Dogs with Guns

A dog “accidentally” shot a woman with a shotgun.

According to Scottsbluff police, the owner of the truck had pulled into the convenience store….The dog triggered a shotgun that had a live shell in the chamber, causing the firearm to discharge. (source)

The victim, a woman, was in a car stopped at a traffic light when the dog shot her. Her injuries were thought to be non-life-threatening. FYI, this is Nebraska – Scotts Bluff County is seriously Republican. They’re so right wing, they probably gave that dog a medal and extra treats for shooting a woman.

Here in the US, even our pets are gun happy loons. This is why we don't keep firearms in our house in Valhalla. Bast only knows what Cake, Skitter or Walter would do if their dinner was late.

Couple of black bears walked up to a Sparta, New Jersey home. One rang the doorbell with its nose. The news article does not mention whether these bears were Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, door-to-door solar salesmen, greasy GOP canvassers or ICE goons hunting for prey.

New Jersey Fish and Wildlife said black bear sightings have been reported in all of the state's 21 counties. Residents are urged to prevent encounters with the animals by securing food, trash and any odors that might entice them. (source) 

The bears eventually left, without the door being answered. Possibly these were just nice, neighborly bears who were looking to make new friends and maybe borrow a cup a honey? 

Just FYI, black bears are generally shy and avoid humans. I certainly would if I could. While they are capable of killing people (as, presumably, am I), the last time that happened in New Hampshire (just fer instance – they have a big-ass population), was back in 1784. That’s so long ago, by then Trump had only filed for bankruptcy once or twice.

A lone emu was found wandering along the road in Duson, Louisiana. What the fuck? Why was this poor emu out on its own? Emus are social beasties AND May is mating month. Love is in the air and shit.  Shouldn’t this bird be somewhere making the beast with two backs (or however they do it)? You know, making little baby emus?

By the by, these giant, flightless babes have an interesting repro/family practice.

