Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

“Alexa, change the president.”

Nothing worth doing is easy.

No one could have predicted…

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Republicans in disarray!

“But what about the lurkers?”

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

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Swamp Life (Open Thread)

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High temps are dropping into the upper 80s this week — time to bust out the parkas! We’re starting to see a little color in the leaves:

Here’s an anhinga (aka snakebird) swimming in the river. His or her mate (I think) is perched on the left-most end of the fallen tree, hidden a bit by other greenery.

The mates converse throughout this aquatic operation with ratchet-like calls. I imagine the treed bird is nagging the other to mind the gators, and the swimming bird is replying I know already…

Last but not least, a turtle pokes its head out of the river for a look around:

It’s a red-bellied river cooter, I think. (Yes, that’s really what folks call them.)

That’s all I’ve got, friends. Just loading up on serenity before the debate, which I definitely plan to watch. You?

PS: I miss the “critters” tag, but I dare not restore it!

Reader Interactions

46Comments

  4. 4.

    rikyrah

    Trump’s foreign policy reaches the ‘collapsing into catastrophe’ stage
    10/15/19 03:22 PM
    By Steve Benen

    U.S. military forces in northern Syria helped maintain a degree of stability in the area, though it was fragile and disrupted almost immediately after Donald Trump announced withdrawal of American troops. The Republican president ignored the advice of his foreign policy and national security teams, and he saw no need to consult with anyone – other than Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who encouraged Trump to make the drastic and dangerous move.
    As the White House struggled in recent days to come to terms with the consequences of the president’s decision, a senior administration official conceded to the Washington Post on Sunday, “This is total chaos.”

    It’s important to understand the scope and scale of that chaos, because we’re not just talking about an inept White House, unsure what to do in response to quickly changing circumstances. We’re also dealing with a national security crisis, a diplomatic crisis, and an American foreign policy that, as Rachel put it on the show last night, is “collapsing into catastrophe.”

    On the ground in Syria, for example, our Kurdish allies, abandoned by Trump and confronting a brutal massacre, have now allied with Russia and Syria’s Assad regime, largely because they needed a reliable ally and could no longer count on the United States. The Kurds, of course, were fighting ISIS, but that’s no longer the case because Trump effectively cleared the way for Turkey to launch a brutal offensive against the Kurds. ISIS, naturally, is delighted.

    American troops, meanwhile, have reportedly been “bracketed” by Turkish artillery fire, which (a) puts those American troops at risk; (b) means an ostensible NATO ally is firing on our military servicemen and women; and (c) potentially leaves those Americans stuck in a highly volatile area, since Turkish forces control the nearby roads. By some accounts, an airlift may be necessary.

  5. 5.

    rikyrah

    @HumboldtBlue:

    The same folks whining about what LeBron is or isn’t saying about China/Hong Kong…

    Would tell him to ‘ shut up and play ball’, when he brings up anything to do with Black folk.

    so, folks can miss me wanting the NBA Players to risk 20% of their income protesting about a country that isn’t even ours.

    Mr. James can afford that…..and has other income to supplement what he could lose…
    Other players do not.

  6. 6.

    germy

    The role of Catwoman in the upcoming Matt Reeves “The Batman” film will be played by Zoe Kravitz.

    Jeffrey Wright will play Commissioner Gordon.

  8. 8.

    currants

    @rikyrah: I don’t know how you manage to read so much and post so many items/links in comments, but I appreciate it (and I know I only see maybe 1/10 of them!). Thank you.

  9. 9.

    rikyrah

    CBS vice-chair Shari Redstone ‘is looking into launching a rival to Fox News and has already spoken to Megyn Kelly’

    CBS Corp and Viacom Inc reached a deal in August to reunite 96-year-old media mogul Sumner Redstone’s U.S. entertainment empire after 13 years apart
    Daughter Shari is said to have had meetings about a conservative-leaning show
    A source said CBS News would likely be shielded if the venture goes ahead
    She may rebrand an existing Viacom channel, according to Hollywood Reporter
    A Viacom spokesperson denied any new channel ‘conservative or otherwise’
    Sources say Redstone is understood to have met with Trump in recent weeks
    The president has been increasingly critical of Fox News on Twitter
    By LAUREN FRUEN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

    PUBLISHED: 15:42 EDT, 15 October 2019 | UPDATED: 15:54 EDT, 15 October 2019

  10. 10.

    HumboldtBlue

    @rikyrah:

    The same folks whining about what LeBron is or isn’t saying about China/Hong Kong…

    Would tell him to ‘ shut up and play ball’, when he brings up anything to do with Black folk.

    Way to avoid the fucking issue by turning to some right-wing bullshit. LeBron made an ass of himself and decided his paycheck was worth more than the lives of fellow humans who are being brutally oppressed by a government he has no fucking problems doing business with.

    We’re asking him to show a fucking spine, but yeah, you shove your head further up your ass about what you’re not going to get excited about.

