Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Bark louder, little dog.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Reality always gets a vote in the end.

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

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

They spent the last eight months firing professionals and replacing them with ideologues.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

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

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

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Birdwatching

ANOTHER Thursday Afternoon Open Thread

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Sorry for the light posting lately, which has sometimes left y’all with near-Tbogg-sized morning comment threads. I’ve been on the road a bit, and access has been spotty on the mobile backend sometimes. Also, I am a lazy turd!

Here’s something worthy of Marie Antoinette:

“I think most people are going to say, OK, I had a great deal during COVID,” said Club For Growth President David McIntosh. “But now it’s back to business as usual, and I should be paying for health care.”

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— Mississippi Free Press (@mississippifreepress.org) October 30, 2025 at 2:20 PM

We already pay for healthcare — more than any other country, and with worse fucking outcomes! But it looks like we may get to test this oligarch testicle cozy’s theory. From what I understand, if Repubs don’t move to end the shutdown and extend ACA subsidies soon, it will be too late to extend them for 2026 because unsubsidized pricing will be locked in. Fuckers!

Here’s more gaslighting from a Trump-humping shit-stain:

Kristi Noem: "No American citizens have been arrested or detained. We focus on those who are here illegally. And anything you would hear or report that would be different than that is simply not true and false reporting."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) October 30, 2025 at 12:57 PM

ProPublica documented at least 170 citizens who’ve been illegally detained by Trump’s ICE goons. Noem is a bald-faced liar, but you knew that.

There’s lots of other outrageous shit going on, but I don’t have the heart to post about it now. Instead, here’s a short clip of a cool bird that stopped by the lagoon yesterday:

"Excuse me! My eyes are up here!" #birds

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— Betty Cracker of Florida (@bettycrackerfl.bsky.social) October 29, 2025 at 10:22 AM

More migratory Sandhills are joining the resident population every day, which means lots of very large and loud birds hollering at each other. When Sandhills in the air or on the ground see other Sandhills flying by, they raise hell in their pterodactyl language. It’s pretty cool!

Open thread!

ETA: Well, I bigfooted a post by accident, but you know what? Fuck it. Imma leave it up! Sorry, WG! ;-)

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Sunday Afternoon Open Thread

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We’re having a lazy Sunday, mostly lolling around on the sofa watching football, which started early since there was a game in London. It’s chilly by our standards, and all the windows are open, so we’ve been snuggling with the dogs under blankets.

However, a small flock of Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks landed noisily on the shady, muddy bank of the lagoon about 15 minutes ago, and that was enough to get me outside with the Nikon to sneak up for a few shots. The ducks were not amused:

A pair of chestnut colored ducks with black undercarriages, white-edged wings and pink bills and legs.
This Great Blue Heron observed the ducks’ nervous distress from a sunlit sandbar in the river about 30 yards away:

Long-necked wading bird standing in shallow water.

Since the birds were clearly pissed about a hairless pink ape crashing the party, I went back inside to resume watching football. Probably nothing else will tempt me back to the riverbank, unless it’s an otter. Or a flamingo, obviously.

Open thread!

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Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread

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I cannot with the news today. Here’s a duck family instead.

I didn’t know I needed to see a Black-Bellied Whistling Duck family today, but I did. Maybe you do too? #birds #ducks

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— Betty Cracker of Florida (@bettycrackerfl.bsky.social) August 13, 2025 at 11:06 AM

As I noted on Bluesky, don’t worry about the bird flying over the chicks at the end of the clip. It gave me quite a turn because I mistook it for a hawk come to pick off a fuzzy duckling at first. But it was a hapless Common Gallinule instead. It ran away as soon as it landed and saw the furious parent.

Open thread.

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Think Pink (Open Thread)

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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.

Two flamingos wading in shallow water. One has its wings outstretched.

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 recovery

Driven 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!

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Greater or Lesser (Open Thread)

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Good morning, such as it is. Actually, it’s a beautiful morning here in Northwest Central Florida — 59 F and partly cloudy with a projected high in the low 80s. But there’s still that nagging fascism problem, and the sundowning narcissist with his tiny hand on the economy’s kill switch.

