And In Decatur Girls Volleyball Last Night

Decatur beat Big Spring 25-19, 25-13, 25-14 in the regional semi-finals last night. An emailer sent me this clip. Does a defensive player get credited with a "dig" if she prevents the spike with her face? Decatur's Caroline Lowery on the blast.

Sounds Like Insane Decatur Game Last Night

Lost in 4th overtime after Stephenville converted a two point conversion on a halfback pass. (And on the play before they pulled off a fourth down TD from 25+ yards out to tie it.)

Above The Fold

The Great Decatur/Bridgeport Cheerleader Brawl of 2001 Taking You Into The Weekend

That's about all there was to it. But it was a big deal at the time.

Decatur/Graham Made "The Ticket's" Homer Call Of The Week

It's called The Ticket, it's a DFW sports radio station that has a huge share of one of the largest media markets in the country, and this afternoon, two of its popular show hosts will be poking fun at Young County Commissioner Matt Pruitt.

To explain: last Friday, Nov. 7, the Steers came back from a 14-point deficit to win the District 4-4A title, scoring two touchdowns in the final 90 seconds of the game to force overtime. The hometown boys closed the game out with a touchdown run from Graham High School junior Nick Martin. That's when Pruitt lost his mind.

More.

I Honestly Didn't Know Who Diem Brown Is . . .

. . . [but she ]has lost her long battle with cancer, PEOPLE confirms. She was 32.  The reality star, who rose to fame on MTV’s Real World/Road Rules Challenge, had candidly chronicled her cancer fight in a blog for PEOPLE.com. Along the way, she became an advocate and inspiration for others facing similar battles, founding MedGift, a support registry for those suffering from any illness.
“I want people to know that the fight is worth it,” she told PEOPLE in October. “And that’s something that’s so important for me.”  Last month, Brown revealed the devastating news that the cancer that had been found in her stomach and colon in August had spread to her liver and lymph nodes.

Should scare the heck out of every single one of us. Or, at the very least, remind us to live while we are here.

Index - 1955

• Car wreck carnage everywhere. Good grief.
• Check out that box score for the football game. Especially the passing stats.
• The Feds went after a local guy for bank robbery even after he was probated in Wise County state court for the same offense. (Legal note: Double Jeopardy didn't protect him then -- and wouldn't now -- which is insane.)

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• In October of 2011, I wrote: "Somebody find me more info about this: Back in 2007, a UNT student was murdered with the eventual convicted murderer being caught on surveillance video in a convenience store with her shortly before her death. There was a blurb yesterday in the Texas Lawyer . . . about her parents and estate winning an $8.6 million civil judgment after a five day trial in Denton. Who did they sue? Tell me it wasn't the convenience store." Come to find out, it was the convenience store. So why do I post this now? Late yesterday the Fort Worth Court of Appeals vacated the judgment. (I thought it was an amazing legal story at the time and even emailed Lari Barager at Fox 4. She replied that she couldn't get any interest from her bosses about it.) 
• Well, we finished up the catapult project last night. It began with me saying, "Ok, so the ball needs to be projected five feet, right?" Junion In the House: "Uh, it said five meters." Recall I had already built the catapult and it was just testing time. Or so I thought. 
• Let me tell you some things about a catapult project which are capable of causing family fights: (1) The weight of the ball. (2) What that ball is balanced upon before being projected. (3) The length of the projecting lever. (4) Where the pivot point is of the lever. (5) The amount of weight used to cause the projection. (5) The Family Cat trying to confiscate the projected ball after every test. 
• Actually, everyone got along fairly well. Probably the biggest stop down moment was, at about 10:00 p.m., the Junior says, "Ok. now we just need a triggering device to fire it."
• I'm sick. But last night we noticed that Family Pup #2 was sick, too. She would hardly move and, after doing our own amatuer vet examination, determined that she would squeal if any pressure was placed on her stomach. She'll probably go to the vet today, but any ideas? She would hardly move this morning. 
• I'm going to admit I'm sick.. But last night Mrs. LL was more concerned about the sickness of Family Pup #2. She gets a pass because I was more concerned about the Pup than me, too. Hey: Can humans and dogs transfer sickness to one another? I would assume "yes" but I've never heard anyone say, "You're going to give that sickness to the dog!"
• "Mark Cuban Just Finished a Net Neutrality-Bashing, Ayn Rand-Featuring Twitter Rant." My head just exploded. How Cuban gets a pass on saying stupid things is amazing. (He was on The Ticket yesterday in full snake oil salesman mode.) In the past he said that "Google will never buy Youtube because it would be sued into oblivion" and about 15 years ago he said that broadband will never be much faster than it was at that moment. Promise. 
• Jonathan Gruber vs. Hans Gruber: Who got more press yesterday? 
• Sports: (1) Correction from my earlier note about the Texas high school playoffs: There was actually an 0-10 team who made it. (2) There is a 90% chance of snow in the TCU @ Kansas game this weekend. (3) You couldn't pay me to go to an NBA game. Some people paid to watch the Mavs win last night 123-70. (4) From the Update: "GAMES CANCELED – Slidell basketball games scheduled for tonight have been canceled." Why? (5) Worst fake punt in the history of ever last night. 
• BagOfNothing is doing my trademarked Random Thought Girl today and is trying to sneak it by us just because it is Star Wars related. He'll be hearing from my lawyer. 

Fellowship Church In Grapevine Recent Promo

What scares you: Ebola? Shootings? The economy? Natural Disasters? Terrorists? https://t.co/x18sW4znpU
— Ed Young (@EdYoung) October 31, 2014

I suppose he might mention Jesus. Or the poor. Or love. Or Compassion.  But I wouldn't bet on it.

Has the mega-church simply turned into a large group therapy session?

Oh, How I Wish The Tea Party Would Understand "The Big Government" They Should Really Fear

The seminars offered police officers some useful tips on seizing property from suspected criminals. Don’t bother with jewelry (too hard to dispose of) and computers (“everybody’s got one already”), the experts counseled. Do go after flat screen TVs, cash and cars. Especially nice cars.

In one seminar, captured on video in September, Harry S. Connelly Jr., the city attorney of Las Cruces, N.M., called them “little goodies.” And then Mr. Connelly described how officers in his jurisdiction could not wait to seize one man’s “exotic vehicle” outside a local bar.

Story. 

Al Roker Trying To Set World Record For Continuous Weather Broadcasting?

He has to follow specific rules in order for the record to be verified by Guinness:

• He must talk about weather for the entirety of the time, outside of breaks.
• He can talk about current weather, and weather seven days in the past or seven days ahead.
• For every 60 minutes completed, he can take a five-minute break. The breaks can carry over and be combined, so if he goes four hours without stopping, he can take a 20-minute break. 
• Two independent witnesses must also be there at all times. 

Link. (I can't get the video to work. For which, I'm eternally grateful.)

Index 1968

• Loved the hot opinions of Shootin' Blind in the 1960s.
• Shooting!
• "Girl of the Month"? They were doing Random Thought Girls before Random Thought Girls were cool.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Let me tell you something: It was crazy cold yesterday afternoon with the wind chill. And for some reason, I thought about high school football teams practicing for the playoffs. 
• I'm borderline sick. But I swear by Advil Cold & Sinus even though the government makes me show my driver's license to purchase it. I always want to ask the pharmacist, "So how many of these do I need to make a nice batch of meth?"
• The Junior In The House doesn't ask me for much. But last night, with her mother not around, she sheepishly came to me and said: "Uh, I have to build a catapult for Physics and it is due on Friday morning."  I would love to have a photo of us as we looked at each other in silence for the next few seconds. She runs off and comes back with the project rules: No springs. No rubber bands. Just wood and weights. She'll have three chances to hit a target five feet away. As far as I was concerned at that moment, the competition might as well have been: "Build a nuclear weapon."  
• But, I'll be dang, with the help of the Internets and Home Depot, we built one last night (with the exception of that critical aspect of actually testing it.)  The only thing that's left is coming up with the proper weight and proper projectile to land five feet away. What could possibly go wrong?
• Odd not-Bob Vila moment for me to Mrs. LL: "I've got to go buy so wood clamps." Her: "We have wood clamps." 
• There's news that there is another Cold War starting between the U.S. and Russia. I support that because that is not a "war" in any stretch of the imagination. It's peacetime. 
• Tom Craddick, Texas House rep, was on the The Mark Davis Show yesterday advocating a cell phone texting ban. He actually used the mindless phrase, "If it saves one life . . . ." And I'll be dang, Davis told him how dumb that phrase was and he didn't even fight back. 
• Reports are that President Obama is about to take executive action on immigration. [I'm sitting back, smiling, got my popcorn ready.]
• Sports: (1) I'd be scared to pay Dez Bryant big money. He's great. He's competitive. But he's stupid. And that stupid thing scares me. (2) The Troy Aikman segment on The Ticket is a snoozefest. (3) UT QB Tyrone Swoopes isn't great but he's a heck of a lot better than I thought he would be. (4) It doesn't bother me that Intoxication Manslaughter convict Josh Brent is back on the Cowboys. (5) Other Ticket thought: I agree with Junior Miller on almost everything, but his views on criminal justice are Nancy Grace-like. 
• Fox News: "Kim Kardashian's full-frontal pics hit the web." I expected to see a condemnation of this sin and anti-family values conduct from that fine conservative site. Instead, I got NSFW links. I guess they wanted their readers to decide. 
• Oh, come on. That photo on the front page? They have to be doing a bit to recreate this famous photo. 

Sooooooo Texas

Quoting from its website (they are based in San Antonio):

• 80-90% of terrorist attacks occur while the victims are traveling by automobile.
• In recent years over 4,000,000 violent crimes have occurred in the United States alone.
• It is believed that between 40,000-60,000 kidnappings take place each year. . . Almost 70 percent of those kidnappings are resolved by paying the demanded ransom.
• Typical kidnapping-for-ransom payments range from $500,000 to $3,000,000 USD. . . with no guarantees of survival.
• Phoenix, AZ is the kidnapping capital of the United States, second only worldwide to Mexico City.
• A properly armored vehicle can help you disarm potential terrorists and prevent kidnapping threats.

(Thanks, emailer.)

Let's Create More Crime (Episode 1,245)

You know, I linked to this story today in Random Thoughts but hardly even read it. A buddy at the courthouse pointed out to me the insanity of the whole thing so I went back and checked it out.

So a guy brags about being a Navy Seal, cops get pissed off when they find out it is a lie (even though he is a veteran)  and is then invited to a gun store by the cops where he is given a gun and then arrested for accepting the gun?  You kidding me? Who cares if he walks around a lies about being a Seal?

If Sheriff Larry Fowler is the mastermind behind this great sting, Sheriff Fowler needs more things to do. And needs to retire.

Edit: Some of you guys might want to check out United States v. Alvarez.  (Trying to bypass it by giving someone a gun probably isn't going to cut it.)

Proof Of My Athleticism

Although I'm not sure why, playing second base, I'm tagging a guy from that position.

Get Me This Baby Elephant!

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Pete Delkus is talking about the possibility of snow for Christmas. (I bet he wakes up every morning and sits on the side of the bed, head in hands, and thinks, "My job is so irrelevant.")
• Paradise model with lots of hair products.
• Kinda Sports: (1) I love the new college football playoff format. I was standing in front of the TV at 6:30 last night much to the confusion of Everyone Else In The House. (2) Not impossible: Both Baylor and TCU ending up in the Final Four. Delicious. (3) Made Mrs. LL watch "A Football Life" about Earl Campbell last night. He looked 75 when he was 50. (4) I actually met Earl once and talked him into recreating his "Skoal, brother" commercial as he walked away. 
• I think I'm sick this morning. It always takes me about 30 minutes to realize it. Weird. 
• I can't tell you how many people write me or stop me on the street to tell me how much they love the old Index posts. Note: I knew about their existence but I didn't delve into them until old high school friend Marilynn Andreasen started posting single pages on Facebook with a caption. 
• "And this idiot was fool enough to come to Parker County, Texas, and try to pull this nonsense? He got a ride to the jail. And I got his uniform." - A (shaking) Sheriff Robert Fowler on the "capture" of a guy posing as a wounded Navy Seal.
• I'm getting old: When I have a day off, I prefer to just sit around with dogs in my lap. (On the National Geographic channel last month, I learned dogs "hug you" with their eyes.) 
• Watching Jeopardy yesterday with the Sixth Grader in the House after seeing a category of "Movies From A Decade Ago". Me: "Oh, that'll be easy." Her: "Uh, I was two years old." 
• Maybe the biggest moron in the Texas Legislature: Jonathan Strickland. (And keep away from the cheeseburgers, buddy.)
• A "bulldog" lawyer is someone who is compensating for not being very smart. 
• Craziest thing about Mrs. LL and The Kids: They don't care about celebrating their birthday on their birthday. The slightest acknowledgement is all they require so long as there's a dinner/party within the next month. 
• Governor Elect Greg Abbott appointed a Secretary of State yesterday. I would have been more impressed if the anti-big government Abbott had abolished the silly Secretary of State office. 

Above The Fold

Abbey Road

I can almost understand someone getting hit by trying to recreate the Beatles album cover. Not sure I understand someone running across the street like a fool.

Wise County's Last "Legal Hanging"

It sounded like a party. Incredible. Just incredible.

Index

• That was a horrible, horrible wreck. 
• Contrasted with the triplett cows. 
• You can tell that oil exploration was booming.
• I'll admit I'm not sure I knew of the Texas governor who signed the proclamation. And I was always confused as a kid of the "Odd Fellow" donations that were listed in the Star-Telegram during the holidays. 
• Never heard of Sam Wilds, attorney.
• There's a reference in the story about the weather about folks who bought new clothes for Easter and washed their cars.

Out of curiosity, I tracked down the oldest newspaper archived. It's in 1910. Not much to the front page, but I love the movie ad fo for The Alamo: "Costs a dime lasts an hour."

But the bank was booming . . .

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Ted Cruz said yesterday that Net Neutrality was "Obamacare for the Internet." You guys proud of that? (Or maybe he isn't wildly confused and uniformed but is simply coming around on Obamacare?)
• That oft reported number of veteran suicides occurring at a rate of 22 a day seems high. And if it it is true, how is that not a national emergency? I'm mean, compare that to Ebola in the U.S.
• Were post WWII or Vietnam suicide rates equally as high? 
• Most underrated memorial in D.C.: Korean War Memorial. Haunting. 
• Saw a house yesterday with outdoor Christmas lights up. I mean full-throttle Christmas lights. 
• I forgot to mention the question I had posed to me late last week by many individuals: "Why in the world do you have two new car batteries just sitting around?" 
• Very Random Thought: The words of Dr. Seuss and Yoda bugged me at about the same level.
• Someone wrote yesterday that I "couldn't keep a job" as a prosecutor. Might want to check your history books. That was two undefeated terms, sir. As a Democrat. In Wise County. People sit around the campfire talking about that!!
• Kinda sports: Mrs. LL wants to marry WVU quarterback Clint Trickett. After much deliberation, I'll allow it. 
• Who should be ranked higher: Baylor or TCU? Consider this quote after Baylor beat TCU: “We didn't think we could stop them." – TCU coach Gary Patterson, on why he went for it on fourth down late in the game. (But, I'll admit, the rankings dilemma is a heck of a debate.)
• "Duncanville Teen With Cancer Shot and Killed" is a headline that's hard to get your head around. 
• And there's so much news from Duncanville ISD (teacher fired for twitter rant) that former Fox 4 reporter and now Duncanville ISD spokesperson Lari Barager made an appearance on Fox 4 last night. 
• I had no idea that the minister at United Methodist in Decatur is named Brian Bosworth. They have to call him "The Boz", right?
• Not to sound like Hints from Heloise, but the trick of wiping down the stainless steel 'fridge with baby oil after it is cleaned is the greatest helpful hint ever. 
• Stephen King has just released his 63rd book. Quality? Quantity? Both? Neither? (Well, I guess it is definitely quantity.) 
• Looking back on one of the Indexes I posted yesterday, I saw they had a "who checked into/out of the hospital" report. That's just amazing. But the Update did it in the 1990s. 
• Regarding the front page below: If those officials in Fort Worth had simply walked away from that fireball with a cool strut, they'd look just like Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek in Desperado. Really!

Full Throttle

Can't believe the PO-leece car caught up with him (twice).

That's like a video game. A video game that can kill someone, but a full throttle video game.

Index 1955: So Close

According to the Internets, $25,000 in 1955 is the equivalent of $222,043.84 today. But I think a counterfeit $25,000 is worth the same.

I Want A Lost Doggie Humanitarian Of The Year Award!!!!

Obviously A Death Penalty Case

Accused of selling marijuna (!!!!!!!) to an undercover officer.

Prosecutor: "He had no problem whatsoever hitting on the undercover officer on the audio tape -- trying to pick her up and saying, 'Girl you're thicker than  bowl of oatmeal." His expression is priceless.

#TooManyCops #TooManyProsecutors

Index - 1955: This Is Fascinating!

• Wizard Wells had a post office?
• Decatur had parking meters?
• A jury delivers a verdict after midnight?

Edit: This was a pre-scheduled post. That is, I found the newspaper clip on Sunday and scheduled it to go up on Monday. Later I came across an earlier paper which gave background about the murder case. Man, this is a must read. And I had the ultimate stop down moment when I realized this "Bridgeport barber" used to cut my hair when I was a kid. And a triple stop down moment when I saw my grandfather had been called as a character witness!

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Jay Leno was at Bass Hall this weekend and according to the Star-Telegram, he "he told jokes about headlines dating as far back as 2007 as if they were current. Larry Craig's bathroom stall incident and Anthony Weiner's Twitter indiscretions were among some of his most passionately pursued anecdotes. He even referred to Charlie Sheen's 'tiger blood' shenanigans of early 2011 as having happened 'last year.'" And he gets paid for that? 
• For those of you who think BreitBart.com is legitimate, the retraction at the end of this article about President Obama's nominee for AG should make you rethink the source of your news. Laughable. I didn't know hate could keep you from fact checking. 
• I got my haircut at one of those run-of-the-mill places this weekend and had a "stylist" who just happened to be African-America. (At least I think so. You all know that I don't see color.) But I almost laughed out loud when I looked at her Cosmetology license on the counter which mandatorily showed her picture. She was throwing up the sideways "V" sign. 
• Sports: (1) For all those who took my advice and "bet the house" by taking OU and the points against Baylor, don't kill me. I'm officially taking the rest of the year off from my otherwise well deserved "Sports Genius" status. (2). Love how some refer to TCU as having a "Baylor Problem" when it comes to their chances of getting the Final Four. Look, if TCU and Baylor win out (which now seems possible), Baylor jumps TCU. You simply cannot rationalize a head to head loss. (3) Cole Beasley is in trouble for a tweet. He needs to remember he's a spare. (4) Texas High School Playoffs are ridiculous. There are two 1-9 teams who made it: Freer and Rio Grande City Grulla. And there are nine teams who made it at 2-8. (5) Messenger sports editor Richard Greene had a great point over the weekend: Northwest won by two points on Thursday which, due to some screwy margin of victory rule, kept them out of the playoffs and put their opponent, Keller, in. That led to the crazy scenario at the end of the game where Keller, although losing, took a knee and then celebrating.  (6) Former South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore needs to be the poster boy for the eventual abolition of football. He was the SEC Freshman of the Year and a second-team All-American in 2010 when he rushed for 1,197 yards and 17 touchdowns. Then he blew out his ACL twice in consecutive years, was drafted in the NFL last year but didn't play, and announced last week that he was giving it up. Chewed up and spit out. (7) I didn't know Bridgeport had any African-American young athletes. I guess I'm wrong. Finally. 
• Good grief, we found another lost dog last night. We are trying to find the owner because there is no way we can keep it. "We can't save the world," I had to proclaim. But this dog, unlike the others we've found, seems desperate to go home despite the love and affection he gets from us. 
• Police State: Irving police kill a man last night. Sansom Park police killed a "hostile" man on Friday.
• Twenty-five years ago I remember watching news footage of the uprising in East Berlin with a lawyer who had a masters degree in foreign affairs from UVA: "East Berlin will crush those people," he told me. 
• My recurring question: When did it become a custom in the U.S. to put your hand over your heart during the national anthem? I KNOW that was not done when I was a kid. We simply stood at attention. We only put our hand over our hearts during the Pledge of Allegiance. (By the way, at any sports event I stick to my roots which makes me a little tense when I'm around a bunch of Bubbas.) Edit: Fascinating. A commenter points out a portion of the U.S. Code which says you should place your hand over your heart. But it was amended in 1998 and 2008. I'm trying to determine if the "hand over your heart" law existed before then. 
• The Messenger over the weekend still said the name of the guy killed in the tractor accident in Boyd had still not been released. (I think they accidentally listed his name in the death notices last week.)