And Another - Houston

Story.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• My stomach is killing me this morning. That's unusual for me. 
• The pot bellied pig project is a success so far. I think. And the coolest thing is that The Family Pup and The Family Cat are very protective of it. I think they are very confused by it. 
• The head of the Dallas County Republican Party, Wade Emmert, is filling in for Mark Davis this week. Yesterday he said the most "compassionate" thing America could do to for those children south of the border would be to build a wall. Strange concept of compassion. 
• The Republicans will announce the host of next year's Convention which is currently down to Cleveland or Dallas. I think they'll chose Ohio for political reasons. The GOP needs Ohio. 
• A naked Prince Fielder in ESPN's "body" issue. 
• I just threw up. (Not from the Fielder pic, but from the stomach issue.) 
• Gov. Perry and President Obama issued dueling invitations for a meeting neither one of them cares to have. 
• Nothing wrong with fundraisers, but this sentence in the Update is vague: "All assigned tasks must be within reason."
• I jogged yesterday and got way too hot. I'm not sure I can do summer jogging any longer. That's depressing. 
• Low flying jet at England air show. Oh, my.

Ain't no party like a Southwest Texas State* party cause a Southwest Texas State party don't stop.

* I refuse to acknowledge the new name after the University of North Texas was denied the right to it. (Which I'm sure happened but can't finding anything to back me up.)

Crazy Scene On My Street Saturday Morning

Full Throttle

Random Monday Morning Thoughts - That Didn't Load On Time!

• "I have to believe that when you do not respond in any way, that you are either inept, or you have some ulterior motive of which you are functioning from,” Rick Perry on the current immigration issue while appearing ABC’s This Week on Sunday. And you guys think I butcher the English language.
• Please, Governor, run for president again. I need material. 
• Mashable.com had a list of "13 Short Stories That Will Blow Your Mind" this weekend. I read The Lottery again for the first time since high school (still creepy) and read Zombie by Chuck Palahniuk (creepy even by today's standards.) 
• I was asleep on Saturday when I was awakened by Mrs. Mrs. LL and the Kids launching some type of fireworks that had to be illegal.
• As I was getting a haircut yesterday, my "stylist" stuck out her tongue to show where she had bit it.
• I'm embarrassed to say that we all watched the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest live. 
• My administrative assistant called into question the wording of a sentence I had written in a letter last week. We then then struggled over it for about a minute before we got it right. I liked that. 
• Tony Romo needs 3,378 yards to become the Cowboys all time leading passer (in yards) over Troy Aikman. He's done that at least six of the last seven seasons. 
• Fox and Friends Brian Kilmeade wrote a book last year? Those guys over at Fox just let their name be used as a co-author, right? 
• The Wimbledon women's final took 55 minutes. The men's took 56 minutes and three more hours. 
• A high tone Austin lawyer gets caught in a $60 prostitution sting conducted by the FBI. More proof we have too many cops 
• If you want to hear a lot of angst, listen to talk radio on the immigration "crisis". Mark Davis had no where to go on Thursday when he was confronted by a right winger on his lack of "Christian kindness." He had to resort to, "There's is no teaching that says it it is to be done in disobedience to, or ignorance of, the law." Huh?  
• It sounds like the University of Texas president is being forced out. Something weird is going on in the Evil Empire. 
• We've got a pot bellied pig in the house. It eats like a pig. And squeals like a pig. I have no idea how I got talked into this. 
• It's an elusive little thing. 

And We Wrap Up The Fourth Of July Weekend

She seems nice.

She and her friends have been gloating over how all those libruls’ heads are gonna explode over the photo. Unfortunately, someone posted this:

Source.

Even I Thought That Was Clever

Remember when Democrats thought it was important to return Hispanic children to their parents? #Tcot #nerdland pic.twitter.com/Crg4Yw0F3b
— Stuart (@Ringo6) July 6, 2014

And the Left comes back with a right cross:

Right before Jesus used a US flag to block the bus carrying them to safety. #Murrieta #GOPBible pic.twitter.com/V6sLHD6fUe
— Gabe Ortíz (@TUSK81) July 7, 2014

Potential World Cup Serial Killer

Above The Fold

News

Ppl stopping by scene in Bridgeport where a pickup truck flew off a ravine; fam friends say driver didn't survive pic.twitter.com/69xmbxxhLg
— Lauren Zakalik (@wfaalauren) July 4, 2014

