Goo Goo G'joob

And Another -- Odessa

Carrasco Knighten, 25, was hired by ECISD as a P.E. teacher at Bonham in May 2013. She is the fourth female employee from Permian in about a year to resign while being investigated of an alleged improper relationship between an employee and a student. Story.

Would You Pay $100 To Take This Bus To Austin?

Speaking of @SouthwestAir competitors, @vonlanemotors' Dallas-to-Austin service launched today http://t.co/BrOVf7kKNb pic.twitter.com/pQms4Ki6Nl
— Robert Wilonsky (@RobertWilonsky) May 5, 2014

Maybe.

But I also think there's a train that I've never taken either.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• There was a Dallas Christian radio DJ who went on trial for sexual assault last week, but a mistrial was declared when the jury could not reach a verdict. When I heard that the "victim" said her accusation was based upon a "repressed memory", I knew there was a problem.
• It's amazing that double jeopardy doesn't prevent the retrial of a person after a hung jury.
• Fun fact: Former Southlake Carroll  coach Todd Dodge (whom I mentioned the other day) has a new job as head coach and AD at Austin Westlake. And, get this,: Westlake plays Carroll in the first game of the year.
• I keep hearing that the Benghazi murders were "preventable". Isn't every murder in one way or another preventable?
• I had to pick up the Sophomore In The House at Grapevine Mills mall and ended up walking through the food court. I was accosted with food samples. When did that start?
• There was a Jerry Whittle pontoon boat on display at the mall with a sign that said it could be purchased for $5.400 down and 180 months at $432.  First of all, that's 15 years. And that's total payments of $77,760. Someone calculate the present value of that boat for me. (I just looked it up and it's priced higher on the website.)
• There's an openly gay TCU assistant athletic director.
• I find it so strange that so many Mavs fans are proud of the team taking the Spurs to seven games. Hey, they lost in the first round, and it won't get any better in the foreseeable future. Mark Cuban inherited Dirk and he's done nothing to plan for the future.
• I watched the White House Correspondents' Dinner on CSPAN, and I came to the conclusion that President Obama is a better comedian than Joel McHale. And the opening film clip featuring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Joe Biden, Michelle Obama, John Boehner, and Nancy Pelosi was pretty funny. 
• Mrs. LL and I watched We're The Millers over the weekend. Pretty funny. And that kid, Will Poulter, stole the show. 
• We also watched the HBO documentary on Ann Richards. Mrs. LL had never heard of the Clayton Williams "relax and enjoy it" comment, and she reacted accordingly.
• Yesterday, Mrs. LL turned over to Duck Dynasty. That Christian based show bombarded me with beaver double entendre jokes. And they appeared to have been written by an eighth grader. 
• How in the world does Floyd Mayweather, Jr. earn $31 million for a boxing match over the weekend?
• Wells Fargo is closing it's "downtown" Decatur branch.  You know, FM 51 is more of a downtown than downtown is.  
• Mrs. LL comedy teams: She'll take Robin Williams and Jim Carrey. I'll take Sarah Silverman and Ricky Gervais. 
• Some people are worried about the potential violence when the World Cup is held in Brazil this year. This won't help: "A Brazilian soccer fan was killed (video link) when he was struck in the head by a toilet bowl hurled from stadium stands as supporters of rival clubs clashed in the northeastern World Cup host city of Recife, police said Saturday."

Oh, My

I'm Stealing An Ad Placed In This Weekend's Messenger

Hate the thought of missing puppy dogs.

Wake Up To Two Incredible Sportsy Plays

NBA: With .09 seconds left, Portland manages to get a shot off to send Houston packing in Game Seven. Video.

College Baseball: In the bottom of the 9th with the score tied and runners at first and second, an Aggie hits a game winner to left to beat LSU. Well, that's what everyone thought was going to happen. Video.

Above The Fold

Oregon State Cheer & Dance Tryouts Taking You Into The Weekend

More.

Dead Whale News

Everyone is upset because a whale washed ashore in Atlantic City and some frat kid painted his Greek letters on it.  I'm not sure there's a law outlawing the abusing of a whale corpse.

