Another Day. Another Lock Down.

And the three new arrests out of Boston is interesting, but there's absolutely no news about it other than the headline. At least at this second.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• I haven't seen many bluebonnets, but there's a mile stretch of yellow wildflowers in the median of Highway 287 between FM 407 and Rhome that's almost worth a drive just to see them.
• A Boeing 747 cargo plane crashed in Afghanistan and it was caught on dashcam video. Amazingly horrifying. 
• The prosecutor who filled in under the interim DA title after the slaying of the Kaufman County DA has resigned. No explanation was given. I bet it's more over politics than fear. 
• I know the battle of the worthiness of talk show host Dennis Prager is between me and one guy (probably), but I finally found this page which identified exactly what he is: A psuedo-intellectual. That defines him perfectly. 
• There's a restaurant in the new Bush Library called "Cafe 43."  That's just a little too hip.
• I've never seen Citizen Kane. And I don't think I know anyone who proclaims it to be the greatest movie ever.
• Weather talk is boring, but tomorrow will be a bizarre April day. Edit: I would like to report that I have heard from multiple reliable sources that tomorrow with fall in a month called "May."
• FDA with a shocker yesterday: The "morning after pill" will (1) be allowed for sale over the counter, and (2) the age limit to purchase will be lowered to 15.  I hear complaints about the age, but I haven't heard any arguments equating the pill with abortion. Did I miss that science lesson?
• Facebook is becoming more and more of a beating. 
• There was a time when a restaurant couldn't survive on the Decatur Square (except for Mattie's.) Now the place is exploding with them. 
• Talk show host Mark Davis called Ted Cruz the Senate's "Rock Star" this morning.  And he worries sometimes that he lives in an echo chamber. 
• Mrs. LL drove over Lake Bridgeport yesterday and reported that rumors of the lake level being shockingly low are true. 

Bull vs Florida People

Nice job by the guy at the end mentioning he was unemployed.

Original video.

What A "Modified Lockdown" Looks Like At Weatherford High School Right Now

Really (via some kid on Twitter.)

What They Tell Me

One in 10 people in Wise County receive food stamps. (Source)

Income limitations to qualify:

Flashback To The Wise County Reunion

I had a buddy that fell for this trick back when we were in high school. We were stylin' at the Wise County Reunion and came across the old "throw a ball in the bucket" game. How hard could it be?  The Carnie even let my friend take a few practice tosses! He was fantastic. Dropping them in the bucket like Yu Darvish.

Now on to the real game. Pretty quickly, he had lost 10 bucks because the ball was hitting the bottom of the bucket and popping out. It wasn't a matter of missing the basket, it was keeping the dang balls in the basket.  "You want to try some practice throws again?" asked the Carnie. My buddy did and once again couldn't miss.  Back to the real game and he was down $30. It wasn't until he was down $70 that we figured out there were Practice Balls and Game Balls. We weren't very smart. (But I was smarter than him that day because I didn't play.)

My dad suggested going over the next day and, when handed the practice ball, my buddy whip out a sharpie and put an "x" it. "Tell him you'll play with that one."  We were only 17 and not that gutsy. Haunted me ever since.

(And I had to have some excuse to post the video.  The poor sap made me laugh by always having that banana with him.)

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• When I didn't recognize the name of the NBA player who announced his gayness yesterday, I thought it was because I never watch the NBA. Turns out he's just an extremely spare player. 
• But the support for him was pretty widespread -- even a call from the President  That wouldn't have happened ten years ago. 
• Meanwhile, in Texas: "Local governments and school districts that offer marriage benefits to same-sex partners are violating the state constitution, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott stated in an opinion Monday."
• After holding them for over a decade without the hope of a trial, there's a huge hunger strike going on at Guantanamo Bay. 
• There's at least one Justice of the Peace court in Wise County that has the phrase "be prepared to stay until 5:00 p.m." on its court notices. That's basically trying to coerce you into throwing up your hands and paying the ticket, right? 
• According to the Update, they are finally going to fix the death trap at 287 and Business 287 south of Decatur. 
• Mrs. LL has been watching The Good Wife when I haven't been looking. (That sounds ironic but I guess it isn't.) She told me the legal side of it might be a little "iffy" and then five minutes later I heard one of the lawyers refer to the "fruit of the poisonous tree" in a civil case. 
• A bill passed yesterday (SB 861) requiring bars and restaurants which sell alcohol to display a sign of the "average costs a person convicted of driving while intoxicated can expect to pay, including attorney's fees,  criminal fines, court costs, bail, driver's license surcharges, and   alcohol education course fees." I'm not through reading those signs telling workers to wash their hands after going to the bathroom. 
• On The Ticket yesterday afternoon they had a segment on which would you rather do if there were no consequences, heroin or meth. Man, I'm not sure how they can get away with that. 
• In the future, there will be cameras that can tell if someone is carrying a firearm or a bomb, right? Kind of like thermal-imaging for metal? 
• And in Denton, a bird eats a fish . . . 

Good Grief

Story.

Gov. Perry Is Not Happy About This

It was in the Sacramento Bee last week. 

Boom! Or will anyone care?

