The news of the day is ghastly so far, or at least it was when I quit looking a while ago to avoid the mounting temptation to take up day drinking. (The six Republican hacks on the SCOTUS have all but crowned the orange pustule — read all about it in Rose’s post below.)
But yesterday, I saw something heartwarming in a local paper that’s worth sharing. It’s about flamingos.
As regular readers may recall, I’m a big flamingo fan. Even drove hundreds of miles toward the end of 2023 to gawk at hurricane refugee pink birds.
So, when I saw this story in the Orlando Sentinel (gift link) about flamingos reclaiming Florida, well, it was the best news I’d read in a long time. Got a little teary about it, I don’t mind admitting.
Tickled Pink: Flamingos on Merritt Island show birds are giving Florida a second chance
Central Florida refuge one of several areas where flamingos have established toeholds in a Sunshine State recoveryDriven beyond their Caribbean, Central and South American homes, apparently by hurricane activity, scores of flamingos now spend significant time in southern Florida, and, most visibly, around Merritt Island. As yet, none are known to have bred here, crossing the threshold that would make them natives again rather than merely visitors – but it seems increasingly possible.
“This is a newer generation of flamingos that have discovered Florida and are now trying to figure out, maybe it’s worth giving it a go,” said Julie Wraithmell, executive director of Audubon Florida.
If flamingos haven’t given up on Florida — or America — how can I? Anyhoo, godspeed, pinkos!
Open thread!
Jeffro
can we believe in America but still give up on Florida (and Texas)? ;)
tsquared2001
I not only took up day drinking BUT also smoking the last of my ganja.
Mustang Bobby
I heard there’s a move afoot in Tallahassle to change the state bird of Florida from the pesky mockingbird — dive-bombing noisy pests — to the flamingo. It got so far as having a bill introduced in the legislature back in January. I don’t think it passed, but hope springs…
Layer8Problem
Now that you mention, makes me wonder, is Code Pink moving any needles these days? Usefully?
Suzanne
Flamingos are fucken fantastic. 10/10, would recommend. I’d keep one as a pet if I could.
You know who’s pissing me off? Sen. Gillibrand.
Trivia Man
The madison professional soccer team has a flamingo as a mascot. Official city bird, doncha know.
Betty Cracker
@Mustang Bobby: Hadn’t heard about that!
There have been multiple attempts to change the state bird to the Florida Scrub Jay, but they were stymied by NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer, who is somehow still alive despite living on cordite and bloodlust for 86 interminable years.
RevRick
@Jeffro: Kicking them and their electoral votes out of the United States would hand place power back to the Democrats. Sorry Betty
comrade scotts agenda of rage
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/26/2330241/-Trump-s-DOJ-is-targeting-Daily-Kos
Some days there are advantages to being an Almost Top 10000 blog.
Trivia Man
@Suzanne:
And had no issue throwing al franken under the bus. Odd default behavior to instantly believe anything negative said about other democrats.
Betty Cracker
@Suzanne: Seems like Gillibrand is auditioning to be a crypto lobbyist. I hope she gets her wish after losing in the next primary.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Trivia Man:
Oh, she’s become the new poster child for supposedly blue states not sending us their best. There are so many.
The rank hypocrisy she showed endorsing Cuomo after leading the charge against an honest-to-goodness librul Senator is telling.
And she’s one of the 18 Senate Dems who voted for the crypto bill.
Per BCrack above, she’ll be around until 2030 making sure more crypto bills pass.
Reminder of the Senate Dems that voted for the bill:
Alsobrooks
Booker
Cortez Masto
Fetterman
Gallego
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Kim
Lujan
Ossoff
Padilla
Rosen
Schiff
Slotkin
Warner
Warnock
Suzanne
@Betty Cracker: She and Sinema can go hang out together. Lunch.
Islamophobia isn’t limited to the GOP and that’s upsetting. I have said in the past that I would be willing to bet $$$ that many voters don’t see us as the party of civil rights. Stuff like this doesn’t help.
Jeffro
@Trivia Man: that’s awesome!
one of my buds at work is a near-expert on sports mascots and obscure team names
he’s the one who alerted me to the fact that the Binghamton Rumble Ponies changed their name for a couple games (and not once, but TWICE): the Binghamton Bathtub Donkeys and the Binghamton Southern Tier Spicy Meatballs LOLOL
(naturally I got us both ‘Spicy Meatballs’ merch =)
Suzanne
@Jeffro: Scottsdale Community College’s mascot is Artie the Fighting Artichoke.
Jackie
Apparently FFOTUS is pissed at Canada again:
Suzanne
@Jackie: THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!!!
He must have that saved in predictive text or something.
Jeffro
@Jackie: with the ramp-up in deportations, there are already starting to be stories about crops going unpicked and workers of all kinds staying in hiding
if president crazypants is going to shut down trade with Canada too, it’s kind of a lock that we’ll get a significant recession
I guess he’s not going to get those Fed rate cuts he so desperately wants, either. Hope he strokes right the fuck out about that
Jay
@Jackie:
What a maroon. The DST exists because Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb are scraping CanCon and Canadian data with out paying for it.
Tyler Bucket had a youtube on Canadian boycotts of the US and US products, where in he missed the entire point. Taco Don threatened Canada’s Sovereignty, insulted us and said the US doesn’t need us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q4aFdS4HJ4
So far, 70% of Canadians, (it’s even higher in Quebec) have said “Ok, we don’t need you or your products”.
I guess that big beautiful trade deal he was yammering about earlier this week that would be signed in 2 weeks, ( what a load of horseshit and gaslighting) won’t be happening “in 2 weeks”.
Jeffro
@Suzanne: I just Googled up a list of funny ones and there are quite a few!
the Shockers…the Baby Cakes…the Banana Slugs… =)
Josie
@Suzanne: Let’s hope he never hears of the statement: “So let it be written; so let it be done.”
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Jeffro:
The Canadians are much to polite to invade ‘Murka (and to smart to try).
But if they do and are looking for active collaborators, I’ll sign up.
frosty
I’m still kicking myself for not driving 65 miles to see the two flamingoes who settled into a farm pond west of Gettysburg last year. PA rarity!! And it would have been a Lifer for me, too. I went to Flamingo Bay in the Everglades a few years ago. No flamingoes.
Sometimes you have to wonder about your decision-making ability.
PS Thanks for the warning about reading the news. Maybe I’ll skip it for the rest of the day.
Jackie
@Suzanne: After today’s unAmerican rulings from the Courts, he’ll start adding “Your Royal Majesty” rather than “Your favorite president” following that ridiculous statement.
rikyrah
Jessica Priest (@jessica_priest) posted at 1:03 PM on Fri, Jun 27, 2025:
United Methodist Church can fight to prevent split with SMU, Texas Supreme Court rules https://t.co/tK5qtgOtXd via @TexasTribune
(https://x.com/jessica_priest/status/1938659379101724752?t=mI9p9sKHvGGaGFcM5EuQzg&s=03)
rikyrah
@Jackie:
A Canadian just died in an ICE Detention Center
trollhattan
@Jeffro:
Banana Slugs are a solid, if squishy mascot choice. Aardvarks another favorite but the Geoducks really pull for the fences. Especially if you’ve ever seen a geoduck.
So far as mascots go, the oddest I’ve encountered traipsing around after my kid doing sportsball things is that for Pepperdine.
https://mascothalloffame.com/wp-content/uploads/bb-plugin/cache/willie-e1679060765340-circle.jpg
Jackie
Nebber mind. Erroneous info
M31
was visiting Vancouver recently and in the grocery stores the number of “BUY CANADIAN” stickers on food was extremely high
also, fuck Trump
Sure Lurkalot
I’ve been to Bonaire a couple times and at dusk, the flamingos take off en masse to feed in Venezuela. It’s breathtaking!
trollhattan
@frosty: Luckily the local zoo has a big flock of the pink things. IIUC the amount of pink is determined by how many little crustaceans they get in their diet.
Omnes Omnibus
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Yeah, let’s primary all of them especially the Georgia ones. I am sure that will turn out well.
Suzanne
@Jackie: He’s already posting “DADDY’S HOME” memes on his weird social media.
We have discussed his racism (justifiably) here for a long time. An under-studied aspect of his horror is the barely-suppressed kink that the rest of us are forced to endure. Like when someone brings their sub on a leash to the mall or something.
Jackie
@rikyrah:
Outrageous. And it’s outrageous that there are other deaths in ICE detentions. Trump, Miller, Noem, Homan – along with all of those collaborating with them, have blood on their hands.
Spanky
@Suzanne: Yet another reason not to shop at malls.
lowtechcyclist
@Sure Lurkalot:
Sounds amazing!
A few decades back, some friends and I caved Hellhole in WV, whose entrance is a conical sinkhole with a 160 foot deep pit at the bottom. I still remember the sight of thousands of bats pouring out of the cave at dusk, as I sat there totally exhausted from the climb out of the pit.
Not quite the same thing, I know, but still pretty damned impressive.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Purity is more important than building the party or winning! //
lowtechcyclist
@Suzanne:
Daddy wears the diapers in the family.
rikyrah
Jamesetta Williams![]()
(@jalexa1218) posted at 9:23 AM on Fri, Jun 27, 2025:![]()
Notice how the same Supreme Court that wouldn’t even let Biden cancel a few student loans is just handing over executive power victories to Trump
(https://x.com/jalexa1218/status/1938604090285871596?t=IBasts00ScI2tAYOheeeQA&s=03)
rikyrah
The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) posted at 10:29 AM on Thu, Jun 26, 2025:
![]()
On June 26, 2025, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the U.S. will halt funding to Gavi, citing lost public trust and disputed science. Gavi, credited with saving 18.8 million lives, now faces a major funding gap.
https://t.co/bpM7hcXtZM https://t.co/LYsHptrCwN
(https://x.com/highbrow_nobrow/status/1938258446073401403?t=oozc8RpAja84W8Pp105dqA&s=03)
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@WaterGirl:
No, it’s not about that but nice try at the reframe.
Dems who take shitty positions on shitty bills need to be called out for their actions. Lord knows Dems like Slotkin punch left constantly so why can’t we punch back? By the line of thinking being described here, we should have simply let Cuomo run unopposed because…purity!
