As IF Times

link Jennifer Lawrence Nude Photos Leak: Ariana Grande, Kirsten Dunst also Exposed | Variety.

Finally, some real news.  Although, as the old saying goes, this story is worthless without pictures.  It appears that ‘celebrities’ are shocked and indignant that nude photos of themselves have been hacked from their computers and cell phones and distributed to the full view of the public.  We don’t mean to sound callous; I suppose I would be aghast if birthday suit images of me were circulating around cyberspace.  Except for the fact that there aren’t any.  Even if there were, I’d be horribly embarrassed because of the remarkable resemblance to Pee Wee Herman.

In the case of the various ‘celebrities’ offended by the invasion of privacy, isn’t being naked or near naked part of the stock in trade of the business they’re in? In addition, they generally look good naked, unlike the mass of the oglers out here who can only look upon their images with leering envy.

“But it’s a privacy issue!” someone will exclaim indignantly, “People have the right to have their personal images kept private!”  Yes, that’s all true….in the theoretical fantasy land that most of these people inhabit.  In that world, no one should lie, steal, cheat at cards, or throw cigarette butts from cars.  In that world, only organically, sustainable chickens are eaten, toilet seats are always down and the minimum wage is $15 per hour for the poor folk.

No one finds it strange that people who cultivate their personal appearances as an integral, if not the only aspect of their livelihood are offended by people having glimpses of it?  This would be comparable to Al Gore getting all  upset about an image of himself with his mouth open.  In the case of Kate Upton or Jennifer Lawrence,  the 1% of their bodies that may be newly exposed to the public is hardly a big shock.   Celebrities are not the only ones guilty of naivete however when it comes to anything to do with cyberspace.  The very notion that images sent back on forth over the internet can be protected and private is as laughable as the notion of a no peeing section of a swimming pool.  Do people not understand that it’s geeks that created, populate and operate the internet?  Do they really think that geeks aren’t going to find ANY possible way to look at naked women?

Oddly still, many of these celebrities are more concerned about pictures of themselves, which may cause some embarrassment, but are not the least concerned about  making vapid utterances on weighty topics which will most certainly embarrass them.  Reality bites.

link Biden Arrives in Europe to Reassure Allies – NYTimes.com.

By now of course, Russia’s Vladimir Putin has firmly secured his grip on Crimea, that southern chunk of the Ukraine that is coveted for its strategic geographic locale.  While this did occur ostensibly with the full approval of the Crimean residents with a convincing 95% approval vote and without the necessity of firing even one shot from the Russians, the posting of 60,000 troops at the borders may have been a bit of an influence.

Ukrainians who may be somewhat averse to the possibility of the entire nation being pulled back into the grip of the Russian Bear are feeling just a bit lonely here. It’s as if their erstwhile political buddies disappeared like frat boys at a seedy bar when the big guy at the corner table stands up and bellows “hey you!” in their direction.

On the face of it, sending the second-in-command of the most powerful nation on earth to assuage the percolating fears of the European states appears to be a strong message to both the Europeans as well as to the Russians.  If this were Dick Cheney, definitely. But this is Joe Biden.  Was Pee Wee Herman not available?

Hopefully, Plugs has brought with him an arsenal of strong words and lots of chalk because he’ll need it when Putin keeps walking across the chalk line that Biden dares him to cross over.  This is the equivalent of sending Gilligan to threaten Goldfinger.  We can imagine the Europeans figuratively checking his luggage for guns.  “What? No guns? You brought no guns?”  Joe replies, “We’re civilized, we don’t do that anymore.  We’ll hit him with the finger waggle.”

What seems to be playing out here is the battle between the rule of law, as it’s believed in the West, versus the rule of the jungle, which is how the rest of the world operates.  It’s like the idiot pedestrians who are so confident that the rule of law will protect them at crosswalks that they blithely walk into the path of ‘rule-breaking cars’.   Joe Biden is going to tell the Europeans that they are in the right and that will protect them against Vlad’s dash through the crosswalk in his SUV.  Yeah, good luck with that.