Bonne Maman is yummy. I try not to eat too much of their cherry preserves.

The Republican-led House on Thursday passed a bill that seeks to codify President Donald Trump’s executive order that renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Though all Democrats and one Republican — Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska — opposed the bill, Republicans narrowly passed the measure, 211-206, sending it to the Senate for a vote. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia introduced the GOP bill after Trump signed an executive order in January that ordered Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to “take all appropriate actions to rename the Gulf” and update a database of the “official names for geographic features in the 50 states." Democrats, meanwhile, accused Republicans of ignoring more important matters while taking the time to evaluate this bill. "What might members of Congress under this temporary Republican majority be debating on the floor today?" House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., asked during debate ahead of the vote. "Would it be legislation about the economy? Something about healthcare, anything about social security? Perhaps something on public safety, maybe national security matters? Anything to bring to life the American dream for hardworking American taxpayers?" No," Jeffries continued, "What Republicans have decided to spend this entire legislative day doing is to debate a bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico.” While Trump does not need congressional approval to ensure the name change is reflected across the federal government, the bill would prevent a future president from easily reversing the move through executive action. Bacon said Tuesday that he plans to vote "no," calling the legislative effort "juvenile." “We’re the United States of America. We’re not Kaiser Wilhelm’s Germany or Napoleon’s France. I just — we’re better than this. It just sounds like a sophomore thing to do," Bacon told CNN. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-vote-bill-codifying-trump-gulf-america-mexico-executive-order-rcna205501

My Dad gave me two pieces of good advice- keep your feet on the ground- and it pays to be a realist.

Denmark's foreign minister says he will summon the US ambassador to address a report that Washington's spy agencies have been told to focus on Greenland amid Donald Trump's threats to take over the island. "It worries me greatly because we do not spy on friends," Lars Løkke Rasmussen said, responding to the report in The Wall Street Journal. According to the newspaper, US spy agencies were told to focus efforts on the semi-autonomous country's independence movement, and American goals to extract mineral resources there. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accused the Journal of attempts to "undermine" President Trump "by politicizing and leaking classified information". While not denying the report, she accused the newspaper of "breaking the law and undermining our nation's security and democracy". Rasmussen, who was attending an EU ministers meeting in Warsaw, said the report was "somewhat disturbing". "We are going to call in the US acting ambassador for a discussion at the foreign ministry to see if we can confirm this information," Rasmussen said. "It doesn't seem to be strongly rejected by those who speak out. That worries me." https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0eley5gy8wo

@Steve-Miller said in My new stereo system: @Mark I listened to that album so much when it first came out that I wore it out. I even had my artist friend airbrush a copy of that album cover on the refrigerator door in my first camper. Haven’t thought about it in years. Time to listen again! Lately I’ve been thinking about buying a vintage system. Nothing fancy- probably a Pioneer SX-535 like the one I bought in 1975 for $36/month. Been watching vintage stereo YouTube videos and appears that they made a ton of them, they’re reliable, parts are available and they’re easy to service. The soft blue backlight would set the perfect mood for listening to the Surf’s up album! Check out Sounds Classic in Rockford, IL. They really have some nice, fully restored, vintage audio equipment. https://www.soundsclassic.com/index.html

I didn't follow the links in the article, but if you want to see more submissions to the contest, click here: https://www.gdtfoto.de/seiten/gdt-nature-photographer-of-the-year-2025.html

Edited to add I know nothing about Tokyo. I could draft a floorplan for a 500 sq ft New York studio that would be a perfect studio. I could do the the same with a New York one bedroom if I had 750 sq ft for it. My vote? I'll have to abstain.

History suggests that the systems will not be maintained until there are several disasters. But the disasters could be avoided if voters understood the importance of their water supply, and made clean water a priority. We will probably have to go through the former before we get the latter.

The Government Quietly Stopped Bird Flu Testing. Experts Say That’s a Huge Mistake Risks remain dangerously high, and health professionals say we shouldn’t confuse the government’s silence for safety. https://www.yahoo.com/news/government-quietly-stopped-bird-flu-102700502.html

Yet another housing problem that could be solved but won't be generally as the homeless problem extends to people into their 90's and has for many years.

MAGA governance does not work. The world is getting a real life example of this and they’re not going for it.

Keep it classy, MAGAs.