Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

He really is that stupid.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Birdwatching / Down in the Mud (Open Thread)

Down in the Mud (Open Thread)

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I witnessed an epic though ultimately pointless battle between two Common Gallinules (aka mud hens, moorhens or swamp chickens) yesterday afternoon. It went on for 15 – 20 minutes or so. I posted a shorter clip of it on Bluesky yesterday. Here’s a minute-long view of the fracas, which I filmed toward the end of the fight, when both birds were tired:

A few things to note: The fight looks pretty fierce, especially when the birds are exhaustedly smacking each other in the face with their weird feet, but no bird was seriously harmed (at least not physically).

I think the combatants pictured are males. There was a third, smaller bird present when it broke out. I figure she was the female they are fighting over, and she wandered off.

The handsome Tri-Colored Heron who appears in the frame toward the end intervened in the fight twice. In the clip on Bluesky, he ran the fighting gallinules off with a flap of his wings, probably because they were disturbing his fishing hole.

***

I thought of the bird fight when reading toward the end of the morning thread. It kind of reminded me of some of the long-running disputes around here — fierce and exhausting at times, but ultimately pointless, with no serious physical harm. (I guess the heron is Cole in this scenario.)

Also, are we really going to argue that “our side” isn’t scoldy? As a much better president than the one we have now once said, “Come on, man.”

I’ll admit it! I am scoldy sometimes! Not now, though.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

69Comments

  3. 3.

    rikyrah

    Willie Ross Jr. Knee Deep (@RossKneeDeep) posted at 2:50 PM on Tue, Mar 18, 2025:

    Here’s a little perspective on race in America. As a child, I rarely saw a black person on TV. I grew up in the 60s. Every now and then, my mom would yell out, “There’s a black person on TV.” We’d all race to that 25-inch Motorola TV, just to see something we hardly ever saw. Basically, that was only 60 years ago. Times have truly changed.
    (https://x.com/RossKneeDeep/status/1902085159316492451?t=TVPX5cOgmQevr78qXc0XDw&s=03)

  5. 5.

    trnc

    I am scoldy sometimes! Not now, though.

    Well, maybe you should be now! Did you ever think of that? Well!?!?

  9. 9.

    Scout211

    Also, are we really going to argue that “our side” isn’t scoldy? As a much better president than the one we have now once said, “Come on, man.”

    Thank you, BC.

    I’m as exhausted as a mud hen after a fight trying to figure out what exactly is the correct type of Democrat I need to be.  It’s so confusing and so exhausting.

    Our “big tent” apparently is invitation only.

    Sorry, not sorry.  But I’ll show myself out . . .

  12. 12.

    trnc

    @Scout211: I’m as exhausted as a mud hen after a fight trying to figure out what exactly is the correct type of Democrat I need to be.

    My own advice would be to stop worrying about it. I’m not a democrat because of any given democratic office holders. I’m a democrat because I agree with the overall platform and policy positions of the party and, maybe just as importantly, because I reject the policy positions of the major opposing party.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    I’m scoldy and elitist!

     

    @trnc:

    I see a lot of those Fox News style headlines on Reddit. I guess I’m glad there’s some media out there that wants to serve us.  But not my cup of tea.

  16. 16.

    suzanne

    @Scout211:

    Our “big tent” apparently is invitation only.

    Agree. There is a huge amount of coalitional infighting — even on this blog — and I think it is deeply harmful.

  17. 17.

    rikyrah

    The United States versus Elon R. Musk (@Needle_of_Arya) posted at 10:14 AM on Mon, Mar 17, 2025:
    Anglophone South African whites ≠ Afrikaners; they’re from different Northern European countries

    but it’s a distinction without a difference, though most of the Anglophones have since used their British passports to leave SA

    it was the caste culture of “white” that bound them
    (https://x.com/Needle_of_Arya/status/1901653268205564043?t=G86m-i1RhZnCwXgk7I8_8Q&s=03)

  21. 21.

    Jeffro

    @rikyrah: good questions

    here’s another one: why is a ridiculously rich foreigner allowed to funnel money into ANY election in the U.S., much less a state Supreme Court race?

    (I think only people – not PACs or corporations – should able to donate, and only to campaigns for office in the state in which they reside; federal elections should be publicly funded)

    Musk’s gazillions have the potential to upend most every election in the country; Dems should be setting off flares that “if a rich foreigner can buy THIS election, he can buy YOUR next local/state election, too”

  22. 22.

