I awoke late this morning after dreaming of beating a bully pretty badly. It was disturbing and yet oddly satisfying. I am not by nature a violent person, and yet I awoke feeling very pleased. Needless to say I am not feeling very poetic .The dream's meaning seemed clear, but foreboding. Fight back.
I love elephants. I hope the Grand Orc Party goes extinct instead of elephants. Did you know the Latin word for elephants is "elephantus"? But also "elephans" and "elephas." There's at least one more. ELEPHANTS! Elephants on parade...
When you are ready for a news break, click thru to find Sheldrick’s Instagram feed. They have many sweet little images of their charges. You could spend hours.
Reading the Wikipedia entry for Red Buttons is quite a roller coaster ride. At 16, he went on the Borscht Belt with a straight man, Robert Alda(!). At 23, "... he appeared in the Minsky's show Wine, Women and Song. This was the last classic burlesque show in New York City history; the Mayor La Guardia administration closed it down. Buttons was on stage when the show was raided."
Watched one of the local morning shows. All the local stations are owned by repubs and they try not to make it too obvious but it's there. So it it was very surprising to see a feature on the Cali ports that are all empty because of the tariffs, followed by a feature showing how much more (100 bucks) your kid's X-Box is going to cost, thanks to PAB. There's a change in the weather.
The Terry Moran v. Total Moran shitstorm continues, as Donnie is incapable of admitting that he's an idiot, and the White House fabulists tie themselves in knots trying to oblige him.
A cat that fell alongside a couple into a 380-foot-high canyon was the only survivor of the incident at a national park in Utah, an animal sanctuary said Thursday.
The feline "was found in a black soft-sided carrier that was dirty and torn, but seemed to have weathered the fall fairly well," the Best Friends Animal Society said.
Its staff estimated the cat is 12 years old. It was found next to two people, a couple that local authorities said had died after falling from a popular tourist spot within Bryce Canyon National Park earlier this week...
"The National Parks Service is already 'efficient' to the bone."
Took a recent visit to Yosemite with goddaughter from another planet (nearly 20 years old, but with zero idea of what Yosemite was even, so the view when we popped out of the tunnel was something to watch reflected in *her* eyes).
At the entrance station, I thanked the guy handing out the map for all that he and his colleagues were doing under the circumstances. He stopped cold and looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Thank you. That means a lot. Really." *His* eyes made him look like he hadn't slept in a month.
On the next day we encountered an 11-mile long line of cars to get back into the park, which shaved a good two hours off of our visit.
One time there we met a ranger whose ENTIRE JOB was to hunt for illegal marijuana patches within Yosemite, as apparently there were a lot of them. I'm guessing that guy does not have a job anymore.
Anyway, you rangers and park people are wonderfully fabulous, and thank you again for all you are doing and trying to do under difficult circumstances imposed by those with a barbarian inability to recognize that *some* things are irreplaceable.
I used to travel through Yosemite 5 or 6 times a year. To me, it was just along the way to where I needed to be. I never took it for granted, though.
Several crises ago, they fired a lot of the maintenance personnel which led to deterioration of roads in several parks I frequent. The solution was to further lower the already maddeningly slow speed limits, and hire more law enforcement rangers. The roads have improved, but the lower speed limits and law enforcement rangers are still in place.
There was a stretch of street I traveled on the way to work that had a temporary reduction in the speed limit from thirty-five mph to twenty-five mph for construction and repair. It said Temporary Reduction on the speed limit sign.
That speed limit was in effect for over two decades.
There are a whole lot of civil servants in this country who make life livable. I still think it's nearly a miracle that for less than buying my family a round of coffee at Starbucks I can put a package on the front porch and have it delivered 2000 miles away in 48 hours. I had to do some business at the post office and you can bet I thanked those guys deeply and sincerely.
Hear me out. Maybe, having read the tea leaves of the last election, Whitmer realizes a woman will not be president any time soon. So she volunteers to be a spy in the house of MAGA. Get close enough to PAB and his minions to learn more about their plans and feed the info to the resistance.
