Messenger Above The Fold

Tarrant County DA's Office Employee Missing

Wise County Connection: She is the niece of the owner of the "Workhorse Ranch" in Boyd.

Story.

Michael Phelps' Girlfriend Taking You Into The Weekend

Weird Weather Transition

As first I thought the explanation was that the network went to commercial and, after a split second of seeing that commercial, the local affiliate's "weather alert" came in.

But what kind of commercial would begin with that gruesome face?

Fifty Shades Of Kennedale*

The female lawyer is a Liberally Lean fan. (Really.)

The Kennedale teacher was convicted this morning. The punishment phase starts at 12.

Sure are lots of opinions about this case up at the courthouse.
___________
*Stolen from Bud Kennedy

Edit: The State presented no evidence during the punishment phase. This means she has no (1) prior convictions or probations even if they did not result in a conviction, or (2) past "bad acts" that the State thought worthy of presenting. She'll be punished based solely on the crime and not her history.

Edit: Assistant DA turns into Morality Prosecutor during closing argument:

Edit: Verdict is five years in prison. It probably means serving 9 to 12 months.  Mrs. LL is objecting right now. No, she strenuously objects.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• I had a bite of a Holy Moly hot dog (or something like that ) from Sonic last night. That was one tasty hot dog.
• Finally saw the Honey Boo Boo show the other day.  It was more disgusting than you would imagine. 
• A guy was found not guilty of murder in Tarrant County yesterday after a "drug deal gone bad."
• It will be fascinating to see what the punishment will be in the Kennedale teacher case. All the "victims" were willing participants and over 18 years of age (it's only a crime because they were students in her school).  If the jury maxes her out (I'm assuming a guilty verdict first), they'll be punishing her for being a freak.
• The documentary Searching For Sugar Man sounds fantastic.  A guy records two albums which never sell in America but, unbeknownst to him, are wildly popular in South Africa. He struggles for forty years in odd jobs until the documentary makers track him down to let him know about his fame.
• From bagofnothing.com "Lady GaGa's Bodyguard at Work".  I'm kind of with the bodyguard on that one -- you can't let some guy come rushing at her.
• For you nerds who like stuff like Evernote and Reminder apps, I think I've found the most simply genius product ever: WorkFlowy. Everything you want -- all on one page -- lists embedded in lists embedded in more lists. Whatever you can think of. 
• There were four trucks headed to Decatur this morning with "Hollywood Trucks" listed on the side followed by "Leased to Georgia Film Fund". 
• I'm going back to short hair this weekend. 
• Yeah, the bicyclist had the right of way when hit, but to be riding in the center lane of Camp Bowie Boulevard at midnight in Fort Worth is insane. 
• I saw a note on Facebook the other day that the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office had identified the body found near Newark a couple of weeks ago, but I've not seen a news story about it. 

Music Video For Emily

Youtube – Alright, here is the deal, I made this music video for Emily, who you know I love if you watch my vlog. This is the full version, every clip is in it. I know it sucks, I can’t sing very well. I gave Emily a copy of this before posting it, she liked it, and that is the point. I hope you like it if you view it, I put a lot of work in. Credit was given where credit was due.

Laugh if you want, but this kid is genius. You don't think Emily wasn't crying like a baby at the end of it? His biggest problem isn't his huge heart, it's the fact he's now got a stalker on his hands. Emily ain't letting that boy go no matter what.

And look out, Mrs. LL. I've already begun re-creating the exact same video.  So the next time you get mad at me for being grumpy, not taking out the trash, leaving the toilet seat up, or slashing your tires, my new video is going on the big screen. You'll be stomping through the house looking for the steak knife and then -- Boom! -- My golden tones of "Look into my eyes" will go blaring through the house, and I'll be on the big screen with a sweet shirt and tennis shoes on. You'll melt in your tracks. Next thing I know you'll be in the kitchen making me a sammich. 

New 3A Football AP Poll

Obviously there is some major computer error when Bridgeport and Decatur are completely absent and some girl named Melissa even grabs a vote.

And Stephenville is 3A?

Other high school polls are here.

Internet Trouble In Bridgeport?

Actual old photo of downtown Bridgeport

A rare request to the masses. Anyone having internet access trouble over there this morning?

Edit: Most of Bridgeport's service was restored shortly before 2:00 p.m.

Courthouse Question Of The Day

"If all you knew about the wishes of a recently deceased family member was that she wanted to be cremated, would you take that to mean that she also wanted a burial? Or would you take it to mean she wanted the ashes retained, spread out somewhere, or she didn't care at all?

I voted for no burial with the ashes retained. I think that's the assumed default. But he kind of hinted he wanted me to put the question out to the masses.

