It's Not Safe Out There Today

Justice Stephen Breyer unhurt after being robbed by machete-wielding intruder while at West Indies vacation home.
— AP Courtside Seat (@AP_Courtside) February 13, 2012

Machete?

Early reports were that it was a stroke.

And the book in photo of the gal who allegedly abducted her daughter in North Fort Worth and fled to New Mexico.

Women Of The Grammys

I Guess There Are Responses To Things Like This

Just never sure what they would be.

Red Meat For The Masses

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Fox 4 sent a reporter this morning to Decatur to cover "Arctic  (Even-Though-There-Are-Above-Freezing-Temperatures) Blast 2012."
• I was beginning to think the missing Fort Worth girl who was abducted by her mother last week wasn't going to be found. Normally those cases are solved within hours. But wasn't the Amber Alert cancelled in New Mexico where she was located?
• A person was found dead by the Lincoln Memorial over the weekend which made me think of mystery, intrigue and the Pelican Brief. But it sounds like a suicide.
• Grammys: Taylor Swift is beginning to have some Garth Brook's I-can't-believe-you-like-me face.
• Never won a Grammy:  Led Zeppelin, Beach Boys, The Who, Jim Hendrix, The Kinks, Bob Marley, Grateful Dead, Queen, and Chuck Berry. The Starland Vocal Band ("Afternoon Delight") has one. 
• Adele is one hot, plump gal, but I'm stunned she's only 23. And when she talks she sounds like she belongs in a Monty Python skit. (Stolen observations from the radio this morning.)
• Most people believe that Kate Upton will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue today. I'm stunned she's only 19. 
• I made Mrs. LL watch the drug scene with the fire cracker popping Chinese guy from Boogie Nights. I think I saw a question mark form over her head.
• Whitney Houston in a bikini in 1996.
• Now it's picking up: Another Dallas police car was crashed into last night. That's the second one in a week. 
• Sports question on the radio this morning: Was Tony Romo getting to play in a final foursome with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at Pebble Beach yesterday the greatest sports thrill of his life? I bet it was. 
• Oddest name for Paul McCartney's new album: "Kisses On The Bottom."
• Remember that crazy Porsche crash that killed the lawyer and two twenty-somethings near Las Colinas? I didn't know there was a video of them leaving the strip club before the crash. She looked wobbly.

Winter Weater Advisory

"And I ................"

Why Didn't The Messenger Quote My Press Release?

Seriously? Did I read that right? Am I on Earth?

 I linked to the press release on this blog which everyone knows is authored by me. That press release is on the website of smith-green.com which might possibly be my firm's website. And my office refers them to the  press release's URL when they call. And that is not confirming its authenticity? It's Journalism 101. At least the way it was taught since something called the Internet was invented.

I've always said I love the Messenger. Through the years, they have served a valued service to this county. But if they refuse to report news because it's on a blog they somehow view as threatening to its existence, it is turning it's back to it's mission: To distribute information to the public.

For years I've considered hiring one photographer, one reporter, and one salesperson. And I know who I'd choose. Don't tempt me.

Edit: The Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy didn't think much of the Messenger's explanation.

Emergency Taking You Into The Weekend Part 2

If this was released because of sweeps month, someone at Fox 4 News is a marketing genius.

Arianny Celeste Taking You Into The Weekend

I'm A Sport Observation Genius

Big time LA columnist today:

Me a few days ago:

