First Look

Campaign Contribution Rules In The U.S. Are Silly

Yesterday, the Supreme Court struck down limitations that some states and the federal government had  imposed on the total amount of money donors could  give to all candidates. As you can see, that doesn't effect Texas since we pretty much have no limits for big money donors for state candidates.

Then there are "Super PACs" that you can donate to without limitation (Hello, Koch brothers.) They, in turn, can spend all that money in support of a candidate so long as it acts "independent" of that person's campaign.

It's all smoke and mirrors.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Another shooting at Fort Hood. It's so odd: The last time all I heard was "Islamic Terrorist". This time the narrative seems to be "We need better treatment for PTSD". Edit: "AP-Army secretary says Fort Hood shooter saw no combat in Iraq, was not wounded."
• I saw a broken down school bus on 287 about two miles outside of Decatur this morning. I'm not sure if there were any kids on it. 
• I ended up not obtaining a "not guilty" verdict in the criminal case yesterday, but it was a good fight. And, with an appropriate sentence of two years of probation, it was worth that fight. (But that sure seemed like a whole lot of time and expense over 1/100th of a gram of meth. But, I suppose, it's just another battle on the War on Drugs.) 
• "As a late night comedian I'm begging you. Please make this guy run for President." -- Conan O'Brien, referring to Rick Perry, while broadcasting from Dallas.
• I caught the last part of it, but NPR has a great 12 minute broadcast late yesterday on the total immunity from the IRS that TV evangelists have. They focused on several "preachers" including Kenneth Copeland. Here's a link which includes the text and a picture of Copelands $6.3 million mansion on the property of his church on Eagle Mountain Lake. Good lord. 
• Since Sunday, I have seen Michael Lewis promoting his new book on high speed training on 60 Minutes and The Daily Show and heard him on the aforementioned NPR.  And I'm still not sure what he's talking about. 
• Two nights ago the Rangers, playing their second of 162 games, drew 149,000 viewers in the metroplex while the Mavericks, in a critical game, drew 85,000 viewers.  And Mark Cuban thinks the NFL will implode? He might want to worry about the NBA. (And the Cowboys average a million per regular season game.)
• One of the craziest murder cases and trials in North Texas history will be the feature of 12 episodes on some new show on the Discovery Channel.  A Wylie housewife was acquitted of murder even though she admitted to striking her neighbor with an axe 41 times.  It was the subject of a TV movie, and I even read a book about it. (A quick Google search also revealed this long read from a 1984 issue of Texas Monthly.) Edit: Oops. It's just one of the twelve episodes. That makes more sense.
• This week, Sean Hannity is running video segments where a Fox reporter interviews scantily clad college girls on Spring Break. This, we are told, is a hard news segment to "uncover the wildness." They report. You decide. 
• Amanda Bynes turns 28 today. It's been months since she had an incident of craziness and that is totally unacceptable. 
• I really like Spring. Mrs. LL and I really work a lot on the front flower beds --  And spend a lot of time saying, "I can't believe that died!"
• "Two Dewhurst aides quit amid campaign feuding about tactics".  This guy, who absolutely is the worst politician in the world, is going to screw this up and get trounced by that nutcase Dan Patrick. 

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• The 8.2 earthquake off of Chile yesterday evening is about as big of one as I've heard about.  (And I really hadn't heard much about tsunami's until the one in the Indian Ocean ten years ago, but the entire western coastline of South America was under a Tsunami warning -- until it was cancelled without incident.)
• "Iran has chosen a former hostage-taker involved in the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran to serve as its ambassador at the United Nations, Sen. Ted Cruz said Tuesday in vowing to bar him from entering the United States." We get to decide who other countries want as their ambassador?
• Idiocracy: Texas Motor Speedway is now offering a "Big Hoss TV Dinner" at the concession stands. And I'm not sure why a TV dinner is offered at all. 
• According to today's Messenger, Alvord's ISD may not be gone at all. The 3-3 vote not to renew his contract only means that a new contract will become effective "by operation of law" (which is a fancy way of saying "automatically".
• Sports: (1) Watched the end of the SMU NIT game last night and came away from it thinking that Bobby Knight is borderline senile, (2) The Mavs fight to make the playoffs so they can be bounced in the first round took a hit last knight, (3) The Astros beat the Yankees? (4) Tiger Woods has withdrawn from the Masters after "minor" backs surgery. A lot has changed for the guy since Elin took a golf club to his SUV in 2009.
• I'm still in my jury trial but that should end today. The Sheriff was on the jury panel (for about five minutes) in a case that involved an arrest by the Sheriff's office. He joked that he received a jury summons from himself -- which is technically true.
• The funniest moment came when the prosecutor was asking some questions to a retired pastor on the jury panel and brought up the biblical story of Doubting Thomas as an analogy. The pastor gently interrupted him by saying, "You stick to lawyering and let me do the pastoring."
• Other people on the panel: A Bridgeport lawyer, a Decatur lawyer, a DPS trooper, a guy whose daughter I dated over thirty years ago, and two current clients. (None made it onto the jury.) 
• "The debate over repealing this law is over. The Affordable Care Act is here to stay. ... In the end, history is not kind to those who would deny Americans their basic economic security." - President Obama yesterday after news that 7.1 million people had signed up for insurance under the program. 
• "Man swept away in ocean baptism still missing"

