I wonder how cheap I could live in a place like this?

Ronan Farrow starts his MSNBC show off with an egregious lie

 “Ronan Farrow Debuts New Show in True MSNBC Fashion,” Austin Ruse writes at Big Journalism:

Ronan Farrow, best known as the estranged son of Woody Allen, debuted his new show Ronan Farrow Daily on MSNBC Monday by praising news heroes he “watched growing up,” including Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite.

Walter Cronkite left the CBS Evening News in 1981. Edward R. Morrow hosted See It Now from 1951 to 1958 and Person to Person from 1953 to 1959. He died in 1965.

Since Farrow was not born until 1987, he must be thinking of others he might have seen growing up.

Hey, let's give him another journalism award for it. Shameless lying and being given awards you haven't earned seems to be a rite of passage these days for Progressive wanna-be "journalists."  I'm looking forward to a magnificent crash and burn, just like Piers, Chelsea, Olby, Alec and Martin.  I'll bring the marshmallows.

No where to go but down

Explain this!

11 year old Washington State girl shoots and kills a cougar that was stalking her brother

A badass at eleven years old. 

And I'll bet she never lets her brother forget how much he owes her!

Spitfire climbing

That had to hurt, and smell a bit fishy.

Ouch!

Pro Russian gunmen seize control of government buildings in the Crimean region of the Ukraine.

Shit, meet fan.

By the way, that says "militia" on the back of the guy on the left.   But whose "militia?"

   "The Russian flag flew Thursday morning over both the Crimean parliament and government buildings in the regional capital of Simferopol.

The Black Sea autonomous region's prime minister Anatoliy Mohilyov confirmed to AFP that up to 50 men with weapons seized the buildings and were preventing government workers from entering them early on Thursday."

Via the Belmont Club:

  "The BBC says Russian forces on Ukraine’s border are on high alert. “Russia has put 150,000 combat troops on high alert near its border with Ukraine. The Russian defence Ministry says it is taking measures to guarantee the safety of the Black Sea Fleet, which is based in Crimea.”

For legal cover the former president of the Ukraine has asked for Russian protection. “Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has released a statement saying he still considers himself president of Ukraine and asking the Russian authorities for protection.”

Ukraine’s acting interior minister has put internal security forces on high alert after reports that Russian proxies had seized buildings in the Crimea.

Meanwhile, according to Reuters Ukraine said “it would regard any movements by Russian military in Crimea outside the Russian Black Sea fleet’s base in Sevastopol as an act of aggression. Acting President Oleksander Turchinov issued the warning in the national parliament after armed men seized the regional government and parliament buildings in Crimea, where some ethnic Russians want the region to join the Russian Federation.”

...

   "So far this crisis has been characterized by mutual miscalculation. If the West did not anticipate that the previous Ukranian government would renege on the EU deal neither did Putin appear to recognize the power of the opposition.  Both sides have blundered into this confrontation. The wild card are the Ukranians who will now be pressed to deal, but who may not deal. Another source of uncertainty is the effect of national pride, which so absent in the West, is yet a potent factor in Russia.  The last source of uncertainty is Western leadership. It seems fair to say there are differences between the EU leadership and Washington.

Ordinarily those fractures might not be vitally important. But as president Obama contemplates the ruins of his “reset” policy all the defects of his leadership are magnified in this crisis. Things really matter now; the time for “fast and loose” is over."

Indeed, that proverbial 3am phone call is coming again.  Will Obama and his administration even answer it?  Perhaps you could ask Ambassador Stevens.

Leaving your mark, epic style

Freckles, they are good

                                                   Freckles, red hair, and guns; even better!

Ever see a cat do this?

Dogs are smarter.

Heh

             Aircraft Carrier USS Midway and Battleship USS Iowa in Arabian Gulf, December 1987

Venus now appears as planet Earth's brilliant morning star standing above the eastern horizon before dawn. For most, the silvery celestial beacon rose in a close pairing with an old crescent Moon on February 26. But seen from locations in western Africa before sunrise, the lunar crescent actually occulted or passed in front of Venus, also in a crescent phase. Farther to the east, the occultation occurred during daylight hours. In fact, this telescopic snapshot of the dueling crescents was captured just before the occultation began under an afternoon's crystal clear skies fromYunnan Province, China. The unforgettable scene was easily visible to the naked eye in broad daylight.

Via APOD

Shoulder mounted search light

Crisis Intelligence Co. ALPHA-1 2.4 million lumen search light.  I'm not quite sure what you'd use it for, but I'm also sure I could think of something.

I want one.

Trail cam fun

The kids and I set up a trail cam the other day behind the house about 100 yards , where a gully runs through the neighbor's vineyard and into a pond area.  I've seen coyotes back there before, and we were curious what else might be lurking.

First up, the neighbors dogs, Maggie and Wrangler, at about noon, out for their lunch walk, I guess.

Now, the real mischief makers, three raccoons.  One of the kids threw a hot dog down in the grass, and that's exactly where those little burglars went.  I'll wager they will be back tonight.  Now, to run down there (in the rain) and replace the memory card so the camera is ready for tonight's visitors.