Decatur ISD Election News

Firing Up The Liberally Lean Radar For Saturday Night

Not that I have sixth super secret weatherman sense (although that wouldn't surprise me), but there is something really weird about the weather today.  Tornadoes already forming to the east. Some pretty big storms already popping up nearby.

Something ain't right.

I'm taking us to DEFCON 4.

Edit: And then the sun comes out at 8:00 pm. Take us to DEFCON 5, Colonel. But you might want to check on the boys south of Fort Worth.

I'm No Engineer . . .

FM 1806 just outside of Bowie is completely washed away after last night's storm. pic.twitter.com/YZEn7y8Zcu

— Jessica Bruno (@JbrunoKFDX) May 9, 2015

. . . but I'd put a lot of those big drainage pipe thingees underneath it when they rebuild it. Or maybe a huge concrete storm drainage foundation thingee. (I apologize for all of this technical talk.)

Work Week Over: Let's Make A Break For It While We Still Have A Chance

I'm Always Confused By These "Hip" Social Media Friendly Judges

This guy is a sitting judge in Houston and also Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's son.  He'll tweet when a trial is about to start or when a jury reaches a verdict.

But then he'll send things like this out.  This is a work day, right? Is he using a government computer? A government phone? Government Wifi? Government provided internet hardline?

I Have So Many Questions

From Youtube: Previously unknown medical condition caused a crash on 4/2/2015. I have never passed out in 26 years, but suddenly passed out. Sorry about disabling the comments, but the trolls got really bad. Media inquiries please see break.com, as Defy Media has acquired rights to this video. God Bless.

Targeted Ads

I understand targeted ads. This type uses your IP address to know your location and then references a town nearby to get your attention.

Still, this one made me laugh. What's the new rule? Don't drive through Boyd being black and wearing a bikini?

(I have no idea what the ad was really for. I'm not clicking on it.)

In Pig News This Morning

@BSG Filmed a swimming pig this morning headed to Lake Bridgeport pic.twitter.com/4dgI5G3ql3

— Chalupa Batman (@TyHasABday) May 8, 2015

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• That girl reminds me of Alicia Silverstone in Crush.
• Crazy storms last night and some guy from Wise County named Ricky Bowling was all over the news giving interviews. Well spoken. Hip eyeglasses. Neatly trimmed grey goatee. Way to represent!
• Blue Bell knew of the Listeria issue way back in 2013? That company may be in more trouble than I thought. 
• The La'el Collins story is crazy. He was projected to go in the first round of the NFL draft as the top offensive tackle and then news broke 12 hours before the draft that cops wanted to "talk to him" in connection with his girlfriend's murder. No NFL team would touch him then and he went undrafted. Believing no criminal charges will be filed, the Cowboys signed him yesterday to a free agent contract of three years and $1.64 million. If he was truly not a suspect, that timing by the police cost him millions.
• And I guess he's free and clear of criminal problems. Police say his is not a suspect but these days no one is called a "suspect". But they wanted to talk to him. Meaning they were interested in talking to him. Or, said another way, they were interested in talking to him as a person. Doesn't that make him a "person of interest" which is code for "suspect" these days?
• But Jerry Jones is unlike Mark Cuban in one huge way: Jerry can talk any free agent into coming to play for him. 
• For all the nutcases who think "all Muslims are bad", did you realize that the two who appeared at the Draw A Mohammed Cartoon meeting came all the way from Arizona? Do you have any idea how many Muslims in Dallas and its suburbs didn't blink an eye at the event? 
• "Disappointed the Texas marijuana bill wasn't referred to a joint committee. (That had been the buzz.)" - Tweet from that goofy Texas Supreme Court judge this morning. Reading it caused me to have simultaneous Groan Voice and Slumped Shoulders.
• Had the craziest impromptu bet break out on The Ticket yesterday. Did Beverly D'Angelo appear topless in a shower in the original Vacation or was it in European Vacation? One host said it was the second one because he was sure: Part of the plot was based upon Clark videotaping her in the shower and the camera subsequently being stolen.  He was certain and said "I will bet anything."  I was right there with him as he baited his co-host into entering into the bet. Uh, we were both wrong. There was no nudity in European Vacation. #NowYouKnow
• I was a huge David Letterman fan for his first 10 years, but I can't get too excited about his retirement because I feel like he's been gone for the last 10 years. 
• Boyd's own Greg "The Hammer" Williams is going to narrate a feature film called Windsor?  Trailer here (you hear him in the beginning). DMN's Barry Horn promises to explain later today. Edit: Here it is.
• "Jeb Bush invested more than $1 million from the Florida state pension fund in pornography while he was governor." At first I thought that was unfair because I seriously doubt he was aware of every investment the pension fund made. But governors always take credit for positive things they really have no control over (i.e. the state's economy) so they might as well take the blame for the negative aspects that happen while in office as well. (He has an ill timed speaking engagement at the evangelical Liberty University on Sunday when he can explain it.)
• Breaking economic news: Unemployment falls to 5.4% -- a seven year low.  (Also breaking news: Wordkyle just reached for his blood pressure medicine.) 