For most birds, producing an egg is just the start of a female’s parental duties, which include tending to the eggs and, depending on species, possibly feeding and caring for the hatchlings. Not so for emus: Once the female lays the eggs, her responsibilities to the brood are complete—but a male emu’s work is just beginning.
   ~~~
Tending the nest is a huge investment for an emu dad. He rarely eats or drinks during this time, and can lose up to half his body weight, says Ryeland. (source) 

The expectant daddies incubate the eggs – an eight week period, turning them as much as 10 times a day. He survives on stored body fat and any morning dew he can reach from the nest. Talk about dedication! What’s mom doing? Some stay and defend the nest until the chicks start hatching but most head out to find a fresh mate and a new nest. They don’t waste the short mating season on just one dude.

Imagine how different the world would be if humans were like this.

On a slightly different note – have you heard about the Emu War of 1932? This was a short, unsuccessful military operation in Australia.

Three members of the Royal Australian Artillery were assigned to cull roughly 20,000 emus using machine guns, but both the weapons and tactics employed proved wholly unsuited for the task. The assignment was made in response to petitions from local farmers complaining of emus destroying their crops. After two months, fewer than 1,000 emus were reported killed. The failure was the subject of national and international ridicule. (source) 

The soldiers opened fire – the birds scattered. They were not the easy targets the army had taken them for.

It soon became clear that one emu in each group served as a lookout to warn the others, giving them time to escape. Meredith stated publicly that the emus could “face machine guns with the invulnerability of tanks.” Such statements made military action against the emus increasingly unpopular, with opponents arguing that such treatment of emus was inhumane. (source) 

The army was persistent but, ultimately, the emus won.

I’m pretty much always gonna be on the side of the beasties. Maybe not the ones in any of the Alien movies though. That sheep and the other creatures in Alien Earth make the xenomorph and face huggers seem positively quaint. 

Shark Jumping

I woke from a dream where there was some major dramatic hoopla going on with the part of my family I’m not often in contact with. At the center of it all was a niece who was, potentially, being lied about. She had supposedly acted badly, deceitfully, nastily towards her siblings, mother, and uncle.

Here’s the thing though, every last one of the players in this scenario has so consistently bent the truth that I’ve learned not to ever take any of their versions of a conversation, event or situation as stone truth. Are they intentionally lying to me? Sometimes. For whatever reasons (guilt, shame, embarrassment?) they feel a need to be deceptive. In other instances, I’m absolutely certain that the semi-fictional concoctions they relate are simply how they see the world – it’s how the world looks to them through the scrim of their life experiences and insecurities.

It’s sad. Also, never knowing what’s real, partially true, and flat-out fantasy is exhausting. I think you can probably understand why I’m not in frequent touch with all of them. Right?

What inspired the dream? I’m betting it’s this administration who cried wolf/assassination attempt 500 too many times. They’ve truly jumped the shark.

Hours after the incident, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the shooting was another sign the White House needed a “safe and secure space,” such as the ballroom that he is seeking additional funding for.

“The National Security of our Country demands it!” Trump said.

Sure Jan. 🙄

He’s bored with and given up on the BIG WIN in Iran. It’s raining in New Jersey so he can’t golf. He can’t go to Junior’s wedding because: A. It’s not all about him and B. The Bahamas won’t admit adjudicated rapists. What’s a bored, malignant narcissist to do? I know! Let’s stage another assassination drama!

Of course it's also a scam to to get his Epstein Dance Hall/bunker and Arc de Treason paid for with loads of dough left over to fill his off-shore accounts. Also a distraction from:

• His shit poll numbers.
• The fact that he’s in the Epstein files so much they should be called the Trumpstein files.
• His wholly unnecessary, complete, and absolute, bollocking of Iran, Iran, Iran.
• His war on America .
• The murders by his ICEhole goon squad.
• The ICE concentration camps.
• His never-ending theft of OUR tax-payer dollars being used for payoffs and bribes to cronies and other criminals.

