Wise County Beggar Spotting

From Hurst.

(Thanks S & S)

Girl's Fighting At The Ticket's Fight Night Taking You Into The Weekend

More.

Sundance Square Partying: You're Doing It Wrong

Stripper Follows Customer Who Rejected Her Home

Story out of Houston.  A different news outlet is using a different mug shot:

And a girl with the same name and same approximate age was arrested in Fort Worth in 2007. This her?

When He Goes, He Goes Large

Link.

Did We Ever Hear About This?

Rest of story.  He was convicted of being involved in shooting four people in the back of the head while in Iraq.

He even has a Wikipedia page.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• The doberman is huge. I mean huge.  But is as lovable as the day is long.
• The Family Pup, however, is not impressed.
• The Ticket had an amateur "Fight Night" last night in Dallas and one of the participants was Gabriel Thrasher of Decatur. He identified himself as 31 years old and a former linebacker from Midwestern State. He also won his fight.
• Got approached by a hard working Bridgeport Tea Party guy yesterday while on the courthouse square. Man, some of you guys hatred of the President reaches an unhealthy level.
• You'll see lots of headlines this morning that Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles. Not true. Some doping agency has made that pronouncement but they don't speak for the Tour.
• First we had the Navy SEAL who tried to make a buck with the book "American Sniper" and now we've got one ghost writing an unauthorized account of the killing of Bin Laden.
• I never hear anyone talk about it, but the Smithsonian Channel is fantastic.
• C.J. Wilson got rocked again last night.  He has not obtained a win in his last eleven starts.
• Fuzzy's had a line a half a block long the other day at 11:30 a.m.  I'm not waiting that long for any food anywhere.
• TCU Cheerleaders.
• As I press the "publish" button, there is breaking news of multiple people shot at the Empire State Building. 

Rick Perry With That Crazy Lubbock County Judge

"$14.5M settlement reached in family's Louisville Slugger lawsuit"

In a case that heightened awareness of the risks of youth sports, a Wayne, New Jersey family whose son was left brain damaged after being hit in the chest by a line drive during a Little League baseball game in 2006 accepted a $14.5 million settlement Wednesday from an aluminum bat maker. More

Hey, you personal injury lawyers out there, explain this one to me. If the story is correct, there was no allegation that the aluminum bat was defective -- just that it was, well, aluminum and, therefore, the ball flew off of it faster than a wooden bat.  No one disputes that.  So just why would the bat manufacturer settle?

The Doberman Has Arrived

Mrs. LL sends in this pic. I think she's trapped in a corner.

Movie Talk

Stumbled across this while looking into the numbers behind the Obama movie mentioned in Random Thoughts. Man, this is a box office bonanza of a year for blockbuster movies. Compare 2012 (which still has a 1/3 to go) with 2011. Ka-ching.

2011:

2012:

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• I wonder how many college kids don't take a TV to school? With online streaming, I bet that number has decreased dramatically over the last few years.
• Mark Cuban has been making the talk show rounds trying to do damage control for a bungled free agency season. That man is a snake oil salesman.
• Mrs. LL told me that I uttered, "Just walking back towards stupid" in my sleep last night. I might trademark that.
• Those planes carrying the West Nile Virus anti-fog don't look like they are capable of carrying anything. 
• Robin Roberts on Good Morning America reminisced about chasing the mosquito spraying trucks as a kid.  I didn't know it was such widespread fun. 
• Mrs. LL informs me we are babysitting two dogs for two days. One's a doberman? Are there small dobermans? 
• A hurricane might move through Tampa at the same time as the Republican National Convention? Might actually get bigger ratings.
• Back during the primaries, I ran by CSPAN which would provide obscure campaign coverage. I bet I spent thirty minutes watching Mitt Romney's wife arrive, shake hands, speak, and leave from a diner in New Hampshire. There might have been twenty people there. She has to beaten down so bad right about now. That's a long campaign. 
• Richie Whitt tells the story that at Cowboys camp last week he and buddies went to Malibu beach, opened up a beer, and promptly got a $50 ticket for an open container violation.
• Been hearing lots of commercials for the  "Obama's America 2016" movie on that conservative/religious 660 AM station. Is there anyone who would go see that movie who wouldn't love it? They're predisposed to love it.
• 20/20 is doing a story on the Kennedale teacher who was convicted last week. The Tarrant County DA's office, who will sacrifice everything for publicity, tweeted a picture yesterday of the 20/20 correspondent viewing the sex tape. 
• Am I sensing a "We Are Getting Nervous About The Election" feeling from the Right?
• I'm nervous about SMU v. Baylor one week from Sunday because former Evil Empire quarterback Garrett Gilbert is now starting for the Mustangs. (Gilbert, who left school after a dismal sophomore season, was once on the cover of a Longhorn preseason magazine with the title "The Next Great Texas Quarterback.")
• Love the picture below the crazy judge below . . . 

