Index - 1955: This Is Fascinating!

• Wizard Wells had a post office?
• Decatur had parking meters?
• A jury delivers a verdict after midnight?

Edit: This was a pre-scheduled post. That is, I found the newspaper clip on Sunday and scheduled it to go up on Monday. Later I came across an earlier paper which gave background about the murder case. Man, this is a must read. And I had the ultimate stop down moment when I realized this "Bridgeport barber" used to cut my hair when I was a kid. And a triple stop down moment when I saw my grandfather had been called as a character witness!

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Jay Leno was at Bass Hall this weekend and according to the Star-Telegram, he "he told jokes about headlines dating as far back as 2007 as if they were current. Larry Craig's bathroom stall incident and Anthony Weiner's Twitter indiscretions were among some of his most passionately pursued anecdotes. He even referred to Charlie Sheen's 'tiger blood' shenanigans of early 2011 as having happened 'last year.'" And he gets paid for that? 
• For those of you who think BreitBart.com is legitimate, the retraction at the end of this article about President Obama's nominee for AG should make you rethink the source of your news. Laughable. I didn't know hate could keep you from fact checking. 
• I got my haircut at one of those run-of-the-mill places this weekend and had a "stylist" who just happened to be African-America. (At least I think so. You all know that I don't see color.) But I almost laughed out loud when I looked at her Cosmetology license on the counter which mandatorily showed her picture. She was throwing up the sideways "V" sign. 
• Sports: (1) For all those who took my advice and "bet the house" by taking OU and the points against Baylor, don't kill me. I'm officially taking the rest of the year off from my otherwise well deserved "Sports Genius" status. (2). Love how some refer to TCU as having a "Baylor Problem" when it comes to their chances of getting the Final Four. Look, if TCU and Baylor win out (which now seems possible), Baylor jumps TCU. You simply cannot rationalize a head to head loss. (3) Cole Beasley is in trouble for a tweet. He needs to remember he's a spare. (4) Texas High School Playoffs are ridiculous. There are two 1-9 teams who made it: Freer and Rio Grande City Grulla. And there are nine teams who made it at 2-8. (5) Messenger sports editor Richard Greene had a great point over the weekend: Northwest won by two points on Thursday which, due to some screwy margin of victory rule, kept them out of the playoffs and put their opponent, Keller, in. That led to the crazy scenario at the end of the game where Keller, although losing, took a knee and then celebrating.  (6) Former South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore needs to be the poster boy for the eventual abolition of football. He was the SEC Freshman of the Year and a second-team All-American in 2010 when he rushed for 1,197 yards and 17 touchdowns. Then he blew out his ACL twice in consecutive years, was drafted in the NFL last year but didn't play, and announced last week that he was giving it up. Chewed up and spit out. (7) I didn't know Bridgeport had any African-American young athletes. I guess I'm wrong. Finally. 
• Good grief, we found another lost dog last night. We are trying to find the owner because there is no way we can keep it. "We can't save the world," I had to proclaim. But this dog, unlike the others we've found, seems desperate to go home despite the love and affection he gets from us. 
• Police State: Irving police kill a man last night. Sansom Park police killed a "hostile" man on Friday.
• Twenty-five years ago I remember watching news footage of the uprising in East Berlin with a lawyer who had a masters degree in foreign affairs from UVA: "East Berlin will crush those people," he told me. 
• My recurring question: When did it become a custom in the U.S. to put your hand over your heart during the national anthem? I KNOW that was not done when I was a kid. We simply stood at attention. We only put our hand over our hearts during the Pledge of Allegiance. (By the way, at any sports event I stick to my roots which makes me a little tense when I'm around a bunch of Bubbas.) Edit: Fascinating. A commenter points out a portion of the U.S. Code which says you should place your hand over your heart. But it was amended in 1998 and 2008. I'm trying to determine if the "hand over your heart" law existed before then. 
• The Messenger over the weekend still said the name of the guy killed in the tractor accident in Boyd had still not been released. (I think they accidentally listed his name in the death notices last week.)

Above The Fold

Oklahoma Taking You Into The Weekend

But let's not forget priorities.

