4.03.2015

Get Me This . . .




. . . this . . . ?????  


at 11:54 AM

Day Two Of DFW Construction Issues









at 10:00 AM

In Store Video Of The Crash In Fort Worth This Week



Lady never had a chance.  I'm back to my Butterfly Effect theory.  Think of all the tiny momentary events that had to happen in her day (and week and year and life) that caused her to be standing in front of a cashier at that very second.

Edit: Ok, the lady at the counter didn't die. But a different woman did in a horrifying fashion as the vehicle plowed into her.  She obviously was out of view.  For those who took time to point out the correction, thanks. I wonder if those few seconds they took the time to do so will have any impact on the Butterfly Effect in their lives?
at 8:56 AM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts



  • A prosecutor in the Tarrant County DA's office who was in charge of the prosecution of the murder case involving a Grapevine veterinarian quit the day after obtaining a 50 year sentence The departures continue to mount. 
  • The fact that a Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 is being released should make us all just want to give up. 
  • Fox 4 ran a "buttock enhancement" commercial during its newscast last night with a nice doctor telling us that he offers the procedure starting at $4,995.  Ok, maybe that should make us all want to give up. 
  • First Baptist Church pastor Robert Jeffress is actually an official "Fox News Contributor." (I thought I'd noticed he had appeared on the network quite a bit lately.)  Note to Board of Deacons: He is doing irreversible damage to your church. You may like the publicity now, but his crazy rants will come back to haunt you. 
  • In January, Amazon announced it will hire 500 new employees for its site in Haslet. Yesterday they announced they will hire 400 more.  That's big news for nearby Wise County. 
  • I forgot to mention yesterday when the Fake Barry Green approached Brian Cuban on Twitter about burying the hatchet, Cuban was beyond gracious and forgiving. 
  • This weekend I will only eat Peeps that are free range. (I stole that from Tim Rogers of D Magazine. Although I'll admit it seemed funnier last night.)
  • I'm going to wear out my Baseball Pitchback net. Last night Mrs. LL had to say, "You gonna stop? It's dark."
  • If Wordkyle says the new Iraq nuclear agreement is worthless well . . . I'll agree with him. 
  • The Family Cat has been throwing up lately. We've got an appointment with the vet, but this is really odd. And she seems to be incredibly thirsty Any expert opinions out there? 
  • Sarah Colonna has been all over the radio and local TV the last 24 hours. Admission: I have never heard of her.
  • This Vine clip of Michael Irvin cheering at the NIT last night is as funny as it is bizarre. Buddy, it's the NIT. I just try to envision him screaming "CLOSED!"
  • I'm kind of surprised today's Update didn't mention the death of Stephen Hale. 
  • BagOfNothing went off about the online resume of the new female sports reporter at Fox 4. Sounds like something I'd do, not him. 
  • I read the lead article in the DMN this morning about the Irving City Council and Sharia Law. That public meeting last night was embarrassing. And all of this is about a resolution supporting a silly Texas bill -- a resolution that wasn't even necessary.  I'm not sure the mayor isn't creating a controversy just to get publicity. 




at 8:39 AM

4.02.2015

Taking Applications For Window Washers



Daily Mail- When you apply for a job as a skyscraper window cleaner, a head for heights is essential. But you probably don’t anticipate being repeatedly slammed into the side of the building as your platform is thrown around like a toy in the wind. Such was the fate of two window cleaners working at a skyscraper in Shanghai recently, People’s Daily Online reported, with their ordeal filmed from inside the building by an onlooker. The incident occurred at the 91st floor of the 101-storey Shanghai World Financial Centre, the city’s second-tallest building at 492 metres (1,614ft). The one-minute video shows the platform swing violently in wind with the Lujiazui Financial District hundreds of metres below.
at 4:03 PM

The Passing Of An Infamous* Wise County Lawyer


I've learned Stephen Hale has died. It happened in his sleep. It's odd to think that I saw him in court just a few days ago.  I always liked Stephen because he was a cordial, soft spoken, and bald-headed hippy who didn't really care what others thought. 

