Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• Three people are dead at a Nissan dealership in Greenville. Two of them were "bounty hunters" posing as federal agents. That's insane. For one thing, "bounty hunters" are basically a myth. In Texas, a bondsman can "go off the bond" by submitting an affidavit and then a warrant gets issued. There's no need to go vigilante. 
• Anyone remember when Fox and Friends was so carefree that they would have radio D.J. "Mancow" on for a daily segment? 
• Not a school teacher but she did allegedly engage in "And Another" activity: 
  
• How does Sean Spicer face the day every morning. What a beating. 
• $150 to fix a broken window? It's double paned, but what am I missing? 
• I mentioned the other day that a principal in South Texas committed suicide in the school's parking lot but was not under any investigation. It turns out he was fearful of having an affair revealed. You kill yourself over that? Fight through it. 
• Trump confused the nation last night: 
  
• Unless I'm losing my mind, a Tampa Bay player last night against the Rangers had a base hit by hitting it after it bounced on the way to the plate. 
• Judge George Gallagher has been essentially been removed from Texas AG Ken Paxton's criminal case.  I mentioned it when the defense first filed the motion: There's a little known provision in a statute when disqualifies a judge from presiding over the case once he grants a change of venue unless both the State and defendant agree to keep him on. 
• The over/under on Dallas Cowboy wins has been set at 9.5.  Ladies and gentlemen, it is only May and my sports expert opinion is to take the under. You're welcome. 
• Buddy, I hate to disagree but it looks like you stay up every night: 
  
• I think this might be a trend:
  
• John Clayton has been laid off by ESPN. 
• Wise County is buying one tricked up ATV for EMS for a whopping $22,500. 

What Qualifies As News Any Longer?

Man catches 'monster' frog in Texas https://t.co/H30KeA2LEx pic.twitter.com/pqZoLWb2cQ

— FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) May 30, 2017

What a weird photo. What a weird story about it: "A spokesman for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department told the Houston Chronicle that the photo is real and not photoshopped. However, the spokesman said the picture is a little misleading.'It's not as bigly as it appears,' spokesman Steve Lightfoot said. "[It's an] optical illusion created by extending frog toward the camera – similar to what you see with fishermen holding up fish to make them appear larger. Still a big bullfrog, though."

This Was A Pretty Good Baseball Fight

Buster Posey wanted nothing to do with this fight. @KFCBarstool pic.twitter.com/4xVCdJrLxB

— Robert Cooke (@Robert_Cooke413) May 29, 2017

But I like this guy's take. The catcher wanted nothing to do with it.

Edit: Just a funny angle of the fight . . .

baseball fight or korn mosh pit...... we will never know pic.twitter.com/ISvvvnpcW7

— Tony X. (@soIoucity) May 29, 2017

Jane Is Killing It

Glamming it up @hotelderussie #italy🇮🇹❤️ #Rome #missoni #dolcegabbanashoes #hotelderussieroma pic.twitter.com/0rOAyiqEqQ

— Jane McGarry (@TheJaneMcGarry) May 30, 2017

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega has died. I always found it odd he was referred to as a "strongman."
• Sports writer Frank Deford has died. Few people remember that around 1990 he started a daily newspaper devoted to sports called "The National." It was great. It lasted less than a year if I recall. 
• Angry Trump!
  
• And he finally figured out that the German Chancellor dogged him: 
  
• Tiger had a bad weekend:
  
• Fox 4 News must have hired a new consultant. They led with the weather last night because it might rain later in the week. 
• Anyone else think Greg Abbott may not be very bright? 

  

  “I’m going to carry this around in case I see any reporters.” 

• Tony Romo had a guest appearance at the Colonial in order for CBS to promote him. That guy is going to be awful as a football color guy. 
• I heard that a J.P. didn't get to the Wise County Jail to set bonds until mid-afternoon yesterday. 
• A Texas legislator called I.C.E. on people in the gallery yesterday. A representative on the other side of the aisle issued a press release that includes an F Bomb.

And We Should Only Risk Soldiers . . .

. . . when absolutely necessary. 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Who is the hardest working man in show business?