Random Fourth Of July Thoughts

• "McDonald's
• Wal-Mart
• The Gap
• Baseball
• NFL
• Rock and Roll
• The Internet
• Slavery
• Starbucks
• Disney World
• Porno
• Valium
• Reeboks
• [Breast Augmentations]
• Sushi
• Taco Bell
• Rodeos
• Bed Bath and Beyond 
• Liberty
• Wax Lips
• The Alamo
• Band-Aids
• Las Vegas
• Christmas
• Immigrants
• Popeye
• Democrats
• Republicans (Republicans)
• Sportsmanship
• Books"

And it just hit me that it would be really funny to do a Wise County version of this song. In the comments, go.

Not A Good Way To Start The Weekend

One person is dead after a fireworks accident in Comanche.

The accident happened on a field at about 8:15 a.m., Thursday, just west of the high school that is usually used for baseball and softball games. More.

If That Thing Would Sit There For Four Days, Lake Bridgeport Would Fill Up

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Two days ago I was jogging and got dive bombed by a big black bird. I never it saw it coming as it smashed into my back (but it didn't use its beak or claws.) Scared me to death. As I returned to running, I looked around for the expected visual: Yep, a different injured bird about ten yards ahead. 
• The Dallas Morning News did a preview of the quarterback competition this Fall at TCU and didn't mention Decatur's Grayson Muehlstein despite mentioning two other incoming freshmen. 
• "Tour buses for Styx and Foreigner go up in flames". Tragedy or blessing?
• The lead item in the Update is about a guy who agreed to a 45 year sentence in a plea bargain. He'll have to serve half of that before even becoming eligible for parole. For a non-murder case, that's about as long of an agreed sentence as I've ever seen in Wise County. I can't think of a longer one. 
• As my last trial as Wise County DA was about to begin in 2000, my assistant walked up to me and said, "His attorney just told me he'd agree to 30." I remember looking at her somewhat stunned and saying, "Don't tell me you want to turn that down."   She didn't. Deal done. 
• I said earlier this week that John Wiley Price should tell the Feds who wanted to meet with him to take a flying leap. Yesterday, he did just that. 
• We've have two little girls from Mrs. LL side of the family stay with us all week. Tranquility, now! Edit: We now have proof that Seinfeld was on a long time ago and that I'm getting senile. Yes, it was "Serenity, now!"
• The folks that turned away that bus of immigrants being transferred to California should be ashamed of themselves. Such hatred. 
• Target doesn't want people carrying guns, concealed or not, in their stores. If you think Hobby Lobby has the right not to be compelled to offer certain kinds of contraception, you should have no problem with Target not wanting deadly weapons on its private property. 
• Mavericks: It was comical that Cuban even thinks he can entice a top tier free agent to come to Dallas (he hosted Carmelo Anthony last night.) Cuban inherited one of the top 10 scorers in NBA history. Of those ten guys, only one was not able to win an NBA title. And Cuban was only able to get one out of Dirk due to lack of support. 
• Hurricane Arthur is getting way too much press for such a wimpy hurricane. 
• Maybe the reason for the influx of children from Central America: They learned we have a lot of air-conditioning. I'd swim the Rio Grande for that.
• A 36 year old Denton High choir director received 10 years probation by a plea bargain in Denton yesterday after pleading guilty to an "improper relationship" with a 17 year old student. That's probably fair. He's been embarrassed to the Nth degree and the case will follow him forever via Google. (And it probably didn't help the criminal case that the parents of the girl sued the school in an attempt to get rich.)
• I ordered this print of LBJ and Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas for my office. I'm intrigued by it because I've listened to some of LBJ presidential phone calls and the man would just strong arm folks to death. And I didn't know near enough about Fortas until I did a little research. He was the lead lawyer in the "right to counsel" case, Gideon v. Wainwright, at the Supreme Court before later joining the court. He resigned after four years due to an ethics scandal involving a prior contract he had signed which paid him $20,000 a year for life for unspecified advice. 
• Late edit: Hey, Wordkyle, the unemployment rate was just announced at 6.1% and the DOW just cracked 17,000. 

This Is Over Alleged Trademark Infringement Of "12th Man"

Loved that headline from Fox Sports.