For those who don't know, he became the subject of controversy that spread all the way to the metroplex when he refused to prosecute misdemeanor marijuana cases while serving as the Wise County Attorney.  That was pretty bold. He would get a case, the evidence supported marijuana possession, there's a law against marijuana possession, and he killed the case based upon principle because he thought it was a stupid law. And this was in the 1990s in Wise County! The press loved this story. He had a front page article on the Dallas Morning News, was a feature story in the Dallas Observer, and was even on The Mark Davis Radio Show (how I would love to hear that.) He pissed off local law enforcement and eventually lost re-election only by a small margin. (Oh, how times have changed. He ran as a Democrat when Wise County hadn't figured out it was a Republican county, so the straight ticket Democratic voting almost put him back in office in the most conservative of Texas counties.)

Here's the Dallas Observer story: 


He later ran for DA in Denton County and stood no chance of winning. Loved this quote from him in the article below: "It's hard building a constituency of old stoners."  But it didn't help that he pled guilty to marijuana possession two weeks before the election and received probation. It seems that local cops and Denton law enforcement ran a sting operation on Hale and arrested him for buying marijuana from an informant. I was DA in Wise County at the time and wrote this about it. (I went back and read it and I love my tone: It's wrong for the cops to target people they don't like but I couldn't say that at the time.)


He left the area after the election and practiced law in Galveston for a while.  He then moved to Alaska although I'm not sure what he did up there. Then some time last year, he showed up back in town and opened up a law office.  I have no idea why.  He took a lot of court appointments and seemed happy. His hippy tendencies still stuck around as he showed up in a hoodie for district court a couple of times. That is, until he started showing up in coat and tie -- I'm guessing someone in authority told him the hoodie wasn't going to cut it.

One cold day, in a courthouse hallway, he was wearing the craziest hooded fur jacket you have ever seen. It was massive. It was ridiculous. It looked like he could survive the Iditarod in that thing. He told me that it was made out of the coats of five wolves which were killed when his horses trampled them in Alaska. My eyes got big. I regret not exploring that story with him because I was simply busy and had clients waiting on me. I can always find out later, right?

And now that chance is gone because he is gone.  An elected official. Crazy civil disobedience from inside the belly of the machine. An arrest.  Another election. Galveston. Alaska. Wolves. And that's just what I know about.  That's a pretty entertaining life.
_______
* A couple of comments took me to task for using the word "infamous". I've always considered infamous to mean a person being somewhat well known for an unusual reason, normally controversial, which caused people to notice him. In looking up the textbook definition, it truly is a lot harsher than it is sometimes used these days. However, I guess some truly did consider him in that light. 
at 12:39 PM

9/11 Was Retribution From God Because Of Abortions In America




Or so says First Baptist Church of Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress (who just might be turning into crazy Pat Robertson.)

Link.

How that Board of Deacons allow him to continue to embarrass that church is beyond comprehension.
at 10:48 AM

Random Silly Video Which I Thought Too Much About



Link if video doesn't work.

(The video doesn't end with a big finish, just to let you know.)

But thoughts:

  • I've spent a ton of time doing laundry in apartment laundromats back in the day, but I've never seen a washer/dryer combo at the end of a hallway.  Duplex? 
  • Kind of surprised that was in Nebraska, and I don't know why.
  • On the phone with her lawyer? Not only is that a horrible bluff but a bluff that wouldn't scare anyone. 
  • She called 911? I feel your pain dispatchers.
  • My favorite line is when she tells him that recording her is illegal and "you can receive a ticket and a big fine" for doing so and "she has sued people over it and won." I don't want to go into a big civil case vs. criminal case distinction here, but I'm guessing she's making all of that up. 
  • In all seriousness as we all make fun of her, isn't there a possibility that if we knew her background we might be a little more sympathetic towards her? That just crossed my mind when I thought about what the future holds for those three little kids, living motel to motel, whose mother was killed in the convenience store accident in Fort Worth. 
at 10:06 AM

