Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Welcome to shabbos for Jewish cats: it’s Saturday, May 2, 2026 and National Truffle Day. They mean chocolate truffles, but let’s look at how they find the fungus-y ones. They are usually sniffed out by pigs or d*gs—the latter in this case.
Iran’s supreme leader issued a rare statement on Thursday saying that the United States had no place in the future of the Persian Gulf region and making clear that his country planned to manage the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway going forward.
In the defiant message, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei also vowed that Iran would retain its nuclear capabilities. The lengthy statement from the Iranian leader, who has not been seen in public since he was named to the top post nearly two months ago, was shared by his office.
It touched on two of the thorniest issues stalling talks on permanently ending the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which began in late February and paused when a cease-fire was reached this month. Those positions put Iran at odds with the United States, which has sought to curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions and insisted that it cannot restrict use of the Strait of Hormuz to vessels of its choosing.
“By the will and power of God, the bright future of the Persian Gulf region will be a future without America,” said the statement, which was released on Iran’s National Day of the Persian Gulf, an annual commemoration of a 1622 military victory over Portugal in the Strait of Hormuz.
Of the battle over the narrow waterway, one of the most important shipping routes for global oil supplies, the statement said: “Foreigners who come from thousands of kilometers away, acting maliciously out of greed, have no place there, except at the bottom of its waters.”
It went on to say that Iran would implement “new legal frameworks and management of the Strait of Hormuz,” suggesting that the country had no plans to relinquish control over the shipping route. Such a system, it added, would benefit its neighbors and prove economically fruitful.
. . . The war has devastated Iran’seconomy, with the Iranian rial currency sinking to new lows against the dollar this week.
Well, we’re at an impasse, then. The Iranian economy will get worse and worse, and the question is whether the people of Iran will rise up (or the regime dissolve) before pressure from the U.S. people and Congress forces Trump to quit.
For almost five decades, Iran’s Islamic government has survived financial pressure from the U.S. by selling oil to China. It confronted American military might with guerrilla tactics. But with the U.S. Navy’s blockade, that strategy might have met its match, analysts said.
Tehran thought it was gaining the upper hand after the war started in February as it attacked ships navigating the Strait of Hormuz, shutting down commercial traffic and blocking a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. Six weeks into the conflict, the U.S. responded by blockading shipments from all Iranian ports.
That shut down Iran’s network of shadow ships, which for years defied U.S. sanctions on Iran’s substantial oil exports by going dark at sea before clandestinely transferring their cargoes to China. The tankers have been unable to breach a cordon of U.S. warships that have chased them all the way to the Indian Ocean.
In Hormuz, “Iran was able to create a crisis of market confidence. But disruption is not control,” said David Des Roches, a former director responsible for Persian Gulf policy at the Defense Department. “With the U.S. blockade, it’s facing a reckoning.”
Alternative trade routes won’t be sufficient. Iran has been working to send some of its oil by rail to China and to import foodstuff by road from the Caucasus and Pakistan. Only 40% of Iran’s trade can be redirected away from blockaded ports, the Iranian Shipping Association said Thursday via the Fars news agency, which is affiliated with Iran’s security services.
The risk of a spiraling crisis has split Iran’s political system between moderates such as President Masoud Pezeshkian and hard-liners including Saeed Jalili, a former presidential candidate who leads Iran’s most conservative faction.
The moderates believe in holding fire and negotiating a favorable deal with President Trump, whom they view as eager to get out of the messy war as soon as possible. They worry Iranians are growing tired of the conflict after an initial nationalist uptick.
“The regime has to do something to break this deadlock,” Saeid Golkar, who studies Iran at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. “Moderates want a deal because they think more destruction is political suicide,” he said.
A growing camp of hard-liners believe Iran has to take the military initiative and start a shooting war again to send oil prices soaring higher and increase the pressure on Trump. They argue that the blockade goes beyond the sanctions Iran has faced down in the past and amounts to an act of war that must have a military response.
