Get Me This Dog!

Or get that man a new oven.

By the way, I've got a ton of questions.

(S Bomb Warning).

Fantastic View Of Dallas This Morning

Good morning DFW! This Dallas view shows the foggy conditions you are waking up to. Details: http://t.co/dQ2c6Nh4XK pic.twitter.com/IxujQugyFg
— KRLD (@KRLD) December 9, 2014

Edit: Wow

Then there's this shot of fog-bound Dallas taken this a.m. from just a BIT higher in the sky http://t.co/ziBeY6KqmG pic.twitter.com/e8i0LuDEIw
— Robert Wilonsky (@RobertWilonsky) December 9, 2014

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• A Senate committee is going to release a report on torture by our military today. There are already people in the right wing media defending our tactics before we learn what was done. 
• Mark Davis made the very odd statement this morning that some of the tactics we will learn about would not be appropriate if they were done "on our own people." Think about that. Someone should not be waterboarded (or worse) simply because they had the fortuitous event of being born on American soil? Try to explain that to an alien from outer space. "Well, when his mother gave birth, she was on this particular piece of land on our globe. That's why we don't waterboard that person. Others we don't care about." 
• And then explain to the alien why it is OK for our government to execute "our own people" by lethal injection even though they were born on that same land. 
• Today the Republicans get to fight for sound bites as Jonathan Gruber is forced to appear before a House committee. That's nothing more than a media event.  Every representative has been working on just one five second zinger that will make the national news. 
• Driving in the fog: I like finding a car's tail lights in the distance which I can just follow from a safe distance.  I fear the fog pile up. 
• There's an editorial in the Star-Telegram today by a liberal calling for the abolition of the grand jury system so prosecutors will either have to either file cases in court or take responsibility and explain why they didn't. That's crazy because grand juries are supposed to protect us for nutty prosecutors. (Obscure legal note: The U.S. Constitution's right to a grand jury has never been ruled to be a requirement of a state prosecution. But Texas has a grand jury requirement in its own constitution.)
• I promise I'll do a post on how the grand jury process actually works. I've been asked about that a lot recently.
• I'm not sure I knew Bridgeport had a Taco Bell. When I was a kid, the news that McDonald's was opening in Decatur was about as big of news as there could possibly be. 
• I've been thinking it and they talked about it on the Ticket yesterday: The Elf on the Shelf causes more pressure on the parents to not forget before going to bed that the Elf is in the same place in the house that it was that morning than it is for the kids' enjoyment. 
• Someone mentioned it in the comments yesterday and it's in the Update today: There was a fight between two motorcycle clubs in last weekend's Wise County Toy Run. Good grief. If you google the two groups, the "Road Dogs" and the "Cossacks", you'll find some pretty interesting stuff to read.
• Sports: Junior Miller researched the non-conference schedules in 1974 of Baylor, aTm, TCU, and SMU. Oh, my. How insanely tough they were. (You'll have to click around a bit, but they can be found here.)
• It's now the punishment phase in the capital murder trial of the ex-JP who has been convicted of murder.  The prosecutor's are now allowed to bring up his other alleged murders. One witness yesterday said the ex-JP was an "immediate suspect" once an assistant DA was gunned down as he got out of his car.  Normally, saying someone is an "immediate suspect" is negative for the prosecution because it leads to the belief that the cops jumped to conclusions and were predisposed. But once someone has been convicted of murder and you're just presenting punishment evidence of another murder, the State can get away with that. 
• That Hulen Mall murder plot is a script for a crazed teenager movie. 

Guy Agreed To Get Eaten Alive In A Special Suit By An Anaconda

The show ran last night on the Discovery Channel. You won't believe what happened next!!! Unless you can believe that was the worst snake eating bit in the history of snake eating bits.

Hot Texas Appellate Judge's DWI Case Dismissed

So far, most of the details I have are behind a paywall protected Texas Lawyer site so I can't repeat the whole article. But it did say the case was dismissed "In the interest of justice" and the DWI said it was because the judge didn't look bad on video.   But I love this quote from the DA: "Of course nobody believes me, but that's OK. They didn't believe Christ when he was crucified," Rene Guerra said.

A portion of the video is here. (I haven't watched it yet.)

Hey, You Gun Folks

My ears perked up the other day when I heard an ad for silencers on The Ticket's online stream from this Texas store. I'm not sure I had ever seen a print ad for a silencer and certainly haven't ever heard one on the radio. I didn't even know they were legal.

"Furry Convention" Interrupted By Chlorine Gas Leak

And gives rise to a very funny photo of dejected convention goers.

Story.

Hire This Guy!!!!

Gives it all to keep a disaster from happening, and then pops right up after being launched.

That's a man who is committed.

Random 1975 Index Page

• That "Rental Housing Survey" is interesting for the way they broke down the ages and the income. 
• I'm not sure what the "Authorized" King James version of the Bible is. 
• And chance that guy didn't find out he could win $7.50?

