Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• I watched the MTV Music Awards last night, and I don't think I've ever had a question mark appear over my head more often. 
• There was a quadruple high school football triple header at Jerry World #2 in Frisco over the weekend and the kids were doing bits: 
  
• 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick caught heat over the weekend for not standing for the National Anthem as a protest. I don't care, and I'm not sure why anyone would get worked up in a lather about it. (And it took America a while to get worked up. This was the third game in a row he didn't stand but the first time anyone noticed.)
• Anthony Wiener did it again.
  
• A "K9 Deputy" in Oklahoma died after being left in a car for 36 hours. The dog's handler was fired.
• A theory I've held for years: Any movie which (1) was released before 2000, and (2) does not depict electricity being used is . . . not any good. Exception is Gone With The Wind. Edit: I might have to make Braveheart an exception or move my date to 1995. I forgot about that. 
• This month's Texas Monthly: 
  
• Say Dak Prescott turns out to be a stud quarterback. In 2018 the starting QB for the Cowboys will make $630,000 and in 2019 it will be $720,000.
• How does Vegas do it? The line on first college game of the year, California and Hawaii in Australia, had Cal at -20.5. They won by 20. (And had the ball on the one when the game ended.)
• There was a raid on a Trophy Club home last year and last week a guy who lived there pled guilty to federal child porn charges. I thought this was interesting: "Last year, officials with Google Inc. alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children(NCMEC) about child pornography on an email address associated with Craft."
• You would think they would have a different name other than "cousin" since it includes both male and females. We don't do it anywhere else: Brother/sister, aunt/uncle, niece/nephew.
• The TWU volleyball coach resigned after eight players suffered from rhabdomyolysis but says it is "unrelated" to the incident and only for "personal reasons."  (She was actually on leave three days before practices began.)

Above The Fold

Full readable page.

Denton Christian Campus Center Has "Dumpster Diving" Event

It's a little hard to see, but the green sign specifically says "Dumpster Diving."

(Thanks to the photo provider.)

It's Friday and Football Season. Let's Get Out Of Here.

Still one of the craziest post game moments ever.

Future Mrs. Green?

Pull nacho boy's man card. (I bet the guy on far left is funny.)

"I thought we were friends"

Charlie, did you know you are on the hot seat?

"Dear Lord, reveal to me what an Aggie is."

Hot chick + Hot chick = Transform into Baptist dance move.

As Far As Art Goes, That's Pretty Good

A Lee Harvey Oswald mural in Oak Cliff is stirring controversy in the Bishop Arts District https://t.co/Jo9jNS1Cy8 pic.twitter.com/UcfpvKqMdk

— Dallas Morning News (@dallasnews) August 26, 2016

The Ticket talked about this mural this morning. Then someone remarked "Who would be on the Mount Rushmore" of presidential assassins? (Ok, calm down.  It's just edgy morning radio. We're all adults here.)

But it got me thinking about that question from an historical standpoint. Oswald makes it. John Wilkes Booth is a shoo in.  Presidents Garfield and McKinley were assassinated but does anyone know their killers' names off the top of their heads?  I think I'd place would-be assassin John Hinkley, Jr. where Theodore Roosevelt's face is (Roosevelt shouldn't be on Mount Rushmore anyway.) And then I'd go with Sirhan Sirhan (presidential candidate assassin.)

And that's your dark Friday morning extra random thought.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• Headline yesterday: "Uber lost more than $1,000,000,000 in first half of year." There is absolutely no way that is true. No way. 
• "When you're an adult, no one talks about their favorite color any longer." - Heard at the courthouse yesterday.
• "Don't blog about this." - Three different people to me in the courthouse jury room before 10:00 a.m. yesterday.
• I'm working on a new theory: No type of cream or ointment can impact pain that originates beneath the skin. 
• I referenced the band Boston the other day after the guy was arrested for getting busy with his realtor while wearing a T-shirt sporting the same name. Get this: Boston's first album was released 40 years ago this week. Forty!!!!
• Boston was the first band I ever saw in concert. Me and my buddies bought tickets from a scalper outside of the Tarrant County Convention Center for, if memory serves me correctly, $8.00 a piece. (I am 100% sure it was under $10.)
• Tony Romo saying he's fine after his back injury last night means nothing. If he were honest, he'd quote Marsellus Wallace from Pulp Fiction after Butch asks him if he is OK. 
• More than 50 were treated for messed up K2 in Austin. Once again, K2 was born in an effort to get around Texas outlawing a plant. You won't see that story in states that legalize marijuana. Speaking of . . . 
• "Dallas Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones said he was not pleased to see a video that appears to show rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott at a marijuana dispensary just hours before Thursday's preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks." In Seattle, that's like walking into a 7-11 that sells beer. 
• And while we are at it, I'd say throw this dog in the hoosegow. Rehab? You kidding me? We are a "no tolerance" state.:

  

  (Side note: I'm not falling for the put-on-a-tie-once-a-year routine)

• There were 26 criminal appeals decided yesterday by the Fort Worth Court of Appeals. The defendant did not win a single one. 
• Libby's is now producing single serving microwavable sweet whole kernel corn. I'm truly excited. Yes, my life has come to this.

