Fishing for a compliment

I was all about to blog on some serious topic today, but first things first. It turns out that a young man from El Cabrero's small WV home town recently caught a state record-size blue catfish in the Ohio River. The leviathan in question measured 47.75 inches in length and weighed 52.95 pounds.

(When I was a kid, the old guys would have said that it took the water five minutes to fill in the hole that the fish came out of.)

((Also when I was a kid, the old guys would tell us stories about giant catfish lurking in the bottom of the Ohio and Kanawha. Who would have thought they were right? I mean, these are the same guys who told us stories about bottomless rivers, snipe hunting and haints...))

(((Come to think of it, I kind of miss the old guys.)))

The angler in question reveals a secret of fishing that I've long suspected: the key is not to try. He told the press he was only trying out some new gear on his boat and had no intention of catching anything.

I'm pleased to say that after being duly measured, the leviathan was released live. Click here to see the beast.

REPEAL RITUALISM. According to this NPR report, the energy behind repealing the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) seems to be fading.

ONE TO WATCH. More and more states, including WV, are trying to pass legislation that would create voluntary retirement accounts for workers without pensions. WV's bill passed the state House and one Senate committee before dying. We'll be back to push for it.

NO CLIMATE CHANGE HAPPENING HERE, BOSS. West Virginia's ruling class officially denies this.

CINCO DE MAYO. Here's some stereotype busting.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED