I remember seeing a video of a fellow who rescued a little octopus from some sort of entanglement. He was standing in shallow water. The freed little octopus came by and touched his ankle before they swam off.
I thought this was a maelstrom at first. When I was very little, our school bus passed a chunk of the Mediterranean and I remember there being a persistent eddy. It scared the hell out of me, of course, that might have to with my older siblings.
SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler: “Mr. President, you have made us a nation of builders again. You’re leading us to the greatest economy that the world has ever known. … I hear it everywhere I go: ‘Please thank the president for putting us back on track. Thank you.’ They love you.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche, speaking about the prioritization of fraud prosecution: “It’s not just the great prosecutors … it’s everybody in this room that has inspectors general. … They have been freed up. And it’s because of you.”
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, speaking about a $2 billion Biden-era environmental justice fund: “Thanks to your leadership, Mr. President, that was cancelled.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: “The continued resilience of the economy speaks for itself, even during the Iran, uh, conflict, and it speaks to the strength of your leadership.”
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, speaking about federal leases for oil companies: “Over $4 billion in revenues have come into the Treasury. … Sir, your policies brought that in in five months.” Later, speaking about U.S. involvement in Venezuelan oil production: “You turned Venezuela from a sanctioned adversary to a strategic ally in 45 minutes — never happened in history before.”
HuffPost: "White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller suggested Wednesday that James Talarico is not sufficiently masculine to run for Senate in Texas in a bizarre transphobic attack.
"The Democrats made history in Texas by nominating their first transgender senate candidate," Miller wrote on social media.
The Democratic National Committee responded to Miller with a mean tweet of its own: "shut up you ugly fuck."
This is the old Art of the Deal "Now that I've purchased the suit, how about you throw in a tie" attempt to get even more:
NYT (Thomas Friedman): "Trump said in a Truth Social post that in light of “all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together,” he was “mandatorily requesting that all Countries immediately sign the Abraham Accords.” The list included Turkey, whose leader detests Netanyahu and already has ties with Israel; Pakistan, which has long harbored animosity toward Israel; Jordan and Egypt, which both already have peace treaties with Israel, so why would they need to join the Abraham Accords; and Saudi Arabia, which has made it abundantly clear that the only way it will (or should) normalize relations with Israel is if Israel opens a pathway with Palestinians toward a two-state solution."
NYT, today: "Responding to a question from a reporter about the possibility that a deal might include a pact between Iran and Oman, a U.S. ally on the other side of the strait, to jointly control the waterway, President Trump rejected the notion: “Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that. They’ll be fine.”"
This Tabs has the exact spiritual texture of waking up, checking the news, and realizing the republic is being held together by court filings, sarcastic bloggers, twelve mildly decent South Carolina Republicans, and whatever caffeine is left in the pot. The oligarchs want your 401k, the racists want better maps, the health cranks want a government office, and somehow Wonkette is still over here ringing the monastery bell with one hand and throwing rocks at fascism with the other. Honestly, that may be the closest thing we have to morning prayer now.
NYT: "As part of the activities celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, the Trump administration is holding a “Great American State Fair” on the National Mall in Washington. On Wednesday, the administration announced a list of artists who would perform. They include: Martina McBride, Young MC, C+C Music Factory, Vanilla Ice, Milli Vanilli, The Commodores, Morris Day & The Time, Flo Rida and Bret Michaels."
Wikipedia: "Morris Day is best known as the lead singer of The Time, a group associated with Prince. Day and Prince attended the same high school in Minneapolis and in 1974, as teenagers, became bandmates in the band Grand Central. Morris announced in 2022 that he would be releasing his final solo album Last Call and retiring after his 2023–2024 tour.
The Time, later known as Morris Day and the Time and the Original 7ven, is an American funk rock band founded in Minneapolis in 1981. They contributed to the development of the Minneapolis sound, an eclectic fusion of funk, R&B, new wave, synth-pop and dance.
In March 2022, an article written by the Los Angeles Times mentioned that the Prince Estate recently informed Day that he "can no longer use Morris Day and the Time in any capacity." After reading the letter that was sent to Day from the estate, music industry attorney Erin M. Jacobson mentioned in that same article that it was more accurate to say the letter stated that Day could not claim “ownership of the name,” but there was still opportunity to use the name via an agreement with the Prince Estate that would provide terms for Day to monetarily compensate “the trademark owner in exchange for the ability to continue using the name."
In 1990, the Time released "Donald Trump (Black Version)," which had been intended for an unreleased 1989 album called Corporate World.