Firing Up LL Weather Center

Tornado warning.

(And I'll give ol' Pete credit, he did a pretty good job on this.)

Tornado northeast of Boyd TX now in Dominator 3. @breakingweather pic.twitter.com/SkQSm4A4e2

— Sean Schofer (@SeanSchoferTVN) May 8, 2015

Random Current Day College Thought

Psychology selfie before the final. We love you @Baylor pic.twitter.com/lZbZLP7HzQ

— Silas Nacita (@Salsa_Nacho) May 7, 2015

I follow that guy on Twitter because he was a pretty spare Baylor football player whose background is pretty bizarre and featured in Sports Illustrated.  (He was subsequently removed from the team because he was living in a place donated by others which made BU Athletics nervous. He will be transferring.)

But he tweeted this pic this morning and it struck me that I haven't seen inside a college classroom in a long, long time.  After I got past my internal sickness thinking about taking a college final, I noticed how close those chairs seemed to be. Man, they are packed in there. Is that common these days?

Shown On The Big Screen At The Cavs/Bulls Game Last Night

I think we probably need to see this video or at least an explanation from the @cavs on this, right? pic.twitter.com/EdSJyzdHXX

— Zach Harper (@talkhoops) May 7, 2015

Might want to rethink that.

Edit: May have been taken down. It was a Dirty Dancing remake of a scene where the guy throws the girl across the room because she was wearing a Bulls shirt.  I'll try to find it.

Edit: Got it. The Internet does not forget.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Former Texas Congressman Jim Wright passed away yesterday. I remember seeing him for the first time on a news show when I was 16 or 17 and telling my dad that I thought he was pretty good. I think dad responded with something along the lines of, "I'm not so sure about that." 
• And I knew Wright resigned in the wake of a scandal but learned this morning (via Bud Kennedy) that he wrote a book and then had bulk sales of that book which were never delivered. But those who bought the books didn't care (and even expected) that the books would not be received  because they only wanted to donate to him. It was just a way around campaign donation rules. (I've learned he used the money to give his wife an $18,000 a year job -- not good -- but I can't find out how much other money was raised from fake sales.)
• ISIS appears to have declared war on controversial Draw A Cartoon of Muhammed organizer Pamela Geller. She doesn't seem to be concerned.  She might need a crash course in "situational awareness."
• The NFL released its "Deflate-Gate" report yesterday about whether the New England Patriots intentionally used underinflated balls in a playoff game.  All the sports talk shows were very confused about the finding that it was "more probable than not" that the Patriots organization intentionally broke the rules. That's pretty easy to understand: They probably did it. The investigators my have a belief of 51% to 49% the Patriots are guilty up to 99% to 1%. Any belief within that range is the equivalent of "more probable than not".  
• Source: Long time Tarrant County prosecutor Greg Miller is the next assistant to DA to resign under the new administration. But first, oddly, he is presenting the Grapevine officer involved shooting case to the grand jury. 
• There's a crazy capital murder case going on in Dallas about an alleged Craigslist killer.  After reading the article, the only thing jumping out at me more than the seediness of the story is that there isn't much evidence against the defendant. And this is his second trial after the first jury couldn't reach a verdict.  (Side note: It has always stunned me that double jeopardy does not prevent a retrial after the State fails to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt and a hung jury results.)
• I've always been interested in the gasoline tanker driver as he makes a delivery to a gas/station convenience store. Never really occured to me that one would be shot -- an event which happened at a QuikTrip off Bryant Irvin in Fort Worth last night. 
• It won't make it all the way to becoming law, but we had a big surprise yesterday when the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee approved a bill to make marijuana legal in Texas.  The bill is authored by Republican state Rep. David Simpson who says that marijuana was created by God and "God did not make a mistake." He may have a point. It is just a plant.  

Don't Get Me This Camel!!!!!

Wow. That camel went full T-Rex on that guy.

I Am Violating My "No Bathroom Humor" Policy

I read about this story a few days ago and wasn't interested. Then I heard the audio on the radio and giggled a bit.  So I finally watched it.  The laughing mayor pro tem finally convinced me this is pretty funny.

I Don't Know Who Brantley Gilbert Is . . .

. . . but I'm going to guess he's also a memory of the NRA.