Omnes Omnibus
@lowtechcyclist: I have never had any desire to do caving. I am even creeped out a little by places like Mammoth Cave. Climbing? Sure. Underground? Hard nope.
rikyrah
Godspeed
The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) posted at 10:54 AM on Thu, Jun 26, 2025:
🚨The U.S. Department of Defense will stop transmitting microwave satellite data vital for hurricane forecasts by June 30, 2025, catching forecasters off guard. Experts warn the move will reduce forecast accuracy, risking delayed warnings and public safety during peak hurricane https://t.co/frFLhMCbsJ
(https://x.com/highbrow_nobrow/status/1938264609955139611?t=bxu_fBQey5qA_EAhI8dEMw&s=03)
Trivia Man
@Jeffro: from salt lake city: jordan HS beetdiggers
in madison: the Purgolders (the colors are purple and gold!! Get it??!?)
BTW – look up “madison flamingo origin” for the quick backstory . Quick read, fun story.
rikyrah
The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) posted at 11:29 AM on Thu, Jun 26, 2025:
![]()
After winning NYC’s Democratic mayoral primary, Zohran Mamdani vowed to eject ICE from city jails and shield undocumented residents. Trump’s border czar Tom Homan hit back, promising to “triple down” on immigration raids, declaring it’s “game on.”
https://t.co/eviQrWgRpC https://t.co/uwcoxYTJCi
(https://x.com/highbrow_nobrow/status/1938273359680160205?t=1fdY8nD9mQKrMV_FJvufMA&s=03)
lowtechcyclist
@rikyrah:
An all too revealing comparison. Yep, if a Dem gets back in the White House, they’ll be back to micromanaging the Executive. No principles, not even pretend ones.
Trivia Man
@Trivia Man: my vote for most audacious team mascot is the Seattle Sounders. IYKYK
Omnes Omnibus
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: My problem with this is that unless you know their state or district very well, you can’t really know how much freedom to vote their conscience on every bill they have. There is a reason that Pelosi used to let excess Dems vote against important legislation when it made no difference to the end result.
lowtechcyclist
@rikyrah:
It’s all about vengeance and retribution with this crowd.
Jay
@trollhattan:
Don’t tell anybody that Banana Slugs are hermaphrodites.
Trivia Man
@Jeffro: my friends son just graduated as a proud banana slug
Jackie
I wish I could say I’m shocked by this report…
WHO is giving the orders?!?
PatD
@Omnes Omnibus: no, that’s not practical but we should call out problematic votes. These Senators all owe their constituents a better explanation for their votes. There can be a justified vote for crypto reform based on increased adoption, cultural trends, and wanting to standardize rules (putting the best spin on it) but actively taking money from the crypto lobby which also funds Republicans is a step too far.
Trivia Man
@trollhattan: we had a wild (escaped) flamingo on the great salt lake for years. Mmm, brine shrimp.
Fun fact: “Sea Monkeys” are brine shrimp. They are dormant until you get them wet.
lowtechcyclist
@Omnes Omnibus:
To each their own. My son has the skinny, wiry build that would be perfect for caving, but the notion creeps him out too. Dammit.
Omnes Omnibus
@PatD: How many of those that Comrade Scott listed took Crypto money?
Geminid
@Trivia Man: Broadway High School, in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia calls their sports teams the “Gobblers.” Broadway became a big turkey farming and processing center a few decades ago.
Trivia Man
@Omnes Omnibus: a couple times i was going to visit Nutty Putty cave in utah but plans always fell through. Couple years later was the gruesome tragedy and it was sealed up. Im sure i would have been cautious but…
Bupalos
I really should have thought of this.
PatD
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m not sure. On its own it’s just a list of people who supported the bill. I think Gillibrand, Gallego, and Slotkin for sure. Not calling for a primary by any means as I generally think that most of these politicians are genuinely trying to not let the culture outpace them on this issue while also protecting themselves from being targets.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Jeffro: @trollhattan
NeenerNeener
@Jeffro: My hometown has been doing some weird sh*t since I moved away.
trollhattan
Been shopping around for new streaming radio channels and have been listening to a blues station from Spain. Today they’re inexplicably playing Christmas blues, leading me to believe Spain celebrates a half year off from others.
Don’t try and convince me otherwise. Viva Spain.
Suzanne
@lowtechcyclist:
These people are weird.
Jacel
@Jeffro: I’m a proud UC Santa Cruz Banana Slug. Go Slugs!
Sure Lurkalot
@lowtechcyclist: There is a “bat cave” in St. Lucia…a crevisse in the rock face along the water filled with bats that the dive/snorkel boat operators point out when the boat passes it. It was definitely a bit creepy but I would’ve liked to have seen it at dusk when the bats emerge.
Naaa, probably not.
Omnes Omnibus
@PatD: This is why I find that very few votes should be a redline. If the Rep or Senator is generally good, I tend to not get too upset over individual votes. Also, if they are like Manchin was, that is better than a Republican and the best we could Joe for for that state or district, I’ll tend to bite my tongue. Other’s MMV.
Moondoggus
@Suzanne:
Sen Gillibrand is pissed off that she never got her shot at the Presidency. She was told by Dem consultants (we know what their advice is worth) that she looked overweight on camera and she would have to slim down to enter the race.
now she appears to be bitter and has climbed into the pockets of big corporations as an easy road to reelection.