“That was back in Donald Trump's bad-boy days when he was a playboy and rolling in dough and flying the private jets and all that stuff,” Day explains. “So we were like, ‘Why not come up with a song and use some of those elements?’ And Prince really came up with the name and all that stuff.” Day doesn’t know if Trump ever heard the song (“Oh, I'm sure he did,” he shrugs), but when asked if he’d ever resurrect it with some timely new lyrics, he dismissively laughs, “Oh, yeah — get political, huh?” https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/back-in-time-morris-day-talks-bird-inspiration-mirror-moves-lost-trump-song-and-food-fights-with-prince-165440798.html
From Wikipedia: C+C Music Factory was an American musical group formed in 1989 by David Cole and Robert Clivillés. The group is best known for their five hit singles: "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)", "Here We Go", "Things That Make You Go Hmmm...", "Just a Touch of Love", and "Keep It Comin'"
That article about Todd Blanche's adventures with Adam and David Kaplan is....wow. Scumbags. Nothing but scumbags as far as the eye can see. Blanch actually comes out looking relatively clean. I mean he ONLY defrauded then on legal fees and committed legal malpractice!
The only thing missing in Vanity Fair's piece is a picture of the Kaplan twins is a picture. They're worth a look.
I mean, they REALLY look the part. Babyfaced, yes. But also inherently oily and untrustworthy, uber-preppy, and EXACTLY who you'd expect to get taken by a fake mobster who promised that he knew so many people of the murdery variety who could witness-intimidate this all into oblivion for them.
Next week I finally sell my former home. Why do I mention it? Because once the house sale closes, I won’t be paying two mortgages. I won’t feel secure until all the documents are signed so this is a nervous week for me.
All good wishes coming your way. I worked in real estate for twenty-something years, in three states. I often told the REALTORs I worked with (I was licensed, and worked as an assistant) that they needed to sell their personal home about every five years, just to remember and re-experience what they expected their buyers and sellers to go through.
It aggravates me to no end that some of my retirement funds, via S&P 500 index funds, own a bunch of Telsa stock and will own a bunch of SpaceX. Those companies are such terrible investments. Their stock values make absolutely no sense.
I'm sure it's been noted here that Ken Paxton won the TX runoff election for the Republican nomination to the US Senate. Many have long opined that having Paxton as an opponent, as nasty a bastard as he is, would make it easier for Talarico to win.
My opinion is that "It's Texas, Jake" and the fucked up idiots and racists among the TX electorate will elect Paxton, regardless. My only hope is that, even with the potential loss in TX, Democrats will STILL win the Senate back - which will make Paxton a "back-bencher" with, as a freshman Senator, no power at all. Of course, that probably would mean that he would flood the media with his bitchiest lies, but I guess we could put up with that.
If Talarico can even get close, it will probably be a huge win for Texas Democrats. Beto lost his Senate race, but his coattails pulled a huge number of local Democrats into office. They set the stage for people like Talarico.
Did they, tho'? Anything to backup the idea that Beto's campaign led to any significant increase in the number of Democrats actually elected to local offices? I t sounds good, but....
Sorry - I tried that, but it really was taking too much time and effort ( "beto o'rourke's coattails" wasn't enough of a search criteria, so I tried more )
As it is, I wondered if the seats won by Democrats in 2018 have been held in the 3 elections since. Also, tough to find out.
After going to bed Nov. 5th 2024 assuming we had seen the last of the convicted felon I do not trust polls or optimistic reporting. "It's Texas", indeed... or at least probably will be.
Good Wednesday Morning. Today is World Otter Day. I have some otter pix that I'd like to share. The first one is a picture I took of a bunch of otters on an ice shelf behind Paul's mom's house. They launch themselves out of the water and slide around on the ice playing and then disappear under the water. I managed to catch them while they were all out of the water.
The second one is just a bunch of baby otters being weighed. Are these not to cutest little things that ever were?
We have otters who climb up from the water (Puget Sound) to our yard to do their business on our grass They like a particular place to poop and when they do it they squirt it out and do a little dance with their hind legs. We call the spot 'Otterloo.'
Woke up an hour early today, so decided to hop in my boat and mow the lawn. If I didn’t I’m sure the “very cool lady” who writes the citations was due to come around and notice I have ungrasses in my yard.
For the record, I did wait until after 8am to begin, because I’m not a jerk. And my lawn mower is electric, so you pretty much don’t hear it inside the house beyond my house & the adjacent two houses. ;)
Your hed gif has one of the more unusual creatures of the deep. Learn about siphonophores: https://martiniambassador.substack.com/p/a-fancy-siphonophore-with-a-feather
And today’s meme chat: https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/bffcfa6f-3c1c-4886-b01e-552efec12b33?utm_source=share
So many weird wonders down there.