Side note: Cremation sure did seem popular in the room when the subject came up.  Heard that the cremation runs about $2,500 with urns priced all over the place.  "Heck, go to some garden supply store and get a vase. Those other places slap the name 'urn' on something and charge you $900 for it."

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• "And most babies are born during the night" - Lady on Fox 4 last night complaining of evening spraying of the West Nile Virus anti-fog.
• "Anti-fog" is a name I made up.
• When I was a kid in Bridgeport, there would be these huge fog trucks that would spray on my street. We kids would actually run behind the vehicle for at least a quarter mile.
• A guy on the radio this morning in arguing that the West Nile Virus panic is media driven. "How many people have died in car wrecks over the last week in Dallas County? None of us get out of here alive."
• Funny line I read: "Paul Ryan will try to wear Ronald Reagan's Technicolor Dreamcoat."
• Oh, about that killing of a constable near Aggieland the other day? Here is how the Justice of the Peace down there handled the disposition of his body of the alleged killer. Shocking.
• There are tiny flags at the top of the tail of every American Airline plane that are backwards. The concept is that the wind would have them flying in that direction if they were real flags, but it just seems weird.
• Former Redskins coach Joe Gibbs had the most unfortunate comment yesterday about the position that Jason Witten plays.
• Mrs. LL went to Six Flags yesterday. Verdict: Short lines. No word on whether it was more fun than running behind a fog truck as a kid. 
• Motorcycle death in Plano.
• While you slept: Seven U.S. soldiers among eleven NATO troops killed in Afghanistan in helicopter crash.
• There was the third perfect game of the year pitched yesterday in MLB.  This is becoming weird.
• I know for a fact that the Star-Telegram is preparing a feature story on all of the deaths of Alvord teens over the last couple of years.

Cowboys News

I know what you're thinking: What exactly is a spleen? Well, I looked it, and I learned two things: (1) An easy way to remember the anatomy of the spleen is the 1×3×5×7×9×11 rule. The spleen is 1" by 3" by 5", weighs approximately 7 oz, and lies between the 9th and 11th ribs on the left hand side; and (2) a human can survive without a spleen.

So suck it up Jason. Just get that thing taken out and get back out there for the next pre-season game so Tony Romo can throw you the ball in a perfect position for some guy to hit you where your spleen used to be.

Actual Screenshot After His Spleen Was Given The What For

What A Spleen Looks Like Outside Of Its Natural Habitat

Does This Look Like . . .

. . . a former Baywatch star and Playboy model who suffered a fall in Turkey while looking for Noah's Ark?

Yes, it does.

There has to be a tremendous punch line here, but for the life of me I'm drawing a blank.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Boy, the "and another" trial going on in Fort Worth is seedy.
• Romney says the President is running a campaign "of enmity and jealousy and anger."  Enmity? Don't be throwing terms like that around college boy.
• I've been hearing for years that pythons are taking over the Florida everglades, but did you see they've caught a 17 footer?  The epidemic of snakes is said to have started with a few pet pythons being released into the wild. 
• I'm not sure how I feel about spraying-by-plane to fight the West Nile Virus other than I wouldn't want to be under it when it happens. 
• A couple was shot to death on their front porch last night on lower Greenville Avenue in Dallas, and the brief report says the man was the owner of a restaurant at Greenville and Forest Lane. It just sounds like this might turn into a fairly big story.  Edit: Fox 4 has an update.
• Mrs. LL slept on the couch last night and I had no idea until this morning. The brief and sleepy explanation I got was, "I threw up." 
• Which was awful because that was the greatest sleeping weather ever last night. 
• There are some court hearings that neither side truly wants to be a part of.
• I've received more than one complaint that a restaurant in Decatur is taking a shocking amount of time to serve food after an order is placed. 
• Remember that boring Cowboys preseason game from Monday? Think the metroplex has turned into a "baseball town"? Think again: The Cowboys game drew a 12.0 Nielsen household rating and was seen by an average of 307,000 viewers on KTVT/11 and a 5.1 rating (132,000 viewers) on ESPN. The Rangers-Yankees game drew a 4.3 rating (110,000) on Fox Sports Southwest. That's a 4 to 1 ratio.
  
  Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/08/14/4181677/cowboys-left-with-small-score.html#storylink=cpy
• "In the summer of 2011, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno allowed the journalist Joe Posnanski, then a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, to join him in State College, Pennsylvania, to spend the upcoming season writing his biography." Then the Sandusky scandal exploded. The book, Paterno, will be released later this week.
• Had one of the greatest discussions ever with two guys on vacation: Would you do a least some investigation of every crime that was reported to you?  One guy was a cop and said emphatically "absolutely." I was on the "it depends" side of the fence meaning it depends on the source of the information and the nature of the complaint. 
• My example was that if a known liar told me Mrs. LL had burned a puppy in the backyard with matches that afternoon, I wouldn't believe him. Cop's reply: "Would you at least look for matches in the backyard the next time you were there?"
• It's pouring in Decatur at 8:20 a.m. 

