The Syrian Arabic word for a hamster is أبو جراب (abu jrab), where jrab refers to a pouch/saddlebag/tote. And abu often means “father of,” but can also function as a general honorific (like “mister”). So it’s not too big a stretch to say the Syrian Arabic word for a hamster means “Mister Saddlebags”

The stock portfolios of more than two dozen members of Congress outperformed the market in 2024.

This isn't due to luck or skill.

Lawmakers can use privileged information to trade stocks while they’re supposed to be working for you.

Make no mistake, it’s legalized corruption.

How is this okay?

WIRED: “It’s a heist — real federal auditors are horrified by DOGE… DOGE has posted some of its ‘findings’ on its website, many of which have been revealed to be errors.”

www.wired.com/story/federa...

Sharp analysis of Senate Democrats “playing a bad hand badly” from @davidrlurie.bsky.social, especially compared with the planning and strategizing by Dem AGs. They were organized, prepared, and unified. They knew what was coming, and it wasn’t business as usual.
open.substack.com/pub/aaronrup...

Would like to report some gang tattoos.

Spring is getting ready to sproing and these handsome birds are back and shouting from every available perch.
Red-winged Blackbird

In desperate need of therapy and intervention

John Hemingway was a fighter pilot in a vastly outnumbered Royal Air Force, one of the “few” hailed by Churchill that saved Britain in the early stages of World War II, and was an Allied flight controller during the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944. He died at 105 on Monday. nyti.ms/3RnD51z

Between the ages of 13 and 27, Laura Delano was prescribed 19 psychiatric medications, often in combinations of three or four at a time, until she decided to walk away from the treatments altogether. Now, she’s hoping to create a road map for others to follow.

There is no power in the Constitution or case law to undo a pardon, but President Trump on Sunday claimed pardons issued by former President Biden were void, in a social media post that embraced a baseless right-wing conspiracy theory.

An assemblywoman who leads the Brooklyn Democratic Party and who has been a key backer of Mayor Eric Adams endorsed his main rival in the upcoming mayoral election, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, on Sunday.

“There’s a little bit more laying down and resting.” Six African Penguins at the New England Aquarium in Boston have made a new home on an island designed to address the aches and pains of aging.

Suzanne Collins, the author of “The Hunger Games,” is back with another prequel. “Sunrise on the Reaping,” which is about Katniss Everdeen’s mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, comes out March 18.

You might be a spider fan if a spider on the counter inspires you to reach for a camera. #invert
Tan Jumping Spider (Platycryptus undatus)

Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky sharply disagreed with a decision by Gov. Gavin Newsom of California to host Steve Bannon on Newsom’s new podcast this week, saying Bannon’s voice should not be elevated “on any platform ever, anywhere.”

“we have to be able to commit war crimes to win wars” is the type of thing a 16-year-old dumbass says and — well, yeah, hegseth is basically a 16-year-old dumbass

From @theathletic.bsky.social: St. John’s men's basketball is pursuing its first tournament title in over 25 years and is ranked sixth in the U.S. How does the legendary coach Rick Pitino keep winning? They're playing basketball of a bygone era — and it's working.