Siphonophores undulate
under the sea
and if you are there to see it
it’s the place to be.
What an ethereal creature! There are so many wonders discovered and wonders to be discovered. We are so fortunate. Endless beauty.
I thought that's what it was! I learned about them on an old episode of QI. Absolutely fascinating, and beautiful life form!
TIL: Siphonophores
Fascinating. Gracias
PS: I knew Portuguese Man of War existed, but not they weren't jellyfish
Cthulhu fhtagn!
Fascinating critters, they are.
Martini!! I posted this below, but DID YOU SEE THIS WITTLE GUY??
https://www.fieldmuseum.org/about/press/this-newly-discovered-blue-octopus-from-the-galapagos-islands-could-curl-up
I remember seeing a video of a fellow who rescued a little octopus from some sort of entanglement. He was standing in shallow water. The freed little octopus came by and touched his ankle before they swam off.
Anyone who eats calamari is a monster.
Except calamari is squid so maybe I'm just a pest and not a monster?
Heh. Thanks. I think you know what you are. 😈
Is that not the coolest bit of news you've heard recently?
I saw that news too! She is too too cute.
MUST.... HAVE..... BEANIE BABY!!!!!!!
I thought this was a maelstrom at first. When I was very little, our school bus passed a chunk of the Mediterranean and I remember there being a persistent eddy. It scared the hell out of me, of course, that might have to with my older siblings.
Fabulous E pluribus unum of the deep.
"Hey, kids, let's get together, form an organism, and put on a show!"
Martini really threw you a rhyming curve ball with that one, eh? 😺
Siphonophores are rhyming chores.
Watch them siphonophores..... with the price of gas these days, you will be running on empty!
at first i thought it was the luck dragon from neverending story
"Falkor...!"
Now I know what the designers of the wraith monsters in the Indiana Jones movie were inspired by.
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"
Deep sea socialisms...
'life' is such a curious thing
Appropriately this sounds like it should be the opening line in a cabaret song and that looks like something worn by Liza Minnelli.
She didn't wear that. She was born that way.
From today's cabinet meeting (via HuffPost):
SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler: “Mr. President, you have made us a nation of builders again. You’re leading us to the greatest economy that the world has ever known. … I hear it everywhere I go: ‘Please thank the president for putting us back on track. Thank you.’ They love you.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche, speaking about the prioritization of fraud prosecution: “It’s not just the great prosecutors … it’s everybody in this room that has inspectors general. … They have been freed up. And it’s because of you.”
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, speaking about a $2 billion Biden-era environmental justice fund: “Thanks to your leadership, Mr. President, that was cancelled.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: “The continued resilience of the economy speaks for itself, even during the Iran, uh, conflict, and it speaks to the strength of your leadership.”
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, speaking about federal leases for oil companies: “Over $4 billion in revenues have come into the Treasury. … Sir, your policies brought that in in five months.” Later, speaking about U.S. involvement in Venezuelan oil production: “You turned Venezuela from a sanctioned adversary to a strategic ally in 45 minutes — never happened in history before.”
The Cabinet now knows that Trump's health is deteriorating rapidly, and they want to get in all the ass-kissing they can before he croaks.
🤮
HuffPost: "White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller suggested Wednesday that James Talarico is not sufficiently masculine to run for Senate in Texas in a bizarre transphobic attack.
"The Democrats made history in Texas by nominating their first transgender senate candidate," Miller wrote on social media.
The Democratic National Committee responded to Miller with a mean tweet of its own: "shut up you ugly fuck."
This is the old Art of the Deal "Now that I've purchased the suit, how about you throw in a tie" attempt to get even more:
NYT (Thomas Friedman): "Trump said in a Truth Social post that in light of “all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together,” he was “mandatorily requesting that all Countries immediately sign the Abraham Accords.” The list included Turkey, whose leader detests Netanyahu and already has ties with Israel; Pakistan, which has long harbored animosity toward Israel; Jordan and Egypt, which both already have peace treaties with Israel, so why would they need to join the Abraham Accords; and Saudi Arabia, which has made it abundantly clear that the only way it will (or should) normalize relations with Israel is if Israel opens a pathway with Palestinians toward a two-state solution."
NYT, today: "Responding to a question from a reporter about the possibility that a deal might include a pact between Iran and Oman, a U.S. ally on the other side of the strait, to jointly control the waterway, President Trump rejected the notion: “Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that. They’ll be fine.”"
