Mary Smith Resists

For the first time ever in the United States the national price of a pound of Ground beef is now higher than the federal hourly minimum wage. Thank you MAGA & Trump! money.com/federal-minimu…

BREAKING: Senator Jon Ossoff just announced that he has raised over $1 million since Mike Collins became the Republican nominee. Republicans are panicking that what once seemed like a good pick-up opportunity is slipping away from them. Good.

Trump now has the plane from Qatar-remodeled at an unprecedented cost to us. And because the plane is far larger than other presidential planes & because he flies regularly to his Florida. resort, it will be an ongoing burden to the American people who are already struggling

An aerial view shows crews dismantling the UFC fighting venue on the South Lawn of the White House. The grass on the Ellipse has been completely destroyed following the UFC viewing party. REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz

Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama surprised some of the first visitors to walk through the doors of the new Obama Presidential Center, personally greeting them Friday. The Obamas, joined by former "Reading Rainbow" host LeVar Burton, also read to school children on the opening day of the center, which is expected to draw a million visitors each year. yhoo.it/4xvqg9o

🚨 BREAKING: The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is being drained. Just days after refilling the newly painted "American flag blue" pool, crews are emptying it again after a major algae bloom turned the water green and reports emerged of blue paint peeling from the bottom. Officials say they need to repair a broken water line, inspect the coating system, address peeling paint, and rethink their algae-control strategy. A $15 million renovation was supposed to turn the pool blue for America's 250th birthday. Instead, it turned green. Now they're starting over.

A brand new bridge between Detroit and Canada is finished and ready to open. It would speed up traffic for millions of trucks, cut delays for American businesses, and help the auto industry that employs people in every state. There is just one problem. Donald Trump won’t let it open. Here is why. The family that owns the old bridge stands to lose business when the new one opens. So in January, they gave one million dollars to a pro-Trump super PAC. Weeks later they met with Trump’s Commerce Secretary. He called Trump. Hours after that, Trump announced he would block the new bridge. The opening was set for June 12. It got canceled the day before. The bridge sits there finished and empty. Now here is the part that should make every taxpayer angry. Canada paid for the entire bridge. Every dollar. And the United States already owns half of it for free. Trump is holding up a bridge we got for nothing, to protect a donor who wrote him a check, while picking a fight with our closest ally and biggest trading partner. This is corruption in plain sight. A billionaire pays, and the President delivers. American workers and businesses pay the price. Open the bridge. A government should work for the people, not for whoever writes the biggest check. nytimes.com/2026/02/20/us/…

Stephen Colbert and David Letterman paying tribute to Obama’s infamous tan suit at the Presidential Center opening is exactly the level of pettiness and historical accuracy I respect. 😂 Some controversies deserve a reunion tour.

Barack Obama was one of the best—if not the best—presidents the United States has ever had. I miss him terribly. I miss his charisma, his kindness, and his messages of hope. He knew how to reignite the light when it had gone out. Do you agree?

Every summer, for about 2 weeks, thousands of fireflies in the Great Smoky Mountains synchronize their flashes. They blink together, go dark together, and then light up again. Most firefly species flash individually. Photinus carolinus, the synchronous firefly found in the Smokies and a handful of other locations in the southern Appalachians, does something a little different. Thousands of males coordinate their flashes, producing waves of light that ripple through the forest. Females wait in the vegetation and flash back to males of their own species. When enough individuals do this at once in a dark holler, it looks like the forest itself is breathing light. The National Park Service runs a lottery for viewing permits every spring because the site fills almost immediately. The display usually peaks between late May and mid-June, though the exact timing changes from year to year. Miss it this year and it'll be there again next summer. Scientists have made progress in understanding how the insects synchronize, but the full story is still being worked out.

Congratulations!

A dragonfly has four wings, and unlike most insects, it can control its front and back wings independently. That's one reason it flies like nothing else in your backyard. Most flying insects move their wings in linked pairs. A dragonfly can vary the timing and angle of its forewings and hindwings separately, shifting power and making corrections in real time. The result is an animal that can hover perfectly still, fly backward, pivot in place, and change direction with astonishing speed. That evolutionary quirk is key, because dragonflies don't simply chase prey. They intercept it. Instead of following a mosquito or fly wherever it goes, they predict where it will be and head for that point. Their giant compound eyes give them nearly all-around vision, and much of their nervous system is devoted to processing what those eyes see. Independent wing control lets them turn those calculations into action in fractions of a second. The payoff is extraordinary. Studies have found hunting success rates approaching 95 percent, making dragonflies among the most effective predators known. And every one of those aerial hunters began life underwater. Depending on the species, a dragonfly may spend months or even several years as an aquatic nymph, stalking mosquito larvae, tadpoles, and other prey long before it ever takes to the air.