Oh and speaking of lying, Pedo’s crew says that Iran agreed to give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

But…

Later Sunday, a senior Iranian source told Reuters that Tehran has not agreed to hand over its highly enriched uranium stockpile. The source said Iran’s nuclear issue was not part of the preliminary agreement with the United States.

“The nuclear issue will be addressed in negotiations for a final agreement and is therefore not part of the current deal. There has been no agreement over Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile to be shipped out of the country,” said the source. (source) 

This orange griftosaurus has cried wolf so many times I wouldn't believe it was a real assassination attempt even if zombie John Wilkes Booth and zombie Lee Harvey Oswald teamed up, broke into Mar-a-Lago and chowed down on Donny over the omelet bar. And Obama and Hillary paid for it.

Even if it was real, no one cares anymore. He’s played the drama queen, poor-victim-me card way too many times. We’re all beyond worn out with his reality teevee presidency. Season two of Prez Donnie the Dunce is a total loser and needs to be yanked.

An aside – I wonder, are these guys, the ones hired to play the part of the assassin, made aware that there’s an excellent chance they’re not going to come out of the little panto in one piece? I mean, are they warned and paid up front so they can make sure any loved ones are taken care of in the aftermath? Do they sign a contract? Probably not. Trump wouldn’t want anything in writing, would he? Plus, he assuredly doesn’t pay in advance and would totally stiff the surviving estate. Just ask E. Jean Carroll – he still hasn’t paid her.

Just let us know when the orange grifting rapist’s dead. K?

Now Epstein’s Ballroom Blitz is playing over and over in my head.

SeaLife

These absolutely gorgeous fishies are called blue tang OR blue barber, blue doctor, blue doctorfish or blue tang surgeonfish. NOT to be confused with orange Tang made popular by NASA on John Glenn's Mercury orbit around the Earth. Man 'o' man, I really pestered my mother to buy Tang!

With all those name options, how does one know what to call a blue tang? In order to avoid embarrassing faux pas, it’s best to simply ask them their preferences. For example, my usual brain cutter, Fred, most def insists on being referred to as a surgeon versus a doctor and well he merits that distinction. The neurologist who treats my essential tremors is to be referred to as Doctor Goodheart not Ms. Goodheart. Of course! Me? If I was a blue tang, I would want to be addressed respectfully as Tang, Empress of all Valhalla. Naturally.

Related, the yellow barber and yellow doctorfish. While I was hip to the fact that aquatic dwellers, like humans and other organisms, would be in need of medics from time to time (some of us *cough* me *cough* more than others), I was wholly unaware of their need for barbers. Interesting. Learning new things every day and shit!

Have you seen the Chondrocladia lyra AKA the harp sponge? Yeah, it kinda looks like a harp but it also resembles an over-designed toast rack. You know, the kind you’d find at Williams Sonoma or need to go direct to Paris to acquire.

The harp sponge is a carnivorous beauty so it probably won’t eat your toast but it might take a bite out of you. Well, only if you’re a tiny crustacean. Dunno if the prefer butter or a schmear of cream cheese – you'll have to ask.

How about the humpback anglerfish AKA Johnson’s abyssal seadevil, viperfish, and, appropriately, fangtoothfish. There’s little to no light at the depths they live so our scary buddies attract prey with a nifty bioluminescent lure between its eyes. Like miners lamps, sort of! 

Fang’s tum-tum can expand to accommodate prey much larger than itself. Can relate. I get like that sometimes too, pal. Especially around pizza. 

How about this cutest little creature? Costasiella kuroshimae, AKA leaf slugs, sea sheep, or leaf sheep. They can be found in the waters off Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

Sea sheep not only feed on algae, they separate the green organelles inside a plant’s cells which convert sunlight into chemical energy into its own cells. What this means is that these leaf sheep slugs are photosynthetic animals. How astoundingly wicked cool is that? WAY!

Sea angels – don’t let the name fool you. They're predators who devour other swimming snails. You know, in the same way that Republicans eat their own as well as any other humans they deem prey. Sea angels, AKA Clionidae and Clione – the name looks suspiciouslly similar to Battlestar Galactica’s Cylons. Know what I’m saying? 

How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is clearly Ocean. 
