Above The Fold

This Guy Taking You Into The Weekend

Friday Afternoon Dancing To Take Our Minds Off Race Relations

So many questions.

Is that a bar or a run down K-Bobs?  Daytime? People dance in the daytime? And what's that dance Mr. Sleeveless is doing there? Some modified line dance? And then there's the the wannabe Vanilla Ice guy. It looks like a karaoke screen in the background but he doesn't even glance at it. Man knows those lyrics like he does that every day.  And what's up with Miss Boom Boom who comes dancing in? Is she with the guy?

The world is a mysterious place.

Black Kids Kill World War II Vet

Delbert Belton, a World War II veteran, was beaten to death by two teenagers in Spokane, Washington, it was reported.

KXLY-TV reported that Belton, 89, died Thursday morning in Sacred Heart Medical Center after he was beaten in the Eagles Lodge parking lot near the Eagles Ice-A-Rena.

The teens, who have not been caught, have been described as African-American between the ages of 16 and 19. They were wearing black clothing and one of them was wearing a “do-rag,” police said.

The two attacked Belton on Wednesday night, but police have not given motive for the crime.

Police say they received a call about an assault at 8:15 p.m. and later found the victim sitting in his car with serious head injuries, reported The Associated Press.

Belton’s friends said that he survived the Battle of Okinawa during World War II and was wounded. He later worked at an aluminum plant for 30 years.

Friends and family of Belton said that he was “full of life” and enjoyed working on cars and helping others, reported KHQ-TV. (Story.)

A memorial was set up at the crime scene for Belton.

I got called out for not posting this earlier. Honestly, I hadn't seen it. So here ya go.

Not real sure what can be said other than those who did it need to be caught and prosecuted. Pretty simple.

Rockies First Base Coach Gives Life Advice

But I promise you if I had been that kid, I'd of turned to my buddy and said, "What was that guy's deal?"

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• I finally saw the images of the multiple bodies of dead children thought to have been killed by chemical weapons in Syria. And there's really not much we can do other than to intervene militarily -- and that's not going to happen.
• After much urging, I watched the latest episode of The Bridge.  That was some late night Cinemax like stuff going on. Oh, my. 
• Lots of outpouring on Facebook about the death of Brian Mooney of Decatur yesterday. [Edit: Corrected. Major screw-up earlier.]
• A week ago there was a big hit in the Chicago/San Diego NFL game and the NFL.com site posted a clip of it within seconds referring to it as a "spectacular tackle." Earlier this week the NFL fined the tackler $21,000 saying the hit was illegal. Source. The NFL promoteth violence and also taketh away thy money.
• ESPN's Outside the Line and PBS's Frontline had been working for over a year on a joint project about concussions in the NFL. ESPN, which is cozy with the NFL by paying the $1 billion a year for the rights to Monday Night Football, abruptly pulled out of the project yesterday. NFL pressure? You bet. ESPN is awash in conflicts of interest when it comes to sports news.
• The Texas Parks and Wildlife folks will be doing a detailed analysis of the fish in Lake Bridgeport this fall. (Assuming the lake is still there.)
• What a run by David Dewhurst: (1) The anti-Ted Cruz Chinese ads, (2) The Wendy Davis filibuster debacle, and (3) the phone call to Allen PD.  Things were a lot easier for him when all he had to do was get on a horse once every four years to film a corny campaign ad and rely upon his name to dupe an uninformed public. I've said this before, but I've been calling Dewhurst out since 2001. 
• And he was a little tipsy on that phone call, wasn't he?
• Looking back in time, I discovered that I had once been given a Dallas Stars regular season game ticket in 2001 that had a face value of $135. I thought that was insane then. I think it's insane now. Do they still have tickets that cost that much? 
• OK, the jury in the Hasan case is taking it's time. I think there are about 35 charges so maybe they are actually talking about each one instead of just checking the "guilty" line. 
• Ben Affleck will be the new Batman (in a movie I won't see.)
• If you're into payrolls in Major League Baseball, you will absolutely love this interactive graphic.
• Greg "The Hammer" Williams hadn't updated his blog in weeks but tweeted this morning that he's "back" and his absence was not due to drugs or drinking. He also says he will tell his side of the story about the breakup of The Fan's RAGE show which will be different than the version from Richie Whitt. There are divorced couples who hate each other who don't have as much animosity between them as those two.
• Update warning: The first item concerns "Taste Of Wise" at the Decatur Civic Center. No news today. 

