Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Bark louder, little dog.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Dear legacy media: you are not here to influence outcomes and policies you find desirable.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

So many bastards, so little time.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Looking on the Bright Side

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The reported birth of a rare white buffalo in Yellowstone National Park fulfills a Lakota prophecy that portends better times, according to members of the American Indian tribe who cautioned that it’s also a signal that more must be done to protect the earth and its animals.

“The birth of this calf is both a blessing and warning. We must do more,” said Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate in South Dakota, and the 19th keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman Pipe and Bundle.

The birth of the sacred calf comes as after a severe winter in 2023 drove thousands of Yellowstone buffalo, also known as bison, to lower elevations. More than 1,500 were killed, sent to slaughter or transferred to tribes seeking to reclaim stewardship over an animal their ancestors lived alongside for millennia.

Erin Braaten of Kalispell took several photos of the calf shortly after it was born on June 4 in the Lamar Valley in the northeastern corner of the park.

Her family was visiting the park when she spotted “something really white” among a herd of bison across the Lamar River.

Traffic ended up stopping while bison crossed the road, so Braaten stuck her camera out the window to take a closer look with her telephoto lens…

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COVID-19 Coronavirus (& H5N1) Updates: June 12, 2024

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Don’t panic, but stay wary:

… The subtype of bird flu that is going around is more accurately called H5N1, and the current outbreak in dairy cows has escalated to an alarming level. The H5N1 virus is now infecting humans, with many field reports of human illness on dairy farms and three documented cases in people, including one with respiratory symptoms. Respiratory signs raise red flags: if the virus can be spread through coughing, this would be a significant step toward human-to-human spread. Yet, despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s best efforts, local health departments, urgent care facilities and emergency rooms still do not recognize H5N1 as now representing a human pathogen in the U.S.

As a group of veterinarians with experience in both the poultry and dairy industries, coupled with expertise in both poultry and human outbreaks and influenza viruses, we believe the dairy industry and regulatory agencies need to move quickly to stop H5N1 from seeding a human epidemic.

With the virus crossing species barriers, the specter of human exposure and emergence of a human-adapted strain is rapidly intensifying. This outbreak in dairy cows has the potential to spiral into a human epidemic or even a catastrophic pandemic—the signals of which we may already be seeing.

To prevent this next catastrophe, dairy producers must step forward to encourage the testing of dairy workers. They must increase testing in dairy cows and federal agencies need to report those results to allow us to track how many people and animals (including the cats, dogs and wild birds on farms) have contracted H5N1. There are many anecdotal reports of dairy workers feeling “hungover,” or having more pronounced flulike symptoms. But because symptoms have been generally mild, many people have minimized them and continued to go to work. Vigilant testing is critical to track any changes in the virus that may make it spread more easily among humans…

Really worth reading the whole thing!

The EU will sign a contract on Tuesday to secure over 40 million doses of a preventative avian flu vaccine for 15 countries with the first shipments heading to Finland, EU officials said on Monday.

The deal secures up to 665,000 doses from vaccine manufacturer CSL Seqirus and includes an option for a further 40 million vaccines for a maximum of four years. The vaccines will be jointly procured by the Commission’s emergency health arm HERA and 15 countries in the EU and the European Economic Area.

The doses are intended for those most exposed to the virus, such as poultry farm workers and veterinarians. The United States, Canada and Britain are also in the process of securing preventative vaccine doses…


The bad news: It’ll be at least a year before it’s commercially available:

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On The Road – Winter Wren – North of Quebec City (part 1 of 3)

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Winter Wren

Quebec is a reasonable road trip from New England and we have greatly enjoyed visiting the areas along the coast north of Quebec city over the past decade. Here is a set of 3 posts from various trips focusing on this part of Quebec, including the Ile D’Orleans, Cap Tourmente and on the way to Tadoussac, and the Tadoussac area.