Ok, Baylor. You've got your marching orders.  Go get 'em.

Get Ready: Pete Delkus Is On His Knees Praying For Bad Weather and TV Time

It's on the way!! RT @RyanMaue: Next week's Arctic blast will threaten 41 States and 250,179,444 people pic.twitter.com/MR78ssJVVL
— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) November 6, 2014

Polar plunge! Temps struggle to make it to 50s by end of next week. Haven't seen high temps this cold since February! pic.twitter.com/sCy8Zn8ZjI
— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) November 6, 2014

One Of The Many Reasons Why A Democrat Cannot Win In Wise County

After straight ticket voting, you don't stand a chance.

Take the County Judge's race.

12,485 total votes cast.

• Approximate Straight Ticket voting by all voters (which was around 60%): 7,490
• Of which 87% were Republican: 6,517
• 13% by Democrats: 973
• That leaves non-straight ticket voters at: 4,995

So......the Democrat could receive every one of those 4,995 votes which were not cast as straight ticket and he'd still lose 6,517 to 5,968.

Index - 1956

Remember the old Andy Griffith Show where the Sheriff would pick up the phone and say, "Sarah, get me Gomer down at the filling station" ?   (And operator Sarah was notorious for listening in on telephone calls after connecting the two parties.)  Bridgeport apparently had a "Sarah" until 1956.

When I was a kid, we only had to dial five digits. I'm not sure if it started off that way in '56.

Get Me This Hispanic Dog* Who Won't Wake Up!

___________
*Oh, come on. It's obvious. 

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• If the Republican controlled Congress' first piece of business is to "repeal Obamacare" (legislation which will be vetoed) we'll know what they think about you. It's just a dog and pony show. 
• I had a bullet point here about the Navy Seal who is trying to get publicity, but bagofnothing beat me to it. Old man thought: Does the younger generation thinks it is starring in its own movie?
• Speaking of, BagofNothing wrote today that his neighbor is in great shape and busty. I post pics of Random Thought Girls and he lives by one of them? No justice.
• The morning show on The Ticket has been in England all week and I sooooo want to go there. But I would want a personal guide. There has to be an informal service for that, right? Kinda like Uber except for sightseeing. Or just some twenty/thirty-something willing to show you around but not costing an arm and a leg. Heck, that would seem to be viable in large American cities as well. 
• "If you ever quote anything I say on the blog, you have to give me a cool fake name!" -- Courthouse employee yesterday. 
• I oftentimes pack a TV dinner in my briefcase for lunch. The Junior In The House discovered that for the first time yesterday when she got up early to make sure he car would start after "Car Battery Chaos 2014".  "You use that as a lunchbox!!!!" she said. "I thought you used it for important business papers!" It was like I had been defrauding her for years.
• By the way, the problem was the battery and not the alternator.
• Special note for Wordkyle: Breaking news -- unemployment is down to 5.8%, 
• This is the biggest game in memory for TCU (and much larger than that fraud of a game in the 2010 Rose Bowl year when they played Utah. Utah ended up with three losses.) And I think they'll win, but I wouldn't bet on it.  That Thanksgiving game against the Evil Empire might be an ambush. Edit: Hey, goofball. Did I say they played Utah in the Rose Bowl? The Utah game was the only "big game" in that Rose Bowl regular season. 
• A Wise County SO investigator posted a pic because he "got lucky" yesterday. (Credit to Mrs. LL for finding this one. She might have said, "There's a lot going on there.") 
• Rick Perry's lawyers are attacking whether the special prosecutors properly took the oath of office. Hey, I think that prosecution is silly (too many prosecutors in this world) but that defense tactic is a time waste. If they are right, it takes two minutes to fix it. Get on with the fight.
• Legal stuff: The Fort Worth Court of Appeals, in an opinion issued yesterday, dogged someone for filing a 2 1/2 page brief. Looking up the case, the attorney listed for the person who got dogged is a former justice on that court of appeals. Something doesn't seem right.
• The funeral for Jesus Saldana, the subject of a bullet point yesterday, is not listed in today's Update.
• High school football team executes the ol' "bounce pass" play. I promise I thought about that play last week, and I looked without success for black and white footage of it used successfuly in the Cotton Bowl. (At least I think it was the Cotton Bowl. As I remember it, the receiver took three or four steps in fake disgust before launching the pass. Some of you old-timers help me out on this.)  Edit: Thanks. It was aTm vs. UT in 1965. 
• There was a high profile kidnapping in the news this last week which was solved, in part, because the kidnapper had a GPS device installed in his car by a car dealer so the car could be found and repo'd if he defaulted on the note. Apparently he had bad credit among other flaws.
• You think we'd see a rise in divorces because of technology. Between spycams, spyware, cell phones, and hidden GPS devices, no one can get away with having an affair, can they? 