OK, Boys, Cue The Bald Eagle. Wait! Don't Cue The Bald Eagle!!!

Video. (Including some obviously communist chick laughing when the great flying symbol of 'Merica meets the immovable object.)

Coptic Christians Protesting In Dallas Right Now Against Muslim Brotherhood

Not sure the Muslim Brotherhood will care, but I can see why the protesters are angry with the attacks in Egypt.

(Yep, I had to look up "Coptic Christians")

More On The TCU Trippin' Girls

There's got to a metaphor in there somewhere about girls so excited to join a an exclusive society while one of their members stumbles in the midst of the glee.

Photo source.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Loved (in a "you got to be kidding me" sort of way) Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's call to Allen PD to try and get his step-sister's son's wife out of jail after being arrested for shoplifting. He was fishing for a Personal Recognizance Bond but wouldn't come out and say it. But, man, that guy can ramble on. And he showed his true colors when he dropped the head of DPS's name and asked for the county judge's cell phone number. 
• Oh, and during the call he referred to himself as the "No. 1 pick of all the law enforcement agencies within Texas." Now that's funny. I think I missed that contest. 
• Mark Davis said this morning that "anyone in Dewhurst's position" would have made that call. I think that comment is insane. And Davis said he has dropped his station's "Call Letters" in the past to try and get something done. What does that mean? He's threatening to call someone out on his radio show if he doesn't get what he wants? 
• And Dewhurst's crazy Republican opponent, Dan Patrick, immediately fired off a press release saying, "The fact that David Dewhurst believes he and his family are above the law is the height of arrogance and recklessness." Republicans are at their best when they attack each other. Edit: The "and recklessness" has now been properly placed.
• Baylor Bust: Offensive lineman Jason Smith was cut yesterday. He was the second overall pick in the 2009 draft and signed a contract with $33 million guaranteed. (I could have sworn he was on Hard Knocks during the initial holdout, but now I'm not sure.) 
• Three separate shootings in Fort Worth last night left three dead. 
• The Sophomore In The House dropped her phone yesterday and shattered the screen. And I do mean shattered.  She was so heartbroken that I think she's entered the Five Stages of Grief.  And considering we'll probably have to get her another one, I'll be right there with her -- lingering in stage four. 
• Wouldn't it probably be a good idea for Kenneth Copeland just to cancel church for a couple of weeks because of the measles outbreak?
• I had a bad habit of insisting Mrs. LL watch something on TV just because I thought it was interesting. And I'd become a little frustrated if she didn't appreciate that as much as I did. I completely abandoned the "Hey, you have to watch this with me" mindset about two months ago. It's better. (Although I did catch myself asking the Fourth Grader In The House the other day, "Hey, you want to see a pitcher get thrown out of a game for throwing three wild pitches?")
• Someone called me out the other day when I said Duck Dynasty was basically scripted saying, "It's not scripted! Don't you realize it's a reality show!!"  Really, dude?
• We had to get our home router replaced the other day which meant getting a new Key Number.  I was beyond stunned to learn the number of devices we had hooked up to wifi. You would be, too. 
• I found a home grown tomato stand. No way I'm telling you where it is. 
• The Nidal Hasan case goes to the military jury today. No way the jury doesn't get back there and say, "Let's wait at least an hour so they will think we at least deliberated." 

I Reference Radio Host Mark Davis From Time To Time

.@MarkDavis: Gay conversion therapy should not be banned http://t.co/KfHC1g0GDY
— Dallas Morning News (@dallasnews) August 21, 2013

I also mention from time to time that he's losing it.

"Business Insider" New Poll Asks Americans What They Think About The States

And several more.

Random Play From Last Night's Ranger Game

A lot happens there.

The pitcher overthrows Kinsler at second but Elvis Andrus snags the ball in the backup position.

The runner, for some odd reason, just walks off the base and gets tagged.

My first impression was that the runner thought Kinsler caught the ball and he was forced out. He looks at the umpire before walking off the base (but the ump certainly didn't signal him out -- but the runner didn't see him signal safe either.)

The runner, Max Stassu had this explanation: "I slid in and lost track of the ball. I thought [Andrus] was on second, and the ball went past him. That's totally on me, and it's something that'll never happen again in my career. It just so happened on my debut."

Yep, it was his first game.

Edit Got Kinsler and Andrus reversed there. That the way blog writin' go.

Comparison of Photos Of Three Accused In Oklahoma

Book In Photos:

 Picture Widely Circulated Yesterday By The Media

One of these things is not like the other?