This May Be No Big Deal

BREAKING: Man locked himself in cockpit of an American Eagle jet in Baton Rouge. Plane is empty. Was originally bound for @dfwairport.
— Jason Whitely (@JasonWhitely) August 22, 2012

But if he knows how to fly that thing, it sure will get interesting. (Although I suppose security at Baton Rouge is adequate to keep it from getting off the ground. I suppose.)

What that type of plane looks like:

Breaking (At Least To Me): Wise County Messenger Changing Hands

At least I know Roy Eaton is back in charge after a five year absence, and Phil Major is no longer "President and Publisher."  I suppose other changes are coming but I'm not sure what.

Comments: Be nice.

Shoutout To The Cop

You guys want to know something crazy? You can carry a semi-automatic rifle around on the street with you in Texas. Yep, right down a sidewalk. I was talking to an assistant DA in Wise County about this just the other day. Most people don't know that (and I think I'm glad most people don't know this.)

This guy in the video with the gun has taken a crash course in criminal law because he is firing out all sorts of buzzwards: "encounter", "detention", "Terry v. Ohio", and "article 1, section 9" (the last one which is the Texas constitution's equivalent of the Fourth Amendment.")  He's looking for a fight - or, more accurately, a cop screwup, but he knows his rights.

But the cop did a fantastic job here. The rules are this: If he has a reasonable suspicion that some type of criminal activity is ongoing, the cop can "detain" him to further investigate.  The cop's basis was that the weapon the guy on the street had might be fully automatic.  Once he determined it was a semi-automatic, he did the only thing he could do: Hand the rifle back to the kid.

I'm sure being recorded may have greatly influenced how the officer handle the guy on the street, but it was textbook.  And I didn't think such a thing ever happened.

Lubbock County Judge To Personally Fight Obama United Nations Troops!

Judge Tom Head:

[Obama] is going to try to hand over the sovereignty of the United States to the UN. Okay, what’s going to happen when that happens? I’m thinking worst case scenario here.Civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war maybe. We’re not just talking a few riots here and demonstrations. We’re talking Lexington-Concord take up arms and get rid of the guy.

Now what’s going to happen if we do that, if the public decides to do that? He’s going to send in U.N. troops — with the little blue beanies. I don’t want ‘em in Lubbock County. Okay. So I’m going to stand in front of their armored personnel carrier and say ‘you’re not coming in here’. “And the sheriff, I’ve already asked him, I said ‘you gonna back me’ he said, ‘yeah, I’ll back you.’”

Man, that's a whole different meaning to "get your guns up!"

Prince Harry Just Killin' It In Vegas

You know, that Royal Family changed quite a bit once Lady Di came around. Before then you'd just see pictures of Queen Elizabeth and her entourage looking all, well, royal. But Prince Harry's momma was a full throttle partier once she ditched Prince Charles. I'm mean, my obitutary will never have a line like hers after she died with that Dodi Fayed guy: "They had stopped in Paris en route to London, after having spent nine days together on vacation in the French and Italian Riviera aboard the family yacht, the Jonikal."  Maybe, "had stopped in Cottondale en route to Boonesville after having spent three days together on the Brazos and Trinity Rivers aboard their innertube. the West Nile" but it can't get much better than that.

P.S. Did you Prince Harry's real name is Prince Henry Charles Albert David. Introduce yourself at a Vegas pool that way and every other guy in the room is just going to slink away. Ain't no way they're competing.