Story.

Random Tuesday Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• I watched a little of Fox News coverage of Mike Huckabee's presidential announcement and, of course, it was glowing. But in a news clip/political commercial, Fox said he was influenced by a massive "Jesus Rally" in Dallas, Texas in the 1970s where more than 100,000 attended. I had never heard of it. Wiki tells me it is was Explo '72 where much of the rally was held on the ground now occupied by Woodall Rogers Freeway and and there were also nightly rallies in the Cotton Bowl. 
• There has been a lot of buzz about the app and website "Periscope" which allowed people to watch the Mayweather/Paq fight on Saturday for free. It's pretty simple: Some people paid for the fight on pay per view, then directed their phones toward the TV screen, and the fight was broadcasted back to Periscope where others could simply watch what that person had paid to watch. That could be done for anything on TV and seems, or at least feels, to be illegal. (Isn't that the equivalent of the old Napster or Limewire which allowed users to transfer copyrighted data to one another through those sites?) 
• UncleBarky.com wrote about his experience Saturday night using Periscope and was pretty brazen about it. "So is this piracy? It’s hard to see it that way." He equates to buying the fight and then inviting 100 people over to watch it. 
• An opinion came out from a Texas appellate court yesterday reversing a case because of the shocking conduct of a judge during jury selection.  You can read the exchange here.  She actually threw a potential juror who was a Jehovah Witness in jail on the spot.  That witness expressed reservations of having to look at alleged child pornography in the trial because of religious reasons. The judge told him that "my God" says he should watch it and, if it grossed him out, "you can take it out on the person in punishment." (Good lord. Most judges would be talking about the Presumption of Innocence at that point.) But it gets really ramped up: She tells the potential juror that if he gets on the jury and fails to do what she orders him to do, she would lock him up. ""So you want to find out what my God will tell me to do? Let's test it, Buddy. Let's test it."  The judge's name was Susan Criss, who (thank my God) is no longer on the bench. 
• A guy who escaped from prison 56 years ago was arrested this week. He is now 79 and in a wheelchair.  But here's the kicker: The Ohio State Reformatory where he was previously imprisoned was the backdrop of the 1994 prison escape movie The Shawshank Redemption.
• Odd Back to the Future discussion yesterday with a buddy: When Marty first travels back to the past and ends up in the home of his mother when she was a teenager, he sees what will later be his uncle in a playpen.  "So you're my Uncle Joey? Better get used to these bars, kid," Marty tells him. The movie had begun with a very funny cake being thrown out because Joey "didn't make parole again."  But despite Marty making changes in the past which forever change his life and the life of his family when he returns to the future, we never know if Joey still ended up in prison.  (I told you it was an odd discussion.) 
• Crazy legal thought: What if every time a Draw a Muhammad Cartoon convention occurs some type of violence takes place. Every time.  It's a crime in Texas if a person "makes an offensive gesture or display in a public place, and the gesture or display tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace."  Now that's a heck of First Amendment free speech case. 
• Tech receiver gets busted for pot! If my Google Map search is correct, he would not have been committing a crime four hours away (by car) in a state in the United States. 

They Tried To Warn You Kids In "Footloose"

Story.

Let's check out the student handbook:

Supt. Jim Rumage: “If kids are not having any sexual activity, they can’t get this disease. See what I'm saying? That’s not a bad program.”

Awkward?

I guess that's ok.  I mean, they didn't stop the taping to revamp the potential prizes. And they didn't edit that segment out when preparing the show for airing.  But still.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• I just heard an Internet commercial on The Ticket but I only caught the last few seconds, but it was for a church promoting Mother's Day services "because your mom is always bugging you to go to church." I promise I heard, "choose one that doesn't suck" and come visit them. I'm working on getting the name. 
• Man, I've never heard so much convoluted talk about "Free Speech" in light of the shootings near the Draw A Muhammad Cartoon meeting.  Hey, the cartoon group has the right to meet and do that. And I'd go nuts if the government (in this case Garland ISD) wouldn't let them meet in one of their buildings or tried to censor the content of the meeting. I'd feel the same way if it were a Klan meeting or a Witchcaft meeting. Government has no business controlling the content of speech.  But if you attend any of those functions and suffer retribution from private individuals (being shunned by neighbors or treated differently by your boss or, illegally, physically attacked) that has nothing to do with Free Speech. 
• This morning ISIS claimed responsibility for the attempted attack. You're a little late on that, fellas.  (And why would you want to take credit for a couple of incompetent terrorists?)
•  "A man was beaten late Monday as he left a mosque in Richardson, a day after two Muslim gunmen attacked a controversial art exhibit in Garland."  Things seem to be going well. 
• Interesting story about a homeless guy in Fort Worth who was beloved because of friendliness as he occupied a corner in downtown for years. He died over the weekend. I have a buddy who had posted to Facebook over the last year about the guy's health, visits with him in the hospital, and how assistance could be provided. 
• Remember Kurt Loder from the early days of MTV? He turns 70 today. 
• I don't necessarily disagree with those who say the prosecutor in Baltimore overcharged the officers in the Freddie Gray case.  I just take great satisfaction in the law and order types out finally realizing something like that can happen. Now they just need to realize it happens every day. 
• I'm not particularly interested in the story of the University of South Carolina student who was allegedly caught on tape spraying window cleaner on her roommates' food, but I'm going crazy trying to figure out what movie star she resembles. 
• This crowded field seeking to be the Republican Nominee for president is growing and growing. And this is going to be high entertainment. 
• The American Sniper's wife has begun her book tour. To make money, she is at least being guided correctly: She appeared this morning on Fox and Friends. That will be less contentious than Mayweather/Pacquiao.
• According to today's Austin American Statesman, DPS was probably less than honest with the legislature regarding the agency's drug interdiction efforts at the border when it successfully lobbied to significantly increase its budget.

