Tuesday Afternoon Golf Swing Analysis

Back at it after a quick hiatus.  @nikegolf x #kellerrose

A video posted by Katrina Brodsky (@keller_rose) on Aug 31, 2015 at 5:20pm PDT

Pretty ... pretty ... pretty good.

Let's See If Gary Patterson Has Anything To Say About Those Arrests

Oh, my!!!

Story.

Art Briles is now looking North just like he looked across the sidelines at Patterson in 2011. This feud is beyond great.

Get Me A Sphynx Cat!!!

And keep this Cat Lady away from me!!!

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• And I'm officially back. (And that photo reminds me of a Florida beach in the panhandle. Uh, the landscape, not the gal.) 
• The City of Bowie is going to put "In God We Trust" on all first responder vehicles. The police chief thinks it will have a "calming effect" on those they are called to help. 
• And the Montague County DA has still not released the records in the Pepper The Police Dog Shooting. Why not?
• Mrs. LL was watching the horrible Twister movie this weekend when I perked up because I heard a familiar old voice on the screen. There was a brief scene of one of the characters watching TV, and the voice I heard was that of Judy Garland because the character was watching A Star is Born.  We backed it up to verify it was her. And then it took us thirty seconds to figure out how clever inserting Judy Garland into Twister was.
• There have been a lot of conspiracy theorists about the clock-making-kid who was briefly arrested. Get prepared to be shocked: I think something is a little suspicious regarding how quickly the national media jumped in. And if you think the arrest was orchestrated and planned by his dad and the kid went along with it, I wouldn't necessarily agree with you, but I wouldn't call you crazy. 
• I stumbled upon Rush Limbaugh yesterday. You know what he said? It's on his home page right now: "What's gonna happen next online is advertising is not gonna look like advertising.  And it's not gonna have pictures.  It's gonna [be] present[ed] to you as a news story." Rush and I are on the same page?
• Presidential hopeful Dr. Ben Carson got into heat over the weekend for saying, "I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that." I don't have any problem with him saying that. He said he wouldn't advocate (meaning "support" or "recommend") it. He didn't say that a Muslim should not be allowed to be president. That's a big difference. Side Note: Why would it be such a big deal if a Muslim was president? 
• I just reread the last three bullet points. I'm worried about me. 
• College Football: (1) That Longhorn loss was heartbreaking, but I've said from the beginning of last year that Heard needed to be given a chance. It's early, but he has a little Vince Young in him. (2) Two TCU players "were arrested Monday afternoon, accused of beating up fellow students and stealing their Keystone Light beer." Sheesh. But that will technically get you slapped with a robbery charge. (3) A Baylor coach was on the sideline of the OU/Tulsa game in violation of NCAA rules. Did you know that you can't scout a future season opponent in person? And that coach graduated from Oklahoma and is married to Art Briles daughter. He took his wife and kids with him. (4) Kliff Kingsbury calling out the Arkansas coach was great. (5) OU's quarterback looks fantastic. How does that guy walk on and be a starter at both Tech and Oklahoma? That's insane. (6) We are entering the era in the Big 12 where no one has a defense because of the crazy offenses. Every game will come down to outscoring the other. Expect to see a whole lot of final scores with both teams putting up at least 35 points. (I just typed "35" at 8:22 a.m. and George Dunham on The Ticket said the same thing two seconds later. I promise.)
• The DWI case against a pretty hip Dallas prosecutor who through out the KKK during his arrest, has been dismissed. Hey, the dismissal may be justified but that just looks bad all the way around. 
• BagOfNothing has mentioned a version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" the last couple of days. When mom was in the Memory Center, they would sometimes in the afternoon play really old songs. It was pretty cool to see the faces of those who would suddenly recognize an old favorite. One day, my favorite version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", sung by a guy who died in Honolulu, was played but that was in error. They stopped it and then fired up Judy Garland's original version.
• The fact that Liza Minelli is Judy Garland's daughter still blows my mind for some reason. 
• For fun: Ten great covers of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow."
• Looking at the Emmy winners made me realize (1) Network TV is dead, (2) Original programming on Amazon and Netflix programming might be the future of entertainment, (3) I'm missing a lot of great shows because I didn't recognize 75% of them. 
• DA Susan Hawk is going to have to resign . . .

First Jade Helm And Now This

And to think our governor was once a judge on the Texas Supreme Court. A judge whose judgment on all things seems to be beyond questionable.

It's enough to make me want to cry.

I Fear The Natural Gas Explosion

NEW photos of #Waxahachie home #explosion ctsy John Nix. He helped rescue a brother & sister inside @wfaachannel8 pic.twitter.com/AqhOMPcsuq

— Jenny Doren (@JennyDoren) September 21, 2015

Give One Guy An Emmy And Get Another Guy An Ambulance

what is this? goff caught texas coaches telling player to go down. *fake your injury* #CALvsTEX pic.twitter.com/kOWS1O3cHA

— andee olivares (@o3flasho3) September 20, 2015

Texas lost on Saturday (talk about a heartbreaker) but may have it's wheels back on if they have found their quarterback.

But my favorite part was above.

And here's the guy that looked like he needed an ambulance:

RIP #Bama QB Cooper Bateman, he had a good run #MISSvsBAMA https://t.co/2ZdQiS8Xyt

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) September 20, 2015

Random Monday Morning Thoughts: Mom's Passing -- Final Thoughts Before Moving On

• I want to say this first and foremost. I've cried a great deal over the last four days, but it has almost always been triggered by the outpouring of love expressed to me and my family. I don't care if it was a Facebook "like" or an email or a personal visit or flowers or attendance at the service or helping with food or just giving me a knowing glance. Those expressions of love have created joyous tears. And for those who I haven't even heard from, I feel your love. (Explained below).
• The obvious finally dawned on me: What I was going through was not unique. Many of you have lost a parent. If not, you will. Every human on the face of this Earth will experience this. But I am ashamed of myself for not realizing the emotions others have felt even when the death was expected. 
• I can't count the times that I've seen a notice in the Update about the death of the parent of a friend of mine. I'll be honest: I normally didn't send a card or message on most occasions. But my heart broke for them. I assumed they knew I loved them. And you know, I was right. I feel that love.
• For those of you I hugged (and there were many), I apologize for holding on too long and too tightly. 
• As I've said, my mom had a long and wonderful life. I knew the end was near. But for those of you who have had someone taken suddenly and/or at a young age, what you experienced is exponentially more heartbreaking than the passing of an elderly parent. There were many times over the last few days where I sat in silence and thought about what it would be like to have the person in the casket be your child or any close loved one who was taken away without warning. 
• It is no secret that my mother suffered from dementia. I was slow to acknowledge it. And this is a warning to those who are dealing with or will deal with it: The closer you are, the slower you will be able to see it. 
• And this is a promise: If you have to deal with the issue of dementia and are frightened out of your mind by what you are seeing, contact me. I will meet with you to talk about it any where and at any time -- on your terms. And that is exactly what my mom would want me to do. 
• THIS is important: My mom spent time at Stagecoach Rehabilitation in Bridgeport and at the Willow Bend Memory Care Unit in Denton. I cannot express enough love and appreciation for every nurse  or attendant in both of those places. You do a job not for the money but because you love the elderly.  I watched every step you took and listened to every word you said, and all of you were fantastic.
• Here's a snapshot of what I mean by that: Mom had been moved into Stagecoach and, as we were getting her settled in, she swore she had seen two people kidnapping two children at the airport about an hour earlier. (Sound crazy? That was just another day for us.) She was so upset and wanted us to do something. The pleas were nonstop. We had to help the children, she said! I had no idea what to say other than, "It will be all right and I'll check on it." But she wouldn't calm down. A cute little attendant at Stagecoach saw what was going on and told mom, "Don't you worry, honey! I'm leaving right now to track those people down and I'll beat the crap out of them!" And, with that, mom was calm. If I didn't tell her, "Girl, I love you and you are a genius!" I'm doing so now.
• But I'll also admit there were bizarre moments even in the best of facilities: For example, I watched a wonderful volunteer folk band put on a concert to thirty Alzheimer's/Dementia patients. They were great and I was loving it. So was mom. Then they actually played a song named, "Time Is Not Your Friend." As I looked around the room, I realized I might be the only one shocked and horrified. 