~ Arthur C. Clarke 

If the ocean can calm itself, so can you. We are both saltwater mixed with air.
~ Chief Seattle 

A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor.
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt 

You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf. 
~ Jon Kabat-Zinn 

Funny Girls

It’s like this – my 50th high school class reunion is coming up this summer. I’m not attending – I’ve not gone to any reunions. Why start now? I am, however, curious about one person. 

Wendy was pretty, smart, popular, upbeat, and had cute sense of humor. We sat next to each other in orchestra (the flute section) for three years. Wendy and I were friendly but not friends – no reason beyond the fact that we socialized in vastly different circles. Hers being the football player/cheerleader/prom queen/popular kids parties circle. Mine was the home alone watching M*A*S*H and Mary Tyler Moore circle. 

So, after high school we didn’t keep in touch. Through the reunion booklets, which came out every five years, I read that she’d married some hot, up and coming comedian and was moving out to Los Angeles. Next reunion – no mention of the comedian or the marriage but now Wendy was working as a comic out in LA. WOW!

A couple things here:

One – I didn’t know Wendy had it in her! I mean, in high school she had a cute, safe, Hallmark greeting card kind of sense of humor. Who knew that, lurking below this sweet, safe, all-American-girl exterior was a woman who could get up in front of an audience and make people laugh out loud? AWESOME – talk about a post-high school bloom!

Two – Comedy is a HARD business, especially for women. Watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but maybe more, I’m Dying Up Here, really brought that into crystal clear focus.

Comedian Alison Stevenson writes:

Women in comedy have to work 10 times harder to gain not only the respect of our audience, but our peers as well. We have to have way thicker skin, and put up with a lot more bullshit. Each and every one of us has to face the inevitable, unwanted sexual advances, as well as comments on our appearance – not to mention that so many people truly do believe that women are not funny. When we perform, we have to deal with knowing that our comedy is going to be considered “niche”, simply because it’s from our point of view. Men don’t have to fear that, because when they preach about their dicks, or rant about their relationships, or their family, it isn’t considered “male humor”. It is regarded simply as humor. (source) 

Wendy was out there trying to break into the stand-up big leagues 20 years after Joan Rivers started and not even a full 10 years after Elayne Boosler dared to defy the traditional female comedian self-dissing stylings (for which she was banned from The Tonight Show).

Despite frequently being hailed as the next big success, Boosler could not achieve the same feats as her male peers. She booked her first spot on The Tonight Show only when Helen Reddy guest-hosted in 1977. Later that year, she performed on the show when Johnny Carson was hosting, but she was assigned hacky, self-deprecating material she refused to use. Afterward, Carson reportedly told his comedy booker, “I don’t ever want to see that waitress on my show again.”  (source) 

WHAT a hamster-dicked asshole

Rivers was heavily self-deprecating and that’s the thing I remember most about her. It’s, ultimately, what turned me off too. I mean, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Jonathan Winters didn’t have to do that shit. Oh wait…that’s right…they had penises. Somehow that means you don’t have to make yourself smaller or lesser. You don’t need to make excuses for yourself, no matter how funny you may be. Not if you have a dick.

When Whoopi Goldberg came out doing stand-up, she was more of an actress doing character-driven longer bits. She was funny but hitting hard too. 

Gilda Radner and Lily Tomlin were also character-driven but much more in the Carol Burnett/situational comedy vein.

Early on, Bette Midler did stand-up. Actually, I guess it’d be more accurate to term them cabaret performances. She joked, told stories, and sang.

Who – what women – are doing arch, tart, insightful, observational stand-up now? Not Saturday Night Live sketch comedy but stand-up. I wanna know – I wanna see who’s out there now.

And whatever happened to Wendy? What kind of comedy did she do and is she still doing it? Frankly, I’d be muy surprised. Struggling through the comedy scene’s a young person’s game and we’re a few decades or so distant from that young shit.

Absolute Randomosity