Sure Lurkalot
@Suzanne: I had issues with my own father and his “my house, my rules” attitude but the thought of the bundle of untreated pyschological disorders being my or this country’s “daddy” is sincerely sickening.
trollhattan
@Sure Lurkalot:
Between Sac and Davis, CA, I-80 crosses the Yolo Causway, an elevated stretch over a wildlife refuge/flood control basin. Freetail bats live in the hollow roadway, One day at dusk I was driving the kid home from a soccer tournament and saw the eeriest thing: a black ribbon twisted into a helix extending into the sky. It was bats going out for the night. Some raptor had this on his schedule and was zapping into the ribbon, grabbing for dinner.
Show was over quickly as we passed beneath and before I could so much as utter an “uh, wha???”
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
Weren’t the Va. Tech Hokies the Gobblers a few decades back?
Raven
@Jacel: My niece is an alum a working in the area.
lowtechcyclist
@trollhattan:
Never been to Spain, but I kinda like the music
Raven
@lowtechcyclist: A Hokie is a castrated turkey so that was just another nickname.
lowtechcyclist
@Omnes Omnibus:
Sounds like a good standard to me. I’m disappointed with Alsobrooks for supporting the ‘GENIUS’ Act, but she’s going to be one of my Senators for the next five and a half years regardless, so I’ve called her office, let them know how I feel about that, and will see how she shapes up from here on out.
Suzanne
@Moondoggus: I don’t know too much about her, but her endorsement of Andrew Cuomo, after she pushed Al Franken out, struck me as hypocritical and career-driven. Not principled.
And the Islamophobia that is being directed at Mamdani is reminding me of one of the previous divides in our coalition, which was the AUMF to invade Iraq. I have noted before that this was a defining moment for me, in part because so many Democrats voted for it. I, and I know others in my age cohort, saw this as driven partially by racism and Islamophobia (also just anger and bloodlust). The events in Gaza, and how Dems have reacted — with what I’d consider excessive deference to Netanyahu — indicate to me that this attitude is still there.
If someone has a problem with Mamdani because they don’t like his free bus plan or the city-owned grocery store idea, that’s fine. The racism being thrown his way is disgusting and, quite frankly, some of it is coming from our side.
jowriter
@Suzanne: She never asks ordinary folk for money. I always knew there was something strange about that. Apparently she received nearly half a million from AIPAC (h/t Open Secrets). Shame on her.
lowtechcyclist
@Raven:
My recollection is that ‘Gobblers’ is the name the papers would refer to their sports teams three or four (or maybe five) decades ago. (As in, in the headlines and lead paragraphs, not just an alternative name that the columnist would toss in for variety.) It’s been strictly ‘Hokies’ for quite awhile now.
Betty Cracker
@Sure Lurkalot: My sister has a big umbrella on her dock that a little bat kept roosting in when the umbrella was closed. She put up a bat condo thingie on a pole nearby so it would stop using the umbrella. Earlier this week, she counted 56 bats coming out of the condo at sunset! It’s a small structure too — they pack in like sardines!
trollhattan
@Raven:
Has any team named Broncos changed it to Geldings? Those dudes in Denver should consider it.
Baud
@jowriter:
This is why I always support corporate Dems. Fewer fundraising emails and texts.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
We have something like two or three dozen mosquito varieties and I’d LURVE to have a resident bat box, on patrol.
Suzanne
@Baud: LMAO.
zhena gogolia
Apparently the guy who played Cletus Hogg has died.
Sure Lurkalot
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’ve been a hold my noser too but I can say it’s getting really old for this oldster. I guess I’m a little more stabby about the crypto bill because I can’t see much good from crypto’s existence. It undermines the monetary system, expends an unconscionable amount of energy and its common uses are nefarious if not outright criminal.
One of my senators voted for the crypto bill too (apparently, he didn’t listen to my voice mail) as well as Scott Bessent for Treasury Secretary. He’s running again in 2026 and I do support a primary challenger for his seat (so far, one has announced intentions).
Jeffro
@Trivia Man: that’s great! =)
danielx
@Suzanne:
I’d be a lot less offended by that than I am by Agent Orange on a daily basis.
Jeffro
@lowtechcyclist:
@Omnes Omnibus:
back when Fro Jr was in Scouts, we went on a caving expedition with his troop.
Picturing a vast and open Luray Caverns, when we arrived, I saw that the “entrance” was instead a manhole-sized entrance where you dropped straight into blackness.
(I am shivering just thinking back to that day)
Suffice it to say, as the lone adult chaperone, I had to do it and did do it. But I’ve never been more terrified in my life.
Jeffro
I’m just picturing their cheerleaders on the sidelines of a football game
“WE LOVE GOBBLERS…HOW ‘BOUT YOU?”
danielx
@lowtechcyclist:
My brother in law’s barn (one of them) has a bat colony up in the hayloft. It’s fun to watch them come flying out at dusk.
Betty Cracker
@trollhattan: Very effective at pest control, plus they are super cute! Here’s the original bat on my sister’s umbrella!
