The Mexican Cartels Are Causing Death In Texas In (Un)Alarming Rate!!!

DPS just released a self-serving report on its border security efforts complete with inflated numbers regarding the value of drugs seized. But what really got my attention was this little graphic at the bottom of one of the pages:

That's it? 6.2 a year? (And that's even when using the ambiguous word "related".)  Hey, we're a big state. I was curious about the most recent Texas crime data that was available and I found this:

So the Cartels are responsible for about 1/2 of 1%? But wait. "Homicides" and "Murder" are not the same thing.  "Homicides" also includes the death of people due to the criminal negligence of others. So it's not even 1/2 of 1%. 

Get Me This Dog That Only Walks Through Doorways Backwards!!!

This Is Pretty Much My Life Living With A Bunch Of Girls

Index 1968

Posted mainly because of the "Sipes On Sports" column.  Hot opinions that were coming out of nowhere.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• On Friday and Saturday, all the local news stations led with the stories about the impending weather and showed us . . . wait for it . . . sand trucks on standby. 
• There was an article in Dallas Morning News warning about the difference between metroplex quick health care places you'll see on the corner and quick emergency rooms that look like pretty much the same thing. The difference in the amount of the cost you'll be hit with is staggering. (And, I'll admit, I have fallen victim to the corner ER place.) 
• Disconnect: I think Anchor Man 2 is stupid. Mrs. LL thinks Ali G/Borat is stupid. Edit for commenter: I did get the "deeper meaning" of Anchor Man 2-- it wasn't that deep. In fact, when all the news stations started their broadcasts last night with the insignificant snow story, I told Mrs. LL, "This is kind of like Anchor Man 2. There was someone yelling 'Let's go with the snow! Let's go with the snow' during a pre-production meeting." I just didn't think AM2 was funny.
• Family Pup 2 didn't move it all on Friday and was taken to the vet. No real diagnosis, but she made the most remarkable recovery since the dog in There's Something About Mary. (Funny moment: Mrs. LL took the dog to the vet in a travel dog crate and then walked in back later with the crate empty. I jumped up because I thought they put the dog down. But it was walking behind her.) 
• The Aaron Rogers commercial with Hans and Franz is weird. It starts with Rogers looking at them and asking, "Hans and Franz?"  And then seconds later when they tell him they are going to "pump you up", he responds with "What?"  So we are supposed to believe he knows some 1980s characters but doesn't know a signature phrase that was beaten into our brains? 
• I was still sick all weekend (but a little better today.) Nothing is taken more for granted than health -- at least until you feel unhealthy. 
• Of everything on TV, Mrs. LL and I stumbled upon and got locked into a 1998 movie called Slums of Beverly Hills.  A very funny dark comedy. (And if you're an Arrested Development fan, you'll get to see Lucille Bluth playing, in essence, what would become Lucille Bluth.)
• The Dallas Morning News did a silly piece entitled "Perry Promoted Aide With Three Alcohol Offenses on Record." I was more taken back by this: "Perry made him budget director in December 2001 and appointed him to the State Pension Review Board in 2009. The board of the cancer fund, known as CPRIT, appointed [him] to his current position."  Man, that sounds like a lot of tax dollars being wasted on lots of boards. And a lot of cronyism. 
• Stolen From The Update: "QUANAH EXHIBIT – The Paradise Historical Society and Paradise ISD are hosting the Quanah Parker Exhibit: One Man, Two Worlds, 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Paradise High School library. Rarely seen photographs of Quanah, artifacts and other Native American exhibits will be on display."  Hey, after reading the great book, Empire of the Summer Moon, I'm interested. (And that book references a Comanche kidnapping near Chico which is the subject of this historical marker.)
• Sports: (1) How does Florida State survive time and time again? But that game against Miami felt like the good ol' days.  (2) The TCU/Baylor fight continues. I'm beginning to believe that both may end up on the outside looking in. (3) Feel bad for RG3. Something weird is going on. (4) The Decatur Volleyball team has been great for the last few years. But, from what I can tell, when a team wins a best of 5 match in 3 straight sets, a high school volleyball game takes less than an hour. 
• Random discovered sentence: "The Bulls boast a veteran, talented group of receivers highlighted by seniors Raby Hawkins and Jake Simmons and junior Keenan Holdman – godson of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban."

