The National Weather Service Just Put Everyone In A Frenzy

Winter Wx possible for parts of N and Central TX Sun night thru Mon. #txwx #dfwwx #ctxwx #texomawx pic.twitter.com/IMD3TSak1w
— NWS Fort Worth (@NWSFortWorth) February 20, 2015

While Everyone Is Up In Arms Over Gay Marriage, We Ought To Be Scared To Death Of Texas Police Acting Like Nazis

Two Republic of Texas members were accused of the misdemeanor offense of "simulating legal process" in Kerr County.  Don't get bogged down by that, it's a misdemeanor. Big deal.

In connection with the investigation, a district judge amazingly authorized the raid of a meeting of that group at the local VFW.   It occurred and sixty members were present.  So what? Maybe the cops were just looking for evidence to support that heinous misdemeanor offense.

But get this: The raid was based upon a search warrant signed "by state District Judge Keith Williams [which] authorized collection of fingerprints, photos and DNA swabs from those at the VFW hall to prevent anyone from providing a false identity to authorities. It also authorized officers to seize computers, cell phones and paper documents 'relevant to, or which describe criminal conduct or suspected criminal activity.'”

Holy crap. I'm not accused of a crime but because someone in my "group" is I can be detained, fingerprinted, photoed and swabbed??!!!  You kidding me?  Hey, I know the Republic of Texas can be a pain in the arse for local officials, and I'm all for prosecuting one of its members if he commits a crime.  But for the government to target a group with a search warrant for the purpose of identifying its members (which is what this sure sounds like) is beyond scary.

Or at least it is scary to me.  I might call the Texas Attorney General about this after he's through fighting gay marriage.

Source.

News From The Mean Streets Of Anna, Texas

Anna ISD 8th grdr sent this pic& msg to a student, He ltr said It was a joke PD arrested him for terroristic threat. pic.twitter.com/6a4UwxFugM
— James Rose (@JamesRoseFox4) February 20, 2015

Warrant Roundup: My Annual Rant

Officials gear up for annual warrant round up. There are over 500K outstanding warrants in Dallas alone @wfaachannel8 pic.twitter.com/M2Qmn1AP6Y
— Monica Hernandez (@MHernandezWFAA) February 20, 2015

This is just a bluff to make you scramble to pay your tickets.  You think they are actually coming to your house to enforce a Class C traffic ticket warrant? No way. And in the one in a million chance they do, don't answer the door -- there's nothing they can do.

And if any of these warrant are for major offenses, why in the world would they notify the suspect ahead of time?

(Since all these folks are on the clock, how much did this photo-op of a government threat cost the taxpayer?)

Edit: I forgot to do a pre-emptive strike against the "So you want people not to pay their fines?" goofballs. Yes, this post about government lying to you with an intimidating photo  was really a clandestine way of me supporting people who don't pay their fines. Sheesh.  If I said a shoplifter should not be shot dead must also mean I support shoplifting?

(And if you have an outstanding fine, you'll pay the piper when you get stopped for a traffic violation or try to renew your license. That's why the cops don't come to your house to arrest you for a traffic ticket. They'll eventually get their money.)

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• I didn't know former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was even remotely relevant enough these days to even get into hot water for saying President Obama, one day after saying he does "not believe that the president loves America."
• Joe Biden had the greatest line about Giuliani during the campaigns in 2008: "There's only three things he mentions in a sentence —a noun, a verb, and 9/11." (Giuliani always tried to capitalize on the fact he simply walked through the streets in the aftermath of 9/11.)
• Maybe the best picture of the Boston blizzard.
• My back has been hurting the last few days which reminds me how much I hate back pain. 
• In the old TV series MASH, there was a handmade sign outside the camp with directions and mileage to destinations all over the world. I didn't know the bottom location read, "Decatur". (Although there are lots of Decaturs in the U.S.)
• Of all the problems in Texas (the uninsured, education, highways, water, etc.), the Texas Attorney General considered it an emergency yesterday to stop same sex marriage licenses from being issued? (And since the U.S. Supreme Court has already agreed to decide the issue, we can just pretty much all calm down and wait.) 
• Hey, you can buy a T-shirt that makes you realistically appear like you are carrying a handgun. What could go wrong? 
• American Sniper Trial: If Routh is found "not guilty by reason of insanity", he'll still be locked up a long, long time. And I am leaning towards predicting a straight "guilty" verdict but this might be close. The jury only has to believe that Routh was "probably" insane at the time of the shooting to find "not guilty by ... insanity."
• Routh's mother "was grilled sharply by prosecutor Jane Starnes . . . about why she hadn’t warned Kyle her son was psychotic and delusional before they went to the shooting range.“Do you think that could have been useful information?” Starnes asked. “Maybe information that could have saved Chris Kyle’s life?”  That was dumb. Why would the prosecutor want to shift any blame from Routh? And it makes the prosecutor sound like she believes Routh was, in fact, psychotic and delusional.
• From the Update: "MEMORIAL service for Billy Eugene and Betty Jean (Acker) Hall, formerly of Boyd, is 2 p.m. Sunday at Destiny Life Church in Fate, Rockwall County." A married couple? Anyone know the circumstances on this?
• This headline is about the same as, "We Ain't Puttin' Up With That Stuff In Denton" . . . 

