Above The Fold

Oh, My

The little fella gets up and walks. Suffers only "minor injuries."

And "tossed from SUV" means the kid was ejected during the wreck --- not thrown out of by an occupant. Although those "teenagers" aren't going to win any Parent of the Year awards.

Link. 

Messenger's Update

Can be found at an alternative site here.  They say the regular web site is down due to "Data center outage in Los Angeles."

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• With the price of gold out of sight, do kids still use it for their high school rings?
• A Birdie Lunsford was found dead in a Fossil Creek park a couple of days ago. I searched her name and found this portion of a court case in Fort Worth where a Birdie "Lundsford", whose age is the same, testified about being a victim of a crime in a Fort Worth park when she was 13. Weird.
• Texas Senator John Cornyn, obviously trying to get in the news, was down right disrespectful to Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday. As designed, he was on radio shows in the afternoon bragging about his performance. I'm not saying Holder doesn't deserve criticism, but that's not the way a "stately U.S. Senator" is supposed to do it. That's for the House. 
• I didn't watch a second of the Heat/Thunder game.
• Car bomb kills 63 in Iraq. "Let freedom reign."
• Heard the boys on afternoon drive on The Fan talk about the Dallas Gun Show and how they were surprised there was a lot of Nazi memorabilia for sale. I was more surprised that they wanted the sale of such stuff to be illegal.  
• That Mary Griffitts, a DFW attorney who was on Fox 4 last night talking about the Shiner-man-killed-child-molester case, brings nothing to the table. Steve Eager started the interview asking a very good question about whether prosecutors soft sell some cases to grand juries and she gave some goofy answer which included the phrase "the prosecution is going to have show legally this was a crime." What insight! I suspect she has never been in a grand jury room. 
• Speaking of that Shiner case, the shooter killer has apparently said he didn't mean to kill the man. Man, don't back off now. I think he should take the Samuel L. Jackson approach in A Time To Kill: "Yeah, I meant to kill him and I'd do it again." 
• Sports Talk Radio: Around 7:15 last night, The Fan played the audio from The Ticket where Nolan Ryan explained his connection with snow monkeys. And they didn't hide it. They said the audio was from "KTCK". It was edited so no Ticket personality was heard asking Ryan a question. 
• The new Dallas ISD Superintendent said over the weekend that he wasn't "friends" with his new $185,000 a year communications director and "never had coffee" with her. It took three days for Channel 5 News to bust him on it. 
• I think the Messenger's web site is down this morning 

ESPN Erin Andrews Afternoon Pick Me Up

Update On 82 Year Old Bound And Gagged Case

Press release.

And Another's Result

More.

Hey, I don't have an issue with this lady getting probation -- she probably didn't need to be locked up. But let's break down this paragraph since the Tarrant County DA's office is now using a spokesperson (who used to work for the Star-Telegram.):


"We consulted with the victim's family and took into consideration all of the available evidence and the facts and circumstances of the case in coming to this decision," said Melody McDonald, a spokeswoman with the Tarrant County District Attorney's office, on Tuesday. "We felt this was an appropriate resolution to the case."


Thoughts:

• Note she uses the term "we" to project that this was not an individual prosecutor's decision but was the whole DA's office decision. (In reality, it was probably the decision of two prosecutors.)
• The  "[w]e consulted the victim's family" phrase occurs every time there is a chance the DA's office might catch some public flak over a plea bargain. Technically, the "victim" and his family have absolutely no control over whether the case is plea bargained, but normally a DA's office tries to keep them happy. If they are satisfied, the DA's office is implying, how can the public be mad? But it is interesting that she doesn't say the victim "approved" of the plea bargain.
• They considered "all of the available evidence and facts." Translated: We know more than you do about this case so don't start jumping to conclusions.
• It was an "appropriate resolution."  That's basically saying "the punishment fits the crime" in a way that connotes "justice" and "fairness". 

There's a fine line between being a spokesperson for the DA's office and a PR person for the elected DA, but she's doing a good job. And with her connections with the Star-Telegram, it's a genius hire.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/06/12/4026601/richland-high-teacher-gets.html#storylink=cpy

Miami "Zombie" Update

Link <----- As your cursor hovers over it -- hesitation in your fingers.

Pete Delkus Has Spoken For This Afternoon. So Let It Be Written. So Let It Be Done.

National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 5:00 p.m.

In Case You Are Interested

Full press release here.

