Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• I woke up this morning to news that McClatchy Co., which owns the Star-Telegram, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In a long press release written by McClatchy, it appears that the bottom line is that the McClathy family, who owned the company for 163 years, will no longer do so. The company will now be owned by a hedge fund named Chatham: "Chatham is a New Jersey-based hedge fund that last year reported more than $4.4 billion in assets under management on behalf of 14 clients. Hedge funds pool investment from wealthy individuals and big institutional investors, and Chatham’s specialties include investing in companies facing debt distress." The paper is still open for business, but I don't like this at all. 
  
• Who ya got? (Video.) Lady Who Reclines Seat vs. Guy Who Repeatedly Punches Reclined Seat? 
  
• I was going to side with the Lady until I saw she was mixing it up with everyone on Twitter and even posted this:
  
• Trump's final number was 156,418 in New Hampshire which is very, very impressive for an uncontested primary. But so was the total number who voted in the Democratic Primary -- an all time record of 300,622. It's normally a 50/50 state when it comes to presidential elections. 
  
• Those results shows that Trump's base loves him and are energized in support of him. But the numbers which make up that base never really change. His approval rating (green line below) is about as steady as it gets -- but it never breaks 50%. That's really amazing especially in light of the next bullet point. 
  
   
• That site, 538.com, overlays Trumps numbers after 1,119 days compared to the numbers of past presidents. Look at the fluctuations with the others compared to Trump's consistency.
  
• I wasn't familiar with WFAA's fairly new weather gal until I saw this picture yesterday.
  
  
• Tyler Technologies, in addition to providing in-house software to counties, is now basically getting a couple of bucks on every document e-filed in Texas. That used to be free. Haven't I always told you that government contracts were the most lucrative contracts?:
  
• As Wise County DA in 1994, I went to Tyler Technologies' small office in Plano to try to find a way to automate the office. If I remember correctly, they had a "starter software package" for counties at around $200,000 with a big annual fee. Since no other Wise County office was even networked (and basically computer-less), that didn't make sense. I ended up automating the office with a server and my own personally designed Access database at a cost of about $2,500 which included three new computers. The database went on to be used nearly 20 years.
  
• "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret." Or do it in the open in an effort to cater to the Christian vote to the exclusion of all others. The verse is open to interpretation. 
  
• After weeks of horrible tips, I finally agree with one. 
  
• Let's check in on the state of the Dignity of the Office this morning:
  
• I saw that Prager U was trending, and had no idea why. It turns out Samantha Bee went after  Dennis Prager. I'm a trendsetter.