I’ll finish reading the tabs in a minute but I had to come tell you how much I love this gif! It almost has me crying at the beauty of it. Something we need like food. Thank you!
The Decemberists are a really, significantly talented band and I quite admire them. But Colin Meloy's voice drives me up a f*ckin' wall, so I can only take them in small doses.
OT-ish: NATO countries are sending "small numbers" of troops and vessels to Greenland for an "exercise". This is very much a statement that Greenland isn't up for grabs, I think. The USA is still a ridiculously strong military power, but I kinda feel like we don't want to take on the entirety of NATO.
"Trump Warned of a Tren de Aragua ‘Invasion.’ US Intel Told a Different Story
Hundreds of records obtained by WIRED show thin intelligence on the Venezuelan gang in the United States, describing fragmented, low-level crime rather than a coordinated terrorist threat."
If you can stomach it, go to the YouTube Tim Walz speech, and look at the comments below. People are calling for his arrest, conviction, execution. Those are the people that put Trump into office.
His message? Peaceful protest. If you haven’t listened to his speech, listen to his speech.
"Our Liz splainers how Trump played himself with his Jerome Powell threats."
The last paragraph is the most important. If Powell stays on the board of governors, Trump doesn't get to install either Kevin as chair. Trump doesn't even seem to understand that.
If that woman was an "opposition leader", why isn't she in charge of the country now? Now she has no job and no Nobel Prize. Sucks to be her...
Someone explain to me like I'm 5 years old--it's fine to protest in Tehran but not Minneapolis?
Did you know we (U,S and A) still produce 50¢ coins? A man paid for some stuff with 10 dollars worth of them and they were shiny and new, dated 2023. You'd think they would have wider circulation...
HERE YE! HERE YE! THE EPSTEIN FILES WILL NOT GO AWAY!
I wrote Senator Tillis about this:
Here is his response and mine to his just a moment ago.
Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I appreciate hearing from you.
Jeffery Epstein was a notorious predator; yet, there are still many unanswered questions about his crimes and other perpetrators. Victims and the public rightfully demand transparency and accountability, and I have long called for the prompt release of all government-held information, with safeguards to protect the identify of victims.
On November 19, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law. This law requires the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to release all unclassified records in DOJ’s possession related to the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Epstein. Furthermore, the law ensures that personal information of victims or ongoing federal investigations are protected.
Now that the DOJ has begun releasing materials related to Mr. Epstein, I expect that any and all information in the government’s possession will be made public. You can view the DOJ catalog of materials here: https://www.justice.gov/epstein. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over the DOJ, please know I will continue to monitor this situation closely.
My response this morning:
Senator: The LAW was written to release ALL the materials. Everything. EVERYTHING. Not dribs and drabs as the DOJ haggles to protect Donald Trump. They are dilatory and hiding behind obfuscation.
If you are so concerned, you should do what the law says to do. There are no questions you can ask a dead man. Additionally THE SURVIVORS need to be protected and allowed to tell their stories without fear of retaliation. As long as Kash Patel and Pam Bondi screw around, these women, abused by Epstein, Trump, and other powerful men may not be made whole. JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED. RELEASE All THE FILES!
It is the right thing to do.
******************************
No wonder the world laughs at us. We are nation that attacks the innocent, terrorizes our cities over a made up crisis in immigration, pardons known criminals, makes war on sovereign nations, and destroys historic buildings to appease a very sick man who is enchanted by bling and false promises. No wonder the majority of Americans despise Trump and are dismayed that our own Congress cannot to do the right thing as other nations have boldly done: protect their nations from rogue politicians. Yes, accountability is coming, and the longer our own government fails their oath of office on all of this sad sick circus act on the Trump merry-go-round, the worse it will be for all of us. CONGRESS! DO YOUR SWORN DUTY! NOW!
Trump sold some of Venezuela's oil, and the money is being held in Qatar, but no one is saying who it was sold TO. Very important. We need to know who to boycott!
"Trump suggested Friday that he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the U.S. controlling Greenland, a message that came as a Congressional delegation met Danish and Greenlandic lawmakers in Copenhagen and sought to lower tensions."
