Corvidae

The Democratic senator Jon Ossoff called Donald Trump a “draft-dodging, crook president” while defending the senator Mark Kelly as a hero during a Tuesday campaign appearance in Georgia, escalating his public feud with the US president. “I don’t think anything illustrates the times more aptly than that the draft-dodging, crook president, who has plunged our nation recklessly into a war he knows not how to end or to win, tried to imprison this man, who embodies American heroism,” Ossoff said while appearing alongside Kelly and his wife, the former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Kelly, a former navy captain, and five other Democratic lawmakers were attacked by Trump last year after they released a social media video saying troops are not required to carry out illegal commands. … Ossoff, who is currently running for re-election to his Senate seat in Georgia and is widely speculated to be eyeing a 2028 presidential run, has received viral attention on social media for his sharp criticism of Trump. …

Karoline Leavitt’s peremptory departure from her position as White House press secretary has naturally raised a few eyebrows. The timing is, to say the least, odd. She states she wants to spend more time with her two little children, one just born in May, and that is just so wholesome that it feels rude and downright boorish not to honor such a motive unquestioningly. Nevertheless. There are two things we know with great certainty that have applicability to this situation: There is no reason to accept anything the Trump administration tells us as the truth, whether it comes out of the mouth of the president himself or out of that of his most devoted press secretary. The default setting is lie. As a general rule, no ambitious government official quits to spend more time with their family. It’s the stock reason given when someone’s forced out or is about to be engulfed in scandal. It’s a standing joke, fodder for the late-night comedy circuit. …

President Donald Trump has continued to demonstrate signs of worsening mental “decline,” according to one professional psychologist, who detailed the latest “red flags” in a new video. Dr. John Paul Garrison is a licensed forensic and clinical psychologist who specializes in body language. He is also a content creator who has released numerous videos giving his professional insight into the tells for cognitive decline that he has seen Trump exhibiting during public appearances or addresses. In his latest video, he dug into two recent appearances by Trump, one at an event in Las Vegas and another in the Oval Office, which he said were full of further signs of his worsening condition. “Over the past several months, I’ve been frequently analyzing President Trump’s behavior because it has gotten more erratic,” Garrison explained. “It’s gotten more unusual, and we’re seeing more neurological hiccups. As I’ve mentioned for months now, it appears that there are neurological changes from President Trump. Whether it’s post-stroke or something else, we have seen distinct changes. The reason this matters so much, and the reason that I’m covering it so much, is that I believe we are seeing this play out on the world stage. I think it is affecting his judgment. I think that it is affecting his ability to make decisions, and it certainly is affecting his behavior, and I’m going to show you in what ways that it affects his behavior.”

When the Democratic National Committee at long last released its “autopsy” report on former Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss in the 2024 election in May, one of the most puzzling aspects was the lack of any conclusions related to her and former President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Holly Otterbein of Axios reported on Thursday that the document’s author, Paul Rivera, did indeed look into the issue of Gaza and found it had a role in Harris’ loss. But he did not submit the findings to the DNC for inclusion in the report. Axios did not include an explanation for that decision.

That’s the funniest headline I’ve read in some time. “Rogue” officers! LOL.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday contrasted New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s (D) policies with President Trump’s, responding to cries against socialism amid the recent wave of democratic socialist primary election victories. “Trump cuts funding for childcare, Mamdani thinks that we should have free and universal childcare,” Sanders told online progressive commentator Jack Cocchiarella on MeidasTouch’s “On Sunday” show on YouTube. “Mamdani is trying to build low-income and affordable housing in New York City. Trump is cutting funding.” Sanders added that Mamdani opposes, “as most of us do, the endless wars that are being fought right now through Trump, as well as the extremist Israeli government and their genocidal policies in Gaza,” whereas “Trump supports Netanyahu,” referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Who do you think is on the side of the American people on these issues?” Sanders said. “I think what we are talking about is where the American people want us to be.”

President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Monday to allow the administration to move forward with implementing a sweeping executive order aimed at mail voting that lower courts blocked in nearly two dozen states — setting up a major elections dispute at the high court months before the midterms.

Astroturfed.

It’s interesting to think of the desire to avoid Universal Basic Income in the context of Trump’s recent outburst about communism. Raimando was a democrat, not a republican. There are times when the parties sound too much the same.

The bible doesn’t contain a fiction disclaimer.

