9.12.2014

Above The Fold

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Vikings' Star Adrian Peterson Indicted For Negligent Injury To A Child




Allegedly he used a "switch" (so very Old School).  Things that are a problem: It's on the arm. The kid was four. There may be other injuries than just on the leg.

Here's the critical law: Force against a child is justified "when and to the degree the [parent] reasonably believes the force is necessary to discipline the child or to safeguard or promote his welfare."   And, despite that language in the Penal Code, it's not whether Peterson reasonably believed the force was necessary, it's whether a "reasonable person" would believe it to be necessary.

Regardless of whether this is a crime, I'm not sure why CPS and/or the DA's office simply couldn't have told him: "Listen, you can't do this. Take a parenting class at our choosing, successfully complete it, and we'll drop this whole thing. Nope. In this day in time you get an indictment. The Montgomery County DA is known for being an Attention Ho.

Huge Caveat: If there are a ton of injuries that make us all cringe, I retract the above paragraph

Edit: It's interesting that the first grand jury refused to indict him, so the DA just took the evidence to the next grand jury. Amazingly, in Texas, that is the way it works. If a grand jury tells a DA to take a flying leap on a particular case, the DA just waits for the next one. And if needed, the next one and the next one.
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Baylor vs. Buffalo Taking You Into The Weekend





VS. 


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Oh, No! The Official Liberally Lean Baseball Player Has Been Suspended




Our buddy, Chris responds:

So the guy has ADD and just tried to take a little something to focus -- probably because he likes reading stuff like the Wall Street Journal or War and Peace.  Or maybe he was studying for a test.
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I Love Rick Perry Photo Ops


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Missed This Yesterday



Dallas cops would shoot you for less than that.
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Random Friday Morning Thoughts



  • Maybe the NFL is a mafia. If you have any interest in the Roger Goodall story, you have to see what happened yesterday when ESPN brought in Former NFL executive Bill Polian to discuss the matter. He roasts the NFL, but the segment gets cut short due to technical problems. They bring him back twenty minutes later and he does a complete 180 and becomes an NFL lap dog (as if he had received a call for Tony Soprano.) It was amazing. 
  • Baltimore fans showing up in Ray Rice jerseys last night.
  • I drove past that one car wreck on 287 yesterday where the guy went some 500 feet off the roadway. Even crazier, he went up a hill which had to be at least 50' high. 
  • On UNT's first six drives last night they went three and out each time and had a three total yards. (Makes you understand why June Jones quit SMU after UNT crushed them.) 
  • Denton 21 year old arrested for PI: Mischievous. Denton 20 year old gets arrested for PI: Remorseful. Edit: link should be fixed. 
  • The goofballs on WBAP this morning were talking about a three year old story about 9/11: That Lt. Heather “Lucky” Penney was up in the air in an F-16 with orders to ram United flight 93 because no available planes were equipped with weapons. I find that story dubious in all sorts of ways. (Hal Jay was stunned she was so attractive.) 
  • "Yankees designated hitter Chase Headley took a fastball to the chin" last night. 
  • I've got 12 Years A Slave on the DVR but it's just kind of hard to hit "play". 
  • Early yesterday at Hale and College I saw a car and a trooper pull up to the intersection at the same time. The car made a right turn and then the trooper gunned it and hit his red/blue lights and went after him like he was Pablo Escobar. Didn't signal? Went past the designated stop line? Expired registration? Mass murder? Sheesh.
  • "The United States spent about $25 billion to train and equip Iraq’s security forces and provide installations for these forces from the start of the war until September 2012." And, of course, those forces are now worthless. We are so dumb. But there are a bunch of American contractors who were in charge of "training" and "equipping" who are laughing all the way to the bank. 
  • The Blade Runner was found guilty of "Culpable Murder" this morning which apparently in South Africa means a negligent or reckless killing. That's just a weird name for a crime which we would label Manslaughter or Criminally Negligent Homicide. A person can be "culpable" if he intentionally or knowingly kills someone as well. I'm nitpicking. Then again, they allow judges and not juries to determine a murder case. 


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9.11.2014

Hunter S. Thompson Pretty Much Had It Pegged After 9/11


The towers are gone now, reduced to bloody rubble, along with all hopes for Peace in Our Time, in the United States or any other country. Make no mistake about it: We are At War now — with somebody — and we will stay At War with that mysterious Enemy for the rest of our lives.
It will be a Religious War, a sort of Christian Jihad, fueled by religious hatred and led by merciless fanatics on both sides. It will be guerilla warfare on a global scale, with no front lines and no identifiable enemy. 

Writing for ESPN on September 12, 2001.

