Holy crap! Now they're coming right into our houses!

Sure, he looks adorable. But then all of the screaming and flesh tearing starts.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

Eleven-year-old Zach Landis will never forget the sound of a black bear bursting through the double-paned window of his bedroom late Monday.Zach said he shot upright when he woke to the crash. He saw a figure the size of a grown man in his room. In the darkness and clamor, he struggled to make out what was near the foot of his bed. He watched it scratch at the walls and climb back through the window from which it entered before he could let out a scream and figure out what he had just witnessed — a bear crashing in and out of his garden-level bedroom. 

The boy ran so fast from his room that he slipped twice on his way upstairs. His parents, Alisa and Jon Landis, were asleep when their alarmed son woke them. 

"I said, 'Mom, Dad, there's a bear in my room,' " Zach recalled.

"My first reaction was, 'You must be having a bad dream,' " said his mother. The story seemed implausible.

Well in fact it was plausible, a black bear DID in fact perpetrate a home invasion into Zach's room.

Now there have been a few stories like this up here in Alaska over the years, though they are quite rare, but this one comes on the heels of two bear fatalities, and a number of attacks.

And this is especially concerning since the Landis family lives literally just up the road from my house, and guess who has a sliding glass door leading to the backyard from their bedroom. 

Now look I have started taking all of the appropriate precautions when hiking in the national park near my house.

I walk on open, well traveled trails only.

I make sure to hike with a partner.

I make lots of noise while hiking.

And I keep an eye out for any sign of bear activity near the trails.

However I am in no way prepared for a bear actually jumping through my window in the middle of the night.

I mean sure I do have a samurai sward near the bed, but somehow I do not feel that is adequate.

So I think we should establish some damn rules with our ursine neighbors.

I will not get between you and your cubs, or disturb you while you are eating a tourist, if you will stay the hell out of our bedrooms at night.

Seems fair, don't you think? 

John McCain throws down the gauntlet for Donald Trump to do something about the Russian attacks against Ukrainian forces.

Here is John McCain's letter to Trump from McCain's website: 

Dear President Trump, 

In the first of what will be many tests for your new administration, Russia and its proxy forces launched attacks against Ukrainian forces this week, killing at least seven Ukrainian soldiers and wounding dozens more. That this surge of attacks began the day after he talked with you by phone is a clear indication that Vladimir Putin is moving quickly to test you as commander-in-chief. America’s response will have lasting consequences. 

Vladimir Putin’s violent campaign to destabilize and dismember the sovereign nation of Ukraine will not stop unless and until he meets a strong and determined response. Therefore, in light of the latest Russian attacks and the prospect of future aggression against Ukraine, I urge you to exercise the authority given to you by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 to provide defensive lethal assistance to Ukraine to defend its territory against further violations by Russia and its separatist proxies. At the same time, so long as Russia continues to occupy Crimea and destabilize Ukraine, I implore you to maintain current sanctions against Russia. And based on Russia’s attempted interference in our elections, I urge you to expand current sanctions against Russia. 

Ukrainians are not asking Americans to do their fighting. Nearly 10,000 Ukrainians have died to protect their homeland and many more are serving and have sacrificed for the cause of a free and united Ukraine. But America does have a proud history of helping free people to defend themselves. We should do so once more by giving our Ukrainian friends the assistance they need and deserve. Failing to do so now not only risks Ukraine’s sovereignty, but the further erosion of American credibility. 

Sincerely, 

John McCain

This is awesome, because it puts Trump between a rock and a hard place.

On the one hand this is a very important test for Trump's leadership, and an opportunity to show that toughness that he is always bragging about. 

On the other hand he is Vladimir Putin's bitch and I think we know that when Putin helped him it was with the understanding that he would allow Russia to do whatever the hell it wanted.

So what will it be Donnie?

Do nothing and confirm to the world that you are only president due to Russian interference?

Or do something, and risk that pee tape suddenly showing up in every journalist's inbox?

New conspiracy theory suggests that Russia is planning to invade Alaska, by way of Wasilla. Wait, what?

Courtesy of the Inquisitr: 

At least one harbinger of doom is now saying that when the Russians invade the United States, they will start World War 3 by breaching American sovereignty via Alaska, according to a former military official. In what reads like a World War 3 conspiracy theory, this scenario suggests that President Barack Obama has left the United States’ northernmost state militarily defenseless against an imminent Russian exploitative attack. 

The Daily Star reported this week that a high-ranking former U.S. Navy official has claimed to have evidence that a Russian invasion of the United States is imminent and will begin in, of all places, the small village of Wasilla, Alaska. (For those who may have forgotten, Wasilla is the home of former Alaska governor, former Republican vice presidential nominee, and former Fox News contributor Sarah Palin.) Russian submarines will apparently secure the Alaskan coastline, exploiting the fact, according to the former Navy officer, that the area is virtually unprotected from hostile and aggressive invaders. 

According to the official, who offered the information on condition of anonymity, Wasilla will become the jump-off for a more protracted invasion of North America. “Our feeling in the Navy was that Obama had turned Alaska into a defenseless area that will serve as a forward base of operations when World War III begins,” he said. 

“We are the verge of being invaded from Alaska all the way down into Canada and eventually the Northwest.” 

The same unnamed source told the Daily Star that there were Russians disguised as “highway road crews” working in Alaska already, preparing the way for a full-scale invasion force. The crews were in place to “disrupt communications and seize vital bridges” when war eventually arrives. 