Anonymous North Texas vs. Texas Nazis! Live From Rockwall! Who Ya Got?

And do not let that complimentary bbq persuade you.  That's an oldest Nazi trick in the book.

(Source.)

And I'm dating myself, but I can't help but think "I hate Illinois Nazis" when I look at that photo above.

From The Corpus Christi Caller: Ebola!!!!

BREAKING: Shaeriff Jim Kaelin said the Nueces County Jail is on lockdown due to an Ebola threat. Jail is assessing. pic.twitter.com/FMAeA9vfIz
— Krista M. Torralva (@CallerKMT) November 6, 2014

Odds of it being Ebola: 1 in a Krillion

(And Shaeriff Kaelin is not to be confused with actor Omar Sharif. [Rimshot. Hal Jay wheeze laugh. Rock me]).

Edit: Sheriff does not understand that prematurely screaming "possible Ebola" makes a sheriff look like a moron.

Sheriff: Inmate does NOT have Ebola. No Ebola threat.
— Krista M. Torralva (@CallerKMT) November 6, 2014

PETA IS AFTER WISE COUNTY!

Nosey the elephant, lame and hurting, is currently traveling through Texas, where she will be forced to give rides and perform grueling circus tricks at the Wise County Fairgrounds in Decatur as part of the Family Fun Circus, which is scheduled to appear November 5. We don't have much time, so please act today and ask decisionmakers to cancel Nosey's appearances immediately.

You may have seen that Newsroom actor Olivia Munn recently penned a scathing letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and that True Blood's Kristin Bauer van Straten called and e-mailed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) about the agency's failure to help Nosey. Nosey's exhibitor, the notorious Hugo Liebel, has been forcing the elephant to perform despite the fact that she has been consistently lame since at least July 27. According to a leading elephant expert and veterinarian, "Nosey demonstrates needless suffering and pain with each step while forced to provide rides to the public." Despite Liebel's long history of animal-welfare violations—including citations for shackling Nosey with short chains and denying her veterinary care—the USDA has refused to step in to help. Now it's up to compassionate people like you to ensure that Nosey is not forced to perform.

Just this week, the cities of Gainesville, Denton, and Terrell, Texas, refused to allow Liebel to exhibit Nosey after hearing of his abusive history. And after hearing from PETA and its supporters, the Buy For Less supermarket in Oklahoma City barred Liebel from performing on its property last month. People are listening! Join PETA today in politely urging representatives of Wise County to follow these compassionate examples by canceling Nosey's appearances right away. (Source)

I'm not sure what is going on, because PETA has deleted the page and I had to get it from Google cache. I think the County's position is: It's in the limits of Decatur, go talk to them.

In a related matter, I have hearsay info that the circus yesterday involved a miniature horse and two dogs (only one who could do tricks) and no elephant.

But, what the heck, Facebook petition!!!!

Courthouse news: Read People!

