Random Wise County Political Announcement From 1984

All I can think of is "We're the Flying Elvises! Utah Chapter!"

That Video Is Turnt Up

Interested in a career as a State Trooper? Click here to watch the TxDPS career opportunities video: https://t.co/je8a8ADc5Z

— Texas DPS (@TxDPS) December 2, 2015

Get Me These Baby Goats!

Here's a stampede of tiny goats 😊😊😊 https://t.co/B5llsWtX1R

— Goats (@EverythingGoats) December 2, 2015

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• There was an interesting comment yesterday after I posted a couple of Alvord news clips from back in the day. To paraphrase, it was someone complaining that if you weren't born in Wise County you will never feel accepted by the old-timers. And further, why does just being born in a particular place give you the right to feel superior? (Now consider that statement and think about people trying to enter our country for a better life.)
• In the high school playoffs in 2002, Everman beat Lake Dallas 78-0.  And I think it was around that time (maybe) that a kid was paralyzed playing for Everman. I wonder what ever happened to him.
• Did you see the video of the metroplex female officer who was swept away in rushing water. I don't know if she was brave or clueless. There is no way someone could think they could walk through that. 
• That hearing yesterday for pre-trial motions for Texas AG Ken Paxton was a waster of time and nothing but grandstanding. (And I wouldn't dare to try to use Power Point in a hearing in Wise County.)  I'm kind of surprised that the respected Tarrant County judge allowed all that grandstanding. 
• Pitcher David Price received a new contract yesterday of 7 years for $217 million. Guaranteed. Parents: Don't hand your kid a football. Hand him a baseball. (And Price has basically zero chance to suffer from the effects of concussions -- save the line drive off his noggin.)
• I've mentioned Looking For Captain Zero a couple of times now because I have a hunch that my contractor for the floors in the home may be the guy who went looking for him. And then Mrs. LL reminded me of how all of this started. When we were in Costa Rica in that village, we were briefly introduced to Captain Zero who looked borderline homeless and was riding a bike. That's what caused me to go buy the book in the first place.  And she remembered something else I had forgotten: He was wearing a University of Texas cap! There is a Texas connection! 
• Wow: "MECOSTA COUNTY, Mich. — A Mecosta man is charged with a felony for obstruction of justice and misdemeanor of tampering with a jury for passing out fliers about jury nullification rights on the sidewalk of the Mecosta County courthouse." His bond was set at $150,000.  The guy was arrested for just telling potential jurors that they can find someone not guilty if they want to on the basis of fairness and common decency? 
• I arose from my illness (still getting better, by the way) to watch the new Muppets show last night on ABC. It was like the writers of Modern Family took over this resurrection. It was laugh out loud funny. 
• The Mayor of Chicago fired the police chief because of the murder of the kid by one of the chief's officers. Why? The buck ends with him. Along those line, after  all of the bad press that DPS in Texas has received (see example, below), how does DPS Director Steve McCraw still have a job? 
• From the Update: "HELICOPTER SANTA – Santa will be landing his helicopter at The Community Bank in Bridgeport at 5 p.m. Thursday. Cookies will be served." I remember my dad almost freaking out when I was a little kid when we had a Helicopter Santa land in narrow downtown Bridgeport between a bunch of power lines in front of a massive crowd. It got so close to the lines that we almost had a small town Hindenburg. Oh, the humanity, indeed. 
• The Ticket's Gordon Keith won an award for writing -- primarily based upon one column about the anticipated death of his mom earlier this year. A guy who is a smart ass, writes too much, talks too much, thinks about deep things too much, and had a loving mother.
• The "almost" final Top Four for the college football playoffs are out: (1) Clemson, (2) Alabama, (3) Oklahoma, (4) Iowa.   Bet the house: Michigan State will replace Iowa next week. All else will remain the same. #SportsGenius
• If you are a fan of The Ticket and a fan of the movie Love, Actually (which I am), this might make you laugh out loud.

Oh, My!

Story

And to think I asked a client last week (after something about the facts seemed very odd to me): "Do you think he [the Wise County officer] was hitting on you?"

I'm not allowed to tell you her answer.

One More Alvord News Post

That's not a bad inspirational quote from the pastor.

