Sam Explains Zohran Mamdani’s Masterful Trump Meeting
Maine’s Other Big Election…
Graham Platner And The AOC-Mamdani Effect
Breaking Political Gridlock In US Healthcare Reform
Trump’s Immigration Data Scrape Threatens Housing For All Americans
Tag: Health
Extra Josh
“Lotus Eater”
We get Mississippi Kites in late Spring; they’re about gone now. They give amazing air shows! Watching them makes a day better.-Ali
About
With pearlescent gray feathers and a sleek silhouette, the Mississippi Kite glides gracefully through the skies on wingbeats that manage to look effortless. While this medium-sized raptor with long, pointed wings and a squared-off tail may resemble a Peregrine Falcon in flight, the Mississippi Kite’s bouyant and easy flight can quickly distinguish it from the rapid, businesslike flight of the falcon. Its aerial acrobatics have earned the kite nicknames like “Hovering Kite.”
A long-distance migratory species, the Mississippi Kite breeds throughout the southern and central United States, making use of wooded areas in a range of settings — in large, low-lying forest tracts, windbreaks (stands of wind-resistant trees and shrubs) in prairies, and even in urban settings. Their habitat use and even their social behaviors vary throughout their range, with kites in the west being more likely to nest in colonies than their counterparts in the east.
Threats
The global Mississippi Kite population is increasing, and its range has expanded into parts of the Southwest since the mid-20th century. Even so, the cumulative impacts from threats like habitat degradation and loss, pesticide use, and collisions may make the Mississippi Kite more vulnerable across parts of its range.
Habitat Loss (snip-more on the page)
Let’s talk about Trump, another budget reconciliation, and healthcare….
TRUMP’S LOSING IT
Some Effects of Medicaid Cuts
From The Marine Detective:
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For Science, & The Planet!
Norway Turns Ocean Forests Of Seaweed Into Weapons Against Climate Change
Written by Matthew Russell
Off Trøndelag’s coast, long lines of kelp now do double duty. They grow fast. They also lock away carbon. A new pilot farm near Frøya aims to turn that promise into measurable removal of CO₂ from the air, according to DNV.
The site spans 20 hectares and carries up to 55,000 meters of kelp lines. First seedlings went in last November. The goal is proof of concept, then scale.
How the Pilot Works
The three-year Joint Industry Project, JIP Seaweed Carbon Solutions, brings SINTEF together with DNV, Equinor, Aker BP, Wintershall Dea, and Ocean Rainforest, with a total budget of NOK 50 million, Safety4Sea reports.
Researchers expect an initial harvest of about 150 tons of kelp after 8–10 months at sea. Early estimates suggest that biomass could represent roughly 15 tons of captured CO₂. This is a test bed for methods that can be replicated and expanded, DNV explains.
There’s a second step, as kelp becomes biochar. That process stabilizes carbon for the long term and can improve soils on land, SINTEF’s team told Safety4Sea. The project is designed to test both the removal and the storage.
A Long History, A New Mission
Seaweed isn’t new here. Norwegians have cultivated kelp since the 18th and 19th centuries for fertilizer and feed. Scientists advanced modern methods in the 1930s, laying the groundwork for today’s farms, according to SeaweedFarming.com. Cold, nutrient-rich waters support species like Laminaria and Saccharina. They grow quickly and draw down dissolved carbon and nitrogen.
The country’s aquaculture backbone also helps. Norway already runs one of the world’s most advanced seafood sectors. That expertise now extends to macroalgae.
Policy, Permits, and Ecosystems
Commercial cultivation began receiving specific permits in 2014, and activity has expanded across several coastal counties, according to a study in Aquaculture International. Researchers detailed the risks that accompany scale: genetic interaction with wild kelp, habitat impacts, disease, and space conflicts. Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture, where seaweed grows alongside finfish, can recycle nutrients from farms and reduce eutrophication pressures.
Engineering for Open Water
Getting beyond sheltered bays is crucial. One path is the “Seaweed Carrier,” a sheet-like offshore system that lets kelp move with waves in deeper, more exposed water. It supports mechanical harvesting and industrial output without using land, Business Norway explains. The same approach can enhance water quality by absorbing CO₂ and “lost” nutrients.
The Frøya project is small in tonnage but big in intent. It links Norway’s long kelp lineage with new climate tech: fast-growing macroalgae, verified carbon accounting, and durable storage as biochar. If these methods prove reliable at sea and on shore, Norway will have more than a farm. It will have a blueprint for ocean-based carbon removal that others can copy.