(As a side note: Thompson died and on August 20, 2005, in a private funeral in Aspen, Colorado,  Thompson's cremated ashes were fired from a cannon.   Memo to self: Have will change to require ashes to be fired out of a cannon from courthouse bell tower.) 


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Official Liberally Lean Girl Makes Major Announcement


She unveils her own lingerie collection.

Support Britney. Support America.
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Hey, Bear, Can We Play Through?



The little fella really ramps it up at the 47 second mark. And then he steals the guy's golf ball for good measure at the end.
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Pretty Fascinating Stuff




The former press secretary for President Bush is recreating on Twitter, in real time, what happened on the morning of 9/11.

His feed. (Scroll down. Begins with the one that starts "8:40AM" (Link fixed.)
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Random Thursday Morning Thoughs



  • Former NFL star James Harrison's tweet directed at Roger Goodall yesterday afternoon was golden: "Ain't no fun when the rabbit got the gun huh?"
  • No way Goodall survives this. Nor should he.  I'm waiting for the first big sponsor to tell a major network that it is pulling advertising from NFL games, and then it's all over. The NFL owners will readily sacrifice one guy to save their multi-billion dollar empire. (And that sponsor would get more advertising by making making headlines for being the first to pull out than running commercials during a spare NFL game. And once Goodall is gone, they can come right back.) 
  • And what if he isn't gone? Remember that concussion lawsuit that is still pending? The players could call Goodall as a witness as the face of the NFL and simply recreate his interview with CBS by asking him, "Did the NFL have any evidence in the past that concussions could cause long term degenerative brain damage?" Goodall replies, "No." Question: "No one?" Goodall: "Not to my knowledge. And I've asked that myself. So no." Would anyone believe that? 
  • Mrs. LL slept walked again last night. As she was heading out the bedroom door I asked her where she was going, "To the McKitchen," she said in slurred voice. Me (very confused): "Uh, stop it." Her: "OK." And she came back to bed. (I can tell when she's about to sleep walk because she'll thrash around in bed for about five minutes before walking off like a zombie.)
  • The conservatives made fun of President Obama's statement last night that "ISIL is not 'Islamic.'  No religion condones the killing of innocents. . . .  ISIL is a terrorist organization."  What's so hard to understand? It's like saying, "Westboro Baptist Church is not 'Baptist." No religion condones that much hate . . . . It is an organization made up of nutcases." 
  • WBAP's Brian Estridge (who I always dog because he comes across as a dumb Rush Limbaugh) said today, "You know what word Obama didn't use last night in his speech?" (Pause for dramatic effect.) "Christian." (The rest of the staff then moans as if they are being persecuted.) Not sure what that had to do with anything, but we learned Estridge has as much credibility as Roger Goodall. The President said, "Fourth, we will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians who have been displaced by this terrorist organization.  This includes Sunni and Shia Muslims who are at grave risk, as well as tens of thousands of Christians and other religious minorities."  
  • As I mentioned yesterday, it looks like the crazy dancer lawsuit against Jerry Jones might have a Statute of Limitations problem. 
  • Remember Judge Carlos Cortez in Dallas who was alleged to have been involved in everything from domestic abuse, sexual assault, and drug use, lost the primary election, but is still on the bench? An allegation has now been made that before the election he ruled in favor of a Defendant in a civil case but the lawyer for the Defendant contributed $5,000 to Cortez's campaign before the ruling and $2,500 campaign the day after the ruling. (Source - but there may be a pay wall.) Electing judges is such a screwed up way to run a system. 
  • The Ticket implied yesterday that we would hear news today that Ron Washington's departure from the Rangers was due to an allegation of sexual impropriety. Yahoo News has now said the same thing. 
  • Crazy Mike Tyson goes off on Canadian interviewer for bringing up his rape conviction. I was afraid a Ray Rice like left hook was coming. 
  • 9/11: If you've got 13 minutes, ESPN's Outside The Lines' presentation of "The Man In The Red Bandana" might be an uplifting way to remember the day. 


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9.10.2014

Hey Roger! You Might Want To Read This!


The only thing I'd tap the brakes on is that the AP screws up more news in its Twitter feed than any other source.

Edit: Oh, my!

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A law enforcement official says he sent a video of Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee to an NFL executive three months ago, while league officers have insisted they didn't see the violent images until this week.

 The person played The Associated Press a 12-second voicemail from an NFL office number on April 9 confirming the video arrived. A female voice expresses thanks and says: "You're right. It's terrible." More. 


But the Fake Dan Beebe always has comedy . . . .


