Deputy Slain In San Antonio

But instead of dying while involved in an altercation, he was shot while sitting at a red light. Bizarre.

Location in Google street view.

Tort Reform Flier Gets Out In Austin . . .

 . . . which depicted breastfeeding while urging Texas not to become a Nanny State. (Fairly clever if I do say so myself.)

But this caused an uproar with the women folk in the legislature and caused Rep. Senfronia Thompson to break down crying as she addressed the House: "And I find it hard to believe the Texas Civil Justice League would go so low that they would put out this kind of hateful, resentful, bitter, despicable, despiseable, violent fliers toward women just to get at a piece of legislation."


Which should have prompted a response of, "Hateful? Violent? What the heck are you talking about? You do know that's a baby, right?"


Austin American Statesman.

Crazy News Day! The Far Right Is Coming! The Far Right Is Coming!

Every word he says is calculated . . .

Please, please, please . . . .

And from the biggest nut we don't hear a lot about in North Texas . . .

Friday Morning Pick Me Up

More.

Search For Tickets Written By DPS In Last 24 Months?

It says "you" but if you know someone's DL and date of birth, you're good to go.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Slowly dawned on me that the metroplex will be home to the World Series, a Super Bowl, and the NBA Finals in about a seven month period. I suppose there's someone who bought tickets to all three.
• Went to a luncheon yesterday out at the Civic Center for a reception for the Court of Appeals. They told us about how hard they work and how fair they are. (And the Decatur Civic Center gets a thumbs up.)  Edit: In the mail this morning was a handwritten note from Justice Sue Walker thanking us for our hospitality. Thumbs up to her. 
• Kind of lost in the news this week was the Fort Worth railroad worker who lost both legs and an arm in a work accident.
• Not sure who Sasha Jackson is, but she's a "Hey, Now."
• I end up announcing the time in my house like a public address announcer a lot. (i.e. "("9:14! 9:14!") 
• A news story about a homeowner who shot a teenager in Fort Worth trying to pry open a window had the Tarrant County DA tell a reporter that the self defense laws about home protection are "complicated." Actually, the laws are so vague there's almost no law at all. With words like "reasonable force" scattered throughout, it's basically whatever a jury thinks is justified.
• Failing the TAKS test will prevent 22,578 Texas seniors from receiving their diploma. I wonder what percentage of those just give up. 
• Just found out about a 1991 movie called Rush which is based upon dirty undercover drug cops in Tyler in the last 1980s. Actually, it's based upon the book by the same name which was written by one of the dirty cops. I was surprised to find it for free On Demand on my TV system.
• Construction workers are putting on a new roof on the building beside my office. I could have sworn I heard one yell yesterday, "I gotta go peepee."
• Provisions of the Patriot Act were renewed late last night. For as much as everyone gripes about it, it never gets repealed. 
• They have "select" softball teams for Second Graders? Somehow that just sounds expensive.
• Lawyer in small claims court objects because the opposing paralegal's breasts are distracting. (I'm getting old, because I was more interested in why in the world there were three lawyers and one paralegal in a small claims court case.)
• Heat in six.
• Tony Romo gets married this weekend on Saturday. Is it rude to have a wedding smack dab in the middle of Memorial Day Weekend? (Side note: What does "smack dab" mean?)
• Don't ya just love this quote from the Romo Wedding planner: “They’re just really neat people so I think the party is going have an effervescent feel to it,” Todd Fiscus told CBSDFW.com. “We did lots of man food. I have a lot of football players to feed.”
• Meet Todd Fiscus. (I'm going to talk my law partner into re-creating that photo near the bottom for a new law firm brochure.)
• Deferred adjudication for first time Texas DWI offenders in now a dead proposition. We never go back to reasonableness because lawmakers never want to be painted as "soft on crime."
• Guaranteed to get your office workers to stop and look at you: "47 Of Maria Sharapova’s Grunts In Her Second-Round French Open Win."

Decatur Beggar Now Has Chair

Today near David's Western Wear.

Edit: Then a faithful reader sent me this one with the guy in the rain. I'll admit, even though this guy begs for a living, this is a little depressing.

How'd I Miss This One?

How'd the Messenger beat me to this?

Hey, all you Liberally Lean reporters! Conference room! 15 minutes! Everyone!

Edit: Fox 4 is on it.

Man Dies After Fall At Coors Field In Denver

 . . . and the media finds pictures of him drinking beer at Coors Field two years ago.

For You That Watch Baseball On The Television Invention

Source: Sportatorium.

Edit: Formal Rangers' statement and the announcement of a replacement here.

New Texas Crime Reports Released

Hey, crime is down:

Arrests are down. (But did you know that over one million Texans are arrested a year?)

What age group dates/marries a guy with a literal wife beater shirt?

Crimes against cops for 2010:

Source.

Why You Shouldn't Gamble

The line last night on the game was Mavericks -6. That means if you bet on Oklahoma City, you win so long as the Mavs don't win by 6 points or more.

So the Mavs are up by 4 and Jason Terry goes in for a meaningless dunk as time expires.

They counted it, reviewed it, and then took it off the board.

Think some bettors were dying at that point?