[Uses best mocking the cat voice]Who's a needy fucking loser? Donald Trump's a need fucking loser. Oh yes you are! Yes you are! Oh coochie coochie coo![/]
"Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was asked in a 2022 grand jury interview if Trump cheats at golf, according to documents obtained this week by The New York Times. “Some people say you may outdrive him, but you’re not going to outdrive his caddy,” Graham said. “It is what it is.”
Sportswriter Rick Reilly who has golfed with Trump and wrote an entire book about how he cheats ― said in a 2024 interview that the president “always gets a turbo-charged golf cart that goes three times as fast as yours, so he’s always 200 yards ahead, and that gives him time to cheat.“One time in LA, he was playing $50 a hole with these three guys, he hits it in the pond. They see the splash,” Reilly said. “By the time they get there, it’s in the middle of the fairway, and they’re like, ‘What the F, Donald?’ And he goes, ‘It must’ve been the tide.’”"
Your hed gif info: https://martiniambassador.substack.com/p/crane-ballet-in-the-snow
And meme chat: https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/d53dd814-1db4-46a8-a9e6-66918d7c6109?utm_source=share
Are they dancing or preening?
Black and white is my favorite color.
.
The Drifters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yURrF864Q5U
Lovely sight to see if only once in a lifetime
I bet them cranes is listening to Sugar Magnolia
RIP, Ace
Those fancy dancin' leggy birds
Are really hard to hate
Their dancing is indicative
Of nature's urge to mate
Though living for a thousand years
May not be their fate
They'll live a happy longer life
By avoiding Norman Bates
Burma Shave.
I’ll finish reading the tabs in a minute but I had to come tell you how much I love this gif! It almost has me crying at the beauty of it. Something we need like food. Thank you!
Has me crying smiling tears!
oh to see unabashed joy and serendipity on a 9 degree morning starts my day off
The Crane Wife 1, 2 & 3 (Home Demo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToBct9CxpTU
Crane Wife 1-3 (The Decemberists 20th Anniversary Concert)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S8IM6GQS9g
The Decemberists are a really, significantly talented band and I quite admire them. But Colin Meloy's voice drives me up a f*ckin' wall, so I can only take them in small doses.
Cranes performing "Swan Lake".
They do that for to make the Fuck!
Those cranes are whooping it up!!
"Dance as if this is the last dance. Dance with abandon, holding nothing back"
I think I saw this in my Beginner Tai Chi class...
The birds demonstrate their Crane Technique, little realizing that their opponents have perfected the Industrial Excavator Hold.
A nature balllet, georgious!
Cranes! 𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 cranes! There's an entire world out there without politics and it's pretty nice!
That would be nice to think, but the reality is that politics is destroying their habitat, and there are a fewer of them every year.
OT-ish: NATO countries are sending "small numbers" of troops and vessels to Greenland for an "exercise". This is very much a statement that Greenland isn't up for grabs, I think. The USA is still a ridiculously strong military power, but I kinda feel like we don't want to take on the entirety of NATO.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/15/greenland-nato-troops-denmark-germany-arctic-trump.html
It's never OK for the president to joke about suspending an election.
Wired:
"Trump Warned of a Tren de Aragua ‘Invasion.’ US Intel Told a Different Story
Hundreds of records obtained by WIRED show thin intelligence on the Venezuelan gang in the United States, describing fragmented, low-level crime rather than a coordinated terrorist threat."
https://www.wired.com/story/trump-warned-of-a-tren-de-aragua-invasion-us-intel-told-a-different-story/
If you can stomach it, go to the YouTube Tim Walz speech, and look at the comments below. People are calling for his arrest, conviction, execution. Those are the people that put Trump into office.
His message? Peaceful protest. If you haven’t listened to his speech, listen to his speech.
"Our Liz splainers how Trump played himself with his Jerome Powell threats."
The last paragraph is the most important. If Powell stays on the board of governors, Trump doesn't get to install either Kevin as chair. Trump doesn't even seem to understand that.
Accountability?
Sure, Jan.
Questions, questions on a Friday....
If that woman was an "opposition leader", why isn't she in charge of the country now? Now she has no job and no Nobel Prize. Sucks to be her...
Someone explain to me like I'm 5 years old--it's fine to protest in Tehran but not Minneapolis?
