1023 Comments

Your hed gif source info:

And your meme chat: https://open.substack.com/pub/martiniambassador/p/baby-stoats-doing-their-civic-duty

(It needed explaining to my husband because he’d never heard of “vote, vote, vote like a baby stoat,” and I didn’t realize he’d been living under a rock for 12 years)

https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/942d4043-5466-445b-a20d-1c54c1098c56?utm_source=share

BBC has your info on the difference between stoats and weasels: https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/mammals/how-to-tell-the-difference-between-a-stoat-and-a-weasel

Expand full comment

Apparently I've been living under that same rock. Your husband must be the exceptionally charming person I met there.

Expand full comment

May their votes (figuratively) rip the flesh of the Trumpists!

Expand full comment

Rzzzzz!

Expand full comment

They're all so adorable.

Expand full comment

Three minutes of a weasel just weaseling around.

https://youtu.be/QzBZCao0kLE?si=3d-fSh8-FfckkSoe

Expand full comment

I've seen Ozzy before!! Aren't they a riot!? And those little, wild ones are waaayyy faster and scarier than our domesticated funsters.

Expand full comment

I'm reminded of my pet weasel. I named her Ellie. Ellie Weasel.

Expand full comment

Cousin of Lefty Weasel? https://youtu.be/8tbrLDA18C4

Expand full comment

------------->>>> !!!!

Expand full comment

It's the vote stoat!

Expand full comment

CALLED IT.

KNEW those were stoats, and NO, I've never heard that phrase.

I'm a former, 20-year ferret Mommy and I'll die on the hill that there are no pets more fun.

WEASELS FTW!!!!

Expand full comment

A ferret with its teeth through ones thumb isn't necessarily that fun.

Expand full comment

I have been there, though another finger, and it was some idiot's pet ferret with shitty socialization who was trying to attack one of mine. I had to demonstrate the "safety hold" for the idiot, too. MY kids never acted like hers.

A little iodine took care of any potential problems :-D

Also? Rescue squirrel actually bit a finger once and held on like a pit bull. Fun!

Expand full comment

Or that tender bit of flesh inside the elbow.

Expand full comment

Try a nip to the upper eyelid! :-D

They can be real rascals when they're little and learning social niceties.

Expand full comment

Are you aware of the Fuffy Ferrets channel on YouTube? You might enjoy it.

Expand full comment

Noooo, thank you and also, goddamn you for the temptation, you enabler!!!

*two of mine were Maine rescues: Baxter and Margaret ❤️

Expand full comment

RZZZZZ!

Expand full comment

Indeed they are Stoats not Weasels, you can tell by the little black tip 'o the tail.

Expand full comment

They're both. Stoats are Mustelidae, aka WEEEEASELSSSS!!!

*as are actual, literal Weasels in their various sorts*

Expand full comment

Larger than Weasels, and Weasels are larger than Lesser Weasels, Ferrets being the largest of the Weasels. RZZZZZ!

Expand full comment

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustelidae

NOTE: The family Mustelidae, or mustelids (which also includes badgers, otters, and wolverines), is often referred to as the "weasel family"." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel

RZZZZ.

Expand full comment

So get a witch's shawl on

A broomstick you can crawl on

We're gonna pay a call on

The weasel family

Expand full comment

Snap! Snap!

Expand full comment

TRY MARTENS.

Got ya, suckah!

And I'm not even going WOLVERINE.

Expand full comment

Good! Go Green!

Expand full comment

Cute! And smart! VOTE!!!!!!!!

Expand full comment

Those wee creatures are ALL of the adorbs.

Expand full comment

I still hear that phrase in my head, and I love it.

Expand full comment

I've never heard "vote, vote, vote like a baby stoat" either. My introduction to the word "stoat" was from a Bugs Bunny cartoon where the Tasmanian Devil's diet was listed.