Quokka’s live in Western Australia and are in the the kangaroo/wallaby family. They’re cute as all hell but DO NOT FEED THE CUTE QUOKKAS! Junk food is very bad for them (even worse than it is for us). Quokkas are about the size of a house cat. I wonder if Cake wants a brother...

Smaller than a quokka and a cat is the hyrax. They’re also called rock rabbits or dassies, and make their home in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. They look like the angry, shorter cousins of the quokka.

They're NOT to be confused with the Hydrax – a human-crewed 22nd century spaceship featured on Dr. Who. The Hydrax became a permanent fixture on the vampire planet in E-space. The crew became vampires and the ship became a castle. This was during the time of the fourth Doctor. 

I’m not worried about data centers. I live in Ohio and most of my family is on drugs. The copper wire will be ripped out of those bitches in a week.
~ Blake Hammond

Japanese flying dwarf squirrels are fucking adorable.

Saw this on Threads this morning and well, had to share:

If you had a Million dollars and spent $1 PER SECOND, you would run out of money in 11.5 days. 

If you had a Billion dollars and spent $1 PER SECOND, you would run out of money in 31.7 years. 

If you had Jeff Bezos net worth and spent $1 PER SECOND, you would run out of money in 8,244.5 years. 

If you had Elon Musk’s net worth and spent $1 PER SECOND, you would run out of money in 25,360 years. 

How is it ethical, moral or in any fucking way decent to have that much money when people are starving, dying from preventable diseases, going without medicine because it’s too damned expensive, or unable to afford a place to live? Huh? Tell me!

Have you seen telescope fish? Fer fuck’s sake, do they look like they came out of one of the Alien franchises or WHAT? No surprise, they’re found off the coast of Western Australia – the continent with intensely unique wildlife – most of which can kill you and is inclined to do so. Alright, alright, these scary fishies are also found in tropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans at depths of 1,640 to 6,561 feet. 

Good to know. I’ll avoid those neighborhoods.

Ya know, I take it back – first thing in the morning, I might look this strange, disturbing, and distinctly uncivilized too. Especially if I don't cover my mouth when I yawn.

I know it’s early but it looks like the elderly and always concerned senator from Maine, Susan Collins, might well be hanging up her pedophile supporting voting mitts in November. Graham Platner is, at this point, ahead in all noted general election polls at 270 To Win. We can only hope he doesn’t end up being another Fetterman.

Not an original comment but, it feels like Green Day really wasted American Idiot on George Bush. 

This is kind of a creepy looking bird. It’s a potoo and they’re native to Central and South America. They’re mainly insectivores which is awesome but with this brill camouflage, wouldn't they make excellent assassins? Their grey and brown mottled feathers are absolutely perfect for blending in with the trees around them. NO ONE, at least in forest situations, would ever see them coming. I wonder if they come in White House of Mar-a-Lago shades.

Fight the Power

Yesterday I had lyrics from a Paul Simon song stuck in my head.

Yesterday, it was my birthday
I hung one more year on the line
I should be depressed
My life’s a mess
But I’m having a good time

I’ve been loving and loving
And loving
I’m exhausted from loving so well
I should go to bed
But a voice in my head
Says “Ah, What the hell”

Have a good time
Have a good time
Have a good time

Why? It wasn’t my birthday — that’s a few months off. My life isn’t any more messy than usual. In fact, physical crapoli aside, I’m doing pretty damn well. So then, am I having a carefree good time?

Is that really the right question though? While the world is being turned into a vat of hot, fried sewage courtesy of a bunch of zed-headed oligarchs, plutocrats, and other assorted gilded garbage humans, how am I having a good time?

Monday two teens, Cain Clark and Caleb Vazquez, walked up to the Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in the county, with 30 guns, a crossbow, a 75 page long, plagiarized and AI written haterific, white supremacist “manifesto"/suicide note, a gas can with a Nazi SS symbol on it and proceeded to kill three people. 

They filmed themselves as they murdered Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad, then posted the video to some ultra sick site online.

The video investigators found was posted to a website which has been on the FBI's radar amid a disturbing trend of young people engaging with what's called the "True Crime Community," or TCC, an online movement that glorifies mass shooters and encourages violence and self-harm.

