Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• I'm almost through with The Keepers from Netflix. It's really, really good. I'm just skeptical of any "witness" who recalls events from almost 50 years ago. If you don't know someone's background, it's hard to take anything they say at face value. 
• I'm apparently a very restless sleeper, and it drives Mrs. LL crazy. I've given her permission to hit me and wake me up if I'm bothering her. She has readily accepted that permission. 
• The NRA has ramped up its game. It is now running an ad on The Ticket referencing the Dallas police shootings from one year ago and is using the phrase that people "were marching against police."
  
• What a weird storm last night. A home on Timarron golf course in Southlake suffered a tremendous lightning strike. #WarnUsPeteDelkus!:
  
• Remember Representative Steve Scalise, the Republican from Louisiana who was shot at the baseball practice last month? He is back in ICU.
• There's a moron anonymous commentor on here who keeps asking me if Trump is launching nukes on North Korea as "you said he would." I never said he would. I said that I fear he is thinking about it. 
  
• If you see a press release which has "For Immediate Release" at the top, you know you have a very old school PR guy behind it. Was there a time when something wasn't for immediate release?
• "Does" or "Do"?
  
• I didn't see this from last March in the New York Times (and it references Fort Worth). It's about the militarization of police: 
  
• Great point by a couple of you yesterday after I asked if a family member or close friend is employed by government -- you brought up Lockheed Martin. Those folks aren't technically government employees but are 100% practically government employees. Throw in Bell Helicopter as well. 
• Trump is on an overseas trip. Get ready.: 
  
• And in the same speech he reminded Poland that they were invaded by the Soviet Union and Germany. "That's trouble. That's tough," he said. Like they didn't remember. Or maybe he just learned that from the teleprompter.
• Random opinion: "Best BBQ" talk whips me to no end. 
• Within the year, Texas will have closed eight prisons. One of them is Bridgeport's Pre-Parole Transfer Facility.
• Is it just me, or has it be smoldering hot over the last few days? I mean even more than your average Texas summer. 

America!

Side notes:

(1) The female anchor is the great Megan Henderson -- formerly of Fox 4 news.

(2) The beach on-the-scene reporter looks familiar.

My Only Lacrosse Post Ever

Great shot. Better goalie reaction.

Above The Fold

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• I was not the hardest working man in show business yesterday. But I'm about to make up for it. 
• A plane carried this over Lake Bridgeport yesterday. Who is this Stacey gal? And did she say yes?
  
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• I've mentioned former Baylor receiver K.D. Cannon before. Lots of talent. Not real smart. He went undrafted and then was paid $40,000 by the Raiders as a free agent and cut within a week. He then signed with the Jets. This is an update. Place your bets. 
  
• CNN did something very weird. They tracked down the Reddit user who created the video of CNN being thrown down in a wrestling match -- the one that Trump posted in one of the most embarrassing moments in U.S. presidential history. The guy who was tracked down issued an apology but CNN didn't identify him on the following condition (see graphic). Hey, either identify him (he deserves it) or not, but don't blackmail him. 
  
• The Texas Tribune regurgitated the dumbest argument I've ever heard yesterday: "Reminder: Texas cannot secede from the United States."  Why, they say? Because it is "illegal." Look, the secession argument is stupid. But to say it can't happen because it is illegal is more stupid. Was the Civil War "illegal"? Was the American Revolution "illegal"? Was gambling illegal at Bushwood, sir?
  
• Bad holiday:
  
• You hate big government? Think about this: Do you have a family member or good friend that is employed by the government? I bet 100% of you will say "yes." Yep, 100%.
• Odd headline: 
  
• But I may get a Crimestoppers fee for solving it: 
  
• I cleaned a crappie for the first time in years yesterday. It did not go well. 
• This is an incredible story about the government making accusations that they can't prove. 
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• “At some point in the future, we’re going to look back and say how did we do it without space? . . . This is infinity here. It could be infinity. We don’t really know. But it could be. It has to be something — but it could be infinity, right?” - Donald Trump speaking with Buzz Aldrin right beside him (and creating  a very funny photo.)
  
• Mrs. LL over the weekend: "If you ever think about retiring, we could buy the Twin Hills convenience store!" After initially dismissing it out of hand, I thought about Clerks. I just need a funny buddy to come visit the beaten down me!
  
• The New Yorker had an article about how demographics will change Texas and the country's political landscape. (How many years have I been preaching this?) It's coming like a freight train. And the leaders in Austin don't realize it. 
  
• I found this over the weekend: A 1977 Texas Monthly issue. I'm giddy to read it -- from everything to the articles to the ads. (And the price was $1.25 back in the day.)
  
• How do 28 people get injured in a Little Rock nightclub after gunfire breaks out and no one dies? And how are there no suspects?

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

• Who is the hardest working man in show business?
• Wise County Sheriff's deputies are running traffic on 380 inside the city limits of Bridgeport on 380. That was unheard of back in the day.
• And Another (Texas). Probably just a court update. I think I've posted that pic before: 
  
• "(CNN) On Friday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ordered the beaches across the Garden State closed -- a reaction to the ongoing budget impasse in the state's legislature."
  