  

  "This guy" = Me

• There's a Letter to the Editor in the Messenger this weekend which I almost disregarded as a crazy rant about property taxes -- until I thought about it. Stay with me here. Almost all taxes are a one time thing. You buy something and you pay sales tax. You make money for a year and you pay income tax on it. But property tax is weird. You own the same piece of land every year and you don't sell it but you get taxed on its value annually. That perpetual taxation seems wrong. 
• Trump's back! Once he saw the TV coverage of NATO leaders laughing during  his speech when he scolded them for not paying their "fair share", he fired off this (which is a bold face lie.)
• 
• But there's no better Trump than Angry Trump:
  
• If Mrs. LL doesn't stop videoing me when I don't know it, I'll be on Wise County CSI in a month. 
• By the way, she went to a garage sale this weekend and came back with an inflatable boat and a trolling motor. She took it out and was met the Game Warden. 
• Oh, she made me watch The Princess Bride this weekend. Here is a crazy movie review: I think it is like Star Wars. I didn't understand what was going on in either one of them! Is it too much to ask for a little back story?
• A loyal reader and fan of Wise County history asked me this. Any answers?: "A long time ago near Alvord (?) . . .  . there was a country music festival. I actually prowled around the left over rotten, remaining structures years after the fact. Somebody told me Conway Twitty played there or he was supposed to play and the whole thing never got off the ground? My guess is it happened or did not happen in the 1970s?! The guy who showed it to me even reported the detail of the stars being transported by helicopter from DFW." Did it happen?
• "I love you, Jane." How old is she?
  
• Best moment at the Colonial: 

• He won Players Championship 2 weeks ago, but Si Woo Kim now needs a new wedge after quadruple bogey 8 on #9 at Colonial pic.twitter.com/HHBXZDGcTo

  — Bill Jones (@CBS11BillJones) May 26, 2017

• No one understands Trump as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She shockingly said yesterday, "“The times when we could fully rely on others [she means us] are to some extent over -- I experienced that in the last few days.We Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands.” Translated: Who can depend upon that guy?
• What a crazy crash at Indy: 
  
  
  
  
• This picture from U2's Joshua Tree concert in Arlington on Friday is really, really great.
  
• "(CNN) A [Navy Seal] of the US Navy's skydiving team was killed Sunday when his parachute malfunctioned during a team jump."
• JFK was born 100 years ago today.

Above The Fold

U2 Is At JerryWorld Tonight

George W posted this earlier. This makes me smile.

It's Friday. Let's Get Out Of Here.

 Misjudged that launch point by just a tad.

 I was questioning their parenting skills until . . . 

 . . . I saw this. Sheesh, lady.

 Makes you want to re-think that 2nd Amendment thingy.

Get after it, pooch.  That Dog Chow isn't going to work itself off. 

 I'd really like to see her retaliatory assault on this guy.

"Snow what? Sorry, lady. Ain't interested."

This Morning's News

This is really amazing.

The guy who was arrested for the murder of the girl in the garage apartment near TCU has now been charged with the highly publicized and, up until now, unsolved murder of a woman who went missing in Plano.

 Molley Matheson (the Fort Worth case)

And we have this:

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• A couple of years back, a high school football player was charged with sexually assaulting a young boy in the Texas Capital Of Wrongful Convictions: Williamson County. The case grabbed headlines. He turned down a plea bargain, was convicted, and sentenced to 25 years. Yesterday, in a shocking development, law enforcement re-opened the case because they might have got it wrong. So wrong that they went so far as to name a new suspect. 

  

  His friends in courtroom when sentence was announced.

• Understand that in order for a case like that to go wrong, a prosecutor had to stand in front of a jury and tell them that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. How can you get it so wrong? Or, in more practical terms, how can you recklessly talk yourself into believing something that you cannot possibly know?
• And Another (Washington State):
• 
• A Montana courts reporter called out a New York Times reporter who stole her work in the Congressional candidate body-slamming case. 
• 
• Quickly deleted yesterday: 
  
• In case you didn't see it, the Body Slammer won last night in Montana despite the incident the night before.

  

  A little callback humor for ya.

• I've always told Mrs. LL I wanted to drive the famous Highway 1 in California. It looks like to do it this summer would be a little challenging.
  
  
• A little fun long read for your long weekend: A Texas Monthly story on corrupt cops on the border. It always seems to involve unsupervised drug cops. 
  
