Damn, it's hot

About 98, and the weather service says humidity's down to about 37%. Makes a big difference; it's hot, but at least you don't poach while outside.

Yesterday I'd seen some tree limbs that had sneakily grown up to/around some lines while I wasn't looking, so today got the ladder and pruning pole and cut them, then through the chipper and into the compost heaps. Which I need to water more.

I think about this weather, or ten-to-twenty degrees hotter, with higher humidity, and wearing armor and all the other gear...

This does not strike me as good. It's basically telling the bad guys that if they have hostages, they're not going to be attacked. Which means time to prepare and make a later attack worse, or time to sneak away.

Here's a new bit from Iran. If true...
“My ears first perked up when word made it through the grapevines over the weekend that Rafsanjani had been meeting with other Ayatollahs and clerics in Qom, and had among them a representative of Iraq’s Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

Why? Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in 2007 made two very critical statements: that “I am a servant of all Iraqis, there is no difference between a Sunni, a Shiite or a Kurd or a Christian,” and that Islam can exist within a democracy without theological conflict. You will never hear such words slip past the lips of Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei. Ever.”
No, you won't. He's too busy threatening people with death for daring to do anything except bend over and say "Yes, Imam, may I have another?"

Ace notes The turning point in an uprising comes when many the regime relies upon begin fence-sitting, waiting for a victor to emerge. That is one thing; another is when people in positions of authority start deciding "I cannot carry out these orders." We may have both going on, from the sound of things.