Ukraine, Georgia, Romania, Moldava -- there are way too many attacks on Western governments to be a coincidence. We're in the early stages of the same thing happening here. Remember what Trump said about never having to vote again.
Călin Georgescu, the pro-Russian candidate currently standing the best chances of becoming the next president of Romania, promised he will ban all political parties if he wins.
"I promise you, there will be no more political parties in this country. None. Not a single party".
reshaping the military so that if/when T***p requires a military coup to remain in office, US military will be MAGA-controlled & obedient to his command.
nothing could be plainer to see--yet---no one seems capable of stopping it nor does the media seem eager to investigate.
Tonight, I gave Notice of Intent to bring forth a Privileged Resolution to force a vote on releasing the names of Congressmen who used taxpayer funds for sexual misconduct settlements.
The Speaker has two legislative days to consider the timing of the vote. Stay tuned.
When something breaks, most of us replace it. At this Brooklyn repair cafe, volunteers are helping neighbors fix everything from lamps and jeans to vintage fans and old smartwatches for free. The events are part of a growing global movement to reduce waste, save money and bring back repair skills that many people say have been lost.
For the first time in four years, kākāpō are breeding again.
Experts are optimistic that 2026 could deliver the most productive breeding season for the kākāpō in decades. These critically endangered, flightless, nocturnal parrots—native exclusively to New Zealand—are among the world's heaviest and most intensively managed bird species. Their reproduction is highly irregular, occurring only every two to four years when native rimu trees undergo a "mast" event, producing an abundance of protein-rich fruit and seeds that provide the essential nutrition for egg-laying and chick-rearing.
After a four-year hiatus since the last major breeding in 2022, the pattern has shifted dramatically this year. A significant rimu mast is underway, triggering widespread mating activity that began as early as late December 2025. Males congregate in traditional leks—communal display areas—where they construct intricate networks of cleared tracks and bowl-shaped depressions to amplify their deep, booming calls. These resonant, low-frequency sounds carry far through the dense forest, attracting females for courtship.
The Kākāpō Recovery Programme, run by New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) in partnership with Ngāi Tahu, now monitors the entire known population of 236 individuals (as of early 2026), including 83 breeding-age females. Every bird is fitted with a small radio transmitter to track movements, mating behavior, and nesting success in real time. Females typically produce one to five eggs but usually fledge just a single chick per season, meaning even high participation could yield a substantial influx of young—potentially the highest number since systematic records began 30 years ago.
Conservation strategies for kākāpō rank among the most hands-on globally: decades of efforts have included hand-rearing chicks, supplemental feeding, predator-free island translocations, and vigilant nest protection. For 2026, however, managers are deliberately scaling back intervention in many cases—allowing more eggs to incubate naturally and permitting mothers to raise offspring with less human involvement. This approach aims to foster greater self-sufficiency and resilience in the population.
As Deidre Vercoe, operations manager for the kākāpō recovery program, explained: “We want to create healthy, self-sustaining populations of kākāpō that are thriving, not just surviving.” A robust food supply combined with reduced interference could mark a pivotal step toward that goal. If the season fulfills expectations, with chicks hatching from mid-February onward, it would represent meaningful progress in pulling this iconic species back from the edge of extinction.
[Department of Conservation (DOC), "Kākāpō breeding season officially underway" media release (January 6, 2026)]
This won't solve the problem. Iran is likely to respond, and those responses will inevitably affect the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. administration has to make a strategic choice. Additional strikes are likely to trigger further Iranian retaliation, and Tehran is unlikely to allow commercial shipping to resume as if nothing has changed, particularly along the route adjacent to Oman that it disputes.
Whether Washington doubles down, walks away from a deal, or simply ignores this reality, the underlying problem remains the same: there is a return to the pre-war status quo in the Strait of Hormuz.
The administration cannot realistically expect both unrestricted freedom of navigation in the Strait and a sustainable agreement with Iran without addressing Tehran's core position on the issue. The current Iranian leadership has consistently shown that it is unlikely to back down on what it sees as a matter of sovereignty and deterrence.
#IranWar
If Democrats are serious about winning the midterms they need to hire a seasoned spokesperson to hold daily press conferences. They need to challenge the lies and misinformation that the White House spits out every single day.
This is a direct consequence of the administration's refusal to acknowledge a basic reality: Iran views the emerging agreement as an achievement, not a surrender. That is why a return to the pre-war status quo in the Strait of Hormuz is highly unlikely.
It should not have come as a surprise that any attempt to challenge what Tehran now considers the new reality would trigger an Iranian response. From Iran's perspective, the rules of the game have changed.
The administration now faces three choices: recognize this new reality and incorporate it into diplomacy, ignore it and risk repeated crises, or return to military confrontation in an attempt to reverse it.
What is unlikely, however, is that Iran will voluntarily relinquish what it now sees as its leverage over the Strait of Hormuz. Any future strategy will have to begin with that assumption, whether Washington likes it or not.
#iran
Trump on reflecting pool: They took razor blades, 350 feet. They took razor blades and knives and they cut patches like that 350 feet long. There’s pictures of a guy bending over. I don’t know if anybody saw that.
@pradracos Mostly because it was a pretty large position to start with. Just felt a little safer downsizing, will continue to hold the rest through the readout.
Attn: People who are nostalgic for the Good Old Days of mid-century news media
The 1950s news media was pathetic. Corrupt, stupid, gullible, craven, and incredibly pathetic. Reporters for some of the largest news organizations didn't just publish Joe McCarthy's slander verbatim. They collaborated with him to drive the Red Scare because it was good for newspaper sales and career advancement. They even went out to drink whiskey with McCarthy to brainstorm better ways to drum up anti-communism and helped him write his speeches.
via Halberstram's THE FIFTIES