Trivia Man
@lowtechcyclist: have you been to Oklahoma?
Jeffro
@Trivia Man:
@Jacel:
allllll the slugs are coming out of the woodwork, so to speak ;)
Jay
@Suzanne:
Mamdani went on The Bulwark podcast, and one of the questions he was asked was about the few chants of “Globalize the Intifada that broke out at one of his town halls.
In a 2 paragraph answer he basically gave a very nuanced and concise explanation that it means different things to different people and that even the Holocaust Museum uses the word when describing the Polish Uprising in Arabic. Intifada just means struggle. He pointed out that he supports the rights of both Jews and Muslims to live in peace.
https://podscripts.co/podcasts/the-bulwark-podcast/zohran-mamdani-fypod-crossover
That was quickly twisted by the Usual Suspects, flooded the Reich Wing, and then flooded the whole Zone and even showed up here.
One would think that a sitting Democrat would not wallow in the Reichwing swamp, but,………………………….
Trivia Man
@Betty Cracker: i have read that if you live in an HOA that is ruthless with policing your yard, a bat house is a good FU to them. Federally protected, they cant be banned or removed by the HOA no matter how ugly ir non-conforming to the esthetic.
Professor Bigfoot
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: if it gets to that, brother, you and I will both be dead or in a gulag.
Chetan Murthy
Oh I forgot to post this. Over at Unfogged, they had a post about flamingos: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/153719/salt-pans-of-salin-de-giraud
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Awww.
I went many years into life before learning Die Fledermaus, the Strauss opera, literally means The Bat, and that German for bat is flying mouse. That can be good or bad, depending on what one thinks of mice.
Plus, flying foxes are fruit bats and those suckers are big (technically megabats).
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@lowtechcyclist:
That’s a more balanced answer than my initial one.
The purity slur is a go-to lazy artifice here designed to discount legitimate questions raised about votes and policy positions. The implication is the “unpure” won’t vote for Dems, etc.
Which of course is a ludicrous implication to make about people who’ve been here as long as I have, self-ID as Dems, have held our noses and voted for some shitty Dems (Chuck Robb!) when push came to shove.
By the line of thought being pushed whenever the purity slur is used, think of a Dem that might have voted for some anti-abortion measure. We’d be on them like flies on shit.
Or all the times we in here have bitched about Senators like Sinema (she sucks and needs to be primaried!) or more recently and more often Fetterman? Or how we hold our noses and understand the situation for someone like Mansion. But the purity slur assumes that we aren’t cognizant of that. It reeks of the “BlueMAGA” label when it comes to never criticize a Dem.
Thus, when somebody comes in to relate votes by Senators on a really questionable bill on a even more questionable topic (look at how often over the years we’ve all raised pointed concerns about the bullshit that is crypto), we’re the people to punch right for a change (because note how nobody ever criticizes elected Dems who punch left which is what most of Abundance Coachella was about) and this is the time to do it. Or during a primary. Nobody says anything about not voting for them or that the shitty vote a Dem Senator like Gillibrand or Hick is a “line in the sand” (and it’s funny how people who bitch about “purity” have their own “line in the sand” on something else but that’s okay for some reason) come election time but that reframe is always front and center here. Back to my point, those are Dem Senators from supposedly blue states and in 2025, have left a lot to be desired on a variety of issues. If I were in GA, I’d bitch to those two Senators much like I bitched to McCaskill back in Misery. Doesn’t mean I don’t pull the lever for them come election time.
Now, if this is a meta conversation about that crowd (Klein/MattY/Shor/Thompson/Smith/Stancil/Abundance (Reaganism)) and it’s efforts to reshape (further) the Dem into a party that ditches labor, public education and doesn’t give shit about economic equality in favor of an expanded alliance with Big Tech and Crypto, then the efforts here to discount criticisms of such Dem electeds that work towards that makes more sense.
Suzanne
@Jay: I know many Jewish people, in the U.S. and elsewhere, consider Mamdani’s response about “globalize the intifada” antisemitic, and it’s not my place to say whether they’re wrong or they’re right. I can appreciate that there’s a climate of fear right now.
But I will say that I think that some on our side are turning a blind eye to anti-Arab/Islamophobic racism, or they’re participating in it, and I think that is equally bad. And some of it is just selective silence….. Mangy Jay, who I used to think was a fairly principled person, has spilled loads of digital ink in the last few days about antisemitism, and yet said nothing about Islamophobia.
Baud
One of the most centrist Dems
Also too, apparently yes and no aren’t the only options.
Betty Cracker
@trollhattan: I just now learned that fact — thank you! Also, I assume you’ve seen the greatest bat video ever, right? (Sound ON!)
YouTube
dkinPa
@frosty: I’m still kicking myself for not driving 65 miles to see the two flamingoes who settled into a farm pond west of Gettysburg last year. PA rarity!! And it would have been a Lifer for me, too.
You’re not the only one in PA who’s still kicking themselves! Would have been a longer drive for me from western PA but I should have bitten the bullet. I did see a Limpkin that showed up at Moraine State Park a few years ago — that was a lot closer!
Thanks for the flamingo article, Betty C — I enjoyed reading that!
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Professor Bigfoot:
Or one hiding in the other’s basement.
