4.10.2015

A Post About Something That I Haven't Even Read


There was a tweet today from Corby Davidson of The Ticket which said something along the lines of "this is the article we are discussing right now." I hadn't been listening. I clicked on the link. Oh, my.

Jim Dent is/was a sports writer. He's worked for metroplex papers and anyone around my age who has ever picked up a sports page around here knows his name.  He's written books. Lots of them. I've got a copy of The Junction Boys in one of the drawers of my nightstand.

The last I remember (and I'm writing this without fact checking), he had been sentenced a few years ago to prison for DWI. I was really stunned. You don't go to prison for DWI unless you have at least two prior convictions.  But there was something even crazier about it as I recall. Either he was placed on probation and arrested for drunk driving within a week or released from prison and was arrested within a week.   Once that part of his life was behind him, he appeared on local radio stations to talk about it. I recall feeling that he received a cold reception.

I hadn't thought about him much since then.

Then I glanced at the headline of the article that was the result of my clicking on a link. He now sits in the Collin County jail for another DWI and faces prison yet again.  Good lord.

There will come a day whether by drug or some Star Trek like brain altering scan that addiction will be cured. I truly believe that. But I suppose that most who have read this far are thinking, "That man simply has no self control and needs to be locked up." If only it was that simple.

I May Have To Alter The Meaning Of My "And Another" Posts

And After A Week Of Videos Which Were Bad For Cops


Holy cow.  TDCAA is the Texas District and County Attorney's Association. That means, it's a group of prosecutors. Every week they publish a "Case Summaries" which highlights five or so appellate opinions that have been released, summarizes them, and gives a commentary. The summaries are great, and I read them every week. The "Commentary" is fantastic because it always criticizes any court opinion that rules against the State which I find odd because you would think the State should justifiably lose every now and then.

The above one came out today.  It's really pretty simple. The very conservative Fifth Circuit basically said, "Hey, there's a video. We looked at it. It undeniably shows the officer was wrong and the judge was wrong to believe him."  And I can't stress this enough: This is from a court composed of the equivalent of Justice Hannity, Justice Prager, Justice Limbaugh, etc.

So let's analyze it. The Commentary points out that the defense will use this case when a video supports the defendant's version of events. That's a mind blowing statement. It's a video! It's obtained from the police! You don't need to cite a case to win a hearing when all you have to do is say, "Uh, judge, I'd ask you to review Defense Exhibit A -- the video. It supports the defendant's version of the events because what he is saying is true."

But there's more. "Videos are going to start showing up more and more . . . ." the Commentary said. You think? Have you watched the news this week? But even odder was the advice to prosecutors that they needed to be ready to "explain what [the videos] do and do not show."  Ummmkay. (That's good advice if they are in front of a judge who is literally blind.) Something in the back of my brain made me think I had heard similar advice from a famous quote (and I admit that I had to look it up): “Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.” Let me rewrite that on behalf of TDCAA: "A video is not always what it appears to be. The first viewing deceives those of average intelligence. We prosecutors, who have the intelligence that few possess, can tell you what the video shows you because it is hard to see unless I explain it to you."

Back in the day, before video, the cop's testimony about a traffic violation would have been taken at face value. Cops win. Prosecutor wins. Case closed.  Marge Simpson remembers those days . . .


After Being Horrified, I Have So Many Questions



(I think there's an F bomb in there)

This showed up on youtube yesterday with the only description being "Caught on surveillance 4/9/15. Please share this video so we can put an end to child abuse."

It is going viral as it should, but something is weird.  It looks, sadly, to be real. But whomever posted it didn't care to mention where it happened and whether there was any effort to determine the guy's identity. Public shaming can help "stop" bad things.  And if the guy has been arrested, that resulting consequence can do the same thing.  

Something's not right.


