Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Posting Random Thoughts on Friday after Thanksgiving? Once again, I'm the hardest working man in show business. 
• I ran the Fort Worth Turkey Trot yesterday, ended up in the 5K route instead of the 10K route, and ran through neighborhoods 20 minutes into the race to switch between the two.  I was fearful someone would accuse me of being Rosie Ruiz. 
• Someone might accuse me of being Clark Griswold after I get through with my front lawn today. 
• It's been a delayed reaction, but the Junior In The House being able to drive unnerves me to no end. I used to jab Mrs. LL with the line of "They grow up so fast" about five years ago because I thought it was a silly cliche. Uh, they do grow up so fast. 
• Big thumbs up to TCU after beating the Empire last night. (And Swoopes looked like he did at the first of the year. I think I'd look at Heard for next year if I'm Charlie Strong.)
• Coincidence?: "AUSTIN, Texas — A gunman targeted three downtown public buildings -- the Mexican consulate, federal courthouse and police headquarters -- before police shot and killed him, according to local media reports."
• The taillights went out in Mrs. LL's Gangsta Mobile, but I was able to diagnose the problem as a blown fuse. Much to the amazement of The Kids In The House who were looking on, I had an extra fuse laying around. "For not knowing anything about cars, you sure are smart about them," might have been the greatest compliment I've ever received in my life. 
• That commercial with Simon and Garfunkle's "America" in it reminds me that there's nothing wrong with Simon and Garfunkle. 
• Our water bill was unusually high for the third straight month so I was fearful that we had a leak. Then it dawned on me: Do I have a vague memory about the toilet in the Kid's bathroom running constantly? Didn't I realize that a couple of months ago? Didn't I make a note to fix it? Yep. I'm an idiot for forgetting about that. (But I did have the joy of fixing it within an hour and holding up a piece of plastic in front of everyone and proclaiming, "What we have here is a defective flapper!")
• Wedding Crashers was on last night. (1) I had completely forgotten that the great Christopher Walken was in it. (2) The football scene with Bradley Cooper is really, really funny. (3) Do I dare say it: Owen Wilson, outside of one scene in Meet the Parents ("Well so was J.C. Wow. You're in good company.") is a horrible actor. (4) I blew Mrs. LL's mind when I said, "That chick is married to Borat." She hates Borat. 
• There's something not right about the statement from the cop who shot Michael Brown. It's just too perfect. 

Flashback To My 2005 Thanksgiving Post

Always a crowd pleaser. (The graphic is broken from back then. I have no idea what it was. But the above photo is an actual pic from the Green Household - not mine, the parents - taken a few years ago.)

Mini Me And A Turkey Taking You Into Thanksgiving

Just For My Old Bridgeport Friends: Letters To Santa

Limited interest to my general readers, but I'm utilizing a holiday blog exception.

These are reproductions of Letters to Santa (spelling errors and all) of those in first grade with me.  I don't see my letter (I was probably out doing charity work or in a soup kitchen), but those names are a huge flashback for me.

I note that a future NFL player for ten years wanted a "fut ball".  Heck, if Santa had brought him a soccer ball, I would have put money on him ending up in the English Premier League.

Legal News From Texas' Highest Court This Morning: I Was Wrong About This One

Bernie Tiede wins case at Court of Criminal Appeals; will be given new trial, expected to receive time served -- 17 years in prison.
— Chuck Lindell (@chucklindell) November 26, 2014

Opinion. Holy, cow. The State agreed with the Defendant? When did that happen?
Dissenting opinion.

(And in completely unrelated news, the insane Texas law allowing police to take blood without a warrant in some DWI situations has been declared unconstitutional by the Republican Texan court. But this was almost a foregone conclusion after a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year.)

Edit: WOW! I missed this huge dissent in another case where the Justice Price says the death penalty should be abolished.

Above The Fold

Local Sports Radio News

Hell has frozen over. Latest DFW sports talk radio ratings. November book. Men 25-54. First ever. Fan 3.9; Ticket 3.7; KESN 2.4.
— Barry Horn (@bhorn55) November 26, 2014

Edit: Story that followed.

White People Rioting!

 Huntington Beach after surfing competition.

 2012 after San Francisco Giants won.

 2011 after Vancouver lost an NHL game. 

 Something about a Pumpkin Fest

 After Joe Paterno lost his job at Penn State. 

 2012 after a University of Kentucky basketball victory. 

2014 after West Virginia beat Baylor. 