That's Horrible




It looks like they had the frame up of the indoor practice facility up when it collapsed.
at 9:21 AM

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts



  • Some are up in arms that a school make-up day for the earlier weather cancellations includes Good Friday. I think Bridgeport ISD is doing that. 
  • The Tarrant County DA has announced her office will not file criminal charges against the Northwest ISD kid who wrote a fictitious yet violent and sexual blog.  I've dogged her but she made the only decision she could. That's not a crime. Nor could it ever be because of the First Amendment. And the school will not discipline him either. Nor can they.  
  • Lots of people love free speech so long as and they don't find it offensive. It's akin to people loving freedom of religion so long as they agree with their beliefs being expressed..
  • I've heard some theories that DPS disciplined the trooper for posing with Snoop Dog because he was overweight and did not appropriately represent DPS. Others mentioned that the fact that Snoop called him a "deputy" riled up the heads of DPS.  I'm not saying DPS considers themselves above those law enforcement officers who work for sheriff offices but ....Ok, they do.
  • But there was a comment under the Snoop Dog post yesterday which indicates that the trooper had previously filed a complaint against a TBCA TABC agent and the higher ups at DPS didn't appreciate the whining. 
  • I misquoted Dennis Prager yesterday. I said he didn't believe it was possible that anyone would refuse to provide a service or product to someone because that person was gay. He actually said he didn't believe anyone would refuse to do so based upon religious reasons. That makes the statement even more insane. (He should read yesterday's comments.) 
  • Arkansas' governor figured out that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to sign the "religious freedom" law.  And all those potential GOP presidential candidates better back away as well. 
  • I dogged Brian Cuban hard on Sunday but I'll give him credit for simply dropping it. Side note: I couldn't agree more with a commenter on that post who pointed out that I wasted a beautiful Sunday afternoon while creating that snarky diatribe. Double side note: Cuban unblocked me on Twitter so I couldn't help but glance at his timeline yesterday and was stunned to see that someone had created a new profile and was impersonating me in order to try to set up a meeting with him as a peace offering. That's disturbing  -- not for me -- for him. He sniffed it out quickly. (If he hadn't, I would have alerted him in a New York minute.)
  • Dallas DA Susan Hawk hired a new first assistant and I'm hypnotized by her photo. One second I think she's good looking and then next second I think she's not. Then I think she looks angry and vindictive and then I change my mind and think she looks vulnerable. The picture is like a work of art. (Do you think Mrs. LL will be upset when she gets home and sees that I got a print of it and hung it above the fireplace?)
  • Sports: (1) When a person like Tony Romo restructures his contract, he's just spreading out the prior agreed upon payments and getting a little extra to compensate for the time value of money. It's not a pay cut. (2) Mavericks fans shouldn't feel any optimism about last night crazy high scoring game. A depleted OKC team decided to turn the game into a bit and still almost won. (3) The Ticket's Musers this morning said it would take a #1 pick and more to trade of Adrian Peterson. I think it would take next to nothing. Peterson's contract calls for $12.7 million, $14.7 million and $16.7 million over the next three years. There's talk Minnesota might even consider cutting him to avoid paying those amounts. If that's what they want to do, getting anything in a trade is a gift. 
  • Yesterday WFAA referred to the woman killed in the Fort Worth convenience store/car incident this week as "homeless". Today, the Star-Telegram referred to her as a married and loving mother of three who was living motel to motel. Note: She was 24 and poor but had children ages 8, 5, and 8 months.  


at 8:39 AM

4.01.2015

Firing It Up


This is a still shot at 4:45 and that purple area is expected to go right over Newark and then Rhome and ten into eastern Wise County.  And it sounds pretty potent:


Edit: At 5:10 it had taken a right turn but it had hung over Newark for what seemed forever. For all those cars on 287 going between Rhome and the Saginaw cut off, I'll bet they are getting crushed if that hail kept up.

