Deputy Slain In San Antonio

But instead of dying while involved in an altercation, he was shot while sitting at a red light. Bizarre.

Location in Google street view.

Tort Reform Flier Gets Out In Austin . . .

 . . . which depicted breastfeeding while urging Texas not to become a Nanny State. (Fairly clever if I do say so myself.)

But this caused an uproar with the women folk in the legislature and caused Rep. Senfronia Thompson to break down crying as she addressed the House: "And I find it hard to believe the Texas Civil Justice League would go so low that they would put out this kind of hateful, resentful, bitter, despicable, despiseable, violent fliers toward women just to get at a piece of legislation."


Which should have prompted a response of, "Hateful? Violent? What the heck are you talking about? You do know that's a baby, right?"


Austin American Statesman.

Crazy News Day! The Far Right Is Coming! The Far Right Is Coming!

Every word he says is calculated . . .

Please, please, please . . . .

And from the biggest nut we don't hear a lot about in North Texas . . .

Friday Morning Pick Me Up

More.

Search For Tickets Written By DPS In Last 24 Months?

It says "you" but if you know someone's DL and date of birth, you're good to go.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Slowly dawned on me that the metroplex will be home to the World Series, a Super Bowl, and the NBA Finals in about a seven month period. I suppose there's someone who bought tickets to all three.
• Went to a luncheon yesterday out at the Civic Center for a reception for the Court of Appeals. They told us about how hard they work and how fair they are. (And the Decatur Civic Center gets a thumbs up.)  Edit: In the mail this morning was a handwritten note from Justice Sue Walker thanking us for our hospitality. Thumbs up to her. 
• Kind of lost in the news this week was the Fort Worth railroad worker who lost both legs and an arm in a work accident.
• Not sure who Sasha Jackson is, but she's a "Hey, Now."
• I end up announcing the time in my house like a public address announcer a lot. (i.e. "("9:14! 9:14!") 
• A news story about a homeowner who shot a teenager in Fort Worth trying to pry open a window had the Tarrant County DA tell a reporter that the self defense laws about home protection are "complicated." Actually, the laws are so vague there's almost no law at all. With words like "reasonable force" scattered throughout, it's basically whatever a jury thinks is justified.
• Failing the TAKS test will prevent 22,578 Texas seniors from receiving their diploma. I wonder what percentage of those just give up. 
• Just found out about a 1991 movie called Rush which is based upon dirty undercover drug cops in Tyler in the last 1980s. Actually, it's based upon the book by the same name which was written by one of the dirty cops. I was surprised to find it for free On Demand on my TV system.
• Construction workers are putting on a new roof on the building beside my office. I could have sworn I heard one yell yesterday, "I gotta go peepee."
• Provisions of the Patriot Act were renewed late last night. For as much as everyone gripes about it, it never gets repealed. 
• They have "select" softball teams for Second Graders? Somehow that just sounds expensive.
• Lawyer in small claims court objects because the opposing paralegal's breasts are distracting. (I'm getting old, because I was more interested in why in the world there were three lawyers and one paralegal in a small claims court case.)
• Heat in six.
• Tony Romo gets married this weekend on Saturday. Is it rude to have a wedding smack dab in the middle of Memorial Day Weekend? (Side note: What does "smack dab" mean?)
• Don't ya just love this quote from the Romo Wedding planner: “They’re just really neat people so I think the party is going have an effervescent feel to it,” Todd Fiscus told CBSDFW.com. “We did lots of man food. I have a lot of football players to feed.”
• Meet Todd Fiscus. (I'm going to talk my law partner into re-creating that photo near the bottom for a new law firm brochure.)
• Deferred adjudication for first time Texas DWI offenders in now a dead proposition. We never go back to reasonableness because lawmakers never want to be painted as "soft on crime."
• Guaranteed to get your office workers to stop and look at you: "47 Of Maria Sharapova’s Grunts In Her Second-Round French Open Win."

Decatur Beggar Now Has Chair

Today near David's Western Wear.

Edit: Then a faithful reader sent me this one with the guy in the rain. I'll admit, even though this guy begs for a living, this is a little depressing.

How'd I Miss This One?

How'd the Messenger beat me to this?

Hey, all you Liberally Lean reporters! Conference room! 15 minutes! Everyone!

Edit: Fox 4 is on it.

Man Dies After Fall At Coors Field In Denver

 . . . and the media finds pictures of him drinking beer at Coors Field two years ago.

For You That Watch Baseball On The Television Invention

Source: Sportatorium.

Edit: Formal Rangers' statement and the announcement of a replacement here.

New Texas Crime Reports Released

Hey, crime is down:

Arrests are down. (But did you know that over one million Texans are arrested a year?)