Even a rule by moderates won’t stopo the oppression that has killed tens of thousands of protesting Iranians. My preference is for the U.S. to continue the blockade. Here’s a map from the article of the U.S.’s blockade line:
Source: Source: Department of Defense (blockade line)
→ Park Slope Food Co-Op: A meeting at Brooklyn’s Park Slope Food Co-op—which I’m pretty sure is just a factory that produces news to be turned into items for this column (I’ve never been to Brooklyn)—was more aggressive than usual this week as the discussion naturally turned to Israeli products. “Jewish supremacism is a problem in this country,” said one attendee, kind of giving away the game there. The darkest part: Some 50 people applauded the comment. The topic: banning Israeli goods. The jeerers, presumably: well-heeled Park Slope parents. There are about 10 Israeli items sold in the shop, and it has led to years of battles.
Meanwhile, the hottest new fashion accessory in New York is a Hamas headband, as sported in Manhattan’s Flatiron District neighborhood, where protesters harassed diners at a kosher-style (not even fully kosher!) restaurant. They surrounded the tables and called the diners “pedophiles” and the “Epstein class,” which is, of course, reasonable criticism of Israeli policies.
→ I guess I need to learn about this new fetish now: An Oxford biochemistry professor is now teaching while wearing enormous Z-cup prosthetic breasts and low-cut shirts to class. If you’re reading this over breakfast, maybe don’t because I am obligated to inform you that his long wispy beard grazes the tits. I will not include a picture [JAC: the picture’s at the next link.] As Jo Bartosch at Spiked put it, it’s “a giant rubber rack.” We’re talking Bryon Noem–sized knockers here. She concludes: “Regrettably, it seems Matt Rattley will be at liberty to display his plastic tits until university officials find their ovaries.”
And now I’ve had to learn that this is a kink, yet another thing about men I would rather not know. Because it’s indeed the same thing as that Canadian high school shop teacher, Kayla Lemieux, who went viral for wearing, yes, Z-cup prosthetic breasts in class. Hopefully these are just strange, unique episodes. But it is funny, isn’t it, that both of these men are in charge of kids. Not ha ha funny. But you get it. When I revive a lesbian separatist commune in Michigan, I want you to know that this new kink (bearded men, Z-cup tits, teaching kids, plus we’re supposed to applaud them) tipped me over the edge. Me, Pat, Jill, and our holistic herb healer Ingrid are going to be over here keeping chickens. Zero cleavage.
→ More defense of microlooting: In the pro-microlooting podcast episode of The Opinions from TheNew York Times last week, there was a little part about how stealing from the Louvre is cool. Jia Tolentino and Hasan Piker agreed it’s one of the “cool crimes” that there should be more of. I need you to see now how the American progressive intelligentsia explains this as backlash inevitably arrived. This is a major writer in the movement and genuinely one of its smarter representatives:
Of course, the real threat to American museums is Climate Action protesters armed with cans of soup, but the idea that you can just replace a precious, one-of-a-kind object with another one from the basement is insane. I love it.
I think Malcolm and his ilk are smarter than they’re letting on. I think the real argument is: Yes, take apart the Louvre. Take apart Western culture, since it’s an evil thing. But maybe not. Maybe he really does think there are a dozen Mona Lisas in CubeSmart storage so who cares.
A video has gone viral of a pair of tourists who filmed themselves hurling antisemitic and anti-Israel abuse at an Israeli couple dining in Vietnam, calling them “rats” and using white supremacist memes, until the Israelis get up and leave while other diners do nothing.
It was unclear when the video was made before it was apparently uploaded to social media by the British pair.
In the video, one of the abusing tourists asked the Israeli man and woman if they were “from Palestine” upon noticing an Israel-shaped tattoo on the woman’s arm.
The Israeli woman smiled and said, “It’s difficult.” The British women continue in the same line of questioning, asking the Israelis if they speak Arabic.
When the Israeli man said they speak Hebrew, the British women explode.
“Oh, right, you’re Israeli… Fake state of Israel,” said one.
A video has gone viral of a pair of tourists who filmed themselves hurling antisemitic and anti-Israel abuse at an Israeli couple dining in Vietnam, calling them “rats” and using white supremacist memes, until the Israelis get up and leave while other diners do nothing.
It was unclear when the video was made before it was apparently uploaded to social media by the British pair.
In the video, one of the abusing tourists asked the Israeli man and woman if they were “from Palestine” upon noticing an Israel-shaped tattoo on the woman’s arm.
The Israeli woman smiled and said, “It’s difficult.” The British women continue in the same line of questioning, asking the Israelis if they speak Arabic.
When the Israeli man said they speak Hebrew, the British women explode.
“Oh, right, you’re Israeli… Fake state of Israel,” said one.
“Were you part of the IDF, IOF… Did you kill innocent civilians?” asked the other. The abbreviation for “Israeli Occupation Forces” is frequently used on pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel social media to refer to the Israeli military.
The Israeli man appeared about to respond, but his partner signaled to him not to take the bait, before she herself said: “Everyone is part of the army.”
“So then you’re a murderer,” said one of the British tourists. “You can refuse to be in the IDF.”
“I want to eat my lunch in quiet,” the Israeli woman said, and continued eating.
“Well, we want to save humanity,” answered the British tourist from her own table.
“Now they’re going to cry, I didn’t have my lunch in peace,” said the second UK tourist.
. . .“Look at them, the rats running away,” said one woman as the Israeli couple moves. “Go on, rats. Murderers, savages.”
Rats have long been deployed as an antisemitic trope to depict Jews.
Israelis abroad have faced mounting harassment, sometimes descending into physical violence, since the war in Gaza was sparked by the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023. A poll last year found that a majority of Israelis fear they will be unable to travel abroad due to mounting global criticism of Israel.
Here’s a tweet with the video. The degree of hate is horrific and persistent, too. We Jews can’t catch a break:
Watch British tourists harass an Israeli couple in Vietnam. They sing “Boom boom Tel Aviv” and call them “rats”. They even invoke the Nazi trope of Jews being kicked out of “110 countries”. These pro-Pals are indistinguishable from Nazis now. I’m ashamed of them. pic.twitter.com/kod7h0su9k
It would be lovely if someone could identify these moronic antisemites so they could face public opprobrium. It’s antisemitism, not anti-Netanyahuism or anti-Zionism—unless the chowderheaded critics think that a tattoo of Israel makes you a Zionist. (While we’re at it, let’s just eliminate the word “Zionist” and use “Jew”. Nearly all Jews are Zionists since they favor the right of Israel to exist as a sovereign Jewish state).
A Japanese sushi chain has bought the world’s most expensive tuna at auction.
Sushizanmai, part of Kiyomura Corporation owned by “Tuna King” Kiyoshi Kimura, bought a bluefin tuna for JP￥510,300,000 ($3,254,277) at the annual first fish auction of the year in Koto, Tokyo — officially breaking the Guinness World Record for the most expensive tuna fish to be sold at auction.
Following the Jan. 5 sale, Kiyomura was presented its official Guinness certificate during a ceremony at the chain’s main Tsukiji location on April 20, per Malay Mail.
“We will continue to offer high-quality tuna next year and beyond,” said Kimura, president of Kiyomura Corporation, during the ceremony.
The tuna, sold at Toyosu Market, weighed a whopping 243 kg (535 lbs 11.52 oz) and was caught in Oma in Japan’s northern prefecture of Aomori. The fish was then cut at the Tsukiji location of Sushizanmai and distributed across the company’s numerous shops across Japan.
“Although the tuna was crowned the most expensive tuna fish, the tuna sushi served post-auction was sold at the regular price range,” Guinness World Records noted in its announcement.
Kimura is no stranger to a massive fish sale. In 2020, he paid $1.8 million for another huge bluefin tuna — weighing a whopping 608 pounds — at the same annual first fish auction of the year at Toyosu Market. The fish was also caught in Aomori.
Following the remarkable sale, Kimura expressed his joy and excitement at securing the large fish for his corporation’s consumers.
“This is the best,” Kimura said, Agence France-Presse reported at the time. “Yes, this is expensive, isn’t it? I want our customers to eat very tasty ones this year, too.”
I would have liked to try some of that sushi! Here’s the hapless tuna with the Tuna King carving it up. はい!!!
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili’s still neurotic about the garden:
Hili: Dandelion!
Andrzej: We lost the fight against dandelions many years ago. Now we have decided to like them.
In Polish:
Hili: Mlecz!
Ja: Walkę z mleczami przegraliśmy wiele lat temu. Teraz postanowiliśmy je lubić.
From Masih. Iran killed this protestor on Thursday; I was hoping they would let him go. No chance.
They hanged him💔
The regim Executes 21-Year-Old karate athlete at dawn Thursday in Prison after Iran’s Supreme Court upheld a death sentence on charges of “enmity against God.”
His crime?
Joining nationwide protests in January 2026.
History of the USA:
– King of England imposes taxes
– America declares independence
– Things go well for nearly 250 years
– America elects a moron
– Moron imposes taxes
– King of England gets taxes removed pic.twitter.com/IU3HlAPFa3
From “Captain Ella” (now Colonel Ella), the Muslim, Arab-speaking spokesperson for the IDF. I love her. English translation:
Hezbollah threatened to occupy the Galilee, but it only occupied the homes of the Lebanese. Thousands of combat means were seized in Lebanon. What’s left? The weapons – we seized them The tunnels – we destroyed them The elements – we lined them up Their threats went down the drain.
حزب الله هدّد باحتلال الجليل، لكنه لم يحتل سوى بيوت اللبنانيين.
تم ضبط الالف من الوسائل القتالية في لبنان.
ما تبقّى؟
الأسلحة – ضبطناها
الأنفاق – دمرناها
العناصر – صفيناهم
ذهبت تهديداتهم أدراج الرياح. pic.twitter.com/T5PyiXuMTJ
— Lieutenant Colonel Ella Waweya | إيلا واوية (@CaptainElla1) May 1, 2026
Two from my feed. First, a cat gets a Hero D*g award:
I just found out that in 2015, the Los Angeles SPCA gave their annual National Hero Dog award to a tabby cat named Tara. Yes, you read that right, a cat was given a dog award.
It remains the first and only time a feline has ever won the title. A year earlier in Bakersfield, USA,… pic.twitter.com/wArmAQzenU
— Out of Context Human Race (@NoContextHumans) April 30, 2026
One I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:
This Yugoslavian Jewish girl was gassed to death as soon as she got to Auschwitz. She was 3 years old. Had she lived, she’d be 85 today. https://t.co/jiK9Zfw2LN
And one from Herr Doktor Professor Cobb. He went home from Chile via Amsterdam, and here is the clock he photograph at Schiphol airport. Yes, the minute hand gets “repainted” every minute, and the hour hand every hour.
We have another “Friday Flashback from 9 years ago.” The concept of substitutionary atonement—something that Hitchens used to beef about—has always confused me, as it simply makes no sense. By killing his own son, who is really part of himself, God gave us all the possibility of going to Heaven. Whaaaat?
The other day I showed photos of a mallard hen who came to the pond on Wednesday and whose bill markings were strikingly similar to that of Vashti, the hen who departed with her brood of seven a week before last Tuesday. Her behavior, her immediate bonding with Armon, and bill markings all combine to identify her as Vashti, whose brood likely perished after her exit. So it’s bittersweet that she returned again: sadness for the ducklings loss combined with joy and confidence that she’ll breed again. If she does, can we keep her here this time?
Anyway, I attach a few more photos showing a match between Vashti’s bill markings (taken before she fled) and the markings of the “new duck”. Some people were dubious about the hen’s identity, but I’m going with Vashti.