• And immediately comedy ensued: 

  

  Planet of the Apes

  
  

  

  From Here to Eternity

• In case you missed it, Trump continued to show mental instability on Twitter over the weekend. (He stole it from a Reddit user.): 
  
• And it did not go unnoticed by the author of the Harry Potter novels:
  
• And from the one of the most far right journalist in the country: 
  
• Delkus has invaded Wise County's border?
  
• Mrs. LL's brother visited over the weekend and brought two high end drones with him. They were equipped with hi-def cameras and had a range of four miles. They were equally creepy and fantastic. 
• Heard over the weekend: "Marriage changes people."
• How come firework technology has not improved? (Side note: Nothing was more fun than "bottle rocket fights" as a kid. Having to duck as one goes screaming at your head was one of life's greatest joys. Side note #2: The Ticket reminded me of the firework term "punk" this morning. I hadn't heard that term in years. You always needed a punk.)
• Random Wise County PSA:
  
• A North Dallas teacher and her husband were found dead due to gunshot wounds on a New Mexico road. She posted this a couple of days before.
  
• The Texas Monthly constantly refers to Gov. Greg Abbott as weak and ineffective. That's true. 
• And we will all now have a Sheryl Crow earworm all day long:

I Love Bits

I've officially named the kayak! pic.twitter.com/0ltfkNwNks

— Barry Green (@BSG) June 30, 2017

Above The Fold

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

 Little brothers have a tough life.

 And they know it. 

 Bend It Like Beckham, The Sequel

 I happen to know a kayak expert who is willing to offer lessons.

Buddy, we feel the same way every time we finally sit down to relax.

Too Many Cops?

Hour-long, multi-state police chase ends badly for driver: https://t.co/UFhpBnn6qo pic.twitter.com/GUP55brEU1

— Deadspin (@Deadspin) June 30, 2017

OK, This Is Funny

A request is made for the guy in the back to be photoshopped out of this photo. The Internet responded.

Link. (And there are a ton of them.)

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• In the last week I've had home grown tomatoes delivered to my office by two local attorneys. There appears to be a bumper crop in the county this year. (And that ends this Country Agricultural Minute.)
• I ran into a former Bridgeport resident/former Texas House Rep in Brookshires in Bridgeport yesterday. (Wearing a Baylor visor, no less.) 
• Something might be wrong with Fox 4's Steve Eagar. I might start a new game called "How long into the broadcast will it be before he stumbles over the teleprompter." (He's had to anchor the 10:00 p.m. newscast alone for about three days this week and it has not gone well.)
• Fox Sports website has laid off a ton of sports writers this week (including the great Stewart Mandel) after announcing it will focus more on videos than the written word. That's stupid. That's Idiocracy.
• I'm struggling in my fishing this year. What lure (including color) do you use when the water is incredibly clear?
• The home page for each Texas appellate court is back up, but the back end database (which has the information that you go there to see in the first place) is still down. That makes three days in a row. Something is royally screwed up.
  
• The NRA put out an ad which is a not-so-subtle call for an armed insurrection against the Dirty Lib.
• "(CNN) - An Ohio city councilman has suggested a controversial solution to the growing opioid problem in his town: If an addict keeps overdosing, the city won't dispatch anyone to save their life." If you won't go out on the second or third time, why go out on the first?
• A city in Iran, with 1.1 million people, set a world record in high temperature yesterday: 129 degrees. 
• Loyal Christian and Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Trump's offensive tweets yesterday by saying Trump shouldn't be considered a role model because, “When it comes to role models, as a person of faith, I think we all have one perfect role model." She followed that up with saying Trump "fights fire with fire." 
  
• Former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is still mad about not getting paid after his firing. (USA Today.) He was on The Ticket about a month ago with one of the conditions of the interview being that he got to rant that Tech, in his opinion, screwed him out of over $2 million. And, man, he went off. 
• Speaking of, whatever happened to Craig James? He holds the distinction of getting Leach fired and losing to Ted Cruz in the same year. That's a bad year. 
• You realize that they have no idea who the actual shooter and getaway driver were, right? 
  
• I think I'm doubling down on my belief that the Bedford girl found in the Arlington landfill was a dumpster suicide. No arrests. No search warrants. No family outrage of "the police aren't doing anything!" I bet she left a note. 
• Last night a rookie NY Yankee, Dustin Fowler, in the first inning of his first game suffered a gruesome "open ruptured patella tendon." I don't know what that is, and I'm not looking to find out.  
  
• The Fort Worth PD Twitter account basically posts nothing but silliness with no real effort to seek the public's help in law enforcement. Then this morning they posted a video of a girl wearing a Peaster High School t-shirt and her friend taken from a Target security cam with the caption "she stole mascara." It even sought Peaster school's twitter account for help. It was quickly deleted and replaced with a different caption. I wonder if the girl wearing the T-shirt is not the one actually accused of theft but the original tweet, referencing Peaster, so implied. (Side note: Aren't there bigger crimes to post about?)

  

  The deleted tweet.

• 

  Replaced with this one.

  
  
• Trump will leave for Trump National Golf Club at Bedminster, New Jersey this afternoon. That will make his 32nd day at a golf club as president.

That Was A Waste Of Time

So the DA's office wanted her to have to post a higher bond because she took a "sip" of beer and held a rifle at a gun show?  Come on.

Story.

Arlington PD Release Photos Related To Road Rage Case

That camera was pretty clear. I'm surprised the license plate isn't readable.