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Let's See. Cotton. Black. Nice Combo. Let's Roll With This Slogan


Texas Tech has partnered with Plains Cotton Growers Inc. to designate this Saturday's game against the Arkansas Razorbacks as the “Celebrate Cotton” game. Okay. No problem. Then they decided to make it a "black out" game encouraging all fans to wear black. Not unusual (but since its a day game I hope the cold front comes through before then.) Then Tech tweets this logo combining the two. Uh oh.

Honestly, I really don't think it's a big deal, but it is getting lots of buzz as a PR blunder.
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Index - 1967

I'm posting this for one reason: The funeral home used to have the only ambulance in town. In this picture, they are called out to pick up a deceased body. But I promise you, they were also called out to accident scenes to transport the injured to the hospital. (Unless, I'm completely crazy, but I think someone in the comments will back me up. )
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Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts



  • NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was interview by CBS yesterday, and he came across with "liar" written all over his face. The NFL "assumed" there was an elevator tape, requested it, but couldn't get it? Baloney. (Great job by interviewer Norah O’Donnell.)
  • The NFL was willing to pay Goodell a mind boggling $44 million last year. But the NFL didn't have the resources to get the tape?
  • There was one sure fire way to get the tape that no one is talking about. Rice's lawyer certainly would have a copy if one existed. The NFL could have told Rice, "Get a copy from him and hand it over."  The lawyer would tell Rice, "The DVD belongs to you and your under no legal obligation to give it to them. But they'll probably suspend you for life if you don't."  It would be like one of my clients coming to me and saying, "My employer wants to see my DWI tape." I'd tell him, "Here you go. You're under no obligation to give it to them, but they might fire you if you don't."
  • The lawsuit against Jerry Jones is silly, and Jones' lawyers basically came out yesterday and called the woman's lawyer a spare. Hey, you civil lawyer boys: Isn't there a limitations issue here?
  • The "lady" suing Jones is referred to in the media as "a former exotic dancer from Ardmore, Oklahoma." That's just funny. 
  • So the cartel stalked the lawyer for two years, including using a GPS, and then decided to kill him in the most public place in Southlake? That's weird. (Personal note to Cartel: No offense intended.) 
  • WBAP had Morten Storm on this morning. He's the author of Agent Storm: My Life Inside al Qaeda and the CIA. Uh, someone might want to do some fact checking on that guy. I smell a rat. 
  • "Interstate highways" must have on and off ramps and can't have traffic entering directly onto the highway from a "T" crossroad, right? The metroplex has I-35, I-20, I-30, I-635, and I-820. 
  • If I knew what I was doing and had the training, I'd love just to get lost for a week hiking the Appalachian Trail. (Just to be clear, I'm talking literally and not euphemistically.) 
  • I don't care what the calender says, it sounds like Fall arrives tomorrow. 
  • Personal note: Last week I posted pictures of Pee Wee cheerleaders from Bridgeport back in the day. I was on the TXI Mustang football team back then. "RPM" commented that he was on that team. Who are you? Also, someone also commented that he was on a Decatur team that played TXI. That game happened. Kind of a Decatur/Bridgeport Pee Wee Super Bowl. Who are you? 
  • In the Decatur/TXI game, they ran a kickoff back for a touchdown to give us our only loss. I was the kickoff team safety on the play and aimlessly just stood there in the middle of the field thinking, "There's no way he's going to make it down the sideline." He did. I was in sixth grade. Remember that touching little league coach who had that tear jerking post game talk with his after losing team in the Little League World Series last month? Our coach was just the opposite after that game.  "This leaves a little different taste in your mouths, doesn't it boys!" he said. And then he looked at me. "Where was the safety on that kickoff return?"  That was 40 years ago. We were gathered in the north end zone at Decatur Stadium. I was on a knee facing north. He was standing with the Eagle clubhouse in the background. And  I normally can't remember what happened yesterday.  


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Above The Fold

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9.09.2014

Index 1967



  • Motel fire. I think that thing was in downtown Bridgeport. There were 50 guests!
  • Shootin' Blind is not pleased with the volunteer fire department. 
  • Shootin' Blind also has a hot political opinion. 
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Arlington Taxpayers Pay This Government Social Media Guy?

Arlington Police, TX (@ArlingtonPD)
I posted 37 photos on Facebook in the album "National Dog Day Album featuring your furry four-legged buddy" fb.me/6Rzlqkopb


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Am I Telling You To Watch Tryouts For A Minor League Hockey Team Mascot?



Yes, I am.