The link in the above graphic is here.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Arrests have been made in the "82 year old bound and gagged" case.  Still getting details.
• That was a heck of a lightning storm.
• That Lockheed Martin strike is in its eighth week. That's a pretty long time for a strike, and it doesn't seem to be getting a lot of press.
• Photo of gay couple's car vandalized in Arlington. (Facebook.)  Good grief.
• I DVR'd the Baylor/Arkansas game last night and was about 45 minutes behind as I watched it. As the recorded version ended, the score was 0-0 heading into the 10th. Ugh. But maybe I didn't want to see the Razorbacks eventually win 1-0.
• A friend told me he was getting divorced after about 25 years of marriage. Kids are raised and are doing fine.  Maybe I'm wrong, but you can almost call that a successful marriage can't you? I mean, it probably lasted 80%-90% longer than most. 
• "Sam Drucker" has died. (There are probably more people who don't know who that is than do.)
• I'm interested in seeing who this is: A guy driving a Mercedes on the George Bush Tollway in Richardson last night causes a fatal accident and then runs away on foot. He is caught about a mile away. 
• Mrs. LL has discovered that every episode of The Office in syndication is missing about five minutes of content because of increased commercials. Now she's going back on Netflix to find out what she missed. (She's obsessed.) Remember when I said I never saw a re-run of Dwight dressed up as The Joker? That's why. It was cut.
• Two 40 somethings acted like it was Mardi Gras on a Monday afternoon on a Missouri golf course. 
• I never saw a complete episode of Dallas.

Ex Mrs. Tiger Woods Afternoon Pick Me Up

The Greatest Robber Beat Down In The History Of Ever

If you don't mind looking at a guy's bare butt*, you've got to see this video.

_____
* Joke series begins in three, two . . .

Real News

An 82 year old  man was found bound and gagged in his Wise County home on Friday night near Briar. He is listed in "serious" condition at a Fort Worth hospital, and it is believed that he had been tied up for several days.  After not being for most or all of last week,  a neighbor became concerned and looked through the home's window where he made the discovery.

Developing . . .

Developing . . .

Texas Case of the Day

The chances of being indicted? One in a thousand.  But here's a chilling thought: What if the guy is making up the molestation claim as a cover for an unjustified killing? There's no evidence to support that, but it's something the cops would definitely check into.

Story.

I Was Telling Mrs.LL That Exact Same Thing The Other Day

And how about we create a pot to raise enough money to send Becky Oliver to interview this guy.  It'd be more action than the Pacquiao/Bradley fight on Saturday.

Burying The Lead

DM- A woman who was given a $2.1million tax refund after filing a false claim went on a massive spending spree until she was caught. Krystle Marie Reyes was only caught after she reported the Visa card containing the seven figure sum had been lost. By that time she had already spent more than $150,000, including buying a car and other household items. The 25-year-old from Salem, Oregon, had used Turbo Tax to file her income tax return for 2011.She claimed earnings of $3 million but used the tax calculator programme to claim a refund of $2.1 million, Oregon Live reported. Incredibly, they approved the payout and Reyes was sent a visa card by the tax preparation computer programme containing a balance of $2.1 million. She later reported the card missing, prompting an investigation which uncovered the massive fraud which is believed to be the biggest in the history of the state of Oregon.


Yeah, everyone is up in arms about this gal trying to rip off the State of Oregon, but you know what I think the most amazing part of the story is? She had a Visa card with a $2.1 million balance on it. That's possible?

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Three separate motorcycle deaths in Austin over the weekend.  And three separate drownings in DFW lakes.
• Over 20 years ago I hated lawn work so much that I got a nasty letter from my homeowner's association. Now I walk around the lawn looking for spare weeds. 
• Mrs. LL might have met an officer who thought she might have disregarded the speed limit in the great state of Texas. 
• Baylor came within three outs of going to the college world series yesterday. Now they are 27 outs away. After Arkansas tied the game and with the bases loaded, Baylor's relief pitcher came in and threw one pitch and hit the batter. Sheesh. 
• Lindsey Lohan managed to total her Porsche on Friday. I'm surprised she wasn't badly hurt.
• The "private sector is doing fine" gaffe by the President was one heck of a gaffe. The Republicans were smart to jump on that. 
• It's not often you see a bridge pillar broken in two but when it is hit by an 18 wheeler which never hit its brakes, it can happen.  What a mess on a shut down I-30 in west Dallas.
• I looked up at the TV on Saturday night and saw the movie Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus. And they said Hollywood was out of ideas. 
• The Electric Daisy Carnival looks like a scene. 
• Mrs. LL apparently still can't hit a softball but she had learned to run to first on a dropped third strike. She felt like a Softball Genius. Attagirl.
• The new Dallas ISD superintendent defends the $180,000 salary of his 31 year old communications director: “If Jennifer Sprague were an ugly, slightly older male with 20 years of experience who had won all these national awards would any of you make a story of it if he received the same salary?” Well that 20 years of experience might be a little different.
• Lady Gaga got hit in the head with a pole while on stage and it looks like that would have hurt.
• Kenney Chesney has been trying to position himself as the next Jimmy Buffet for 10 years and when he's now playing in front of 50,000 at Cowboys Stadium, he might be getting there. 
• The Family Cat now makes a break for it every time the back door is opened. She then hits the brakes about halfway into the lawn and starts grazing. It's like a "Hey! I can eat this green carpet!" moment.