Edit: Thunder Truck in Wise County!!!



at 4:47 PM

I Kept Waiting For The April Fool's Joke Disclosure



I'm not seeing it. As crazy as this sounds, it appears to real. From The Dallas Morning News.
at 12:43 PM

There's A Lot To Contemplate About This




Incident less than 24 hours ago.
at 12:00 PM

I Think Dentists WIll Be Doing This In 50 Years



Everything has to be tricked up.
at 10:06 AM

Anger Issues?



Language warning (from the police officer.)

Good grief. It's a regular traffic stop. Lighten up.

But at least the driver didn't get shot.
at 9:06 AM

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




  • Mrs. LL proclaimed last night that no one can sneak up behind her and scare her because she can always sense a person coming up behind her. I pressed her on it. Nope, she said, not possible. 
  • Hillary should select one of the Texas Castro brothers as her vice president nominee. She won't win Texas even if she did, but it could awaken the Hispanic electorate in general. And once they are awakened, it's game over. Not just this election but for years to come. 
  • Not a fan of April Fool's Day. 
  • Bag of Nothing guy is a big fan, and I have no idea how he did that to bagofnothing.com this morning. 
  • I haven't looked for this morning, but I heard a couple of talk radio reports which said a cell phone recording from the passenger compartment of the German jet has been found.  I would think that news would be everywhere but I can't find it. That would be a very bad April Fool's prank.  Edit: It is possibly legit. 
  • I thought the victim in the first item in the Update this morning sounded familiar. I looked him up and he had 11 past arrests -- in Wise County. 
  • The Texas House adjourned at 5:40 a.m. this morning after an 18 hour day of complete silliness arguing over the Texas budget. Probably the "high point" was when Rep. Stuart Spitzer out of Kaufman wanted to move $3 million away from HIV Prevention program and move it to abstinence education since is was the "best prevention".  So another rep asked him on the House floor if abstinence worked for him.  Spitzer replied that he was a virgin when he married at age 29. "I've only had sex with one woman in my life, and that's my wife." Spitzer's amendment passed. 
  • Good grief, listened to a little of the Mark Davis Show's podcast from yesterday and Dennis Prager was on there. He's everywhere hawking his new book on the Ten Commandments (which I wish had an 11th one that said "Thou Shall Not Exploit Thy God To Make Money.")
  • In his arrogant tone, he explained that we are dumb if we interpret "Thou Shall Not Kill" as to actually mean "kill". See, he has studied ancient Hebrew (meaning "Don't challenge me on this") and the original text said "murder" and not "kill".  The two, he says, are different. That is pseudo-intellectualism at his finest. You know how we define murder in Texas and most states? "Intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual."  Using that definition of murder, a soldier murders someone. A Texas executioner murders someones. A person who is being robbed but defends himself and shoots his robber has murdered someone. And that's true. But because we don't want to penalize those individuals, we have created defenses and exemptions throughout our law so those people cannot be convicted of murder.  We make it justifiable murder. I'm not saying that the Commandment means we should never kill anyone for any reason -- I have no idea -- but to say "kill" and "murder" are two different things is an attempt to try to be the smartest guy in the room.  
  • And, if you believe him, aren't you a little concerned that he's saying you are reading a King James Version relied upon by millions which uses a word that flat out is not an accurate translation of the original text?
  • Joni Mitchell is intensive care. Whenever I hear her name I think of how an album and song of hers played a part of Love Actually.
  • Man, The Ticket played some of Comedy Central's roast of Justin Bieber and it was shocking. And funny.  Those things are crazy. No matter what is said, everyone gets a pass.
  • Sheesh, forgot about another Prager comment: He believes it simply is impossible and inconceivable that anyone would not sell a product or a service to a gay person because of religious reasons. 
  • The Arkansas legislature followed Indiana's lead on the "religious freedom" law. Hey, Indiana. Arkansas followed you. 


at 8:39 AM

3.31.2015

Inappropriate Comment


There was a heck of wreck today in Fort Worth. Reports are that he was in a hit and run and might have been running over 80 when he plowed completely into the store. This is after the vehicle had been pulled out.