Haven't watched this yet but interested


Random Friday Morning Thoughts



  • I mentioned Barry University the other day but I had no idea conservative radio was after the school right now because of its reaction to a stunt promoted by that goofy James O’Keefe.
  • WBAP's Hal Jay this morning to begin a segment: "Eric Snowden gave an interview to some guy named John Oliver for some show call Last Week Tonight which has to be some overseas show." 
  • I worried about the weather for Texas Motor Speedway yesterday but should've known that it would be bad because the Main Street Arts Festival is going on. But now it looks like this weekend might get very little rain after all.
  • Hey Shockwave add-on for my Chrome browser, why don't you just crash immediately and get it over with?
  • Over a year ago, the Star-Telegram notified its home subscribers during an ice storm that they could access the paper for free on its iPad app. Although not a subscriber, I went to it and got to see the paper for free because it was free to everyone. Great app by the way (Messenger, I'm looking at you.) Anyway, they never got around to blocking my access until last week.  
  • It dawned on me that after two years of my rants of "the cops sure do kill a lot of people" that the South Caroline Killing Cop finally exposed what I thought has happened for years. And even the most right wing person won't try to defend him. 
  • I went to the Rangers opening day once and it was glorious. If I remember correctly, it was A-Rod's first game as a Ranger. Didn't he commit an error on a missed throw to first base?
  • There's nothing funnier or weirder than when all three Females In The House do an impromptu chicken dance from Arrested Development. (One was prompted last night when I simply asked, "You guys cooking chicken?")
  • Most people think Tiger Woods chip in on the 16th at the 2005 Masters was his greatest moment ever.  This moment on the 15th yesterday might be better
  • Some UNT students are protesting Gov. Greg Abbott being invited as the commencement speaker. He was scheduled to talk about it on the Mark Davis Show this morning but cancelled at the last moment and sent a "statement" I haven't seen yet. He's scared to go on a show which supports him? Edit: I got this completely wrong.
  • Speaking of the Mark Davis Show, I was listening to it a little bit yesterday when an older gentleman called in to talk about the South Carolina Cop Killer. He (confusingly) attributed it to the younger generation because "even good Christian church going kids today are showing sympathy to gays and minorities."  Davis did a very timid "woah" and then took over the call to try to weave it into something sensible. 
  • UT coach Charlie Strong couldn't remember his quarterback's first name in a deposition. "I -- done went blank on me."
  • Does Fox News hate Rand Paul? They have been critical over the last two days about how he gets angry during "main stream media" interviews which is the exact opposite position you think they would take. 
  • BagOfNothing pointed out a long Grantland piece on Dale Hansen. I glanced at it and saw this: “He’s the last of a breed,” said [Ed] Bark, the former Morning News TV critic. “Once he goes, there won’t be anybody that will have the freedom to do what he does.”  I don't know what I think about that quote. As we spiral towards Idiocracy, I think we'll see crazy stuff on local news/sports broadcasts. But, perhaps, it will all be dictated and scripted by producers instead of individual anchors. 



4.09.2015

That Was Tense



Story.

(The video is actually a little over 3:00 long and then begins to repeat.)

Let's Let A Kid Shoot An Automatic Weapon



Cameraman got lucky.

This reminded me of that story last year from Las Vegas where a nine year old girl accidentally shot an instructor with an Izi at a shooting range.


Reminds Me Of My Days On The Mean Streets Of Bridgeport




Seriously,  there's a lot going on here. When the first guy get hits by a car I thought it was accident and considered it to be a serious etiquette violation of street fighting protocol for the other guy to go and continue the fight. Then the driver of the car gets out and goes after him as well.  We either have a "You scratched my car with your body!" situation or we have a buddy using his car as a weapon in an effort to invoke a (soon to fail) legal claim of "Defense of Third Person".

And, then, boom!! We've got another car to the rescue.

It would be hard enough to be in a street fight and avoid a right hook much less to have to look out for incoming cars.

(Any idea what the driver of car #1 spit out?)

