Good morning, good people!

Good: COP30 is meeting in Brazil to address climate change.

Bad: 10s of thousands of acres of the Amazon are being cut down to build a road built especially for for the officials.

I have been fortunate to travel in the Amazon several times. Lots of wildlife then. Indigenous tribes. I distinctly remember numerous cities in Brazil that are world tourist destinations that can easily accommodate billionaires without cutting down a single tree.

Welcome to Friday Night Photos everyone. Your once a week break from the daily madness of the crazy world we live in. Post any photos, memes, music, or whatever else you find of interest that helps you escape the madness.

Happy pie day 3.14Good news, bad news. The good news. We got some much needed rain this week. The bad news. The rain clouds blocked the view of the lunar eclipse last night. Since we really need the rain it was a worthwhile tradeoff.

This month the bird watching group decided to change things up and instead of looking at local domestic birds we went to the zoo to look at the foreign imports. More good news. So far the president has not imposed any tariffs on these imports.

Toco Toucan-South America

Update: South Korea's Constitutional Court hasn't made a decision yet concerning the impeachment resolution against suspended President Yoon Seok-yeol.

What is the holdup? Most people anticipated a decision this week, but that hasn't occurred yet nor has it been announced by the Constitutional Court in terms of scheduling. Now the consensus seems to be that a decision could come next week.

Have you ever felt like we're rushing down the river of history headlong into the unknown known? By unknown known I mean we may have an idea of the destination, but it's so unfathomable, like a bad dream, that we deny its possibility. The rivers of history have done that before.

Like all rivers, this one too, has branches that empty into it, some large, some small. The larger tributaries are the true believers that will ride the currents no matter what may come. The smaller tributaries are those that see the rough waters ahead. The true believers are convinced the river will widen into a slow rolling and calm future. The smaller tributaries are those that see the rapids and the waterfall dead ahead and the dangers of such.

Years of manipulation have muddied the waters so that the large tributaries may easily swallow up the smaller ones into one inevitable flow that will engulf us all. Into that unknown known.

It appears pretty certain that we're headed down that river, whether we like it or not. There's a new reality over those rapids and down the waterfall, and just like the force of a mighty river there are mighty forces that will carry the willing and unwilling, marching in lock step or kicking and screaming, into whatever great body of water that lies ahead.

I decided to argue "the facts" about Trump's early actions in his second term as POTUS. So I decided to try to figure out what constitutes a fact in contrast to opinion or supposition or mendacity.

FACT Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

fact

noun

1
a
: something that has actual existence
space exploration is now a fact

b
: an actual occurrence
prove the fact of damage

Geico Lizards

A week or so ago, Matt Taibbi wrote an article entitled 'Farewell to Volodymyr Zelensky, the GEICO Lizard of the New World Order'. It's a good article, but I got distracted by something else. The GEICO Lizard. And I started to see that cute little lizard in other oligarch/politician faces. Like Elon Musk.

The Geico Lizard: from this biography of the lizard! and here's another article about the lizard's origin and subsequent 'life'.

Day and night, Yoon supporters surround the Constitutional Court. Scenes right now: https://t.co/pOOQBl4Fhb pic.twitter.com/Y5ZrXUbEXt

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) March 12, 2025