Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• From 12/11/14 Random 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."  Ruth Cleveland Salyer, 73, will be buried today after a shockingly brief, yet courageous, battle with cancer.
• Let me tell you something, we've got a cluster going on in Waco with this gang gun battle. Things that jump out at me: (1) 170 of the gang members have been charged with a crime. That's beyond ridiculous and a great clue that police have no idea what they are doing. Prepare to learn of tons of cases being dismissed. Then again, the DA down there is a goofball. (2) In the meantime, gang members who were simply present (which isn't a crime and kind of a protected constitutional right) will sit in jail on a $1 million bond because there's a Justice of the Peace in Waco who also does not know what he's doing. (3) Note to media: There must be a "probable cause affidavit" prepared for every warrantless arrest in Texas. Demand to see all of them. And then do some comparison to determine how much copying and pasting was done. (4) Did the shooting begin in the restaurant of the parking lot? Waco PD Public Information Officer  Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton doesn't know and said, “It will all come out in the wash at some point." (5) Swanton is way in over his head and seems to not understand that his title includes the word "information" and not "spin" or "propaganda". (6) Eighteen Waco officers in addition to state troopers were outside the restaurant when the fight began? You kidding me? This is right out of Minority Report where an army of cops were always at the scene of a "pre-crime" but in this case it still happened. No wonder Waco PD went on the defensive and blamed the restaurant while the blood was still wet on the pavement. (7) News cames out yesterday that maybe four or more of the dead were killed by cops but no one will confirm. It's probably not confirmed because it was a cluster and no one knows. (8). Going back to prosecuting 170 of the gang members, good luck: Gangs testifying against gangs? Eyewitness testimony when all the participants (and non-participants) are dressed alike? Chaos beyond comprehension? Yeah, good luck. (9) And here's a question every defense lawyer involved in this case needs to be prepared to ask: Did law enforcement officers on the scene prepare their reports after the fact independently or did they all huddle together to get a nice and cohesive description of the facts.
• Tell me what you think about this. A Texas Supreme Court Justice last night tweets a picture of his young son and himself video chatting on the Facetime app and informing us that his son had just recited Ephesians 4 "from memory". (The judge is in bed).
• In light of the Grapevine officer's no-bill for killing the motorist, I've heard more and more of this "Obey the cops and you won't get shot" nonsense.  Hey, obey the cops or suffer the reasonable legal consequences makes sense. Obey the cops or die does not. 
• Between the conservatives and Fox News already beating up Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. this GOP primary is going to be insane. And yesterday Lindsey Graham announced that he will, uh, announce that he will run for President.  Prediction: He will be one of the first ones to quit. I've said Ted Cruz will get crushed but at least Cruz is smart and has a personality -- two traits that Graham does not possess.
• The Ticket has been playing the "mom shaming 13 year old for posting on Facebook" video.  I suspect a seed of resentment has been planted in the 13 year old which will grow for decades.
• It has to be sweeps week. Fox 4's Becky Oliver had the most confusing and nonsensical and poorly written expose on some probate/guardianship matter last night which could only cause Steve Eager to say, "What a mess."  Well, it was a mess of a report.
• I watched David Letterman for the first time in forever last night because I learned Eddie Vedder was going to perform "Better Man".  But I was stunned to see that Letterman's monologue was even worse than I remembered -- it was cringe worthy --  and this is at a time when the best joke writers in the world should be involved. (But Vedder was kick arse. Video here.)

Waco Gang Shooting Linked To Wise County

Edit: Link to story.

And the Messenger covered it at the time. 

Random Thought at the time about the Toy Run:

Get Me This Real Life Bobblehead Puppy!

(Edit: Not sure about the first comment telling me I linked to the "wrong" video and it "makes [me] look bad."  But it did cause me to scramble thinking I had posted a different video. Nope.)

No Charges Against Grapevine Cop Who Shot Motorist

Tarrant County Grand Jury no bills Grapevine Police officer in shooting . District Attorney's office released some dash cam video @NBCDFW

— Julie Fine (@JulieFineNBC5) May 18, 2015

Some?

You don't see Ruben Villalpando get shot on vid. Officers yell at him to stay at the back of the car. He doesn't. pic.twitter.com/2PJQMdFN7q

— Lauren Zakalik (@wfaalauren) May 18, 2015

Edit: Here's the video (package in a PR piece from Grapevine PD.)  Hey, I'm not saying the officer deserves to be indicted because obtaining a conviction would be next to impossible (once you have a jury who will apply the reasonable doubt standard.) But was the only option to shoot and kill the guy?

Lindsay Lohan Performing Court Ordered Community Service

At the TLC Women's Shelter in New York City over the weekend.  She has 125 hours to get in before the end of the month.