Vashti’s bill is distinguished, on its top side, by a black patch, then a break before the tip, which is again marked with black. Here it is:
Vashti again:
Top of the bill and left side new duck. Notice the two black patches extending ventrally from the left side of the top marking—same as above.
Top of the bill and right side, new duck
The top is a match, and, as I showed last time, so is the right side. Here’s the right side of the new duck again. Notice the match with the photo above: a black patch on the side with a line of speckles to its rear:
New duck, right side:
Given the huge variance in pigmentation of bills among hens, which you’d have to see for yourself to appreciate, the above is enough for me. Our new hen is Vashti. But I’ll also show the left side, for which the photos are not quite as good.
Vashti, left side of bill. There are not many markings but a few black dots below the nostril:
New duck, left side of bill. Notice the line of about five dots below the nostril—same as above.
It’s Vashti, who clearlymade her way back to the familiar pond after losing her brood. There is ample time for her to nest and incubate her eggs again, so I am feeding her a lot to prompt that. She’s bonded with Armon, who never left the pond, and they are showing bonding and courtship behaviors. I am pretty sure she will nest and breed again.
This would not be the first time we’ve had double-brooding here. When Honey stole Dorothy’s brood, getting a batch of 16 to take care of, Dorothy eventually re-nested and produced her own brood, which she did rear to fledging.
Here’s a classic photo of Honey with her mixed brood of 16, half of them ducknapped. She was a great mome, and all of these ducklings fledged. “But isn’t that evolutionarily maladaptive?”, you ask. Perhaps, unless Dorothy and Honey were related. I have no idea if they were, but I think it’s simply a case of a maternal instinct that was coopted, like humans adopting unrelated babies.
Well, brothers and sisters, friends and comrades, this is the last batch of photos I have. If you’re feeling generous and have some good wildlife photos, well, you know what to do.
Today’s lot comes from Ephraim Heller: they are manakins and tanagers from Trinidad and Tobago. Ephraim’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
Today we have photos of manakins and tanagers that I photographed on my February visit to Trinidad and Tobago.
The three manakin species in these photographs all engage in lekking. Females choose a partner at the lek, mate, and then depart to build a nest and raise chicks entirely on their own. Males contribute only sperm. This behavior places intense sexual selection pressure on males, driving the evolution of exotic plumage, acrobatic movements, and multi-male performances. I make no comment on potential parallels in human behavior.
Blue-backed manakin (Chiroxiphia pareola) males engage in cooperative lekking. Two males — typically an older dominant individual and a younger subordinate — perform a dance in which they jump over each other on a branch. The female observes, and when she is sufficiently engaged, the subordinate male withdraws and the dominant male completes the mating. In these photos you see one of the males perched on the lekking branch and then performing the jump.
JAC: Here’s a video showing a related lekking species, the Blue manakin (Chiroxiphia caudata) and their remarkable courtship dance. Look at those males lined up, each trying to show he’s a better jumper than the others!
Each white-bearded manakin (Manacus manacus) male clears a small patch of forest floor down to bare earth and maintains one or more bare sticks above it as perches. The display involves rapid leaps between these sticks and the ground accompanied by a shockingly loud cracking sound – it sounds like someone snapping their fingers right next to your ear. It’s produced by the wings connecting above the back, which is enabled by a limb muscle, the scapulohumeralis caudalis, that is the fastest skeletal muscle in any vertebrate. Here you see two white-bearded manakins perched on their lekking branches and preparing to jump to the ground.
JAC: I also added a video of the white-bearded manakin courtship:
The golden-headed manakin (Ceratopipra erythrocephala) male’s lek display includes a “moonwalk” in which it slides backward along a perch. Sadly, I didn’t observe the moonwalk. In these photos the male has the bright yellow head, and you can see a female behind the male in the second photo.
JAC: Here’s a golden-headed manakin male courting, though I can’t really say it’s a “moonwalk.” They also pop their wings.
