12.01.2014

Never Mess With Satan

at 10:37 AM

Random Monday Morning Thoughts



  • Fantastic article in this weekend's Dallas Morning News about a fake rich guy who committed suicide. (And I know that sounds horrible to call it "fantastic".)
  • Sports: (1) I was so confident that I went back to putting up Christmas lights outside during the second half of the Baylor/Tech game only to come back later to realize Baylor almost got beat, (2) College Game Day is going to Baylor! Really surprising since ESPN seems to have an anti-Baylor bias, (3) Nebraska fires its coach even though he has won at least nine games every year? (4) The NFL has too much parity. (5) No one yells more than Dez Bryant. No one is ignored more than Dez Bryant. 
  • Mrs. LL will watch really disturbing horror movies and never flinch.
  • Speaking of horror, the Elf on the Shelve is back in the house. The guy loves doing bits. 
  • I thought I was kidding about becoming Clark Griswold this weekend, but I seriously became Clark Griswold this weekend. I was connecting extension cords looking up to appreciate my brilliant design only to see half the lights not come on. 
  • BagofNothing got handsy (pic) with a UT cheerleader? He has a UT jacket? 
  • Two things that I think are lies: (1) That this is "Cyber Monday", and (2) that Thanksgiving Eve is one of the biggest party nights at clubs of the year.
  • Mrs. LL and I have a theory of "pretend consumer product insurance." I exercised it this weekend when I went out to buy stakes for the yard Christmas lights. I was really sure I had enough but I decided to spend $3.95 for an extra box to be absolutely certain. I pretend someone walks buy and ask, "Would you buy a $3.95 insurance policy to make sure you have all you need?"
  • Can a person be convicted of a threat on Facebook when he quotes rap lyrics? The elderly Supreme Court faces that question today.
  • And note that was a federal conviction. For all of you Tea Party constitution loving folks, do you know how far we've gotten from "Congress shall make no law  . . . abridging the freedom of speech"? That is without qualification There is no exception. If a state wants to do so, fine. But the federal government was told to not touch the subject. 
  • Saw a kid riding his bike by the house this weekend who was singing, "Let it go!!!"
  • A lady who just happens to be African America walked by with her dog when I was putting up Christmas lights. The dog was friendly and jumped on me. "What's his name?" I asked. "Snoop," she said. 




at 8:35 AM

11.30.2014

Too Many Cops?


at 6:12 PM

Above The Fold

at 10:18 AM

11.28.2014

Random Friday Morning Thoughts


  • Posting Random Thoughts on Friday after Thanksgiving? Once again, I'm the hardest working man in show business. 
  • I ran the Fort Worth Turkey Trot yesterday, ended up in the 5K route instead of the 10K route, and ran through neighborhoods 20 minutes into the race to switch between the two.  I was fearful someone would accuse me of being Rosie Ruiz. 
  • Someone might accuse me of being Clark Griswold after I get through with my front lawn today. 
  • It's been a delayed reaction, but the Junior In The House being able to drive unnerves me to no end. I used to jab Mrs. LL with the line of "They grow up so fast" about five years ago because I thought it was a silly cliche. Uh, they do grow up so fast. 
  • Big thumbs up to TCU after beating the Empire last night. (And Swoopes looked like he did at the first of the year. I think I'd look at Heard for next year if I'm Charlie Strong.)
  • Coincidence?: "AUSTIN, Texas — A gunman targeted three downtown public buildings -- the Mexican consulate, federal courthouse and police headquarters -- before police shot and killed him, according to local media reports."
  • The taillights went out in Mrs. LL's Gangsta Mobile, but I was able to diagnose the problem as a blown fuse. Much to the amazement of The Kids In The House who were looking on, I had an extra fuse laying around. "For not knowing anything about cars, you sure are smart about them," might have been the greatest compliment I've ever received in my life. 
  • That commercial with Simon and Garfunkle's "America" in it reminds me that there's nothing wrong with Simon and Garfunkle. 
  • Our water bill was unusually high for the third straight month so I was fearful that we had a leak. Then it dawned on me: Do I have a vague memory about the toilet in the Kid's bathroom running constantly? Didn't I realize that a couple of months ago? Didn't I make a note to fix it? Yep. I'm an idiot for forgetting about that. (But I did have the joy of fixing it within an hour and holding up a piece of plastic in front of everyone and proclaiming, "What we have here is a defective flapper!")
  • Wedding Crashers was on last night. (1) I had completely forgotten that the great Christopher Walken was in it. (2) The football scene with Bradley Cooper is really, really funny. (3) Do I dare say it: Owen Wilson, outside of one scene in Meet the Parents ("Well so was J.C. Wow. You're in good company.") is a horrible actor. (4) I blew Mrs. LL's mind when I said, "That chick is married to Borat." She hates Borat. 
  • There's something not right about the statement from the cop who shot Michael Brown. It's just too perfect. 





at 8:44 AM

11.27.2014

Flashback To My 2005 Thanksgiving Post



Always a crowd pleaser. (The graphic is broken from back then. I have no idea what it was. But the above photo is an actual pic from the Green Household - not mine, the parents - taken a few years ago.)


at 11:08 AM

11.26.2014

Mini Me And A Turkey Taking You Into Thanksgiving


at 12:30 PM

Just For My Old Bridgeport Friends: Letters To Santa


Limited interest to my general readers, but I'm utilizing a holiday blog exception.