This Tabs has the exact spiritual texture of waking up, checking the news, and realizing the republic is being held together by court filings, sarcastic bloggers, twelve mildly decent South Carolina Republicans, and whatever caffeine is left in the pot. The oligarchs want your 401k, the racists want better maps, the health cranks want a government office, and somehow Wonkette is still over here ringing the monastery bell with one hand and throwing rocks at fascism with the other. Honestly, that may be the closest thing we have to morning prayer now.
No truer words were spoken
Vanilla Ice! Milli Vanilli! Bret Michaels!
NYT: "As part of the activities celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, the Trump administration is holding a “Great American State Fair” on the National Mall in Washington. On Wednesday, the administration announced a list of artists who would perform. They include: Martina McBride, Young MC, C+C Music Factory, Vanilla Ice, Milli Vanilli, The Commodores, Morris Day & The Time, Flo Rida and Bret Michaels."
Morris Day and the Time?
I have questions.
Wikipedia: "Morris Day is best known as the lead singer of The Time, a group associated with Prince. Day and Prince attended the same high school in Minneapolis and in 1974, as teenagers, became bandmates in the band Grand Central. Morris announced in 2022 that he would be releasing his final solo album Last Call and retiring after his 2023–2024 tour.
The Time, later known as Morris Day and the Time and the Original 7ven, is an American funk rock band founded in Minneapolis in 1981. They contributed to the development of the Minneapolis sound, an eclectic fusion of funk, R&B, new wave, synth-pop and dance.
In March 2022, an article written by the Los Angeles Times mentioned that the Prince Estate recently informed Day that he "can no longer use Morris Day and the Time in any capacity." After reading the letter that was sent to Day from the estate, music industry attorney Erin M. Jacobson mentioned in that same article that it was more accurate to say the letter stated that Day could not claim “ownership of the name,” but there was still opportunity to use the name via an agreement with the Prince Estate that would provide terms for Day to monetarily compensate “the trademark owner in exchange for the ability to continue using the name."
Not really the questions I had. I was more worried that Morris Day is MAGA.
Will he be doing Jungle Love at the celebration?
In 1990, the Time released "Donald Trump (Black Version)," which had been intended for an unreleased 1989 album called Corporate World.
“That was back in Donald Trump's bad-boy days when he was a playboy and rolling in dough and flying the private jets and all that stuff,” Day explains. “So we were like, ‘Why not come up with a song and use some of those elements?’ And Prince really came up with the name and all that stuff.” Day doesn’t know if Trump ever heard the song (“Oh, I'm sure he did,” he shrugs), but when asked if he’d ever resurrect it with some timely new lyrics, he dismissively laughs, “Oh, yeah — get political, huh?” https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/back-in-time-morris-day-talks-bird-inspiration-mirror-moves-lost-trump-song-and-food-fights-with-prince-165440798.html
Followed by "Gigolos Get Lonely Too"
True American family entertainment!
Proud to say none of them are on my music system
Not even C+C Music Factory?
From Wikipedia: C+C Music Factory was an American musical group formed in 1989 by David Cole and Robert Clivillés. The group is best known for their five hit singles: "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)", "Here We Go", "Things That Make You Go Hmmm...", "Just a Touch of Love", and "Keep It Comin'"
Milli Vanilli? Didn't one of them die? The Commodores - is Lionel Richie going to be there? I feel sorry for some of these people...
That article about Todd Blanche's adventures with Adam and David Kaplan is....wow. Scumbags. Nothing but scumbags as far as the eye can see. Blanch actually comes out looking relatively clean. I mean he ONLY defrauded then on legal fees and committed legal malpractice!
The only thing missing in Vanity Fair's piece is a picture of the Kaplan twins is a picture. They're worth a look.
I mean, they REALLY look the part. Babyfaced, yes. But also inherently oily and untrustworthy, uber-preppy, and EXACTLY who you'd expect to get taken by a fake mobster who promised that he knew so many people of the murdery variety who could witness-intimidate this all into oblivion for them.
Harvard is not sending their best.
https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-sprint-us-revc&hs=5Md&sca_esv=6b9ebf8ee3cf918e&udm=2&fbs=ADc_l-aN0CWEZBOHjofHoaMMDiKpaEWjvZ2Py1XXV8d8KvlI3ppPEReeCOS7s1VbbZz2TLutTM8bcskdZ5Z5EWAFJPjTelH6N3r7hJR53LpY69nh-cKEn5Q_r9ZuYR9UKW2TqryDpOSFcXuyxCzgq_lRxhsX7IiPr1TSVGEFA8LQ2JMyGdUU4MA13cuKUKOwERf4-Kiw6YudR5BChhBmPcsXginsPt1KZQXJsoXNaTIRLJR-tlgnam4&q=adam+and+daniel+kaplan&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjm-M6-5dmUAxUHMDQIHWv4HwUQtKgLegQICRAB&biw=379&bih=648&dpr=1.9
Trump's efforts to corrupt the Justice department is going to take generations to repair. That should his third, fourth and fifth impeachments.