I'll Always Think Running On The Field Is Stupid . . .

and people say baseball is boring pic.twitter.com/RBEhhKwjBl

— Lana Berry (@Lana) May 5, 2015

But this guy at least has a little show biz in his blood.

We Had Some Double Fake Breaking News This Afternoon

Fox News later said, "Oops."

Georgia Mom Has 10 Year Old Son "Arrested" For Talking Back To Teacher

Cops actually went so far  as to put him in car and begin to move before releasing him back to mother.

More

Kind Of Unusual

And I wonder what Channel 8 means by "had to" . . .

Update: We had to temporarily take down our live stream above Garland.

— WFAA TV (@wfaachannel8) May 4, 2015

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• So some group called American Freedom Defense Initiative’s  holds a "Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest" to draw cartoons of Muhammad and then violence breaks out? Who would have thunk it? When Lt. John McClane wore a sandwich board in Harlem in Die Hard With A Vengeance I didn't think there was a potential for anything to go wrong at all either.
• And one of the attackers has the very Middle Eastern sounding name of  . . . wait . . . Elton Simpson of Arizona?
• The organizer of that event is a blogger who truly believes President Obama is the love child of Malcolm X. 
• The Texas Senate has passed a bill creating a tax free weekend for firearm sales. Soooooo Texas. 
• Car insurance question: Someone asked me the other day if there was coverage when you allow someone else to drive your insured vehicle. I'm pretty sure the answer is yes under the "permissive use" clause. Then they asked me why that wouldn't provide coverage for a teenager in the house who you just give blanket permission to use your car so you could avoid listing the teenager as a named insured on the policy (and avoid getting your rates jacked up.) My very technical legal answer was, "I don't know, but I don't think you can do that." Anyone out there have a definitive answer? 
• I've worn a white shirt, tie, and suit to work for years and years.  Oddly, now if I walk into a convenience store or fast food restaurant (Subway for example), it's not uncommon for the worker to ask me, "What do you do?"  That never happened until recently. 
• We've got a bird or two who chirps outside in the middle of the night. It's not owl or a whip-poor-will, and I couldn't think of other birds which are vocally active at night. 
• Sounds like a lot of people feel ripped off for paying $100 for the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight via pay-per-view.  I would have been worried once I saw the Burger King Guy in Mayweather's entourage immediately before the fight. 
• I think my Honda lawnmower might be on its last legs after ten years or reliable use. 
• In a bizarrely funny moment this morning, Mrs. LL and I created a new character called Yawning School Announcement Lady.
• I remembered this weekend that a long, long time ago that I went to a Kentucky Derby party.  Immediately after the race, most of the females in the room immediately yelled, "That's it? That's all there is?!"  They were expecting a long race.
• Joan Jett opened up for The Who in Dallas this weekend and a basically topless Miley Cyrus joined her for three songs. (Hey, you look it up. This is a family friendly blog.)
• Junior Miller of The Ticket went to The Who concert and pointed out that they did something refreshing: There was no encore. The fake encore has bugged me ever since the first time I saw a concert. 
• I told Mrs. LL that I was working on a one act play/film starring The Family Pup and Dumb Family Pup #2.  And I'm serious.  I even have the basic dialogue worked out. Prediction: This will be a comedic masterpiece which will cause much confusion with the Females In The House. 
• Was reminded this morning of a long forgotten crush of mine: Melissa Sue Anderson of Little House on the Prairie.  I looked her up. She's in her fifties now and . . . still pretty hot.