These are reproductions of Letters to Santa (spelling errors and all) of those in first grade with me.  I don't see my letter (I was probably out doing charity work or in a soup kitchen), but those names are a huge flashback for me.

I note that a future NFL player for ten years wanted a "fut ball".  Heck, if Santa had brought him a soccer ball, I would have put money on him ending up in the English Premier League.
at 11:10 AM

Legal News From Texas' Highest Court This Morning: I Was Wrong About This One

Opinion. Holy, cow. The State agreed with the Defendant? When did that happen?
Dissenting opinion.



(And in completely unrelated news, the insane Texas law allowing police to take blood without a warrant in some DWI situations has been declared unconstitutional by the Republican Texan court. But this was almost a foregone conclusion after a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year.)

Edit: WOW! I missed this huge dissent in another case where the Justice Price says the death penalty should be abolished.
at 9:46 AM

Above The Fold

at 9:22 AM

Local Sports Radio News

Edit: Story that followed.



at 9:12 AM

White People Rioting!


 Huntington Beach after surfing competition.
 2012 after San Francisco Giants won.
 2011 after Vancouver lost an NHL game. 
 Something about a Pumpkin Fest
 After Joe Paterno lost his job at Penn State. 
 2012 after a University of Kentucky basketball victory. 
2014 after West Virginia beat Baylor. 

at 9:08 AM

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts


  • Thoughts on the ABC interview of the cop who killed Michael Brown: (1) He's younger than I thought he would be, (2) he's more composed than I thought he would be, and (3) I have no idea if he is telling the truth.
  • Protesters in Dallas shut down part of I-35E last night.  How dare they!  Do they think they have the same right of civil disobedience as was exercised in Selma, Alabama in 1965? Hey, it's 2014. We've got places to go!
  • For me, Ferguson isn't a black vs. white issue. It's a debate over the increasing haphazard way cops sometimes use deadly force. It's a unilateral death penalty imposed by a jury of one and is always worthy of examination. 
  • All of this reminded me of the great VH1 documentary, Uprising: Hip Hop and the L.A. Riots. (Full episode here.)  I can't recommend it enough.  (And you get to see a very angry Ice-T on stage back in the day.) 
  • And the Ice-T reference reminds me of Mrs. LL asking me, "Who is this Coco you are always talking about?"  (Google her with caution.)
  • A prospect for the Texas Rangers (the baseball ones), who had already received over a $3 million signing bonus, was killed this week in an auto wreck in the Dominican Republic. (Edit: Make that "involved".) One month ago,  St. Louis outfielder Oscar Taveras was killed in a wreck in that country as well. 
  • Random Google Alert I have for "Bridgeport, Texas" revealed this nugget from the Jackson County [Minnesota?] Chronicle this morning: "David M. Jennings, 29, Bridgeport, Texas, was fined $225.70 for speeding in 55-mph zone (20-24 mph)."
  • Last night I got home and found an empty house. Changed clothes. Settled down in my chair with the Family Pups. Hit "play" to reveal the most recent college football standings that had been released 30 minutes earlier (but which I had avoided coverage of with incredible discipline.) I hear garage door open. Mrs. LL walks in and says, "I'm sorry."  Me: "For what?" She then looks at the paused TV screen and has Wild Eyes. Yep, she decided to express sympathy to me that Baylor had remained at #7 before I knew they had remained at #7. (But she gets huge Sports Cred for having any idea that there are rankings. Then again, she knows "Ragonk" and "Not Purple".)
  • Am  I old, or does the guy pictured in the Wise Wireless ad over the Update have crazy hair? (And I mean no offense.) 
  • Burleson's Reagan James was voted of The Voice last night. There used to be a time where runner ups in reality talent shows could go on to become stars. But those days are over. 
  •  Mrs. LL took issue with a commercial that said "Auto-tune had us singing like crazy in 1998." That did seem a little early for the synthesized tricked up voice technology so I googled it: Yep, Cher's "Believe" was released in 1998. 
  • Someone explain to me the first item in the Update: "BRIDGEPORT HOSPITAL TO BECOME COMMUNITY HEALTH CLINIC."  When I read stuff like that I always think, "Ok, so what's really going on here?" 
  • That Update item is almost confusing as the one about the Decatur teenager performing in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York while KISS plays.  (I had so much confused amusement while I typed that.) 
  • Can we pretend the lady below is thinking, "Oh, no you didunt . . . . "


at 8:38 AM

11.25.2014

1968 Comedy


Side note: That graphic for "Shootin' Blind" really was great for that day and time.
at 10:54 AM

In Liberal Boston?: Campaign To Go Back to the Name of "Christmas Break"