I have a feeling this is what closing time at some Wise County bars look like.
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Kids Today



Hey, kid, this is the way your supposed to mess around in the Oval Office:


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Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts


  • More Ray Rice thoughts (1) The NFL and the Baltimore Ravens are unequivocally on record that they had not seen the elevator video before yesterday. If this turns out to be a lie, we'll have a modern day Red Wedding because a ton of people will lose their jobs. This includes commissioner Roger Goodell and Baltimore coach John Harbaugh. (2) And I think it's a lie. (3) Make no mistake about it: The NFL didn't take action against Ray Rice yesterday for beating up a woman. They knew that. They took action because yesterday the public saw Ray Rice beat up a woman. (4) And females, when the NFL rolls out all that pink next month for Breast Cancer Awareness you need to realize they don't care about you at all. (5) Peter King was on The Ticket this morning and he fell on his sword admitting that he did a horrible job of reporting that the NFL had seen the elevator video in July. But why does he now believe the NFL over his trusted source who he refers to as "impeccable"? It's like the NFL mafia contacted him and said, "Backtrack on that July story."  (6) In this day and time when you can get indicted for joking about a threat, how did Ray Rice not get criminally prosecuted for a Mike Tyson like left hook?
  • Thought that Random Thought girl had some crazy fingers there for a second. 
  • They finally made an arrest in the 2013 "hit" of the drug cartel lawyer at the Southlake Town Center. Heck, this was like the brothers from Mexico in Breaking Bad coming to kill someone in a parking lot that I mentioned the other day. 
  • An Irving mother who killed her two children in 2010 was quietly found not guilty by reason of insanity yesterday.  Considering how much press coverage Andrea Yates, Deanna Laney, and Dena Schlosser received, this thing really flew under the radar. (This was also a trial before a judge and not a jury. Reading between the lines, I think the State agreed she was crazy and agreed to waive a jury and let the judge do the inevitable.)
  • Every time I wake up at night (which is often), I look over and see new Family Pup #2 staring at me. I'm not sure that thing ever sleeps. 
  • I've been on the Internet since November of 1996, and I'm still amazed that there is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- that cannot be researched and discovered. I had a debate class in college where the subject was the Egypt/Israel conflict and the U.S. supplying AWACS planes to Egypt. (I feel old right now.)  I spent hours upon hours in the library - as well as going to and from -- and I only scratched the surface of understanding. For fun, I just Googled "Egypt and AWACS" and got  2,590,000 results in .75 seconds. 
  • I don't care if President Obama golfs a lot, I'm just stunned he doesn't do a better job of hiding the fact that he golfs a lot. (He said over the weekend that he made a mistake golfing after a statement condemning the execution of American journalist James Foley. Duh. Did he not learn from W's "now watch this drive" fiasco?)
  • When I watched SMU coach June Jones getting killed by UNT in the heat on Saturday, I thought, "Man, I've never seen a coach look more miserable." I was right. He quit yesterday. (Which is pretty sorry, right?) 
  • When I watch that new Matthew McConaughey commercial for Lincoln, I just start smiling. It's kind of like I'd feel if I saw David Wooderson drive by the courthouse and he nodded at me. Edit: Heck, I hadn't even seen the one with the bull.
  • Here's a Vine of Dez Bryant getting hit in the back on Sunday. That is so violent. I'm stunned it didn't snap in half. 


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9.08.2014

Fox and Friends Tells Us There Is A Message About That Ray Rice Incident



And that message is: Never, ever, hit a woman. When you're in an elevator, there's a camera.
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I've Had Peter King In My Figurative Cross Hairs For Over A Year




This is all you need to know.

For the uninitiated, Ray Rice is an NFL player who beat up his then girlfriend (now wife) in an elevator and then drug her out of it. The video of her dragging her out of it was released months ago and everyone was horrified. The NFL only suspended the guy for only two games and King, who is nothing more than a lap dog for the NFL, supported the decision.

Today the video comes out which shows what happened in the elevator. It is beyond shocking. The NFL released a statement this morning saying, "Hey, we didn't know about that video."  This has to be a lie. TMZ can get it but the NFL, which is a Bully With Billions, can't? Anyway, King then releases his "statement" (how pompous is that?) saying that his earlier report that the NFL had seen the elevator video was wrong but that he had relied on a trusted source.  But he just takes the NFL's word that the front office hadn't seen the video and turns on his "source" who he refuses to name?  And to further prove the guy is clueless, he has this sentence in his brief statement, "No one from the league has ever knocked down my report to me . . . . " He used the phrase, "knocked down."

The site his statement is on allows instant comments. He is getting brutalized.

(As great as Ray Rice is as a football player, I wouldn't rule out the Ravens cutting him and the NFL then shunning him. This is a PR disaster.) Edit: BOOM!