    Jeffro

    @TBone: WIRED is something like $6 a year for print and digital and the articles are well worth it.

    A much better use of our $$$ than, say, The Atlantic

  23. 23.

    rikyrah

    This is a racist policy, whose only goal can be to kick Black men out of the military. IF it’s a condition that the population of the military it affects is 95%+ BLACK MEN..

    THAT MEANS IT’S TARGETING BLACK MEN.

    Jack Hopkins
    @thejackhopkins
    BLACK MARINES WITH ‘RAZOR BUMPS’ COULD BE KICKED OUT THE MILITARY DUE TO NEW POLICY

    The new rules were implemented after the Defense Secretary ordered a review of military grooming standards.

    This is blatantly RACIST. As a Navy Corpsman, I saw hundreds of Black sailors who had this condition.
    Razor bumps, or pseudofolliculitis barbae, can be a significant issue for Black men, as they’re more likely to have tightly curled or coiled hair.

    This hair type often grows back into the skin after shaving, leading to irritation, inflammation, and raised bumps.

    While irritating, there are countless over-the-counter products like benzoyl peroxide wash or gel, glycolic or salicylic acid-based products, and pharmaceutical treatments like topical antibiotics (Clindamycin, Erythromycin), and topical retinoids (Tretinoin…or Retin-A)

    In short…it’s NOT a condition that warrants being kicked out of the military, not by any stretch of the imagination.

    This is nothing more than Pete Hegseth’s white supremacist ass…along with Musk and Trump, who are all more racist than a bowl full of honey is sticky, enacting measures based on their hate and bullshit beliefs…and nothing more.

    https://blackenterprise.com/black-marines-razor-bumps/

    https://x.com/thejackhopkins/status/1902139910393405786

  24. 24.

    J_A

    Re birds fights.

    I worked for three years in the Altamont Pass area in California, home to a very large population of golden eagles. Seeing golden eagles was an almost daily occurrence, though it never got old.  We were told by the biologists in the project that most of the eagles were juveniles that had not yet paired , though they had a smaller group of documented and nesting couples.

    One evening one eagle caught a squirrel and brought it to another one (I’m guessing a male had caught it and was offering it to a female) when a third eagle tried to grab the dead squirrel. The two members of the couple kept throwing the squirrel to the other while the third eagle flew between the two other birds trying to pry the squirrel.

    Because eagles are not very agile near the flat ground and need a lot of space to take off, none of the squirrel fighters could take off and run away with the prize while another eagle is flying (also very clumsily) nearby.

    Finally one of the original two eagles had enough air clearance to fly away,  the aggressor finally gave up, and the second member of the couple was free to follow the first. The whole kerkuffle had lasted like ten minutes  It was a fantastic spectacle

    and the Cole, well,  they dined on quince, and slices of squirrel mince

  26. 26.

    Ohio Mom

    @rikyrah: Like there is no overlap between kids on IEPs and kids who are Jewish.

    I wonder if they are only helping”real” (Orthodox) Jews?

  27. 27.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    People like me are the face of the party that lost.  We sat too long on the sidelines while right-leaning centrists, who couch a lot of their libertarian-sourced policy crap in banal “liberal sounding” talking points, essentially took over messaging and (despite Biden’s two bills) policy direction (“New Liberalism”).

    And when we, lifelong Democrats, stand up and say “Um, no, we’re gonna push back”, we’re told to stfu, now is not the time, know who the real enemy is, blah, blah, blah.

    Not anymore.  It’s why I started commenting after little of that for all these years, I was saddened to see how the conversation was basically warmed-over LGM/Atrios material.  To quote Kay from a while back: “My sense of political solidarity is aligned with other Democrats and *liberals*.”  Not self-professed progressives who think that because they voted for Obama and support abortion rights makes them some example of great liberalness when much of what they support is aimed solely at their entitled, white, professional bubble.

    Labeling this push back in certain ways is simply another way of saying “STFU, now is not the time.” because from that quarter, now is never the time.

  28. 28.

