Liberally Lean From The Land Of Dairy Queen

7.18.2013

All We Are Missing Is, "Hold My Beer."

I'm not a particular fan of these kinds of video clips but this one has two elements that make it golden: (1) Comedy: The girlfriend saying, "How are you going to get down?" as the kid makes his climb is foreshadowing to the Nth degree, and (2) Tension: This thing is 99% buildup and 1% payoff.

Thank goodness for Obamacare. Kid is gonna need a couple of gallons of it.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

Attorney General Greg Abbott decided it would be a smart thing to do to have an online town hall meeting last night, and all you had to do was tweet your questions to him with the hashtag #AskAbbott. He thought that was a good idea? It turned out to be a hilarious dog pile.
It's amazing that we could (and probably will) have more of a conservative-talking-points-robot than Ricky Perry as governor, but that's what you get with Abbott.
And, plus, what can possibly go wrong with a would-be governor who thinks it is clever to say: "Some people talk about having a steel spine. I actually have one!" in campaign speeches. **Groan**
Recent Mark Cuban quote: "We're in a better spot than we were at if we got just [Dwight Howard]." You guy's just keep on blindly following him.
If true, the story of the Arlington elementary school principal who allegedly solicited boys online and was arrested when he showed up at a proposed meeting with one of them is beyond shocking.
Bridgeport will be spraying for mosquitoes tonight. I still doubt that the mass spraying works. It seems like doing one blast of Raid in a gymnasium.
I had a confrontation with a mouse this morning and successfully defended my territory.
Mrs. LL replaced a broken doorknob in the house with a fancier one and one with a different style. You know what that means? Now we've got to upgrade all of them. There's no way I can stand a mismatched one.
The ESPYs show is painful to watch.
A 29 year old is listed in the Update's death notices -- he died of a brain tumor. I can't imagine what it's like to go through with a family member suffering from something like that.
The Ticket's Jake Kemp just got back from a 10 day trip that included Amsterdam, Switzerland and Germany. I could listen to him talk about it all day.
I laugh at news reports of the Northeast Heat Wave where temperatures "are over 90 for the third day in a row." But I suppose they laugh at us when we receive a Southern Cold Wave of temperatures below 40 for three days in a row.
Johnny Football isn't very smart, but he'll probably have another great season. It's a good thing for the Aggies that his game doesn't require discipline.

7.17.2013

Now I'm Taking Requests?

Twitter direct message from a faithful reader:

Kind of an interesting question which I suppose is answered by how you define famous.

For those who might wonder about the above names.

James Wood -- the car dealer, not James Woods the actor
Ricky Lee Green -- the most famous murderer we've got
Kyle Clifton -- former Bridgeport, TCU, and NY Jets football player
Greg Williams -- former radio personality, "The Hammer"
Buck Taylor -- I had to look him up.

Any others worthy of the Top Five?

Rolling Stone Puts Boston Bomber On Cover

Kind of reminiscent of this . . .

Edit: An astute reader says Rolling Stone has had some controversial covers before.

Above The Fold

And is this a first? A letter to the editor written and printed in Spanish?

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

When Mariano Rivera won the most valuable player in the All Star game last night, he was awarded Corvette which prompted Mrs. LL to say, "Wow." I then pulled him up on the Internets to show her that he has career earnings of $169,441,825. If he had wanted a Corvette, he'd a bought one by now.
A 29 year old in Parker County pled guilty yesterday to life without parole after a brutal murder that has received basically no TV coverage.
The Sophomore in The House got her driver's learners permit and changed her Facebook page to "in a relationship" all in the same day. I see stress -- extreme stress -- on the horizon.
After stumbling across a compilation of "Best Movies" of 2007, I'm declaring that year the greatest year for films ever. And since we've been bombarded with sequels and animated films since then, it may be the Last Great Year.
I'm having blood work done this morning. It's quick and easy, but I hate it.
A USA Today reporter was sent to the metroplex and was "on his own" (with the help of Twitter) to explore the place.
The article is a lengthy one, but the Bexas County DA's office should be prosecuted for Abuse of Process for using its hot check department to send letters to collect debts for payday loan companies. “That’s part of the services that are offered,” said one assistant DA. Puuleeeze. Trust me, not repaying a loan to places like The Money Store doesn't qualify as a crime. The DA's office is acting as an improper debt collector (and trying to collect a "fee" for its trouble.)
Somehow we set a personal record last month for our residential electric bill. Good grief.
And when will we stop paying attention to Ted Nugent. In an article about the Zimmerman verdict, he called Trayvon Martin a "poor, helpless, dope-smoking, dope-peddling, gangsta wannabe, Skittles hoodie boy." (And talk radio host Mark Davis is eventually going to get bit in the arse for continuing to sanction Nugent's beliefs as he did last night.)
Look, I understand agreeing with the verdict. I agree with it, too. But the hate mongering racists have come out of the woodwork by somehow believing, in their twisted logic, that the verdict sanctioned their hateful beliefs about Martin.