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Other election news I missed yesterday: (1) GOP whipping girl Sandra Fluke lost her bid to join the California state senate, (2) American Idol star Clay Aiken lost his bid for Congress in North Carolina, (3) Zach Dasher, nephew of Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson, lost his GOP bid for Congress in Louisiana. and (4) weed was legalized in Oregon, Washington state, D.C., and Alaska.  What a weird country. 
• Speaking of Alaska, remember when the Supreme Court sanctioned the punishment for a kid who was punished for holding up a sign in that state which read, "Bong Hits For Jesus." He was punished for referencing what is now legal activity. 
• Lost in the defeat of Dallas DA Craig Watson is the fate of former (and fired) WFAA reporter Debbie Denmon. She became the Dallas DA's office "Director of Communication" but, the best I can tell, was told to never communicate. On election day, Watkins (being Watkins) issued a press blackout before the election results were in.  
• "President Obama said on Wednesday that he would seek specific authorization from Congress for the military campaign against the ISIS." I'm with the Libertarians on this one: There is no Constitutional authority for Congress to "authorize" military action if the President so desires to use military action. They either declare war or they do not.  That why Ron Paul had a big problem with Bush and Iraq: There was never a declaration of war. Congress just approved force if Bush wanted to use force. 
• "Who cares about this stupid election? We all know it doesn't matter who gets elected . . . .  Do you really think it's gonna change anything around here, make one single person smarter or happier or nicer? The only person it does matter to is the one who gets elected. The same pathetic charade happens every year, and everyone makes the same pathetic promises . . . ." - character Tammy Metzler from the very underrated 1999 movie, Election.
• I'm always surprised that those who think it is a big deal that the election results, when shown on a red/blue map, is shockingly red. Hey, that little blue spot around a place called "New York" is worth more votes than the vast red space of Montana, Idaho, and West Texas combined. 
• "Conservative Pundit Dennis Prager Says College Sexual Assaults Are Lies To Get Votes" That guy may be nuttier than Hannity.
• I was home about an hour early yesterday and put on my running gear. Right before I'm out the door, I get a call that the Junior in the House's car in the high school parking lot is dead and needs a jump. So I'm off. Car jumped. Success. I tell her to "drive it for awhile" to charge it up. I drive home. The car is sitting in front of the house.  "Hey, I told you to drive it." She rolls her eyes and goes to drive it -- except the battery is dead again. I try to jump it again but this time nothing. Absolutely nothing. For some reason, I've got a four year old, yet never used, battery in the garage so I swap it out despite her question of, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Battery installed. Jumped. Success. I tell her to go drive the thing and charge it up. I go off on my jog. A quarter mile away I see her at an intersection. I wave. She waves back but frantically and in a panic. The car died at the intersection. How is that possible? So, me the middle aged jogger, goes and talks to a teenage girl at the intersection. A couple of people drive by giving me a weird stare. Mrs. LL has been called to bring the Gangsta Mobile and the jumper cables. She arrives. Try to jump it off -- nothing. For some unexplained reason, I have a two year old battery, yet never used, in my trunk. They go to retrieve it and return.  A cop shows up.  I fully expect I'm about to have my name and date of birth cross checked against the sexual offender list but it doesn't happen. He's a nice guy. I switch in the new battery and jump it. Success. Now I take the car to drive it and charge the battery since we are scared that it'll die again with the Teenager driving it.  Success again. I park it in front of the house.  It is now dark.  I jog anyway.
• First item in the Update deals with a tractor death near Boyd: "The man, from Decatur, was not identified pending notification of next of kin in Mexico and positive identification." Last item in the Update: "SERVICE for Jesus Saldana, 20, of Mexico is pending at Christian-Hawkins Funeral Home in Boyd." I'm guessing those two items aren't related but we'll see. 

Too Many Cops?

	Arrests by @DentonPD (@DentonPolice)
11/5/14, 2:33 PM 11/05/2014 14:10:36 Dewayne, 50 yrs old ♐ Bond: $352 BICYCLE RIDE ON WRONG SIDE OF ROAD NOT PASSING pic.twitter.com/dFxwUEC3ej

Random Decatur Drive In Ad: 1974

• Frankenstein wasn't enough? We had to add a monster?
• Before there was Lincoln, there was "Captain Kronos". 
• Hey, Chinatown!!
• Never heard of Warren Beatty in The Parallax View. 

I Think I've Found The Most Conservative County In Texas: Hartley County

Over 90% for Greg Abbott with turnout at over 60%.

The population is 5,537 which includes those in the confines of Dalhart Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

We've Got Another College Kid Winning That Basketball Contest

Unlike the one I posted last week, he got help on the rebounds. (Boy, did he need it.)  And nice 'fro on the white boy!!!