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• There's normally a Christmas star hanging from a crane off of the Landmark site south of Decatur on 287, but I haven't seen it this year.
• There's a PSA to stop sexual abuse I saw this weekend which might be the most powerful thing I've seen in a long time. It depicts just a regular college kid who's not a muscle head doing something to stop it. 
• Mrs. LL and I went down to the Baylor game this weekend: (1) Hey, guy beside me, you want to get control of your kid? (2) And there was the grumpiest old woman in the history of ever sitting in front us. Lady, if you don't want to be there, don't come. (3) The crowd was overall insanely loud with the exception of about 15 minutes in the 4th quarter when every realized Florida State and Ohio State would win.  Then everyone snapped out of it. (4) Shout out to an old college roommate who saw me on the bridge. (5) There were still a lot of Game Day signs on display. Funny, funny stuff. (6) Mrs. LL said she wanted popcorn but the stadium was sold out except for a bags which were big enough to feed an entire section. I bought one anyway. Her face was priceless when I returned. (7) Art Briles being shown on the video board after the game getting in the face of the Big 12 commissioner was a crazy scene that has been under reported 
• Fox News is insane in general but their Saturday morning show is off the rails. I spent about 30 seconds on it and heard the three hosts blame the President for the current state of race relations. 
• How much do you think 61 acres at I-35 and 114 just sold for? (That's just a link for the sale. I don't know the answer.)
• A group of Navy SEALs had a failed mission over the weekend which ended up in two hostages being killed. And that occurred while two of its former members are profiting from writing about the Bin Laden raid. 
• Someone called up Junior Miller on The Ticket this morning accusing him of having an anti-Baylor bias.  His recent ex-wife graduated from Baylor so that'll do it to you. I give him a pass. 
• Mrs. LL and I watched Munich on Friday night. I think I know history but there are a ton of references in that film which were completely over my head. 
• On the Karl Klement car lot south of Decatur, there are hundreds of white work trucks for sale. Who buys those? I mean, it seems like they are at least a third or more of the inventory. 
• That wreck involving a teenager from Rhome described in the Update sounds horrific. Most accidents happen in a split second but this one sounds like you could see it coming. 
• If you tried to get into Fort Worth from Wise County this morning. Good luck. I-35 was shut down between Basswood and 820 due to a fatal wreck. And it's still shut down.

Hot Sports Prediction Before The Final Four Announcement

1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Florida State
4. Ohio State
5. Baylor
6. TCU

• I said three weeks ago that the Committee would shoehorn Ohio State in there if they had any legitimate reason to do so. They do now.
• ESPN and TV have tremendous power. Ohio State means ratings in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, et. al. as well as the general college football fan. Baylor and TCU don't bring that.  
• I think Baylor jumps TCU so the Committee can give head to head, and the Committee, some credibility -- that's the only reason. 
• The only thing which gives me pause about my predicted order is that they moved TCU to #3 above Florida State last week. My "shoehorn" theory about Ohio State has a flaw there. My predicted order of finish would be a no-brainer if they had put TCU at #4 last week.
• But if they put TCU in the Final Four, they catch criticism for leaving Ohio State out and for letting them stay above Baylor after losing head to head. Putting Ohio State in is the safe political choice. 
• This stuff is really fun.  Couldn't be prouder. 
• If Baylor had to pay for the amount of TV time that "Baylor" has been seen or mentioned over the last two days, it would cost multi-millions of dollars. Same goes for TCU. 
• I don't know if it is possible, but if Baylor and TCU are both left out, it would be epic to put them both in the Cotton Bowl for a rematch on a neutral field. 

Art Briles Chewing Out Big 12 Commissioner last night for not declaring "One True Champion". Why? Because he said he would back last summer during "media days":

Edit: Boom!!!! I'm un-retiring my Sports Genius status!

Double edit (stolen from someone else): You put a Longhorn sticker or a Sooner sticker on the side of the helmets of Baylor and TCU then one, or both, are in. 

Head On Collision

Story

Above The Fold

Big College Football Weekend Taking You Into The Same Weekend

Bonus unrelated Christmas GIF:

Rolling Stone Tried To Destroy The U. of Virginia Last Month. Now Says They Were Completely Wrong.

The magazine backtracked this morning with a "Note to Readers" and using the language, "In the face of new information, there now appear to be discrepancies in Jackie's [the alleged victim's] account, and we have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced."

That's a fancy way of saying, "She lied. We bought it. Big time. And this is so bad we have to publically admit we were wrong."

Less than a week after the original story came out, UVA suspended every single fraternity on campus until the next semester pending an investigation.

Guy vs. Icicle: Who Ya Got?

Man, I would have put that hard hat back on pronto.

I Thought State Politicians Were Warning Us ISIS, The Taliban, and al Qaeda Were Coming Across In Droves

Story.

Oh, The Humanity Indeed

The Blazers in-arena blimp crashed into the crowd. pic.twitter.com/ayp5ODcIcq
— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) December 5, 2014

Can't escape the carnage.... The Ford SUV blimp crashed inside Blazers game tonight! pic.twitter.com/krGZhDSMJt
— Jonathan Maus (@BikePortland) December 5, 2014