What age group dates/marries a guy with a literal wife beater shirt?

Crimes against cops for 2010:

Source.

Why You Shouldn't Gamble

The line last night on the game was Mavericks -6. That means if you bet on Oklahoma City, you win so long as the Mavs don't win by 6 points or more.

So the Mavs are up by 4 and Jason Terry goes in for a meaningless dunk as time expires.

They counted it, reviewed it, and then took it off the board.

Think some bettors were dying at that point?

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• It's one thing to be involved in a hit and run, it's another when the victim was in a wheelchair. (But I'm not sure what a 50 year old woman is doing out in her wheelchair at 3:00 in the morning in Dallas).
• Dang Mavericks. But I wish I had seen Mark Cuban's post game celebration and his proclamation of, "There are 20,000 people in this building who believed in us when no one else did." Well, make that about 5% of that number who would have bet money they go back to the Finals. And that number might be high.
• As unpredictable as it is that the Mavericks are in the Finals, the Rangers making the World Series is a far more shocking accomplishment.
• And I still can't get past the on-the-street fan interview when they proclaim, "I knew we could do it!", "We played fantastic tonight!", "We're coming after ya Miami!" We? 
• Mrs. LL last night: "I thought basketball was over." That was just a dream, baby.
• The Hangover 2 plot looks exactly like the first one. They can't do that, can they?
• And to support my continuing thesis that there are no real movies made anymore: There will be 27 sequels released this year -- an all time record.
• The Prada Shops in Decatur are holding a "Grand Opening."  What am I missing? That place has been there for years.
• I've got a feeling that girl above is a repeat.
• I'm proud to say that this morning that not only do I not know who won American Idol last night, but I can't name the two finalists.
• The Second Grader In The House Softball Season is over. I'm proud of myself for not saying a word when the coach yells at the girl to "Get the force at home!" when the bases are loaded. Yeah, that's technically the correct strategic play but the chances of an 8 year old girl cleaning fielding a ball, making a dead on throw to home, and the catcher catching that ball with her foot on the plate before the runner gets there has a success probability rate of about 3%.
• Then again, the Mavs made the Finals. 
• I've probably only seen a handful of Oprah episodes over the years, but her interview of a Texas DWI victim whose burned and disfigured face became a DPS poster was one of them. (That girl made the list of "Oprah's Favorite Guests.")  I remember her as being very honest. She wasn't a peppy "I'm going to make the best of it" kind of girl at all. Even after 12 years, she seemed understandably bitter, angry, and in despair.
• Of all ways to make money, bake sales seem a little dubious. I would like to see a picture of the persons kitchen before I buy any food made there.
• Ok, Ok, President Obama screw-ups while overseas: He signed the guestbook at Westminster Abbey and dated it "2008". Then he continued to say a toast for the Queen even though protocol says to be quiet once "God Save The Queen" begins to play.
• The defense in the Casey Anthony trial is bizarre if it is not true: The child drowned in the back pool, her dad was there and blamed her, so she panicked and didn't tell authorities. (I think I just heard Nancy Grace scream in the back of my brain.)
• The Fort Worth Court of Appeals is here today hearing oral arguments out at the Civic Center. [Edit: lunch at Civic Center; Court held in district court] They do that about once every five years or so. If I told you it would be boring to watch them, I think they would agree.

Ann Curry Contemplates Oprah's Last Sign Off

I contemplate how life might be a little more complicated than that. Some people might agree.

But, then again, maybe birth alone does make you worthy (meaning important enough to justify). Once again, some people might agree.

Crazy News

The Lady Never Stood A Chance

Shoot me if I ever get to the point where I just have to sit there and take a ball to the gut from 360 feet away because I need fifteen minutes notice to get out of my chair.

And the guy with a cap needs some practice. Everyone knew that ball was going to bounce off of her like it was hitting the Green Monster in Boston. Play for the ricochet, buddy. It's Baseball 101.

Boyd Is Dark (If The Sun Wasn't Out)

First, the Justice of the Peace Office shut down now the schools released at 10:00 a.m. because there is no power in Boyd.

Stupid question: When there's a widespread and long power outage, what's the typical cause of it and what does it take to get it repaired?