• No one wants to talk about the process of death as it is ongoing. And once it is over, no one wants to remember it and talk about it either. It's a sledgehammer that everyone refuses to acknowledge. 
• Shout out to Hawkins Funeral Home. Good job. (But I did have scenes from Six Feet Under passing through my mind from time to time.)  My brother and I dealt with Brant. I've known him since we were  both children and he knew mom all his life. That was a comfort that most people don't have. 
• If you want to know how pricing of a funeral works, I'll be happy to tell you. It was what I expected but didn't know how it worked. I have no complaints. 
• As Mrs. LL was on the way to the funeral on 287, she passed a truck carrying the vault that my mom would eventually reside in. Have you ever seen a vault being transported? Me neither. 
• Shout out to BagOfNothing on Friday for turning into Liberally Lean for the moment. 
• Liberally Lean was mentioned during mom's funeral service. That will probably be the only time it is referenced again in a House of Worship. I fear mom turned to God at that moment, threw her hands up, and said, "Can't you do something about that boy?"
• One thing I will never forget on Wednesday morning after receiving the call that something may be horribly wrong: As I was quickly walking towards the ER at Denton Regional, expecting to receive confirmation of my mom's death, I looked over to my left and saw my  brother walking just as fast from a different direction. We walked in together and were met by the chaplain. 
• Maybe the oddest moment after I learned something may be wrong on Wednesday morning occurred right before I was about to rush to Denton. I saw Judge Cude walking around the courthouse square to pick up "steps"  for exercise. I had a simple plea hearing that morning and wanted to tell him I needed it rescheduled. (That was dumb. His staff would figure everything out in the next thirty minutes if I hadn't said a word.)  I stopped him and tried to say, "I think my mom has died . . . " but got choked up. Instinctively, I held up two fingers which is what I do for the Family Pups and my Family Members to give the signal of "Hang on for a second".  Judge Cude looked at me confused and asked, "Two?" A moment of humor that was desperately needed. 
• I've kept the comments off for two reasons on the previous posts: (1) I don't want to be perceived as wanting sympathy, and (2) I did not want to find out there might be a troll out there that would dare say a hateful thing.  I didn't have the energy to go all Karl Childers on someone. I do now. 
• I'll end with this: A dear friend emailed me in the late night hours after mom's funeral. She, too, had lost her mother recently. She wrote a loving note to me and then told me she wanted to end with some comedy.  After looking at photos of my beautiful mom in her younger days, she noticed that I looked exactly like her. So she mentioned that if I ever wanted to go "all Bruce Jenner" that I'd make a good looking woman. And with that, I laughed and went to sleep with a smile on my face.  That is a friend.
• I will probably add/edit this post over the coming hours. And I have one more post coming right out of The Notebook. And then it will be time to move on. 

As Things Slowly Get Back To Normal, This Made Me Smile

It'll Be A Little Slow Around Here: My Mom Has Passed Away

I found an old 8 mm home video a couple of years ago. It had been stored in a closet in my parent's home for years. That's her. I'm guessing it was 1960. I wasn't even born yet.

But as of today, it's even more wonderful than it was when I first viewed it.

A beautiful woman leans over and checks on her first born child,  pauses, looks at all of us, smiles, and then exits gracefully.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• I've got an elderly gentleman who lives by me and speaks nothing but Russian. Whenever we try to communicate, it is comical. The other day I wrote him a note asking him if he had family or friends that served in World War 2 because I would love to hear about it (his family could interpret.) It was just fun to have him a note he couldn't read with me pointing at my brain and smiling (trying to communicate, "That's something I've thought about for years.")
• If I'm Mack Brown, I'd be TV analyst over the Texas AD any day of the week and that's a no brainer. Any coach which goes into TV almost never goes back. It's less work, less stress, and the money is great. 
• The drama in Rhome is really insane. Here's the Facebook page someone asked about. 
• Here's a photo of a Fed Ex big rig on fire this morning near Terrell.
• This will now abruptly end because of a phone call I just received. Family related. 