Only problem with that is that PAB and his minions are not trying to hard to keep their plans secret, are they?
Michigan is far from being solidly blue - she wants to appear "fair", in the NYT sense of the word, and focused on her constituents. She's probably succeeding in winning over the not-hopelessly-stupid MAGA demographic (a small but important group in a swing state.) Liz Warren can be Liz Warren in Massachusetts, but Whitmer has to play a different game.
Hiring in the US slowed in April, according to official figures, with the workforce adding 177,000 jobs as Donald Trump’s aggressive trade strategy clouded the economic outlook.
As the White House pressed ahead with sweeping tariffs on overseas imports, claiming this would revitalize the US economy, employers across the country continued to add jobs at a steady pace.
The April reading is down from the revised 185,000 jobs reported for March – and above the 133,000 expected by economists. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2%.
While April’s hiring was stronger than predicted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also shaved 58,000 off its tallies for February and March’s gains. April’s largest hiring gains were in healthcare and transportation and warehousing.
Federal government employment declined by 9,000 in April as the Elon Musk-led “department of government efficiency” continued to cut government workers. Federal employment has fallen by 26,000 since January.
Good morning everyone. I don't want to read about L'il Marco this morning. I haven't had enough coffee (there is no universe with enough coffee). I think I will stay here for a bit.
I hate being *just this late* to TABS, which ideally should run until those of us here on the left coast can get up at a decent hour like decent people.
Elephant calf is trying to stay awake, but it’s hard! Your hed gif info: https://open.substack.com/pub/martiniambassador/p/sneaky-slumber-surprises-small-one
And a meme chat: https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/72aad4c2-cff2-48c8-8edc-c22232f8be87?utm_source=share
Babby elephant looks like Max Rebo
https://otakukart.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Max-Rebo-Star-Wars-e1645098471983.jpg
I was that baby elephant this morning.
I awoke late this morning after dreaming of beating a bully pretty badly. It was disturbing and yet oddly satisfying. I am not by nature a violent person, and yet I awoke feeling very pleased. Needless to say I am not feeling very poetic .The dream's meaning seemed clear, but foreboding. Fight back.
I'm startled to realize that in my dreams I am always the one getting beaten up. Maybe I can enroll my dream self in a martial arts class.
I usually dream of hitting someone over and over again without effect. Better not ask me to back you up in a fight.
I’ve noticed that also
I love beating up dreams, they’re cathartic. I don’t have them often, thank the universe.
Now even Kamala is invoking elephant hed gifs!
She’s probably getting her best ideas from Wonkette.
You know she's laughing her ass off when she visits Wonkette. I always liked Kamala's laugh – hearty, genuine, and immediate.
"Women should smile more."
"No, not like that."
Preferably while gazing up admiringly at a man.
That's how I always do it. Is there another way?
if I thought it'd help, I'd make an offering to the Breaker of Obstacles.
That baby needs a lullaby! What a cutie!
That trumpeting at the end was a clear, "No, I don't wanna nap!"
Oh Korbessa, how I know that feeling!
"Did you know that African elephants sleep the least of any mammal, logging just two hours of shut-eye a day?"
I did not know that. I can sympathize though
I love elephants. I hope the Grand Orc Party goes extinct instead of elephants. Did you know the Latin word for elephants is "elephantus"? But also "elephans" and "elephas." There's at least one more. ELEPHANTS! Elephants on parade...
Elephant must be my spirit animal, because that’s about all I am getting, too. Not willingly.
Babby elephants! More of such cuteness please!
When you are ready for a news break, click thru to find Sheldrick’s Instagram feed. They have many sweet little images of their charges. You could spend hours.
Speaking of, check YouTube for "Toby and Candy family". They are Golden Retrievers who take care of cats.
Great idea - instead of doom scrolling, sweet scrolling.
They are also on Bluesky, and they are amazing.
Babby Heffalump!
WHAR WOOZLES?
It’s very confoozle!
Squee! Need more babby elephants!
Here you go!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yl0cjXDNO0
"Baby Elephant Walk" from "Hatari!", Henry Mancini
"Hatari!"
Now there's some John Wayne and Red Buttons for ya.
Reading the Wikipedia entry for Red Buttons is quite a roller coaster ride. At 16, he went on the Borscht Belt with a straight man, Robert Alda(!). At 23, "... he appeared in the Minsky's show Wine, Women and Song. This was the last classic burlesque show in New York City history; the Mayor La Guardia administration closed it down. Buttons was on stage when the show was raided."
I almost feel bad for Ryan Walters . No matter how much he sucks up to Dear Leader, he keeps getting passed over for any appointments.
. (Cannon has 12 children with six women, including two kids with Mariah Carey. Musk has 14 known children with four women.)
Wow. My opinion of Mariah Carey just fell several notches. It’s like when you find out a celebrity is a Scientologist.
"Gretchen Whitmer and the Bipartisan Trump-Nominee-Confirmin’ Senate Gang" And don't forget Gavin Newsom.
Of course we have. Those things sound TERRIBLE!
Don't forget your Tab's and Coffee in the Morning ☕💯👍
I LOVE Michael Franti!
He graduated from Davis High School, so has a connection to my previous community.
"America's oil industry in serious decline — thanks to Trump: WSJ"
Oil industry is just riddled with MAGA scum top to bottom. I hope they enjoy the sight of chonky leopards.
Watched one of the local morning shows. All the local stations are owned by repubs and they try not to make it too obvious but it's there. So it it was very surprising to see a feature on the Cali ports that are all empty because of the tariffs, followed by a feature showing how much more (100 bucks) your kid's X-Box is going to cost, thanks to PAB. There's a change in the weather.
It's already to the point that Fox News can't completely ignore the issue also, too.
The Terry Moran v. Total Moran shitstorm continues, as Donnie is incapable of admitting that he's an idiot, and the White House fabulists tie themselves in knots trying to oblige him.
𝗖𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝟯𝟴𝟬-𝗳𝗼𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗨𝘁𝗮𝗵'𝘀 𝗕𝗿𝘆𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸, 𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀
A cat that fell alongside a couple into a 380-foot-high canyon was the only survivor of the incident at a national park in Utah, an animal sanctuary said Thursday.
The feline "was found in a black soft-sided carrier that was dirty and torn, but seemed to have weathered the fall fairly well," the Best Friends Animal Society said.
Its staff estimated the cat is 12 years old. It was found next to two people, a couple that local authorities said had died after falling from a popular tourist spot within Bryce Canyon National Park earlier this week...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cat-survives-380-foot-fall-killed-couple-bryce-canyon-national-park-utah/
Tough cat.
The cat says they "fell", huh?
That's my story...
How convenient.
How they fell was unknown, but they had "crossed over safety railings," according to the Sheriff's Office. I'm guessing cell phones were involved.
"Sid, I don't think we're supposed to go over the railings."
"Nonsense! This map app says just a few yards further this way!"
I can't take the selfie from here, you can see the railings.
"The National Parks Service is already 'efficient' to the bone."
Took a recent visit to Yosemite with goddaughter from another planet (nearly 20 years old, but with zero idea of what Yosemite was even, so the view when we popped out of the tunnel was something to watch reflected in *her* eyes).
At the entrance station, I thanked the guy handing out the map for all that he and his colleagues were doing under the circumstances. He stopped cold and looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Thank you. That means a lot. Really." *His* eyes made him look like he hadn't slept in a month.
On the next day we encountered an 11-mile long line of cars to get back into the park, which shaved a good two hours off of our visit.
One time there we met a ranger whose ENTIRE JOB was to hunt for illegal marijuana patches within Yosemite, as apparently there were a lot of them. I'm guessing that guy does not have a job anymore.
Anyway, you rangers and park people are wonderfully fabulous, and thank you again for all you are doing and trying to do under difficult circumstances imposed by those with a barbarian inability to recognize that *some* things are irreplaceable.