Commencement Address From Naval Adm. William H. McRaven

I learned about this last week (it happened a year ago) but, man, it has really stuck with me. In addressing the graduating class of the University of Texas, he had some advice which some thought quirky coming from a Navy SEAL During training, he told the audience, he and his fellow servicemen were all required to make their beds. It seemed to be a mundane and silly task at the time. But now, his first piece of advice to those about to make their way in this world is this: Make your bed.

"If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can't do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.

"And, if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made — that you made — and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.

"If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed."

I cannot tell you how much I believe this. Many, many years ago, after a particular troubling time, I resolved to make up my bed every day.  I had no idea why I decided to do that because I never made my bed.  But now I know what was behind my newly found motivation.

When Mrs. LL and I got married, I told her I would have few requests and almost no demands. But I did have one: The bed would be made every day. I didn't care if it I did it or she did it or we did it together, but I told her that it was very important to me. And, I'll be dang, we've kept it up.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• The Texas House Republican Caucus approved a pledge of a "one man, one woman" standard for marriage on Friday to show how conservative they actually are. I loved the formal text of the document which starts off saying they all support the Texas Constitution which has "been in effect" since 1876. But they quickly had to admit that the gay marriage ban contained in that Constitution has only been there for less than nine years.
• By my count, the Wise County grand jury just indicted 53 people.  Of those, 27 were for drugs. 
• I used to mention the ultra conservative DA from Williamson County, John Bradley. He ultimately lost re-election after he opposed DNA testing requested by the ultimately declared innocent Michael Morton.   What I did not know is that he is now a prosecutor in the AG's office of . . . the country of Palau. (Survivor was filmed there in 2004).
• The attack on Twin Peaks by the Public Information Officer for the Waco PD continues to strike me as incredibly odd.  I'm not sure Waco PD simply didn't immediately go into CYA mode after shootings.  They obviously knew there was a potential for trouble -- you can't say Twin Peaks had been uncooperative without knowing trouble was brewing -- but it happened anyway. So what did the PD do? Immediately blame the restaurant instead of the bikers gangs. Look at this statement: “What occurred here today is the worst-case scenario when a business owner puts profit over human lives.” - Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton. That is beyond bizarre for a police officer to say that while the bodies are still warm.
• And my CYA theory is bolstered by this comment by Swanton: "I will be extremely transparent throughout this process. We will not hide anything from anybody." That's a statement of someone who is worried about being blamed.
• You thought biker gangs didn't exist? Richie Whitt, back in 201 2010,wrote in the Dallas Observer about how they gather every weekend all over Dallas at restaurants/bars.
• I watched abouts six episodes of Mad Men and then bailed.
• Mrs. LL will turn on women's college softball if nothing else gets her attention. Last week I walked in and she was watching the Big Ten Network.
•  "Obama announces restrictions on distribution of military-style equipment to police." Finally.
• I haven't paid any attention to it, but I saw the Houston Rockets made the Western Conference Finals. "That's not a very good team over there." - Mark Cuban back in April before the Mavericks faced them in the playoffs.

A Real Life Quentin Tarantino Movie Broke Out At Waco's Twin Peaks

Police: 9 dead after shooting between biker gangs in Texas http://t.co/hQWl1lFHjd

— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 17, 2015

Or worse than a Tarantino movie . . .

Edit: And are the Waco Police actually law enforcement or are they personal injury lawyers? Within hours of the carnage they blame the restaurant? Anyone else responsible for this?

Waco PD: "What happened today could have been avoided," if Twin Peaks mgmt. listened: https://t.co/LVkwLIpiZY #TwinPeaksShooting

— Ellie Holmes (@ellierosetx) May 17, 2015

Random College Baseball: How You Handle Being Hit By A Pitch

But I don't think I'll get the play-by-play guy's description of it out of my head for the rest of the day.

Johnson County Rescue Attempt Uses Drone! And It Was Cool!

 Rope Strung From Road To People On Porch

And That's How The Rope Got There

Edit: So much for the rope. With the water receding and the guy even talking to WFAA on the phone calmly saying everything is fine, a blackhawk helicopter (????!!!!)  comes in to airlift them. 

A $10.9 Million Dollar Ranch By Lake Bridgeport Featured In Houston Chronicle?

Story. (Which is probably a paid ad, but still interesting.)

It's called Lucky Star Ranch. I'll admit to not even knowing it was there.

Taking You Into The Weekend: Great Sacrifice . . .

. . . yet a poorly executed tackle.

GoGardenClub.Com Virus?

I've received two emails about a potential site problem today. The most recent:

This could be MP instead of a YP[*Editor's note], but I wanted to throw this out there.

Recently when I see a post of yours in Feedly [a news and blog aggregator where you can see a list of newly updated sites] , I'll click on it to open in a new tab, but instead of your website pulling up, I'm redirected to gogardenclub.com. This also happens if I just go straight to LL.  Your blog pulls up, but if I open a link in a new tab, I'm taken to that other website.

I've tried this on my work PC in IE instead of Chrome, and I couldn't not recreate the issue.  But oddly, this only happens when I visit LL, it doesn't happen on any other website.

