I love dogs and people. I want living creatures to thrive. I love to cook, and share the food, but ya gotta get in line in front of the dog, and greatest good luck with that!
There are several this time! The titles are links, as usual, but for space consideration, I’m leaving Clay’s awesome commentary on his pages, and posting only toons this time. Go see what he has to say, though-it’s always good!
A while back, Scottie asked me to post “Lay Lines” regularly. So, I do. Usually, it’s quirky humor that tickles my funny bone, sometimes it’s a deep thinker or quite emotional, and sometimes it’s all at once.Rarely, it’s meh.This week’s comic is not meh, but I find it personally offensive, and I have concern about the possibility of someone being negatively affected by it.
I am avowed non-violent. If I was able, I would put all knowledge or even spark of an idea about gunpowder and any of its future incarnations back into the genie’s bottle, and toss it into space. I can’t do that, but among other things I do that I can do, I do not promote gun violence. So, I am not posting this week’s toon. The link is below if you care to see it, and comments are open here if you have something to say. You know we love the comments here! And I intend to continue reading and posting the weekly “Lay Lines.” Just not this one.
The stories of rebellion by enslaved peoples has been largely erased or occluded from history, and when these stories are told, they usually center men. In Cuba, however, two women became legends because of the leadership roles they took in rebellion. Carlota and Fermina were decisive, brave, and brutal. Both women were kidnapped from the Yoruba Nation and given the last name ‘Lucumí’, a word which refers to Afro-Cubans of Yoruba descent.
The Triunvirato sugar plantation was a fucking hellscape. By the 1840s, one third of Cuba’s population consisted of enslaved persons, almost all of whom worked in the sugar trade in some capacity. The 1840s saw Cuba utilizing steam-powered mails and railroads and engaging in massive deforestation as the economy became reliant on sugar. The Triunvirato Plantation was one of many that subjected enslaved people to a starvation diet and horrific working and living conditions.
We know very little about Carlota and Fermina. We do know, however, that on November 6, 1843, Carlota and others launched the Triunvirato Rebellion, the last in a series of uprisings across Cuba. Carlota used talking drums to communicate with other plantations, bringing the neighboring Acaná plantation, where Fermina was enslaved, as well as several others into the plan.
Carlota Leading the People (after Eugene Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People by Lili Bernard, 2011
Fermina had recently escaped from Acaná and may have planned a June rebellion, but it didn’t happen. She was recaptured and shackled for months. Her tormentors released her from the shackles just a few days before the Triunvirato Rebellion, which she helped lead on the Acaná Plantation. In all, the enslaved people on five plantations rose up against their oppressors on or near November 6.
Here is a good overview of what we know about Carlota:
The series of rebellions that took place in 1843 (including uprisings in March and May, as well as a thwarted uprising in December) were collectively referred to as La Escalera. In response, slavers tortured and murdered so many people that 1844 became known as “The Year of the Lash”. Fermina was tortured and then killed by a firing squad. Carlota died at some point during the Trinuvirato Rebellion. Slavery in Cuba wasn’t abolished until 1886.
However, Carlota’s memory was preserved in oral legend. She became a famous symbol of resistance in Cuba. In 1975, when Cuba sent troops to support the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), they called the operation ‘Operation Carlota.’
Monument to Carlota’s Rebellion, located at Triumvirato, erected in 1991
Writing about history is a messy business. For one thing, many historical figures, especially women, and most especially women of color, have been so systematically erased that the stories we still have of them are murky. This is certainly true of Carlota and Fermina. We don’t even know their real names – only the names their slavers forced them to bear. We know for sure that they existed, and everything else is a matter of sifting various stories together and trying to figure out where they overlap.
In this column, there is also the matter of who to choose as ‘Kickass.’ Carlota and Fermina were both said to have done terrible, violent things.
CW/TW
Their story can be seen as one in which brutality begets brutality, and it can also be seen as a human being refusing to break or to become passive with despair in the face of massive crushing forces. Carlota and Fermina were clever, resourceful, determined leaders. I only wish I knew their real names.
Contaminated Teats Of Health Secretary Produced Tainted Dairy Products
Vats full of milk secreted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. formed the backdrop for an FDA press conference.
WASHINGTON—In what experts are already calling one of the worst outbreaks of foodborne illness in decades, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an urgent recall Tuesday for 40,000 gallons of RFK Jr. milk.
The recall, which covers all milk produced by the body of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was issued following widespread reports of high fever, nausea, arthritis-like symptoms, and uncontrollable diarrhea among consumers. The FDA urged Americans to throw out any RFK Jr. milk they had in their refrigerators, saying those affected would be entitled to a full refund and should take a 60-day course of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin.
“If you purchased a jug of milk pumped from Secretary Kennedy’s breasts on or after Mar. 4, 2026, you may have noticed a sulfurous smell, streaks of red pus, or visible effervescence in the liquid,” said FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, stressing that anyone who experienced blindness or vertigo after drinking the beverage should consult a healthcare provider immediately, especially if they were pregnant. “We also ask that consumers dispose of the milk by incineration instead of dumping it down the drain, which could result in the substance entering rivers and streams and cause mass aquatic die-offs.”
“We acknowledge our error in ever allowing this man’s milk to make it onto store shelves in the first place,” Makary added.
Kennedy with his milking machine.
According to sources, the recalled Kennedy dairy has been sold at wellness retailers and health food co-ops in all 50 states and includes processed RFK Jr. milk products sold under names such as Bobby Butter, Hyannis Port Farms Cheddar, and Kennedy’s Curse-Reversing Longevity Yogurt. Many of these products have been touted through official channels by the secretary himself, who as a central pillar of his “Make America Healthy Again” campaign has strongly encouraged consumption of his body’s milk.
FDA officials said the RFK Jr. milk was contaminated with E. coli, salmonella, listeria, and a previously unknown pathogen scientists have named Robertococcus kenneddi, which appears to have proliferated exclusively in the squalid and unsanitary conditions in which Kennedy lives. Inspectors described “appalling” conditions in the Georgetown residence where much of his milk was pumped, citing moldy, sweat-soaked gym equipment, five-gallon buckets of rancid beef tallow, and the rotting carcasses of several unidentifiable marine mammals.
“The spread of bacteria by RFK Jr. milk has led to numerous confirmed cases of sepsis, meningitis, and necrosis of the tongue,” said FDA microbiologist Hana Steiner, adding that she had long warned friends and relatives against consuming the poorly regulated substance. “People will say Kennedy should have been pasteurizing his milk, and of course he should have, but I’m not sure it would have mattered. A lot of these bacteria have mutated in the dank, humid piles of unwashed jeans found on the floor of his home, and many have become antibiotic-resistant thanks to his frequent swims in sewage-tainted waters.”
While the FDA has ordered an indefinite halt to the distribution of RFK Jr. milk, some MAHA diehards have decried the crackdown as federal overreach, with Kennedy himself criticizing scientists who have questioned his milk’s safety.
“The probiotic cultures in my milk are a feature, not a bug, and any negative reactions people have experienced are the result of a lack of ferments in the American diet,” Kennedy said in a recent video message in which he is seen pumping and drinking a bright yellow glass of his own milk to demonstrate its safety. “There are no dangerous additives in here, just pure, natural goodness. Americans have neglected their gut microbiomes for so long that even the gentle, nourishing milk of their health and human services secretary upsets their stomachs. That’s how bad things have gotten.”
“The obvious answer is for people to drink more of my milk, not less,” Kennedy continued. “It’ll take more than some misguided recall to stop me from lactating for the health and longevity of this nation.”
Scottie's Playtime 