7.16.2013

That Civil Rights Law That The Feds Are Thinking About Using Against Zimmerman Is Scarier Than, Well, Zimmerman

Disclaimer: Hey, I know I'm hanging with the Right Wing on all these issues but my view is based solely on being a criminal lawyer and not politics.

When I first heard that the Justice Department was contemplating charging Zimmerman with a violation of federal civil rights law my first thought was: He's not the government. How can he violate anyone's civil rights? So I looked up the statute and discovered, wow, it applies to private citizens. The law, enacted in 2009, reads, in applicable parts . . .

Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law [meaning whether or not you work for the government], willfully causes bodily injury to any person . . . because of the actual or perceived race [or] color . . of any person . . . shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both . . . .

OK. That's weird. But I assumed that the statute would at least require the crime to be committed on federally protected property or, as a catch-all, have the crime impact "interstate commerce". That's what gives the federal government the power to enact criminal laws -- it's called a "federal nexus." (However, even the Supreme Court has been skeptical of using the interstate commerce clause as a justification to make private person on private person crime a federal, instead of a state, crime.) But, wow, there is no such requirement. Man, I'm stunned by that. That may be the broadest federal criminal law ever.

So, assuming the law is constitutional, Zimmerman's only defense to federal prosecution would be self-defense. Fortunately for him, that's a really, really good defense. But I bet this is all academic.

House Fire This Afternoon South Of Newark

Heck of a picture.

Edit: Anyone else see a face?

Chuck E. Cheese Brawl. You know. A brawl. At Chuck E. Cheese.

COMMACK, NEW YORK - Police were called to Chuck E. Cheese’s in Commack Saturday night to break up a bizarre brawl that was captured on cellphone video.

Cellphone video of the scene shows a woman throwing punches while holding a small child.
Authorities say that someone in the melee ended up stealing another woman's purse, which was later found with cash and a cellphone missing.

No arrests have been made. The cause of the fight is still unclear.

But we're making progress. At least no one got shot.

Home Run Derby Animated GIFs Of The Day

Kind Of Clever

First photo of Zimmerman's jury finally released. pic.twitter.com/OFppYN6ZJI
— Travon Free (@Travon) July 14, 2013

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

The "Denton Patrol Officer of the Year in 2008" was arrested for DWI.
We watched a documentary last weekend called The Woman Who Wasn't There about a lady who ended up leading a 9/11 support group in New York claiming she was in one of the buildings when the plane hit. She wasn't. It was so odd because she didn't profit from her lie and was supportive to all those she came in contact with.
Anderson Cooper had one of the Zimmerman jurors on last night and, although at times she seemed to be a bit wheels off, she accurately articulated the legal standard the jury was obligated to follow.
And Piers Morgan interviewed the first witness in the trial (the much berated girl Trayvon was on the phone with when everything went down.) I'm not sure she improved her status with the public. "The jury, they old. That's old school people. We in a new school, our generation"
Wendy Davis is on the cover of Texas Monthly with the title "Game On?"
I don't think I mentioned this yesterday: Crazy Texas Mommy seems to be having trouble with her teenager. She is brutally honest.
How did the public go from laughing at Randy Travis' drunken exploits to now holding him up as a national treasure?
I say this every year: There is nothing more boring than the Home Run Derby. And there is no one more annoying than Chris Berman.
While Berman was interviewing former Mets catcher Mike Piazza last night, he told him "no American will ever forget the Piazza HR from 9/22/01." Does anyone remember that?
That was fast: News comes out that MTV is doing a reality show about Redneck Heaven restaurant, reporters figure out that there are some days that the waitresses at the restaurant wear nothing but body paint up top, and a city council has already changed an ordinance defining "nudity" in response to the reports.
Mrs. LL and I had a discussion on the pronunciation of "asterisk" last night. I think I've been saying it wrong for a long time.
So anyone know the name of the guy that walked out in front of an 18 wheeler in Rhome over the weekend and committed suicide?
In 2009, I learned of Erich Spangenberg after he came in at #53 of the "Most Expensive Homes in Dallas." What got my attention was that he was a "patent troll" - a guy who just buys patents and then sues for alleged infringement. Sheesh. He's becoming somewhat famous as the New York Times did a long expose on him this weekend.
It's a two newspaper worthy day . . .

7.15.2013

I Don't Know Much About Immigration Reform . . .

. . . but the current system seems to be a bit flawed.

You see videos like this from time to time, but this is a new one.

Remember That Her Late Dad Represented O.J.?

My heart goes out to Trayvon Martin's family & loved ones. Thought & prayers being sent their way #NoJustice
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) July 14, 2013