Above The Fold

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Caution: It is the beating that is April Fool's Day. 
• So the Rangers gave up an opening day record for them of 14 runs, combined with the Phillies to give up 24 runs -- almost a major league record, and the game took over three and a half hours. And we get 161 more of them. 
• It's hard to believe The Ballpark is 20 years old. I went there for its first "open house" before a game was played there. 
• Yeah, we got the Beagle back to its owner. We probably would have kept it before we would take it to a shelter. 
• If you ever wondered what it's like to go to a soccer game in Europe (stay with me here), you should take a listen to the Ticket's Bob Sturm on this podcast.  He's been to multiple games and makes it sound like attending an NFL game is like going to the opera in comparison. 
• Ouch! The Angels hitting coach broke his femur of the ceremonial first pitch. 
• I keep hearing a radio commercial for the band Boston coming to the Allen Events Center in June. But their lead singer committed suicide in 2007.
• Is Syria still having a civil war? It dominated the news and now we hear nothing about it. 
• "Forestburg woman wanted by Crime Stoppers." I assume she no longer lives in Forestburg because it would be really hard to hide in Forestburg. 
• The Morning News has a story about elevated levels of cancer in Forestburg possibly related to fracking. Well, maybe.  It's the most confusing story ever -- see the third paragraph here. 
• The Decatur Main Street website has some pretty cool old photo's of the courthouse square -- one of them is a movie marquee advertising the movie "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now". I'd never heard of the movie but since it was released in 1947, it does give us a time stamp for the photos. 
• "FBI, military hunt ex-Army recruit suspected of plotting 'Ft. Hood-inspired jihad'".  Both Hal Jay and Brian Estridge said on WBAP this morning, in all seriousness, that the military should never recruit anyone named "Mohammed". 
• Barring a last minute resolution, I'm out of pocket today trying a State Jail Felony case. (Some of you will know how crazy that sounds.)

And A Little Different Opening Day Photo

Rangers' Response:

Good stuff

	Robert Wilonsky (@RobertWilonsky)
3/31/14, 2:11 PM The @dallasnews' Louis DeLuca is one hell of a guy. And he takes one hell of a Texas Rangers Opening Day photo: pic.twitter.com/Xnrdl8qWUc

Padres Ball Girl From Last Night

Look At This Guy Just Taking Rubber Bullets Like A Pro

Other video from a different angle and a photo of the shirtless aftermath here.  (With a funny reference to him as the "Tucson Terminator").

UConn Campus After Win Sends Them To The Final Four

Love the reaction of the cops: Let's get the heck outta here.

(Link if the above doesn't work.)

Just Gotta Post Everything, Don't Ya

WESTLAND, Mich. - It was the day after St. Patrick's Day when Colleen Cudney was called in for a random breathalyzer test.

The 22-year-old was put on probation for a drunken driving conviction in 2012. After Cudney took the test at the probation office in Westland, she logged on to Facebook and counted her blessings.

Investigators say she posted this: “Buzz killer for me, I had to breathalyze (sic) this morning and I drank yesterday but I passed thank god lol my dumba@@."

Anita Brown, a resident of Oak Park, says she didn't find Cudney's post humorous at all.

"I hope they throw the book at you young lady because it's sad that you did something like that because you could hurt someone or kill someone," Brown said.

A Westland police officer saw her post that morning and notified the probation office. When a probation officer called Cudney to return to the office for an urine test, she hung up the phone.