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Thoughts on the ABC interview of the cop who killed Michael Brown: (1) He's younger than I thought he would be, (2) he's more composed than I thought he would be, and (3) I have no idea if he is telling the truth.
• Protesters in Dallas shut down part of I-35E last night.  How dare they!  Do they think they have the same right of civil disobedience as was exercised in Selma, Alabama in 1965? Hey, it's 2014. We've got places to go!
• For me, Ferguson isn't a black vs. white issue. It's a debate over the increasing haphazard way cops sometimes use deadly force. It's a unilateral death penalty imposed by a jury of one and is always worthy of examination. 
• All of this reminded me of the great VH1 documentary, Uprising: Hip Hop and the L.A. Riots. (Full episode here.)  I can't recommend it enough.  (And you get to see a very angry Ice-T on stage back in the day.) 
• And the Ice-T reference reminds me of Mrs. LL asking me, "Who is this Coco you are always talking about?"  (Google her with caution.)
• A prospect for the Texas Rangers (the baseball ones), who had already received over a $3 million signing bonus, was killed this week in an auto wreck in the Dominican Republic. (Edit: Make that "involved".) One month ago,  St. Louis outfielder Oscar Taveras was killed in a wreck in that country as well. 
• Random Google Alert I have for "Bridgeport, Texas" revealed this nugget from the Jackson County [Minnesota?] Chronicle this morning: "David M. Jennings, 29, Bridgeport, Texas, was fined $225.70 for speeding in 55-mph zone (20-24 mph)."
• Last night I got home and found an empty house. Changed clothes. Settled down in my chair with the Family Pups. Hit "play" to reveal the most recent college football standings that had been released 30 minutes earlier (but which I had avoided coverage of with incredible discipline.) I hear garage door open. Mrs. LL walks in and says, "I'm sorry."  Me: "For what?" She then looks at the paused TV screen and has Wild Eyes. Yep, she decided to express sympathy to me that Baylor had remained at #7 before I knew they had remained at #7. (But she gets huge Sports Cred for having any idea that there are rankings. Then again, she knows "Ragonk" and "Not Purple".)
• Am  I old, or does the guy pictured in the Wise Wireless ad over the Update have crazy hair? (And I mean no offense.) 
• Burleson's Reagan James was voted of The Voice last night. There used to be a time where runner ups in reality talent shows could go on to become stars. But those days are over. 
•  Mrs. LL took issue with a commercial that said "Auto-tune had us singing like crazy in 1998." That did seem a little early for the synthesized tricked up voice technology so I googled it: Yep, Cher's "Believe" was released in 1998. 
• Someone explain to me the first item in the Update: "BRIDGEPORT HOSPITAL TO BECOME COMMUNITY HEALTH CLINIC."  When I read stuff like that I always think, "Ok, so what's really going on here?" 
• That Update item is almost confusing as the one about the Decatur teenager performing in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York while KISS plays.  (I had so much confused amusement while I typed that.) 
• Can we pretend the lady below is thinking, "Oh, no you didunt . . . . "

1968 Comedy

Side note: That graphic for "Shootin' Blind" really was great for that day and time.

In Liberal Boston?: Campaign To Go Back to the Name of "Christmas Break"

Bostonherald – With their campaign to save Christmas snowballing, traditionalists are expected to pack Marshfield High School’s auditorium tonight in hopes of persuading the School Committee to reverse its decision to rename the late December vacation as the “holiday break.”“There are signs all over town: ‘There’s Still a Christmas,’ ‘Bring Back Christmas.’ There’s some little kids in town picking up on this and wondering if Santa is going to come to their house,” said attorney Dennis Scollins, the Marshfield School Committee’s longest-serving member and one of two who stood up for St. Nick when the board voted 3-2 on Sept. 9 to replace “Christmas” with “holiday” for the Dec. 24 to 
Jan. 2 vacation.Elaine Taylor, whose children are now grown, has been the driving force behind the resurrection of Christmas vacation. Her backers will be hitting the streets today holding signs and playing Christmas carols, as well as lighting up the phone lines, reminding supporters to turn out tonight.“I’m getting an overwhelmingly supportive response everywhere I go,” Taylor said. “I’m an American. I love my country. I want to keep the values that my country and the town were founded on.”

And we all know that if government doesn't recognize Christmas, there is no true meaning of Christmas.

(Side note: If that attorney wanted to serve up a spike for the non-believers, that statement couldn't have been more well crafted.)

