Weird Is Part of the Job...
This particular phrase can be attributed to the marvelous Star Trek universe, and it so aptly describes some of the "stuff" we see every day, be it live and "in person", on the TV, or happen to read about in the news.
Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew - Star Trek: Voyager) said this to a junior officer once, and I never forgot it.
I often use it when speaking about my neighborhood, as is evidenced by what I bring to you here at this blog.
And it fits like a glove.
Sadly, we've way too much "weird" these days, and not enough "normal".
Allow me to regale you with some other tidbits of "weirdness".
*** (( Driver hits yard, high on fake pot - Holly Abrams The Journal Gazette
A Fort Wayne man told police he was under the influence of a hallucinogenic but legal drug when he crashed his car into a deck and hot tub outside a home on the city’s north end, according to a police report.
The crash was reported just after 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 2100 block of Brandywine Court, off East Dupont Road.
An 18-year-old man was driving a Ford Taurus when he drove into a yard, tearing up the grass and then hitting the home’s outside deck, the report said.
When police arrived at the crash scene and questioned the man, he told them he had been smoking K2 earlier.
K2 is an herbal compound, sold legally, that mimics marijuana and can cause users to hallucinate.
A witness told police the man appeared "dazed and unresponsive" when she tried to talk to him.
The man suffered minor injuries and was taken to Parkview Hospital, where staff said they had no test for the compound but had been advised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to document and report patients suspected to have used it, the report said.
The driver told police after smoking the compound he "was seeing everything all 3-D or cartoonish-like," the report said.
No citations have been filed in connection to the wreck. ))
Alrighty, then...
I spoke about this K2 substance a while back, and in some states, the "incense" has been banned...but NOT in Indiana (yet).
WTF is taking so long, you dumbass politicians?
This woman dodged a bullet (and a Taurus) when this high-as-a-kite, teen-punk decided to experience some 3-D effects while behind the wheel of a vehicle. What will it take before you legislators MOVE on this...a FATALITY?
This could have JUST AS EASILY occurred while in HEAVY TRAFFIC, for God's sake.
And NO citations were filed?
Uh...how's about these?
TRESPASS?
VANDALISM?
RECKLESS DRIVING?
ALL OF THE ABOVE?
C'mon now folks...there has to be something this teen can be charged with, even if it's NOT DUI (proper).
This is just ridiculous to turn this kid back on the streets without so much as a slap on the damn wrist.
We can only hope the woman whose deck, hot tub, and yard were trashed will sue this kid (and his parents ) asses off.
But wait, there's more...
*** (( 13 suitcases of pot seized at Ohio airport - Jeannie Nuss Associated Press
Columbus, Ohio – A California woman traveling with a bodyguard on a private jet was arrested at an Ohio airport with 506 pounds of marijuana stashed in 13 suitcases, federal authorities said.
Lisette Lee, the bodyguard and two personal assistants were arrested Monday night after the Drug Enforcement Administration got a tip that the 28-year-old woman was traveling with a suspicious amount of luggage.
After the chartered plane landed in Columbus, one of Lee’s assistants and her bodyguard helped baggage workers unload some of the luggage, authorities said. It took two men to carry some of the large suitcases, which were packed with bricks of pot, and three vehicles to hold all the luggage, authorities said.
Authorities also confiscated three cell phones, cocaine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and suspected drug ledgers that showed about $300,000 in transactions.
Lee was charged with conspiracy and possession of drugs with the intent to distribute. Her attorneys, Bill Meeks and Dave Thomas, did not immediately return a message left Wednesday. She was being held without bail pending a Friday hearing.
Her bodyguard and two personal assistants were released pending possible indictments, DEA agent Anthony Marotta said.
Lee told investigators that she chartered the plane from Van Nuys, Calif., to Columbus to visit a boyfriend and transport equipment to a horse farm.
She said it was her fourth such trip.
She told authorities a friend paid her $60,000 to take more than a dozen suitcases from Los Angeles to an unattended hotel room in Columbus, stay for a few days and then bring back fewer pieces of luggage.
Lee later told investigators that she and her entourage knew the horse story was phony and that they were likely involved with "weapons and money laundering or something," authorities wrote in court papers.
If convicted, Lee could face up to 40 years in prison and a fine of up to $2 million. ))
Okay, so someone offers you $60 grand to take some suitcases to another city (in a charted plane)...and your "entourage" and you go right along with it.
Sure, makes perfect sense to me.
This was a damn good bust by the DEA.
I mean, they got cell phones (with numbers listed in them no doubt), and those wonderful LEDGERS, that have names, numbers, addresses, transactions...all that really GOOD stuff.
I'll bet some drug lord somewhere is licking his wounds over this take by the Feds.
Puts a smile on my face every time, too.
Hold on, we're not finished yet...
Caution, if you've got kids with an upcoming BIRTHDAY PARTY, and you want to hold it outside, you "might" want to think TWICE before hiring THESE people...
*** (( Fire pit flare-up burns boy - Associated Press
CHESTERTON – Police say a plastic bottle filled with gasoline exploded after it was tossed into a fire pit, badly burning a boy who was attending a birthday party.
Chesterton police say the 12-year-old suffered second-degree burns to his head, neck and arm. About six children ages 8 to 15 were roasting marshmallows around the fire Sunday night, with one squirting gasoline from the bottle to keep the fire going.
A police report said after a small fire flared up, a party equipment business employee tossed the bottle into the pit and told the children stay away. The bottle exploded shortly after the workers left.
Popo’s Parties owner Danielle Popovich says the children were unattended and her employees didn’t know gasoline was in the bottle. ))
Yeahhhhhh, right.
Somehow, I'm not so sure we've got us some RESPONSIBLE PARENTS here.
And a BOTTLE of GASOLINE...just laying around.
Now what was that about placing FLAMMABLE liquids in PROPER CONTAINERS again?
And then keeping said containers AWAY from CHILDREN?
Well, perhaps Ms Popovich is off the hook on this one...sort of.
The bottle obviously didn't seem to be part of the planning from the caterer.
But the employee should have disposed of the bottle somewhere OTHER than the fire pit, don'cha think?
Besides, what dumbass parent would leave a bottle of gasoline (unlabeled, it would appear) around for kids to find (and misuse)?
At least ONE of the kids KNEW what was in that bottle, because they squirted it ON the fire.
Yepper...sure give me a real "warm n fuzzy" to know the FUTURE of our nation is entrusted to such people as THESE.
If these folks are THIS stupid when it comes to their CHILDREN, how much more stupid are they in OTHER matters.
Personally, if I lived in Chesterton, I'd get some neighbors together, make some signs up about being RESPONSIBLE, and picket their damn house for a few days...just to wise them the hell up.
(if such a thing can be done at this point)
As I always say...it comes down to PEOPLE.
No matter how dumb something you may have done could be, there is ALWAYS someone a lot more dumber.
There comes a time when you hear that "alarm" going off, and you just don't roll over and hit the damn SNOOZE button.
Hopefully, these parents have LEARNED something (the hard way).
And learning is something that should never get old for any of us, no matter how old WE become.
Perhaps you learned something here today...I know I sure have.
That gives us all a leg up on everyone else, doesn't it?
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.