5.16.2015

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.


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5.15.2015

Taking You Into The Weekend: Great Sacrifice . . .


. . . yet a poorly executed tackle.
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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.
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*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."
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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.
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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.
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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.)
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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
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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. 



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5.14.2015

Snakes On A Door In Little Elm




Sheesh. City people. We have snakes twice that big on the courthouse square. Flashback.


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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?
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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.
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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.

 




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Kiss Cam From Last Night's Wizards/Hawks Game




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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.)



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5.13.2015

"Turn Around. Don't Drown."




Johnson County Emergency Management clears it up for everyone.
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If We Would Have Kept The Family Pig . . .



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

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Wise County Living


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Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts



  • Big Amtrak wreck in Philadelphia last night that killed six.  (Oddly, I just keep thinking of Bruce Willis walking down the hospital hall in Unbreakable.)
  • I've got a commenter who has fired off a "you refuse to publish my comment" a couple of times.  Since you mentioned what the content of it was, I went back and checked. Nope. Not submitted and not in Spam comment folder. I think we have a YP instead of a MP.
  • I'm not sure about this: If I see high water on the road should I turn around? 
  • And I was just struck with a crazy old memory from the old Dick Van Dyke show where Rob or Buddy were having a pants crisis requiring one of them to remove his pants. They told Sally who was in the room to "turn around." She did a full 360 and said, "Ta-Da!"
  • Lake Bridgeport is now 14.66 feet low. With rain predicted over the next week, if a storm would park itself on the saturated watershed, you would actually see what everyone always says: It can fill up in two days. 
  • "A Wichita Falls woman is behind bars after police say she and her boyfriend were smoking meth in the Rathgeber Hospitality House at United Regional." I'm more worried about the boyfriend who said he gulped down nine grams of meth as security was knocking on the door. 
  • An "apparent stripper" from Oklahoma is seeking a protective order against a Tea Party Texas State Senator. Who knows if there is any merit it to it, but when the AP uses the phrase "apparent stripper", I'll run with it. (Her twitter account is a one hot mess.)
  • Odd discussion up at the courthouse yesterday when three buddies I was talking with had already ranked the ways to commit suicide. Then we debated the pros and cons to various methods. (Trust me, the conversation was not dark but funny.) 
  • I'm not sure where I saw it last night, but Jeb Bush is taking heat from fellow Republicans for saying he would have fought the Iraq war all over again. I was stunned that so many Republicans now finally acknowledge what a horrible mistake that war was. 
  • The 37 lawyer firm of Hermes Sargent Bates in Dallas will (oddly?) disband after six "equity partners" couldn't agree on a long term lease for the firm. (Story - probably behind paywall.) By June 1, the firm is done. (There's something that rings a bell with me about that firm, but I can't recall it.)
  • Serious question: Why did the Wise Regional Hospital buy the Bridgeport hospital only to close it? (And here's the latest financials on Wise Regional. Sounds to be in pretty good shape but it is interesting to note it lost $2.4 million in 2014 on its new Parkway Surgical and Cardiovascular Hospital in North Fort Worth.) 
  • The Sixth Grader In The House is a pretty good softball pitcher but she will launch a ball over the neighbor's fence from time to time. I'm envisioning creating my own temporary safety net with PVC pipe. 
  • Note to goofy Texas legislature: If the Supreme Court decides there is a constitutional right to gay marriage next month, you can't "thwart" that ruling with a state law. 


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Oh, My


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5.12.2015

Can't Decide On The Title: "Idiocracy" Or Just "Morons"


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Anyone Seen Maverick And Goose?




My expert Google skills tell me the jet has a sticker price of $55 million.

 So?
Ego? Check? Body? Cashed? Ring a bell, Scientology boy?
[Editor's note: Never did understand this.]

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Let's Check In On The The Mean Streets Of The Bishop Arts District


She says she's just a regular white girl in the "hood" who got thrown out of a country show because of lesbians.

Story and video.
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Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts



  • Someone offered Mrs. LL free Colonial golf tourney tickets, and she asked me if I would want to go. I told her "maybe" and pointed out that it would held over Memorial Day weekend. She did the Google and told me that it wasn't. "I'm pretty sure I'm right, babe," I replied (actually meaning "You aren't talking to the guy in the next cubicle. You're talking to a Sports Genius. And Colonial is always on Memorial Day weekend.") Then I learned that for the first time since 1964 the Byron Nelson which will be played after the Colonial on Memorial Day.
  • I didn't see it, but Channel 5 interrupted a PGA tourney on Sunday to show two goofballs stuck in high water in Dallas. The Ticket had one of the guys on  yesterday where he revealed he was 17 years old and only got stuck in water because a "levee broke." Riiiighht. He had named his truck "VortecXpress."  (His Twitter feed is about what you would expect from a high schooler from Sanger with a big truck.)
  • Fort Worth police killed a guy yesterday because he left a home suspected of being a place where hydrocodone and xanax were being sold. (!!!!!!)  He allegedly backed up in the direction of officers, allegedly striking one offiver who was not injured, so they shot him.
  • The Patriots get fined $1 million for "Deflategate" so fans created a GoFundMe account to pay it for them. You kidding me?
  • And it is amazing that Deflategate led most national evening news shows last night.
  • The 16-Year-Old-In-The-House is now the 17-Year-Old-In-The-House.  Many years ago I used to gig Mrs. LL by sarcastically saying, "They grow up so fast."   I feel silly now.  As is so often the case, we don't understand some things until we experience them. 
  • Interesting item in the Update: Wise County spends $30,000 a year on "indigent burials" while Denton County spends $40,000.  Regardless of how someone qualifies for an indigent burial, I'm more stunned that Denton County only spends $40,000 than any potential "waste" by Wise County. 
  • Two hosts of a former WBAP weekend show are being sued by the SEC for "telling customers that interests in life settlements they sold were 'guaranteed,' 'safe as CDs' and federally insured.'”  There is nothing worse than some radio "talk shows" on the weekends. They are obviously nothing more infomercials, have fake/planted callers, and just reek of lies.  
  • Is this real? A University of Houston student posted a pic of himself with a handgun making a joke about gangs and had his placed was searched by police? 


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5.11.2015

Random Texas Bus Driver



This got the attention of Texas Monthly.
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Things That Make Me Shake My Head But Probably Shouldn't




I've always dogged the Arlington PD twitter account.  It's more silliness than public information, and it drives me nuts that someone is being paid with tax dollars to run it.

But this tweet got my attention over the weekend. OK, it's funny. It's cute. But are those guys on duty? I've seen public official get indicted over the alleged theft of $250. So how much taxpayer money is being wasted if these guys are on the clock?
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Random Bar Exam Passing Rate Results


Either the test was much harder this year or there is something different about those taking the test.
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Wait For It



1:25 mark.

Back story.
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Fox 4 News Comedy Routine


It was taken down within 30 minutes.
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Random Monday Morning Thoughts


  • As I drove around Wise County yesterday afternoon, I thought that I was in the most intense rainstorm I've ever seen. And I still think that. 
  • Lake Bridgeport is 16.44 feet low as of this morning.  I think that's a seven feet rise in less than a week. And we might get a little more of a rise through runoff today.
  • I don't know anything about metroplex politics, but how does Arlington mayor Robert Cluck get defeated with that much name recognition?
  • I don't know how I ended up watching the South Carolina Freedom Summit on CSPAN in the middle of the night, but seeing every GOP presidential candidate and Donald Trump address what looked like a white AARP convention was not inspiring. (And, man, they loved invoking "radical Islam" and "Garland, Texas" to fire up that crowd.)
  • Troubled Cowboy Josh Brent "retired" last Friday.  I bet that is more of a Cowboy decision than a Josh Brent decision -- the guy can't play.
  • It's been about two weeks since Gov. Greg Abbott said he would have the Texas State Guard keep an eye on federal troops as they engage in routine operations in Texas this month. I can't get past that. (And when Rick Perry pretty much called Abbott a nut because of it, you've got problems.) Edit: Funny.
  • Just glanced at BagOfNothing's blog. He installed a bidet this weekend. (Cue orchestra music!)
  • Local weatherman complaint: Over the weekend, they would do a forecast using a radar graphic. But this wasn't the typical "just green" projection. This included all sorts of color (red, purple, yellow) which made it look like a current live radar.  I'm against that.
  • I never thought there would come a day when I'm putting stakes in the back yard exactly 43' apart to mark the distance for softball pitching. That's the distance for rec league pitching ages 12 and up. (Side note: After becoming curious, I was curious what the pitching distance for college softball. I'll be dang: 43' feet. But high schools only moved from 40' to 43' five years ago.) 
  • Tornadoes struck Van, Texas last night. The only thing I know about Van is that in high school, in journalism class, we got to see the weekly student newspaper called the Van Vandal. I have no idea why we had a subscription (it was the only one we had, too.)
  • This morning, The Ticket had an add for pre-paid legal defense insurance for gun users. 
  • I saw where WBAP's  and TCU play-by-play man Brian Estridge has jury duty in Tarrant County this morning. Note to the defense: Cut him. 
  • Close to "And Another": Principal found in car with weed and shirt partially unbuttoned. 
  • Remember that nice house on Lake Whitney was intentionally burned a year or so ago because the cliff it was built upon was falling into the lake? Well, the cliff fell over the weekend. 
  • A 17 year old from Bridgeport is listed in the Update death notices today. Edit: Should have recognized that it was the boy who went missing a couple of weeks ago. We just had an official ID so now they'll have the funeral. 


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