Time to kick back and enjoy the summer. Let’s hope we have a summer of low humidity and zero mosquitoes. Who knows how to cut down on the mosquito population? Any good tricks?
I found a couple of good brews to help make me less tasty to mosquitoes. Notice the moonhowler to the left. Then there is Raging Bitch. I have a few of those in the refrigerator, just waiting for a summer Christening. Then there is the old reliable, Blue Moon.
This weekend is supposed to be another great weekend. Let’s use the open thread to share events and good recipes for the grill.
I have found that the best mosquito repellent is copious amounts of gin with a splash of tonic, that seems to do the trick every year, that or my sour disposition makes my blood taste bad.
According to today’s RTD, the GA’s money committees are bracing for
a possible revenue shortfall that could exceed a BILLION dollars over
the the next two years and force deep spending cuts for the state
and local governments. Arrgh!
Have you tried my neighborhood micro-brewery, BadWolf? Right around the corner from Casa del Thomas.
Fun program about the 60s on CNN tonight.
Flying nuns, talking horses, Beaver Cleaver, Dragnet,
Jack Paar, and, best of all: Tim Conway and Carol Burnett.
I recorded it.
We went to see Maleficent tonight. Angelina Jolie was terrific. It is not for young children though.
@Steve Randolphva
ARGGHHHH is right.
Good to see you, Steve.
@Steve Thomas
No, I haven’t but any time a wolf is involved, I think I should check it out.
Do you recommend it?
@Mom
I didn’t comment. I was good. Now I am thinking I can’t resist. Ya think? Most mosquitoes don’t like the taste of piss and vinegar.
Moon, you should try a brew I picked up out in Utah once: Polygamy Porter. Slogan: “Why stop at just one?”
Too funny!!!! Is the beer good? The only thing I have ever had out there was like 3.2 beer. Can you buy it anywhere but Utah?
Although Mom might agree that a generous helping of Laphroig Single Malt might ward the little buggers off too…
All you ladies stay alert when you go to public restrooms such as those in shopping centers. We’ve had a guy in Loudoun — so far twice in the Dulles Town Center — who sneaks into the women’s restroom and into a stall. When a woman comes into the stall next to him, he reaches under the barrier and grabs her. When she screams, he runs. I don’t know what kind of personal kick he gets out of that, but it must scare the hell out of the women. Anyway, Loudoun County deputies are on the case; so this guy may choose to look elsewhere for his victims.
I hope one of the women kicks him in the face.
US Army Sgt Bergdahl, held as a POW for five years by the Taliban, has just been released. He was exchanged for five of the top Taliban prisoners in Gitmo, who will become the “responsibility” of Qatar, apparently the deal broker.
Re the stall episodes: Echoes of Senator Larry Craig. Beware of guys with wide stances. Especially if they are in the Women’s Rooms.
So Wolve – how long do you think those Taliban guys will stay in Qatar?
@Scout
I’m placing no bets on that. These guys were apparently some of the first ones we captured. One of them was the Taliban commander fighting against the Northern Alliance way back when. The way I look at it, they probably would have been released by us at some point in the not too distant future anyway. If they wind up back in Afghanistan, that is a problem for the Afghan security forces, even though those five guys may hate our guts bigtime. I am placing no bets on the ultimate outcome of that bigger game either.
Until they venture out to the desert one day when our drones can get a bead on them.
(at least, that would be my plan. Suuuurre we’ll let you go to Qatar)
While watching “90 Minutes” tonight I couldn’t help but wonder
if any woman with as many wrinkles in her face as Morley Safer,
could ever make it on TV? He’s 82.
Lesley Stahl, at 73, looks pretty darned good and is as sharp as always.
Wonder whether she’ll still be on TV ten years from now?
Just some musings this Sunday evening.
@Cato the Elder
I think that we might have some parole officers available for these guys.
http://chamorrobible.org/images/photos/gpw-20051021-UnitedStatesMarineCorps-20070918-2510M-M-001-camouflaged-hidden-scout-sniper-looks-through-his-scope-Oahu-Hawaii-20070914-medium.jpg
@Cato the Elder
What do you call those things…ankle bracelets that tell the drones where to strike?
I actually am sitting on the fence on this one. More information is needed.
Strong arguments from both sides. This is why being prez pays the big bucks, I guess.