Next week I finally sell my former home. Why do I mention it? Because once the house sale closes, I won’t be paying two mortgages. I won’t feel secure until all the documents are signed so this is a nervous week for me.
All good wishes coming your way. I worked in real estate for twenty-something years, in three states. I often told the REALTORs I worked with (I was licensed, and worked as an assistant) that they needed to sell their personal home about every five years, just to remember and re-experience what they expected their buyers and sellers to go through.
It aggravates me to no end that some of my retirement funds, via S&P 500 index funds, own a bunch of Telsa stock and will own a bunch of SpaceX. Those companies are such terrible investments. Their stock values make absolutely no sense.
Really hoping that Paxton gets trounced in TX but maybe I’m dreaming.
People sometimes either don't remember or didn't read that both IN and TX used to be blue 💙
What fascists want is for peeps to just roll over and act like there's nothing to be done and nothing peeps can do
But that's rarely true
https://substack.com/@m123718294/note/c-265785787
Even Iowa and Wisconsin used to be blue
Yes
Yes, they did
Don't get me started on that
I'm sure it's been noted here that Ken Paxton won the TX runoff election for the Republican nomination to the US Senate. Many have long opined that having Paxton as an opponent, as nasty a bastard as he is, would make it easier for Talarico to win.
My opinion is that "It's Texas, Jake" and the fucked up idiots and racists among the TX electorate will elect Paxton, regardless. My only hope is that, even with the potential loss in TX, Democrats will STILL win the Senate back - which will make Paxton a "back-bencher" with, as a freshman Senator, no power at all. Of course, that probably would mean that he would flood the media with his bitchiest lies, but I guess we could put up with that.
If Talarico can even get close, it will probably be a huge win for Texas Democrats. Beto lost his Senate race, but his coattails pulled a huge number of local Democrats into office. They set the stage for people like Talarico.
Did they, tho'? Anything to backup the idea that Beto's campaign led to any significant increase in the number of Democrats actually elected to local offices? I t sounds good, but....
You could have typed "beto o'rourke's coattails" into any respectable search engine and scrolled through the first few pages...
Sorry - I tried that, but it really was taking too much time and effort ( "beto o'rourke's coattails" wasn't enough of a search criteria, so I tried more )
As it is, I wondered if the seats won by Democrats in 2018 have been held in the 3 elections since. Also, tough to find out.
After going to bed Nov. 5th 2024 assuming we had seen the last of the convicted felon I do not trust polls or optimistic reporting. "It's Texas", indeed... or at least probably will be.
Good Wednesday Morning. Today is World Otter Day. I have some otter pix that I'd like to share. The first one is a picture I took of a bunch of otters on an ice shelf behind Paul's mom's house. They launch themselves out of the water and slide around on the ice playing and then disappear under the water. I managed to catch them while they were all out of the water.
The second one is just a bunch of baby otters being weighed. Are these not to cutest little things that ever were?
https://substack.com/profile/439485293-holly-lima-charlie/note/c-265997284
We have otters who climb up from the water (Puget Sound) to our yard to do their business on our grass They like a particular place to poop and when they do it they squirt it out and do a little dance with their hind legs. We call the spot 'Otterloo.'
Woke up an hour early today, so decided to hop in my boat and mow the lawn. If I didn’t I’m sure the “very cool lady” who writes the citations was due to come around and notice I have ungrasses in my yard.
We live in such a stupid country.
For the record, I did wait until after 8am to begin, because I’m not a jerk. And my lawn mower is electric, so you pretty much don’t hear it inside the house beyond my house & the adjacent two houses. ;)
Last week, our 'crazy lady next door' thought that 5:45 AM was a perfect time to edge/weed eat her lawn.
Not only woke us up, but she obviously doesn't know how to do it. She apparently kept the weed eater horizontal, if that makes sense.
She just walked around the house and yard and moved the weed eater back and forth on the edges.
Her lawn looks like fucking shit now. Ragged, uneven shit and grass all around the place.
....sigh....
Great piece on a couple of horrifying Dem candidates, incl one who just lost her primary:
https://saltypolitics.substack.com/p/the-democratic-party-and-the-jews
i can't read it without subscribing, but there was a mention of a scandal involving Gabbard and Jared Kushner? Do you know what Julie R. meant?