First, the Ile D’Orleans. This is a travel destination in its own right and not just a side trip from the city – we have visited here many times without ever going into Quebec City itself. The island is separated from the shore by a shallow branch of the Saint Lawrence which is crossed by a narrow bridge. The island has fairly steep sides near the water generally with a broad, but rounded central area. Much of the island is under cultivation with orchards, vineyards, strawberries and other produce. There are wineries, cideries and farm stands scattered throughout the island.

On The Road – Winter Wren – North of Quebec City (part 1 of 3)Post + Comments (13)

On The Road - Winter Wren - North of Quebec City (part 1 of 3) 9
Saint-Jean, Orleans, QuebecOctober 3, 2016

Our first stay on the Isle was at a lovely B&B run by an older couple (who I think since have retired). Breakfast was a four course affair consisting of a smoothie, an appetizer, main course ,and dessert – all delicious, artfully presented and of appropriate portion sizes so as not to leave one over-full. Here is a photo of the appetizer – a “fruit pizza”. The coffee here was so delicious, that we asked the proprietor how it was made. The answer that came back was: local water, quality beans freshly ground, and the right machine. Then he brought out the machine itself – a Jura automatic coffee maker. When we got home, we bought one ourselves and have been using that to make our coffee since.

Dank Grey Dawn Open Thread: Could *Always* Be Worse…

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… And it almost certainly will be:

… The man who bought Twitter, turned it into “X,” and saw his advertising revenue plummet, is heading to the Cannes Lions ad summit in France next week.

WPP, one of the world’s biggest ad companies, said Musk will appear at an event with WPP CEO Mark Read on June 18.

This one won’t be a grilling. From the release: “The interview will cover the transformative power of technological innovation, how AI is reshaping creativity, business and society, and the future of X.” No word on whether Musk will be there in person or will be beaming in, like he did most recently at a Paris tech conference…

Musk’s appearance is primarily newsworthy because he didn’t go last year and has mostly avoided ad gatherings in general. (Linda Yaccarino, the former NBC sales boss who became Musk’s CEO a year ago, is also scheduled to appear in Cannes this month.)…

Musk routinely predicts a future for Twitter/X where the company won’t be dependent on advertising dollars because he’ll also be making lots of money from subscriptions and other revenue streams.

But those alternative dollars haven’t shown up in meaningful amounts, and advertisers are still quite wary of Musk. So off to France he goes…

That’s assuming nothing too terrible happens when Friday the 13th falls on a Thursday this month:

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War for Ukraine Day 839: President Zelenskyy in Berlin

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(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Quick housekeeping notes: First, Rosie is still doing well after yesterday’s chemotherapy. She’s eating normally and wants attention. I’d like to say she’s active, but right now she’s asleep at the foot of the bed. Specifically, at the bottom left while Ruby is snoozing at the bottom right. Thank you all for the good thoughts, well wishes, prayers, and donations!

Second, I’m absolutely fried, so I’m going to keep tonight’s update on the shorter side.

As I start tonight, at 7:30 PM EDT, just over half of Ukraine is under air raid alert. It’s now 8:10 PM EDT and the air raid alerts have spread to 2/3rds of Ukraine. And at 8:29 PM EDT as I finish the post, the alerts are up for all of Ukraine.

Air raid alert map for Ukraine as of 8:29 PM EDT on 11 June 2024. The entire country is under air raid alert.

 

 

 

This means that the Russian Tu-95s are up and all of Ukraine is under threat!

Here’s the butcher’s bill from Russia’s glide bomb attack on Kharkiv yesterday:

And the pace of Russian operations over the past 24 hours:

President Zelenskyy was in Berlin today where he addressed the Bundestag.

Video below, English transcript after the jump.

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Open Thread: Hunter Biden, Can’t Win for Losing

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I know the Republican plan was to push Hunter into a relapse as a way of hurting his father, but right now it looks like the individual most likely to go on a substance abuse binge after seeing this news is… TFG’s namesake kid.

Biden has handled the Hunter Biden situation politically perfectly by not handling it as a politician at all. He’s genuinely just doing the decent thing as a person and a public servant.

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— The Fig Economy (@figgityfigs.bsky.social) Jun 8, 2024 at 5:03 PM

When it comes to Republicans, it’s always projection:

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