Triple Winter Blast Alert From Delkus!!!!!

Meteorologist Ashton Altieri is roaming roads tonight. He said snow is starting to stick to the roads in Wise County. pic.twitter.com/EcC7P81z2Z
— Pete Delkus (@wfaaweather) November 17, 2014

And In Decatur Girls Volleyball Last Night

Decatur beat Big Spring 25-19, 25-13, 25-14 in the regional semi-finals last night. An emailer sent me this clip. Does a defensive player get credited with a "dig" if she prevents the spike with her face? Decatur's Caroline Lowery on the blast.

Sounds Like Insane Decatur Game Last Night

Lost in 4th overtime after Stephenville converted a two point conversion on a halfback pass. (And on the play before they pulled off a fourth down TD from 25+ yards out to tie it.)

Above The Fold

The Great Decatur/Bridgeport Cheerleader Brawl of 2001 Taking You Into The Weekend

That's about all there was to it. But it was a big deal at the time.

Decatur/Graham Made "The Ticket's" Homer Call Of The Week

It's called The Ticket, it's a DFW sports radio station that has a huge share of one of the largest media markets in the country, and this afternoon, two of its popular show hosts will be poking fun at Young County Commissioner Matt Pruitt.

To explain: last Friday, Nov. 7, the Steers came back from a 14-point deficit to win the District 4-4A title, scoring two touchdowns in the final 90 seconds of the game to force overtime. The hometown boys closed the game out with a touchdown run from Graham High School junior Nick Martin. That's when Pruitt lost his mind.

More.

I Honestly Didn't Know Who Diem Brown Is . . .

. . . [but she ]has lost her long battle with cancer, PEOPLE confirms. She was 32.  The reality star, who rose to fame on MTV’s Real World/Road Rules Challenge, had candidly chronicled her cancer fight in a blog for PEOPLE.com. Along the way, she became an advocate and inspiration for others facing similar battles, founding MedGift, a support registry for those suffering from any illness.
“I want people to know that the fight is worth it,” she told PEOPLE in October. “And that’s something that’s so important for me.”  Last month, Brown revealed the devastating news that the cancer that had been found in her stomach and colon in August had spread to her liver and lymph nodes.

Should scare the heck out of every single one of us. Or, at the very least, remind us to live while we are here.

Index - 1955

• Car wreck carnage everywhere. Good grief.
• Check out that box score for the football game. Especially the passing stats.
• The Feds went after a local guy for bank robbery even after he was probated in Wise County state court for the same offense. (Legal note: Double Jeopardy didn't protect him then -- and wouldn't now -- which is insane.)