Today's Piece Of Insanity

Biggest news out of Wichita since Randle's arrest: Clown from defunct amusement park found in sex offender's home. pic.twitter.com/tBvTuMc0Ux
— Corbett Smith (@corbettsmithDMN) February 19, 2015

I have no idea what the story is on this, but that is one crazy picture.

Look What Just Happened In Austin

First legally married gay couple in Texas # statesman pic.twitter.com/rGz3ps0vOa
— Ricardo B. Brazziell (@photo_Brazziell) February 19, 2015

This was from two days ago: AUSTIN — Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman ruled Tuesday that the Texas ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, but the county will not begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.

Herman ruled as part of an estate fight in which Austin resident Sonemaly Phrasavath sought to have her eight-year relationship to Stella Powell deemed to have been a common-law marriage. Powell died last summer of colon cancer.

In a statement, Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir called Herman's order "a great step toward marriage equality," but added that the judge didn't instruct the county clerk to "begin to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples." DeBeauvoir said, therefore, she won't do so "at the present time."

Something changed.  If the new Texas Attorney General isn't sprinting to the courthouse to stop these evil-doers, I'd be stunned. He had already taken action to overturn the order from two days ago.

Edit: Here's the first news report.

Edit: Told ya. Texas Supreme Court orders stay for future marriage licenses. So for now, those two ladies are still married.

Breaking News: Texas Supreme Court issues stay against other gay marriages http://t.co/Nf7Z95F6fL
— Dallas Morning News (@dallasnews) February 19, 2015

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• The oftentimes object of my disdain, Lisa Blue Baron, has reduced the price of her Preston Hollow estate from $37.5 million to  $33.5 million.
• The news yesterday regarding an arrest in the murder case of a Colleyville housekeeper is insane and ambiguous.  Two strangers were "connected" to a $1 million "fraudulent" insurance policy taken out on the housekeeper and killed her for the money? I want to know more about this insurance policy and how it was obtained. And I wonder if there might be an insurance agent involved in this. 
• I'm up to date on Better Call Saul.  I'm more optimistic about than before. 
• Of course I'm doubtful about Brian Williams simply having a memory lapse, but it has given rise to some discussions about how your brain/memory can trick you.  I've had several occasions when I researched an event that I know happened only to find out I'm wrong about significant details about it. (Admittedly, it wasn't as significant as being shot down in a helicopter, however.)
• Texas State Sen. Van Taylor was on the Mark Davis Show this morning and was asked why he opposed the legalisation of marijuana.  He had the weirdest and irrelevant rambling answer. He first focused on how drugs not approved by the FDA have caused horrible birth defects, and he mentioned how the FDA was founded after a pharmacist tried to create a "helpful" drug which killed over 50 people.  Ummmkay. To add to the weirdness, during the answer he suddenly just stopped talking. After several seconds of dead air, Davis had to ask, "Are you at the end of a sentence?"
• BagOfNothing wrote today that he was not familiar with the game "Kick the Can."  Man, that was a huge player in my neighborhood back in the day.  But our rules were amended more often than the Texas Constitution. 
• I don't know if this source is legit, but it says that new Tarrant DA Sharen Wilson has imposed strict working hours of 7:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for all employees.  That's more than eight hours so I don't know how that works out. 
• From the This-Looks-Bad Department: Over the top right winger  Michael Quinn Sullivan is president of an over the top group called Empower Texans. He was fined $10,000 last year by the Texas Ethics Committee for failing to register as a lobbyist. He then suddenly said he was moving to Denton County and appealed the decision to a district court in Denton (which he had the right to do assuming Denton County was his residence.) Yesterday, a judge in Denton, Steve Burgess, reversed the decision.  It was then discovered that Burgess "followed" Sullivan on Twitter but by this morning the judge has completely deleted his twitter account. 
• I don't think it is wise for any judge to be on Twitter, but I like it when they do. They send inadvertent clues about their biases. 
• I wonder if all papers have the following headline on autofill . . . 