    TBone

    @Jeffro: from the free.press article

    This approach makes a lot of sense from the standpoint of civil duty. They’re called public records for a reason, after all. And access to public documents is more important than ever at this moment, with government websites and records disappearing, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency doing its best to operate outside the public’s view, and the National Archives in disarray.
    But some may argue that, from a business standpoint, not charging for stories primarily relying on public records automatically means fewer subscriptions and therefore less revenue. We disagree. Sure, the FOIA process is time- and labor-intensive. Reporters face stonewalling, baseless denials, lengthy appeals processes, and countless other obstacles and delays. Investigative reports based on public records are among the most expensive stories to produce and share with the public.
    And yes, publishers rely on subscriptions to cover those costs — which will only increase as a result of anti-press attacks by the Trump administration. But while some readers might not subscribe to outlets that give away some of their best journalism for free, it’s just as possible that readers will recognize this sacrifice and reward these outlets with more traffic and subscriptions in the long run.

  30. 30.

    Philbert

    “There was a third, smaller bird present when it broke out. I figure she was the female they are fighting over, and she wandered off.”

    PERFECT!

  32. 32.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Jay:

    “Egg interceptions”.

    Good lord, the phrase “May You Live In Interesting Times” once again comes into play.

  33. 33.

    debit

    @Scout211: I think looking for consensus or affirmation on every issue is a waste of time and bound to fail.  I only dip in here occasionally these days, and mostly to look at the front page. Nothing against the commenters but my time is too short and my blood pressure is too high to waste energy screaming at other people who I, mostly, agree with on the big issues.

    So don’t wander too far or stay away too long, but do but do put your own mental health first, and remember there’s nothing wrong with hitting the pie button.

  34. 34.

    the pollyanna from hell

    Jeannette Vizguerra busted by ICE. Until covid came I stayed with her in our sanctuary church almost 24/7. FUSD denver.

  35. 35.

    Scout211

    Forbes spotted a ruling by Trump’s sister declaring the immigration law Trump is using unconstitutional.

    In a historical twist, Donald Trump’s sister was the federal judge who ruled unconstitutional the immigration law the Trump administration is using to deport a pro-Palestinian protester. In 1996, U.S. District Judge Maryanne Trump Barry wrote an opinion that declared unconstitutional the part of U.S. immigration law that Donald Trump has promised to continue employing to deport protesters. The current case has captured headlines and will test the Trump administration’s immigration authority.

  37. 37.

    Old School

    @rikyrah:

    Tesla is suing WI over a state law that hurts its bottom line — a case that could be decided by its Supreme Court.

    To expand on that:

    Tesla Inc. is challenging the state in court over a decision blocking it from opening dealerships in Wisconsin.

    Last year, the electric car company led by Elon Musk applied for dealer licenses to sell its vehicles. The state denied the request in December, saying Tesla did not qualify for an exemption to a state law prohibiting manufacturers from owning dealerships.

  38. 38.

    WaterGirl

    @trnc:  @Baud: @Scout211:

    Scout211 will correct me if I’m wrong, but I didn’t read that as her being exhausted because she’s “trying to figure out what exactly is the correct type of Democrat” she needs to be.

    I strongly suspect that she’s exhausted by the fights other people are having, that we witness here nearly every day, about who is more correct and what is the one true way we should move forward.

    There’s not one true faith and there’s not just one right way to look at the situation and there’s no one right reason that’s the cause of the situation, and there’s no one right way to move forward.

    We are proud to be the big tent party.  So let’s act like it.

  42. 42.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @the pollyanna from hell:

    More details:

    https://www.denver7.com/news/politics/former-denver-ice-director-on-agencys-history-with-jeanette-vizguerra-shes-had-more-than-due-process

    I can’t stand our Great White Dope of a mayor but he’s been very vocal on this issue (and the entire deportee/asylum issue as it basically overwhelmed his first year in office):

    “Putin-style persecution of political dissidents” that “makes this country lawless.”

    He’s right.  This is scary and what’s more scary is most of us have no idea how to stop it.

  43. 43.

    Another Scott

    @rikyrah:

    Quoting Frum:

    Trump claims power to overturn Article I of the Constitution (Congress’s authority over spending); Article II (predecessor’s pardon power); and Article III (by defying a federal court order). do anything he wants and dares others to try to stop him.

    And he’s going to keep doing it until people in positions of authority stand up to him.

    I think those people in authority are going to eventually stand up to him and his enablers (as happened with McCarthy). The question, as always, is – how much damage are they going to let them do before finally saying Enough!