Clay Jones Draws-
First Pedophile by Clay Jones
What did Trump know and when did he know it in regards to Epstein? Read on Substack
This caricature of Trump is the first drawing I have attempted since the stroke. Isn’t it crazy that I haven’t drawn anything in over a month? This was done with my left hand, and it was extremely difficult. I still don’t have enough stability with my right arm. I did hold a guitar pick for a few minutes today while strumming my Taylor 214. I’m not selling my guitars just yet. No, I do not plan to draw in the future with my left hand. Coincidentally enough, I drew it while waiting for an occupational therapist to arrive.
Trump and Epstein
Donald Trump is a horrible person. He is vile, corrupt, petty, mean, narcissistic, immature, greedy, dishonest, selfish, cruel, and evil, so naturally, he would be best friends with a pedophile.
“I have met some very bad people,” Jeffrey Epstein wrote in a 2017 email. “None as bad as Trump. Not one decent cell in his body.”
It’s not Epstein’s opinion of Trump that we should care about. After all, Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile. Who cares about Trump’s opinion when he disses Joe Biden or Barack Obama? Does anyone really believe Jack Smith is a lunatic just because Trump says it? If we don’t care about Trump’s opinion about people, then we shouldn’t care about Jeffrey Epstein’s. I’m sure people don’t get worse than Jeffrey Epstein. So I don’t care about Epstein’s opinion; I care about his recollections.
Yesterday, House Democrats released emails in which Epstein wrote that Trump had “spent hours at my house” with one of his victims. And another email, Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls.”
Speaker Mike Johnson no longer has a choice, and next week, the House will finally vote on whether or not to release all the investigative material it has on Jeffrey Epstein.
In one email to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein wrote, “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump.. [VICTIM] spent hours at my house with him.”
Epstein goes on to write that Trump “has never once been mentioned”, including by a “police chief”.
Maxwell replied, “I have been thinking about that.”
I wonder why Trump spent hours at Epstein’s house with one of his victims. But I don’t think it’s a mystery as to why Trump doesn’t want any of the investigative material to be released.
I believe Maxwell will have her sentence commuted when Trump believes it is politically safe to do so. She’s been given treatment for now until Trump feels he can make that commutation. This is an exchange for her not implicating Trump with Epstein’s pedophilia or labeling Trump as a pedophile himself.
Death by Lightning is a four-episode mini-series on Netflix about the assassination of James Garfield. If you are a history buff, such as myself, I believe you will thoroughly enjoy this show.
Did you know that November is Diabetes Awareness Month? Fortunately, for me, I am aware now that I have type 2 diabetes. So far, it’s not really that big of a deal for me. I mean, it’s a big deal that I’ve had to adjust my diet, nothing really tastes good anymore, I have to stick a needle in my stomach every night, I have to reward salt, as if I was a snail, and I may not ever have sushi with soy sauce, ever again, but other than that, it’s not a big deal. My goal at this point is that I do not ever lose a foot to it. But so far, my numbers have been good since I started managing it about a month ago. I am currently wearing a sensor on my arm, and my numbers have been low. I have lost weight since I found out, but that’s mostly because I spent half the month eating hospital food. As soon as I can walk again (and I’m taking baby steps), I will exercise more.
My appeal to you is that if you’re not aware whether or not you have diabetes, please get yourself checked out. I suspected I might be diabetic for a few years, but being the coward that I am, I refused to see a doctor until I had to. It was the same thing with my high blood pressure. I suspected it was bad, but I didn’t see a doctor until a stroke gave me no choice. If you suspect that you have high blood pressure, don’t ignore it like I did. I implore you to see a doctor and do something about it so that you don’t end up where I am right now. However, despite what happened, I am extremely lucky. It could’ve been worse.
Get yourself checked out. (snip-there is MORE on his substack, which deserves the clicks. He drew! *\0/* )
Whatever Else May Come
from the end of the shutdown,-and I have huge hope that we the people will continue to stand together to help each other through the days!-we do get the Astronomy Photo of the Day again!
Orion and the Running Man
Image Credit & Copyright:R. Jay Gabany
Explanation: Few cosmic vistas can excite the imagination like The Great Nebula in Orion. Visible as a faint, bland celestial smudge to the naked-eye, the nearest large star-forming region sprawls across this sharp colorful telescopic image. Designated M42 in the Messier Catalog, the Orion Nebula’s glowing gas and dust surrounds hot, young stars. About 40 light-years across, M42 is at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1,500 light-years away that lies within the same spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy as the Sun. Including dusty bluish reflection nebula NGC 1977, also known as the Running Man nebula at left in the frame, the natal nebulae represent only a small fraction of our galactic neighborhood’s wealth of star-forming material. Within the well-studied stellar nursery, astronomers have also identified what appear to be numerous infant solar systems.
Tomorrow’s picture: pixels in space
Scottie's Playtime 