A source familiar with the investigation said he believes the video was initially recorded on Discord, a popular online platform for gaming. (source) 

It’s the week before Eid al-Adha, the "Festival of Sacrifice," the second major holiday in Islam. There were approximately 140 children and teachers inside the Islamic Center’s school when these bastards began their rampage. If not for the security guard, Amin Abdullah, calling in a lock down before he was murdered, a lot more people – kids – would have died.

These two murderous fuckers weren’t just after Muslims either. Nope, their masturbatory “manifesto” went off on how much they despised Jews, the LGBTQ+ community, Black people, women (whilst whining about how they can’t score – no, I’m not making that up.). 

Who told these absolutely-consumed-by-hatred teens that Muslims, Jews, Blacks, LGBTQ+ folks, and women are horrible, less than human, to blame for everything that’s not perfect in their lives, and deserve to die? Was it their parents? Possibly. Their president, his cabinet and his faithful cult? DEFINITELY!!! It’s also the shock jocks, podcast bros, and other online mini-dicked idiots who make bank on exploiting and inflaming young (and not so young) disaffected and embittered white men’s insecurities, fears, and prejudices. They may not specifically say “go out and kill!” (plausible deniability and all) but they create the conducive vibe.

Who does this ultimately serve? The powerful and power-adjacent people. The same ones who are responsible for the minimum wage remaining at $7.25 per hour in 20 states. It’s been $7.25 for 17 years – since 2009. Meanwhile, the cost of living has risen 55.23%. A microwave oven you bought for $100 in 2009, would cost you $155.23 now. Your paycheck is still stuck in 2009 though. No one can afford to exist in America on a minimum wage job. 

The powerful and power-adjacent need us to not be looking at them, not be blaming them – the decision makers – while we chase health insurance, wallow in medical debt, education bills, housing, food, and transportation costs. If we’re blaming and hating someone we can possibly perceive as weaker than ourselves, we’re not paying attention to the rich fucks stealing our wallets and our lives.

Look! Over there! The Muslim! The Jew! The immigrant! The gay kid! The Black family! The Latin family! THEM! THEM! THEM! They are the reason your life is hard. They are why your town is dying. They are why you can’t afford college and your insulin costs so much and your factory closed and your church is empty and your country doesn’t feel like your country anymore. IT’S THEIR FAULT.
~ Mo Husseini 

To answer my original question – how am I having a good-ish time in this era of Trumpian hate and horror? As my father once said (to my great dismay), I have the personality of a cheerleader (how totally unhip!!!). Perhaps, more accurately, I'm a manifestation of the Chumbawamba song, Tubthumping. You know, I get knocked down but I get up again. You're never gonna keep me down. Also, I sing the songs that remind me of the good times. God, I love that tune!

They can’t, fuck with us
Once they realize we’re all on the same side
They can’t, split us up
And let them prosper off the divide

Don’t fall for the bait and switch
Racism is real, but not it
They fuck whoever can’t fight back
But now we gotta change all that
The people have had enough
Right now, it’s them against us
This shit is ugly to the core
When it comes to the poor
No lives matter
Body Count – No Lives Matter 

 Public Enemy – Fight the Power 

March of the Maniacs

A variation on an old Soviet secret police joke:

Q: Why do the ICE agents patrol in groups of three?
A: That way there’s always one who can read, and one who can write.
Q: What about the third?
A: Someone’s got to keep an eye on the two dangerous intellectuals. 

Dementia Donnie is apparently looking to create another secret police force in addition to his existing band of murderous ICE thugs. He's, at the least, sending the scumbag signal to his psycho insurrectionist squads that he'll always have their backs. He pays his goon squads...supposedly. We'll see. I'm betting that the $1.8 billion goes straight into an offshore account.

Unsurprisingly, Pedo’s setting this up before the midterms where, even with his faithful renfieldian cult of congresscritters gerrymandering the fuck outta their states, the Guardians Of Pedophiles are gonna lose monster big. Diaper Don, the infamous, lying sack of weasel shit child rapist, has made sure of that.
~~~
That doctor overseeing hantavirus outbreak? He's an Alabama urologist known for penile‑implant surgery. THIS is the doctor who’s been put in charge of stopping a deadly respiratory virus.