Keep An Eye On This Story

This investigation had to be going on a long time. And they moved this morning. Story.  I wonder what prompted that?  I just had a thought about a rabbit.

And this crazy post is based upon an unsubstantiated hunch. And also my belief that "nothing is as it seems".

Edit: If this makes any sense to any of you out there, email me.

Oh, My

Student dies after school bus falls off Houston overpass http://t.co/WuJ8LOnDwk pic.twitter.com/TU3B1Gv0Gg

— WFAA TV (@wfaachannel8) September 15, 2015

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

Girl In Trump Dress In Dallas

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

• Breaking: Charles Manson is dead.  Edit: At least The Ticket just said that but I'm having a hard time confirming it. Double Edit: We have a Monty Python like error. He's not dead yet. 
• Breaking Sports News: Texas AD Steve Patterson expected to be fired by UT President. (I still haven't read Chip Brown's article on Patterson from a couple on month's back, but when he was hired everyone knew he was pretty much a nut.)
• The crap I hear some lawyers tell their clients in the Wise County courthouse hallways is amazing. 
• I had one out-of-town lawyer come up to me last week and say, "Can I ask you a little legal advice?" That made me smile because it was brutally honest admission of "I need a little help here." But he had a basic (and very good) question about how a judge handles certain issues. I was more than happy to help him out. 
• I've always been a fan of dramas but it's funny how technological advances have quickly made made some past scenes seem silly. Tom Cruise in The Firm moving boxes and boxes of documents so they can be hand copied. Harrison Ford hitting the "PrtSrn" button on a computer as fast as he could in Clear and Present Danger. 
• I was talking to a guy yesterday about the details of "Load Left" -- one play in the Texas/Nebraska championship game almost twenty years ago. He remembered more than I did. Still the gutsiest call I've ever seen: 4 and 1 at your own 29 leading 30-27 with 2:39 left. You don't punt it, you don't try to draw them offside, you don't run it, you throw it with this result. 
• Man, those New York papers are brutal: Look what they did to Eli Manning after the loss to the Cowboys. 
• I actually made a lady spit out her drink last week when I told her, "I want to be cremated and shot our of a cannon from the Wise County bell tower. But with glitter added." (That was a joke I made probably two years ago, but I'm leaning towards actually doing it now. Anyone who showed up to watch would know I'd be smiling at that moment.)
• I think I see a demographic pattern in the photo below. 

You Should Have Taken Your Family To The Cowboy Game Last NIght!

Language warning.

Explain to me why you want to pay for outrageously priced tickets, outrageous parking prices, outrageous concession prices, and a crappy view just for the experience of that?

If Cowboys Stadium had been made out of stone, it would look like this in the future. There will come a day when everyone wants to stay away.

The Tarrant County DA Just Killed Me With Kindness

This came in the mail today. I spent a short period of time in the Tarrant County DA's office almost 25 years ago.

I've dogged the new Tarrant Couny DA, Sharen Wilson, mercilessly.  Even I thought I crossed the line a couple of times.

Well played Madam DA, and thank you for the photo.

This is how you handle critics.

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I've been told I must watch John Oliver's show from last night and his segment about public defenders. 
• I can't wait to tell someone that they changed the channel with 1:30 left in the Cowboys dramatic game last night. (In her defense, I constantly rant about how I don't care about the Cowboys, and it didn't look like I was even remotely paying attention. That was a funny moment.)
• Trump packing the AAC tonight is truly amazing. I remember my dad asking me if Obama could win before his first election because most of us thought it was unlikely. But I remember telling him Obama had packed Reunion Arena a couple of months before and that made me believe it was possible.
• Rick Perry dropped out of the presidential race on Friday. I'll give him credit: He was smart enough to realize he didn't stand a chance and announced it at a time to get as little press coverage as possible.
• On talk radio, there has been an insane number of references to Periscope over the last couple of months. Of course, my paid-ad-disguise radar went off. I didn't think much of it until I was listening to a Mark Davis podcast from Friday where he and his crew were making their season Cowboy predictions. (Now that's bad radio, by the way.) Anyway, "Producer Rhonda" made her prediction and justified it by saying "Periscope is ... is... uh ... suggesting that [Orlando] Scandrick is coming back in two weeks." That may be the craziest thing said on radio. First, Scandrick has a destroyed knee and is out for the year. Secondly, Periscope is a live video app.  And Mark Davis' reaction was pretty funny. (8:30 mark here if you want to listen.) 
• Holy cow! This excerpt from the Dallas Morning News article on the Waco Bikers case: "[Sheriff Parnell] McNamara describes the county's criminal justice system as a close-knit Christian 'posse' of Baylor University graduates committed to 'putting away as many hard-core criminals as possible.'" I've said it from the beginning: The arrest of 177 people is going to turn into a disaster for law enforcement and prosecutors. 
• Sports: (1) TCU beat Stephen F. Austin 70-7. Soft schedule? Nope. The fact they played and won against a (probably) good Minnesota team means they could play Springtown and they won't be criticized. And I understand that. (2) Baylor's backup quarterback is probably better than the starter. But Art Briles has a crazy faithfulness factor.  If there is not a significant difference between Junior and a Freshman, he'll go with the Junior. That loyalty may be the secret to his success. (3) A lot of the guys from the Ticket traveled to Knoxville to see OU vs. Tennessee. I went to a game there once after watching the first quarter of an Alabama game in Tuscaloosa earlier in the day. That spur of the moment decision to do both almost killed me. (4) SMU playing TCU next week will be interesting.
• We had "rabbit" talk yesterday. From the origination of "when the rabbit got the gun" to the rabbit in Fatal Attraction to the family's failed rabbit experiment. 
• I've received a second video regarding Rhome (see post below), but it'll take me a while to get it processed and posted. 

Video Of Rhome City Council Meeting: Wow!

Here are screenshots of the video for now. I'm trying to convert the video, and I'll update this post once it is done.

This is not about physical abuse. This is about citizens being removed from a public meeting for the slightest of comments.

I know WFAA has the video. I suspect others will quickly be on it. But, as always, I could be wrong. However, if I had to bet, I would put money that the Chief is about to get his 15 (unwanted) minutes of fame.

What's one of my favorite sayings?: "This isn't so fun now that the rabbit has the gun, is it?"

Edit: Video is (or will be eventually) here. (Hey, media: Give Liberally Lean a plug, OK? I'm the hardest working man in show business!)

This is what gets my attention: The long time and respected City Attorney was let go at the beginning of the meeting . He gets up, and says a few words which can best be described as "words of warning." The audience stands up and applauds. You can tell that certain members of the city council are none to pleased with the crowd's expression of free speech.

And then Chief Davis makes an appearance. I have no idea if that was prompted by the crowds obvious opposition to firing the City Attorney.  That would be a response based upon the content of the the crowds as opposed to just being a slightly unruly crowd, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

But then I got to around the five minute mark when things started to heat up. Holy, cow!!!! Now someone in the audience makes a remark (technically inappropriate but not a violation of the law), and Chief Davis jumps in. That is intimidation. It's shocking, quite frankly. And for the Chief to imply that simply failing to comply with his demand to leave is "resisting", is flat out a lie or a complete lack of understanding of Resisting Arrest. I just wished those two people would have simply sat there and refused to leave. Who knows what would have happened.

I don't care about Rhome politics. I don't know anyone involved in this mess.

But this is a classroom study of freedom to assemble, freedom of speech, and freedom from being detained without a reasonable suspicion.

Edit: I've had a couple of inquiries about the other cop in the fourth photo. He looks like just be an innocent bystander in this deal and got sucked into a controversy that wasn't his fault. I don't even know his name.