Okay that whole "disguised as highway road crews" is a dead giveaway that this whole thing is BS.

I mean do you have any idea how hard it is to get a job on a road crew here in Alaska?

As for coming through Wasilla, that "small village" as they call it is in the MIDDLE of the fucking state, so I am not at all sure how that would help them to "secure the Alaskan coastline."

Besides that invading Alaska is probably the LAST place the Russians would want to establish a beachhead for an invasion of the rest of America.

Trust me I have lived here my entire life, we are not exactly known for being easily subjugated.

And if they were actually going to start in Wasilla they might like to know that Alaska is not only bulging with weapons but that it a safe bet that about 75% of them are in the Mat-Su Valley where Wasilla is located, and that Wasilla is where we keep all of the anti-social nutjobs.

Personally, since I live in Anchorage, I think it is a GREAT idea for Russia to invade Wasilla,

I look forward to the next Fur Rendezvous where I imagine the Russian scalps and skins will be displayed alongside the traditional wolverine and fox pelts.

Besides if Russians were actually working on some long range plan to invade Alaska via Wasilla they would have to have a highly placed operative within the government helping them.

You know perhaps a former local politician who had connections to fringe political groups that were working to undermine one or both political parties.

Someone who constantly suggests that the country was on the wrong path and supports a candidate for national office who was causing incredible friction and angry clashes between its citizens, and who themselves had ties to Russian government officials.

Someone who might even have a child with a close friend of Russian descent.

Yeah but I can't think of anyone like that.

Russia invades Crimea right under America's nose as if the NSA had suddenly lost the ability to track their actions. What changed?

Courtesy of Business Insider:  

U.S. officials think that Russia may have recently obtained the ability to evade U.S. eavesdropping equipment while commandeering Crimea and amassing troops near Ukraine's border. 

The revelation reportedly has the White House "very nervous," especially because it's unclear how the Kremlin hid its plans from the National Security Agency's snooping on digital and electronic communications. 

One interesting parallel is the presence of Edward Snowden in Russia, where he has been living since flying to Moscow from Hong Kong on June 23. 

In July, primary Snowden source Glenn Greenwald told The Associated Press that Snowden "is in possession of literally thousands of documents that contain very specific blueprints that would allow somebody who read them to know exactly how the NSA does what it does, which would in turn allow them to evade that surveillance or replicate it." 

So it's either a coincidence that the Russians figured out how to evade NSA surveillance while hosting the NSA-trained hacker, or else it implies that Snowden may have provided the Russians with access to NSA files. 

A coincidence? Yeah, right.

Of course the claim is that Snowden gave all of his purloined data to the journalists and kept nothing for himself, however the timeline, and veracity, of that occurrence is still in doubt.

There were many who suggested that President Obama's public statement that he will work with Congress to reign in the NSA's ability to collect data as proof that Snowden is a hero and that the country owes him their gratitude.

However we still do not dully understand exactly WHAT Snowden took, and WHOSE hands it ended up in. (Remember before landing in Russia Snowden stopped in Hong Kong for a month, and at that time definitely had the data on him. And we have already possibly seen the fallout from that.)

Personally I find it hard to believe that Putin would offer Snowden sanctuary in Russia if he did not have something substantial with which to bargain. And the ability to evade American eavesdropping equipment, allowing you to invade countries under the radar, would be a rather large bargaining chip.

One of the questions remaining is, if our intelligence gathering technology is now in the hands of the Russians, how vulnerable are we?

Some images of the Russian invasion into Crimea.

These are images that recently showed up on Reddit, of Ukrainians in Crimea having their pictures taken with the mysterious troops that have shown up to protect Russian interests.

Apparently Crimea has strong loyalties to Russia and clearly the citizens here do not consider their arrival to be threat.

However there are more overt actions being taken at the Ukrainian military bases in Crimea:

Amid signs of Russian military intervention in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, Russian generals led their troops to three bases in the region Sunday, demanding Ukrainian forces surrender and hand over their weapons, Vladislav Seleznyov, spokesman for the Crimean Media Center of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, told CNN.

Soldiers denying Russian troops access to Crimean military base.

In response  Ukraine's new leaders have called up military reservists and are mobilizing troops, but as of right now not a shot has been fired, and there are no reported losses of life due to these actions.

Clearly Putin is attempting to use a show of force to bully the new Ukrainian government, which is a cobbled together patchwork or political neophytes, many of who have opposing interests, and who were behind the ouster of President Viktor F. Yanukovych, into some kind of negotiations.

Remember that these are the images that we have seen coming out of Ukraine for the last few months.

So by comparison the Russian forces have shown great restraint. So far.

How long that restraint will last, and whether Putin intends to move his troops past Crimea and further into the Ukraine, is the burning question.

This post is in no way meant to excuse Putin's actions. He is an opportunistic asshole, who cares little for, the people of Ukraine, or how he is perceived by the world at large.

I just wanted to provide a little perspective before the Right Wing hawks start beating their war drums even louder.

By the way for all of those conservatives claiming that President Obama is weak, and unwilling to do what is needed, they must be reminded that Russia invaded Georgia on President Bush's watch, and that he was unable to do a single thing about it.

While watching the various Sunday shows today there were plenty of conservatives who offered condemnation of what our President was doing, but none that offered any better options, or wanted to suggest military action.

And no Sarah Palin was not identified as being a political soothsayer.

Update: More pictures of Ukrainians with Russian soldiers in Crimea.