And Another (Wait. What?)

This one is a little tricky. He is accused of engaging in sexual conduct with a high school student who is 17.  In Texas, that wouldn't be a crime but for the fact he is a teacher and she is a student.  And it doesn't matter that he doesn't even teach on her campus (he's a middle school teacher; she's a high school student.)

Edit: Wait a second! This is obviously a political prosecution by conservative, right wing local authorities who just got mad because they say this on his Facebook page . . .

Edit: Mrs. LL tracked down this guy's "YouTube Channel"

I Think Mary Has A Legitimate Question

Holy, Cow

MSNBC story for those interested in more.

President Obama Is Dallas Maverick This Morning

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Krishonda "Shonda" Leann Townsend, 19, went missing a couple of summers ago in Palo Pinto County after spending the day at Lake Bridgeport.  With little news coverage, she was buried over the weekend after her bones were found back in October. 
• Rick Perry said in the debate of Friday night that he would send troops back into Iraq. Does he understand that he's supposed to try to get votes?
• The "Deadlist Sniper" seems to want to make some money promoting his killing expertise in the Middle East. He proclaims that he has killed 255 as a Navy Seal. (All terrorists, I'm sure.) And if you've ever known a war vet who has seen ugly, ugly things, you know one thing: They do not want to talk about it. 
• Tim Tebow, in his amazing win yesterday, passed for 316 yards. Uh, John 3:16?
• Tebow and the rookie QB for the Texans, T.J. Yates, now have as many playoff wins as Tony Romo.
• Have the folks over at Fox 4 always pronounced reporter Saul Garza's name as "SAWuul"? I heard that this morning.  
• Horrible accident in Boyd this weekend that killed a young man, but are dead cows normally hauled off into the woods?
• More craziness in the Porsche-in-a-Canal case.  All three had been to a strip club together before the crash. 
• Was there one long thunder last night? 
• Spent a much delayed Christmas afternoon (a sequel) at my parents on Sunday. I never knew watching girls open up gifts of clothing could be so intense. 
• Despite the receipt, her name was not "Lady Chinky Eyes."
• You would think Bourbon Street after the LSU/Alabama game tonight would be down right dangerous.
• Water related: (1) Ryan Seacrest's girl can dive, (2) If you ever thought about bungee jumping, you won't do it after this, (3) Lake Bridgeport is 12 feet low but has basically remained constant since October. 
• There's a commercial running on the radio about some cyber "dog" who will go and fetch the best deals on the Internet for products. Wasn't there a search engine years ago that used the same type of advertising campaign?
• Edit: Then bungee jumping gal is a "Hey, now!"

Tebow!!!!

The CBS crew after the game:

John McCain Might Want To Head On Back To Arizona. His Work Is Done Here.

That Video Board At The Death Star

Check out the people in the background looking up.

Our Own Little Pentagon Papers

FORT WORTH -- Visiting Judge Elizabeth Berry issued a sweeping gag order Friday in a capital murder trial that prohibits the news media from reporting or disseminating anything that happens in open court outside the presence of the jury . . . . Among other restrictions, Berry's order states that the media may not interview attorneys, litigants, employees of the district attorney's office, parties, witnesses, victims or relatives of victims until the trial ends.


That's baloney, and I'm proud the Star-Telegram is going to fight it. We have conflicting constitutional rights of giving someone a fair trial vs. freedom of speech, but this is insane. You'll often hear of "gag orders" which prevent lawyers from discussing the case (which I'm not sure the Supreme Court has ever addressed) and that makes some sense when one party is trying to influence a trial or potential trial. But telling a newspaper how it will gather and report news is downright frightening.