    Grr…

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  45. 45.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Jeffro:

    A much better use of our $$$ than, say, The Atlantic

    Oh Lord yes, the Atlantic has been horrible for 20 years if not longer.

  47. 47.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Jeffro:

    Wired has been consistently good on a really wide variety of topics for years.  They’re one of the few online news sources I subscribe to.

    And what both you and lowtechcyclist said over-and-over.  You see a real amplification of what Anne Laurie calls their “deeply, historical commitment to it’s brand of Smug Libertarian Contrarianism” when Laurene Powell Jobs (Steve’s widow) bought it in 2017.  She’s also connected, via financial contributions to a shitton of public school privatization groups.

  50. 50.

    Jackie

    @WaterGirl:

    I strongly suspect that she’s exhausted by the fights other people are having, that we witness here nearly every day, about who is more correct and what is the one true way we should move forward.

    Re Scout211’s statement:

    I’m as exhausted as a mud hen after a fight trying to figure out what exactly is the correct type of Democrat I need to be.  It’s so confusing and so exhausting.

    Our “big tent” apparently is invitation only.

    @Scout211:

    I almost posted the same sentiment. I rarely post anymore, due to being told that as a white woman my viewpoint is wrong and everything happening to America is my fault as a Caucasian. It’s really disheartening, as a BJ lurker, then commentator, since BJ’s inception.

  51. 51.

    Jeffro

    @lowtechcyclist:

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:

    I think the cover of the last issue said something like, “How Progressives Effed Up Housing in America”, as if the blame was entirely (or even mostly) with progressives/Democrats

    (then again, we ARE the only ones with agency, ever) //

    not enough eye-rolls in the world…

  52. 52.

    NickM

    Thanks for posting that, Betty.  I once kayaked on the Myakka RIver with my kids and saw some of the things you post here.  It is a great memory and I love seeing the pictures you post from your backyard.

  53. 53.

    zhena gogolia

    @Jackie:

    everything happening to America is my fault as a Caucasian.

    I have never seen such a sentiment expressed here (about you or anyone else).
    As a white person, I think the first step toward building a way forward is to acknowledge that white people are responsible for Trump’s victories. I have no problem doing that. I am not personally responsible, but I belong to the group that is. What’s so hard about that?
    I find it liberating to realize that Trump’s two electoral victories are nothing complicated and have very little to do with the economy. Depressing, but liberating. If we could all acknowledge this, we could move forward.

  54. 54.

    stacib

    @Jackie:I almost posted the same sentiment. I rarely post anymore, due to being told that as a white woman my viewpoint is wrong and everything happening to America is my fault as a Caucasian. It’s really disheartening, as a BJ lurker, then commentator, since BJ’s inception.

    I’ve wondered how you ladies must feel with all the conversation that’s been in the comments lately.  Believe me, as a black woman, I sympathize.  I’ve spent most of my life with people not-so-quietly saying that all black folks are responsible for everything bad in this country, and I’ve stupidly tried to convince them of the hurtfulness poured on with those words, but to be in “room” with folks that are supposed to be your cohorts and to have them pound that shit regularly, I don’t know, y’all must be bad ass.  :-)  Regardless to the level of truthfulness, those statements have been repeated ad nauseum, and we all get it.  Me, I couldn’t take it, and I would have bailed days ago.

  55. 55.

    Betty Cracker

    @NickM: Did you see lots of gators on that trip? The Myakka is the most alligator-filled river in Florida, as far as I know. Personally, I’d prefer a canoe on that river. I like raised gunwales between me and the gators!

  56. 56.

    Grover Gardner

    I love it that the hen got bored and wandered off while the men were doing their manly-man thing. 😆

  58. 58.

    Betty Cracker

    @zhena gogolia: There are few if any regular commenters here who wouldn’t readily acknowledge that racism is an evil stain on this country and that white supremacy is a major driver behind all kinds of tragic American dysfunction, including the catastrophic rise of Trump, which may prove the end of our grand though flawed experiment.

    However, I disagree fundamentally with the claim that it’s not complicated and the only explanation is racism. This is a big, complex country with huge, maddeningly byzantine and interconnected pathologies, including sexism, queer-hatred, greed, ignorance, cultural incompatibilities, etc.