Links:
My post on Ray Rice's shocking May press conference and apology. "Sometimes in life you will get knocked down." (Along with shocking Raven tweets at the time.)
Me turning on King in 2013.

Edit: Now I know why he issued the "statement"!  He had a brain freeze earlier in the day and didn't remember what he had written.

Earlier in the day, he wrote this: "If league officials saw this [new] video before issuing the two-game ban for Rice, all the scorn that’s been heaped on them when Roger Goodell gave Rice a two-game ban will be deserved."

This is what he wrote in July: "There is one other thing I did not write or refer to, and that is the other videotape the NFL and some Ravens officials have seen, from the security camera inside the elevator at the time of the physical altercation between Rice and his fiancée. I have heard reports of what is on the video, but because I could not confirm them and because of the sensitivity of the case, I never speculated on the video in my writing, because I don’t think it is fair in an incendiary case like this one to use something I cannot confirm with more than one person."

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University Of Minnesota Has A Very Funny Bit To Intimidate Opposing Kickers





The original from years back:

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Rick Perry Is In Japan For Some Reason


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Index


Only posting this because of the huge picture of the girl in the bathing suit and, more importantly, the caption.  And that was an employee of the paper.
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Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts. Edit: It's Monday. Maybe I Just Refused To Acknowledge It.


  • Wow: The elevator footage of Ray Rice punching his fiancee has been released. Once again, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended him for two games. I despise the NFL. 
  • After four years, I had to replace my gas powered weedeater. I'll take four years worth of use (being used at least 30 weekends). But the last two I have had to replace had the same problem: A small cylinder becomes disconnected from a fuel tube inside the tiny gas tank. (And after decades of weedeater purchases, Ryobi is my favorite. And I use a metal blade instead of those always breaking strings.)
  • There's a fake photo going around allegedly depicting the Ferguson officer's "fractured eye socket". And even I was almost duped by the orbital injury story.
  • There's a radio ad I hear on The Ticket that is for railroad track (it's in the first person talking about how "I" show up for work every day and am responsible for the U.S. economy). Who is that ad targeted at?
  • The Red Bull Air Show was at the Texas Motor Speedway last weekend. WBAP's Steve Lamb this morning: "They can't fly more than 230 miles per hour and must travel at 80 feet above the ground." Hal Jay: "Hey, that's the same rules that the Malaysian Airline pilots have." Too soon? 
  • I don't understand those who post comments that are nothing more than over the top President Obama bashing. I'm not talking about those who try to intelligently make a point, but those who just go on a crazy rant that sounds like the author is about to bust a gasket. That just seems like a crazy waste of energy. 
  • Sports and funny stuff: (1) To the guy who angrily asked me last week, "Have you ever seen [UT quarterback] Swoopes play?" after I announced he was awful: Uh, yeah. Last year. And he was awful. More importantly, the fact that Mack Brown wouldn't play him more when Brown was fighting for his job was more than telling. (2) But Brown's recruiting at the QB position is beyond stunning. Since Colt McCoy, there has been no one. (3) The resignation of Ron Washington is a massive mystery. The greatest manager in Rangers history quits with three weeks to go, won't say why, and the Rangers hold the weirdest press conference 30 minutes after the announcement? The media hardly had time to get other there, and most didn't. (3A) And Dale Hansen said last night that Washington showed up with lawyers by his side when he announced his retirement to the team? This even weirder. (4) That still shot of the number of 49ers fans at the Cowboy game yesterday is stunning. (5) OSU's quarterback may miss the rest of the season and his replacement is Maxx German. Ring a bell? That was the Southlake kid who Channel 8's Brett Shipp went after for illegally transferring into the district just to play football.  I remember Shipp ambushing the kid's daddy as he was gassing up his bass boat. (6) The end of College Gameday on ESPN was funny and insane. (7) But not as funny as the Carolina Panther kicker warming up in the middle of a band performance.  (8) The Decatur Eagles played in the "Dale Hansen Classic" in Waxahachie. Dale Hansen has a Classic?
  • Wise County is about to host the Texas Sporting Clays Championship in about ten days where they estimate 300,000 clay pigeons will be tossed in six days.
  • I almost ended up with a stray (big) bulldog and his Yorkie buddy who were frantically running in the rain this weekend. As I coaxed them to my front door, their owner pulled up who was out looking for them. Thank goodness.
  • I jogged this weekend and my Achilles was still hurting. I went back to the method of landing on my heel and rolling the foot. Worked like a charm. You'd think that changing your running style would be impossible but it was pretty easy. 



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9.07.2014

Today Is The 50th Anniversary of the LBJ "Daisy Girl" Ad



It aired one time.


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