Not That Fuzzy's In Decatur Needs Any More Free Publicity

But here's a couple of pics.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

Edit: Emergency Replacement Due To A Repost

• My sickness, which was now limited to my stomach, was upgraded to 85% of its normal good health yesterday.
• That is, until I went to a birthday dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and ordered “Honey Glazed Chicken, Asparagus, Red and Yellow Peppers, Peas, Garlic and Onion in a Spicy Chipotle Parmesan Cream Sauce.” It's never a good sign with others at the table look at you and ask, "Are you OK?"
• I don't care how old you are, getting tucked into bed when you're sick is not a bad deal.
• I heard a high ranking Bridgeport football coach abruptly quit last week. (And I'm supposed to credit someone for the tip who won't let me mention him/her by name. Huh?) 
• There's nothing wrong about walking around Southlake Town Center when it's seventy-something degrees.
• I stopped down in front of the Apple store but didn't go in. Fourth-Grader-In-The-House: "Go in! You never get to go shopping and we go shopping every day!" Me: "Everyday?" Her (scrambling): "Not really."
• Fuzzy's Tacos in Decatur is now open. Cool neon in the windows, by the way. 
• Jimmy Kimmel with go head to head with Letterman and Leno, ABC announced yesterday. Caught a little bit of Leno a few nights ago. He is next to impossible to watch.
• I somehow got involved in a seven person "group text chat" yesterday on the phone in connection with Fantasy Football. That whole concept is unstable. It was Seriousness v. Comedy v. Crazy Talk.
• Looking out from the 23rd floor of 1 World Trade Center, to the 9/11 Memorial.
• Mark Davis was urging Todd "Legitimate Rape" Akin to drop out of the Missouri Senate race this morning because it gives Democrats the chance to say, "Look at some of the nutcases the Republicans have on their side!"
• On The Ticket this morning they brought up the high school team in Arkansas that never punts: "Pulaski Academy, in Little Rock, Ark. In nine years, Kelley’s teams have posted a 104-19 record, winning three state titles. Last season, Pulaski went 14-0 and averaged 51 points per game." San Diego State is toying with the idea this year so long as they are inside the 50. Love it. 
• The Alvord-teenage-death story in the Star-Telegram has been picked up by the AP. For example, it's on a Boston news site this morning. 
• "Nude Photos Of Prince Harry In Las Vegas Surface Online." (You're on your own with that one.)  Man, I wouldn't want to be that guy back at Buckingham Palace when he hears the words, "The Queen would like for you to speak with her. Follow me." 

Above The Fold

Mrs. LL Is A Huge Fan Of "The Notebook"

This should make her laugh.

Obviously, Those Toddlers Forgot The First Rule Of Fight Club

And the headline writers stretched the truth a bit. From the story, this was just one incident. Not that that makes the conduct excusable, but it is a far cry from a "fight club."

White Supremacists Associated With Dead Body Found Near Newark

A Burleson man was beaten, tortured and killed last month by three men who claim membership in a violent white supremacist group because they believed he had falsely boasted of being a fellow member. More.

Now those are some hard core skinheads. Some guy claims he's a member of your group and instead of formally inviting him to join, you kill him.  That's straight up gangsta. I never knew racists were so prideful.

Edit: The Dallas Observer has more details.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/08/20/4194145/white-supremacists-feud-led-to.html?storylink=addthis#.UDOYDrmYCRU.twitter#storylink=cpy

Say Good Bye To Todd Akin

He's getting killed for using the term "legitimate rape."  I'm more perplexed about his hot medical opinion.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• I'm writing this on Monday night while at least I feel adequate. Sickness is no fun. Reminds me of how much we need to cherish our health.
• I kept the TV on in the background a lot on Monday. All I vaguely recall is the Texas Hammer yelling at me.
• Thanks to a lot of folks at the courthouse.  They did some schedule juggling for me -- no questions asked. There's something to be said about small towns.
• I did stumble down the stairs this evening (after literally doing it in the morning and almost breaking my toe) to see Mrs. LL watching one of the Twilight movies. Let me tell ya, not bad.
• A Decatur girl wants some "blog love" for some venture of hers. She's read this thing for years so I said OK.
• Had someone chastise me for joking about contracting the West Nile disease.
• There was a time when I thought there was no way Facebook would fail. Now I'm not so sure. Between games and "inspirational graphics", that thing has turned into a beating.
• Five children were killed in Van Zandt yesterday after an auto wreck. Twelve people were in the Envoy - ten of them children. I've owned an Envoy. Twelve people cannot fit in one. 
• Hadn't thought about Phyllis Diller, who died yesterday, in years.
• The great Ken Burns is releasing a two part documentary, The Dust Bowl, in November. I'm there. 
• It looks like Rep. Todd Akin was in a room full of friends one second and the next second looked up and said, "Hey, where'd everybody go?"
• Augusta National invited two women to join the club yesterday: Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore.  I had never heard of Moore but learned that she's the wife of Fort Worth billionaire Richard Rainwater. I also learned that Rainwater is very ill and requires 24 hour care.
• The Top Gun director who jumped to his death over the weekend had inoperable brain cancer. He simply was not going to go through that. 