I was just going to embed the photo but I noticed the first comment. A spammer trying to get people to click on a link for Fast & Furious 7. I assume it is  automatically placed on any tweet which mentions "crash" and "7".

(And, not important, but you click on a link like that and you are just asking for it. )
at 4:21 PM

I'm Not Sure I Understand The Internet



A group makes "musicless music videos" by editing and cutting down real music videos. And then leaves out the music. This one is from Ghostbusters and is almost creepy.  The original was a couple of minutes longer because clips of the film were spliced in among other things.

This is oddly hypnotic.
at 3:47 PM

Proof That We Are All Getting Old



Van Halen on Jimmy Kimmel last night.

David Lee Roth hit his nose on the mic stand during the rehearsal so that explains the bandage. The lack of a shirt, well, I can't explain that.
at 9:10 AM

Book In Photo

I think I would have just written him a warning.

(Edit: Good lord, I know you can't be arrested for speeding and this arrest had to be that he failed to take care of the ticket. I've written about that a million times before in connection with this Denton book-in Twitter account. But the guy who says this was "fail to control speed" might have a point. But the point was that if I were the original officer, I think I'd would have just written him a warning. It was comedy. But now a failed bit. Before 9:00 a.m.)




at 8:50 AM

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts



  • Dallas DA Susan Hawk dodged questions yesterday about her bizarre behavior saying it was time to "move forward."  I wrote last week about how the Junior In The House tried to avoid reprimand by using the same line. 
  • I haven't seen the Scientology documentary on HBO yet, but I will. Their beliefs sound crazy but Danny Balis stopped down the Hardline on The Ticket yesterday when he said, "You know, there are some pretty crazy things in the Bible, too."  
  • That reminded me of a Julia Sweeney bit from a few years back when she compared Mormonism origins to Christianity origins and the faith that both groups have to have. (It's too hard to explain. I was just going to link to it and, I'll be dang, she did a "Ted Talk" about it.  Two weeks ago I had never heard of Ted Talks and now I can't stop seeing references to them.)
  • Very crazy story about a lady leaving the  King's Spa in Dallas and then leaving her seven year old in a trash bin outside of it for 10 hours.  King's Spa is getting a bad rap here and is just an innocent bystander. I wrote about visiting that place after a  neighbor family was headed there one morning.  It is 100% opposite of what you would think it is. 
  • There are some reports that the marijuana being legally sold in Colorado has some stuff in it that isn't marijuana. We are through with Big Tobacco lawsuits, but could there be a different round with marijuana?
  • On the news last night, a reporter introduced a lawyer as head of the Dallas Bar Association. The Sixth Grader in the house looked at me very confused and said, "bar association?"  That is a little hard to explain. 
  • Rolling Stones in Cowboys Stadium on June 6. I remember when they came through in the early 1980s and there was serious talk that it might be their last tour. 
  • Strange story of the week: The Missouri state auditor killed himself last month and now the person who was his spokesman does the same thing. 
  • Sean Hannity had both Ann Coulter and Dennis Prager on last night. No way I was going to subject myself to that. 
  • Mrs. LL went to a trampoline park group workout last night (I'm still not clear on that) but there were also a group of special needs kids who just happen to be there. The kids began cheering on the women with unadulterated excitement. Mrs. LL said it was one of the inspiring and heartwarming things she had ever seen. 
  • Pulled out the gas powered weedeater this weekend for the first time since last fall and it fired up on the very first pull. Nothing good happen after that to ruin the weekend. 
  • Everyone was raving about the story in The Messenger about the new family over in Bridgeport who moved in with a group of star basketball players. It sounded glowing. I know nothing about them, but I like their kitchen. 
  • Saw a tons of new stories yesterday about McDonald's considering offering its breakfast menu all day long.  Was that an ad disguised as a news story? It was a national story so it would have cost a fortune, but McDonald's has a fortune. 




at 8:39 AM

3.30.2015

Wild Rhino On Streets Of Nepal



Starts off entertaining, but goes downhill. I was expecting that crazy crowd chasing behind the rhino to suddenly turn around and run back once the big fella figured out they were there.