That reminded my that I saw a story earlier this week of a whale which had washed ashore in Canada and the town was afraid it would explode. Explode? Yep, here's a video to prove it can happen (with a great screen shot at the beginning of it):

Random Sports Confusion

This deals with math, so I'm in a dangerous area. But can both these statements be true?

And Dallas did in fact force a game seven in 1988:

• Game 6 @ Reunion Arena, Dallas (June 2): Dallas 105, Los Angeles 103

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Police in Washington state are going to set up a prostitution sting operation and then live tweet the photos of the poor saps that thought they were going to visit a hooker. Such sorriness on the part of the cops. 
• Every politician in Texas is jumping on the real (or imagined) proposed land grab by the BLM of some Texas property near the Red River. My favorite is carpetbagger George P. Bush who wants you to sign his "petition" to tell the BLM to stop its plan to seize the land. Take a look at that thing. That has one purpose: To create a database of potential voters. Not only does he want your phone number, he wants to know which carrier you use. 
• The Sophomore in the House thinks Jim Carrey is funny. That disturbs me. (We watched part of The Truman Show last night.)
• Strictly legal: I may be the only guy in the world yesterday who jogged and listened to the Supreme Court oral arguments in that can-cops-stop-a-guy-based-upon-an-anonymous-tip case.  I'm probably speaking to less than five people, but if you know this area of criminal law, listen to it because it is fantastic. "Counselor, if someone reported that someone was not wearing a seatbelt, can the police make a traffic stop?" "Counselor, if there was an anonymous caller who reported someone working for al qaeda had a nuclear bomb in their trunk and was heading into downtown Los Angeles, can a stop be made?" "If there is a report of someone throwing bombs out of car do the police have to wait to actually see another bomb be thrown before a stop can be made?" One judge told a lawyer that his argument "exhibited consistency but not a lot of common sense."
• I don't listen to music (as I've said) but I really like John Legend's hits.
• BagOfNothing.com guy said today that he used to think about suicide daily until he had kids. I'm not sure he realizes how shocking that it is. Or maybe I took it the wrong way. 
• Which reminded me of a book I read recently about suppressed anger which, shockingly, I probably suffer from. It began with a paragraph of "You may wake up and think" and then described perceptions of life and daily feelings in general. It matched me to a tee. The book then slapped me in the face with the sentence, "It might surprise you to learn that most people don't think and feel that way."
• Sports: (1) The Cowboys picked up the fifth year option on left tackle Tyron Smith which will cost them over $10 million. That will make him one of the top paid tackles. (2) In the Dirk area, the Mavs have never forced a Game Seven. They are either 0-6 ir 0-5 -- I can't find the exact number. (3) Best picture of Baylor's new stadium. (4) Argyle beat Bridgeport 3-0 last night in the regional baseball playoffs after which Argyle's head coach called it the  "worst game we've played all year."
• I was reading a USA Today story and it used the term "indefatigable". I had to make sure it was the USA Today. (It means "persisting tirelessly" by the way. I looked it up.)
• David Dewhurst has another attack ad on Dan Patrick. It isn't bad, but in the runoff, which will certainly have a low turnout, I think the ad will hack off the Tea Party so much that they'll turn out in droves to support Patrick. (The ad shows Patrick with his shirt unbuttoned which makes him look like he was at a drunken party. It was actually at a charity event for children where he was auctioning "the shirt off his back".) 
• I received a comment overnight taking me to task about not mentioning Benghazi. In case you can't find it, he wanted me to know that the "head negro in charge has been lying to us." Uh, thank you for reading Mr. Sterling. 
• The Dallas Morning News looks like a tabloid today. The guy didn't die, but was pardoned by the victim's mom at the last second. I skimmed the story -- the fact that she probably received $35,000 for her mercy makes this less than touching. 
• Edit for late news: Wordkyle, U.S. unemployment rate plummeted to 6.3%.

A Little Florida Police Brutality For Your Thursday Afternoon

Story and video. The reporter mentions that it "hurts to watch" the incident. This guy agrees . . .