Let's See What The Dallas Morning News Is Up To

Umm, posting a video of a nine month old pregnant lady swallowing a sword?

So This Is The Only Way To Stop A Man Allegedly Armed With A Machete In A Truck?

In Del Rio yesterday. I tried to count the number of shots the cops fired but to no avail. Video.

Some Guy Named Afroman Punched A Drunk Fan

Well, that was crazy.  And I'm also stunned that she was able to get up.

There's is no way that guy can justify his conduct, and he was arrested.  I'm trying to come up with a possible reason he could use and the only thing I can think of is that John Lennon was killed by a fan as well as Dimebag Darrell who was shot and killed while on stage. But I'm guessing he didn't consider her a threat -- he went back to playing within an instant.

Most Unusual Place To Spot An Image Of Tony Romo's Wife

Story.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• I'm willing to bet that the "White" and "Power" signs at the Flower Mound basketball game was just the result of happenstance instead of a concerted effort.
• I posted yesterday that I thought the Cowboys would put the franchise tag on Dez Bryant. Then hours later Stephen Jones said, "Right now we're probably leaning that way." Well, it looks like I've got my Sports Genius mojo back.
• Love this in the Update today: "A suspected drunk driver who ran into the back of a Wise County Sheriff’s Department patrol car early Monday morning was arrested and charged with intoxicated assault causing serious bodily injury of a peace officer. . . .[The deputy,] who was diverting traffic onto an access road at Pioneer Road due to an earlier accident, was not seriously injured." (And in case they get mad at me for this: "Read more in the midweek Wise County Messenger on newsstands today.")
• In "The American Sniper" trial, prosecutors "entered drug paraphernalia as evidence on Friday, saying that a hookah, pipes, leafy substance and vials of a clear liquid were all found at Routh’s home." What does that have to with whether he killed Chris Kyle? Isn't that clearly "extraneous offenses" which almost all the time are inadmissible?  (Amazingly, we later learned the vials weren't found in Routh's home despite the testimony of the Texas Ranger. In the long run, the error won't make a difference but that's a major screw up.) 
• Cops shot a guy in the parking lot of Buck's Cabaret last night in north Fort Worth.  I always say, "Nothing good happens at a strip club at 2:30 a.m. on a Tuesday night in mid-February."
• Had the greatest joy last week when a BMW blew past me on 287 and a couple of minutes later a trooper zoomed past me as well on his was to stop them. (As the BMW passed me, I remember thinking, "Buddy, you're on 287. In Wise County. This will not end well.")
• Man, there are a lot of DPS troopers in Wise County who have been assigned to long stints on the border for immigration enforcement. They hate that, right? 
• Do large oil field companies have to give 60 days notice before they lay someone off? "In Dallas, attorney Allen Vaught has amassed hundreds of clients among the laid-off ranks and has filed lawsuits against companies including Patterson-UTI and smaller firms GoFrac in Fort Worth and Brazos Rock in Weatherford." Is that former Bridgeport resident Allen Vaught?
• My favorite radio show told me this morning that we just missed the date that Marty McFly programmed the Delorean to travel to in Back To The Future II. Nope. That actual date is October 21, 2015. There are so many doctored photos from the movie on the Internet that the mistake is common. 
• When "Dance Moms" came on last night, I went to bed and told Mrs. LL to please tell me later if anyone yelled at each other on the show. 
• Is this 1960s program for Cubs/Astros real? (Hint: A baby cub drinking LSD?)

Texas Prosecutor Casually Mentions That He Might Have Wrongfully Prosecuted People

For almost two decade, the Texas District and County Attorney's Association has had an online message board where prosecutors can ask for advice.  It's rarely used.  But I noticed this one today which really got my attention. Don't get bogged down in the details because it really is straight forward: His office has been prosecuting pregnant mothers under a statute which says it doesn't apply to pregnant mothers.

This really is amazing. Not only is it an admission of not knowing the law, but it also demonstrates an "aw shucks" mentality about wrongful prosecutions.

Edit: So some of you think I'm in favor of pregnant women using drugs? Really? That is what you discerned from all of the above?

Train v. Man

That's all we have for now. I didn't include the link because you need to sign up to see anything.

New Secretary Of Defense Sworn In

Biden hanging onto Ashton Carter's wife (and whispering things) at Carter's swearing-in pic.twitter.com/qc911pu1GT
— jennifer bendery (@jbendery) February 17, 2015

Russian Feeds Bear

Hey, I'll admit this isn't all that remarkable, but look at the size of those paws.

