Don't Mess With The Russians

Ok, go ahead and take the Ukraine. Heck, go back and take Afghanistan. You guys are too crazy to get into a war with.

If we had youtube back in the day, Hitler might have decided to stay put as well.

Something I Heard This Morning

This is borderline bizarre.  The vocal audio track from Van Halen's Jump overlayed on the music of John Lennon's Imagine.

Double Vision

Funny Bit

Portly kid guards 7-foot-6, University of Central Florida commit Tacko Fall. The expressions make me laugh.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• I attended a retirement reception at the courthouse yesterday and met the guest of honor's mother. "You make me so mad because of what you write!!" she told me in equal amounts of authentic anger and sweetness.
• I have a weird phobia of being in a crowded room full of people I know. My friends who know that love poking fun of me during those moments. "You gonna pass out?" 
• Announced this morning: Wendy Davis made the cover of Texas Monthly's Bum Steer issue. 
• KSCS's Terry Dorsey announced his retirement and it will come very quickly. I actually listened to the station a lot during the 1990s and he and Hawkeye were pretty funny. (And I actually saw him once at the old Garcia's restaurant in Decatur.)
• Crazy story yesterday of a lady accused of killing her ex-husband and his adult child in Arlington. Two things: (1) She is in photos of the Open Carry group doing what they do, and (2) After the shooting she drove herself to a mental hospital which might just be a huge ruse. 
• Up until this year I had never heard of a transverse process fracture. Now I'm aware of three football players who have experienced it since September: Cam Newton, Tony Romo, and Bryce Petty.
• Nothing makes me cringe like seeing Dick Cheney being interviewed. The guy just seems perpetually unhappy.
• Hey, anonymous commenters, I'm not going to post assertions of fact about someone which, if not true, could be defamatory.  
• The Girls In The House (all of them) love Survivor.  I get got up in how the bits are edited to make them more competitive than they really were. 
• The attorney for the ex-JP from Kaufman County quoted Jesus yesterday in opening statements during the punishment phase of the capital murder case. Be careful there, hoss.
• The prosecutors in that case were appointed so they'll have to submit a bill. I hope some of the news stations find out how much it will be for. 
• The head coach of Wisconsin left to become the head coach of Oregon State yesterday. Part of me thinks Wisconsin is a heck of a lot better job then Oregon State. Then again, I'd rather live in Oregon. 
• How much did Kate Upton get paid to be in that video game commercial?  I bet it was a shockingly large amount. Successful video games just mint money. 
• If I ever kill Mrs. LL, it will be because she is a pack rat. (I tried to find some super glue yesterday that I could have sworn she bought the other day. Then I opened a few drawers to look for it and realize we are the National Archives of Junk.) 
• The Republican House "leaders unveiled a $1.1 trillion spending bill Tuesday night that would avert a partial government shutdown."
• My favorite Christmas gift as a kid: A miniature Bat Mobile which I could actually sit on and ride down the driveway. It was funny because it was designed for your legs to extend over the hood. But, man, it was cool. (I tried to find an Internet picture without success). 
• That first item in the Update is insane. A car left 380 and crashed a quarter of a mile from the highway? And the body is so burned that we don't know if it is male or female? 

Above The Fold

UT Pledge Class Video

What the heck was that?

I'm a short middle aged man, and I think I could whip every single person in this video. (A couple of the girls might give me a little bit of trouble, but I'm not worried about the frat guys.)

That Headline Is Way Too Nice

Edelman is being Internet destroyed. As he should be. And if anyone has a Ph.d and a law degree and is a professor: Be afraid. Very afraid.

Incredible.

(The 33 year old Edelman was in Time magazine's cross-hairs earlier this year.)

Edit: This is confusing: Boston.com announced that it could not verify the emails had had taken the story down. But it's still up at the above link.

Judge Update

There is some crazy stuff in this article.

• The prosecutor cited the lack of evidence as the reason for the dismissal but didn't ask for the video of the field sobriety tests when it wasn't included with the report? And he just dismissed the case without checking? 
• "That's not my responsibility". Oh, my. 
• Her attorney didn't know whether or not her license was suspended after the arrest? I've had a ton of DWI clients over the years, and I can promise you I know the license status of every single one of them. He represents a Texas appellate judge in a high profile case and he doesn't? 
• Side note: They offer pre-trial diversion often for DWI? Really? I like that. 

Oh, My!

PIC - 18 wheeler fire this morning on SB I35 near Valley View north of DFW. pic.twitter.com/FDCMywGZwD
— DFW Scanner (@DFWscanner) December 10, 2014

Index - 1974

There is some great Wise County history gold in that Rook Ramsey story.