🇺🇸 Today is Juneteenth and Trump’s White House is straight-up disrespecting America’s Second Independence Day -- a hard-won National Holiday dedicated to Black resilience and the end of chattel slavery. And Trump and The White House are ignoring it after celebrating the fuck out of his own lame birthday. On this day in 1865, the last enslaved people in Texas finally learned they were free, over 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Biden made it a Federal Holiday in 2021. Trump? No celebration or proclamation. Instead, he removed Juneteenth from National Parks free-entry days… and added his own birthday instead. Who does that? Trump also only gripes about “too many non-working holidays” on Juneteenth. Now is that racist AF or what? 💙 if America deserves better on #Juneteenth

@covie_93 This is a serious question, What is wrong with President Trump? Does nobody care for him enough to get him some help. I mean it, say what you like about him, we know he is not the nicest person to be around but surely his family have feelings for him and should look to help him.

@covie_93 I don’t really want to know! 😑

What's going on here??

Do you AGREE? Yes 👍 No 👎

Snapping turtles have a reputation problem built on a few dramatic stories. Here's what a snapping turtle actually does most of the time: sit quietly on the bottom of a pond, stream, or marsh and eat whatever opportunity presents itself. Fish, frogs, crayfish, insects, aquatic plants, and carrion all end up on the menu. Wildlife agencies routinely describe them as important scavengers. They're among the many creatures doing the unglamorous work of recycling dead plants and animals back into the ecosystem. Can a snapper take a duckling? Sure. It happens. But the turtle in your pond is not sitting there plotting against your waterfowl. Ducklings are an occasional meal, not an obsession, and healthy adult ducks are difficult prey. The other thing people fear, that snapping turtles are aggressive toward humans, is mostly a misunderstanding. In the water, they're generally shy and prefer to avoid conflict. The famous hissing, lunging, and biting usually happens on land, where they're out of their element and can't swim away. A turtle crossing a road or searching for a nesting site is relying on bluff and defense because retreat isn't much of an option. Leave them alone, and they'll usually leave you alone. Snapping turtles have been part of North American wetlands for millions of years. They aren't villains. They're simply one more piece of the machinery that keeps ponds, marshes, and slow-moving streams functioning the way they always have.

In 1941, someone counted all the wild whooping cranes left on Earth. There were 14. Fourteen birds, one flock, migrating between the Texas coast and a remote corner of northern Canada. A species that may once have numbered 15,000 to 20,000 had been reduced by hunting and habitat loss to a population small enough to fit on a school bus. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed in a release this June that the winter 2024–25 count for the Aransas-Wood Buffalo population reached a record 557 birds. Nearly all of today's whooping cranes trace their ancestry to that tiny remnant flock. The population has grown at roughly 4 percent a year for decades, thanks to legal protection, captive breeding programs, cooperation between the United States and Canada, and the preservation of critical habitat on both ends of their migration. 557 birds is still not many. The whooping crane remains one of the rarest birds in North America, and a severe storm, disease outbreak, or other catastrophe could still undo years of progress. But 557 from 14 is one of the most remarkable numbers in conservation. Someone counted them in 1941 and refused to let that be the final count.

💙💙🇺🇸🙏

Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth’s crusade to purge women and people of color from our Armed Forces has never been subtle. But today, a New York Times exposé revealed exactly how far he’s gone to dismantle the careers and achievements of our finest servicemen and women. More than a dozen military insiders — both active duty and those already purged — spoke to the Times anonymously to unmask a horrific ongoing attack. They detailed a process used by Hegseth and his team to halt senior officer advancements for reasons completely unrelated to merit, job performance, or fighting wars. Hegseth’s efforts are part of a quest to advance his white-and-male centered worldview, facts, history, and actual service be damned. In the absence of any such evidence, insiders confirmed that he has used his position to withhold promotions from qualified, decorated veterans. The Times cited several enraging examples: • Last fall, Hegseth ordered Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll to remove two Black and two female officers from a 29-person promotion list. Driscoll repeatedly refused, citing their decades of exemplary service. In March, Hegseth bypassed him, removed their names, and sent the modified list to the White House. • In total, Hegseth has removed 32 officers from Air Force and Navy one- and two-star promotion lists. He also pulled the only Black officer and the only female officer from a Marine Corps list, leaving their promotions in limbo. • Vice Adm. Sara Joyner, a highly decorated three-star fighter pilot, saw her advancement stalled over a 2021 Navy recruiting ad where she said, "I’m not just a girl with a dream. I’m a sailor with one." Hegseth deemed the line a "big problem." Joyner has since retired. • Rear Adm. Stephen D. Barnett was recommended for a promotion after successfully managing the aftermath of a massive Navy fuel spill in Hawaii. Hegseth blocked his advancement after Barnett participated in a Navy-sponsored Pride event back in 2018. It is an outrage to watch a media personality whose greatest battles have been with hangovers intentionally harm the careers of people who risked everything to keep America safe. Hegseth’s actions are insult to all who have served and a risk to national security. [Image: REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov]