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.

The Shield: Cowtown Edition

Story.

We've got three possible situations here: (1) Cops intentionally lying against cops, (2) Cops making reckless allegations against a cop without being sure they are right, (3) Cops being punished for busting a supervisor.

Sadly, none of the three options would surprise me these days.

Note: One of the officers suspended has the same first two initials and last name of a Fort Worth cop who was an undercover officer in the media generated mountain-made-out-of-a-molehill TCU football drug "scandal." (Edit: Confirmed that J.C. Williams was involved in the TCU bust. And also I've learned that another officer involved in the suspension story, Carlos Cespedes, was also a big part of the TCU busts. In fact, TCU360.com reported that, "In the months following the first complaint, police received multiple tips from 'reliable and knowledgable informants' that led to various undercover stings headed by Officers J.C. Williams and Carlos Cespedes.")

And I am doing all I can to not go on a tax dollar waste rant. Cops (on the clock) vs. cops (on the clock). Internal affairs investigation. Prostitution investigations. Not to mention the TCU "six month" investigation which amounted to nothing but short probations and kids kicked out of school. How much did all that silliness cost?

Coyote and Bobcat On Arlington Jogging/Biking Trail

Saw this on the news last night. Pretty cool.  But I'd think I'd be a little anxious to be on a bike while the bobcat walks by. Heck, I don't trust The Family Cat when she walks that close by.

More Thoughts On Synthetic Drugs

After reading about the feds arresting the father and daughter who own the Gas Pipe stores (after taking all their money last year), I was reminded of the silly state of Texas law on synthetic drugs.

I don't want to give you tired head, but the Texas Health and Safety Code 481.1031 lists a ton of synthetic drugs by name that are illegal but adds this huge kicker: It includes anything which   “consists of any quantity of a synthetic chemical compound that is a cannabinoid receptor agonist and mimics the pharmacological effect of naturally occurring cannabinoids.”  Huh? So something is illegal if it is a cannabinoid receptor agonist that isn't actually marijuana but effects you like marijuana? That's the difference between legal and illegal?

The spokesman for the very conservative (but funny) Texas District and County Attorney's Association has said this about the "catchall provision": "That’s a judgment call that no lab chemist can make in court . . . The lab folks say, ‘We can diagram this chemical compound for you, but we can’t tell you whether the effect was similar’”

So how is a person who walks into the Gas Pipe wanting to buy fake weed know what is legal or not?  Hey, if I possess a bag of cocaine but don't know it's cocaine, that's not a crime. (Trust me, I'm right).  Hey, if I walk into Walmart and see a drink labeled "Cocaine Soft Drink", I have every right to believe it doesn't contain real cocaine.  And I would think someone who walks into the Gas Pipe has every right to believe that what he buys is legal as well.

To drive home the point, here's an actual lab report in Texas in a synthetic drug case:

Wow. Think about that. "[I]t has been reported in scientific literature" to be a cannabinoid receptor agonist? That's the exact same thing as saying that it has been decided in scientific literature to be illegal based upon Texas law.  That's how we are supposed to know what violates the law? What literature? Who wrote it? When was it published? Before it was published can we all assume that we had no notice the substance was illegal?  A person could go into a store, buy synthetic weed which has a chemical compound that has never been declared to be illegal, puts it in his drawer and then two years from now a "scientific" magazine in New Jersey comes out and reports that compound is a cannabinoid receptor agonist and that person now possesses something illegal in his drawer? You kidding me?

The War On Drugs is on drugs.

Edit: And somehow, once again, a post like this get interpreted as meaning I support K2.

 

Kiss Cam From Last Night's Wizards/Hawks Game

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• I was corrected by a higher up at Wise Regional after I said yesterday they were shutting down the Bridgeport Hospital: "Wise Regional is working towards applying for a separate license to operate the Bridgeport facility as an outpatient surgery center." He also said, "You might be surprised to find Wise Regional currently operates 47 locations in eight counties including Wise, Denton, Tarrant, Cooke, Grayson, Collin, Dallas and Johnson." Yes, I am surprised. 
• I kept hearing that the conductor/engineer in the Philadelphia Amtrak crash has "lawyered up". Well, he gave a blood sample and turned over his cell phone to authorities so I'm not sure that's correct.  (And, by the way, getting "lawyered up" simply means a person refuses to talk because he's smart enough to understand those government employees asking him questions aren't there to help him.)
• Along those lines, I bet I've watched thousands and thousands of DWI videotapes. And time and time again I see an officer walk up to the driver, introduce himself, and then ask, "Where you headed tonight?" Just once I want the driver to say, "That's really none of your business. Here's my driver's license and insurance".
• I stopped by Hannity last night and saw that he spent two segments justifying his show running footage last March of scantily clad women during Spring Break. It seems Panama City had now changed some its ordinances regarding alcohol consumption on its beaches and Hannity was taking credit for the chang.  Of course, during these two segments, they did a split screen showing . . . you guessed it . . . scantily clad Spring Breakers.  (But my favorite part was when Hannity called Jon Stewart a "sanctimonious jackass" for pointing out Hannity's perversion and hypocrisy.) By the way, here's a Google image search for "Hannity Spring Break". Oh, my. 
• Wise County Judge J.D. Clark sent a letter to Gov. Abbott yesterday in an effort to get Wise County declared a disaster area because of the flooding.  (I hope he added the sentence, "By the way, I've got a couple ranchers who have told me that they seen some Obama Gun Boats on the flooded areas as part of Jade Helm 15.  Just thought you'd want to know.")
• Mrs. LL and the Sixth Grader in the House were late getting home the other day, and I asked the Junior In The House where they were. Softball practice, she said, but they were running late. Then she pulled out her phone to look at an app to find out where they were via GPS.  Apparently, it works in reverse since she then mumbled, "I hate that app."  (Honestly, that technology would have driven me crazy as a teenager.) 
• Last year, DEA agents seized 10 Gas Pipe locations and nearly $3 million after federal "agents"alleged that they had purchased synthetic marijuana there. (I loved this odd logic to justify the raids: "They label it is not for human consumption, do not smoke, yet they're selling a 3g bag of this 'incense' from anywhere from $25 to $40," said Dan Salter, DEA special agent. "It cost them less than $5 to make." Translated: "I know we can't justify our jobs in this case because it's just fake weed, but they are ripping off the consumers!") Now the feds have arrested the owner and his daughter of the stores.  Too many cops. Too many prosecutors. 
•  Dallas Morning News today: "Editorial: Prison rape can’t be tolerated."  Way to take a stand. Sheesh. 
• The reference to "Mudville" below reminded me of just how great Casey At The Bat is. (And rec league softball and baseball leagues are in chaos because of the weather.)

"Turn Around. Don't Drown."

We have said it in words, but wanted to give you a visual! Please don't be that person. #dfwwx pic.twitter.com/g7t1jcGmAa

— Johnson County EM (@jocotx_em) May 13, 2015

Johnson County Emergency Management clears it up for everyone.

If We Would Have Kept The Family Pig . . .

. . . This would have happened in our living room by now.

Hey, Remember That Crane High School Chlamydia Epidemic?

Didn't happen. The Superintendent learned from a local physician that twenty kids had been "tested" for the disease but somehow heard that twenty kids had been "confirmed" to have the disease.

But mistake that might have been happily forgotten in a remote West Texas town isn't as easily erased on the worldwide web. "It was a misunderstanding but people go for—for lack of a better word—BS," Rumage said. "I was trying to inform our parents and somehow the media got a hold of it and blew it totally out of proportion."

Wise County Living