Probation officials say that was a violation of her probation. It was set to end in a few weeks.

An urine test would have detected if Cudney had anything to drink in the 80 hours prior to taking it, probation officials said. [Edit: I seriously question this sentence.]

Local 4 went by her house Thursday afternoon and were told no comment. Her Facebook post is sparking a lot of comments on the streets.

"People post some crazy things. They don't even think before they do anything," said Thomas Boyce, of Inkster.

Cudney is due in court on April 1st for a probation hearing. She could be sentenced to 93 days in jail.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• A Baylor student committed suicide in his car by the use of chemicals but was thoughtful enough to warn others about the presence of nitrogen sulfide by leaving a note.
• Shirley Jones turns 80 today. That's Mrs. Partridge. 
• Motorcycle death in Grand Prairie. 
• I bought birdseed for our bird bath. Birdseed, I learned, is expensive. 
• "Cop In Riot Gear Violently Blindsides Girl". (Language warning.)
• The guy charged with online solicitation last week in Wise County was initially arrested by  the "U.S. Marshals Service, Texas Rangers, Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, Montgomery County Precinct 1, 2 and 4 constables, Conroe Police Department, Wise County Sheriff’s Department and Rhome Police Department." Did they really need that many people?
• The Messenger printed some guy's statement from a "private, neighborhood Facebook page" about the Klan in Rhome and ended up running a "clarification". The guy must have objected.  
• "Chris R" is in first place in the Liberally Lean Pick 'Em Tourney, and I'm guessing that's our DA in second place. 
• Sports: (1) I don't think former UT Offensive Coordinator Major Applewhite has a job. (2) Cliff Lee faces the Rangers today which reminds me how seedy it seems to have rented him for half a season in 2010, (3) The Eagles cut DeSean Jackson amid rumors of gang affiliation. I didn't realize he even threw up a Crips sign in the first game last year. (4) To the guy who thinks I didn't realize that the Rangers pitching staff had suffered injuries and who thinks everything will be fine once everyone heals: Just how many starts to you think the Rangers will get out of the injured Holland and Harrison and the still recovering Lewis and Feliz? (5) I ended up watching a lot of the Texas Relays this weekend -- I learned that if you had "Florida" on your jersey then you were probably very, very fast.  (6) Anyone else having trouble getting used to "Globe Life Park"?
• Think our water problems are bad? Lake Travis is 53 feet low. 
• I caught some of Something About Mary this weekend -- still a funny, funny movie. And I had no idea that Sarah Silverman was in it. 
• I rescued a lost Beagle this weekend. As I carried it back to the house my neighbor yelled, "Now that's a different kind 'taking your dog for a walk'".

This Is Quite The Phenomenon

Creating a traffic hazard, @OpenCarryTexas activists were shooed away by @ArlingtonPD, and videoed it http://t.co/9Mbd0UfAeV
— Bud Kennedy (@BudKennedy) March 29, 2014

We are seeing more and more of this. Second Amendment advocates who are aware that is it absolutely legal to carry a rifle (or any other legal and long barreled firearm) down a city street in Texas. So they do it and film the cops when they come to investigate them.

The only way it is a crime is if the firearm is displayed "in a manner calculated to alarm". Then it's a Class C, fine only, misdemeanor.

It also looks like the city of Arlington may have an ordinance prohibiting handing anything to a person occupying a motor vehicle on a public street. So one of the gun supporters in this video asks the cop, "So if I hand this copy of the Constitution to that guy I'm going to get a citation?"

Above The Fold

Britney Taking You Into The Weekend

Out of Denton

	FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4)
3/28/14, 2:31 PM DFW: Amber Alert issued for abducted 10-year-old boy bit.ly/1hF6zxz

Edit: Cancelled at 3:50 p.m.

Highland Park PD Gonna Highland Park PD

"The Highland Park Department of Public Safety, however, is not your average police department. To better present their version of events, they produced what is essentially a nine-minute segment from America's Most Wanted, complete with actors, a voice-over, and sepia-toned reenactments, all punctuated by explanatory clips of an authoritative talking-head interview with the Public Safety Director Chris Vinson . . . . As far as propaganda goes, this is top-notch . . . . It's also hard to watch without wondering how magical it must be to live in a town so loaded that it can hire a professional PR firm to turn a couple of dash-cam videos into full-scale multimedia productions."  Source.