"Eats Aardvarks, Ants, Bears, Boars, Cats, Bats, Dogs, Hogs, Elephants, Antelopes, Pheasants, Ferrets, Giraffes, Gazelles, Stoats, Goats, Shoats, Ostriches, Lions, Jackals, Muskrats, Minks, Dingoes, Zebras, Foxes, Boxes, Octopus, Penguins, People, Warthogs, Yaks, Gnus, Newts, Walrus---Wildebeests. Page two: Moose, Mice, Moles, Snipes, Elk, Wapati, Tortoise, Road Runner, Elands, Foxes, Wolves, Guinea Hen, Vultures, Eagles, Humming Birds, Squids, Salamanders, Water Buffalo, Bison, Kangaroos, Pigeons, Daws, Unicorns, Vixens, Octopus, Ox, Penguins, Widgeons, Wart Hogs, Yaks, Newts, Walrus, Gnus, Wildebeests. And especially RABBITS!"

Expand full comment

Wapati... Say WApati? waPATi? wapaTI? Maybe just "elk"...

Expand full comment

There are some duplicates on that list.

Expand full comment

"You said littering twice."

"I like littering."

Expand full comment

Hey - who hasn’t went back for seconds -

Expand full comment

Well, it's certainly in character.

Expand full comment

Dated that one in college

Expand full comment

The seed oil conspiracy is mostly pseudoscience, based on the idea that canola oil oxidizes when cooked. Or something along those lines.

Now, there IS a lot of evidence that we should try to eat a variety of oil sources. Biochemically, our brains need a certain amount of EPA and DHA (mostly EPA) and certain kinds of oils are definitely not as good for you in the long haul as others. (Did you know coconut oil has the most saturated fat out of all the oils? That's why it's solid at room temp.) There's also been some buzz about C150 lately, which we can get from grass fed dairy fat.

But all that means is that canola oil, or peanut oil, or palm kernel oil, or sunflower oil, or walnut oil, should not be the ONLY source of fat in your diet.

In the same way that beef tallow or butter or margarine should not be the only source of fat in your diet.

Eat a variety of foods! AND eat a variety of fat sources.

You can probably get away with only eating oily fish, though, since that's definitely got the good stuff.

Expand full comment

Daily Grail Quote of the Day:

Historians have a word for Germans who joined the Nazi party, not because they hated Jews, but out of a hope for restored patriotism, or a sense of economic anxiety, or a hope to preserve their religious values, or dislike of their opponents, or raw political opportunism, or convenience, or ignorance, or greed.

That word is ‘Nazi.’ Nobody cares about their motives anymore.

A.R. Moxon

Expand full comment

Someone is trying to rock the vote in the Northwest. Police are looking for this Volvo linked to ballot box fires in Oregon and Washington "Finding the car — and the person or people believed to have used it to target ballot boxes in Portland and Vancouver — may not be straightforward. The car lacked a front license plate and had what police called an “unknown rear plate.” Sounds likes Sovereign Citizen BS from here. The place is crawling with them. Three boxes burned. Anyone in Washington or Oregon who used boxes in those areas can check online if their ballot was received. I mailed mine in. I recommend that for this year at least.

https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2024/10/police-are-looking-for-this-volvo-linked-to-ballot-box-fires-in-oregon-and-washington.html

Expand full comment

TBF, chips fried in beef tallow are the ONLY chips worth eating. And I say this as someone who has lived in Britlandia.

Expand full comment

Are you talking potato chips or French fries? I have never tried tallow ones. Does it taste like beef?

Expand full comment

Fries, or “chips” in Britland. Tastes like savory yumminess.

Expand full comment

Who knew that the FDA is “against “ hyperbaric chambers! I guess all our wound and burn patients are now added to the list of “illegals”. Seriously, I fear RFK Jr has a lot of drug induced brain damage.

Expand full comment

These parrots must read Wonkette. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w79nQibBn8

Expand full comment

Happy to see the format return to easier to follow comment treads!

Expand full comment

If you don't like seed oils...don't use them?

Also, vitamins and such are totally available.

Nobody's keeping you from anything, not even stuff that might be dangerous or misguided--you're fine, my dude.

Expand full comment

He means the phony vitamins in the supplements beings like Alex Jones sells.