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I though the White House Correspondence Dinner was really funny. Sarah Palin did not: “That #WHCA was pathetic. The rest of America is out there working our asses off while these DC assclowns throw themselves a #nerdprom," And you guys think I've been grumpy lately. 
• Tim Tebow was released this morning. Please, Jerry, please!
• For Texas criminal lawyers: The legislature is getting close to make DWI-Third a 3g offense. (That means a person convicted of that offense wouldn't be eligible for parole until he has served 1/2 of his prison term.)
• I think the phrase "suffered several dislocated bones" is an odd one. (See Update.)
• Mrs. LL was watching The Fifth Element starring Bruce Willis this weekend when I proclaimed the movie to be "horrible." Her reaction would lead one to believe she wrote and directed it.
• We walked down to a creek yesterday and fed bread to turtles. I like turtles. 
• Flew under the radar last week: A building collapsed in Bangladesh and killed 382 people. 
• The Family Puppy can now scoot across the room which now has me paranoid every time I take a step. 
• A tweet from Dez Bryant in the middle of the NFL Draft: "I just bought a toy helicopter and now it's stuck in the tree..I'm mad as hell."
• History fact Oliver Stone taught me this weekend: The U.S. lost about a half of a million people in World War II. The Soviet Union's death toll was around 25 million. 
• Weird stat: Cowboys finished 8-8, Mavs  finished 41-41, and the Stars finished 22-22-4.
• That car fire yesterday on Jacksboro Highway sounded horrible. 
• Breaking: Shooting at a Haltom County high school this morning. Edit: I screwed that up royally. Wrong county. And it's in Ohio. 

Motorcycle Down

Above The Fold

Late Crazy News Taking You Into The Weekend

Actual photo . . .

The Protesters Have Moved And Now Have Me Confused

A Law At Work

Just came across a fairly recent court opinion.

Facts: A guy is stopped for a traffic violation and then arrested for DWI.  He is offered a chance to provide a sample of his breath and he refuses. Texas law allows for the cop to take a sample of his blood without a warrant*  if "at the time of the arrest, the officer possesses or receives reliable information from a credible source" that the person has twice been convicted for DWI.  The deputy contacts dispatch who advises him that the Texas criminal database ("TCIC") indicates the person arrested has twice been convicted for DWI. The officer then takes the guy to the hospital and has a nurse draw the defendant's  blood. A later analysis reveals it has an alcohol concentration of greater than .08.

One problem: The TCIC database was wrong. He didn't have two prior convictions. So the defendant asks the judge to throw out (suppress) the blood results because they were taken in violation of the law. That is, a warrant should have been obtained.

"Oh, no" says the State! TCIC is reliable. Just because there was a screw-up this time doesn't mean that the TCIC database is not a "credible source" and that's all that's required. The trial judge disagreed and threw out the blood results.

The State, with not enough to do, appealed the decision. The appellate court agreed with the government and said the blood results could be used against the defendant (after ruling it was the defendant's burden to prove TCIC is unreliable and not the State's burden to prove it is reliable.)  Welcome to the Continuing Police State.

Query: What's going to happen when a normally reliable dispatcher misreads an accurate TCIC that shows none or only one conviction but tells the officer that the driver has two? Will a court approve a blood draw based upon the use of that misinformation? After all, could a defendant ever prove a dispatcher is not a "credible source" despite that mistake?

____________
* Yeah, the Supreme Court ruling last week may kill that and other laws unless there are other facts justifying the bypassing of getting a warrant.

Probably Noteworthy To Wise Countians

George Jones has died.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• A Springtown woman is arrested for the murder of a child in 1982 after "cold case" investigators took a look at the case. With no new evidence, something doesn't sound right.  
• Jerry Jones is taking what I think to be his biggest post-draft media beating ever after last night. Maybe it is because Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan’s son, Faisal, who was in the team’s draft room, made the first pick. 
• How football is changing: For the first time in 50 years, a running back was not selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. 
• Photos of protesters yesterday during the Bush Center ceremony. (They were restricted to the east side of Central.)
• Whataburger is going into the retail sales of its ketchup (which, by the way, I never knew was such a crowd pleaser.) But I've never seen a restaurant/fast food place successfully translate its taste to the grocery aisle. Taco Bell sauce and On The Border tv dinners come to mind.
• Mrs. LL is coaching a girl's softball team this season and is doing really well. She's a big fan of aggressive base running. Or she's crazy. 
• I still think about watching a game last year when a big, athletic girl would come to the plate. A different coach would go out to the pitcher every time, say some words of encouragement, and then hand her a face guard to be worn only for that batter. I always wonder about what was said: "You can get her. Just throw inside and low. Now put this mask on because she might kill you." 
• From the Update: "5K RUN — The Skinnydipper 5K at Wildwood is 1 p.m. Saturday. Registration opens at 9 a.m., and the gate will lock at 12:30 p.m. The clothing optional cross country race attracts runners from all over the USA, Australia, Europe and Canada. A barbecue dinner is held after the race." Make your own jokes. 
• I watched a little of the memorial service from Waco but couldn't stick with it. It was really hard to watch, but I'm not sure what made it different than other services. Maybe the fact it wasn't in a church?
• There was an animated GIF going around of the pitches of Yu Darvish which got me thinking about the difference between a curve ball and a slider. I don't think I've ever felt so sports dumb as to learn that a curve ball actually drops in a straight line (think 12:00 o'clock to 6:00 o'clock) while a slider moves down and out (think Josh Hamilton swinging.)
• The New York Times has an article pointing out the Texas prosecutors are losing their reputations as the "good guys" and face the loss of elections because of it.