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• I have no idea whether the Ferguson cop should have been indicted, but that DA is mentally challenged. He holds a press conference to announce the decision at 8:00 p.m. at night with all sorts of notice? The only thing he didn't do was send out RSVP cards to potential rioters.
• And a grand jury isn't like a regular jury. This isn't a situation of "they've reached a verdict -- time to announce it."  He controls everything about them. What we saw last night was a grasp at 15 minutes of fame.
• And I actually agree with Michelle Malkin: "St Louis Prosecutor McCulloch criticizes media/social media at press conference timed for maximum media/social media coverage."
• Did you hear him say that he didn't present any evidence to the grand jury but that he left the process up to his two assistance? Good lord. That's as crazy as Kenneth Starr's admission that he never interviewed or spoke to Monica Lewinsky. 
• The DA also said his office didn't make a recommendation to the grand jury. He's lying. I ran the Wise County grand jury for eight years. I worked in grand jury section of the Tarrant County DA's office as well. Prosecutors always make a recommendation. And even if they didn't, you cannot present a case without inserting your opinion. Heck, grand jurors want to know your opinion. 
• With the reputation of prosecutors being at an all time low right now due to withholding evidence and unethical conduct, that guy was the last thing they needed last night. 
• And his "sympathies for the cops run deep. His father was a St. Louis policeman killed in the line of duty by a black man when McCulloch was 12. His brother, nephew and cousin all served with the St. Louis police. His mother worked as a clerk for the force for 20 years. McCulloch would have joined the force too, but he lost a leg in high school due to cancer. 'I couldn’t become a policeman, so being county prosecutor is the next best thing,' he once said."  Good grief.
• "Former New York state Chief Judge Sol Wachtler famously remarked that a prosecutor could persuade a grand jury to 'indict a ham sandwich.' The data suggests he was barely exaggerating: According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. attorneys prosecuted 162,000 federal cases in 2010, the most recent year for which we have data. Grand juries declined to return an indictment in 11 of them." Source. (Yes, I know the Ferguson grand jury was a state grand jury, but the data would be the same.) 
• Bottom line: There was never a chance in the world there would be an indictment. (And I said that at the courthouse last week.)
• "This is the biggest indictment of all: The Jets' special teams are worse than the offense." -- Sports Illustrated's goofy Peter King's tweet at the moment the Ferguson indictment news was being released. He later apologized saying he wasn't aware of the news (which means he didn't engage in dark humor but instead is oblivious in general.) 
• I came home last night and everyone in the house was wearing glasses. New. Prescription. Glasses. 
• Today, BagOfNothing discusses my "how can you care about who wins in professional sports?" point from yesterday. I know I'm in the minority on this. However, the ultimate defining moment for me was when a Dallas Cowboy, after losing a critical last season game of the year, yelled "Free agency, baby!" as he entered the locker room. (Someone help me out and find out who that was. I can't locate it. It wasn't Pacman Jones, but it was around the same time.) 
• TCU/Texas on Thanksgiving night is fascinating. At first I wanted TCU to lose since it would cause Baylor to jump them in the rankings. But if you are of the belief that Baylor, if they win out,  will jump TCU regardless (which should be true), Baylor should want TCU to win.  I have Sports Confusion. 

Hang On, Girl! I'm Coming To Help You!

Hey, its been years since I played Monopoly, but I think we can all accurately speculate that the cause of all this was the boyfriend taunting her after he landed on Park Place.  Or, even better, he took all his Monopoly money and made it rain all over her in some kind of victory celebration.

Story.

And, side note, Amy in Denton knows how to maintain her composure during book in.

11/24/2014 13:45:46 Amy, 25 yrs old ♓ Bond: $1,855 EXP INSP MORE THAN 60 DAYS EXP OPERATORS LICENSE VEHICLE W/O REQUI pic.twitter.com/hyhoFd50vd
— Arrests by @DentonPD (@DentonPolice) November 24, 2014

Random PSA From Facebook: Help This Wise County Santa Out!

And I'm jealous he's met Mark from The Rifleman!!

Index 1954

I wonder if the Wichita Falls PD had a "use of force" policy back in the day.

Krum and Bowie At The AAC On Monday Afternoon?

There should be a law against high school kids having more fun than adults.

Then again, they pay for it by having to endure high school.

I Have So Many Questions

(Graphic inserted by me for shock value. Headline ir real.)

DENTON – A child at a birthday party found hydrocodone pills in a box of Halloween candy Saturday.