Random Pennsylvania News Item Of The Day

It just showed up on my news feed because of the Bridgeport, Texas reference.  But that news item was very specific as to the location of a crash.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts



  • When I mentioned yesterday that "first responders" were having a bad week, I totally forgot about the Hunt County deputy who hit a pregnant woman. And Hunt County Sheriff Randy Moon Meeks came off as a buffoon yesterday. Looking like Buford T. Justice, he called a press conference to say there were two different "narratives". He went on to say one "reads:  'Hunt County Officers Beat Pregnant Woman' . . . Another narrative could read:  'Pregnant woman attempts to take Deputy’s gun'.  Now, you can draw a conclusion by looking at the 31 second clip that could be a possibility?  I believe that we can say that is a possibility. . . .So, which narrative is correct?  I don’t know." Thank you, Sheriff, that clears it all up.  Edit: I'm not sure why I typed Randy "Moon" but I think he was with Wise County Probation in the 1990s and my brain misfired. 
  • I'm not a NASCAR fan but I feel sorry for the Texas Motor Speedway attendees this weekend since a lot of storms are predicted. 
  • And Texas Tech is sponsoring a car at the race? Is this common? Is it just a one race deal? 
  • The Texas House worked late into the night and considered bills to increase the types of synthetic drugs/marijuana that should be made illegal. It seems the synthetic drug manufacturers just slightly alter their product's molecular structure to make them legal and the legislature has to catch up. But with each tweak by the drug manufacturer, the stuff becomes more volatile, unpredictable and dangerous. Anyone see a problem here? What do you think is going to happen after the new law passes? 
  • There was big wreck on 114 in Wise County yesterday which involved two people from Weatherford in separate vehicles. Didn't I mention another Wise County wreck a couple of months ago that involved Weatherford people in different cars? 
  • The first item about a felony sexual assault trial in the Update is bizarre. A lawyer in the courthouse told me yesterday that the female "victim" and the defendant spent the night before the trial began in a hotel together. She testified at trial that "she no longer considered [an incident in 2013 to be] a sexual assault and it was instead a role playing sexual encounter."
  • A long article that I hope to read: A former UTEP basketball coach had his career spiral downwards and ended up mysteriously dead while coaching in Vietnam. 
  • This is pretty complicated, but the bottom line is that it looks like a Collin County Grand Jury has possibly gone rogue and focusing on new Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.  The interesting part is that it looks like the DA has no control over their investigation (and there is nothing the DA can legally do to stop them.)
  • I keep forgetting that the Boston Marathon Bomber trial was a federal case. Then I began to wonder how the federal government had jurisdiction in addition to the state of Massachusetts.  I looked at the indictment (which gave me Tired Head) and it appears to be a variety of federal crimes that invoke "interstate commerce." The same clause that lets Congress do anything they want also lets the federal courts obtain jurisdiction over any crime they want. 


4.08.2015

White House Is Flat Out Trolling Netanyahu Today




Flashback: Netanyahu at UN in 2012.


Get Me This St. Bernard!



(Actually, I still have a question mark over my head after seeing this video.)

In Cold Blood



Eight shots. At a man running away. To protect and to serve.

The cop has been arrested for murder.

And you know what we normally have? The cop saying "I feared for my life" (he did), the police higher ups saying we will have a "full and fair investigation and then refer the case to the DA's office for review" (they did), and then the DA saying, "The case was presented to the grand jury who found the shooting to be justified."

But what's different here? A bystander videotaped it. (Heck, the officer glances at the bystander after the murder, and I'm surprised he didn't murder him as well.)

The officer said the guy grabbed his Taser. If you look closely, it looks like he plants the Taser by the body as the man lay dying on the ground.

Do we have an odd breed of young cops out there?

And you know what came to mind? Why hasn't the video of the shooting by the Grapevine officer of the motorist been released?  So far, the Tarrant County DA has told the police not to do so.

Edit: I missed this. We are talking New York Times not the New York Post. 


Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts


  • There was a fire at Barry University yesterday. Yep, there is a Barry University. (I actually have a couple of T-shirts promoting the school which I don't actually wear. One says, "Live the Barry Life" which makes go into deep thought every time I see it.) 
  • A guy does a blog post about the monetary value of his stay at home wife once he calculated what it would cost to hire someone to do all the household tasks.  He became a national sensation. Thanks a lot buddy. The rest of us would like to have a little word with you.
  • I ran by Bill O'Reilly last night and fell in love with guest Kirsten Powers. Man, they do not like each other. And you could see the fire in O'Reilly's eyes when, during a debate about immigration, she said, "We know how much you love the children, Bill." 
  • Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of the craziest Donald Rumsfeld memo ever. (And I had never heard of it before yesterday. H/T Keith.)
  • That Waxahachie volunteer firefighter story drives me nuts. Man, that case would make me very concerned if I had to represent any of them. If it truly is an incident which was videoed and shows an act against the will of the guy while the others are yukking it up, this could get really bad in front of a jury. Any type of hazing is stupid. That type of hazing by adults borders on being psychotic. And this type of hazing might just get you a prison term. 
  • Technical legal note about that case: I predict the "Improper Photography" charge against the person videoing it will be changed to the same charge currently against the others (aggravated sexual assault) because she will be considered an accomplice.  In Texas, so long as she had the same intent as the others, she just had to "encourage" the act to be equally responsible. I bet she said something that equates "encourage".  (Also, the Improper Photography statute has been ruled unconstitutional.) 
  • I like Rand Paul but he has no chance. I'm basically a Libertarian as well but even I know some philosophical dreams simply can no longer come true. Those ships have sailed. 
  • BagOfNothing has been monitoring the blooming of crepe myrtles and still hasn't seen any blooms. They bloom in mid-summer don't they? (Someone get Neil Sperry on the horn.)  
  • UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma may be the cockiest man on the planet. And he has every right to be. 
  • There sure are a lot of advertisements for the Rolling Stone concert. They have to advertise? 
  • Stellar day for first responders yesterday: (1) The South Carolina cop shooting -- I'm about to go on a rant about that in a couple of minutes, (2) The firefighters in Waxahachie, and (3) Let's throw in a 11 front desk officers in Dallas averaging $30,000 a year in overtime pay. 


4.07.2015

A Headline I Didn't Expect To Read Today . . . Or Any Day


Story.

(I'll be in a jungle hut in Costa Rica. I think this society has nothing left to offer me.)

A Second Incident??????


Wise County Got Snubbed!


This makes the Boston Globe today and it's going national?  It happened to the Wise County Sheriff's Office in December (and the Decatur PD as well.)  The last I recall, the paying of the ransom didn't work for the Sheriff's office.

And The Final Liberally Lean Tourney Results

The Top:


The Bottom (which should get credit for creative names):


And the newly revised Liberally Lean Hall Of Fame:

2015 - Sam Forester
2014 - Chris Read
2013 - Tad Billmire
2012 - ????
2011 - Wise County Attorney James Stainton
2010 - Nine year old Blake Cooper (son of former Decatur stationed DPS Trooper Scott Cooper)

