Alabama Ignoring A Federal Court? Who Would Have Guessed?

With the issue of same-sex marriage pending before the Supreme Court, Alabama has been told by a federal court that it can't deny issuing marriage licenses in those cases.

Today, Alabama Supreme Court Judge Roy Moore said, in effect, "Oh, yes we can" has he ordered all relevant state judges to follow Alabama law (that has been struck down.)

Moore? Where have I heard of him. Oh . . .

For High School, That's Quite The Brawl

Climate Change Debate Is Over!!!

Was this sent because there's another snowstorm in the Northeast? Really?

Buddy, it's going to be in the upper 70s today in Wise County! You can't possibly need more scientific proof than that!

(I really don't have an opinion on global warning, but I do have an opinion on those who make their scientific conclusions by looking at today's forecast for America.)

Life And Death

Erath Co. DA Alan Nash tells potential jurors he will not ask for death penalty if there's a conviction. @FOX4
— Fil Alvarado (@FilAlvaradoFox4) February 9, 2015

Someone contradicted my claim a couple of weeks back that a single District Attorney can decide whether someone lives or dies. Sure, a jury must convict and assess the the death penalty when it is sought. But if the DA decides, in his eternal wisdom, not to seek it, a jury cannot give it.

Wow: Deputy Killed In Montague County May Have Been Shot By Nocona Police Officer

Story.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• No details yet, but a Montague County deputy was shot and killed last night.
• "WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of drivers on the road with alcohol in their systems has declined by nearly one-third since 2007 . . . ." Down 33% since 2007 is a shocking decline. 
• Another disaster in the Tarrant County DA's office: Letty Martinez, former chief child abuse prosecutor in Tarrant County, resigned on Friday after two decades of public service.
• And there is now a fake Tarrant County DA twitter account. There seems to be an underlying theme that the office is not friendly to prosecutors who have children. 
• I was stunned to learn the other day that DPS required all ten fingerprints to renew a driver's license. (A new legislator introduced a bill to stop the procedure.) No need. DPS says it will discontinue the process.
• The number of Iraqi civilian deaths during our invasion of that country are estimated to be anywhere from 150,000 to 1,000,000.  And I don't remember seeing a single one during American Sniper.
• The median starting salary for lawyers is $62,000 -- down 13% over the past six years. Surprising? Yet check out how the salaries of government lawyers have increased over the same time period. 
• I watched two episodes of what may be the greatest show I've seen in years this weekend: The BBC show Black Mirror.  Trust me! It's a bizarre modern day Twilight Zone. Start with The Entire History Of You (would you want to live in the world where everything you see, and your partner sees, is recorded from a device in your eyes?) and then go onto The National Anthem (would the Prime Minister be willing to do an unspeakable act on national TV to save a kidnapped member of the Royal Family?)
• Maybe I was tired, but the Better Call Saul better step up its game.
• An email Mrs. LL received four years ago from a stranger: "My wife is very upset that your husband posts daily pictures of young girls in bikinis. For what purpose? What do you think this does to the wives when they discover their husbands are reading your husband's blog when there are a million other blogs with excellent discussions without the photos? Are any of the pictures of you, or your daughters, or your girl friends, nieces, etc? Woman to woman, do you approve of what he's doing?"  I think that was written by a woman who forgot she was ghost writing the email.  
• The Grammys were on last night and I kept asking, "Who's that?"
• Let me backtrack from Friday: I'm not sure Brian Williams survives this. But if he's not gone by the end of the week, he'll make it. 
• Mrs. LL and I always watch movies with closed captions on. We watched one this weekend which had the Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter playing in a scene.  The closed caption at that moment?: "[Peppy music]". I would have paid money to be in a room with Mick Jagger at that moment.  
• I'll send notes to myself sometime for potential random thoughts. This is one that I emailed to myself yesterday: "coat hanger door lock memory."  Ironically, I have no idea what that means. 
• Mrs. LL worries about my memory.  I heard The Ticket's Bob Sturm talk about how he has noticed he can remember incredible details from decades ago but when it comes to remembering things from the last five years, not so much. 
• The missing dogs of Wise County will not go away . . . 

Jacksboro: Live Ammo?

Conspiracy At The Fort Worth Stock Show!

