This kitten can't sleep without her favorite toy ? pic.twitter.com/JJuDmtGQbS
— The Dodo (@dodo) December 27, 2018
Open thread!
Late Evening Cuteness Break: Everyone Say AWW!!!!!!Post + Comments (30)
by Adam L Silverman| 30 Comments
This post is in: Cat Blogging, Nature, Open Threads
This kitten can't sleep without her favorite toy ? pic.twitter.com/JJuDmtGQbS
— The Dodo (@dodo) December 27, 2018
Open thread!
Late Evening Cuteness Break: Everyone Say AWW!!!!!!Post + Comments (30)
by Betty Cracker| 103 Comments
This post is in: Birdwatching, Domestic Politics, Nature, Open Threads
So, a couple of days ago, as we were entertaining visitors in the Swamp Compound, we all got to see a “nature, red in tooth and claw” drama play out right under our noses. First, this Great Blue Heron speared a big old bullfrog:
Sad for the frog, but at least its ordeal was short-lived. It soon became clear that the heron couldn’t figure out how to get the dead frog off its face, which it needed to do in order to eat the frog. It tried shaking its head vigorously, snapping its beak, etc., but the frog remained firmly affixed.
Meanwhile, the heron’s frantic frog-dislodging activities attracted the attention of a nearby hawk, which offered to assist by dive-bombing the heron and trying to snatch the frog away in its talons. It tried several times as we watched. (And as I fumbled with the damned camera to try to switch to video mode to capture the hawk attack — unsuccessfully!)
Eventually, the heron flew away across the river, with the frog still attached to its face. There’s probably a metaphor in there somewhere.
Open thread!
This post is in: Faunasphere, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Republicans in Disarray!, All Too Normal, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?
Yes this is somewhat comical but it probably only takes a modest % of Trump's base having these realizations to put him in peril in 2020 https://t.co/MGVkfxERtI
— Nick Riccardi (@NickRiccardi) December 17, 2018
… I’m a lifelong Republican who voted for Donald Trump for president in 2016. I want our immigration laws to be enforced, and I don’t want open borders. But Mission is not a dangerous place. I’ve lived here all my life. Here at the National Butterfly Center, 6,000 schoolchildren visit each year. Girl Scouts come here when they camp overnight just a mile or so from the Rio Grande. When the president says there’s a crisis at the border that requires an action as drastic as building a massive concrete wall, he either knows that it’s not true or he’s living in an alternate reality.
Before this controversy, I voted, and sometimes I expressed my political views on Facebook, but this issue got me involved in activism for the first time. I had never gone to a protest in my entire life, but last year, I helped organize one: a four-mile march to the La Lomita Chapel, a historic church on U.S. soil that the wall will block. I also joined a group that succeeded in lobbying the Mission City Council to pass an anti-wall resolution. This is a mostly Democratic area, so these experiences were a little uncomfortable for me. Most of the people I worked alongside were anti-Trump from the start. I mostly kept quiet about my party affiliation and my vote in 2016…
… As I followed the news [last week], I was amazed to find myself agreeing with Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who called the project “immoral, ineffective and expensive.” Here was a Democrat telling a Republican that a policy would cost too much…
And yet, the pundits cry: Fewer, but purer, Republicans!… Trump is the political equivalent of Kaposi’s sarcoma. If the GOP wasn’t suffering from a fatally compromised immune system, his campaign wouldn’t have been able to get traction even *with* Russia’s assistance.
Yeah, at this point in their terms much of the leadership of Bush & Obama’s election teams had plead guilty or were expecting indictment from the special prosecutor investigating their collusion w a foreign adversary, & Jenna/Barbara & Sasha/Malia were likely headed to prison https://t.co/s7yg8NzaFS
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) December 17, 2018
Open Thread: If Only the Butterflies Didn’t Have to Die for the GOP’s Sins…Post + Comments (96)
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Dolt 45, Faunasphere, Immigration, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republicans in Disarray!, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome
This otter teaching a human how to pet it gets me every time pic.twitter.com/wzC7hSAkJ2
— Anna Hughes (@AnnaGHughes) November 27, 2018
Benedict cumberbatch really dives into every role doesn’t he
— Mike (@MDrewmartin) November 29, 2018
.
Elsewhere in this misbegotten multiverse…
I’ll keep pointing this out until the rest of you motherf**kers acknowledge it: Donald Trump has lost this argument with the American people. https://t.co/DEt36SjNpH
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) December 16, 2018
Looking ahead to 2020 —>
38% of registered voters say they'd "definitely" or "probably" vote for Trump in his re-election, compared with 52% who would "definitely" or "probably" vote against him — unchanged from Dec 2017 NBC/WSJ poll
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) December 16, 2018
Keep in mind that his *elect* numbers were also really bad. https://t.co/bBYJAodKsi
— Seth Masket, another political scientist (@smotus) December 16, 2018
the poll Ronna Romney McDaniel is citing here has Trump's approval at 43%.https://t.co/YU6DRUuOvR
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) December 16, 2018
Also in the poll: a reminder that 30-35 percent are completely beyond reason or evidence. https://t.co/350vVFiJW7
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) December 16, 2018
The new numbers are in: pic.twitter.com/wd4b5ev4JI
— Kasie DC (@KasieDC) December 17, 2018
grand juries don't care what Fox News thinks.
Dem chairmen of House committees don't care either pic.twitter.com/wADcd6GwK5
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) December 17, 2018
Monday Morning Open Thread: Cherish the Otter MomentsPost + Comments (87)
by Betty Cracker| 113 Comments
This post is in: Artists In Our Midst, Birdwatching, Open Threads
First, check out this fabulous Red-Shouldered Hawk who visited earlier this week and was kind enough to hang around for a photo-op:
I think it’s a juvenile. It was engaging in obnoxious youngling behavior like flying at similarly-sized wading birds and generally disrupting its fellow fauna. Plus, I think I spotted a helicopter-parenting adult nearby.
Anyhoo, holiday gifts: Since I put out a call for gift ideas the other day (and thank you for the many great suggestions), I’ve had a couple of requests to put up a thread where people can discuss gift ideas and where jackals who create nifty things can HAWK their wares. (Get it? No need to jostle; I’ll show myself out, thank you.)
So, have at it. Also, open thread!
Gift Ideas and Jackal Maker Showcase Open ThreadPost + Comments (113)
by Betty Cracker| 173 Comments
This post is in: Birdwatching, Open Threads
I just realized (with maximum horror!) that it’s December, so the holidays are almost upon us. I’m not ready!
Here’s a pretty Green Heron to look at:
Saw this amazing creature perched on a hazard marker right outside the channel. I don’t know about y’all, but the sight of such a lovely bird calms me down a bit.
Open thread!
This post is in: Birdwatching, Domestic Politics, Open Threads
Here’s an Eastern phoebe that landed on my dock:
And here’s a nearby spring that can only be reached by canoe or kayak:
The water temp at the spring is 71 F year round, according to a neighbor. I might work up the nerve to swim in it someday — if I have a gator lookout.
Open thread!
ETA: Sorry about the sideways photo earlier. The WP mobile app interface sucks for managing images.