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts



  • A Tarrant County assistant DA was reportedly just fired because she couldn't get to work by the newly designated start time of 7:45 a.m.  She has a child whose school opens up at 7:30. and can't get to downtown Fort Worth within the following 15 minutes. 
  • Veteran Tarrant County assistant DA Alicia Cooper, who prosecuted Tyler Holder for the murder of six year old Alanna Gallagher in Saginaw, quit yesterday. 
  • You think things are going well in the Tarrant County DA's office since Sharen Wilson took office January 1st?  The turmoil would have received a lot more attention if Dallas DA Susan Hawk wasn't getting all the publicity for prescription drug rehab. 
  • Funny thing on Fox 4 last night that I was smart enough to notice: Steve Eager had trouble reading the teleprompter, they cut to packaged footage as part of the report, and when they cut back to Eager he had glasses on. 
  • Junior In The House last night as she looked up and saw a Duke player on TV: "He's cute!" (Welcome to my world.)  I look the guy up and he was nineteen.
  • The University of Virginia fraternity who was the subject of a false rape allegation in Rolling Stone says it will sue the magazine.  I only do criminal law, but I have this vague memory from law school: Isn't there some huge legal hurdles when a "group" claims they were defamed? 
  • Mrs. LL coaches a girls softball team of sixth graders. I came up with a "trick play" which has to have a flaw and which Mrs. LL has rejected. Hypothetical; She has a runner on third and a runner on first. Probably 99% of the time the runner on first can steal second uncontested because a throw to second from the catcher will allow the runner on third to score. (And the chances of even getting the runner out at second ain't that great.) So here's my idea: What if the runner on first would attempt to steal but would dramatically walk/slow jog down to second. My theory is that it would be so bizarre that the catcher might panic (as well as the crowd)  and throw to second allowing the runner on third to score. And the runner going to second would be able to break back to first without getting out. Other than the play probably be borderline sorry to pull of in sixth grade softball, what's the flaw in my genius plan? 
  • I saw my neighbor's garage door go up this morning and go to peek inside. It was immaculate. Note to Mrs. LL and The Kids In The House: You better look around our garage and save anything you want. There's a crazy cleaning of it this weekend. 
  • Last night I referred to a household battery by putting "Class" in front of it. You know, "Class A", "Class Triple A". She looked at me like I was crazy. I did a quick Google search and got no support. Did I make that up? (Actually, she was getting the very odd C battery that I referred to as a "Class C". She thinks I'm getting it confused with traffic ticket offenses. We have very weird conversations.) 
  • "Little pink houses for you and me": Dallas oil heir Albert Hill III was ordered to pay his lawyers $28 million in a trust fund battle where he was awarded $188 million. (Source - behind paywall.)
  • What does this tweet last night by state representative Terry Canales mean?: "Bo dont know Charlie! @BudKennedy Bo French @charliegeren  challenger has Tx-sized baggage http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2014/01/chris- … " Attached to the tweet is a picture of Bo French and his family in a campaign photo for the Texas House. The DMN link, oddly, goes to this which is and old article about sports station The Fan. Huh?  And a Google search of "Bo French Texas House" turns up almost nothing, although a "Bo French" does show up in some American Sniper stories. Consider me confused. 




4.06.2015

I Think The Liberally Lean Readership Will Appreciate This


It's Hard What To Predict Which Stories Get National Attention . . .




. . . but this has potential.

There were stories over the weekend that the suicide was the probable result of bullying. He was jumped/beaten a couple of times and the events were videotaped and posted online and they spread "like wildfire". He then "borrowed a gun" from a friend tp defend himself but he later used it to kill himself.

When I first saw the above tweet I thought he was one of the guys who bullied him, but I don't think so. The story, scant on details, says "The teen has been charged with tampering or fabricating physical evidence (a third-degree felony), theft of a firearm (a state jail felony) and making a firearm accessible to a child (a class A misdemeanor)."

Liberally Lean Tourney Pick 'Em Final


I forgot to mention this morning the updated standings. Unless my math is wrong (highly possible), someone named "Sam F" has won the tourney regardless of what happens tonight. That's his bracket above. (He picks Duke to win it all.)

If Sam will give me his last name, and even if not, I will induct him into the LL Ring Of Honor.

Is there a prize? Nope. There is nothing for your effort other than total consciousness.

Ted Cruz's First Ad



BagOfNothing.com posted this video and it completely slipped past me.

Man, there's a lot going on in this thing.  It really is mind blowing. First, he is unabashedly after the Christian vote and is willing to alienate all others.  (For a guy who loves Israel, he doesn't care about the Jewish vote -- which, of course, is small. That explains it.)

I'm not familiar with his father's story which required "the transformative love of Jesus Christ" in order for him to stay with Cruz's mother.

His wife wears a sweater with the sleeves tied around her neck for dinner? And I love the little kid on the far right who looks at Cruz during the fake prayer as if she is thinking, "Daddy, you be crazy." (And, come to think about it, aren't you a little crazy if you'll do a fake prayer for a commercial? How offensive is that? Did I miss the Bible verse which had the political ad exception to praying in your closet alone?)