I'm leaning towards it's a MP instead of a YP, but just in case someone else mentions some weirdness along this level, you can start to trouble shoot.
_________________
*MP/YP is lifted from the dialogue of the great movie Boogie Nights. (Record Producer: "That's not an MP, that's a YP, your problem. Come up with the money, or forget it." Reed Rothchild: "Okay, now you're talking above my head. I don't know all of this industry jargon, YP, MP, whatever."
********************
A faithful reader has found this message board where others have recently experienced a problem on other sites.  I'm trying to figure out how this is happening, whether Liberally Lean has any impact on it, or whether it is just malware out there that is spreading regardless of this blog. Not that I want it to be just a YP, but I've got enough MPs as it is.

Edit: I deleted one of the side widgets (Sitemeter) which is rumored to have been the problem. We'll see. And a Google search of Sitemeter and GoGardenClub reveals that may just be the problem.

Bride Jumps In Water To Celebrate. . .

. . . Husband almost found out that "until death do us part" isn't that tough of an obligation in certain circumstances . . . like when your bride almost drowns after the wedding.

Jumps at :50.

Kentucky Law Enforcement Bringing The Heat After Officer Involved Shooting

He's glad the guy who was shot was white. "We don't want trouble." (Cued up)

This guy says there is never an "unarmed encounter" with law enforcement because even if the suspect doesn't have a gun, the cops will. Ummmmkay. Technically true.  Yet, practically confusing if that logic is used, even in part,  for justification of any shooting. (Cued up.)

(h/t Keith.)

And Another: Mesquite, Texas

The "victim" was 18 years old.

Hey, who does she look like?

Edit: Man those answers came in fast and furious.

SNL Character Debbie Downer Played By Rachel Dratch

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• I don't have any trouble with George Stephanopoulos’ $75,000 donations to the Clinton Foundation just like I wouldn't care if Chris Wallace donated that amount or more to the Heritage Foundation. But I do have a problem with Stephanopoulos just last month being dismissive in an interview with Peter Schweizer (the author of a new book which is critical of the Clinton Foundation) without Stephanopoulos disclosing the donations. This might turn out to be a Brian Williams/Dan Rather type problem. 
• WBAP's Hal Jay (who yesterday said he had to Google who Harriet Tubman was and found out that "she is considered a hero . . . (pause) . . . by some") said this morning that the national media has an "agenda" while WBAP and local media do not. 
• I'm surprised that Amtrak doesn't have technology which automatically slows down a train as it goes into a maximum 50 mph turn. And have it where that technology cannot be manually overridden. There would never be a reason for a train to exceed the pre-set maximum speed for a particular turn. 
• Dallas Morning News today: "Editorial: Time to redouble crime-fighting efforts."  Isn't "redouble" an odd word? 
• DPS, who is certainly willing to call attention to your mistakes (i.e. speeding, defective license plate light, expired registration) has on more than one occasion this spring written to legislative leaders to whine about upcoming newspaper articles that they expected to be critical of the top brass of the agency and/or point out they may have outright lied to the legislature this session.  The DPS Director is Steven McCraw, and he appears to be about as good at his job as Roger Goodell is as commissioner of the NFL. You pay McCraw $183,498 a year (which, I assume, doesn't include the value of insurance, benefits, and pension that go with government jobs.)
• B.B. King died overnight. My limited musical appreciation had me thinking about his performance with U2 of "When Love Comes To Town" in the documentary Rattle and Hum.
• Remember a few days ago I mentioned the alleged Dallas "Craigslist" killer who was on trial for a second time for capital murder after the first jury could not reach a verdict. Well, yesterday a second mistrial was declared when that jury couldn't reach a verdict as well. Last sentence in the article: "The DA's office said the case is scheduled to go to trial again in September." You kidding me? Three points: (1) You guys in the DA's office have had two attempts at this and couldn't get it done. You really think your duty of "not to convict, but to see that justice is done" is being honored? (2) How on god's green earth do the prosecutors believe that guy actually committed the murder? Those facts don't support that and two juries have told you that by not being able to agree. You guys are guessing if you believe it to be true. Pick up a book on Michael Morton and actually think about your responsibilities instead of just picking up a government check as a potentially innocent man's life is destroyed along the way. (3) OK, the Supreme Court has said, amazingly, that it is not a violation of Double Jeopardy Clause to retry a man after a hung jury.  But has there  been a ruling on when there are two hung juries? 
• Junior In The House to me last night: "Have you ever heard an elephant sneeze?" I was expecting to be shown a video, but she just wanted to ask the question. 

Snakes On A Door In Little Elm

Dude...no. #CreaturesoftheFlood #LittleElmPark @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/RP2R1tooZB

— Brian Scott (@BrianScottNBC5) May 14, 2015

Sheesh. City people. We have snakes twice that big on the courthouse square. Flashback.