@Wolve
I have very mixed feelings about this situation. Supposedly 6 troops were killed searching for Bergdahl. Supposedly he sent his father a scathing email about the United States and the United States military. Supposedly his father told him to follow his conscience and he walked off his post unarmed.
Should we have rescued him and at what cost? Was he just mentally ill? That’s totally possible.
I heard someone say on TV if someone is in the water, we go back for them. We don’t ask if they jumped or fell. (referring to the Navy)
Mixed bag here. too hard for me to call this one. I just hope it isn’t political but it will be.
I am sort of in a quandry myself about this one. I knew there were many questions about how Bergdahl disappeared from his forward base, but I had heard nothing about our specific casualties in the search for him or that the search had eventually been limited in order to avoid more such casualties for a possible deserter. Nor did I expect such a strong backlash by his military buddies and other military over this trade — or, rather, that Bergdahl, according to them, might be treated like the returning hero he never was. This is emotionally complicated. No way it cannot go political.
I’m not getting into the blame game here. If I had been in the shoes of POTUS, I probably would have made the same deal to get one of our kids back, even with all the controversy over the way he was captured by the Taliban. Everybody has an opinion. But we don’t really know all the answers yet. I cannot imagine removing my combat troops from a war theater and leaving one of our guys to rot or worse in the hands of this enemy. What if we had said that Bergdahl was not going to be traded for anyone? Being of no further trade value to them, would the Taliban have given him back or just made a video of his head being cut off as an embarrassment to POTUS. You never know what they will do.
Yes, POTUS broke a law about releasing those five Taliban from Gitmo, just like Reagan broke a law to get the hostages back from Beirut. I am not too keen on the constitutionality of that law Obama broke. I think it puts some handcuffs on the CINC concerning battlefield decisions. You do not always have the time to give the legally prescribed notice to Congress, especially in a situation in which negotiations are in the hands of a go-between (Qatar) and you never get direct access to the other side to argue your case the way you want.
What happens to Bergdahl now is up to military justice and the case he makes about his departure and what his situation was like when he was being held. Quite frankly, his father is not doing him any favors with all the strange reporting coming from that quarter.
Then there are the five released Taliban. Some keep referring to them in such a way that it is like Napoleon had just escaped from Elba and the French Army was waiting to kneel before their Emperor once again. As I recall, these five Taliban were guys who had lost the battles early in the Afghan war. They were captured by and/or had surrendered to the USA-Northern Alliance combo, and their losses paved the way for the present Afghan government. They will of course be welcomed back as heroes with partying and firing guns into the air, et al; but are they suddenly going to form a new and successful military command? They have been in the slammer at Gitmo and out of action for a decade. Even though still in their 40’s, these are now the “graybeards,” as we used to say. Will the present commanders just give way and step down in favor of these returning graybeards? How much real effect will they have on the present course of the war? I don’t know. Maybe some. Maybe little. Anyway, after more than a decade of our blood and funds, isn’t it about time that the Afgans themselves took care of this problem of the Taliban?
Shoot, I have been trying to hold back on this one. Surprised I even rambled this much.
I think you and I pretty much agree on most of this, Wolve. You, of course, offer a more “insider” approach than I have. It was a tough call and there are no easy answers.
Bergdahl might be a POS, but he is our POS, I guess. We take care of our own, to quote Bruce Springsteen.
I saw a whole bunch on Morning Joe this am. It was a fairly hard hitting segment. It even showed the email he had sent to his father. It gave the names of those troops killed in action while searching for him.
NO easy answers.
One more thing, I got tickled at your calling them the “graybeards.” I had not looked at it from that point of view but they really are out of the loop, aren’t they? After reading what you wrote, they sure didn’t seem like as much of a threat.
Alert cancelled. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office nabbed the toilet stall grabber this week after he touched a young woman “from behind” in our local Safeway supermarket.
I see that the Obama Administration’s decision not to prosecute children from immigrating illegally is having the logical effect. Thousands of children streaming into the US. Last year, about 13 thousand. This year, 80 thousand and with the pace accelerating – http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2014/0608/Illegal-immigration-how-humanitarian-crisis-on-border-could-hurt-Obama-video
I’m very late in catching up in this thread (not the first time that’s happened), but I’ve got to say that Wolve’s 03 June comment (#23) is very impressive for its honesty and clarity. This is a very complicated fact pattern with no obvious right answer. Wolve just laid out his thought process in a way we could all follow. Its an extremely honest view that recognizes all the complexity of the situation. Bravo.
