Is it safe?

 Orcas, alligators, sharks...sea otters?  Adorable little guys who live near the water?  Say it ain't so.

The otter known as 841 has been observed chasing surfers off their boards so she can use them, according to Mark Woodward, alias Native Santa Cruz.  

Awwww...I guess it's not so damn cute if it was your board.  The so-called natural world, of which we pretend we are not part, is uniting against us.  If you live with cats, don't turn your back.

As if to appease them, the European Union passed a law to protect nature, only somewhat watered down by the right.  By 2050 it will extend recovery measures to all of Europe's degraded ecosystems, assuming the earth doesn't burn up or drown before then.  Excessive rain has caused floods from Vermont to Spain to India, China and Japan.  Excessive heat has already killed hundreds before mid-July.  In response, Ted Cruz is circulating a memo opposing climate proposals in Joe Biden's 2024 budget because hell, it's only the future of the planet.  If you can't take the heat, stay out of Texas.

The Republicans have more important issues to tackle, like the FBI's role in stealing the 2022 election (remember the Red Wave?) by hiding the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop; like the ACE Act (American Confidence in Elections), designed to make voting harder and dark money easier; like the Secret Service's inconclusive investigation into Blowgate; like why Gal Luft had to flee the country to avoid ending up like Seth Rich.  Governing is hard.

We've seen the "little bitch" faceoff of Greene and Boebert, and we're awaiting the outcome of the Zuck-Musk "tale of the tape," because this is completely adult behavior in 2023.  Have you heard about the RFK, Jr., fart fight?  Reluctantly, I have.  Apparently the "candidate" held a press dinner at a Manhattan restaurant, which deteriorated into an argument about climate change, which deteriorated into a farting contest between gossip columnist Doug Dechert and art critic Anthony Haden-Guest, in which only Dechert actually expelled methane.  It was all very unimportant except to remind us that "trump" is Brit slang for fart.  His taint is everywhere.

"Defund the police" is a slogan that never had much traction -- the police are like sewage treatment plants, you may not like having them around but you'd notice if they stopped working.  Nevertheless "defund" has joined "woke" on the list of terms Republicans like to invoke without reference to what they mean.  Gym Jordan wants to defund almost every part of government charged with investigating crimes, from the January 6 coup attempt to the abuse of wrestlers at Ohio State.  He wants to scrap the new FBI headquarters in DC and move the agency to Huntsville, Alabama, now that Tommy Tupperware lost the state the Space Command headquarters by being a dick.  He wants to punish the ATF for a pistol brace regulation the NRA doesn't like.  He's even barging into foreign policy, demanding that federal money not be used to prevent Benjamin Netanyahu from fouling up Israel's judiciary, certainly a major concern for Ohio voters.  And by the way, who stole his jacket?  Well?

Earlier this week I mentioned my sadness that Douglas Adams is not here.  Among other reasons, I'd like him to express his disgust at this life-form calling him "my hero."  Fuck directly off, you nepo hump.  Work for one week in an emerald mine and if you survive, fuck off some more.

"As Ron DeSamsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic Anopheles mosquito."

As previously mentioned, Florida has a tiny problem with malaria (six cases, all recovering), exacerbated by the state's tiny problem in attracting and holding public health officials, i.e., doctors.  I can't imagine why.  By the way, the water temperature off the Florida coast is in excess of 90F, which means you can bathe and cook your breakfast egg at the same time.  Well done, state that banned official use of the term "climate change" long before DeSamsa took over.