Tweet Thread of the Day, This Is A Good Background For The Houston Flooding Situation edition.

Straightforward, methodical, and it will get you up to speed on conditions. It also isn’t pointing any fingers, which is something that I have regretfully seen a little of. Short version: Houston is on a flat plane, and they’ve been actively working to do what they can with improving drainage for several decades, but this storm’s just been too much for them. If the thread is correct, it’s not a corruption problem (which is what more or less drowned New Orleans, back in the day).  It’s a not-enough-time problem, made worse by population growth.  Which makes sense to me.

So, check it out.

It’s bad in Houston right now.

American Red Cross
Catholic Charities USA
Salvation Army

I Love Texas

Posted by I Love Texas on Sunday, August 27, 2017

Hopefully that’s just a Photoshop, although if it’s a picture of a flood reservoir, the image would make sense.  And warns that things are pretty damned bad in Houston right now anyway.  All in all: stay safe down there, folks.

Tweet of the Day, Na-na-na-na Na-na-na-na BAT-GIRL edition.

Although it could very well be “Bat-ZOOLOGIST” or something similar. I dunno what Alicia Plunkett’s educational level is, but she’s definitely out doing long-term infrastructure repair work right now. Respect.

Continue reading Tweet of the Day, Na-na-na-na Na-na-na-na BAT-GIRL edition.

White conservative wins Texas election in black district by omitting one small detail.

Well, that’s one way to win a community college board of trustees election.

Dave Wilson chuckles as he talks about his unorthodox political campaign.

“I’d always said it was a long shot,” Wilson says. “No, I didn’t expect to win.”

Still, he figured he’d have fun running, because he was fed up with what he called “all the shenanigans” at the Houston Community College System. As a conservative white Republican running in a district whose voters are overwhelmingly black Democrats, the odds seemed overwhelmingly against him.

Then he came up with an idea, an advertising strategy that his opponent found “disgusting.” If a white guy didn’t have a chance in a mostly African-American district, Wilson would lead voters to think he’s black.

And it apparently worked.

Continue reading White conservative wins Texas election in black district by omitting one small detail.

#rsrh Update on Houston domestic terrorism case.

It is thankfully starting to look like it was not politically motivated after all:

[The ATF]  considers [Clair] Wolf a person of interest in a case in which Wolf’s sister received a bomb disguised as a box of candy. She was injured when she opened the gift-wrapped package on July 9 and it exploded, shooting nails and tacks into her face and hands.

Investigators think the bombing involved a dispute over the cleanup of property the siblings got from their parents.

I’d snark about that, except of course that somebody went to the hospital.  Besides, I’m too relieved that we’re not seeing the start of an organized bombing campaign against oil executives after all.  Not least because I’m still not confident in the government’s willingness to investigate such a thing [“They investigated it this time, didn’t they, Moe?” “Hush.  Besides, it was the ATF, not the FBI.” “Lame answer.” “Again, hush.”*]

Moe Lane

Continue reading #rsrh Update on Houston domestic terrorism case.

Domestic terrorism in Houston update.

What?  Oh, right: somebody sent a pipe bomb to the wife of an oil executive (via Confederate Yankee, via Instapundit) – she ended up in the hospital with facial injuries from the blast.  Turns out that it was apparently deliberately targeted at the woman

Neighbors who saw the package but didn’t want to appear on camera describe it as a box of chocolates that left inside a gift bag. One neighbor says there was a card attached that simply said, “Thank you.” It included the woman’s name, but it was misspelled.

…which argues against a random attack.  The bomb was reportedly loaded with nails and shrapnel; somebody wanted this woman dead or permanently disfigured.  And, not to be blunt about things or anything, but if the oil executive connection is true then I officially have zero confidence in the ability, or willingness, of the Holder Justice Department to investigate this crime.  This isn’t just the Black Panther thing: it’s been a year and a half since somebody tried to burn down a Wasilla, AK church for political reasons, and the DoJ is showing no sign of caring about that, either.

Moe Lane Continue reading Domestic terrorism in Houston update.