Messenger Above The Fold

LeeAnn Rimes Still Killin' It

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Boy, metroplex news stations are obsessed with the Porsche-in-a-canal story (but so am I.) A 41 year old lawyer with a couple in their early twenties running around in the middle of the night? I bet something seedy was going on.
• And he might have been a good guy, but a 40 something asbestos lawyer who drives a Porsche is near the bottom of my list of people I would want to hang out with.
• I heard this morning that his wife had filed for divorce two days after Christmas. I bet she finally locked on to those give-your-wife-a-Lexus-for-Christmas commercials and he didn't deliver. 
• The Cotton Bowl played at night on January 6th is just wrong.
• There was a small earthquake between Dallas and Irving overnight. With no science to back me up, I'll blame fracking.
• Ryan Seacrest's "Hey, Now" girlfriend at the beach.
• Rick Santorium is now denying that he even said "black people" in Iowa when he clearly said, "I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money." Mindboggling. 
• Breaking this morning: The unemployment rate falls to 8.5% as 200,000 jobs were created in December.  Now if you are a right wing Republican, that makes you happy doesn't it? You want prosperity, right? There's no part of you that wish unemployment would skyrocket before November, 2012, right?
• I used to stay up until midnight all the time. These days I'm normally asleep by 10:30 p.m.. (And I can always fall asleep within 10 minutes of my head hitting the pillow.)
• I like Tim Tebow. I think his days as an NFL quarterback are numbered, but I like the guy.
• Here's a pic of the four Aggies that sat behind us in the Alamo Bowl. It looks like they would be a beating, but they were really pretty funny.
• But one of them was whipping me with hot sports opinions. 

Bridgeport ISD Made Channel 8

The story made reference to "a blog" but, once again, I was denied recognition for being the most trusted source.

Link.

LeAnn Rimes Making Strong Case For Official Liberally Lean Girl 2012

I Didn't Think . . .

. . . you could even get three people in a Porsche until I remembered Risky Business with Tom Cruise. I'm pretty sure Miles was in the backseat when they were being chased by Guido, The Killer Pimp.

Story.

Edit: According to the Star-Telegram, the victims have been identified by the Dallas County medical examiner as Kenneth Lark, 21, of Austin, Kaat Debeuckelaer, 21, of Colleyville and Ronald Eddins, 41, of Southlake

This is the gal per Facebook (don't know if that's the guy):

Everyone Has Been Telling Me To Post About This

I don't know about you guys, but that gal looks like she's not done killin'.

Edit: Wait a second. There was a moment in the video when they referred to this lady's husband as having died over the holidays after a bout with cancer. Then the they showed us the picture below.  I don't want to be callous, but that picture looks like it was taken in the 1970s, and he looks to be over 30 way back then. I then wondered how old little Calamity Jane was and it turns out she's 18. We gots us a whole nuther story!

And did the graphics person take this story serious enough?

Edit: Thanks to the comments, good stuff here.

Not that you're going to Jefferson County but . . .

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• More visual proof that Mark Cuban is far closer to classless than the common man. Yep, I can't stand that guy. 
• Saw this on Twitter last night: "Sobering reality: Khloé Kardashian Odom has 1.39 million more followers than the New York Times."
• Best moment of the Orange Bowl last night was seeing an Orange Mascot getting tackled in the end zone.
• I really don't want to question how someone grieves, but what Iowa Causcus Golden Boy Rick Santorum and his wife did upon her having a stillborn child isn't exactly, uh, "normal."
• I didn't know former Southlake/UNT coach Todd Dodge had spent the year as quarterbacks coach at the University of Pittsburgh.
• The front of my thighs still hurt. Weird. 
• Kyra Sedgwick "Hey, Now"?
• Forgot to mention that Amberly and Debbye on the third floor of the Wise County Courthouse won our fantasy football league. (We all laughed at them when they drafted Cam Newton at the beginning of the year.)
• I'm interested in the identities of the two bodies found in the submerged Porsche yesterday which ended up in a canal near Las Colinas. (By the way, I've never understood the thrill of driving fast.) Edit: Driver identified as 41 years old Ronald Cary Eddins. There's a Dallas asbestos lawyer named Ron Eddins who seems like a high-roller but I have no idea if that's the same guy. 
• Mrs. LL declared she was cooking a Cajun meal tonight. (All I thought of was Newman on Seinfeld saying, "Jambalaya!" in the Soup Nazi episode.)
• Former Cowboy Sam Hurd was indicted by the feds yesterday for trying to be a drug kingpin. He never would have been, but he told the wrong people that he wanted to be. That'll get you locked up in this country. 
• More good news for the President: Unemployment claims dropped again for the last week of December (that's four drops in five weeks.) 
• It's fun to listen to Limbaugh and Hannity try to sabotage Mitt Romney as being too "moderate" while realizing they'll have to end up supporting him. (And John McCain endorsing Romney yesterday just killed them.)
• Update of the shooting of the 8th grader: Two officers. Three shots. One to the back of the boy's head.. . .