DWI and A Friday Morning Pick Me Up -- All In One

Woman Says Breast Implants Saved Her Life: MyFoxHOUSTON.com

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• I dreamed I was playing golf in a twosome with a famous fashion designer. They guy took 20 minutes to examine a chip shot which caused four groups behind us to gather at the tea tee box. (Before you guys psychoanalyse me, yesterday (1)  I watched a little of the Pebble Beach Pro Am, and (2) I read another account of the Springtown guy stabbed with a golf club a couple of weeks ago. Now the fashion designer part is a little hard to explain.)
• We didn't just bring freedom to Iraq, we turned it into Texas: The government has executed 65 prisoners in 40 days.
• The First Lady was at the Olive Garden off of Heritage Trace in North Fort Worth yesterday. That looks to be just about 10 miles from the Wise County line. Has Wise County ever had a First Lady cross the county line before?
• Mark Levin, who sounds like an idiot for what he says but is a genius for realizing the number of people who will believe it, has the New York Times #1 bestseller. How can it not be? He promotes it constantly on his nationally syndicated radio show and Sean Hannity provides him a radio and TV platform to promote it as well. (Last night he had Levin on and called it an "intellectual book." Sheesh.)
• Big 12 Fans: It sounds like West Virginia has reached an exit agreement with the Big East and will join the Big 12 in time for fall football. Road trip to Morgantown anyone?
• The current County Judge of Guadalupe County (and a former DPS trooper) is arrested for possessing pot in a College Station hotel room.  I bet he gets re-elected and there's no reason he shouldn't be. 
• The weather guy of Fox 4 was saying this morning that the National Weather Service needed to update its forecast. He was predicting sleet for Sunday night and that it might not make it to 40 degrees tomorrow.
• What's the eligibility issue of the Brock girls player that's been in the Update?
• I heard from a third person yesterday that the Messenger won't print any of my press release on the County Commissioner story this week unless I "fax" it to them. That cannot possibly be true. (Edit: The Star-Telegram references it.)
• Edit: And to the genius who keeps telling me to "quit trying to influence" potential jury members, uh, what potential jury? A criminal charge doesn't even exist. The only thing that has transpired is the issuance of a search warrant.
• Facepalm last night: Fox 4 ran a video of a guy firing a pistol into his daughter's laptop after a "disrespectful Facebook post" and then brought a shrink on to discuss if his conduct was appropriate. 
• Crazy criminal case out of Denton decided on appeal yesterday: A jury convicts a guy of manslaughter and sentences him to probation.  The verdict is accepted, and the jury is then discharged. A little bit later the judge learns somehow that there might be confusion with the verdict, and the jury is rounded back up. Four jurors then say probation was not their verdict. The judge tells them to go back and deliberate some more. They do, and later come back with a six year prison sentence without probation. The court of appeals yesterday said it was wrong to re-impanel the jury after their original verdict was accepted. Oddly, instead of imposing the original probated sentence, the court remand the case back for a brand new punishment hearing. All the while, the defendant has been sitting in prison since August 4, 2010.
• People in prison who claimed Wise County as their home at the time of the offense. Represent.

Separation Of Church And State Case Settled. Judge Fires Off A Closing Shot.

Explained for those interested.

And Now From The Completely Irrelevant Department

Helicopter Parent and No-Chance-Senate-Candidate Craig James has endorsed Rick Santorum. Wow, what a game changer!!!!

A Kardashian In Wise County?

Link.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Body found in "shallow grave" in Clay County. Never a good sign.
• I obviously can't publish the comments on the County Commissioner story, but I appreciate those that are submitted. It's good to hear the wide-ranging feedback and the tips as well. Edit: And I'm stunned the Update author was oblivious to my press release yesterday when even WFAA Channel 8 quoted it. 
• Hypothetical: You are in charge of buying office supplies with a company credit card. On a Thursday, you take home a previously purchased ream of paper from your employer without permission because you need it for an urgent school project. As you intended, over the weekend you go by Office Depot and purchase an identical replacement and take it to work on Monday to replenish the paper supply. If you then mention to your employer what you did, have you "Admitted to the theft of office supplies that were purchased with a company credit card?"
• Edit: I don't mind comments on the above, just limit them to the hypothetical. 
• Sports: I was all excited about the Baylor/Kansas game last night and then Baylor promptly got demolished. I think Kansas went on a 32-0 run or something like that. It felt like the old days. (I woke up in the middle of the night with the TV on and I was curious how Duke/North Carolina turned out. I flipped over to one of the ESPN channels just in time to catch the last one minute of a replay of the game. Wow. Duke won a last second three pointer and that North Carolina crowd went dead quiet.)
• I actually told Mrs. LL I felt grumpy last night just in case I said something curt. She told me she thought I was in a good mood.
• The big rumor is that there's a seven second video of Josh Hamilton doing very un-Christian like things with a girl who was not his wife in a bathroom stall during his last drinking binge. Allegedly the owner of the video is shopping it to local stations for $41,000.
• I can see TMZ paying that amount but not a local news affiliate. 
• I wonder if the company or companies who manufactured those military drones are public. I'd like to invest in them because that has to be the way wars will be waged in the future.
• The Family Pup made it back to our bed last night only to be swatted in the face by the Family Cat when he woke up this morning. (The Family Cat is kind of like the Honey Badger. Family Cat don't care.)
• If you would boycott J.C. Penney because Ellen Degeneres is there spokesperson, then you are one strange bird. 
• Will Ferrell introduced the starting lineups last night at a NBA game and did shtick. ("At forward, #5, and he still lives with his mother . . . . ")
• High school basketball Idiocracy: The Ponder and Nocona  girls will play a "play-in" game in Bridgeport to win the third place of their district in order to move on to the playoffs. 

From All Reports: Huge Crowd Showed Up For Santorum Appearance Tonight In Plane Plano

There might need to be the creation of a Third Party for the Hard Right.