I imagine that Ranger still has his job. They're willing to spend any amount of money to go after lawbreakers who aren't them.
I used to travel through Yosemite 5 or 6 times a year. To me, it was just along the way to where I needed to be. I never took it for granted, though.
Several crises ago, they fired a lot of the maintenance personnel which led to deterioration of roads in several parks I frequent. The solution was to further lower the already maddeningly slow speed limits, and hire more law enforcement rangers. The roads have improved, but the lower speed limits and law enforcement rangers are still in place.
There was a stretch of street I traveled on the way to work that had a temporary reduction in the speed limit from thirty-five mph to twenty-five mph for construction and repair. It said Temporary Reduction on the speed limit sign.
That speed limit was in effect for over two decades.
There are a whole lot of civil servants in this country who make life livable. I still think it's nearly a miracle that for less than buying my family a round of coffee at Starbucks I can put a package on the front porch and have it delivered 2000 miles away in 48 hours. I had to do some business at the post office and you can bet I thanked those guys deeply and sincerely.
Hear me out. Maybe, having read the tea leaves of the last election, Whitmer realizes a woman will not be president any time soon. So she volunteers to be a spy in the house of MAGA. Get close enough to PAB and his minions to learn more about their plans and feed the info to the resistance.
Only problem with that is that PAB and his minions are not trying to hard to keep their plans secret, are they?
Michigan is far from being solidly blue - she wants to appear "fair", in the NYT sense of the word, and focused on her constituents. She's probably succeeding in winning over the not-hopelessly-stupid MAGA demographic (a small but important group in a swing state.) Liz Warren can be Liz Warren in Massachusetts, but Whitmer has to play a different game.
"Should I get a witness for all this misery?"
"There's no need to, brother. Everybody can see."
- The Clash
Oh shit...
𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗝𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗦𝗼𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g4l9nxjd0o
Just 66 years old.
Ruth Buzzi died, too, but she was old.
First I've heard of her death, which is a shame.
My experience of Ruth Buzzi is pretty much limited to her work on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Even that thin slice was enough to recognize an artist.
OMG. So very sad
She was a great friend to the LGBTQ youth center I'm on the board of. Shattered to hear this on the radio this morning.
a song she wrote to a " follower"
https://bsky.app/profile/jillsobule.bsky.social/post/3ln4e6vrn5k2l
Oh no! That's awful.
Check yr smoke alarms, people.
WHAT???
Oh. man. My BFF is great friends with Jill. I'm gonna have to break this shit to him.
𝐔𝐒 𝐣𝐨𝐛𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥
𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑤 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 177,000 𝑗𝑜𝑏𝑠 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑠 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑝 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠
Hiring in the US slowed in April, according to official figures, with the workforce adding 177,000 jobs as Donald Trump’s aggressive trade strategy clouded the economic outlook.
As the White House pressed ahead with sweeping tariffs on overseas imports, claiming this would revitalize the US economy, employers across the country continued to add jobs at a steady pace.
The April reading is down from the revised 185,000 jobs reported for March – and above the 133,000 expected by economists. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.2%.
While April’s hiring was stronger than predicted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also shaved 58,000 off its tallies for February and March’s gains. April’s largest hiring gains were in healthcare and transportation and warehousing.
Federal government employment declined by 9,000 in April as the Elon Musk-led “department of government efficiency” continued to cut government workers. Federal employment has fallen by 26,000 since January.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/may/02/us-april-jobs-report
All those new hires can bank their paychecks, because there won't be shit to buy.
Warehousing? That makes sense, actually. Corps stocking up in anticipation of the tariffs.
Good morning everyone. I don't want to read about L'il Marco this morning. I haven't had enough coffee (there is no universe with enough coffee). I think I will stay here for a bit.
I hate being *just this late* to TABS, which ideally should run until those of us here on the left coast can get up at a decent hour like decent people.
THANK YOU. I always feel way behind
Right????
Good to see you, Rose! Er, I mean Ms. Ass? Er, um, that is... Hi there!
Hi there! (waves)