  12. 12.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    We’ve been saying that with Trump at the helm, things are chaotic and that’s even before an outside crisis occurs. With Syria, our luck ran out.

    On a personal note, I am home from my colonoscopy and very glad it’s behind me and in my rear view mirror. Things came out just fine. (I’m saving you all a lot of trouble.)

  13. 13.

    Mary G

    The swamp you live in, Betty, is so beautiful, unlike the one in DC. Thanks for sharing it with us.

  17. 17.

    mrmoshpotato

    High temps are dropping into the upper 80s this week — time to bust out the parkas.

    Snorkel hood time!

  18. 18.

    jl

    Thanks for pretty swamp and peaceful critter pix.

    @germy: thanks for suggestion. It hadn’t occurred to me that a full service blog worth the very (very) steep subscription price would provide blog sound. Too late to request that blog rebuild week?

  20. 20.

    raven

    We’re headed down the Emerald Coast next week. Amberjack season ends the 31and they put in a weekend snapper season this month so I figured I’d give it a try.

  21. 21.

    jl

    @rikyrah: Thanks for posting that link.
    I don’t see enough pushback in media against the Trumpster gaslighting that the Syrian troop withdrawal is part of the brilliant Trump master plan to bring out troops home.

    The net impact of his most recent moves are a +2000 change in troops in the area. The Trump increase in Saudi Arabia is for an obscure purpose, with Saudi Arabia paying through obscure, perhaps corrupt, means, which makes the deployment stink of a mercenary expedition.

    In Syria we had a much smaller force providing critical stability to further US national security and diplomatic interests in a very volatile and dangerous area.

    Obvious to Trump which deployment was more important.

  24. 24.

    Aleta

    From Vanity Fair, quoting Kimmel jokes about DJT

    As Jimmy Kimmel put it Monday night,
    “Make no mistake: The president is melting down like a creamsicle in July.”

    (Tr tweet) “Such a one sided Witch Hunt going on in USA. Deep State. Shameful!”

    “Is there such a thing as a two-sided witch hunt?” Kimmel quipped. “Was there a group of witches that hunted down regular people?”

    Kimmel seemed most amazed by the president’s threats to sue Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, whose impeachment efforts seem to be rattling Trump more than anything else.

    “Who’s he gonna get to sue them?” Kimmel said. “All his lawyers are either in jail or going there soon!”

    And as for the president’s decision to call Fox News and complain about the network’s purportedly unfair recent coverage of him?

    “He really is the snowiest, flakiest snowflake there ever has been, isn’t he?” Kimmel said. “You could ski on Donald Trump.”

  26. 26.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax: When you have ribeye steak, you must floss it! Oh, that meatloaf tasted great! You must floss it! Now, floss it! Floss it good!

  27. 27.

    trollhattan

    Squeezed in a late-season backpack last week–five days in the Sierra high country. Because it was also huntin’ season and we were not in a National Park, no megafauna were spotted, other than some cattle early on. Being still summer-adjusted the low of 15 degrees one morning was kinda much, but other than that and a couple days of wind it was a great trip. One night hunkered by the campfire we both heard a “whoosh” pass overhead, traveling from east to west. Had to check with one another we weren’t hallucinating and pondered everything from a flock of vewy, vewy quiet migrating birds to some kinda stealthy surveillance drone belonging to the Marine Corps Mountain Training Center housed several miles down Highway 108. Flying a drone into a Wilderness would be illegal but hey, everything goes in 2019. I’m settling on the birds theory.

    Another night my headlamp caught a pair of bright green eyes in a tree across the creek from our camp. Mr/Ms owl was checking me out, and I was truly startled on first noticing it. Thank god it blinked.

    No Donny and Co., not much oxygen either for five days–highly recommended.

  29. 29.

    Ohio Mom

    I am still recovering from three days of in-laws descending on Cincinnati. Ohio Dad’s Colorado cousin and her husband flew in to visit my mother-in-law, then two others were inspired to drive in to join the fun.

    I’ve given this over two decades, and they still haven’t grown on me.

  30. 30.

    trollhattan

    @Aleta:
    Kimmel’s writers lifted my two-sided witch hunt line from here yesterday. I want licensing fees! Kimmel! [shakes fist]

  34. 34.

    Roger Moore

    @trollhattan:

    Squeezed in a late-season backpack last week–five days in the Sierra high country.

    Sounds fun, if you like that sort of thing. I’m getting ready for a week-long trip to southern Utah. I will be mostly staying away from the most popular National Parks and instead going to the very endangered Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.

  38. 38.

    trollhattan

    @Aleta:
    Don’t go nearly enough myself, and have no excuse living in the valley. Once I’m there the first question is, “Why don’t I do this more often?” Fall can be glorious and this one is excellent. Tiny fraction of last year’s fires, for one thing.

  42. 42.

    japa21

    Great pictures, Betty. You have improved greatly, and you had a good starting point. Won’t discuss the attempts by Cole.

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