According to the Denton police, they were called to the 1900 block of Northlakes Trail Saturday afternoon, where a child's birthday party was being held. Partygoers filled a piñata with leftover Halloween candy for the children.

More.

Wait a second. No one is giving away hydrocodone as part of some evil prank. That stuff is valuable. I'm guessing that some mom, dad, or teenager was doing some sneaky hiding of the stuff and it accidentally got mixed in to the pinata. (Which is a sentence I didn't expect to write today.)

Uuuuhhhhhhh

	FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4)
11/24/14, 10:48 AM Mugshot of 21-year-old woman charged with murdering 60-year-old Duncanville man bit.ly/1xUgoVI pic.twitter.com/n3KQAAO0S3

Swimming Lesson 101

Come on. Who amongst us wasn't taught how to swim by being launched into a pool and having to learn the hard way?  This girl just has a defiant quality not found in your average kid.

Hey, gal, when you're at the lake in college and your friends all stare at you and exclaim, "You don't know how to swim?"  this guy will be looking at his misdemeanor probation order and just shaking his head.

Index 1954: Machine Gun Kelly Funeral

Remainder of article . . . 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Stolen from Bud Kennedy: A guy shooting a feral hog makes the "Lifestyles" section of Texas newspaper. (There's a pic) But I hope that shooting a hog is never on my "bucket list" like this guy proclaimed.
• I read Skip Hollandsworth's recent Texas Monthly article over the weekend about a murder in Dallas. Another example of cops jumping to conclusions.  And it cost the city $1.2 million. 
• Remember that story last week where the North Texas teen was driving to Walt Disney World and a wreck caused the death of five of his family members? The cops wrote him a ticket. 
• Garrett Creek Ranch near Paradise closed in 2010 and was to become an addiction recovery center. Did it ever happen?
• In May of 2010 we were worried that Lake Bridgeport could overflow if a huge and consistent storm moved in. 
• While jogging over the weekend, I came across parents in a park filming a teenager slowly and gingerly walking away from her wheelchair. Obviously, I don't know her history (genetic or injury) but did I stop and cry? Come on. Do you know me at all?  
• Mark Davis on Twitter this weekend on show halls cancelling scheduled appearances of Bill Cosby: "Only reason to cancel #BillCosby appearance is slow ticket sales. If public wants in, shame on venues canceling due to unproven allegations." How moronic is that? The dollar controls everything? A private business can't make its own decisions? They can't send a message like Chick-Fil-A or Hobby Lobby? 
• Sports: (1) It is Thanksgiving week and both Baylor and TCU are talking about legitimate national championship hopes. How insane is that? (2) Baylor has gone for it 32 times on fourth down this year. And converted on 25. (3) That catch last night was the greatest one I've ever seen. I was upstairs and wanted to run down and tell the Family Unit, "You've got to see this!!!!" Then I remembered it was a house full of girls watching Finding Nemo again. (4) For the life of me, I do not understand how a grown male over 40 cares about who wins a professional sports game. Watch it for entertainment? Sure. Care about who wins? Come on. (5) “TCU is like a cockroach. It’s not so much what he eats and totes off, but what he falls into and messes up.” — Darrell Royal, 1962. (6) Dallas cleared the over/under line of 7.5 wins. Like I said a couple of weeks ago, I'm retiring as a Sports Expert until 2015.  I can only be a genius for so long. (7) On ESPN's Game Day at the Harvard/Yale game on Saturday they kept saying that the players "were not on scholarship." Trust me, they are. Those schools say they don't give out sport scholarships but check out the number of those players who are on academic scholarship.(8) Shockingly, it is the 20th anniversary of the greatest high school football game in Texas history. (9) Prediction: RG3 becomes a star again in Philadelphia. 
• Important news over the weekend which will be ignored by Fox News: "WASHINGTON (AP) — A two-year investigation by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has found that the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees."  That's the Associated Press. Read that again. And again. 
• "I think the report is full of crap," Lindsey Graham told CNN on Sunday.  *Sigh*
• I turned over to one of the new classic hip hop stations and heard "The Humpty Dance".  Stayed on it for the whole song and smiled. 
• I listened to the first episode of the Serial podcast. It was really, really good but I mainly thought that the public was finally figuring out what I've known for years: This American Life knows how to tell a story,
• The Right Wing seems infatuated with the pending grand jury decision in Ferguson. I wonder if they want rioting just so they can condemn the conduct of minorities 

Tennessee Fans Down!

It's even funnier if you just pretend the guy in the stands was retaliating for the player knocking the gal down.