I agree, Scout. Bravo for Wolve.
By resigning, Virginia lawmaker Phillip Puckett betrayed his own people
By Petula Dvorak, Published: June 9 E-mail the writer
This summer, hundreds of sick, desperate people will gather daily in the pre-dawn darkness of a Southwestern Virginia parking lot, part of a late July pilgrimage as predictable as the state’s tobacco crop.
They come with festering cancers, rotting teeth, wheezing lungs and aching joints, lining up for hours to see the doctors who arrive with a mobile clinic to deliver health care to the most underserved of America’s poor.
The three-day clinic at the Wise County Fairgrounds is an annual event just three miles outside of the district represented by state Sen. Phillip P. Puckett (D-Russell). Now, if you’re a state senator watching what looks like a refugee camp medical tent, staffed by 800 volunteers who come into your town to perform eye surgery and root canals and remove cysts for about 3,000 of your constituents, who have no health insurance and live on about $14,000 a year, wouldn’t you do everything in your power to help them?
It seems that Puckett has decided that, no, he’s not going to help the people who elected him and who are in dire need of every bit of medical care they can get.
It’s an attitude that has been the norm among a group of heartless Virginia Republicans who have tried every trick in the book to stop the expansion of health-care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. And they appear willing to shut down the Old Dominion’s government this summer over a proposal to cover about 400,000 uninsured Virginians by expanding Medicaid.
Remember, these are people who should receive federal assistance. And to put the ridiculous nature of this debate in even more perspective, if Medicaid expansion is approved, the feds pick up the tab 100 percent for Medicaid for the first three years, eventually scaling back to 90 percent of the tab. Right now, the state goes 50-50 on all Medicaid expenses. Plus, it’s a huge bonus to small businesses, which suddenly get a lot of help in the health insurance department.
Hello, fiscally conservative, business-friendly Republicans? Are you not seeing that this is money in the state’s pockets?
Nope, they would rather play dirty, selfish, stinking politics and continue their Obamacare smear campaign on the backs of the state’s most vulnerable residents.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/by-resigning-virginia-lawmaker-phillip-puckett-betrayed-his-own-people/2014/06/09/8ee6abe4-f015-11e3-bf76-447a5df6411f_story.html?hpid=z1
@Starryflights
Um….how did the REPUBLICANS play politics when he resigned due to EXISTING law preventing his daughter from getting confirmed by the Senate….which, including the Lt. Gov, was MAJORITY Democrat?
Now…a statement can be made that he shouldn’t have resigned. Or that the law should have been changed. But the GOP had nothing to do with this one, even if it did benefit them and the state of Virginia.
They jumped in and took advantage of the situation. They played politics. They would have been fools not to. I could kick what’s his face’s ass from here to Kansas. What an A-hole. I hope the Democrats drum him out of the party.
@Cargosquid
What Law?? Do not bother to try and find it – it is only a Policy that the Legislature does not appoint relatives to judgeships. I agree with the policy. What had Puckett in a jam is that he was going to go work for the Tobacco Commission (with the help of the R’s) – in order to pad his own retirement package AND his daughter was going to get a judgeship. I hear that she is quite capable – but with this fiasco, she should not be appointed.
@Starryflights
That’s quite the tantrum, I thought her little moonbat head was going to pop off before she finished the column.
The tears are delicious.
Cato, can you be less directly insulting? “little moonbat head” seems like a bit much. The board was started to encourage civility.
@Pat.Herve
Thought it was a law. That is how it was stated in the local news.
@Rick Bentley
Why is it that civility only goes one way? She didn’t seem too civil.
@Rick Bentley
Getting a lecture on civility from you is like getting a lecture on virginity from a hooker.
Now THAT comes off more like humor than a direct attack. Good job.
A little misogynystic, but better.
@Rick Bentley
Not to worry! “moon” is Cato’s favorite prefix for the so called “progs”.
How soon they all have forgotten Jim Jeffords.
Just a refresher. It was 2001, I think. The US Senate was split 50-50, with Vice-President Cheney available to cast the deciding vote. GOP Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont decided to leave the party and become an “Independent.” He also agreed to caucus with the Democrats, thereby giving them the Senate 51-49 and making Tom Daschle Majority Leader. The reward for Jeffords was an appointment to a desired Senate committee chairmanship.
At least Puckett resigned his seat. Jeffords crossed the carpet and switched sides. Just great for those who had voted for him over the Dem candidate. But the Dems cheered, and the Repubs ground their teeth in anger. We’ve seen it before.
