The house is nearing completion, the work is going like gangbusters with an IG inspection looming, I’m applying for a couple of higher positions, one of which would be virtualized and work at home about 75% of the time, Mother’s Day and the son’s birthday are looming, the son is graduating from high school in about two weeks, and the daughter is getting ready to go to Europe to spend summer with her Aunt who lives there. Between all of those expenses, I expect to feast on Ramen a lot in the next six weeks.
I haven’t been posting much so here’s a quick round up of things that interest me. The Manning case is going to have a closed door hearing (requested by the Defense) tomorrow to work out details of exhibiting classified information during the trial. The Trial Counsel objected to the motion for the hearing to be closed, but the Judge agreed with Defense Counsel and overruled.
The SCOTUS will hold a conference some time this month I believe in petition for certoriari in Behenna v U.S. 1LT Michael Behenna stands convicted at General Court-Martial of unpremeditated murder, among other charges in the death of a detainee. The opinion of the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF) is here. (PDF) It also has a brief backgrounder on the case as it was presented to CAAF. Since CAAF reviewed the case, the SCOTUS has appellate jurisdiction. The issue is: Whether a servicemember in a combat zone categorically forfeits the right to self-defense as a matter of law by pointing a firearm without authorization at a suspected enemy. (When such enemy was naked, unarmed, and cornered, and the servicemember in question went off-mission to torture and threaten the suspected enemy who had already been cleared by Military Intelligence, and later attempted to convince his subordinate to lie to their superiors.) Italics mine.
Charles Johnson over at LGF highlights the true motivation for the ongoing Benghazi silliness–the probability that the most popular Democratic politician in the country will run for President in 2016.
And in the “words fail even me” department, the USAF Officer in charge of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office for that service has been arrested for Sexual Battery.
Raven
We’re just at the beginning of putting on a master suite addition. I’ve spent several days taking down a deck in hopes of re-using the lumber on the new one.
Raven
How Colonoscopies Are Like Home Renovations
by Ramh’s brother.
Violet
The Air Force officer in charge of sexual assault prevention being arrested for sexual assault both surprises and doesn’t surprise me. Like pedophiles who get into jobs where they have access to children, he may have been drawn to it to give him cover and deniability. Or something.
Soonergrunt
@Raven: I’m holding off on doing deck or patio or anything more complex than garden boxes for at least a year.
Raven
@Soonergrunt: Yea, this is part of the overall design. We’re taking our big kitchen windows out and re-using them on the new basement. One of the window’s will become the door to the deck. Once the demolition is done I’m going to try to stay out of it since we’ve earmarked a ton of dough for the job.
eta The biggest problem is that we have lost the dog door and Bohdi is very confused about not being able to come and go as he pleases.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
The arrest of the USAF Officer in charge of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office for an offense that is the subject of his office’s existence just might be a symptom of the actual problem. Culturally entrenched – and clearly accepted – behavior in USAF would seem to be the message here. That’s all I got.
Villago Delenda Est
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Well, one could say it’s like appointing Joseph Kennedy to run the SEC.
One could.
kindness
I have 2 WaPo bookmarks I usually read over the course of the day. One is Ezra Klein and the other is The Plum Line.
Has the WaPo put their blogs behind a paywall? I haven’t been able to pull either up for a few days and have not read otherwise.
liberal
@kindness:
I thought they were rolling out some kind of paywall about now. I only remember that because there was something about print subscribers like myself having complete access for free.
Roger Moore
I’ve been revamping my lighting recently. I updated the ballasts in my bathroom fluorescent fixtures- the old ballasts were original to the home and nearly 50 years old- and replaced the fluorescent lights in the kitchen with LED tubes. Now I’m getting a bunch of color-changing LED strip lighting to provide supplemental light in the bedrooms, and bright white LEDs for the living room.
I think LED strip lighting has the potential to be a real game changer. They’re small enough to take up essentially no space, bright enough to light up a room, more efficient than fluorescent lights, and last for long enough that you can use permanent installations with no need to worry about replacing them. It’s going to be amazing when people start redesigning our concept of lighting fixtures to take advantage of the new technology.
pianoguy
Shouldn’t that be, “three-legged man”?!?
MikeJ
@kindness:
I got to them just fine, but I keep noscript turned on by default and only allow javascript when I absolutely have to. Not only am I not annoyed by flash based ads, the NYT paywall ignores the number of page hits I’ve had for the month.
Soonergrunt
@pianoguy: no, because then I wouldn’t have to both hop around on one leg AND kick asses with the same leg.
ericblair
@Roger Moore:
Your grandkids will have to ask you what a “lightbulb” was, since with how long LEDs last there’s no need to make them screw-in replaceable anymore. I agree, we haven’t scratched the surface of this yet.
Maybe this latest Air Force black eye will get them to actually do something about sexual assault. There seem to be a lot of institutional personnel issues with the USAF, and unfortunately the leadership may need more heads to roll like they did over the acquisition scandal.
Villago Delenda Est
@ericblair:
Don’t hold your breath. The USAF is infested with fundie vermin.
Tonal Crow
I’d vote for Hillary over any Republican, but we can — and should — do better. Craven Iraq-war hawk and advocate for stealthily injecting more religion into government (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/09/hillarys-prayer-hillary-clintons-religion-and-politics ) — really?
Todd
@Villago Delenda Est:
It was a much better service in the early 80s, before the fundievangelicals took over the chaplaincies. It was whitebread, but folks knew how to behave among the women they served with.
Schlemizel
I would kill for a job that allowed 75% WFH. No, seriously, just point the guy out ;)
Good luck on moving up what ever slot you get
Xantar
@Tonal Crow:
Not to mention she apparently was urging Obama to intervene in Syria. I will wholeheartedly support Hillary if she becomes the candidate, and I fully support having a female president. But can’t we do any better?
sharl
Regarding the Manning case, Harry Shearer had a pretty good interview with journalist Alexa O’Brien (@carwinb on Twitter) this past weekend on Le Show. O’Brien is clearly a Manning fan, but her journalism appears to be quite rigorous and honest (although her point-of-view certainly influences the perspective of her coverage, as it does for anyone doing that kind of work, or their employers).
Link to the show. Lead in for the interview starts a bit beyond 12m45s point. Direct link to online media player here.
Tonal Crow
@Xantar:
I’m not surprised; some people just refuse to learn from experience. Do you have a link?
Roger Moore
@ericblair:
One of the things I’m really starting to understand is how much effort is going into backward compatibility with existing infrastructure. Permanently installed fixtures are expensive compared to the lights in them, and replacing a fixture is even more expensive, so we wind up making fluorescent and LED lights that are constrained by the need to fit them. The real excitement will come when we give up on compatibility to design new fixtures optimized for the new technology.
Xantar
@Tonal Crow:
Late, I know, but just in case you check: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/06/world/middleeast/attacks-on-syria-fuel-debate-over-us-led-airstrikes.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0&hp
sharl
Awww, my labor-intensive copying-&-pasting of Alexa O’Brien tweets from her Manning coverage notes at Ft. Meade yesterday afternoon apparently went from ‘In Moderation/Awaiting Approval’ status, to flat out disappeared. I wonder what B-J commenting rule I violated?
Oh, well…
:(