This gorgeous bay-headed tanager (Tangara gyrola) stopped me dead in my tracks. It has microstructures in its feathers that scatter light to intensify its hues. In addition, a hidden layer of white or black feathers beneath the outer plumage acts as a reflective backing, boosting the brightness and saturation of the visible colors:
The palm tanager (Thraupis palmarum) is one of the most common birds in Trinidad. The second photo is of the nest, which was conveniently located in a planter on our hotel’s balcony:
White-lined tanager (Tachyphonus rufus) males are glossy black, while females are rufous.
I accidentally hit “publish” instead of “save” when I was preparing today’s Hili dialogue (most of it got done yesterday afternoon), so subscribers might have gotten an incomplete email yesterday and none today.
If you want to read the completed one, click on the screenshot below.
Welcome to the Lusty Month of May! It’s May 1, 2026, and we should all be singing this song from “Camelot”. This version of “The Lusty Month of May’ comes from the stage cast and is sung by Julie Andrews, who unaccountably declined to appear in the movie and was replaced by Vanessa Redgrave.
Apparently the British equivalent, “No Trousers Day,” was three months ago, and a lot of people rode the tube sans trousers (“pants” in the UK means “underpants”). Here’s a video:
A picture of the returned Vashti. What a sweet hen! Pictures will follow shortly to address the doubters.
Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the April 1 Wikipedia page.
Da Nooz:
*I don’t like redistricting–creating new Congressional districts and often new seats in the House–unless it’s based on changes in population size and density. There are mathematically sophisticated ways of redistricting that divide up states based purely on population numbers. Now, however, it’s often done to create ethnic “voter equity” or to increase one party’s seats in Congress. I don’t like either form of gerrymandering, and now, according to the NYT, the Democrats are regretting having started the process a decade ago.
Their party began a major push for independent commissions to draw congressional districts after President Trump and Republicans swept into power in 2017. Democrats, panicked about Republicans’ structural gains after the 2010 census, succeeded in enacting such commissions in Colorado, Michigan and Virginia, while Republicans mostly kept politically minded state legislators in charge of drawing maps in red states.
Now Democrats are finding that their old good-government policies have become bad politics.
Their idealistic push for fairness is, it turns out, no match for the Republicans’ maximalist redistricting effort. The independent commissions that Democrats pushed for eight years ago, along with ones in Washington State and California that predated Mr. Trump’s rise, have complicated the party’s redistricting fight.
After the Supreme Court’s ruling on Wednesday to further weaken the Voting Rights Act, a decision likely to lead to a rush of new maps before the 2028 election if not this year, blue-state Democrats are finding themselves regretting that they had sought to give away redistricting power to outside commissions.
“One of the lessons of the Trump era is a failure of imagination about how many norms they would break,” said Phil Weiser, the Democratic attorney general of Colorado who backed his state’s independent redistricting referendum in 2018 and is now supporting a ballot initiative to undo it. “You could say we should have been thinking ahead. We didn’t foresee this.”
At Mr. Trump’s urging, Republican lawmakers in the last year have redrawn congressional maps to help their party in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina. Democrats responded in California and Virginia by asking voters to undo past referendums that created independent redistricting bodies. In both blue states, voters agreed.
Then came the events of this week, when the Supreme Court ruling appeared to give Republicans new opportunities and Florida Republicans passed a new map designed to flip four Democratic seats.
I repeat: there should be no redistricting except to balance population sizes among Congressional districts. The Republicans started the latest round of violating that principle, but now the Democrats are catching up. It’s the tragedy of the commons, with the commons being states. Who knows what effect this will have on the midterms. I still think the House will flip to Democratic in November, but I’m not betting on it.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) told Republican House candidates Wednesday that he plans to suspend next month’s primary elections so state lawmakers can pass a new congressional map first, according to two people with knowledge of the calls.
The move follows a Supreme Court decision earlier in the day that found Louisiana had unlawfully discriminated by race when it created a second majority-Black congressional district under legal pressure. A new Louisiana map would position Republicans to gain one or two seats in the midterms as they fight to hold their narrow majority in the House.