Puckett is a coward. Hopefully the governor can find a way to do an end run around the legislature on expanding Medicaid.
Puckett needs to be bitch slapped. He should be drummed out of the party. what a moron!!!!
An end run will be made by the GOP.
AP is reporting that Eric Cantor lost his primary. Holy cow!
Win some, lose some. Fortunes of war, wot, wot?
ERIC CANTOR LOSES PRIMARY! 65/66 PRECINCTS REPORTING! 83%+ of the vote counted.
REP Party Eric I. Cantor 26,906 44.62%
REP Party
David A. Brat 33,401 55.38%
Total Votes 60,307
I was just reading that. Now what? Crossover?
Cantor’s opponent ran the lowest of low kind of opportunistic campaigns. I at least give Brat credit (as I do people like Cruz) for not believing a word of it. But losing Cantor is no loss.
I, for one, am not sorry Cantor lost.
@Scout
In what way did Brat run the “lowest of the low” kind of campaign? Cantor is the one that lied about Brat and his own programs and record.
Eliminating any possibility of Cantor ever ascending to Speaker is worth losing that seat to a Democrat IMO, not that that’s going to happen.
@Cato the Elder
@Cato the Elder
I have never known Rick to be uncivil. Well, rarely.
I agree with you, Cato. Cantor was an empty suit. I also accept Cargo’s point that Cantor’s campaign was no more edifying than Brat’s. Brat will now move back toward the center. He’s a smart guy (like Cruz) and will do what he needs to do to win in November.
If he moves too far to center he will bump right in to the democratic candidate who teaches with him. Too funny. This ought to be the show of the decade.
And now for something different.
In an earlier thread, we were talking about climate change and the Thwaite’s Ice sheet was mentioned as a casualty of climate change.
Just thought that I would provide evidence of my earlier opinion.
From University of Texas:
AUSTIN, Texas — Thwaites Glacier, the large, rapidly changing outlet of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, is not only being eroded by the ocean, it’s being melted from below by geothermal heat, researchers at the Institute for Geophysics at The University of Texas at Austin (UTIG) report in the current edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The findings significantly change the understanding of conditions beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet where accurate information has previously been unobtainable.
The Thwaites Glacier has been the focus of considerable attention in recent weeks as other groups of researchers found the glacier is on the way to collapse, but more data and computer modeling are needed to determine when the collapse will begin in earnest and at what rate the sea level will increase as it proceeds. The new observations by UTIG will greatly inform these ice sheet modeling efforts.
Using radar techniques to map how water flows under ice sheets, UTIG researchers were able to estimate ice melting rates and thus identify significant sources of geothermal heat under Thwaites Glacier. They found these sources are distributed over a wider area and are much hotter than previously assumed.
__________
So…while climate change may be influencing things……this melting is not one of them.
If anyone in the greater Manassas area needs to have stuff throw away in a hurry, I highly recommend Get-Rid-of-It at http://www.getridofit.com.
I called them the day before and they came out when they promised for the price they quoted me. The entire ordeal was over in 15 minutes.
Expensive? Not really if you value the things I just quoted above.
Try getting your trash company to come in the house to remove large items. It was about the same cost as getting them to do haul away without the convenience of having two big burly men remove the furniture out of the house.
Moon, On the open carry thread, you said this:
“There have been 74 mass shootings since the Sandy Hook massacre.
This is unacceptable. We can’t prevent all of them but we can prevent some.”
Thought that you would like to know that CNN, that bastion of gun rights, has debunked Bloomberg’s numbers….he was lying.
80% of them were NOT school shootings as described. It wasn’t mass shootings either. Of course…ONE is too many….but I thought you would like an accurate statement.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/11/us/school-shootings-cnn-number/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
CNN determined that 15 of the incidents Everytown included were situations similar to the violence in Newtown or Oregon — a minor or adult actively shooting inside or near a school. That works out to about one such shooting every five weeks, a startling figure in its own right.
I never heard school shootings. I heard mass shootings which to me means more than one person in an incident. It seems that there have been more than 15 shootings in the news since Sandy Hook.
Quick! Somebody tell Hillary that Abe Lincoln was never a US Senator!
Oh Dear God, tell me please that Hillary didn’t pull a Sarah Palin!!!! ARRGGHHH
I wouldn’t have caught that one. He was a congressman wasn’t he?