But the second story got my attention. Emma Ray! A smart (and take no prisoners) woman. She scared me to death when I was DA.  And for you current county officials and bankers, check out that interest rate on CDs which only had to be invested for a couple of weeks. 

I Came Into Possession Of Some Old Alvord Newspapers. Great Stuff

Texas Monthly vs. Irony: Who Ya Got?

The cover story of this month's Texas Monthly is fascinating. It features how the housing market is out of control (headed for disaster) and that most people can't afford real estate and struggle to even find an affordable apartment . . .

Then, about five pages in, there is this ad for a high end area of Houston.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• I'm late on this, but that Planned Parenthood shooting was insane. A dead cop. A dead veteran. But Ted Cruz was quick to point out that this had nothing to do with abortion, "Well, it's also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and transgendered leftist activist, if that's what he is." Good lord, man. 
• The Chicago shooting of the teenager by a police officer -- shooting him 16 times -- went under the radar since the shocking video was released over the Thanksgiving holidays. 
• I'm feeling better.  Mrs. LL referred to me as being "under the weather". I hadn't heard that phrase in forever. (And I think the Dogs In The House know when I'm sick. And maybe even that mean Cat.)
• Why are Wise County Deputies doing traffic stops on 287 and in the Southern part of the county? Something seems odd. 
• Who would have thought that Lake Bridgeport would be two feet over its level in December? 
• The Senior in House playing her flute upstairs is a beautiful sound.
•  “The simple and undeniable fact is the overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats” - Ted Cruz during an interview on Monday. “There’s a reason why the Democrats for years have been viewed as soft on crime,” Cruz continued. “The Democrats know convicted felons tend to vote Democrat.”  When did Ted Cruz go insane? Or is he just trying to out-Trump Trump? 
• I said it two months ago. You are watching the implosion of the GOP. The Republicans need a new face to save that party. 
• What happened to Carter Haynie, 27, of Bridgeport who is mentioned in the obits in the Update?
• The end of the Cleveland/Baltimore game last night was beyond entertaining.
• I watched the Charlie Brown Christmas Special last night for what might have been the first time in 20 years. I had forgotten how smartly written it was (and how Snoopy was an incredible character in the  background.)]
• \------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
• (That was done by the Rescued Dog In The House as I was trying to hit the "Publish" button)

The Official Liberally Lean Girl Is Killin' It

I could dance to this song a MILLION times...love you @adele!

A video posted by Britney Spears (@britneyspears) on Nov 28, 2015 at 7:31pm PST

Police State 2.1

I'm reviewing a DVD in one of the cases I'm working on.

I can't believe what I just saw! A trooper training another trooper told him to go get an arrest warrant for a driver and fill it out a portion of it with with "blah, blah. blah, blah."

(Then again, maybe I should have expected to see it.)

By the way, can you make my job any easier than this? And can you make an honest prosecutor's job any harder? By the way, this was an allegation of a misdemeanor: Lying to a police officer!

(Note to prosecutor: It's around 14:31 of the video)

Edit: And runner up for the day is another video where the officer reads the DIC-24 in a DWI and changes his voice when he reads the part of "your license will be suspended" and then ends it with that he is "requesting a simple breath test." (He had already told him that he would take his blood if he wanted to.)  Good lord. Who is training these people in Austin?