Baud
Jay
If any of you Bat aficionado’s are ever up in the BC Interior, in the Kamloops area, there is the Roche Lake resort not far away. Pretty lake, good fishing. Some of the cabins are owned, some are rented, they are nice 2bdr, dinette kitchen, living room, wood stove, full bath, clean, comfortably furnished, affordable, with what are called “cold roofs”. There are 1″ open air gaps between the sheathing and waterproofing, and then more sheathing, water proofing and the asphalt shingles. The air gap keeps the shingled part from transmitting heat in summer (40/45C) to the under roof and then the insulated ceiling, and the opposite in winter, (-40C).
As a result, every cabin has multiple colonies of little brown bats so evening drinks on the patio is an event every night.
lowtechcyclist
@Trivia Man:
Gee, what would have prompted that question? ;-)
My uncle, aunt, and cousins lived in Kansas, two miles north of the state line with OK. So one time when I was visiting, I drove over the line and stepped out of the car just to say I had. (This was in a very rural part of both states, no reason to keep driving.)
Since then, the cousins all seem to have wound up in Tulsa, so I’ll be visiting them one of these days. That’ll be more than just stepping over the line.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
OMG, dying here. Like a lost episode of What We Do in the Shadows.
sab
University of Akron has an ordinary mascot, a kangaroo named Zippy ( Akronites were somehow involved in inventing zippers). Apparently Zippy’s pouch has a zipper. The cool thing is that Zippy is a female mascot (male kangarooos don’t have pouches) and yet she represents all the teams, even football.
There is also a Roo (Fear the Roo) borrowed from Maryland’s terrapins. But the Roo is a latecomer and not replacing Zippy. We joke that he is her current boyfriend.
Suzanne
@Baud: I used to have a professor who would shout, “NOT ONLY NO, BUT HELL NO” in class from time to time. Quintessential grumpy old man. He was one of my favorites.
lowtechcyclist
@trollhattan:
But watch out for the fungo bats. You really wouldn’t want to get whapped by one of those things. ;-)
TurnItOffAndOnAgain
@Jay: Gillibrand’s outrage is BS considering the shit spewed by the thing squatting in the White House and her own hypocrisy, but I read that and to me it looked more like Mamdani was dodging and deflecting the question than anything.
Betty Cracker
@Trivia Man: Also good to know!
@dkinPa: You’re welcome!
Limpkins are plentiful in my swamp — glad you got to see one. Here’s a parent and fluffy chicks I saw a while back.
Baud
trollhattan
Plus, it wouldn’t be cricket.
trollhattan
@Baud: Coming around to Walz on the “weirdos” thing.
Geminid
@Jay: I have not listened to that Bulwark podcast, but someone who did pointed out that there were two Bulwark interviewers, and they weren’t sure if some answers that seemed like Mamdani’s weren’t the second interviewers.
But regardless, I read the passages about the “Globalize the Intifada” slogan and while I personally find the slogan objectionable, I did not find Mamdani’s answers to be worrisome, especially with the context of his other remarks about the problem of anti-Semitism in New York.
Jay
@Suzanne:
Q. Does that just make you uncomfortable? Like the phrase globalizing to fire to how to lead a country. And- Sure, but like, does that just make you uncomfortable? Like the phrase globalizing to find out from the river to the sea, does that make you uncomfortable? Or do you think- Okay, those are different. Those are super different.
A. They’re not really. Those are like different genres. I’m sorry, I’m asking so wrong. Then they’re not really different to me. And so some people are not different. I know people for whom those things mean very different things. And to me, ultimately, what I hear in so many is a desperate desire for equality and equal rights.
in standing up for Palestinian human rights. And I think what’s difficult also is that the very word has been used by the Holocaust Museum when translating the Warsaw ghetto uprising into Arabic because it’s a word that means struggle. And as a Muslim man who grew up post-911, I’m all too familiar in the way in which Arabic words can be twisted, can be distorted, can be used to justify any kind of meaning. And I think that’s where it leaves me with a sense that what we need to do is focus on keeping Jewish New Yorkers safe. And the question of the permissibility of language is something that I haven’t ventured into.
Chetan Murthy
@Suzanne: I wonder how may of those people believe that opposition to Israel (and its policies in the Occupied Territories) is per se antisemitic. How many of them think that calling Israel an apartheid state is per se antisemitic.
Jay
@Geminid:
i posted the full transcript. It is very clear who is talking and when as the two Hosts hand over to each other by name.
Old Dan and Little Ann
I downloaded the Cornell Bird App thanks to this almost top 10,000 blog. What I’ve learned is that the House Finches and House Sparrows run my neighborhood. Nothing too special, yet. I did open it school and bird popped up that I either never heard of or completely forgot about. A Chimney Swift. They kind of look like a military jet.
Chetan Murthy
@Jay: -Israel- globalized their ethnic cleansing of Palestine, enlisting basically every country in the West. Every country. To complain about Palestinian activists trying to do the same ….. takes some fucking balls.
Jay
@TurnItOffAndOnAgain:
See comment #118.
peter
@PatD: I had a somewhat testy exchange with my senator Mark Warner after he responded with boilerplate to my questions about his support for the crypto bill. It looked like what ChatGPT would return if you asked for some high-level summary of the bill. Not a single one of the questions I asked was addressed. Very disappointing.