• A 45 year old south Texas high school principal shot himself in the school's parking lot after resigning. He was not under any type of investigation. 
• Trump was Full Trump yesterday.
• You want to be miserable? Walk around the Colonial Golf Tournament today in this heat and humidity. 
• In a nine inning game last night, your Texas Rangers struck out twenty times. That ties a major league record. 
• I missed that Fox 4's Steve Eagar, when talking about security for an upcoming concert in Grand Prairie, said John Lennon would be appearing instead of John Legend. I bet some teleprompter script writer got chewed out.
• Speaking of Fox 4, the crazy guy who ended up being burned in the RV yesterday actually called Fox 4 during the chase. It was recorded. You think the station would lead with that last night on its newscast if, for nothing else, self-promotion. Nope. They did two spare stories before they got to the RV story, and then just casually threw in the call reference and played the audio. 

Someone Mentioned This The Other Day - I Hadn't Heard About It

Dashcam footage of a traffic stop involving a woman who later died when her car went into the Missouri River has been released.

The footage was released Tuesday as the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that drug intoxication was a factor in 20-year-old Toni Anderson’s accidental death. She reportedly had ethonal, cocaine and amphetamines in her system, according to the Kansas City Star.

I've watched thousands of DWI videos, and I've never seen anything like this. There are times after watching one when I'll think to myself, "I can't believe he was arrested!" but I've never said to myself, "I cannot believe he let him go." Never. After viewing this video, I can't believe he let her go.  The fact that field sobriety wasn't done is mind-boggling.

There isn't much to the video except a brief conversation. But it is enough.

This is where she ended up:

OK, That's Funny

😂😂😂 Who made this? pic.twitter.com/8BVtbreF0L

— Imran Garda (@ImranGarda) May 25, 2017

From Last Night

For those that thought Joey Gallo wouldn't get a hit off Chris Sale, he's watching you 😳😳😳 #Rangers pic.twitter.com/WDti9zTbA4

— Troy Hughes™ (@TommySledge) May 25, 2017

The camera just zoomed in on Gallo for a second, and this happened. (He always has the craziest look.)

Reminded me of this famous fella:

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• In a crazy story early this morning, there was a multi-county police chase of an RV which ended up on fire on I-30 in Arlington. A had woman texted police saying she and her two kids had been kidnapped by a man (who I think she had been in a relationship with). He shot her and she jumped out of the RV at high speeds. The chase continued into Arlington where it's believed the guy let the kids out and then shot himself. The fire ensued.
  
• Crazy political story last night: On the eve of the Congressional election in Montana, the Republican nominee body slammed a reporter who asked him about Trumpcare. It was audio recorded and Fox News, who had reporters in the room, confirmed it happened.
  
• Later in the night, the nominee was officially "charged" with assault and all three newspapers who had endorsed him retracted those endorsements. Crazy thought: He still might win. 
• Random Montana voting law note: You can register to vote up to 8 p.m. on election day.
• The Eighth Grader in the House was softball pitching into the pitch-back device in the backyard, hit the side pole of it with a fastball, the ball did a right turn like a magic bullet, and traveled 20 feet right through a game room window. Mrs. LL is a witness.   
• I predicted the Fort Worth cop on trial would be found not guilty. I was close but no cigar. A jury became quickly deadlocked and a mistrial occurred. I'm guessing the DA's office decides not to reprosecute him. (Legal nerd note: The cop was charged with "recklessly" causing injury by shooting the man. Criminal law practitioners by and large have no idea what "recklessness" actually means under law. It's not the equivalent of a "bad mistake that shouldn't have happened.") 
• Mrs. LL's eye problem is due to the rejection of trying to wear contacts. Some kind of crazy growth began to form in one eye and had to be "scraped" off. That's two times in a year. There's no permanent damage, but I think her contact wearing days are over. 
• Channel 8 News is presenting horribly over-produced "Originals." For example, a couple of nights ago is was about people stealing bikes. The piece began with the reporter seriously introducing the story in a softly lit room with camera angles changing. And then they went out and planted bait bikes at intersections in Dallas equipped with GPS devices and were shocked to find out they ended up stolen. 
  
• Zeke Elliott, after playing D.J. with Tony Romo in Westlake, went out to a club in Dallas and then (allegedly) got in a car wreck and hit his head. He's being held out of practice. Prediction: There is no way that guy plays his four to five years in Dallas without a major suspension, arrest, or scandal. 

  

  Romo and Zeke singing, "O.P.P."

• A very bizarre local story: Check the Update for the one about ducks who are seeking homes. The "power of attorney" reference caused a huge question mark to form over my head.