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• It's one thing to be involved in a hit and run, it's another when the victim was in a wheelchair. (But I'm not sure what a 50 year old woman is doing out in her wheelchair at 3:00 in the morning in Dallas).
• Dang Mavericks. But I wish I had seen Mark Cuban's post game celebration and his proclamation of, "There are 20,000 people in this building who believed in us when no one else did." Well, make that about 5% of that number who would have bet money they go back to the Finals. And that number might be high.
• As unpredictable as it is that the Mavericks are in the Finals, the Rangers making the World Series is a far more shocking accomplishment.
• And I still can't get past the on-the-street fan interview when they proclaim, "I knew we could do it!", "We played fantastic tonight!", "We're coming after ya Miami!" We? 
• Mrs. LL last night: "I thought basketball was over." That was just a dream, baby.
• The Hangover 2 plot looks exactly like the first one. They can't do that, can they?
• And to support my continuing thesis that there are no real movies made anymore: There will be 27 sequels released this year -- an all time record.
• The Prada Shops in Decatur are holding a "Grand Opening."  What am I missing? That place has been there for years.
• I've got a feeling that girl above is a repeat.
• I'm proud to say that this morning that not only do I not know who won American Idol last night, but I can't name the two finalists.
• The Second Grader In The House Softball Season is over. I'm proud of myself for not saying a word when the coach yells at the girl to "Get the force at home!" when the bases are loaded. Yeah, that's technically the correct strategic play but the chances of an 8 year old girl cleaning fielding a ball, making a dead on throw to home, and the catcher catching that ball with her foot on the plate before the runner gets there has a success probability rate of about 3%.
• Then again, the Mavs made the Finals. 
• I've probably only seen a handful of Oprah episodes over the years, but her interview of a Texas DWI victim whose burned and disfigured face became a DPS poster was one of them. (That girl made the list of "Oprah's Favorite Guests.")  I remember her as being very honest. She wasn't a peppy "I'm going to make the best of it" kind of girl at all. Even after 12 years, she seemed understandably bitter, angry, and in despair.
• Of all ways to make money, bake sales seem a little dubious. I would like to see a picture of the persons kitchen before I buy any food made there.
• Ok, Ok, President Obama screw-ups while overseas: He signed the guestbook at Westminster Abbey and dated it "2008". Then he continued to say a toast for the Queen even though protocol says to be quiet once "God Save The Queen" begins to play.
• The defense in the Casey Anthony trial is bizarre if it is not true: The child drowned in the back pool, her dad was there and blamed her, so she panicked and didn't tell authorities. (I think I just heard Nancy Grace scream in the back of my brain.)
• The Fort Worth Court of Appeals is here today hearing oral arguments out at the Civic Center. [Edit: lunch at Civic Center; Court held in district court] They do that about once every five years or so. If I told you it would be boring to watch them, I think they would agree.

Ann Curry Contemplates Oprah's Last Sign Off

I contemplate how life might be a little more complicated than that. Some people might agree.

But, then again, maybe birth alone does make you worthy (meaning important enough to justify). Once again, some people might agree.

Crazy News

The Lady Never Stood A Chance

Shoot me if I ever get to the point where I just have to sit there and take a ball to the gut from 360 feet away because I need fifteen minutes notice to get out of my chair.

And the guy with a cap needs some practice. Everyone knew that ball was going to bounce off of her like it was hitting the Green Monster in Boston. Play for the ricochet, buddy. It's Baseball 101.

Boyd Is Dark (If The Sun Wasn't Out)

First, the Justice of the Peace Office shut down now the schools released at 10:00 a.m. because there is no power in Boyd.

Stupid question: When there's a widespread and long power outage, what's the typical cause of it and what does it take to get it repaired?

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Yeah, I know that was crazy weather last night, but I suspect in the 1970s and 1980s it might have warranted a couple of television break-ins, but it wouldn't have been wall to wall coverage.
• Have you ever heard of so many "hooks" and "potential"/"possible" tornadoes in your life? Weather coverage is now based upon the presentation of fear instead of information.
• Number of deaths and injuries from last nights storms: Zero. (Edit: OK, maybe one.) You realize your ride home was more dangerous than the weather last night, right?
• Not sure why Fox 4 decided to put a reporter off of 287 in Decatur yesterday evening.
• But that wasn't as silly as having anchorwoman Heather Hays stand on the sidewalk in front of their studios in downtown Dallas for two hours. ("Let's go to Heather to see what she can tell us about the current conditions out there.")
• I saw a ton of folks just standing in their yards and looking at the sky. I was one of them. My neighbor pointed out to me that he was from Illinois so he was used to tornadoes. Hey, hoss, don't try and scoreboard me - I grew up in Tornado Alley.
• A story on Fox 4 last night seemed like an ad for a storm shelter company in Decatur.
• There were some great storm shelters in my neighborhood as a kid, but I think they were built more for protection from the Soviet Union than from Mother Nature.
• The rain delay at the Ranger game was bizarre. At one point, what looked like a few thousand fans (maybe more) huddled in the outdoor concourse during a rain delay were routed down and through the Rangers dugout as bad weather approached. (Screenshot of them getting in. Pic of some of them crammed into the underground walkways.). When that created a human traffic jam in the stands, and with fans being pounded by weather, officials changed gears and told everyone to go back. 
• The long and snake like tornado over Argyle was pretty cool looking. Scary and dangerous, but cool. (Pic below on front page.)  Edit: Video of it here is fantastic.
• But we had a real emergency at my house: The season finale of Glee was interrupted.
• The most shocking news last night was that Channel 8 made the decision to run the finale of Dancing With The Stars instead of going with weather coverage. As The Ticket said this morning, "You know there had to be a tornado form in the Channel 8 newsroom and his name was Pete Delkus."
• WBAP's Hal Jay confusion-of-the-day occurred early this morning when he butchered Rangers' manager Ron Washington's famous quote of "That's the way baseball go" by saying Washington had said "Baseball do what baseball do."
• Joplin tornado damage: Before and After.