TurnItOffAndOnAgain
@Jay: I did.
Betty Cracker
@Old Dan and Little Ann: Merlin is awesome!
Hoodie
@Old Dan and Little Ann: The finches seem to run like gangs in our yard. Usually see 5 or 6 at the same time, a couple on the feeder, others nearby waiting and/or acting like lookouts. Other birds seem to be loners or operate in pairs. Everyone clears out when the blue jays show up. The titmouses and chickadees seem to be the bravest considering their size.
Suzanne
@Chetan Murthy: Lots of people think being antizionist is being antisemitic. I’m not Jewish and it’s not my place to weigh in on that.
I have observed something gross happening in some online spaces, which is anger and racism directed by some Dems toward Arab-Americans (or turning a blind eye to that), including calling Arab-Americans antisemites, because of a perception that Arab-Americans are not loyal Dem voters and Jewish Americans are. It is a really ugly thing. I am hoping that it is one of those “very online” phenomena and not a widely shared attitude.
If we stand against racism, we stand against it because it’s the right thing to do for everyone, and we shouldn’t be selective about that because it makes us popular with some parts of our coalition.
PatD
@TurnItOffAndOnAgain: he gave a fairly long and nuanced answer which to me appeared honest. “Globalize the intifada” means something different to different people. He doesn’t personally use it. We can argue that it might be politically smarter to denounce it and acquiesce to all the demands from the right wing and mainstream media but they will never be satisfied because he is both a socialist and a Muslim and will come up with yet another shibboleth.
PatD
@peter: I consider Warner to be very mediocre so none of that is surprising to me. He’s a corporate Dem and their interests come first. He is up in 2026 and it wouldn’t surprise me if he gets a tough challenge in the primary.
Geminid
@TurnItOffAndOnAgain: There’s big difference between expressing concern and expressing “outrage” as you claim Gillebrand did. Senator Gillebrand expressed concern and said she wanted to talk to Mamdani about this question.
I would not bother pointing out something so obvious from the excerpt of Gillebrand’s interview posted here, except I can see that even as Republicans are trying to weaponize and nationalize this race, so are some of Mamdani’s supporters.
Mamdani being a smart politician, I expect he will sit down with Gillebrand and hash this question out. And I think Mamdani has enough awareness and judgement not to let others use him as a weapon with which to fight their intra-party battles.
Trivia Man
@lowtechcyclist:
One of 5 states i still have not checked off, maybe be someday
PatD
@Geminid: her spokesman claims she “misspoke” when claiming that Mamdani supports global jihad. I actually think she did confuse the terms although maybe she doesn’t see a difference.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/kirsten-gillibrand-zohran-mamdani-global-jihad-1235373902/
Suzanne
@Geminid: I find that pretty disingenuous. Gillibrand very clearly implicates Mamdani with “global jihad”. Which is, based on what we know now, entirely made up.
ETA: If she genuinely “misspoke”, then she can genuinely apologize.
TurnItOffAndOnAgain
@PatD:
Didn’t seem particularly nuanced to me.
And it wouldn’t be for the right wing and mainstream media since they’d never listen; it’d be for other folks who might support him who voiced concern about it, or gettables who aren’t completely sold on him yet. Plus it would just be a decent thing to do.
@Geminid:
That’s subjective; the phrase “a global jihad” would signify outrage to some.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suzanne: One of the things that I find interesting in this is that in meatspace when something horrible happens like a shooting at a synagogue, Muslims show up in solidarity with the Jews and vice versa.
ETA: I am neither Jewish nor Muslim, so I am just noting what I have observed.
rikyrah
@PatD:
I would so welcome that. We can get a better Democrat in Virginia than him.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah. Xhitter is a fucken cesspool, many online spaces are. I have frequently noted to myself how different my grass-touching life is from online spaces.
Which is to say…. I hope that there is more solidarity IRL than what I am seeing ATM.
PatD
@TurnItOffAndOnAgain: Ok, maybe you listened to it or read the transcript and maybe you didn’t. To me, it’s a gotcha game like with Rev Wright.
frosty
@Old Dan and Little Ann: We have Chimney Swifts every evening. Fast little buggers! I’ve seen them described as cigars with wings.
jowriter
@Geminid: I think your appraisal is measured but probably too kind to Gillibrand. She can’t even be primaried until 2030 so she can make statements that pacify her big donors while she tries to maintain her air of “concern.” I think we know more than a couple of polticians who tack this way. She’s upstate NY anyhow. Not much of a NYC street fighter. She’ll do what she must to keep those big bucks coming her way. I do hope Mamdani has the skills to manage those of her ilk.
frosty
Wow, you were right. When and where is the next protest? I’m not seeing anything on Indivisible about July 17.
TurnItOffAndOnAgain
@PatD: Obama had to condemn and distance himself from Rev Wright. And he won.
Not to say that he for sure would’ve lost if he hadn’t; it’s just not the best example for comparison.
And just because I didn’t come away from that interview with the same take as you doesn’t mean I didn’t read the thing.
Jay
@TurnItOffAndOnAgain:
so you think this is dodging and deflecting?