Here's a quick one of the rhino in a full sprint. Oh, my:




at 4:23 PM

Army Guy Scares Fake Beggar Dressed As Army Guy



But you got to like his concern for the guy when he keeps stepping out into the street. It's like he was thinking, "I just want to scare the guy but the last thing I need is for this moron to get hit by a car while we are filming this."
at 4:14 PM

More Legal Insanity - This Time In Houston


Lawyers in Houston are scratching their heads over a lavish honeymoon gift registry posted online by Harris County Family Court Judge Alicia Franklin and her fiancé, attorney Doug York.
We're joining in on the head-scratching, especially since the exposure of the site -- which describes the couple's plans to stay in Paris and the Maldives ("for a little r&r") -- comes on the heels of a report finding that Franklin collected $806,005 from the county for her work as a judge-appointed attorney between 2010 and 2014.  More. 

 Edit: I'm not sure I've had so many comments from people who don't understand this story.  Is it wrong to have a high tone registry? I don't know. I don't care. That's not the point. It's about a trip described in that registry. But the key to this is publicizing the trip is "tone deaf" -- meaning "do you have any idea how this looks for a person in your situation?"

So what's her situation? We've got a judge who collected and ungodly amount of money when she was a court appointed lawyer. Enough to raise eyebrows that something could be seriously amiss. (Try being a good attorney and make a living off court appointments -- normally you will starve. Quickly. She got rich.) And, you conservatives, we are talking about taxpayer dollars.  But here is the point: Despite complaints about her in Houston for all of that, she flaunts her extravagant trip. 
at 9:48 AM

Random Monday Morning Thoughts



  • We bought one of those baseball "pitchback nets" again (the last one gave out after a couple of years.) I love those things.  Although I did have an awkward moment in trying to assemble it without looking at the instructions since it was the exact same make and model of the last one. It didn't go well. Mrs. LL had to come out and do the "step aside" routine. 
  • That Dallas DA situation has escalated quickly. There are even calls for her resignation, and I'm guessing she won't handle this pressure well. 
  • The Junior in the House asked me the difference between "effect" and "affect" last night. Girl, I'm the last person you should ask about that. 
  • Mrs. LL saw a huge, huge group of sports bikes on a highway in Fort Worth yesterday which were causing traffic to slow down to a standstill. I'm guessing they were doing stunts like we saw on Central Expressway a few years back. 
  • I perked up when I saw that federal judge John McBryde in Fort Worth had allegedly made “disparaging, gender-discriminatory remarks” in connection with a defendant trying to delay her sentence because of a potential surgery. But the story didn't say what those remarks were. "The 5th Circuit issued a rare public reprimand of McBryde in 1995 over what it called his 'intemperate, abusive and intimidating treatment of lawyers, fellow judges and others.' He was suspended from receiving new cases for a year."
  • You want to know where we are heading? Consider this: 76,976 people showed up in stadium in California this weekend to watch Wrestlemania 31. 
  • Doing a complete 180 from last week, the University of Texas fired Rick Barnes over the weekend. His exit press conference was eerily similar to Mack Brown's with a feeling of, "I have not been treated fairly and I'm going to tell you all about it some day." 
  • I got Slumped Shoulder when I saw that Dance Mums UK was set to be recorded on the DVR. The. Whole. Series. 
  • What a slow news weekend nationally and locally. The first three items in the Update were spring high school sports scores. 
  • Liberally Lean Pick 'Em standings. 


at 8:42 AM

3.29.2015

Great Question: What Is the Story?

Link to ad for the place.

I drove by it about five years ago and was confused by it then. An unfinished mansion in Wise County?
at 2:16 PM

Remember That Burning Building In New York Last Week?


at 12:59 PM
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)