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Lots of people going nuts over the three teenagers involved in the shooting of the Australian baseball player in Duncan, Oklahoma. "Where's the coverage like Zimmerman and Travon Martin?" they yell. Well, they aren't even close to the same. The Zimmerman case had a great issue of self defense which was worthy of discussion. The Oklahoma case is just a horrible crime with a prosecution that will follow.
• That being said, the coverage is everywhere.  It was the second story on NBC Nightly News last night (behind the foiled school shooting in Decatur, Georgia.)
• Odd observation: Has there been very little wind this summer? Being a former lake dweller, the Texas winds always seem to ruin beautiful lake days. But this summer?
• It was a "blue moon" last night even though it was just the first full moon of the month. I'd never heard of that type of blue moon until yesterday. Always thought it was the second full moon in one calendar month.
• I love Arial America on The Smithsonian Channel. It's basically an hour dedicated to each state with nothing other than a helicopter equipped with a hi-def camera showing you all the important landmarks of the state with a narrator giving a brief history lesson about each locale. 
• A fake news story about Tony Romo breaking both legs had people freaking out last night. 
• It's a little weird that I watched some of Outbreak last weekend and yesterday there was news they had tracked the Tarrant County measles source to Copeland's church near Newark. That's very Outbreak--ee--ish.
• The Musers did a segment this morning on a "great article" in the Dallas Morning News over the weekend about the history of the Johnny Manziel family.  Wasn't that article just a repeat of the Deadspin article I linked to a couple of weeks ago?
• Fox 4 had a lawyer on last night to talk about the liability, if any, of a baseball club for a fan struck by a foul ball. He was really good until he kept talking about the "Assumption of the Risk" doctrine. I haven't practiced civil law in twenty years, but I know that doctrine was abolished a long time ago. (Without looking it up, wasn't it a 1970s Texas case that killed it involving some type of cattle company? Farely? Fairly?)
• Man, I like the Dallas Police Chief. Every six months or so he'll fire half a dozen officers for transgressions. And with that big of a police force there's bound to be that many committing fireable offenses. At least he pulls the proverbial trigger and gets rid of them.
• I don't understand the case of Justice the tortured dog. If the news report is correct, a guy reached a plea bargain in the case yesterday for five years in TDC. However, the judge then made a finding that a deadly weapon wasn't used and sentenced him to two years instead. (See Texas Penal Code 12.35(c)(1) vs. 12.35(a).) That doesn't make sense. A judge can either accept or reject a plea bargain. If rejected, the case just goes back on the docket. The judge can't just change the terms of a plea bargain or modify the sentence. (But for what it's worth, that two year sentence is probably a State Jail sentence which must be served day for day so its not that great of a deal.) 

"Parkland" Movie Trailer

Good stuff. And I love that Abraham Zapruder (played by Paul Giamatti) is going to be a big player. Hands down the most important piece of film footage in American history.

Lots of big names in it. Robert Wilonsky at the Dallas Morning News has the lowdown on the Tom Hanks produced film which will be released in September.

Above The Fold

TCU Sorority Gals Be Trippin'

From :23 to :57 we've got at least four of those girls biting the pavement.

(And what the heck was all that running about in the first place.)

Major Wreck On 1810 East Of Chico

Sounds like the helicopter ambulance is coming in.

Edit: Yep.

Major Accident (Wise County) Chico FD and Wise County EMS have just landed Air Evac 68 at the scene of a reported... http://t.co/Z6AaTgBL7G
— DFW Scanner (@DFWscanner) August 20, 2013

Streetview angle:

Woah

And by "vine" they mean a three second video.

Edit: Article about crash.

"Yeah, That Would Probably Be A Good Idea"

(F Bomb Warning)

You've got to love this guy. He sees his life flash before his eyes as the gun turns on him because he knows, (1) she's goofy enough to accidentally pull the trigger, or (2) she's probably crazy enough to intentionally kill him and then tell the cops, "So sorry. It was an accident. He didn't train me."

Side note: Tennis shoes with a dress while firing a weapon? A "Hey, now" almost slipped into my brain. I've got to back off the testosterone.

Update On Random Shots, Er, Thoughts

Thanks to a loyal reader for reminding me of the name of the cop who killed the unarmed guy. That shooting occurred on August 31, 2012 and the case was supposed to be referred to a grand jury.

Fox 4?