Grand Champion Madilyn Priesmeyer with her steer "Bob Marley." @wfaachannel8 #FWSSR pic.twitter.com/xYTwJnFe3j
— Philip Townsend (@wfaaphilip) February 6, 2015

And this just happened to occur on what would have been Bob Marley's 70th birthday?  Someone drug test the judges. The fix might have been in!

(It's also a crying shame that I can't find a single picture of Bob Marley with a cow on the Internet.)

Get Me These . . . . Animals!!!!

Published 25 Years Ago (Yesterday)

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• The only reality show I feel good about the Family Unit watching is Lifetime's Child Genius.
• The Supreme Court yesterday stopped the execution of a man convicted of killing four men in an airplane hanger in Grayson County.  I could have sworn the case was featured in either the Dallas Observer or Fort Worth Weekly because it does have a very "are we sure he did it?" feel. But I can't find any article in either of the two.  
• Speaking of true crime, there is a rumor floating around that the next Serial series will feature a Texas case. That Grayson County case could be it. But I'd love it if it featured Darlie Routier. 
• "All these people saying [the pass play by Seattle] was the  worst call ever, they’re idiots. Never take advice from someone who doesn’t have to live with the consequences." -- Mark Cuban. What the heck does that last sentence mean? Also, if you want a giggle, just Google "Mark Cuban gives advice" and see how often he gives advice to people in a situation where he can't suffer the consequences for being wrong.  
• Fox 4's Steve Eager in a very weird "Viewer's Voice After Dark" filmed with a cell phone at his house after midnight. (The guy seems pretty normal on the air but his Twitter feed is very Sean Hannity-like.) 
• Every now and then you'll hear the rumor that Disney wants to build a theme park near the metroplex and that Wise County has been targeted.  The Dallas Morning News has a story today about a guy accused of scamming millions of dollars from duped investors when he floated the same idea for Denton and Grayson County. (The link is worth clicking on just to see a pic of the 40 year old schmuck.)
• The new narrative: The accused killer of Chris Kyle wasn't a good soldier suffering from PTSD but instead he was a Muslim sympathizer. Sheesh. Anything to fit an Islamophobe storyline. (You can Google it but you might want to look at the name of any site which makes that claim. Hint: It's probably very, very, very Right Wing.)
• Prediction: NBC's Brian Williams survives this.  I think we've entered a new day where you can simply ride out negative publicity if your willing to. (See Roger Goodell.)
• "I tried to activate my glutes best I could." - Tiger Woods after withdrawing from yet another golf tournament yesterday. (People have been joking about his "glutes not firing" but it apparently is a common term in the health nut community.)
• And there's a crazy video of a spectator (?) who just hopped on the back of Tiger's golf cart for a few seconds as he was leaving the course. There has to be more to that story. 
• Radio Shack seems like it had been on life support for over a decade. In January 2006 they announced they missed their quarterly estimates, and I wrote then that they might want to think about changing the name of the company.

Cry Me A River, Buddy

More.

Let's see:

• You called 911 because your wife "shoved" you in the chest. Think about that. You called the cops over that. 
• The cops didn't even believe it caused you any pain and/or you said it didn't cause you any pain, so that's why it was filed as Assault-Offensive Touching. That's a Class C misdemeanor just like a traffic ticket. 
• Your wife says you were drunk, and the prosecutor cited the officer's description of your "condition" as one of the reasons for the dismissal. 
• You guys have been granted a divorce since then (but not before you went so far as to accuse her of adultery in the court papers)
• And you show up in court still wanting a prosecutor to pursue this thing? 

I'm saying this more and more these days: Give. It. Up. 

Update On The Argyle Plane Crash

Bill Graves, 52, died in Denton Co plane crash. Was a father of 6 & owned 94 Domino's pizza stores @FOX4 pic.twitter.com/1kYhVxDI60
— Natalie Solis (@Fox4Natalie) February 5, 2015

Heard This Up At The Courthouse Today

A conversation based upon the always reliable Breitbart.com

How crazy is that? Heck, that's just like the American President in Independence Day (one of the worst movies of all time, by the way).

Except the Jordanian media says "not true":

Meanwhile, a Jordanian government official on Thursday denied social media reports that King Abdullah flew missions against ISIS earlier on Thursday.

