America: Boats Lining Up For The House Burning

Cue the Talking Heads.

“@TXChooChooTrain: We take you now to a LIVE FEED of the Texas Rangers' 2014 season: pic.twitter.com/7Fi8SIY0DI”
— Cody McCoy (@CodyMcCoy06) June 13, 2014

If You See Something Crazier Today, I'm Worried About You

Story.

And Another -- Pennsylvania

She taught what? Story.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• A UTA reporter went to the Texas GOP convention dress as a veiled Muslim and she did not like how she was treated.
• As the NBA Finals were starting up last night, Mrs. LL looked up and said, "The Spurs are still in it?" I told her right then she earned this bullet point.
• Odd Couple: Matt Drudge and Ann Coulter sat by each other at that NBA game last night. 
• I never watch Channel 8's Ron Corning in the mornings, but here is a picture of him wearing thigh high boots. Good morning to you. 
• If the local TV stations don't televise the Lake Whitney house burning today at 10:00 a.m., they are crazy.
• Hey Fox 4 reporter last night: If the house did fall into the lake, boaters would not be in danger because of a "tidal wave" that could be "up to twenty feet tall". (Yes, that was really said.)
• The Messenger had a huge typo of "Courhouse" in a big headline in its print edition. But the pdf version online has it corrected. They changed history!
• I haven't read it yet, but some anti-gay protesters had their convictions for "Interfering With Public Duties" reversed by the Fort Worth Court of Appeals late yesterday. It looks interesting because it involves a gay pride parade in Fort Worth, protesters from the "Kingdom Baptist Church", cops from the "Zero Tolerance Unit" (sheesh), and the use of a "skirmish line".  What a combo!
• Nothing is so popular yet operates in what seems to be obscurity than the Eagles Canyon Raceway near Slidell.
• From the Update: "ROLE PLAYING GAME DAY – Decatur Public Library is hosting RPG (Role Playing Game) Day 10 a.m.-2 p.m." A question mark is either forming over your head or you're childishly giggling. 
• Speaking of the Update, there is a death listing for Betty Ann Monroe. Is that the same Betty A. Monroe who crashed into Jackie Murphree in Decatur leaving her paralyzed?
• The New York Times has a very crazy but cool multi-video collection of Brazilians watching the first goal in the World Cup and they are all "synced up". It took me a while to figure out how to work it.  
• Was there anything more predictable than Iraq falling into disarray? And if you blame the President you are saying you would rather have U.S. troops over there dying in order to keep the peace and you're willing to allow those young lives to be lost in perpetuity? 
• Random Brazilian newspaper . . . 

Hey, Even I Think This Is Funny

For those that missed it, Hillary Clinton told Diane Sawyer in a very recent interview that she and her husband were “dead broke” when they left the White House.

Mad Magazine. Still killin' it after all these years.

Bergdahl Letters From Taliban Prison Released - Explains Why Left Post

“Leadership was lacking, if not non-existent. The conditions were bad and looked to be getting worse for the men that where actuly (sic) the ones risking thier (sic) lives from attack,” he writes in a letter dated March 23, 2013 and obtained by The Daily Beast. It’s one of two letters sent by Bergdahl to his parents during his five years held by the Taliban-allied Haqqani Network in the tribal region of Pakistan.

“If this letter makes it to the U.S.A., tell those involved in the investigation that there are more sides to the cittuwation (sic),” he adds. “Please tell D.C. to wait for all evadince (sic) to come in.”

Source.

We can all conclude: This guy never won a spelling bee.

I Guess That's One Way Of Handling It

Hill County Sheriff confirms house falling off cliff will be set on fire. No timeline on when that will happen. pic.twitter.com/X75KL7KhEf
— FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) June 12, 2014

Actually, This Seems A Little Harsh

Story.

This is really pretty dry stuff -- a defense lawyer claims that a prosecutor used one of his free strikes on a juror because of race. The prosecutor tries to explain why that wasn't true. (For those few really interested, the actual transcript is here.)