A spokesperson for Landry declined to comment on his plans for the primary. But the governor, along with Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill (R), said in a statement Thursday that the Supreme Court’s decision no longer requires the state to hold “congressional elections under the current map.”
“Yesterday’s historic Supreme Court victory for Louisiana has an immediate consequence for the State,” Landry and Murrill said in the statement. “We are working together with the Legislature and the Secretary of State’s office to develop a path forward.”
The 6-3 decision limited a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act and could lead to Black Democrats across the South losing their House seats. Most states are unlikely to be able to redraw districts in time for the November midterm elections, but Louisiana could be one of the exceptions.
Election officials sent ballots to overseas voters weeks ago. It’s unclear whether the governor’s suspension would apply only to primaries for the six House seats, or include other elections, including the heated Senate primary that pits Sen. Bill Cassidy (R) against Rep. Julia Letlow (R). Louisiana has six House seats, two of which are held by Democrats.
If Landry suspends the House primaries but not other contests, primary voters would have to go to
Here are Louisiana’s congressional districts, which are clearly gerrymandered. If you go to the article link above, you’ll see they match almost exactly the area with a proportion of blacks above 50%. Apparently the Republicans want to dismantle that, pronto.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills on Thursday dropped her bid for the U.S. Senate, pointing to a lack of campaign funds to keep up in one of the most competitive races in the country that quickly became a reflection of an internal party debate over which candidates can win in high-profile contests.
The move now thrusts political newcomer Graham Platner, an oyster farmer almost no one knew a year ago, as the expected Democratic front-runner against longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins, whose seat Democrats are targeting in their effort to win control of the closely divided Senate.
“While I have the drive and passion, commitment and experience, and above all else – the fight – to continue on, I very simply do not have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today: the financial resources,” Mills said in a statement. “That is why today I have made the incredibly difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the United States Senate.”
. . . Mills, a two-term governor and longtime Maine politician, was seen as one of Democrats’ top 2026 recruits when she entered the Senate race last year. She had the backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and prominent left-leaning advocacy groups hoping to unseat Collins in the chamber, which has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who caucus with the Democrats.
. . . Meanwhile, Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, both of New York, said they would work with Platner to defeat Collins.
“Our North Star is winning a Democratic Senate majority, and over the past year, Senate Democrats have carved out multiple paths to do that,” their statement said.
Two male runners who were discovered fraudulently competing on behalf of female colleagues in a top South African marathon have been disqualified and could face two-year bans from the event, along with the two women.
The two women runners swapped their bibs with the two men, who both finished within the top 10 in the women’s half-marathon at the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town last Sunday, initially denying those slots to two female runners.
But the cheating was discovered by a marathon board member, and the men were disqualified from their 7th and 10th place finishes. Two women were belatedly recognized instead.
Larissa Parekh was accused of having Luke Jacobs run on her behalf, and Tegan Garvey was accused of having Nic Bradfield run on her behalf, marathon board member Stuart Mann said. All four runners face disciplinary action that could include two-year bans from the event, Mann said.
The annual Two Oceans race is one of South Africa’s iconic marathons and includes a 56-kilometer (34.7-mile) ultramarathon and a 21.1-kilometer (13.1-mile) half-marathon. The event attracts over 16,000 participants and finishing among the top 10 is a significant achievement for most runners.
Click the screenshot to go to an Instagram report. One of the men posted a picture of himself (below) on social media wearing a woman’s bib, which revealed the deception. I guess that both men and women ran together, which might make it harder to detect that the two imposters were in fact men. What it shows, of course, is the average advantage that biological men have over biological women in sports. The women who gave their bibs to men should be banned for at least two years.
*A gigantic Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) named “Chonkers” is grabbing all the headlines in San Francisco. where he’s often found chilling on Pier 39.. Weighing in at a full ton, he’s twice the weight of the usual California sea lions (Zalophus californianus).
San Francisco’s newest star isn’t part of a show, and you won’t find him at the ballpark or the basketball court, but he’s large and in charge – literally.
“Chonkers,” an estimated 2,000-pound Steller sea lion at Pier 39, is attracting visitors from far and wide.
“He’s massive,” Linda Helkin of Brisbane, Australia, said Tuesday. “Just lying there, didn’t have a care in the world.”
“Chonkers” is noticeably larger than the California sea lions that usually hang out at Pier 39. Large adult male California sea lions generally weigh between 800 to 1,000 pounds, while Steller sea lions are about double in size.
“Chonkers” has been hanging around Pier 39 for the last month or so. According to the Pier 39 harbor masters, he’s come to visit occasionally over the last few years.
Pier 39’s Sheila Chandor said he’s likely here now because the bay offers plenty to feed on.
“Right now, the fact that he’s staying this long means that there’s a lot of food source close by to where we are,” Chandor said. “It’s a good sign. It means the bay is healthy, we’ve got plenty of fish around.”
According to the harbor masters, the best time to get a look at “Chonkers” is in the morning until roughly 9:30 a.m. and in the later afternoon and evening. During the middle of the day, he’s usually out in the bay fishing.
Here’s a video. Look at that chonk!
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is attentive to the garden, but I suspect she’s speaking metaphorically:
Hili: The same thing again.
Andrzej: What do you mean?
Hili: Weeds grow faster than grass.
In Polish:
Hili: Znów to samo.
Ja: Co masz na myśli?
Hili: Chwasty rosną szybciej niż trawa.
Masih applauds the expulsion of the Iranian football chief from Canada. I’m not sure I agree that sports should be a political football (pardon the pun).
Iran football chief expelled from Canada in airport showdown over IRGC ties!
I welcome the deportation of Mehdi Taj from Canada sends alongside millions of Iranians because we are united against sportswashing.
From Luana. It’s Springtime at the U of C, and the pro-Pals have created their parallel university, complete with public prayers:
🚨 Day Three of UChicago’s “Popular University” featured ICE intervention training, a student repression panel with recently arrested students, a Rojava reportback, “Palestine Before 10/7″ with FJP, and “Anti-Black Structural Violence + Radical Resistance.” pic.twitter.com/Fvm34Fj3eI
🚨 Day Two of UChicago’s “Popular University for Gaza” has professors teaching “Iran War + US Empire,” the Grenadan Revolution, ICE resistance, political prisoners in “Babylon,” and more.
From J. K. Rowling, who noticed that people have trouble saying that the Golders Green attack in London affectsed Jews. Even mentioning the affected group is apparently verboten:
Why do leaders of the Greens have such difficulty naming the particular demographic likely to be most ‘shaken’ and ‘affected’ by two men from their community having their throats cut on a London street? pic.twitter.com/sKMA4p1bre
After writing the lyrics to "Song of the Murdered Jewish People," this Jewish poet, Ithak Katzenelson was himself gassed. You can hear the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrWQ…
As I mentioned, a hen mallard came into Botany Pond yesterday and quickly took up with Armon, with him being protective and driving away other drakes. Could this have been Vashti returning after she left the pond with her brood? The only way to tell is to compare bill photos, as hens have identifying dark marks on their bill. So I did the comparison, which you can see below.
Vashti: left side of bill (on nest)
New hen: left side of bill. same black markings on upper bill, black bill tip, and freckles on left side of bill:
Vashti: right side of bill:
New hen: right side of bill. This is the most dispositive to me: note the cloudy darkness on the right side with a small black clump on the bottom, along with the line of “freckles” extending ventrally.
This is good enough for me, and I am calling her “Vashti” again. Moreover, she’s back with Armon (they bonded very quickly after the new hen arrived at the pond yesterday), and they were showing breeding behaviors this morning (head bowing, etc.). My guess is that Vashti is going to essay a second brood.
The sad part is that Vashti almost certainly lost her brood after wandering away from Botany Pond, and came back to try again. The good bit is that she’s trying again, and I will be here to oversee the process again. And Armon is overseeing everything.