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• A man was found not guilty in Tarrant County yesterday of shaking his baby to death. I'll give the prosecutors the benefit of the doubt that they just didn't speculate about what happened to the child. That would be a dangerous kind of prosecutor. And they exist. Boy, do they exist. 
• Star-Telegram reporter Mitch Mitchell tweeted that the "jury said [the defendant] did not murder his 23 day old baby." That's not necessarily true. The jury could have simply had a doubt about the man's guilt which was reasonable to them. That's all that is required for a not guilty verdict. And that's not just semantics. 
• The Tarrant County DA's office fires off press releases at the drop of a hat. Want to place a bet on the chances of there being one about that case? 
• I got an email about the long time offensive coordinator in Bridgeport no longer being there. What gives?
• A very funny guest on Hannity last night lead off the show talking about Ted Cruz's citizenship.  "His problem isn't that he's from Canada. His problem is that he's from Mars." Hannity didn't think it was funny. 
• And how goofy does Cruz sound, upon learning that he holds duel dual [ok, that was a bad/funny one --- dagnabbit]  citizenship, by saying: "I will renounce any Canadian citizenship." It's like a Monty Python bit. 
• Someone owes former FAN host Richie Whitt $6,500.
• "Ball girl forgets she not supposed to catch foul balls."
• Mark Davis really called out wanna be governor Greg Abbott yesterday for opposing the AA/US Airways merger.  And I agree with him. Something isn't quite right about Abbott getting involved in that -- someone might want to check the campaign donations list. (And it was awkward when Abbott kept claiming there was a "smoking gun" conversation by the US Airways president about "jacking up" fares but he couldn't remember what it was. That's kind of important.)
• Just heard a vague report about a big restaurant fire this morning at NE 28th Street and Main Street in Fort Worth.  Whataburger? That BBQ place? Edit/Update: It's the Lonesome Dove restaurant. The initial address is wrong. 
• The over/under line for wins by the Dallas Cowboys this year is 8.5.  Here's a hot sports opinion: Bet the house on the Under.
• The most conservative judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will pay a $25,000 ethics fine (negotiated down from an earlier $100,000 assessment.)
• I've mentioned this a ton of times but I keep forgetting his name: What ever happened to the metroplex cop who fired 40 (?) something shots and killed the unarmed man who evaded him?
• What a strange life: Remember the crazy guy who falsely confessed to killing Jon Benet Ramsey? He was never prosecuted for anything and has since had a sex change operation and lives as Alexis Reich.
• That measles outbreak in Tarrant County is disconcerting, but it gets closer as Bud Kennedy just tweeted that the outbreak is "in Kenneth Copeland's church." Edit: He updated his source to be a Fox 4 story.
• Mrs. LL watched the first episode of Breaking Bad without telling me. I suspected she had and kept waiting for an opportunity to casually tell her to "tread lightly."  (But it was a little hard to be mad since I had watched it, too.)
• I understand that some days there's not much news, but I power down when I get to the second item in the Update and it reads "HEALTH FAIR -" followed by the third item being "COOKING CLASS - ". 

A Random Rant: I Hate Peter King

Peter King is a Sports Illustrated writer. He. Is. Horrible. And he makes at least $1.2 million a year.

A few years back, I finally heard of his Monday Morning Quarterback column which always contains what seems to be a million words and, famously, is written in the middle of every Sunday night.  It's so famous that 60 Minutes even did a segment about it and King.

Did I say he he is horrible?

Take the following example. This is the beginning of his second paragraph in today's edition.

First off, an acknowledgement of the real world in the NFL—even on good teams, change is constant. When [Colt's head coach] Chuck Pagano stared out at his team on the first night of training camp here, he saw 47 percent new faces from 2012 (42 of the 90 players were first-year Colts)

You kidding me? Let's have a math lesson.  Every team is composed of 53 players on the active roster and 8 players on the practice squad*. That's 61. But at the beginning of the season, an NFL team can have up to 90 players in training camp.  You see what's going on here? Every training camp, even if a team brought every single player back from the year before -- which never happens due to retirements, trades, free agency and cuts -- there would have to be 29 players present who weren't on the team the previous year. Every team has at least 29 "new faces"!

So to have 42 new players in training camp is par for the course. And you know who those guys are except for the seven or so players taken during the draft? Spares!! They are bodies brought in solely for the purpose of practice. 

(Believe it or not, there's a guy who dissects King's column every Monday morning. And in a pretty funny fashion.)

_____

* I'm giving King the huge benefit of the doubt that he is including practice squad players in not being "new faces". 