Edit: I'm on my fourth video of the day. A veteran trooper calmly and politely tells the guy, "This is not a game show" when he is asking if he will submit to field sobriety tests. You, sir, are a genius. And I mean that. Maybe the best trooper I've ever seen in Wise County.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I'm not sure I've ever been so sick as I have been over the last week and half, yet I have no fever. And I'm still barely able to type all this out. 
• I post ELO's Mr. Blue Sky and then I'm not sure we've seen the sun since then. 
• But I did wake up to the song, "I can see clearly now, the rain has gone. I can see all obstacles in my way."
• I mentioned a few days back about the hippie contractor who came over to redo the floors. What first got my attention was how he talked so fondly about Baja Mexico with such incredible delight. He then talked about how he had been to the same small village in Costa Rica that he had been to that Mrs. LL and I went to a few years back. When we were down there, a guy told me about the book Searching For Captain Zero -- it's about a guy who went looking for a buddy who was hooked on meth. Do you know what weird route the author of that book and my contractor took to get to Costa Rica? The Baja.
• I also spent time during my illness reading Michael Morton's book about his false imprisonment, Getting Life, due to a prosecutor who withheld evidence. 
• Sports: (1) TCU beat Baylor fair and square. Baylor was down to its third team QB but TCU's QB was playing on on leg, (2) Remember before the season I predicted that an Oklahoma team would win the Big 12? Boom. (3) Every time a network puts "rules official" Mike Pereira on the air to predict how and official review will end he is wrong, (4) Nothing was more scored earth than LSU's Les Miles when he went after the school's president and AD after they threatened to fire him but the public backlash  was so great they backed down. He said he wanted to talk to some people in a "back alley", (5) The movie Concussion which has the NFL in its cross-hairs looks great. 
• Do you guys realize that our Texas Governor is meeting with Cuban Communists!! Communists!
• Fed Ex and Amazon need to merge. 
• Pastor Keith Craft, in my opinion, looks like he is on steroids. 

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• I'm still battling sickness, but I think I may have turned the corner. Note to self: Don't try to run a Turkey Trot when you are sick. It will not end well.
• I'm probably not as sick as Tony Romo is this morning.
• I went and saw a doctor a couple of days ago who just happens to be African American and who has the attitude Wanda Sykes. We actually had a mini-war between the two of us and she said at least twice, "Don't you cut your eyes at me!" as I looked at her with slight disdain. (Even though she did tell me to, "Walk down the hallway past those people and turn around and come back" in which I told her "No, I will not." She replied with an angry voice of a black woman, "Oh, yes, you WILL." I did it.) I love that woman.
• There is one person in this world who thinks I'm faking this illness. I don't know how that is possible. And, as someone can confirm, you do not want to be in my figurative cross-hairs.
• If you camp out for Black Friday, you aren't very smart. 
• The floors in my house are a mess and haven't been replaced in 15 years. We had an independent contractor come over to give us an estimate to replace them and he was fascinating. Somehow we ended up talking about Costa Rica and I learned he had been to the same small village Mrs. LL and I stayed in years ago. He was an older an unusual guy and obviously a former hippie. I had a bizarre "feeling" and actually asked him if he was part of the book "In Search of Captain Zero: A Surfer's Road Trip Beyond the End of the Road." He denied it but I'm not sure I believe him because he paused a little too long. The "end of the road" part of the title refers to the obscure village.
• Georgia Sheriff is catching some heat:
  
  
• The Texas Tech/Texas game was beyond fantastic. And the little-guy-hiding-behind-the-line play that Tech used to seal the game may have been one of the most fantastic things I've ever seen. (And watching Coach Bro celebrate made me smile.)

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

"We are going to fight until you can't fight no mo'"

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• If I taunted the Flu God a few weeks back, I would like  to apologize. I think he may have struck me down with great vengeance and furious anger.
• I feel sorry for Mrs. LL having to take care of me. I'm not a good patient.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• I just tortured you: I want you to have the above image embedded in your head all day while you also hear Dixie playing in the background. (But kind of hot?)
• The Taiwanese Student In The House thinks I'm funny. My life is now complete.
• The mistaken-clock-bomb student, Ahmed Mohamed, now has lawyers who are demanding a combined $15 million form the City of Irving and Irving ISD.  Note to the lawyers: You appear as morons to the public. And, in my opinion, you are morons.
• Donald Trump said he "saw" people cheering in New Jersey during the 9/11 attacks.  Ben Carson said he saw the same thing. (This guy is a brain surgeon?).  Chris Christie said it might have happened but he might have forgotten it. Can the Republican race get any more insane?
• If you want more proof that football will be dead in 50 years, look no further than the way St. Louis Rams quarterback Case Keenum was treated after being knocked senseless. That is simply horrifying.
• The Dallas Morning News has finally called out "pastor" Robert Jeffress of the First Baptist Church of Dallas. How the deacons of that church have not fired him is beyond comprehension. 
• Game Change and Double Down are great books about politics. It explains how some people never see what is coming. 
• Sports: When the pre-season AP poll came out there were six SEC teams included in it which are no longer even ranked in the most current poll.
• An incredible photo of a Russian plane being shot down over Turkey this morning. 

