Dark Brandon Strikes Again!

This story (https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/24/world/giant-tortoise-eats-chick-intl-scli-scn/index.html) appeared in the news today.  I'll summarize, so you don't have to expose yourselves to what you consider a noxious news source.  A Seychelles giant tortoise ate a bird.  This observation has been published in Current Biology, a big time science journal.

Why I think this is abysmally stupid.  I have pet tortoises.  I could have told them the giant tortoises would happily eat meat if they could get it.  Tortoises love savory food most of all.  My guys get savory stuff once a week.  Sunday I gave them some dog food (crushed, soaked, and mixed with greens).  They love it.  Most "vegetarian" animals will happily eat meat if they can get it, they need protein too.

There is a limit to how many animals a slow moving tortoise can hunt down, so they don't eat meat often.  Indeed if they do they get a condition called metabolic bone disease.  It doesn't hurt them much unless it gets really bad, but it is unsightly and very common in captive born tortoises.  All my guys right now have at least a touch of it.  My big female Ruby has it bad.



Not one of mine, this is an African spur-thighed tortoise with bad MBD, or pyramiding.  By the way, these things live over 100 years, get to be 150 pounds and are commonly sold in pet stores.

Did rich people want Trump to win the election?

They say we want to disband police departments (and that we hate the police): we don’t, that’s a lie. We want to weed out racism and unnecessary police brutality and for those who abuse their power to be held accountable.

They say we want to release all prisoners: we don’t, that’s a lie. We want to weed out racism and ensure the punishments match the crimes and to deprivatize prisons. 

They say we want open borders: we don’t, that’s a lie.  We want asylum seekers to be given their chance to seek asylum.  We want to help people who are coming from unimaginable terror and poverty help to give them the chances we have.   We want to ensure children aren’t separated from their parents and that nobody is kept in cages.  But we do want proper vetting.

They say we want to take away your guns: we don’t, that’s a lie.  We want logical gun control to help prevent mass shootings.

They say we want to wage a war on Christianity and Christian values: we don’t, that’s a lie.  We want people of all religions to be able to practice and worship freely.

They say we want to get everything for free: we don’t, that’s a lie.  We want to work hard and make sure that healthcare and education are affordable for all. 

They say we want a war against traditional marriage:  we don’t, that’s a lie.  We want people of all sexual orientations to be able to love freely, no matter who you love.

They say we want to destroy or rewrite history: we don’t, that’s a lie.  We want to recognize the ugly parts of our past and do everything we can to say “that’s not okay, let’s not honor those aggressors, let’s not let those things happen again”.

They say we want to take away your constitutional rights: we don’t, that’s a lie.  We choose to believe science and wear masks and try to prevent the spread of this disease.

They say we hate America:  we don’t, that’s a lie. We just recognize our faults and want us to do better, be better.

Stop with the us vs. them. 
Stop with the straw man arguments. 
Stop with the fake news. 
Stop with fox news. 

Our position is one of empathy, compassion and logic.  Stop believing the hype. Stop with the division.   

Just because we want equality for all doesn’t mean we want to take anything away from you.

Trumplethinskin has declared an emergency.