Google Gemini Summary: The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has a documented history of recurring algae blooms since its opening in 1922 due to its shallow depth, warm temperatures, and high nutrient levels from waterfowl. The recent $15 million renovation, which included painting the pool dark blue, worsened the issue; the dark color acts as a heat sink, creating a more favorable environment for algae growth. The project was executed via two non-competitive, no-bid contracts, including one with a company whose primary experience was with golf course pool maintenance. Authorities treated the algae with hydrogen peroxide before formally identifying the species, which risks killing the organism and releasing dangerous toxins if the bloom is actually cyanobacteria. This chemical treatment likely caused the new pool liner paint to peel and detach, rather than the “vandalism” by the public that was claimed by officials. The death of several birds in and near the water has raised concerns about toxic cyanobacterial blooms, though official investigations are ongoing. Technologies like ultrasonic control and nanobubbler systems were deployed, but their effectiveness is severely limited by the pool’s unique, extremely shallow design (only 18 inches deep). The government failed to follow professional management standards, such as conducting a proper diagnostic assessment, establishing a nutrient budget, or implementing real-time monitoring. Because the pool lacks adequate flushing and circulation—design choices made to maintain its function as a “mirror”—the algae problem is physically unavoidable and cannot be “solved” by cosmetic renovations. The expert concludes that the situation is a failure of management rather than a mystery, and suggests that an adaptive management plan is the only professional way to handle the site’s chronic ecological issues.

There’s no climate change. Renewable energy plants are too expensive!

When the income tax started, it was supposed to only apply to the wealthy. Roughly 100 years later, Warren Buffet infamously said that he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary. So much for that. There’s very little reason to believe a wealth tax would be any different.

“Get out of our country!” he yelled, holding the unlit flag. “This is a Christian country!” He soon threw away the unlit flag and unwrapped a basic rainbow Pride flag and unfurled it in the wind. Someone then laughed at him. It’s no wonder church attendance is falling.

>As these costs trickle down, outraged shoppers have taken to social media, filming videos lamenting prices they claim have quadrupled, with some vowing to plant their own gardens to avoid paying up to $8 a pound. In California, the cost of water for consumers precludes growing high-cost vegetables to realize overall savings: unless consumers can figure a way to get their water at agricultural pricing.

While it may not work well for everyone, this is my solution: How To Make Pizza Hut’s Pan Pizza At Home | Allrecipes - YouTube

The plutocrats' war on the poor. Make America Great Again?

I gave up TV somewhere around 2011, so wasn't aware of "Vought International" of The Boys. Sorry.

Isn't it interesting we don't read much about him in the news? Author of a section of Project 2025, and director of the US Office of Management and Budget. "Follow the money"?

Can we get back to talking about Epstein?

The letter, entered by Senators Whitehouse and Reed of Rhode Island on April 30, represents an unusually direct intervention by medical experts spanning conservative and liberal ideologies, multiple religions, and diverse backgrounds. The press release announcing this action was published Tuesday night (May 5).

It's rare to read that in published form. A potential problem is that it may be useful to someone near Trump for him to remain there. Perhaps Vance, perhaps Vought, perhaps someone else, or a group of them. I don't believe Trump is making these continually bad and harmful decisions on his own. "The power behind the throne."

Perhaps China has the right idea. AI cannot replace human jobs. Or perhaps government could make Basic income a perpetual reality?

Meanwhile, the Trump admin is backing pronatalist policies and childbirth incentives. Mifepristone.

Is there any value in redundancy?

Don't forget the Stanford Prison Experiment. The problem is the CEOs aren't like the psychologist running the experiment who brought it to an end when he realized it went too far.

I was thinking projection.

>What’s the equivalent of this cardio for our ailing brains? A good candidate is reading. Making sense of written text exercises our minds in important ways. We develop what the cognitive neuroscientist Maryanne Wolf calls “deep reading processes” that rewire and retrain neuronal regions in ways that increase the complexity and nuance of what we’re able to understand. “Deep reading is our species’ bridge to insight and novel thought,” she writes. Perhaps consuming a few dozen book pages a day should become the new 10,000 daily steps — a basic foundation of activity to maintain cognitive fitness. Honestly I think this read-more tactic has gone too far. Install a word counter and start paying attention to how many words are in news articles. I have been doing that, we have a large number of articles around the 5000 word length, with some significantly more. This opinion piece is over 3100 words, shorter than many articles posted. Assuming a 250 words-per-minute reading speed, this article takes 12 minutes to read. We can easily spend the entire day reading the top news stories in their entireties. In the old days, news items almost always had a lede summarizing the article. Today, many stories keep you reading by not having a lede. When we are reading, we do not have time for activities such as going out and holding up a First Amendment grievance sign, or writing a grievance letter to our legislators. We can all too easily get caught up in stories about Ms. Leavitts *supposedly*-unflattering double-chin photo, a manufactured controversy, simply as a method of wasting our reading time to stories of little importance to our civics-assigned task of being *informed citizens.*