    To reduce it down to a one-word diagnosis is not only wrong on the facts and an erasure of all kinds of other societal ills, it makes discussing solutions fraught if not impossible. 

  59. 59.

    zhena gogolia

    @Betty Cracker: I think that our country’s long history of slavery, and everything that followed it, is the single factor explaining to me how my fellow citizens could have voluntarily handed power once again to a criminal rapist traitor instead of a highly qualified Black woman. The economy was fine. Especially compared to what it was in 2019 and what it’s about to become.

    It’s not reductionism. It’s facing the huge elephant in the national room.

  62. 62.

    Betty Cracker

    @zhena gogolia: Well, Hillary Clinton was a qualified white woman who was passed over in favor of that same pig and also in a decent economy. Racism was a factor in that too, of course, in that Trump openly appeals to racists and perpetrated the racist birther lie. It’s a huge factor, and I don’t think anyone here would dispute that. We all see the elephant in the room! No one is saying the elephant isn’t there!

    But it does seem reductionist not acknowledge all the other shit that contributed to the outcome, including yawning wealth inequality, galloping ignorance and cynicism, institutional rot, persistent sexism and queer-hatred, etc. I don’t think acknowledging that it’s complicated denies the salience of white supremacy, but sometimes I get the feeling folks DO think that.

  66. 66.

    sab

    @zhena gogolia: One thing I really like about BJ has been that black people tell us what they think about race issues in what they know is a mostly white site. That is so rare in America. I hope we don’t ruin that.

  67. 67.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @suzanne: i so agree.
    some days, I just find something else to do.

    it’s so painful. And keeps us divided, just right where the actual enemy party wants us.

  68. 68.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @sab: yes. I’m glad for that. I want all people to be my people. Being separated from resourceful smart motivated people

    is a waste of the pooled brilliance and resistance we might have. Together we are stronger. As best we can, we need each other.
    ( a clichéed meme, but also, true)

  69. 69.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Betty Cracker:

    However, I disagree fundamentally with the claim that it’s not complicated and the only explanation is racism. This is a big, complex country with huge, maddeningly byzantine and interconnected pathologies, including sexism, queer-hatred, greed, ignorance, cultural incompatibilities, etc.

    To reduce it down to a one-word diagnosis is not only wrong on the facts and an erasure of all kinds of other societal ills, it makes discussing solutions fraught if not impossible.

    just so

    ive been thinking about misogyny, which also may or may not be the ultimate model for how people oppress each other. How, just as white people (some, many) can’t bear to see the oppressive history of whites oppressing others in our fine but complex country,

    men sometimes dislike being named as the ones oppressing women and children. Who’s on top? Who’s below you in the pecking order? Where can you have power and control over whom? ( and why? Are folks avoiding feelings?)

    it’s systemic stuff, ranging from subtle, to overt. Used to be more overt, worse. Paternalism. Benign shit about father knows best. Once women see it, we can’t not see it.

    other people say these oppressive patterns start in religion. Still others say, adultism. The way children are managed and controlled, and sometimes coerced, taught what to think, etc. The way norms are taught, the culture, what box we want you to stay in, know your place. All of that.

    Is there anyone here who’s not been in the wrong side of unspoken norms and hidden rules?

    Anyway. The thought started with realizing I’d seen men get defensive about rape culture, or about duck (dick) jokes, or about how they hurt or control women. And it helped me understand, slightly, the thing about white folks in USA wanting to erase their bad history. (Which seems heinous and stupid. It happened, so let’s remember it in our history, come on!)

    eta, not all men, ok

    thing is, I really hate denial. The alcoholic family model, or the abusive family, where, it’s not ok to talk about it, and we pretend it never happened.

    The ones who caught the oppression know better, we see, we want to scream about it.

    oh ye bickering jackals (again, it’s not everyone) you can do better. Step up, stop slinging mud, we’re not bull elephants fighting over a female, right? If you’ve ever mended fights in your family, or made the attempt… civil discourse and other negotiating skills can be your friend.

    it’s so hard, when there’s so much to be incandescently angry about. For sure.  But wasting energy on infighting, is right where the conservatives want us.

    (I’m commenting so late, I’ll take bets few see this. Which is good. I’m just dropping in my insights. I don’t want to fight about it.)

    eta, I can be mean, and sharp, and scolds, too. I just don’t need more practice at it.

    I’ll show myself out

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