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Yeah, I know that was crazy weather last night, but I suspect in the 1970s and 1980s it might have warranted a couple of television break-ins, but it wouldn't have been wall to wall coverage.
• Have you ever heard of so many "hooks" and "potential"/"possible" tornadoes in your life? Weather coverage is now based upon the presentation of fear instead of information.
• Number of deaths and injuries from last nights storms: Zero. (Edit: OK, maybe one.) You realize your ride home was more dangerous than the weather last night, right?
• Not sure why Fox 4 decided to put a reporter off of 287 in Decatur yesterday evening.
• But that wasn't as silly as having anchorwoman Heather Hays stand on the sidewalk in front of their studios in downtown Dallas for two hours. ("Let's go to Heather to see what she can tell us about the current conditions out there.")
• I saw a ton of folks just standing in their yards and looking at the sky. I was one of them. My neighbor pointed out to me that he was from Illinois so he was used to tornadoes. Hey, hoss, don't try and scoreboard me - I grew up in Tornado Alley.
• A story on Fox 4 last night seemed like an ad for a storm shelter company in Decatur.
• There were some great storm shelters in my neighborhood as a kid, but I think they were built more for protection from the Soviet Union than from Mother Nature.
• The rain delay at the Ranger game was bizarre. At one point, what looked like a few thousand fans (maybe more) huddled in the outdoor concourse during a rain delay were routed down and through the Rangers dugout as bad weather approached. (Screenshot of them getting in. Pic of some of them crammed into the underground walkways.). When that created a human traffic jam in the stands, and with fans being pounded by weather, officials changed gears and told everyone to go back. 
• The long and snake like tornado over Argyle was pretty cool looking. Scary and dangerous, but cool. (Pic below on front page.)  Edit: Video of it here is fantastic.
• But we had a real emergency at my house: The season finale of Glee was interrupted.
• The most shocking news last night was that Channel 8 made the decision to run the finale of Dancing With The Stars instead of going with weather coverage. As The Ticket said this morning, "You know there had to be a tornado form in the Channel 8 newsroom and his name was Pete Delkus."
• WBAP's Hal Jay confusion-of-the-day occurred early this morning when he butchered Rangers' manager Ron Washington's famous quote of "That's the way baseball go" by saying Washington had said "Baseball do what baseball do."
• Joplin tornado damage: Before and After.

Faithful Reader Sent This In From Halset A Second Ago

Thanks, Laura.

(Now I've got to go back to Armageddon 2011 and watch some more of the news coverage coverage.)

Edit: You say Haslet, I typed Halset, why can't we all be friends.

Delkus Warns Of 60 MPH Golfballs. Kinda

Jacket Off!!! I'm Firing Up The Liberally Lean First Alert Storm Center

Man, it looks weird outside.

Edit: Live radar removed since storm has passed.This is how it looked at  4:54 p.m.  Just glanced off to the north. But there would be more to come later.

Edit: Fox 4 was here! Fox 4 was here!

It's A PDS! A PDS!

I thought they were making the acronym up, but not according to Wikipedia:

PDS tornado watches are issued when there is a greater risk of multiple strong, violent or extremely violent tornadoes in the watch area (damage consisting of EF4 or EF5), in addition to significant wind and hail damage. While there is no hard criteria for a PDS watch to be issued, they are usually issued when the potential exists for a major tornado outbreak. They represent about 90% of PDS watches issued

Does Pete Delkus know about this?

And You Wonder Why I Hate The Family Cat?

Just got news of this.

Edit: Many of the double entendre comments, although inspired and shocking, cannot be printed. The management thanks you for your interest.

4%?

I can't stand the guy, but I find this hard to believe. Story.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• A judge up at the courthouse was pretty funny yesterday when he expressed reservation about issuing a warrant for those who didn't show up for a morning docket. You know, that Rapture thing.
• I checked in on the Mavs with about five minutes left in the game last night and they were getting killed. That couldn't have possibly changed. 
• That Joplin tornado was horrible. But the local media was promoting fear this morning in its wake: NBC 5's Kim Fischer was at the Ballpark In Arlington reporting on what "officials" were doing to protect tonight's crowd in light of the "dangerous" weather they would see.
• I could have sworn she said that the game starts at 7:05 and the storms were expected around 7:00, but I'm not believing my ears until I hear a replay.
• Overslept this morning and I hate that. Was awakened to the weird alarm on Mrs. LL's cell phone that is the sound of a thunderstorm. (And then it asks you to solve a math problem before it will shut off.)
• I'm sure you saw that Troy Aikman is putting his Highland Park mansion on the market for $27 24 million. It seems like he bought pricey property adjacent to it and put improvements on it as well. (I think Deoin Sander's Prosper home was on the market for $21 million but never sold.)
• Had to go to the Wise County Jail jail yesterday and noticed a young girl who had just been released. She was trying to find out where she could sign a statement saying another girl who was still in jail, "Had nothing to do with it, and shouldn't have to post bond to be released." Girl, it ain't that easy.
• Odd story: Family members call Fort Worth police after a woman threatens suicide. Cops arrive at her home and she "walks" towards them with scissors so officers shoot and kill her. Please tell me there is more to this story. 
• A new prison sits empty near Anson but officials are hopeful that they can get prisoners from  Bridgeport since the private prison there has a contract that is expiring. (I have no idea if that means it won't be renewed or they hope it won't be renewed.)
• I can never hear the name of  Anson without thinking of the phrase "No Dancin' In Anson" -- a product of a real life Footloose-like controversy there in 1987.
• Rare Lindsay Lohan pool appearance
• Someone on WBAP's morning team ("Sean"?) said this at 8:09 a.m. this morning in reference to the death of Macho Man Randy Savage last week in a car wreck : "You know how they got him out of his car? They had to use a Slim Jim." Wow. (In case you didn't know, Savage used to promote the "Slim Jim" snack.)