And I loved this quote from the amputee: "My experience has proven two things: a handicapped person can accomplish just about anything and Texas A&M will sue just about anybody,"

Hey, Look At Those Hippies

Dallas Faith Leaders protest death penalty outside Dallas County D.A.'s office. pic.twitter.com/xbUMAIfz57
— James Rose (@JamesRoseFox4) July 2, 2014

Or "mainstream thinkers" about twenty years ahead of their time.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Upon reflection, I think the Texas Tech African safari girl is a psycho.
• I heard that the Wise County Sheriff's Office may have purchased a drone. 
• NBA Free Agency: On one side are players like Bosh, LeBron, Dirk, Duncan and all the rest who are taking, or have taken, less money than their free market value to get under the salary cap. On the other side are owners whose market value, with no artificial cap, of their NBA franchise is skyrocketing (see Donald Sterling and the Clippers). Conclusion: The players need a better union.
• World Cup Thoughts (1) I tried to get interested in the World Cup four years ago and failed. This year it was really easy. And pretty dang exciting. (2) Everyone is talking about the beautifully designed but failed penalty kick of the U.S. team yesterday. (Vine if you want to see it.) And man, it was beautiful. But wasn't it lot like a double reverse in football designed to run right up the middle into the arms of a linebacker? The goalie just gets to sit there and then charge you to kill it every time. (3) All first place winners of the eight groups are in the final eight. This may be a very, very pure sport.
• Mark Davis is excited that his new book is on some of the specialty bestseller lists of Amazon's pre-order lists. I'd tap the brakes. I think I heard The Ticket's Bob Sturm say his book on the Mav's championship season sold 3,000 copies. That's probably a pretty good estimate for Davis' new book.
• Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, who is opening up Dallas schools for 2,000 "illegal" child immigrants, comes across as a doofus. And do they even realize the number of people it will take and the resources it will cost to house that many kids in a school? Think about it. The need for food, security, and health care alone is overwhelming. And the chances for a real life Lord of the Flies are quite high.
• And those that say we need to put those kids back on a plane to their home countries might want to think about this: You want to be the guy on a runway in Honduras shooing them away when a little kid looks at you and says, "Where do I go?" And if you have half a brain about the history of child trafficking of Central American countries, you'd realize how it's just cannot be done by a civilized society.
• Fox's Megyn Kelly has been showing an interview with Bill Ayers over the last few days. Why?
• The headline in the Messenger (below) was a shocker. Tomorrow it will be ten years to the day that I poked fun at him in the now discontinued crowd pleaser called The Spin. 
• I think I have acted very compassionately in not referencing my Ranger's Baseball Nemesis in the last few weeks. 
• Speaking of, I'd trade Yu Darvish for as many prospects as I could get. By the time the Rangers get good again, he'll be gone anyway. (By the way, there's a guy in Fort Worth who still remembers how I passionately argued how the Cowboys should trade Hershel Walker back in the day --- months before it happened to everyone's surprise.)
• Anyone else seen the new water tower under construction on 287 heading into Fort Worth (right past the Saginaw cut off)? It looked like the top of it was about to be raised about three weeks ago -- it had been painted with a fancy Fort Worth logo -- when some crazy incident happened. It looked like it had been hit in the side by a meteor. (Not sure what happened, but I'd love to know.) They are now in the process of having to replace sections of it. And I wouldn't dare mention the company in Decatur which is building it.
• I asked the other day how many other "semi-weekly" papers the Messenger competes against in those annual awards. In the next issue they listed the competing papers (maybe about eight?). I suspect that the higher ups over there say, "Every year he asks, and every year we tell that idiot the answer."
• A couple of weeks ago that goofy tweeting Texas Supreme Court justice took his family to Washington D.C. on vacation and posed with Sen. Ted Cruz in his office. There's no way he dreams of an appointment to a federal judgeship by Cruz? Does he?
• I get a lot of weird stuff in my email, but I got a press release last night from Democratic Congressional hopeful Mark Greene calling for a constitutional amendment restricting the rights of corporations in order to reverse cases like the Hobby Lobby decision. Oh, that will be easy. 
• Hey, local police agencies: Quit tricking up your video formats!!  Defense lawyers are entitled to any video of an arrest created by a police agency. But even in Wise County, those multiple agencies are creating their videos in weird formats that sometimes require unique software to view.  Hey, keep it in basic DVD format and life will be easier. (One day they'll all go to .wmv which is small enough to email and make everyone's life -- even my favorite government employees in the courthouse -- much easier.)