The Alvord Story

Link.

West Nile Response Team

Sent to me by Mrs. LL who is running around somewhere. Wait a second! Maybe I've been hit with the West Nile! I donate my body to science to the highest bidder. I'm starting at $50.

Random Wise County Facebook Post

I  find it very sad that someone would shoot a pet deer belonging to Charlene Blaylock that was inside her high fenced property on 2123. It looks like they just pulled up on the road Saturday night, pulled out a 22 rifle and shot it in the stomach. What's worse, the doe (an exotic Fallow deer) has a fawn that's about a month old and if unable to forage, will die of starvation.

Charlene loves animals! With the help of her sister Pearlene and mother Winnie, she cares for several exotics (elk, llama, fallow deer, peacocks), as well cattle, horses, chickens and an exceptional herd of dogs.

You might join me and be more attentive when driving at night in rural areas. Thieves are not the only lawbreakers running the roads and creating havoc...

More Nakedness News

Augusta, GA – WJBF News Channel 6 has learned a Georgia Health Sciences University (GHSU) Lab Animal Services employee was found drunk and partially nude in a Lab Animal Services Technician locker room on Monday, August 13th. A GHSU spokesperson confirms that 2 monkeys were out of their cages in the locked Animals Services Lab. The man is identified as 32-year-old Coley Oneal Mitchell. GHSU Police officers arrested Mitchell and charged him with public drunkenness and turned him over to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office. He was then booked into the Richmond County Jail.

Hey, I just crawled out of bed due to sickness but a story involving nakedness and monkeys couldn't be ignored.

I put Mrs. LL in charge of monitoring the comments this morning. Who knows what she let through.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I'm hearing there is news of a pretty big scandal coming up at Holiday ISD.
• One of the greatest lines in any songs comes from a pretty unlikely one: "And I need you more than want you. And I want you for all time." (Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman")
• I did the dumbest thing this weekend by thinking I had lost something, went to the store and replaced it, and then returned home to find out it was not lost at all.
• Then it got weirder when I sold it to a friend for 33% of its cost. But I felt better when he said, "It's a bargain because you won't be reminded of seeing it every day."
• I can't stand Clint Eastwood and have never liked his movies. That being said, I watched "The Outlaw Josey Wales" yesterday. Big, bit thumbs up. I now know why his fans defend him so much despite such train wrecks as "Million Dollar Baby."
• Yep, Mrs. LL didn't think the Kennedale teacher deserved five years. You guys got the "A Few Good Men" reference when I posted that below, right?
• Saw on the news:  A really cute girl breaks her ankle while hiking and videos herself while waiting for help.
• Gov. Perry says he'll run for re-election. I don't know how, but I bet he'll win.
• Raced the Freshman-In-The-House (good grief) in a 50 meter swim race. I lost. I can't believe I lost. 
• I think a Polaroid print-an-instant-picture camera might actually sell right now. So old school. So permanent. 
• After years and years, I've planned another football weekend trip.  This time to New Orleans. Will see an LSU night game, and a New Orleans Saints day game (which just happens to be against the Redskins which means I get to see RG3's first NFL game.) Mrs. LL  is going along and she's already giddy. Really. 
• Based upon the prices, they are pretty proud of their hotels in New Orleans.
• I plan on driving through the Ninth Ward.
• A Congressman has to apologize for skinning dipping? Normally I'd say no, but doing it in the Sea of Galilee might change my mind.
• The director of "Top Gun" has jumped off a bridge to his death.
• Everytime I hear Matthew McConaughey's voice on that energy company commercial I turn to Mrs. LL and say, "I'm thinking of going to Austin and takin' my shirt off."
• I cut my hair off. Not sure why I didn't do it sooner.