Well, were they?

These ‘crazy ants’ love to munch on cellphones and TVs. Are they headed your way?
the news tribune | 6 Dec 2016 | Ben Guarino

Although the insects are so named for their swarming maneuvers, the term is equally apt for the damage they inflict on the human psyche. For reasons not fully understood, the ants are found in large numbers near electrical equipment and wall sockets. Cellphones and television sets have succumbed to the ant swarms, and the insects damaged electronics in a Houston-area industrial park…

Like the infamous fire ant, the crazy ant is a South American native that made its way to the Lone Star state. The animals do not coexist peacefully. The crazy ant – despite its less painful venom – has a chemical upper hand, scientists discovered in 2014. The crazy ants secrete a substance that neutralizes the fire ant acid, and are thus able to overwhelm the enemy ants….

& When does an Open Thread become too serious for a light humor site?

Yesterdame: Self-explanatory.

Internnet:  Also self-explanatory.

Esshole:  Description of several countries.  Might get by censors.

Acendemic:  Peculiar to institutions of higher learing and impossible to eradicate.

Svelteschmertz: German term for the feeling of dissatisfaction with, or weariness of, well-toned people.

Apparently Trump’s got an ace, but Antifa has a Joker to play:

If Congress does not find a way to vote that bill [the SAVE Act] out to Mr. Trump’s desk before they recess for the rest of the summer in late July, Mr. Trump will invoke an executive order under the National Emergencies Act (NEA) — Public Law 94-412; codified at 50 U.S.C. §§ 1601–1651 — requiring the fifty states to employ all the same provisions that are in the SAVE America Act for the 2026 midterm elections. Under the NEA, the federal courts cannot be used to fight or strike down the executive order; it can only be stopped by a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate.

If that is the course that this takes, you can expect Antifa and the Democratic-Socialist foot-soldiers to take to the streets this fall in a violently-amplified episode of “No Kings” demonstrations — because fair and honest elections with citizens-only voting will mean the end of the Democratic Party, and they know it. Last night’s move by President Trump is only the opening bid of a quickening game against the Deep State, and their partners-in-sedition. The game is gonna get rough now.

— “Acceleration”

substack Kunstler.com | 7/17/2026 | James Howard Kuntsler

New camera guidelines for female athletics coverage
BBC News | June 15, 2026 | Jane Dougall

New guidelines have been released advising broadcasters on how to use more respectful camera angles when covering live female athletics events.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has worked with female athletes to develop the guidelines, which aims to avoid sexualising the action with unnecessary camera angles.

I can’t think of any camera angle that would avoid sexualizing a woman.

I can’t think of any liberal I would pay attention to when it comes to judging what is a “respectful” or an “unnecessary” camera angle.

A pretty good quote about A.I.:

It has no loves. It does not know courage, shame, mercy, sin, or worship. It can regurgitate “writing” about these things, but it cannot live them. It can compose a prayer without praying and a sermon without fear of God. It can say “I understand,” but, in truth, there is no “I” and no understanding.

— Chronicles | 6/26/26 | Benjamin Osborne, “What Would C.S. Lewis Have Thought of AI?”

Come to think of it, kind of reminiscent of a similar scene in Good Will Hunting.  Or Terminator.  So maybe A.I. is a sort of a blend of the two.  (With a little Eyes Wide Shut thrown in for good measure.)

Do you want to go on record now, predicting who will be the 2028 Republican presidential candidate?

Frankly, I wouldn’t recommend it. If you’re right, all you’ll get is “Duh, well yeah, it was inevitable.” And if you’re wrong… eternal shame and embarrassment.

I predict Vance, but would be happy with Rubio if it isn’t Vance.

Can’t picture both those dropping out and being replaced by Hegseth, Cruz, or Tulsi, but I’d support them, as well.

Please, no talk of Don Jr.!

And the Democrat POTUS candidate? Haven’t we had enough commies and puppets already?

All humans agree that slavery is an abomination. (The grey area of wage slavery, we won’t go into at this time.)

Was it a mark of genius on Lincoln’s part to place one thing even higher on the scale of morality, instead of taking the easy route, and simply condemning slavery?

It was the Constitution that he was sworn to protect. It was the union, the notion that the government of the people, etc., should not perish from the earth.

Lincoln’s statement may be equivalent to saying that murderers, stranglers, and wife-beaters must be punished, but only by the system of jury trial — which above all must be preserved.

Executive Mansion
Washington, August 22, 1862.

Hon. Horace Greeley:
Dear Sir.

I have just read yours of the 19th. addressed to myself through the New-York Tribune. If there be in it any statements, or assumptions of fact, which I may know to be erroneous, I do not, now and here, controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here, argue against them. If there be perceptable in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always supposed to be right.

As to the policy I “seem to be pursuing” as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt.

I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be “the Union as it was.” If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.

I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men every where could be free.

Yours,
A. Lincoln.

In just over five months he issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

How come you never hear of veterinarians getting rich performing sex change operations on their animal patients?

Neutering doesn’t count.

Yeah, it’s a walkout. Post no comments about wildcats until conditions improve.

Cougars are OK.

On November 15, 2026, the Voyager 1 spacecraft will officially be one light-day from Earth.

Well, it’s also a light day here, so post a comment if you have anything noticeable to share. Not noteworthy, necessarily, just noticeable.

I’m losing my faith in my bet that the spacecraft will make the Kessel run in less than five parsecs.