The Perfect Couple Has Been Found!

I think we found this season's Homecoming King & Queen thanks to SMU & beloved rival TCU https://t.co/H3QYSkU6ui

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) November 23, 2015

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The Chinese exchange student is now in the house and, once she arrived, I learned she was actually from Taiwan. That caused me to do some quick research which only led me to great confusion since Taiwan is part of China. Does that make her Chinese? 
• She is a sweet and respectful girl. But you know the first thing she wanted to know? Our wifi key. And she spends most of her time staring at her phone. She's basically an American. And she speaks English better than most of the people I know -- including me. 
• Wait a second. No, she's not like an American! She can speak a different language! She is of a different religion! She doesn't look like me! She doesn't think like me! She has penetrated our borders! She might be a terrorist!!!!! Someone call Homeland Security!!!
• I'm going to beat her down with so many questions over the next week. If she doesn't eventually turn to the Two Girls In The House and ask, "What's that guy's deal?", I'll be very disappointed.
• I watched five of the six episodes of Fargo's Season Two this weekend. It may be the greatest  TV show I've ever seen. And I will have to got back and watch it again because I know I'm missing so much. 
• I also watched the first episode of Amazon Prime's show The Man In The High Castle. I was enthralled. The premise is that the U.S. lost World War II. Now, in 1962, the West Coast of the U.S. is controlled by the Japanese and the East Coast is controlled by the Germans. The middle of the country is a "neutral zone" which is occupied by minorities and Jews. Throw in the fact that there is a revolutionary group trying to distribute an 8 mm news reel that shows that the Allies actually won the war and my head almost exploded.  I have no idea what is going on.  (Oh, and the Japanese fear the Germans will drop an A-bomb on them once the peace loving Hitler dies. Yep, he is alive.) And that was just the first episode. 
• I mentioned last week that I was going to file the craziest Motion in the history of ever (and it would reference Bonfire of the Vanities and the Salami Theory in footnotes.) I did it, and here it is. It will probably only interest some Wise County lawyers, the Wise County Sheriff's Office, some Tarrant County prosecutors, lawyers and judges (especially once they see the name of the prosecutor). Oh, and maybe the Wise County Messenger or Star-Telegram if they need some content on this holiday week.  What? Someone is fighting against the dismissal of a criminal case? Edit: I forgot to mention that I'm not being paid a dime for that Motion or for anything else that occurs in this case in the future. 
• But what do I know? 
• I also watched Lucy this weekend. It is a movie about what happens if humans could access all of their brain capacity. It was a little hokey but the concept was fascinating. 
• "Romans 13 teaches that Government's role is different than man's duty: it is to protect citizens & ensure justice. Texas will abide." - Greg Abbott tweet yesterday. I take great comfort in that. "The Dude [also] abides." (Man, I miss Rick Perry.)
• Sports: (1) I said there was no way Baylor would beat OSU and they did with their third string quarterback, (2) I said there was no way TCU would beat OU and they would have if the two point conversion pass had been six inches higher, (3) TCU coach Gary Patterson always implies Baylor's Art Briles has players that are thugs but that cheap shot hit by TCU's Ty Summers on OU quarterback Baker Mayfield was borderline criminal, (4) I had a buddy place a $100 bet in Vegas for me in August on the over/under for TCU's total wins this season. If Baylor beats TCU on Friday, I win. And Baylor is only a 1.5 favorite based upon the Vegas' opening line.
• The M&M comparison on the Syrian Refugees is beyond dumb. The attempted analogy is this: We don't need to take in Syrian Refugees because one in a hundred might be a terrorists. So the simpletons make this analogy: If you had one hundred M&Ms in front of you and one of them might be poisonous, would you eat any of them? Sheesh. This isn't about candy. Let's put it this way: What if you had one hundred scared and homeless individuals in front of you and all they wanted to do is live in the United States? Would you turn all those tortured souls away because one of them might be a terrorist?
• You had more of a risk to your safety by getting into your car this morning than from a possible Syrian refugee terrorists.