And I love that tiny notice in the bottom right hand corner.

(Not) Motorcycle Death

Hey, You Guys On The Central Michigan Team, You Going To The Bahamas For A Bowl Game?

That's a funny bit.

#YOLO

12/09/2014 03:16:20 Dana, 27 yrs old ♐ DRIVING WHILE INTOXICATED http://t.co/rWrSAYThKV pic.twitter.com/sZeFd0rTZq
— Arrests by @DentonPD (@DentonPolice) December 9, 2014

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• I'm hearing there was a talk-of-the-town basis for the firing of an administrative staff member of the Chico ISD yesterday. 
• Big story on Fox 4 last night about a federal drug bust in connection with an "after hours" club.  I'm not real sure all of those kids deserve federal charges but what really got my attention is that it was all associated with  (1) an 18 and over club, (2) that opened at -- good grief --  3:00 a.m., (3) at what is a nude dancing establishment during other hours. 
• And a weird connection: One of the kids indicted was the boyfriend of the girl who went missing from the Legacy Shops in Plano.
• Prosecutors in the case of ex-JP accused of murdering Kaufman prosecutors made a big deal yesterday about the "arsenal" of weapons that he possessed. Does that have any impact? People in the Northeast are freaked out about guns, but I suspect some of my Wise County friends have their own "arsenal", and it doesn't bother me one iota.  (Well, maybe some of them with an arsenal bother me.)
• They also presented evidence that he had googled the names of the special prosecutors in the pending case. Uh, who wouldn't? 
• Yes, it creeps me out that the Sixteen Year Old In The House can drive but, man, does it have some advantages. 
• "Don't you fall for that pouty face!" - Mrs. LL to me often once the Kids In The House try to persuade me.
• I continue my rant about Medical Examiners. A Fort Worth cop was suspended yesterday for thirty days for a 2012 vehicle collision. According to the Star-Telegram, the ME "ruled [the other person's] death an accident caused by complications of multiple traumatic injuries." Wait a second. "Accident"?  Hey, the only thing a doctor can determine is that a body quit functioning because of a body part became injured or stopped functioning. How a vehicle collision occurs is out of his area of expertise. How does he know it was an "accident" (not a crime) or was the result of negligent or reckless conduct (which are crimes)?  (By the way, the cop, rightly or wrongly, was indicted on a manslaughter charge which means the prosecutors believe the officer engaged in reckless conduct. That's a "homicide", not an "accident", by definition.) 
• The Ticket had a discussion today about the iconic song, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" Very awkward line sung by Bono in there: "Well, tonight thank God it's them instead of you." 
• Man, I was right about all the Representatives trying to think of a zinger for a five second sound bite in yesterday's Jonathan Gruber hearing. The winner goes to the very unoriginal and embarrassing Darrell Issa of California: "Are you stupid?" 
• The Senate's report on torture should embarrass all of us. 
• Uh, oh. The Update misidentified one of the motorcycle groups involved in the Toy Run fight! It was the "Lost Riders" instead of the "Road Dogs".  If the Road Dogs show up for a confrontation in front of the Messenger like the ending scene in Wild Hogs, I'll be all over it. 

So Goofy. Such A Time Waste. At Taxpayer Expense.

A guy takes a flag from a display on a sidewalk and throws it into the street where it is destroyed. Is he guilty of theft? Probably. Is he guilty of Criminal Mischief (damaging the property of another)? Definitely. Both are simple Texas laws that are used every day.

But let's not charge him with that. No, let's have some prosecutor(s) -- who works for you -- make the idiotic decision to charge him under a silly and never used flag desecration statute which is clearly unconstitutional and then lets clog up the courts with the fight. (The statute, to be clear, would make it illegal for someone to buy a flag and then go home and cut it up. You can do that.  This issue was decided by the Supreme Court in 1989. Not to be deterred, the Texas legislature tried to "fix" the statute by simply rewriting it in the exact same way.)

I can't begin to explain the amount of needless public expense here. Cops, administrative staff for cops, prosecutors, administrative staff for prosecutors, a trial judge, a court administrator, an initial appeal in front of three judges who also have clerks and administrative staff, and then to the next level of nine judges all who have clerks and administrative staff.

Story.

The NFL: Family Entertainment

Book In Gold

12/07/2014 22:30:00 Casey, 20 yrs old ♑ Bond: $429 GARLAND PD WARRANT / SPEEDING http://t.co/rWrSAYThKV pic.twitter.com/XGMirMOVeV
— Arrests by @DentonPD (@DentonPolice) December 8, 2014

I thought about making a Freddy Fender joke but realized hardly anyone would get it (or think it was funny.)