The official also noted that observers should refrain from calling King Abdullah a fighter pilot as he does not officially hold the title. He is, however, the commander-in-chief of the Jordanian Air Force.

The king is a trained combatant, part of the parachute brigade and flies civilian planes and helicopters, the official added.

Edit: A faithful reader said he thought I would have thrown in this just for fun  . . .

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Someone sent me a comment yesterday asking if I could post the criminal history of a public figure. Sure. If it is true and newsworthy. 
• I record and watch NBC Nightly News almost every night when I get home. I'm a big fan of host Brian Williams and was really moved by a story last week when he reminisced about being in Iraq a decade ago when the helicopter he was in was hit by a small missile. So I was stunned last night when he admitted it didn't happen and, blamed it on the "fog of memory."  I want to believe he simply had a faulty memory, but that's hard to do. And Fox News went into full attack mode on the main stream media (as certainly will the comment section below).
• An ironic twist on the day of the memorial service of the Pepper the dog: An off-duty Dallas police officer shot and killed a dog Wednesday afternoon moments before the memorial service began.
• Jim Leavelle, the officer wearing that iconic white suit while escorting Lee Harvey Oswald at the moment of the shooting, was up at the offices of the Dallas Morning News yesterday. Picture. When I showed that to Mrs. LL, she asked, "Do you think anyone ever asks him to recreate that facial expression he had in that famous photo?"  Pause. Silence. And then I slowly turned my head towards her. (Girl ain't right.)
• "Dallas mega-church pastor Ed Young is about to push your buttons again. The colorful and controversial minister is planning to baptize a copy of the book, Fifty Shades of Grey, this Sunday." Ed Young's antics may have him go down in history as the leader of worship's descent into Idiocracy. And they need to rename that church "The Place Which Worships Silly Bits." 
• A stat only Baylor fans will care about: Football team has gone 25-1 in last 26 home games, Men's Basketball is 17-1 in last 18 home games, and Women's Basketball is a shocking 88-2 in last home 90 games. 
• There was a Cessna plane crash in Argyle last night which caused the death of the pilot.  That was a pretty nice plane. The pilot, based upon my brief research which could be wrong, owned some company called "Dirt to Dough". But I can't find out much about it. 
• "President Obama met with American Muslim leaders this afternoon, according to the White House schedule, but so far the administration is unwilling to reveal who attended the meeting, which was closed to the press." You know why? Because in this day and time they would be harassed to no end by the nut cases out there. And I would fear for their safety. 
• "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon spent eight whole minutes on a Saved By The Bell sketch featuring the original cast, almost 25 years after the NBC Saturday morning kid-com made its premiere." It was really funny even going so far as to do subtle jokes about  Elizabeth Berkley's racy Showgirls and Jessie's insane caffeine pill freakout. 

Memorial Service In Wise County Today For Police Dog

Funeral procession for Pepper the K-9 officer is on its way to Paradise .@WCMessenger pic.twitter.com/CwMHvxIu30
— Jake Harris (@JakeHarris4) February 4, 2015

Honor Guard is standing watch over the remains of #Pepper at front of church. Seats in front reserved for WCSO. pic.twitter.com/nOniEAEEgV
— WCMessenger.com (@WCMessenger) February 4, 2015

Here's the order of service for the #Pepper memorial. pic.twitter.com/XtwSH0IRXs
— WCMessenger.com (@WCMessenger) February 4, 2015

#Pepper pic.twitter.com/mqkeI8nJjm
— WCMessenger.com (@WCMessenger) February 4, 2015

Tarrant County Constitutional Carry Strikes Again

Kory Watkins, leader of Open Carry Tarrant County, posted this video to his personal profile Facebook page on the morning of 2/4/15 then removed it 30 minutes later.

He really got geared up at 1:58 when he possibly threatened Texas legislators with the death penalty for treason if he doesn't get his way. He also makes it very clear that his group won't remain peaceful (if you can call them that) in the future if a full carry-a-gun-anywhere-without-a-license law is not passed. 

I Think It Is Safe To Say

A guy from Bridgeport has ever been named "Diver Of The Week" in the Southeast Conference.

Or perhaps anywhere. Or at any level.