Weekend Reading (As I Sit In The Hills Of Arkansas)

Texas Monthly has just completed a two part article on the wrongful conviction of Michael Morton out of Williamson County. I thought I knew this case well but it is more shocking than I even realized. It has everything: A good-old-boy know-it-all former Texas Ranger turned County Sheriff, overzealous and perhaps even crooked prosecutors, and a CSI turn of events that no one would believe.

It is a must read for anyone interested in criminal justice. More importantly, it is a must read for anyone whoever sits on a jury in the future.

Part One.
Part Two.

In typical Texas Monthly fashion, they are long. But they are also fantastic. (The articles are free online but there might be a very quick and easy registration first. It is more than worth it.)

NBA: So Wrong

Edit: Video.

Above The Fold

Black Smoke Friday

Thanksgiving Annual Message

As this post appears, I'll be in a mass of bodies at a Turkey Trot. This year, for the first time ever, I'm doing it in Fort Worth instead of Dallas. It's a 10K instead of 8 miles. A little shorter run. A little shorter drive. Perhaps the first signal that I'm slowing down. 

And that brings us to Thanksgiving and my annual call back to this post, a favorite of the Liberally Lean readers,  that I put up seven years ago. . You know, I love going back to it. It is still true. And it t needs to be read slowly -- the way it was written.

Thanks to all of you for this crazy little club we have.

Unconfirmed Direct Message To Me

Malone is the man accused in the murder this week of a young woman.

From Casa Torres Yesterday

That appears to be a fox tail and fox ears on the lady on the right.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Mitt Romney pumping gas looks like he is hung over.
• I wonder how many Black-Friday-Someone-Gets-Trampled stories there will be.
• I'm planning on running the Fort Worth, instead of the Dallas, Turkey Trot this year. Just seems right to make some changes.
• There's a lady catching grief for posing for a very disrespectful photo at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier which has gone viral. She's working hard to distance from it. 
• Some college kid scored 138 points in a basketball game last night. I think that tells me more about the opponent than the kid. Edit: Deadspin is calling the game "a sham" with an explanation of what a mockery it was. 
• It's amazing it took 49 years to get a historical marker for the place of the death of J.D. Tippett.
• There were two Indians convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Jack County in 1871. The murder occurred on May 18th with a trial on July 6th. Amazingly, the governor. Surprisingly, they were released two years later simply as a symbolic gesture to help with Indian relations. "The Trial of Satanta and Big Tree." 
• I'm not sure how the NFL survives the concussion lawsuit/concussion problem. They have attempted to make the elimination of concussions a priority but they seem to be happening more than ever. And those guys are just going to get bigger and faster.
• A sexual assault of a male caused a crime alert to go out at UNT last night.

Above The Fold

Oh, The Glamorous Life

DM –  An agitated murder defendant poured a cup of water over his attorney’s head during trial just as jurors were getting ready to start their deliberations. Jerome Power, 50, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, dumped the water on attorney Steve Addington, of Des Moines, catching Addington, jurors, and the judge off guard. Power, charged with first-degree murder, has been accused of strangling his 68-year-old neighbour, Doris Bevins, to death in her home on September 19, 2010. ‘It should have been a mistrial,’ Power shouted after dumping the water on Addington, ‘You sold me out!’

Go ahead. Watch L.A. Law, Law and Order, Matlock, or The Practice. The chances of the regular lawyer getting a cup of water poured on his head during the course of an average day is a heck of a lot more realistic.

P.S. What's up with this camera angle and the perfect photo? I'm not sure the photographer didn't slip ol' Jerome there a pack of smokes to give Mr. Addington an impromptu bath. 

This Is Some Blogger Named . . .

. . . Chloe Melas for some site named Hollywoodlife.com?  I've been doing this for years and the paparazzi never bothers me when I'm lounging around in my favorite speedo at Wise County Park.

No justice.

Well, There's Peace In The Middle East Again

Let me guess: "Israel, hereinafter knows as the Party of The First Part, and Hamas, hereinafter known as Party of the Second Part, do hereby pinky promise not to launch missiles into one another for at least a couple of days. And even though the Party of the First Part kind of likes retaliating with great vengeance and furious anger by pinpointing the driver's side of a car from a drone strike from miles away, it agrees to this ceasefire even though the Party of the Second Part has trouble hitting the broadside of a barn."