I Had A Bullet Point About A Cyber Attack And Now ...

Ok, so it's not technically a cyber attack. But I wonder if anyone has a pen and paper to take notes.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Forgot to mention it yesterday: Kudos to Sarah Palin for willing to make fun of herself on the Saturday Night Live anniversary show. 
• "Every line of this movie should be memorized instead of watching that crap." - Me last night in response to someone in the Family Unit wanting to watch The Bachelor as we were watching the Phantom Of The Opera. I don't know if I should be proud of myself or embarrassed. 
• I didn't hear much about "The American Sniper" trial yesterday, but I thought I saw a Texas Ranger testify who was named Ron Pettigrew. Wasn't he a trooper assigned to Wise County at one point?
• Watched some more of Black Mirror over the weekend.  Can't recommend it enough. I love stuff that makes me think. 
• I received two birthday presents over a week ago which have been sitting there on the kitchen counter unopened. It is driving everyone else nuts that I won't open them. And all I say in response is "Discipline." 
• Chico ISD has called a $7 million bond election.  Question: Is government the biggest employer in Chico? 
• We used to fear the USSR hitting us with nuclear weapons. You know what I fear now? A cyber attack.  I tried to come up with examples of what it would be like but my mind just raced. 
• "Weatherman goes crazy over thunder during snowstorm."  I saw this yesterday and couldn't believe people thought it was worthy of watching.  That's a guy trying way too hard. 
• The Cowboys will end up putting the franchise tag on Dez Bryant. 
• I think Facebook has become a place where everyone posts four year old videos. 
• As I listen to far right wingers on TV and radio, one thing has dawned on me: They want people to be either pure or evil.  They want Chris Kyle to be flawless. They want "Mama Bear" to be beyond reproach. Hey, I'll admit it, I do to. But I don't how you can live in this world past elementary school and not realize every person is composed of grey.

Ummmmkaaay

The #txlege's pastor of the day is a George Washington impersonator: pic.twitter.com/dkjDjDuM0a
— Reeve Hamilton (@reevehamilton) February 16, 2015

Hey, It's A Test

I saw this picture a couple of times over the weekend as people made fun of it.

You know, that guy is exactly right. Can anyone tell me why?

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• It's Presidents' Day and the courthouse is closed, but I'm here proving, once again, I'm the hardest working man in show business. (I write that as I think, "Good lord, I'm up and writing this junk?")
• I heard that parts of highway 287 froze over in the very early morning hours. 
• Do I dare say that Miley Cyrus performing "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" on the SNL 40th anniversary show was really, really good? 
• The Junior In The House  received for Valentines a great perfectly folded paper rose along with a hand made matchbox containing one match with a message of "If you don't want the rose, you can burn it." Hey, what did that kid do in Endless Love?
• The mass beheading of 21 people by ISIS over the weekend is beyond words. And a bizarre aspect of all of these horrific videos is how the victims never seem to struggle, panic, or fight.
• 50 Shades of Grey made over $80 million over the weekend. Most of the reaction has been: "Everyone was getting bent out of shape over that?"
• There is no less used tool than the government Open Records Request. Want to know how much and where a Wise County employee spent on his last convention trip? Just ask. 
• Co-Official Liberally Lean Girl, Christina Aguilera, sang the National Anthem at the NBA All-Star game last night. Hey, Now. 
• The lead item in the Update is about a wreck on Friday that killed one teen and hurt another. "Names of the two men are not available at this time . . . ." Not available? On Monday?
• My administrative-assistant-in-charge-of-keeping-me-out-of-trouble has seen Sting, Bob Seger, and went to Chicago to see the art exhibit David Bowie Is. All in the last six months. I'm jealous. And I'm jealous that I don't have that desire to get off my arse in my free time. 
• "7 heinous lies 'American Sniper' is telling America." Preach on.
• Is there any less bang for the buck than a restaurant? 
• Mark Cuban's brother, Brian, has written another book about "living with, and recovering from, eating disorders, drug addiction and Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)." At some point you just need to let it go, right? (That link takes you to a horribly written passage from the book of his previous experience of being in a strip club.)
• The GOP golden boy of the moment, Scott Walker, had this answer as to whether he believed in evolution: “I’m going to punt on that one… That’s a question that a politician shouldn’t be involved in one way or another.” Why is he scared to answer that?
• How do people in the Northeast not wake up today and say, "Screw this, I'm moving South even in that means living in the South"?
• The Cindy Crawford unaltered photo is all the rage. Still pretty hot.