Can We Trust Pete On This?

It's May 1 but that didn't save six North Texas communities from feeling freezing temperatures this morning. #dfwwx pic.twitter.com/vdA0N0FxYu
— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) May 1, 2014

The Guy Is Smooth

Evacuating a wildfire, shirtless, and carrying a dog. Perfect time to ask a reporter out. The guy is 100% Los Angeles swag.

And, he's right. She is "really pretty." (But she used to be a fill in host for Fox and Friends so I'm conflicted.)

Momma Giving It The What For. Ends Up Giving The What For To The Kid.

Maybe the kid thought momma was going to hurt herself.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• I always mention motorcycle deaths and DPS had a press release yesterday which had some stats: "In 2013, 494 people died on Texas roadways while riding motorcycles and scooters, representing a five percent increase from the previous year. However, those deaths accounted for approximately 15 percent of all traffic deaths in the state last year."
• The family members of those killed in the other car in the Terri Johnson wreck were on Fox 4 last night.  And after a local public outcry, a fund has finally been set up for the surviving four year old at North Texas Bank in Decatur.
• Sports talk radio finally came to the realization yesterday that the NBA might have moved too quickly in crucifying Donald Sterling. 
• And the Sterling case gets juicy if the NBA owners (or three-fourths of them to be precise) vote to force him to sell the team as the NBA Commissioner has urged. The only possible NBA Constitutional provision allowing for a forced sale they can rely upon reads that another owner has failed or refused "to fulfill its contractual obligations to the Association, its Members, Players, or any other third party in such a way as to affect the Association or its Members adversely." Sterling hasn't done that so they best tread lightly. (And what if the owners realize this, get scared off from holding a vote, and we have a player/public revolt against the NBA for not forcing Sterling to sell?)
• Mrs. LL did a fantastic job on the painting project. I told her that she worked harder in those four days than at any point in the last four years. (I didn't get the happy reaction I was expecting. I probably need to learn to communicate with her better.)
• I'm always on the lookout for news stories that are actually paid ads, and I spotted one yesterday. The AP had a long release yesterday about Walmart now offering auto insurance. If you read it, it doesn't have one negative or objectively critical comment about Walmart and the story even prints the website and phone number where you can sign up.  That's a paid ad, right?
• The whole state is under construction: Today the massive expansion of I-35 from downtown Fort Worth north to 820 begins. 
• A guy showed up last night at the Rangers game with a Johnny Manziel Cowboy's jersey. 
• Speaking of, my Ranger nemesis has to be getting nervous about, as I predicted, a pitching staff meltdown. Last night Robbie Ross lasted  3 1/3 innings and gave up 6 earned runs. (Fellow baseball expert Gerry Fraley referred to the rotation this morning as being in "tatters.")
• There's an interesting murder trial going on in Fort Worth where a "good Samaritan" was shot in Arlington. During opening statements yesterday, the defense lawyer, some guy named Zeke Tyson, told the jury that the victim had drugs in his system. That shut things down. First, even if true, that's probably not admissible. And prosecutor Jack Strickland told the court that the statement isn't true. Tyson either has a plan I don't understand or doesn't have a clue about certain rules of evidence.
• I learned you can't store paint in a hot attic. (And how come water based paint will wash right off your hands or floor, but it'll stain your clothes forever?)
• I completely missed Sarah Palin at the NRA Convention. Speaking of our "enemies", she said "If I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.” Good lord. 
• While the Republicans feud like the Hatfield and McCoys, the Senate Democrats baited the Republicans into being forced to kill a minimum wage hike yesterday thus creating a campaign talking point for the mid-terms . . . 

Viral Video Of The Day

PUP ALERT: A dog interrupted a softball game to steal a few gloves and our hearts http://t.co/OpqY1b9OZk pic.twitter.com/JEd5EJ42Gg
— SI Extra Mustard (@SI_ExtraMustard) April 30, 2014

This would be a lot cuter if it hadn't been a pit bull. Despite being playful, I was still worried he was going to rip one of the girls arms off and run around with it.