Expand full comment

Salon has a piece today arguing for pro-Palestinian voters to vote for Harris from a first generation Palestinian-American, who I hope has a bit more credibility than a yelly old white guy:

"Palestinians can’t afford a protest vote: Muslim and Arab American voters must make their choice"

https://www.salon.com/2024/10/27/palestinians-cant-afford-a-vote-muslim-and-arab-american-must-make-their-choice/

Or maybe not. This bitch makes it clear that despite Arab-Americans' real and legitimate grievance over Gaza, the impetus of the movement is just cover for the Tankie crusade to destroy their Democratic rivals for the left, the only thing they have ever given a damn about:

"Here in Michigan, we know the Democrats have failed on Gaza – and they’ll pay dearly for it"

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/24/michigan-democrats-failed-gaza-voices-from-the-swing-states

Expand full comment

Tankies care about Gaza the same way evangelicals care about babies. As an excuse. The entirety of their politics is "I hate liberals just as much as Republicans do."

See also: the green party. And Briana grey joy.

Expand full comment

Green = Tankie. It’s not that way everywhere, and it wasn't always that way here. But in today's America, they are one and the same.

Expand full comment

YUP

Expand full comment

Story ends, for now. And just like that, Trump pop-up statue next to famous Portland bronze nude disappears from downtown (the plaque too but the base is still there) https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2024/10/and-just-like-that-trump-pop-up-statue-next-to-famous-portland-bronze-nude-disappears-from-downtown.html

Expand full comment

They look an awful lot like my Scottish Fold special-needs kitty. Glad I don't have to do that rant again.

Expand full comment

The anti-seed oil campaign is really just astroturfing by Big Arterial Clog.

Expand full comment

To be honest, McDonald's french fries were better when they used beef tallow.

Expand full comment

We have a weakness for meat-flavored flavors.

Expand full comment

Cookies were also better when they used pure hydrogenated oil.

Expand full comment

Another Big Stent dark money group.

Expand full comment

Aussies are much smarter than Americans. They can distinguish between hate filled bullshit and the mythical "Free Speech."

Open racism is such an integral part of MAGA that they just can't help spewing it out at every opportunity, even when it does not help their campaign. Their stupidity and hatefulness is truly amazing.

Riding your lawnmower into your pool? Man, I sure wish trump or vantz would do some mowin'.

MAGA is the American version of the Taliban. Project 2025 just confirmed it.

Expand full comment

Guessing RFKJ has no problem with whale oil though ... 🐋

#FREEWILLY

Expand full comment

Well it is animal-based. And from endangered species even. His pants get tight when he thinks about it.

Expand full comment

I has questions:

1.) Why is Gene Krupa's drum kit at the front of the stage instead of on a platform in the back like all the other drummers. Are all the other drummers doing it wrong?

2.) What's wrong with olive oil, and is that considered a seed oil?

Expand full comment

In the Big Band and Jazz era, drummers were more out front, often it was their band. When R&R shows got really rolling by the late 60's the "down the line" stage setup with drums in the middle, flanked by amplifiers became the model. The Grateful Dead were actually the trailblazers with the rugs and the amps and the setup.. I saw Levon Helm with his own band in the 90's, he setup on the front of the stage, it was his band.

Expand full comment

Russian Circles, an epic post-rock/post-metal* trio, puts their drummer, David Turncrantz, front and center, because he's an outstanding drummer. That's the only modern example I can think of.

Most bands put the drummer on a riser, so the beat carries out, where the band and audience can hear and feel it. Who started that? Oh, I forget their name, had "beat" in it somewhere, drummer's name was Ringo...

*I think that just means heavy, and mostly instrumental.

Expand full comment

As to your second question, I was focusing on where we'd get enough tallow. How many more cows would we have to raise? Maybe the answer to your question is to be found in the term "frying oil". I don't think that is a common use for flavorful oils like olive oil.

Expand full comment

Star drummers like Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich led their own big bands and got to put their kits out front.

Expand full comment

I got to see Buddy Rich in his later years. He sat at the back of the stage.

Expand full comment