Easy There On The Smirnoff, Comrade

I have no idea what's going on here.  Just a Russian guy drinking vodka right out the bottle with two "Hey, Nows!" behind him on a kiddie ride. That's about American as a Russian can get, no?

But I'm throwing a penalty flag on the camera gal for not rushing over there and getting a shot of the post-crash carnage.

($100 says those gals are mail order brides. Or will be.)

Here's Your Sign

I'm not sure how this is even Dallas Observer blog worthy.  But it was.

This guy lives in a condo in the W Hotel. He steals a W welcome sign from the lobby as he drunkenly comes homes (at the very early hour of 8:00 p.m.). Security goes to his condo and ask where the sign is. And he gives it back to them.

And this is news?

I'm more interested in what the sign looks like since it is valued at $2,200.

Hey, There's Another Reason For The Cops To Stop You And Extract Money From You!

Source.

Johnny Football Sighting Over The Weekend

Bonus fun: Spot the guy with the tattoos. (Source.)

Heisman odds (courtesy of Bovada): Braxton Miller a 9-2 favorite. Johnny Manziel drops to 15-1. Top Big 12: Seastrunk 30-1, Blake Bell 50-1.
— Chuck Carlton (@ChuckCarltonDMN) August 19, 2013

Didn't See That Degree In The Catalog

I'm officially a #Baylor Grad!👋🐻 I'm excited to embark on a new journey- my 1st year as #Dallas Mavericks Dancer! pic.twitter.com/vZJ4ukNWd4
— DMD Kathryn (@DMD_Kathryn) August 17, 2013

Duck!

What Kind Of Barbie?

He's been licensed less than three years but he had a hot opinion about Wendy Davis this weekend:

Greg Abbott thanked him.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Slumped Shoulder moment of the weekend: When I proclaimed that Lost was "horrible", the Sophomore in The House retorted with, "But you think Paul Blart: Mall Cop was bad, too!!!!"  
• Celebrated my parents 60th wedding anniversary this weekend at III Forks in Dallas. 60th! Side note: Are there people who just casually decide to go to a restaurant like that outside of a special occasion? I'm sure that's true. I'm just not one of those persons. 
• I got accused this weekend of anonymously commenting. I'll admit to doing that maybe three times in the last seven years. And that was for humor. 
• Former Texas Ranger Chad Curtis was convicted of sexual assault of a teenager on Friday. A faithful reader emailed me to point out that he will begin to collect his $100,000 a year Major League Baseball pension in three years.
• A popular blogger commits suicide but then has a post automatically go up that gives the GPS coordinates for a stash of gold and silver coins he had buried. (Which people believe to be a hoax.)
• The Update's lead item says someone "was arrested on suspicion" of a crime. Let me say this for the millionth time: No one can be legally arrested based solely on a suspicion. (Although, unfortunately, that does happen all the time.)
• Sports: (1) I tried to ignore it, but I think RG3 hates head coach Mike Shanahan, (2) I actually watched some of the English Premiere League this weekend and a save on a penalty kick at point blank range by the Liverpool goalkeeper made me think I shouldn't have ignored this sport, (3) NBC is smart to jump on the soccer bandwagon because football won't exist in fifty years, (4) What a strange moment it was when the fantastic pitcher Stephen Strasburg was thrown out of a game because of three wild pitches in a row -- the umpire thought he was going to kill someone and Strasburg didn't argue, (5) I've been promoting Phil Steele for years and this is why -- the AP college football poll came out this weekend and he predicted all 25 teams that would be in it, without error, back in April. 
• I've got two little relatives of Mrs. LL staying in the house this week. That makes a house of five girls and me. 
• Friday motorcycle death.
• I don't know what it's about, but that Crazy Texas Mommy blogger is some kind of contest. Give her some love. 
• I've only heard of one individual refer to being a "veteran of the Cold War." 
• Someone keeps commenting how the BagOfNothing guy always brings his "A Game" unlike me. Sir, you're right. I'm very disturbed. Since both blogs appear on the Internet at the same time there is no possible way that people can read both of them. You are obviously aware of this. But I would appreciate you not promoting his blog because it could kill my ad revenue. If I had any.
• Flipping across the TV this weekend I had two movie thoughts: Vegas Vacation stands up over time, and no one has been as mis-casted miscast as Dustin Hoffman in Outbreak.  

New Study: Wise County Doesn't Make The List

Link

But I think I know why local law enforcement doesn't pick on the African American here . . .