And of course, his words were immediately twisted and still are here, amongst Democratic Party Elected and (spit) the Reich Wing.
If the people that chanted at his town hall , had chanted “Globalize the Struggle”, would that be anti-Semitic?
Is it the Islamic word for struggle that makes it anti-Semitic?
Isn’t that more than a little bit Islamophobic?
Is it the words association with the peaceful* First Intifada that makes it anti-Semitic? *(you know peaceful until the IDF started shooting unarmed protestors).
Is it the words association with the more violent* Second Intifada that makes it anti-Semitic? (*you know, kids and teens with rocks and bricks against IDF tanks).
I am trying to illustrate that with out being inside the head of the person saying the words, especially Arabic it is hard to know what they mean.
Take Jihad for example, The term jihad is derived from the Arabic root jahada, meaning “to exert strength and effort, to use all means in order to accomplish a task”. In its expanded sense, it can be fighting the enemies of Islam, as well as adhering to religious teachings, enjoining good and forbidding evil.
And when you know that your words will automatically be twisted, one has to walk a very fine line.
Geminid
@Suzanne: I read the excerpts from Gillebrand’s remarks you posted at #5 and that was what I based my comment on. I just reread them and I think saying Gillebrand “very clearly implicates Mamdani with global jihad” is a real stretch on your part.
But I’m not going to say you were being disingenuous because I think people should be careful about tossing out casual insults like that.
Geminid
@PatD: That Roling Stone article was a hatchet job in my opinion. It was good example of how people are trying to weaponize this matter.
Geminid
@TurnItOffAndOnAgain: It was not subjective. Gillebrand expressed concern and not outrage as you claimed. We’re talking about Gillebrand here, not “some” people and what the phrase global signifies to them.
Suzanne
@Geminid: You can go listen to the entire exchange. It’s going viral. She very clearly played the “some people are saying, there’s just questions!” game, which we rightfully call out as disingenuous bullshit when Republicans do it. If she didn’t mean it, she can provide a full-throated apology. Until then, it’s entirely reasonable to think, well, that she meant it.
Suzanne
Here is a link to the audio. Here’s a piece on the entire exchange from Defector.
The disingenuous part: Mamdani was asked, days ago, about the use of the phrase “globalize the intifada”. He responded that he doesn’t use that term, and said some other nuanced things about it. Gillibrand goes on radio and says that she’s got concerns about his “references to global jihad”….. which he never said.
That is inflammatory AF. Indefensible.
Suzanne
In contrast to Gillibrand, Brad Lander demonstrated that he is a mensch:
Geminid
@jowriter: One thing I took away from Gillebrand’s remarks is that she had not yet read the Bulwark interview that Jay excerpted here. She was working off of second hand accounts and knew that. That’s why she said said she wanted to meet with Mamdani, which is a normal thing and not an expression of outrage, much less a declaration of intra-party war.
I want to see how Momdani deals with this controversy. He might not feel the pain and anger others feel on his behalf because he’s an astute politician who knows he has bigger fish to fry.
From what I see, Zohran Mamdani’s top priority is to be an effective and successful Mayor of a city of 8 million people, and I expect he’ll campaign accordingly. I think people who would like to see him as victim of– or battering ram against– the Democratic “Establishment” are apt to be disappointed.
Sandia Blanca
@Mr. Bemused Senior: The Austin Lounge Lizards!
Geminid
@Suzanne: I expect we’ll get to see Krysten Gillebrand and Zohran Mamdani sit down and talk this out. It’s in both their interests to put this matter to rest and I think they will.
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan: in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titania refers to bats as “reremice”, which got transliterated into “airmice” in one production I watched.
Geminid
@Suzanne: It seems to me you are assuming that Gillebrand had listened to– or read transcripts of– that Bulwark interview when she made those remarks. I suspect she had not and was going off of second-hand accounts.
Like I said above, Mamdani has yet to weigh in on this controversy. It wouldn’t hurt to find out what he thinks before coming to conclusions about what may turn out to be a tempest in a teapot.
Suzanne
@Geminid: If she’s going off secondhand accounts, then she extra-super-duper needs to apologize. That doesn’t need to be a big, humiliating thing, but we all remember the days post-9/11 and during the ongoing wars and ISIS, and how Muslim Americans were slandered and violent, and “jihad” was a word specifically used in that bigotry. It’s not a neutral word the way she used it.
Jay
@Geminid:
Sadly at this point in time, it should be clear that there is so much targeted bullshit out there, quotes taken out of context, gotcha setups and deliberate twisting that before commenting, one should refer to the full original source. If some one asks an inflammatory question, the best response is “I have not seen the full original source, if you want, I will get back to you with a comment when I have”.
Geminid
@Suzanne: I expect Senator Gillebrand and Assemblyman Mamdani will work this out, and they can.
If Gillebrand owes anyone an apology it’s Mamdani, not the people who want to exploit this controversy or who have scores to settle with Gillebrand.
Kayla Rudbek
@Suzanne: “no, hell no, and effing hell no” or to put it professionally, “no, no squared, and no cubed”
Kayla Rudbek
@PatD: I will definitely be voting against him in the primary, as I am disappointed with many of his decisions