Clear and chilly-cold this early Friday on California’s north coast as we power-up for the weekend.
Right now, we’re at 45 degrees and on the road to a balmy 60 by Sunday — the ice age has passed, for now.

And in the contradictory weirdness of climate change, odd is normal (via Climate Central): The same contorted jet stream pattern that brought the brutal cold to the lower 48 states pushed a pulse of milder-than-average air into Alaska, where some spots recorded temperatures unheard of for December.
Even up there, always considered the coldest state in the union, there’s shit hitting the fan, which by the way, blows nothing but warm air.

And with hot air — Politifact‘s Lie of the Year for 2013 — President Obama’s statement that anyone who liked their health care plan could keep it when the law was passed.

(Illustration: Salvador Dali’s ‘Alice‘ found here).

Obama may not be proud of that whole episode, but he should be ashamed of this — on his watch and without any sense at all, and with people dying every day, all day.
Via the Washington Times:

President Obama’s brain trust on Afghanistan does not know much the U.S. spends on the war each year or the American cost in lost lives on the battlefield.
This embarrassing lack of basic knowledge from State Department and Pentagon experts on Afghanistan at a House hearing Wednesday prompted even a Democrat to say he was stunned.
…
The witnesses: James F. Dobbins, State’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan; Donald Sampler, assistant to the administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development, which provides civilian foreign aid; and Michael Dumont, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia.
When it came time for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican, to quiz the witnesses, he asked what he thought was a simple question:
“How much are we spending annually in Afghanistan? How much is the cost to the American taxpayer?”
He was met with stone silence from the witness panel.
Mr. Dobbins gestured to the other witnesses for the answer.
They, too, came up empty.
“Anybody know?” Mr. Rohrabacker asked.
“Nobody knows the total budget, what we’re spending in Afghanistan.
It’s a hearing on Afghanistan.
Can I have an estimate?
“I’m sorry, congressman,” Mr. Dobbins said.
Mr. Rohrabacker called the lack of an answer “disheartening.”
“How many killed and wounded have we suffered in the last 12 months,” he asked.
Again, none of the three had an answer.
Mr. Dumont said he would get back to him.
“We’re supposed to believe you fellows have a plan that is going to end up in a positive way in Afghanistan,” the congressman said.
“Holy cow.”

More like bull shit.
Rep. Gerald Connolly, Virginia Democrat: “I say to the panel, Mr. Rohrabacker is right. How you can come to a congressional oversight hearing on this subject, with your titles and not know how much we”re spending every year and not know how many casualties we incur this last year, I will say to chairman of this committee, is actually a stunning, stunning development.”
I guess the three nit-twits will indeed get back to them.

And Obama’s intelligence unit, too, with all its technical hardware, still can’t beat the Far East for knowing the hearts, and eyeballs of mankind — via the UK’s Independent:

The promise of nude pictures of former French first lady Carla Bruni was used by hackers as bait to snare dozens of diplomats attending the G20 summit in Paris in 2011, it has emerged.
The email-based cyber attack involved duping victims into clicking on a link offering naked pictures of the former French first lady and model.
The link, however, left the diplomats prey to the hacker’s ‘espionage-focused malware’.
‘To see naked pictures of Carla Bruni click here’ said the message sent to those attending.
The link prompted recipients to open an attachment that contained an embedded virus known as a ‘Trojan Horse’.
Once clicked on the virus forwarded the email onto other recipients.
The attack, which it is believed could still be ongoing, originated in China, according to research published by US-based computer security firm FireEye.
“Almost everybody who received the email took the bait,” an official in Paris was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.

Crazy, huh? And how easy. However, the story doesn’t say whether any photos were available — but all jumped at the chance…

Meanwhile, time for work and getting out of this work week with any sense retained — today won’t be easy because the freakin’ lottery, the Mega Millions, is huge, $400 million. Delusional assholes will come out of the woodwork and from under all sorts of rocks:

The top prize for Friday’s drawing has grown to $400 million, the second-largest in Mega Millions history, trailing a $656 million jackpot in March 2012.
A winner with a ticket matching all six numbers would have the choice of a full jackpot in 30 annual payments or a cash option of about $216 million, before taxes.

And one moron: “Somebody’s got to win it,” she said, laughing. “It might as well be me. If I don’t play, I can’t win.”
Wrong! The odds are so bad and ridiculous, it doesn’t really matter if you play or not — you’re still a loser.

Hey, how about naked pictures of the winning numbers?