What are Dr. Brian Christine’s qualifications to handle the outbreak and prevent the potential vast spread of a virus?

•  He’s big into far-right conspiracy theories, especially those about COVID-19. Of course.
•  He’s viscerally transphobic. Naturally.
•  He hosts a YouTube show called “Erection Connection” where he talks about erectile dysfunction. No surprise.
•  He had another YouTube show called “Common Sense” where he claimed health responses from the federal government and organized medicine injected “liberal and left values” to exert more government control. Should've called it Common Nonsense.
•  Christine’s stated that, essentially, the use of mail-in ballots in the 2020 elections is why Trump lost. Basically, he's admitting that Trump’s toadies (*cough* Elon *cough*) had somehow fixed the vote but this was foiled by so many people doing mail-in due to COVID. No surprise that Pedo’s so against mail-in voting, is it? 

We can probably assume Christine knows what a virus is. Rather, we can really, really hope, he knows that a virus is different from a penis. Right? This is the wholly incompetent Pedo administration though – him knowing is def not a lock.

Remember, Bri Bri, wieners are the things you operate on and make bigger. Viruses are things you want to contain and make smaller. See? It’s simple, Doc! 

Gustav Klimt, Hope II

Someone ring up Dr. YouTube Trump Asslicker and give him the 411, K?
~~~
Have you read about Samantha Randazzo? She’s the woman who was forced to give birth on a Brooklyn courtroom bench. This was at her arraignment. She had been in custody for 24 hours.

Randazzo was surrounded by law enforcement, prosecutors and courtroom staff, some of whom reportedly laughed and joked at the situation, the group claimed.
   ~~~
“Ms. Randazzo had reportedly recently been discharged from a hospital despite being nine months pregnant before being returned to custody and brought to Brooklyn arraignments, where she went into labor in open court,” according to Saturday night’s joint statement from The Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, New York County Defender Services, The Bronx Defenders and Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem.

“That should horrify every New Yorker,” the statement continued,” they said. “No person should ever be forced to give birth in handcuffs or endure labor while restrained, exposed, and denied basic medical care and human dignity." (source) 

Gustav Klimt, Hope I

How about Tiffany McElroy – hear about her? She was arrested, put in an Alabama jail when she went into labor. Her water broke and her jailers did nothing to help then or in the following 24 hours of labor. With the assistance of her fellow inmates she gave birth. 

“This unmedicated labor was the most terrible pain Tiffany has ever felt,” the complaint alleged.  “For over five hours, she felt as though every bone in her body was breaking and her body was slowly being pulled apart.”

The other inmates then helped resuscitate the baby, who was not breathing, as they shouted and banged on a table to alert the guards, the complaint alleged. 

Eventually, officers came to wrap the baby in blankets and place McElroy in a wheelchair. (source) 

Alabama? Pro life? Yeah, not so’s you’d notice. 

What were Tina and Samantha in jail for? It doesn't fucking matter! They're sentient beings going through intense, life-threatening, traumatic experiences. Did those newborns deserve to come into this already horrifying existence in such a barbaric, callous, merciless way? Fucking NO, I don't think so!

The maternal mortality rate in the US is already significantly higher than it is in first world countries. Fer instance, on average, in the US it's 22 women dead per 100,000 live births. In Norway: ~0 to 2. Netherlands: ~3 to 5. Sweden: ~4. Germany: ~7. United Kingdom: ~6 to 9. And Bast forbid you be an expectant Black woman in the US. The maternal mortality rate for Black women in America is about 55.3 per 100,000 live births.

The US really hates women – obviously. We make up slightly more than 50% of the population. What would happen if we united and voted these oppressive, abusive fucks out, hmmmmm?

KVETCH!

It’s that time of year in New England when all of a bloody sudden the hot weather HITS. Overnight we go from wearing warm sweaters and wool socks to shorts and our thinnest T-shirts.

Somehow the first hot night always takes me by surprise. (could be that I live in denial of the temperatures I don't approve of) I never have the winter bedding switched out to the spring quilt when the heat arrives. Last night I was up every hour throwing off the quilt entirely or pulling it back around me or something in between (left leg sticking out up to the knee with both arms entirely out and other assorted combinations).

Tuesday and Wednesday are supposed to be near 90º here. Jesus Wading Pool Christ and what the actual FUCK! It’s mid May and this is Boston not Phoenix, DAMMIT! This is 12 kinds of smelly bullshit. I'm tellin' you...

Down here on the water we normally have a solid stiff breeze going on. It better be clocked in this week – that’s all I’ve got to say.

I lieu of more I-slept-worse-than-the-idiot-orange-clown-in-the-WH kvetching, here, have some editorial cartoons. 

Yur welcome.

Mike Luckovich

Nick Anderson

David Horsey

Joel Pett

Nick Anderson

Michael Ramirez

Bill Bramhall

Jack Ohman

Bill Bramhall