But he hit all the hot buttons. Family. Prayer. The flag. Soldiers. 9/11. (But he'll go through the roof when he realizes he missed putting in the eagle.)

And what was up with that line of, "This is our fight" at the end?

This presidential run is going to be crazily entertaining. I said it a couple of weeks ago. He's like Timothy Treadwell in Grizzly Man: He has no idea what is about to happen to him.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts


  • A guy fell through a skylight at that Williamson-Dickie building off of Highway 287, sued, and was awarded $33.8 million -- and that was twice what his lawyer had asked for. I have no idea how the tort reform laws will shrink the verdict, but I bet it is substantially. 
  • I heard a lot of talk about the documentary McConkey on The Ticket so I watched it this weekend. Verdict: Fantastic. I was left with the thought of, "Buddy, if you want to push life to the limits so long as you understand you are probably going to die early, I've got no problem with it." 
  • When ebola victim Nina Pham sued her employer/hospital, I wrote that I was curious as to why she's was not limited to only a worker's comp claim. That defense was raised in the hospital's Original Answer. 
  • I watched a little bit of Killing Jesus on Fox News and had a sense of satisfaction realizing how that network and Bill O'Reilly were profiting off of religion. 
  • I went out to Easter lunch yesterday at a restaurant, went to the bathroom, and came back to find that the meal had been served. Mrs. LL channeled Pulp Fiction and said: "Don't you just love it when you come back from the bathroom and find your food waiting for you?" I missed the greatest opportunity in not replying with: "We're lucky we got anything at all. I don't think Buddy Holly's much of a waiter." (Which is a line I've used for years.) 
  • I learned from the Junior In The House that the word "gnarly" is back in vogue. 
  • Isn't there tremendous Free Speech issues with Revenge Porn laws? You voluntarily provide a risque picture of yourself to a spouse/boyfriend, you break up, and then the guy posts it on the Internet And the government can make that a crime? Let's back it up 40 years. She takes a polaroid of herself and gives it to her boyfriend and then her boyfriend shows it to his buddy. That can be a crime? Could the government make it a crime for a person simply to describe what the photo looked like? (And I can't wait for the first brain dead comment of "So you support Revenge Porn?")
  • I cleaned out a big kitchen drawer this weekend and came across a package for a refrigerator light with "Don't throw this away!" written on it on with a Sharpie.  Everyone in the house knows that when I go on a cleaning binge I will throw away everything
  • Fast and Furious 7 made $143 million over the weekend. "Shut it down. Let's go home."
  • I watched a lot of the classic The Ten Commandments movie last night which I haven't seen in years. Man, there's a lot of wheels off aspects about that film. Ovcr the top acting. Crazy special effects. A lot of sexual innuendos which I never caught before. And the opening credits go on forever and include a statement along the lines of, "For all who see this, they will be compelled to walk the path that Moses walked." (That's a horrible paraphrase but I can't find the exact quote.)
  • Want to know how old I am? I first saw that movie at the drive in theater in Decatur. 
  • Four of the first five stories in the Update today are about high school spring sports. The other one is about the weather. 
  • Thoughts on the DMN front page below: (1) Another church doing bits, (2) The Star-Telegram had that story on the Irish Travellers connection to that Colleyville murder a couple of weeks ago. 


4.05.2015

That Got Him A One Game Suspension



So much going on there. The act. Dirk's grimace. Dirk's immediate stutter dance. The guilty party holding up his hands in the "who me?" mode. Dirk turning around with the look of astonishment and anger. The ref right in the background to see it all.

Can Someone Tell Me If Kentucky Lost Last Night?


Ok, thank you.

(There was quite a bit of rioting in Kentucky last night and this photo is popping up everywhere. Oddly it was taken last year when they advanced to the Elite Eight.)

It's Easter


Turned on the TV to see a production of Fake Jesus being beaten by two big guys dressed in black while a guy sings a hip hop song.

Elevate Life Church is in Frisco. The pastor has appeared in a couple of advertisements during Joel Osteen's show (with Joel Osteen endorsing him).  I presume Osteen is paid for that.