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Talked to someone who saw Lincoln last weekend. Gave it a big thumbs up. That's no surprise but I keep hearing, "It's not exactly like you would think." 
• I caught a little bit of Kevin Burns' Dust Bowl on PBS last night. And from the sounds of it, it'll happen again. 
• Israel has a great anti-rocket defense system. If I saw the news segment correctly, if multiple missiles are incoming, an anti-missle rocket launcher will target only those that are headed to a populated area.
• One of the rabbits made a break for it when I was out of town and found a hole near a kitchen baseboard. Mrs. LL and tow teenagers then removed a portion of it and sent the cat in to go get it. The repair job was actually pretty good.
• I got yelled at for eating a cookie yesterday when the Fourth Grader In The House turned me in to her momma.
• Those who go shopping on Black Friday (or Black Thursday) are crazy.  Those who camp out in advance of Black Friday are certifiable and have no idea about the value of time. 
• This morning Mark Davis called Walmart workers "punks" who were contemplating striking on Friday.
• WBAP had some guy on from Doomsday Preppers who said he's planning for the "social unrest" that is coming. Not surprisingly, he managed to plug a book and website. 
• Speaking of hacks, when did Oliver North jump the shark?  He was on Hannity last night going crazy over Israel and then said, "It all comes back to Benghazi." Say what? Fox News has become an Echo Chamber that borders on ridiculous.
• Sports: (1) Maryland and Rutgers joined the Big 10 yesterday Maryland and Rutgers?! (2) But I loved Maryland's president yesterday who said the move was about one thing: Money, (3) Yeah, I know the Lady Bears finally lost last week, (4) I've got the Longhorn Channel and it broadcasts UT's outdoor pep rallies every week -- the phrase "you can be louder than that!" is a common yell, (5) Mack Brown walks into it like he's the President greeting Congressman at the State of the Union, (6) UT basketball was beat by Chaminade last night. I hadn't heard "Chaminade" in years. 
• The picture of the home explosion in Indiana a week or so ago is amazing. And now they are calling it a homicide investigation.
• Prediction: Over the next four years the economy will rebound in a big way and it would have happened regardless of who had been elected President.
• I traveled I-35 through Temple on Friday and now this happens on Monday:

Oklahoma Teen Ordered To Go To Church For 10 Years . . .

. . . as a condition of probation after pleading to an Intoxication Manslaughter charge. In other news, a copy of the U.S. Constitution has apparently not made it to Oklahoma yet.

Westboro Baptist Showed Up At The Baylor Game This Weekend

But one guy snuck in and did a bit.

Messenger From The Weekend

When Did This Happen?

Funny.

Edit: "The President is not impressed." Now he's become the subject of photoshop.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I agree. That picture is a little weird.
• We've got a murder charge in Wise County. Here is the victim's Facebook page.
• I slept a bizarre amount this weekend. Not sure why.
• I was also basically off the Internet all weekend as well.
• I even slept through the first part of #1 Kansas State v. Baylor and only heard that an upset was happening when I was in the shower. I yelled. Mrs. LL then came scrambling up thinking I was in distress.
• A Bridgeport man is featured in an Ohio piece about the "father he never knew."
• I took the new tollway on the way home from San Antonio. 85 miles per hour is very fast -- especially when full trash bags would suddenly appear in the road.
• And troopers were everywhere. It was a ridiculous number of those guys.
• They are repaving one lane of I-35 in between Waco and Fort Worth. That was a beating.
• I made Mrs. LL watch Roadhouse this weekend. She was not impressed.
• I know Israel has a much better military than those around them, but they might want to be careful stirring up the millions of folks that surround them.
• I had the weirdest dream about hanging out with women who were in the Wise County Jail. 
• Conservative talk radio is in panic mode. 
• I'm hearing lots of bus about 60 Minutes last night. Something about an incredible Colombian drug organization and a segment on college football. 
• I don't understand any discussion about whether Texas can legally secede from the Union. It doesn't matter. That declaration would be more akin to an act of war than a divorce decree.