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Weird tech day yesterday: Feedly (the RSS reader that I use) was down all day after an extortion attempt followed by a Denial of Service attack. And there was some weird bug in Tweetdeck (which I don't use) jacking up everyone's twitter feeds.
• The World Cup starts today. I'll try to be interested but won't be.
• There's been a lot of poor cameramen filming that Lake Whitney house for hours yesterday waiting to catch the moment it would fall into the lake.
• I thought I'd get killed for suggesting Eric Cantor was defeated for being the only Republican Jew in Congress, but I barely caught any grief at all. Maybe it's a legitimate theory.  Let's be honest, I can't imagine the Tea Party ever voting for anyone who says he does not believe that Jesus was the Son of God.
• But I did get called out for suggesting that DPS warn the "illegal racing" participants before they were arrested. You kidding me? I know law enforcement warned a recent 8-liners guy in the county a few months back and he was only arrested after he allegedly failed to stop running the operation.
• Representatives for the GOP convention were in Dallas yesterday and were met at the airport by, of all people, the Cowboys' Rowdy. 
• I think you can see the Messenger articles online only if you have a paid subscription. And they have shut the comments down on every story.
• I first mentioned this Open Carry craze in August of 2012. (I think there might have been one before that but lord knows I can't find it.)
• Some people think attorney Rusty Hardin's firm is abusing the taxpayer for the cost of an investigation about some possible silly impeachable offense by a Texas Board of Regent. When you charge $1,350 for an email (even if it is "lengthy") and take five associates with you to a hearing at a total cost of $26,600, those people may be correct. And from the sound of it, the firm really loves the hourly churning of the typically useless practice of "document review."
• "UIL basketball tourney likely to leave Austin after 93 years, head to Alamodome." I know one judge who will not be happy.
• Rick Perry is catching flak today for comparing homosexuality to alcoholism. To the extent that he's saying a person can be genetically inclined to both, that's really more open minded than I thought he'd be.
• George Bush turns 90 today and will jump out an airplane again to celebrate. He might want to start rethinking that. 
• NBC had a two hour special on the O.J. Simpson case yesterday since it was the 20th anniversary of the Bronco chase. That was one crazy cast of characters. 
• Crazy soon-to-be Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's son was a Harris County prosecutor before being appointed by Gov. Perry for district judge. On his campaign page, he references a Bible verse. I wonder what a Christian would feel like walking into his court if he had referenced the Koran and "do it all for the glory of Allah."
• Mrs. LL and I watched the pilot for Modern Family and were surprised to learn the characters are almost identical to what they are now. Most sitcoms take some time to develop a character into who they ultimately become. 
• It looks like Iraq is falling into chaos and now it can truly be considered as dumb of a war as Vietnam. (And I hope we cancel that jet order that Iraq has with Lockheed.)

And They Once Walked Down The Aisle Smiling

I've got a buddy who tells me, "If you think criminal defense law is stressful, you've never practiced criminal family law."  I'm beginning to agree with him.

P.S. Hey, gal, call me. Even I know how to take a license plate off. There's a right way to do that thing and using a hammer ain't it.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Politically intensive upcoming before I move on to other things . . . 
• White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday, after yet another school shooting, that President Barack Obama is “always” looking for opportunities to act “unilaterally” on guns, though he would prefer to work with Congress. (That might have been a throw away comment by the new spokesman, but the conservative blogs sure did get riled up.)
• But there have been 74 school shootings since Sandy Hook?! "There’s no advanced developed country on earth that would put up with this." - President Obama yesterday. True that. 
• What a crazy upset last night in Virginia where an underfunded Tea Party candidate beat the House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. What's the old say? "A house divided against itself . . . ." It's like watching a political internal civil war. 
• And I was stunned to learn that Cantor was the only Republican in Congress who is Jewish. You think that had anything to do with his defeat? And before you jump me, the Texas Tea Party has long been under criticism for going after Texas House Leader Joe Strauss, who just happens to be Jewish, by sending out emails that said he was "going down in Jesus' name."
• And the guy who beat Cantor is named David Brat. That prompted the silly Texas Supreme Court justice to throw out this dad-like humor on Twitter. 
• But despite the "Tea Party Rising!" claims, target and Senator Lindsay Graham beat six Tea Party opponents and even avoided a runoff. They forgot the game plan: Make it one Tea Partier in a three man race and get it to a runoff.
• In connection with the "illegal horse racing" on the front page of the Messenger, did anyone in law enforcement go to them and say, "Hey, if you don't have a license cut this out or we'll have to take action"? Or did they haul off and make arrests and shove them in an already crowded system?
• Has the Messenger changed their policy of how much you can read of an article online without being a paid subscriber?
• I can't tell you what an awful night of nightmares I had last night -- all coming within 30 minute intervals between me being jarred awake. Examples: Watching a knifing, watching a heart attack, losing my passport (which I don't know why sent me into a panic since I was somewhere in West Texas) and others which I'm too exhausted to remember. After I awoke from each one, I dreaded going back to sleep because I new another one would follow. And it would. (Fortunately, I rarely go through this but I can't find any lifestyle correlation as to when they come to haunt me.)
• "The New Taco Bell Quesarito, Which Is a Burrito Wrapped in a Quesadilla, Is Perfect" - headline of an actual article on the Dallas Observer blog.
• I'm not an NBA fan but I did watch the second quarter of Spurs/Heat last night. What the Spurs did (going 25 of 33 at the half) was borderline historic, right? 
• I could have sworn I heard on the national news last night that Pat Tillman was the only other soldier to be killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan before the five soldiers yesterday. Anyone else even remotely believe that?

Above The Fold

Oh, My

DRAMATIC VIDEO: House on cliff overlooking Lake Whitney at peril of falling WATCH LIVE: http://t.co/udOovZStVt pic.twitter.com/hdlUgm5hWB
— WFAA TV (@wfaachannel8) June 11, 2014

I'm Insane Now

The caption on this thing is "The Joker Vs Cyclone @ Texas Heatwave 2013". So that clears up everything, right?

But I'll tell you, when the red/white/blue car launched itself at around the forty second mark, I literally did laugh out loud.

(And I think I've got some tricking up to do on the Family Gangsta Mobile -- just in time to surprise Mrs. LL for our anniversary.)

Feel Brett Shipp's Power

Story.

And Another - Queens, NY

Can she not walk?

Story.

Get Me This Dog Who Loves(?)/Hates(?) A Leaf Blower!!!

Side note: Nagasaki after World War II looks more inviting than that pool.

(I noticed that BagofNothing posted this before me but I had it auto-programmed from yesterday to load at 9:00 a.m. today.)

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• We bombed and killed five of our own soldiers in Afghanistan overnight. 
• The Sixth Grader In The House says "remember when" a lot, and I agree even though I have no idea what she is talking about.
• TCU won an exciting playoff game last night but ESPN2 went dark with two outs, two strikes, in the bottom of the ninth and missed the final out. 
• The landscape behind the fences at TCU's baseball field has a ton on beautiful trees but the area right in front of the trees looks like it just got run over by a bulldozer. 
• The fact that the Muslim hating school board member from Keller remains on a board "speaks volumes" doesn't it. (She was supported by the very abrasive Tea Party group called "Empower Texans".)
• Lake Bridgeport rose a miniscule quarter of an inch over the weekend and the Update gives it the quantum physics treatment in its first entry. 
• I watched 30 for 30's The Ghosts of Ole Miss again last night. It's fantastic. And it helps that I've now been there. 
• Just so we are clear on my Rangers prediction at the first of the season, I said we couldn't depend on that makeshift pitching staff and we couldn't depend on those injured to return. As of today, the starters have the worst ERA in the major leagues. 
• Radio Shack reported a first quarter loss of almost $100 million. Do they ever report a profit? Will it be around in two years? 
• Amy Van Dyken Rouen, a six-time Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer, is hospitalized in an intensive-care unit in Scottsdale after severing her spine in an all-terrain vehicle accident.
• Another goofy tweet from that Texas Supreme Court justice.