I Think He Was Referring to "Financial" Chains

Vice President Joe Biden told supporters that Republicans would “put y’all back in chains,” during a campaign speech Tuesday in Danville, Va.

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: They’ve said it. Every Republican’s voted for it. Look at what they value and look at their budget and what they’re proposing. Romney wants to let the—he said in the first 100 days, he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules–unchain Wall Street. They’re going to put y’all back in chains. He’s said he’s going to do nothing about stopping the practice of outsourcing…

Biden was introduced at the campaign event by Center for American Progress Action Fund president Tom Perriello, who called Biden “the conscience of our nation’s capital.”

Leann Rimes Went Back To The Beach

It's been so long I can't remember if I made her an official Liberally Lean Girl or not.

Arnold Horshack Dead

Link.

I haven't seen that show (Welcome Back Kotter) in years, but I bet it doesn't hold up well.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Wrong way driver on the Dallas tollway last night. It ended  in a head on collision with both driver's being arrested.
• That 3-0 Cowboys game last night was brutal, but I couldn't believe ESPN's Mike Tirico threw it to halftime with, "That was 90 minutes of your life you'll never get back."  He's right, I just can't believe he said it. 
• Nakedness!: Last week it was Randy Travis and now some MMA fighter named Mayhem Miller was arrested after being found naked in a church. Now some 25 year old guy in Grapevine decided to go strolling around in the buff on Sunday.
• One of the Kids in the House is playing select softball this fall. I saw the schedule this morning.  Man, that looks like a beating -- I kept seeing "at least four games guaranteed" on weekends.
• Buy a tent?
• I know the new Batman movie has a character named "Bane" or "Bain" in it, and I swear I dreamed/dreamt last night that I was in that movie with Mitt Romney and a plot that kept referencing Bain Capital. So odd.
• I tried to kick an extra point barefooted last weekend while Mrs. LL was the holder. I'm lucky I didn't break my toe.
• I heard on the radio this morning that Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as VP has "electrified the party." Might want to tap the brakes on that.
• If you didn't hate Ryan Lochte already, look at the shirt he's selling.
• C.J. Wilson is 0-5 with a 5.36 ERA and seven home runs allowed over his last eight starts.
• There were a lot of Aggie parents freaking out yesterday. 

Wowsa

Story.

Near Aggieland

Miley Cyrus Chopped Her Hair Off

Countdown to crazy in 3 . . . 2 . . .

Shock

LONDON — Shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus became the first athlete to be stripped of a medal at the London Olympics after her gold was withdrawn Monday for doping. The IOC says Belarus shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk, competing in last Monday’s final, tested positive for the steroid metenolone.

Afternoon pick me up?

More Proof I'm A Sports Genius

Last week I predicted Chad Johnson would be cut from the Miami Dolphins which prompted one commenter to tell me I had no idea what I was talking about.

Oh ye of little faith.

Scoreboard.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The closing ceremony of the Olympics was either a move towards pop culture or Idiocracy.
• Richard Bland made an appearance singing a Beatles song? I'm surprised Ricky Gervais didn't make an appearance -- which I would have supported.
• Me to Mrs. LL: "Who is Jessie J?"
• Me to Mrs. LL: "That Jessie J needs to put some clothes on."
• Me to Mrs. LL: "Who is Tinie Tempah?"
• Picture of a dock at Eagle Mountain lake that floated away yesterday afternoon due to the winds.
• Rio De Janeiro has both the World Cup and the Olympics in the next four years?
• I had an In-N-Out burger over the weekend. Verdict: I'd take a Sonic burger over it but not bad.
• I watched a documentary on Bobby Fischer on Sunday. The older I get, the more sympathetic I am. That guy was a genius who simply had no control over his mind.
• Oddity: Mrs. LL and I both heard the recorded voice of people from out pasts this weekend that we had never heard before. And both of us were stunned. 
• Odd  instructive third sentence in today's Update:   "The Chico ISD website is www.chico.k12.tx.us. Users who are still trying to go the “chicodragons.org” are no longer being redirected to the new website. The new website has to be typed in and saved."
• I visited a client in the Wise County Jail on Friday. We fist bumped through the glass as I left. If you ever want moments that stop you down . . . . 

I Think We Just Felt Some Wind

That is all.