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• In October of 2011, I wrote: "Somebody find me more info about this: Back in 2007, a UNT student was murdered with the eventual convicted murderer being caught on surveillance video in a convenience store with her shortly before her death. There was a blurb yesterday in the Texas Lawyer . . . about her parents and estate winning an $8.6 million civil judgment after a five day trial in Denton. Who did they sue? Tell me it wasn't the convenience store." Come to find out, it was the convenience store. So why do I post this now? Late yesterday the Fort Worth Court of Appeals vacated the judgment. (I thought it was an amazing legal story at the time and even emailed Lari Barager at Fox 4. She replied that she couldn't get any interest from her bosses about it.) 
• Well, we finished up the catapult project last night. It began with me saying, "Ok, so the ball needs to be projected five feet, right?" Junion In the House: "Uh, it said five meters." Recall I had already built the catapult and it was just testing time. Or so I thought. 
• Let me tell you some things about a catapult project which are capable of causing family fights: (1) The weight of the ball. (2) What that ball is balanced upon before being projected. (3) The length of the projecting lever. (4) Where the pivot point is of the lever. (5) The amount of weight used to cause the projection. (5) The Family Cat trying to confiscate the projected ball after every test. 
• Actually, everyone got along fairly well. Probably the biggest stop down moment was, at about 10:00 p.m., the Junior says, "Ok. now we just need a triggering device to fire it."
• I'm sick. But last night we noticed that Family Pup #2 was sick, too. She would hardly move and, after doing our own amatuer vet examination, determined that she would squeal if any pressure was placed on her stomach. She'll probably go to the vet today, but any ideas? She would hardly move this morning. 
• I'm going to admit I'm sick.. But last night Mrs. LL was more concerned about the sickness of Family Pup #2. She gets a pass because I was more concerned about the Pup than me, too. Hey: Can humans and dogs transfer sickness to one another? I would assume "yes" but I've never heard anyone say, "You're going to give that sickness to the dog!"
• "Mark Cuban Just Finished a Net Neutrality-Bashing, Ayn Rand-Featuring Twitter Rant." My head just exploded. How Cuban gets a pass on saying stupid things is amazing. (He was on The Ticket yesterday in full snake oil salesman mode.) In the past he said that "Google will never buy Youtube because it would be sued into oblivion" and about 15 years ago he said that broadband will never be much faster than it was at that moment. Promise. 
• Jonathan Gruber vs. Hans Gruber: Who got more press yesterday? 
• Sports: (1) Correction from my earlier note about the Texas high school playoffs: There was actually an 0-10 team who made it. (2) There is a 90% chance of snow in the TCU @ Kansas game this weekend. (3) You couldn't pay me to go to an NBA game. Some people paid to watch the Mavs win last night 123-70. (4) From the Update: "GAMES CANCELED – Slidell basketball games scheduled for tonight have been canceled." Why? (5) Worst fake punt in the history of ever last night. 
• BagOfNothing is doing my trademarked Random Thought Girl today and is trying to sneak it by us just because it is Star Wars related. He'll be hearing from my lawyer. 

Fellowship Church In Grapevine Recent Promo

What scares you: Ebola? Shootings? The economy? Natural Disasters? Terrorists? https://t.co/x18sW4znpU
— Ed Young (@EdYoung) October 31, 2014

I suppose he might mention Jesus. Or the poor. Or love. Or Compassion.  But I wouldn't bet on it.

Has the mega-church simply turned into a large group therapy session?

Oh, How I Wish The Tea Party Would Understand "The Big Government" They Should Really Fear

The seminars offered police officers some useful tips on seizing property from suspected criminals. Don’t bother with jewelry (too hard to dispose of) and computers (“everybody’s got one already”), the experts counseled. Do go after flat screen TVs, cash and cars. Especially nice cars.

In one seminar, captured on video in September, Harry S. Connelly Jr., the city attorney of Las Cruces, N.M., called them “little goodies.” And then Mr. Connelly described how officers in his jurisdiction could not wait to seize one man’s “exotic vehicle” outside a local bar.

Story. 

Al Roker Trying To Set World Record For Continuous Weather Broadcasting?

He has to follow specific rules in order for the record to be verified by Guinness:

• He must talk about weather for the entirety of the time, outside of breaks.
• He can talk about current weather, and weather seven days in the past or seven days ahead.
• For every 60 minutes completed, he can take a five-minute break. The breaks can carry over and be combined, so if he goes four hours without stopping, he can take a 20-minute break. 
• Two independent witnesses must also be there at all times. 

Link. (I can't get the video to work. For which, I'm eternally grateful.)

Index 1968

• Loved the hot opinions of Shootin' Blind in the 1960s.
• Shooting!
• "Girl of the Month"? They were doing Random Thought Girls before Random Thought Girls were cool.