Bostonherald – With their campaign to save Christmas snowballing, traditionalists are expected to pack Marshfield High School’s auditorium tonight in hopes of persuading the School Committee to reverse its decision to rename the late December vacation as the “holiday break.”“There are signs all over town: ‘There’s Still a Christmas,’ ‘Bring Back Christmas.’ There’s some little kids in town picking up on this and wondering if Santa is going to come to their house,” said attorney Dennis Scollins, the Marshfield School Committee’s longest-serving member and one of two who stood up for St. Nick when the board voted 3-2 on Sept. 9 to replace “Christmas” with “holiday” for the Dec. 24 to 
Jan. 2 vacation.Elaine Taylor, whose children are now grown, has been the driving force behind the resurrection of Christmas vacation. Her backers will be hitting the streets today holding signs and playing Christmas carols, as well as lighting up the phone lines, reminding supporters to turn out tonight.“I’m getting an overwhelmingly supportive response everywhere I go,” Taylor said. “I’m an American. I love my country. I want to keep the values that my country and the town were founded on.”

 And we all know that if government doesn't recognize Christmas, there is no true meaning of Christmas.

(Side note: If that attorney wanted to serve up a spike for the non-believers, that statement couldn't have been more well crafted.)




at 10:35 AM

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




  • I have no idea whether the Ferguson cop should have been indicted, but that DA is mentally challenged. He holds a press conference to announce the decision at 8:00 p.m. at night with all sorts of notice? The only thing he didn't do was send out RSVP cards to potential rioters.
  • And a grand jury isn't like a regular jury. This isn't a situation of "they've reached a verdict -- time to announce it."  He controls everything about them. What we saw last night was a grasp at 15 minutes of fame.
  • And I actually agree with Michelle Malkin: "St Louis Prosecutor McCulloch criticizes media/social media at press conference timed for maximum media/social media coverage."
  • Did you hear him say that he didn't present any evidence to the grand jury but that he left the process up to his two assistance? Good lord. That's as crazy as Kenneth Starr's admission that he never interviewed or spoke to Monica Lewinsky. 
  • The DA also said his office didn't make a recommendation to the grand jury. He's lying. I ran the Wise County grand jury for eight years. I worked in grand jury section of the Tarrant County DA's office as well. Prosecutors always make a recommendation. And even if they didn't, you cannot present a case without inserting your opinion. Heck, grand jurors want to know your opinion. 
  • With the reputation of prosecutors being at an all time low right now due to withholding evidence and unethical conduct, that guy was the last thing they needed last night. 
  • And his "sympathies for the cops run deep. His father was a St. Louis policeman killed in the line of duty by a black man when McCulloch was 12. His brother, nephew and cousin all served with the St. Louis police. His mother worked as a clerk for the force for 20 years. McCulloch would have joined the force too, but he lost a leg in high school due to cancer. 'I couldn’t become a policeman, so being county prosecutor is the next best thing,' he once said."  Good grief.
  • "Former New York state Chief Judge Sol Wachtler famously remarked that a prosecutor could persuade a grand jury to 'indict a ham sandwich.' The data suggests he was barely exaggerating: According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. attorneys prosecuted 162,000 federal cases in 2010, the most recent year for which we have data. Grand juries declined to return an indictment in 11 of them." Source. (Yes, I know the Ferguson grand jury was a state grand jury, but the data would be the same.) 
  • Bottom line: There was never a chance in the world there would be an indictment. (And I said that at the courthouse last week.)
  • "This is the biggest indictment of all: The Jets' special teams are worse than the offense." -- Sports Illustrated's goofy Peter King's tweet at the moment the Ferguson indictment news was being released. He later apologized saying he wasn't aware of the news (which means he didn't engage in dark humor but instead is oblivious in general.) 
  • I came home last night and everyone in the house was wearing glasses. New. Prescription. Glasses. 
  • Today, BagOfNothing discusses my "how can you care about who wins in professional sports?" point from yesterday. I know I'm in the minority on this. However, the ultimate defining moment for me was when a Dallas Cowboy, after losing a critical last season game of the year, yelled "Free agency, baby!" as he entered the locker room. (Someone help me out and find out who that was. I can't locate it. It wasn't Pacman Jones, but it was around the same time.) 
  • TCU/Texas on Thanksgiving night is fascinating. At first I wanted TCU to lose since it would cause Baylor to jump them in the rankings. But if you are of the belief that Baylor, if they win out,  will jump TCU regardless (which should be true), Baylor should want TCU to win.  I have Sports Confusion. 


at 8:36 AM

11.24.2014

Hang On, Girl! I'm Coming To Help You!


Hey, its been years since I played Monopoly, but I think we can all accurately speculate that the cause of all this was the boyfriend taunting her after he landed on Park Place.  Or, even better, he took all his Monopoly money and made it rain all over her in some kind of victory celebration.

Story.

And, side note, Amy in Denton knows how to maintain her composure during book in.


at 4:00 PM

Random PSA From Facebook: Help This Wise County Santa Out!


And I'm jealous he's met Mark from The Rifleman!!


at 2:02 PM
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