Did you know we (U,S and A) still produce 50¢ coins? A man paid for some stuff with 10 dollars worth of them and they were shiny and new, dated 2023. You'd think they would have wider circulation...
She doesn't have the trinket. The award is not hers to give away, per Nobel Committee.
"Accountability Is Coming" O RLY? Did we trade in the current Dems for an LBJ clone?
HERE YE! HERE YE! THE EPSTEIN FILES WILL NOT GO AWAY!
I wrote Senator Tillis about this:
Here is his response and mine to his just a moment ago.
Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I appreciate hearing from you.
Jeffery Epstein was a notorious predator; yet, there are still many unanswered questions about his crimes and other perpetrators. Victims and the public rightfully demand transparency and accountability, and I have long called for the prompt release of all government-held information, with safeguards to protect the identify of victims.
On November 19, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law. This law requires the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to release all unclassified records in DOJ’s possession related to the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Epstein. Furthermore, the law ensures that personal information of victims or ongoing federal investigations are protected.
Now that the DOJ has begun releasing materials related to Mr. Epstein, I expect that any and all information in the government’s possession will be made public. You can view the DOJ catalog of materials here: https://www.justice.gov/epstein. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over the DOJ, please know I will continue to monitor this situation closely.
My response this morning:
Senator: The LAW was written to release ALL the materials. Everything. EVERYTHING. Not dribs and drabs as the DOJ haggles to protect Donald Trump. They are dilatory and hiding behind obfuscation.
If you are so concerned, you should do what the law says to do. There are no questions you can ask a dead man. Additionally THE SURVIVORS need to be protected and allowed to tell their stories without fear of retaliation. As long as Kash Patel and Pam Bondi screw around, these women, abused by Epstein, Trump, and other powerful men may not be made whole. JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED. RELEASE All THE FILES!
It is the right thing to do.
******************************
No wonder the world laughs at us. We are nation that attacks the innocent, terrorizes our cities over a made up crisis in immigration, pardons known criminals, makes war on sovereign nations, and destroys historic buildings to appease a very sick man who is enchanted by bling and false promises. No wonder the majority of Americans despise Trump and are dismayed that our own Congress cannot to do the right thing as other nations have boldly done: protect their nations from rogue politicians. Yes, accountability is coming, and the longer our own government fails their oath of office on all of this sad sick circus act on the Trump merry-go-round, the worse it will be for all of us. CONGRESS! DO YOUR SWORN DUTY! NOW!
Trump sold some of Venezuela's oil, and the money is being held in Qatar, but no one is saying who it was sold TO. Very important. We need to know who to boycott!
In Trump's back pocket, of course.
"Trump suggested Friday that he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the U.S. controlling Greenland, a message that came as a Congressional delegation met Danish and Greenlandic lawmakers in Copenhagen and sought to lower tensions."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-may-punish-countries-with-tariffs-dont-back-united-states-controlling-greenland_n_696a605ce4b018dc941d8586?origin=home-latest-news-unit
"Board of Peace." Is that like Orwell's "Ministry of Peace"?
Fully protected by the Department of War.
EXACTLY like it
[Uses best mocking the cat voice]Who's a needy fucking loser? Donald Trump's a need fucking loser. Oh yes you are! Yes you are! Oh coochie coochie coo![/]
"Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was asked in a 2022 grand jury interview if Trump cheats at golf, according to documents obtained this week by The New York Times. “Some people say you may outdrive him, but you’re not going to outdrive his caddy,” Graham said. “It is what it is.”
Sportswriter Rick Reilly who has golfed with Trump and wrote an entire book about how he cheats ― said in a 2024 interview that the president “always gets a turbo-charged golf cart that goes three times as fast as yours, so he’s always 200 yards ahead, and that gives him time to cheat.“One time in LA, he was playing $50 a hole with these three guys, he hits it in the pond. They see the splash,” Reilly said. “By the time they get there, it’s in the middle of the fairway, and they’re like, ‘What the F, Donald?’ And he goes, ‘It must’ve been the tide.’”"
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-golf-cheat-lindsey-graham_n_6969bcf1e4b018dc941d2ee0?origin=home-latest-news-unit
I want the Norwegian 'Order of Olav'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_St._Olav
Anyone got one that they're not using?