Crowd Surf Gone Wrong

Let's assume this is real since the audio comedy of the crowd going from encouraging to "ooohhhhhh" is almost as good as the visual.

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Well, they finally found the body of the SMU officer who was swept away into Turtle Creek. (Before you jump on me, find once when I wrote that they wouldn't find him. People believe what they want to believe.)
• While talking to a prosecutor yesterday, I opined that The Poor should be given a greater threshold/leeway to screw up before the criminal justice system crushes them. He, perhaps mockingly, referred to it as my "Ladies' Tee Theory."
• Shout out to the Wise County JP who dropped by a copy of Skip Hollandsworth's The Midnight Assassin. 
• An internal email from a suspended fraternity at TCU says, "We had a Gulf Shores spring break video produced by members of PC15 that went public on the internet and was posted on TCU fb wall that showed our members and other students raging like no tomorrow."  The phrase "like no tomorrow" is a good one. By the way, anyone have a link to that video?
• That Burning Man event is about to fire up in the dusty Nevada desert. When I retire and go full hippy mode, I think I'll go to that. (I hope they accept me if I pull up in a Zephyr motor home.)
• I made a reference to Lone Star Law two days ago and The Ticket had a game warden on this morning from the show.
• It really is amazing that Trump is going to be crushed when Fox News gives him free advertising 24/7.  The "town hall" meeting with Hannity last night was comical.
• The Surgeon General is sending this letter to every doctor warning of the "opioid epidemic." If a doctor needed a letter to inform him of this, he probably doesn't need to be a doctor.  
• Courthouse trivia the other day: What was the name of Jan Brady's fake boyfriend?
• The BagOfNothing.com guy asked yesterday why there aren't "speeding cams" like "red light cams". He must not have been a faithful reader during 2007 when I launched a campaign against Rhome who was using them. (The term "Nazi Cam" was born.) The State outlawed them shortly thereafter. Fighting for the common man can get tiring, but I persevere.
• I'll admit it, the Dancing Pokemons are funny. Couple of versions by creative folks here.
  
• I'm working on a Hot Sports Opinion regarding the very rare contract stalemate between the Chargers and third overall rookie pick Joey Bosa. And Bosa may be my new hero.
• The "toy protest" against open carry at UT was pretty genius. How crazy is it that we all freak out to the nth degree over the "device" being seen in public but we are absolutely fine with a guy carrying a load AR-15 into the Waffle Hut?

Above The Fold

Full page readable.

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• At least sixty-three dead in an earthquake near Rome, Italy this morning. My vision of Italy makes me think that place isn't exactly earthquake-proof. I guess I'm right.
  
• Kids are heading back to school in new middle and high schools in West, Texas. I don't think I ever mentioned what a ruse it was for the ATF to announce the explosion was due to arson but they didn't know who did it. Say what? They did, however, stress how extensive their investigation was (400 interviews!) and how much work they put into it. That is nothing more than job justification. With no "suspect", no one will ever question the arson conclusion and the ATF boys can go around touting about how they were so good they could even determine it was arson from the rubble.
• Trump is backtracking like no one's business on his deport-them-all stance.  But I doubt it will help him or hurt him.
• I think the only Texas politicians willing to appear with Trump yesterday were Rick Perry and Dan Patrick. Hey, "speaks volumes" guy: That speaks volumes.
• The great 538.com this morning puts Hillary's chances of winning at 85.4%.
• Today: "UT sex-toy protest against campus carry could be largest anti-gun rally in Texas history."  Ok, this will be interesting. I'm just waiting for some one to point out that the, uh, devices aren't even made in America. They were made in Singapore. 
• Police in Friendswood, Texas say that "it was a late-night [romantic] rendezvous which landed a real estate agent behind bars." I think I feel sorry for these two (and it was perfect time for the cops to simply say, "Get outta here.") Plus, how can you not support a guy in a vintage 1970s Boston concert shirt? 
  
• And if you ever need proof that book-in photos don't do you justice, look what I found in a another story about the couple. Hey, now:
  
• Hey Dennis Prager fan: I blew by his program the other day and guess who he was promoting for a new video on his very questionable Prager University: Yakov Smirnoff. Let the modern day relevance sink in. 
• The Affluenza Teen's Mom is now working as a bartender at Honky Tonk Woman in Azle. 
• Great Britain thought it would be a good idea to have matching luggage for their Olympic squads. (Mrs. LL makes sure we have a four inch strip of crazily designed duct tape somewhere on our luggage so we can always spot it.)
  
• "Bridgeport City Council voted Monday to decrease the speed limit from 30 to 25 mph along Halsell."  Halsell is the town's equivalent of Main Street. At least I won't have to read offense reports that justify a late night stop for a "wide right turn". Now it will be speeding.

All Election Controversies Resolved

(I believe this is an Austin restaurant.)

Trump: From Fort Worth to Austin

Trump in Fort Worth. Drives into garage. Headed to fundraiser. @FOX4 pic.twitter.com/lj5Wy3PGbF

— Fil Alvarado (@FilAlvaradoFox4) August 23, 2016

Lots o cops waiting for @realDonaldTrump in Austin. #txlege pic.twitter.com/A7xbQTN7yZ

— Sean Walsh (@SeanCWalsh) August 23, 2016

Second Amendment On The Streets

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• I came across Lone Star Law on the Animal Planet Channel. It was basically Texas Game Wardens acting like Seal Team Six when they arrest someone for shooting from the road.
• Any show produced for Animal Planet, National Geographic, Travel Channel etc. seems like 55% content and 45% commercials. 
• "The 17-1 Boyd Lady Yellowjackets entered the TGCA’s 3A volleyball poll at No. 8." Wait a second. School started today in Boyd but they've already had 18 matches?
• Great line from the documentary Dark Web on the War on Drugs: "It's like the cat and mouse game. The mice will eventually win but the cat will be well fed along the way."
• The Waco DA's office takes another hit. The office was responsible for the prosecution of four men for rape and murder -- men who a judge has declared  "actually innocent" of crimes that cost them all twenty years of their lives. Current McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna opposed the men's quest for exoneration.
  
• Texas, as it must, has always said that it doesn't have "Debtor's Prisons". Nothing has confused me more because people "sit out" their fines every day in county jails in Texas because they can't pay them. This is 100% unconstitutional. However, nothing is ever done about it because a few days in jail resolves "the problem" and those people don't have the money (obviously) to fight it. Every now and then a lawsuit occurs. 
• Along those same lines, the Justice Department is now targeting the crazy concept of "if you are too poor to afford bail, tough luck."
• I woke up this morning bright and early and turned on The Ticket. They were talking about how "weird" it is that the body of the SMU police officer has never been found after he reportedly swept into Turtle Creek. 
• I can truly say that I cannot conceivable care less: 
  
• Eight TWU volleyballers have been diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis. I've got my Pulitzer Radar out again: Something is fishy. 
• Dez Bryant suffered a concussion?
• I will always be fascinated by Todd Marinovich, 47, who was once the subject of an ESPN 30 for 30 and who was found yesterday naked and allegedly in possession of meth.
  
• Raising money or not, Trump hanging out in Texas within weeks before the election is plain dumb. (Unless his goal is now not to win but to make money off the campaign -- which might very well now be true.)

Here's A Twist To "And Another"

"LA Times – A former student who fathered a child with a onetime Redlands school teacher convicted of having sex with him and two other students will receive a $6-million settlement from the school district, officials said . . . . "

The GOP Head In Austin Will Certainly Bring Some Civility To This Race

INBOX: Travis County Republican Party Chair will protest @realdonaldtrump at Austin speech pic.twitter.com/KK2O2ohDsW

— Evan Smith (@evanasmith) August 22, 2016

Well, maybe not.

Political Genius Side Note: I'm not exactly sure that Trump needs to be wasting time in Texas right now.

Edit (the next day):

Let's Check In On The NFL Again

"And Another" Is Under Attack

900 cases in 5 years: Texas education agency to ask lawmakers to help curb teacher/student sex https://t.co/NlDO4wGZMt via @mySA by @kbrad5

— Peggy Fikac (@pfikac) August 22, 2016

Call me crazy, but you would think that the current range of punishment for the crime, a second degree felony carrying no less than 2 years and no more than 20 years, would seem to be a deterrent.

Maybe we need to fund a multi-million dollar task force and have them execute "Operation [Fill In The Blank]."