There's a video going around of a Weather Channel reporter getting emotional on the streets of Joplin, MO today as he viewed the tornado damage.  Near the end, he mentions the exact location and it's interesting to see how the place looks on Google's Street View.

President Obama's Limo Gets Stuck Today In Ireland

Did anybody think about doing a test run?

They finally had to get a backup limo.

Who Ya Got? Arrested Guy Who Just Happens To Be Black* vs. Overweight Cop

And does it really take 1:06 from the time someone leaps over the counter in a jail until the reinforcements show up? (But when they show up, they show up big time.)
______________
*The "just happens to be black" was a reference to Ticket shtick.  Gordon Keith doesn't refer to someone as a "black man" but as "a man who just happens to be black."

Criminal Justice Visual Observations From This Morning

Lousy picture, but this guy was a cross between Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash. What got my attention even more was that he was carrying a gun and had a badge that said, I think, "County Attorney."  I saw some local deputies talking to him and it sounded like he had "heard a tip" that someone he was looking for would be on the 10:30 a.m. docket. I'm guessing he's an investigator with a prosecutor's office that is not here in Wise County.

And while waiting on the docket myself, I was reading "The Texas Prosecutor" which had a feature article by a prosecutor in Georgetown who pursued someone in Justice of the Peace Court for the Class C offense of Refusing To Pay Toll. I'm not sure anyone every had a Class C article published before.

Colonial Pics From This Weekend

 Tattoos and Elvis Costello Glasses In Blue (Left)

 Her Dad Will Be Calling Her

Kind Of Expected Fergie To Be In There, Too

Way too many other photos here.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• My flower bed reconstruction update: Have you every tried to level a row of limestone bricks? Threading a needle is far easier and takes less precision.
• The Family Cat update: Still mean and stupid. And she still looks at me like she's thinking, "Who are you?"
• While watching the Second Grader in the House's softball game over the weekend, I witnessed a legitimate and well executed Triple Play. (She wasn't involved.) Runners on second and  third. Pop up to third baseman. Caught. (One.) Runner at third took off too soon so third baseman quickly steps on bag. (That's two.) Then the runner on second (we're talking Second Grade again) got confused and ran towards third where she was tagged out. (That's three.) 
• I don't think a single player on the field understood what had just happened. 
• The cutest part was the runner going into third was tagged standing up and right in the chest (by a big girl) which caused her to go flying backwards and land on her back (she's ok). The cute part is that the girl who tagged her broke into tears because she thought she had hurt her. 
• One final softball note: Somehow I've become the unofficial/official box score keeper, and I suddenly became the center of attention on Sunday when everyone surrounded me when a "Was that really the third out?" controversy erupted. Somehow I had the final say. I'm not used to that. 
• I saw the footage Friday of a Mesquite Baptist preacher getting booked in to jail at West Virginia after allegations of sexual assault of a woman he met in a bar. Last night the news reported he had hung himself while in jail. 
• Another guy who killed himself over the weekend was the composer of the what-a-beating song, "You Light Up My Life." (And, based upon the article, that guy's life was a mess.)
I don't think "Hey, Now" does justice to Bar Refaeli on a boat.
• Tornado Insanity: 89 and counting were killed in Missouri yesterday from one (coming on the heels of the one that killed over 350 in Alabama and other Southern states earlier this month.) Photos.
• The annual Arizona State "Undie Run." (Thanks, Steve.)
• I'm still waiting for my predicted Mavericks playoff collapse, but I'm getting worried. 
• I think I got my haircut Friday by a gal who really needed to be somewhere else.
• The Onion ran a story about Planned Parenthood building an "Eight Billion Dollar Abortionplex." Those not understanding that the The Onion is a parity*  site (and those who probably believe those Nigerian emails are true), were not pleased.  [Edit: Let the dogpile continue. But, of course, since the site levels the playing field for all news media, it technically could be a parity site.]
• I was going to go with the cover of the Star-Telegram today because I think they greatly over estimate how much we care about The Colonial golf tournament.
• But I went with one from Missouri: