Random Star Telegram "Cheers and Jeers"

Probably a minority just looking for another handout, right?

Edit:  Someone in the comments has posted a link to a Linkedin profile of someone from Arlington who has a similar name. I have no idea if that is the same person. But if it is, someone just spiked my snarky and sarcastic comment right back in my face. 

Index after 11/22/63

Above The Fold

Get Me This Baby Fox To Take Me Into The Weekend!!!

Source.

(Oh, come on. It's the beginning of the Holiday Season. That thing is cuter than most Random Thought Girls.)

Firing It Up For The Weekend!

Wise County Crime Report - 1954

I post this primarily for one reason: There was not one single drug case indicted for those six months. That got me to thinking. Was there drug use back then? When did marijuana come into play? Cocaine?

Ethical Rules To Now Be Amended To Prohibit Hypnotizing

I wasn't going to post this because it's a tad seedy, but I was torn because it is also so insane. Then I saw the guy's picture.  Holy, crap! Look away! Look away! I promise he can put you into a trance just by staring at the photo on your computer screen.

Side note: The ability to hypnotize would seem to be a pretty good skill that would be beneficial in the legal profession. Dealing with opposing counsel? Case dismissed.  Arguing to a judge? Motion granted. A jury? They'll demand the not guilty verdict form. Examining a witness? He'll admit to being Charles Manson.

Link.

Get Me This Gal Who Does Impressions!

Wait. I said that wrong. Watch this gal who does impressions.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• What a weird reaction to the President's immigration policy last night. The Far Right was all whipped into a frenzy beforehand, but when it came to challenging the merits after the speech, there was a whole How-Do-I-Denounce-This-Without-Coming-Off-As-A-Redneck-Racist vibe.
• But there sure were a lot of radio/TV guys who became instant Constitutional experts last night. 
• And what the President is proposing isn't radical. It's a prioritization of who gets to stay and who gets to go. It's analogous to what the Texas Parole Board does every day. (And if Gov. Perry told them, "Hey, for low level drug offenders, change your policy to give them 30 days to 1 good time if they qualify for good time so they'll be the first to make parole" -- there's nothing anyone could do about it.")
• Sheriff Joe immediately announced he'll file a lawsuit to challenge the new policy. So did Greg Abbott. Man, that . . . uh . .. what's the phrase? Oh, yeah, "Speaks volumes." 
• Was the Emancipation Proclamation an Executive Order? 
• Facebook page of the Alvord kid injured in the wreck last night. Page of his female passenger.
• There was quite the stir in Galveston yesterday when a guy was found not guilty of "keeping his son in the box." I'm not sure of the details, but it was interesting to note that the first trial ended in a mistrial when the judge wrote about the case on social media.   
• Somehow Mrs. LL and the Junior in the House were able to see the new Hunger Games movie last night. 
• When watching the silly action scenes in Man of Steel two days ago, I turned to The Junior and said, "Wouldn't it be cool if that gal from the Hunger Games showed up right now with her bow and arrows?"  From her confused expression, I need to work on my standup routine. 
• BagOfNothing emailed me a couple of weeks ago telling me about the Serial podcast.  (It's from the folks behind This American Life and, basically, examines a criminal conviction and its validity.)  It's getting a heck of a lot of buzz and The Ticket spent a whole segment on it yesterday.  I can't believe I've ignored it. 
• Country singer Ty Herndon announced he was gay yesterday? Didn't we kind of have a hint when he was arrested in the 1990s for exposing himself to a male cop in an Fort Worth park? 

Denton County Assistant Prosecutor Disciplined For Withholding Evidence

More.

This is an example of why the law was changed to require prosecutors to have an open file policy.  It's a felony case but it was not disclosed that the victim didn't actually see the defendant? You kidding me?

I'm almost more stunned that the State Bar of Texas is actually getting off its collective butts and sanctioning a Texas prosecutor.  Complete disclosure of evidence prevents travesties of justice from occurring. And Texas has a history of travesties.

Breaking: Florida State Gunman Was A Christian

Which is true but that's just a silly of a headline if it had been "Florida State Gunman Was A Muslim".

He was also a Texas Tech Law Grad and had the weird* work history of being employed at a huge civil law firm, as a public defender, and a prosecutor.
_________
*Disclaimer: I just happened to have worked at a huge civil firm and have served as a public defender and as a prosecutor. 

Ugh

Trip to Disney ends with tragedy for this North Texas family... 5 dead, 3 hurt in crash http://t.co/YHN8DIEjI5 pic.twitter.com/6kSvkd17pv
— FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) November 20, 2014

Hey, I Built A Catapult And Now I Just Found My Second Project.

I'm gonna be livin' the dream later.

1954: Decatur Guys Rob Krum Bank

• That's pretty good work by the Sheriff.
• Note they called in a state grand jury to indict him even though the Feds were already in the process of prosecuting him. 
• Loved, absolutely loved, what he said he did with the loot. 

That Would Have Been Terrifying

With all the campus killings in America, being huddled in the same building with a shooter on the loose would be chilling.

TALLAHASSEE — Three students were shot early Thursday at a Florida State University library before campus police killed the gunman, Tallahassee police said.

Officers confronted the gunman, whose name has not been released, and ordered him to drop his weapon. But he fired at them and they unleashed a volley of shots, Tallahassee Police spokesman Dave Northway said.

Dallas Police Blotter 1881

Source.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• There's an ad running on the Cumulus radio stations telling me to call if I have "at least $40,000 to invest" in oil because the commodity has "tripled over the last ten years" and "oil prices are rising and are here to stay." With oil at $74 a barrel this morning, they might want to do some fact checking. And investors need to keep away from an investment firm that only gives a phone number and not their name. 
• Another scam Cumulus ad that is running urges me to invest in the stock market and, to persuade me, used a customer proclaiming, "I make $8,000 a month in the stock market!" That's probably a lie. But, if true, unless I know how much you have invested in the stock market, that tells me nothing.   
• Man, the Fox News crowd is all riled up over the President's pending announcement tonight about immigration. Because of it, they've called him "Emperor" and "Boss" and, for the millionth time, a person who is "shredding the Constitution."  All that, and they don't even know what he is going to say. 
• Justified or not, the dog-pile of Bill Cosby is on.
• If there was an alternative channel for every sporting event that only showed up close crowd shots, I'd watch it. At least a split screen. 
• The Sixth Grader In The House asked me if I used get the whole week of Thanksgiving off from school when I was a kid. You know, I couldn't remember but I don't think we did. 
• The bicycle accident of U2's Bono in Central Park sounds brutal. How is there not a cellphone pic of the aftermath? You have Bono on the ground in Central Park on a Sunday and no one takes a photo? 
• There's a Letter to the Editor in the Messenger this week asking why so many Wise County government offices completely shut down for lunch. 
• Mrs. LL last night walking back into the house with a flashlight after her mother just left: "Mom backed into my car." Me: "What!!! Any damage?!!" Mrs. LL: "I don't think so."  I was too scared to go look. Still haven't.
• The new Tarrant County DA has named three lawyers for her "Senior Leadership Team" for the criminal division. They are all good guys and competent. But they are also all male, white, and around 60 years of age. 
• The Junior In The House was watching Man of Steel last night. It has a who's who cast of actors, but I couldn't get past the explosions and special effects which appeared to be 90% of the hour of the movie that I saw. (Man, they had to have money whipped Russell Crowe to be a part of that.) 
• Grace Fellowship Church took out an ad this week in the Messenger to promote "Dave Ramsey Presents Andre Gutierrez' Total Money Makeover". He'll be speaking at both the early and late Sunday services.  I don't understand this. 
• The snow in Buffalo had me actually tracking down the Weather Channel yesterday. 

Hey, A Music Post!

Beyond amazing.

Above The Fold

Haven't watched yet. Going to guess it's cool.

	TVNweather (@TVNweather)
11/19/14, 8:46 AM Aerial drone footage from yesterday's snow storm in West Seneca NY: youtube.com/watch?v=5m6oXJ…

Let's Start Getting In The Christmas Spirit

Oh, yes. 

Oh, no . . . 

I'm Coming To Help You, Gab!!!

Source – An intoxicated New Smyrna Beach man wanted Taco Bell, but employees wouldn’t serve him because he was on a bicycle in the drive-through lane, authorities said. They called New Smyrna Beach police when Gabriel Harris, 33, refused to leave after placing an order at the drive-through window as the restaurant was closing just after 3 a.m. on Sunday. Reports said police found Harris sitting on the bicycle at the speaker. Police said as officers asked Harris to leave they spotted a Swiss Army knife on his belt loop. An officer reached for the knife, but Harris grabbed his wrist. The officer wrestled Harris to the ground and arrested him.
Harris faces a charge of resisting arrest with violence.

If a man can't order a Burrito Supreme while drunk on a bicycle in a drive through at 3:00 a.m. in the morning, then what rights do we have left?

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• I'm not particularly interested that the new Tarrant DA has hired the head of the civil division, but including a sentence in the press release that "He represented clients in litigation" while in private practice is the most generic thing I've ever read. 
• Sports: (1) My headed exploded last night when Baylor didn't jump TCU, remained at #7, and was jumped by Ohio State. (2) Make no mistake about it: If the committee can keep Baylor and TCU out of the Top 4, they'll do it.  This is beginning to look like an ESPN controlled college football ratings based upon potential TV ratings. Ohio State will bring more eyeballs than a couple of private schools from Texas.  (3)  There's a Dan Jenkins and Tiger Woods war.  I'll catch heck for this from the old-timers, but I've never thought Dan Jenkins was a fraction as clever as people make him out to be. 
• Yesterday I was reading an article (behind a paywall) about the lawsuits prompted by the Aggie Bonfire tragedy that happened 15 years ago. A Fort Worth lawyer was quoted at the end of the story saying that, despite the millions that were collected, the "most important" thing was the agreement that was reached requiring safety precautions which must be followed if the bonfire ever returns. Really? The lawsuit wasn't primarily about money? It was about safety in the future? Seems like that would have been easy to resolve. 
• But the fact that crazy bonfire structure, which was like putting an elephant on stilts, was built on the campus of one of the greatest engineering schools in the land is beyond ironic. 
• I want to be clear about something when I post the old Shootin' Blinds: That was the way it was back then. Hey, when I was born, there were still a few "Black Only" water fountains still in existence. 
• Heard some talk about Happy Days on the radio this morning. I had no idea it ran until 1984. (And almost everyone of them was directed by Jerry Paris, the dentist/neighbor in the old Dick Van Dyke show.) Man, I'm getting old. 
• Wikipedia's entry for Decatur says five "Union supporters" were hung here. Is there an independant source for that? 
• That failed Keystone Pipeline vote in the Senate is bizarre politics. The only reason it was brought to a vote was because the currently Democratic controlled Senate forced the vote to help a Democratic Louisiana Senator who is in political trouble. Democrats generally oppose the pipeline but the Senator is in a runoff and she wanted to vote for the pipeline so she could campaign on how she tried to bring jobs to the state. Republicans, even though it was a political ploy by the Democrats, had to vote unanimously for the pipeline because they are, after all, Republicans. But it didn't pass by one vote. But now: (1) The Louisiana Senator can campaign that she at least tried to get jobs to the state, and (2) The Republicans can easily pass the legislation anyway once the new Senate comes in.  Oh, politics. 
• Had the ol' smoke-detector-battery-is-low-beep go off at about four a.m. 
• I think telephone conversations are shockingly inefficient. They may serve other purposes (bonding, opening a dialogue, creating a relationship), but they are not efficient. 
• It always seems weird that a school district will buy hundreds of Macs when the average person can't afford a Mac. 
• Caught about 30 minutes of Cold War Roadshow last night on PBS which was about the 13-day American tour taken by the Soviet premier, Nikita S. Khrushchev, in September 1959. (I had no idea.) Everything went relatively great. And President Eisenhower was set to return the favor by visiting the USSR until they shot down one of our spy planes which we denied existed. I guess we made it colder. 
• "Bachelor party bungee jumping prank."
• That snow in the Buffalo area coming off the lake is insane. Four to five feet is expected or has already accumulated. Pic. (And we went nuts over our Sunday night "dusting".)    

Get Me This Panda Who Likes Rolling Around In The Snow!

What The Heck Did I Just Watch?

Who was that gang? It was like the Crazy 8s from Kill Bill but without the swords.

And what is up with the dude just drinking coffee the whole time? He either is the calmest man in Russia or the ring leader of this whole deal.  Just a Little Putin in the making.

Index - 1968

I was so hoping this was the movie referred to was the following,  but it didn't come out until six years later:

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Stuff I don't care about that other people do: Radio stations 93.3 and 94.5 switched to "Classic Hip Hop" format over the weekend.  I'm just disturbed that Hip Hop has been around so long that there are now "classic" songs.  
• Currently, Bridgeport ISD has 161 students in its English as a Second Language Program with "five denials" which, I think, means the parent wants the child in English only classes regardless of language proficiency.  
• By the way, the Junior in the House received a 95 on her catapult project (actually, yes, a "Trebuchet" project). I learned two things: (1) Hitting the target on a bounce was acceptable, and (2) There might be some pretty laxed grading going on in public schools.
• Charles Manson is getting married to a 26 year old. (Photos). We all support love, right? (And the funniest comment I read yesterday was: "Charles Manson is getting married? What is he, crazy?" ) No word yet on where they are registered. [Inappropriate locations considered as a joke were typed here and then deleted.]
• Is it OK if I support that marriage more than the marriage of the parents of Honey Boo Boo?
• Had someone call me this week who I know only because they were involved in a criminal case I tried 21 years ago this month. And it was about the case. 
• A Miami Marlins player signed a contract yesterday for a $25 million a year for a guaranteed 13 years. Holy cow. Get this: This comes out to a little over $68,000 per calendar day. 
• Has anyone ever compared professional sports to drugs? I mean, the American public will spend a great deal of valuable money and time to enter into an altered mental state for a few hours. 
• The Junior in the House came up to me last night and asked me to name a "nonconformist song". I told her there's a million of them, but nothing was jumping into my head. She told me to cheat and use the Internet. I did and the first one that popped up was My Generation by The Who. "Yeah, that's definitely one." She asked intently: "Is that your choice?" Me: "Uh, yeah." And then she walked off. I wonder if that will come back to haunt me. 
• I'm not all that interested about the allegations of Bill Cosby drugging women back in the day for sex, but someone dug up an old standup routine where he joked about women being drugged with the "Spanish Fly" and how excited he was to know of its existence. 
• "Incoming [Texas] AG Ken Paxton returns another lawyer's $1,000 pen he picked up at courthouse metal detector." Dang it. He could have used it to sign a lawsuit to challenge that crazy federal law that tries to bring healthcare to the poor. 
• This morning it was announced that Vikings' Adrian Peterson would be suspended for the rest of the season. I mention this only because I've held on to him all year long in my fantasy football team!!!!! I knew Roger Goodell should have been removed. The man is out of touch with my needs. 
• Wouldn't there be less chance of violence in Ferguson if the Governor had not declared a State of Emergency before the grand jury's decision on whether to indict the officer?

That "Pop Right Back Up" Ability Is Impressive

The Mexican Cartels Are Causing Death In Texas In (Un)Alarming Rate!!!

DPS just released a self-serving report on its border security efforts complete with inflated numbers regarding the value of drugs seized. But what really got my attention was this little graphic at the bottom of one of the pages:

That's it? 6.2 a year? (And that's even when using the ambiguous word "related".)  Hey, we're a big state. I was curious about the most recent Texas crime data that was available and I found this:

So the Cartels are responsible for about 1/2 of 1%? But wait. "Homicides" and "Murder" are not the same thing.  "Homicides" also includes the death of people due to the criminal negligence of others. So it's not even 1/2 of 1%. 

Get Me This Dog That Only Walks Through Doorways Backwards!!!

This Is Pretty Much My Life Living With A Bunch Of Girls

Index 1968

Posted mainly because of the "Sipes On Sports" column.  Hot opinions that were coming out of nowhere.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• On Friday and Saturday, all the local news stations led with the stories about the impending weather and showed us . . . wait for it . . . sand trucks on standby. 
• There was an article in Dallas Morning News warning about the difference between metroplex quick health care places you'll see on the corner and quick emergency rooms that look like pretty much the same thing. The difference in the amount of the cost you'll be hit with is staggering. (And, I'll admit, I have fallen victim to the corner ER place.) 
• Disconnect: I think Anchor Man 2 is stupid. Mrs. LL thinks Ali G/Borat is stupid. Edit for commenter: I did get the "deeper meaning" of Anchor Man 2-- it wasn't that deep. In fact, when all the news stations started their broadcasts last night with the insignificant snow story, I told Mrs. LL, "This is kind of like Anchor Man 2. There was someone yelling 'Let's go with the snow! Let's go with the snow' during a pre-production meeting." I just didn't think AM2 was funny.
• Family Pup 2 didn't move it all on Friday and was taken to the vet. No real diagnosis, but she made the most remarkable recovery since the dog in There's Something About Mary. (Funny moment: Mrs. LL took the dog to the vet in a travel dog crate and then walked in back later with the crate empty. I jumped up because I thought they put the dog down. But it was walking behind her.) 
• The Aaron Rogers commercial with Hans and Franz is weird. It starts with Rogers looking at them and asking, "Hans and Franz?"  And then seconds later when they tell him they are going to "pump you up", he responds with "What?"  So we are supposed to believe he knows some 1980s characters but doesn't know a signature phrase that was beaten into our brains? 
• I was still sick all weekend (but a little better today.) Nothing is taken more for granted than health -- at least until you feel unhealthy. 
• Of everything on TV, Mrs. LL and I stumbled upon and got locked into a 1998 movie called Slums of Beverly Hills.  A very funny dark comedy. (And if you're an Arrested Development fan, you'll get to see Lucille Bluth playing, in essence, what would become Lucille Bluth.)
• The Dallas Morning News did a silly piece entitled "Perry Promoted Aide With Three Alcohol Offenses on Record." I was more taken back by this: "Perry made him budget director in December 2001 and appointed him to the State Pension Review Board in 2009. The board of the cancer fund, known as CPRIT, appointed [him] to his current position."  Man, that sounds like a lot of tax dollars being wasted on lots of boards. And a lot of cronyism. 
• Stolen From The Update: "QUANAH EXHIBIT – The Paradise Historical Society and Paradise ISD are hosting the Quanah Parker Exhibit: One Man, Two Worlds, 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Paradise High School library. Rarely seen photographs of Quanah, artifacts and other Native American exhibits will be on display."  Hey, after reading the great book, Empire of the Summer Moon, I'm interested. (And that book references a Comanche kidnapping near Chico which is the subject of this historical marker.)
• Sports: (1) How does Florida State survive time and time again? But that game against Miami felt like the good ol' days.  (2) The TCU/Baylor fight continues. I'm beginning to believe that both may end up on the outside looking in. (3) Feel bad for RG3. Something weird is going on. (4) The Decatur Volleyball team has been great for the last few years. But, from what I can tell, when a team wins a best of 5 match in 3 straight sets, a high school volleyball game takes less than an hour. 
• Random discovered sentence: "The Bulls boast a veteran, talented group of receivers highlighted by seniors Raby Hawkins and Jake Simmons and junior Keenan Holdman – godson of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban."

Triple Winter Blast Alert From Delkus!!!!!

Meteorologist Ashton Altieri is roaming roads tonight. He said snow is starting to stick to the roads in Wise County. pic.twitter.com/EcC7P81z2Z
— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) November 17, 2014