seat: “I want to know who he is. I would like to press charges against this man. Because, I was assaulted on this plane,” Wendy Williams said in an interview with TMZ. “And American Airlines, I would like the flight attendant Loretta fired.”
  
• The President of the United States retweeted a flatulence video on Saturday morning. That's something that President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho would have done in Idiocracy. We're almost there, people. 
  
• Kay Granger continues to get pummeled by big bags of cash. (I feel sorry for the postal carrier for those in her district. They are delivering a ton of mailers.)
  
• Trump courted the NASCAR vote by showing up at the Daytona 500 yesterday.  I'm no political expert, but I don't think he had anything to worry about with that particular demographic.
  
• Ok, this is funny:
  
• The Messenger has been doing some flashback articles to the era of pre- and post-Prohibition and reproduced a beer ad in 1933 for a case at $3.35.  Using a handy calculator, that's $66.48 in today's dollars. 
• On Friday, there were 42 Class C citations (fine only) filed in JP#2 in Wise County against one guy all for one event which happened on February 9th. That seems to be a bit of overkill. 
• The late night shows could have a field day with some man-on-the-street segments about this:
  
• Being able to send a text on an iPad that doesn't have a cellular plan (only a Wifi capabilities) to only other Apple devices (iPhones and iPads) but not to someone who has an Android device is a little hard to explain. 
• In the 1990s, Texas went Tough-on-Crime by requiring certain felons to serve a greater percentage of their sentences. Now we are seeing the aging of the prison population. It'll continue to get worse over the next decade. 
  
• Speaking of incarceration, I finally watched 13th. Big thumbs up. It starts out with an excerpt from a Barack Obama speech in July, 2015 when he said, "So let’s look at the statistics.  The United States is home to 5 percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s prisoners.  Think about that." Seriously. Think about that. 
  
• As I thought and hoped, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram ran a story about the Wise County case I'm involved in that has also grabbed the attention of NBC's Dateline. In an effort not to be outdone, the Wise County Messenger ran a front page story about it as well. (This is the reason you should support local journalism. With no newspapers, you would be left in the dark.  Subscribe to the Messenger here. Subscribe to the Star-Telegram here.) And if you want to take a deep dive of the twenty-two page detailed Motion I filed which prompted these stories, you can read it here. Multiple arrest and search warrant affidavits are included as attachments as well. Look, I'm court appointed on this deal. And although it's not the point of the Motion, it does explain why Dateline is interested which, it should go without saying, it normally not a good thing for someone. 
• Messenger: Above the Fold.