A more pleasant topic: the mister saw an unfamiliar bird foraging around in the swamp from a friend’s place down the road last week. Yesterday, it graced us with its presence. I wasn’t sure if it was a Greater or Lesser Yellowlegs so asked for help with ID on Bluesky.

Here’s the same bird on the move.

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— Betty Cracker of Florida (@bettycrackerfl.bsky.social) April 9, 2025 at 6:03 PM

The consensus from those who chimed in is it’s a Greater. Until this week, I’d never seen either variation of that species around here, so that’s cool, seeing a new bird.

I can’t with The Horrors just yet — it’s too nice a morning. Maybe later. But y’all feel free to talk about anything in this open thread.

ETA: Here’s a still pic of the same bird.

Speckled gray wading bird in shallow water. It has black-and-white patterned wings, a white underbelly and a long black beak.

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So Thirsty! (Open Thread)

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In the morning thread, I mentioned an epic three-way battle between three male Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds for control of a feeder we recently placed off the front porch. I know it was three males only because at one point two were on opposite sides of the feeder, and a third zoomed in to chase them off.

Here’s a stealth claimant for that same feeder: a female hummingbird who’s been zooming in when the boys are elsewhere.

Check out this thirsty girl! #hummingbirds

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— Betty Cracker of Florida (@bettycrackerfl.bsky.social) April 8, 2025 at 4:38 PM

In the clip, she looks up frequently to make sure no rivals or other dangers from above are approaching. She’s smart to do so; if you listen with the sound up, you can hear the record-scratch vocalizations of nearby males fighting over other feeders or flowering plants.

It’s close enough to 5 PM where I am, so I think I’ll head outside with a glass of red zin, station myself near the firepit and stake out the feeder from that angle. I don’t know anything about birds, but I suspect this feisty lady may have a nest nearby, so I’ll watch her comings and goings to see if I can figure out where it is.

The world is too awful to contemplate right now, if you’re looking at news and politics. But nature is hanging in there so far. We seem to have a bumper crop of hummingbirds this season, judging by the volume at which they’re consuming the nectar.

Could be the flood last fall wiped out some of the blooming plants they used to count on. Bill has planted new flowering bushes in our yard and revived some of the flood-damaged ones, but maybe that’s why they’re all over the feeders this year.

Anyhoo, y’all feel free to discuss anything you want in this thread, including The Horrors. Or birds, if you’d like.

Open thread.

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Gloating: It’s What’s for Breakfast! (Open Thread)

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To recap for the day shift, Florida went ahead and Floriduhed in the special elections yesterday, but by less than the usual Mildew State margins, so there’s a thin reed to hang your optimism on. I’m especially grossed out by the elevation of the odious Randy Fine to national politics.

Fine is a toxin best contained at the statehouse level, a petty, misogynist, self-important jerk. It’s unfortunate that he’s now America’s problem, but his margin of victory was small compared to that of his dumbass predecessor (Signal Waltz) and orange overlord.

Maybe Weil can make another run and oust the sumbitch after Trump and his bumbling clowns fully tank the economy, turn the U.S. into a pariah state and expose us all to epidemics in the coming year. In Florida’s baboon-ass red districts, maybe that’s what it takes.

But huge kudos to the Badger state for kicking Musk’s big fat ego to the curb.

Tweet from Tommy Vietor that reads: Brutal result here for @elonmusk who dropped $26+ million in this race and still got his ass handed to him. Money can’t cure being a politically toxic asshole.

As someone said on Bluesky, for Musk, it must be like getting booed off the stage at the Dave Chapelle show, only this time, it’s an entire state. 

***

Trump is staging some kind of Rose Garden Pavement ceremony to announce tariffs today. Last I looked, Dow futures were down nearly 300 in anticipation.

But who knows what the twitchy sociopaths on Wall Street will make of it? We are subject to the whims of insane people in just about every sphere.

***

To make up for introducing these topics, I wanted to share these breakfasting birds I saw this morning. The Sandhill is hollering its head off on the sandbar right now. It’s a good thing I’m an early riser.

Just a couple of dinosaurs having breakfast on a Wednesday morning. #birds

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— Betty Cracker of Florida (@bettycrackerfl.bsky.social) April 2, 2025 at 8:41 AM

Open thread!

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