Moe Lane

…All I’d care about is whether the dogs are likely to start drunkenly shouting about the Islanders, then vomit all over the seats.  No?  Then leave me alone; some of us are trying to sleep, here.  The dog gets this; why can’t you?

Via:

IT’S A DOG’S LIFE: RT @thelolcats: Some Seriously Smart Stray Dogs in Russia bit.ly/13G1yUc

— Sissy Willis (@SissyWillis) April 21, 2013

Let me just put this FBI press release out there for you.  It’s dated April 19, 2013, by the way: this will be important later.

2011 Request for Information on Tamerlan Tsarnaev from Foreign Government

The two individuals believed to be responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday have been positively identified as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, now deceased, and Dzhokar Tsarnaev, now in custody. These individuals are brothers and residents of Massachusetts. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a legal permanent resident and Dzhokar Tsarnaev is a naturalized U.S. citizen. Charges have not yet been filed against Dzhokar Tsarnaev and he is presumed innocent. (more…)

“…da?”

Putin gives the topless anti-Putin protester 2 thumbs up. (Slideshow: thelocal.de/gallery/news/1…) twitter.com/BananaKarenina…

— Elif Batuman (@BananaKarenina) April 8, 2013

Via Instapundit.

Moe Lane

PS: I should probably note here that I happen to despise the SOB personally; I just don’t think that he’s going to throw nukes at us, or in fact do anything much except be the de facto Little Father for the rest of his life. Which scenario apparently the Russians themselves aren’t too upset about, so what the hell can we do about it?

The American Interest and Hot Air are covering this one pretty well, so here’s the executive summary: the EU wants to raid Cypriot individual bank accounts in exchange for a bank bailout; this is freaking out Russians crony capitalist oligarchs, who have been using said banks to deposit their… questionable… gains for the last decade; and so the Russian energy company Gazprom is making a counter-offer to stabilize the banks, in exchange for what are frankly speculative natural gas exploration rights. The Cyprus government may or may not take that offer, but they will probably use it as leverage in order to screw over… somebody.  Either the EU, or the Russians, or maybe both.  Reply hazy: try again later.

That’s pretty much it, except for this operation: if you’re really worried about crony capitalism, check out Russia’s.  They make the Obama administration look like pikers, and the average Republican White House look like Milton Friedman and F. A. Hayek’s love child.

Unquestionably.

That’s from the meteor that hit over in the Urals; didn’t kill anybody – but that’s thanks to the laws of physics, and possibly your benevolent supernatural entity or entities of choice.  It’s for damned sure we couldn’t have stopped the sucker if it had happened to be on an intercept course with, say, Kiev.

Moe Lane

PS: The universe is full of rocks that could wreck our whole day. We are ‘safe’ largely because of the laws of probability… which is to say, we’re not safe at all.

Their reasoning is sound: if India, the PRC, and the USA aren’t stupid enough to sign off on bad science by reducing their energy production*, why should Russia? …Particularly since Canada’s off of the reservation.  Not to mention (potentially) various Russian satellite states. And… well, do we need more examples, really?

Via Instapundit.

Moe Lane

*Excuse me: ‘reducing their carbon emissions.’  Mustn’t offend Greenie religious taboo, of course.

“This” being, well, this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP3I8THfikI

But for once a YouTube comment explains it all:

A common situation, they are fleeing from a drunk bear.

…I have decided that this will be the answer.  They are fleeing from a drunk bear.  No further explanation is needed, or indeed desired. So mote it be!

Via @bdomenech.

I mean, I personally love the Citizens United case. Aside from liking free speech, it seems to be a positive spur to creativity. Check out this latest spy spoof from American Crossroads, with Barack Obama starring as the almost-urbane secret agent trying to fumble-finger the rest of us into giving up our missile defense plans:

For the record: no, really, Vladimir Putin really does go parading around shirtless, and on a horse. (shrug) It apparently plays well in Russia.  As does planning to give away the store on missile defense; which should cheer up the President.  At least the notion is popular somewhere…

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Not hand-colored, either:

…at least, if I’m reading this right.  There are a lot more photos at that link; it’s fascinating, even if you aren’t into Russian history (which I am not especially).  David Thompson often has interesting links like these: you should check out his site.

Via Nodwick.

(And see here for more along those lines.)

There must be a cultural reference that I’m missing.

Just saying, Vladimir.

“I do not think that ‘top-rock’ or ‘down-rock’ breakdance technique is compatible with alcohol or drugs,” Putin told cheering hip-hoppers who responded with chants of “Respect, Vladimir Vladimirovich”.

No, that’s not really taken out of context: Putin went to hang with Russian rappers. I think that I’ve mentioned before that the man really needs to get cracking with discovering that he’s actually descended from the Princess Anastasia?

Moe Lane

I’m having difficulty working it out.  Is it because:

• …we get absolutely nothing out of this?
• …it brazenly goes against previous national security agreements made between the United States and what were, prior to this morning, staunch regional allies?
• …it came out of nowhere, to the point where the ranking Republican Senator on Armed Services is asking why this suddenly appeared?
• …it is fairly clearly a desperate domestic-policy bone thrown to a liberal base currently coming to a boil over the Democrats’ slow-motion collapse on health care?
• …or is it because they announced it on THE SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SOVIET INVASION OF POLAND, YOU DAFT, HISTORICALLY ILLITERATE, IDIOTS?!?

…or should I just embrace the healing power of ‘and?’

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.