Italians Have a “Crabs” Problem

Relax!  This is not going to be some dissertation on the problems with those little parasites that like to inhabit the hairy regions of a human’s body.

But a dissertation will follow the news…

Italy is sending in eight-armed reinforcements against a crab that won’t quit. In the Adriatic, scientists have released about 130,000 lab-bred baby octopuses in a bid to curb exploding numbers of Atlantic blue crabs that are wrecking fishing gear and wiping out lucrative clam and mussel beds—damage that farm group Coldiretti pegs at more than $230 million so far, the Telegraph reports. The “Octo-Blu” project, led by Bologna University and the Emilia-Romagna regional government, is banking on a simple food-chain fix: once grown, each octopus could devour up to four crabs a day.

The plan is far from a sure thing. The tiny “paralarvae” face a mortality rate of more than 99%, though researchers have sunk artificial dens to boost their odds. Still, even a single crab eaten can matter, notes project scientist Oliviero Mordenti, who points out that one female crab can produce up to 2 million eggs. Blue crabs have already forced some aquaculture businesses to shut and have been found 100 miles up the Po River, suggesting they’re spreading to avoid overcrowding, which leads to cannibalism.

“We chose the octopus because, in the wild, it is a formidable predator of crustaceans,” says Antonio Casalini, a University of Bologna aquaculture expert. “We are not introducing a new species but working on strengthening the population of a native species already naturally present in the Adriatic,” Casalini says, per Scientific American. Italy is also pushing a culinary counterattack, stocking blue crab in shops and on menus, but diners so far haven’t been able to eat their way out of the problem.

Now for my thoughts….

First maybe if they would stop killing thousands of octopus daily to satisfy their ‘culinary delights’ they might not be have such a problem.

Second, they eat urchins, snails, offal meat and such but not crabs…..that seems crazy….ask anyone down here on the Gulf Coast and they will tell you that blue crab is some of the best crab meat around.

Third, if they cannot bring themselves to eat the crab then fishermen could make a killing catching them and sending them to the Southern states…..Southerns will gladly eat them if a smile….and it would drive the price of local crabs down….another positive side effect.  The problem here is that it could damage local crab industry and put a strain on it.

Fourth someone needs to start a new Italian tradition with the crabs….try them you’ll like them….after all monk fish was not eaten in the past and look at the popularity today.

After I wrote this draft on Monday more to this saga has been reported…..it looks like they will try #3 on my list….

Italian fishermen for two years incinerated most of the invasive Atlantic blue crabs caught in the Po River Delta south of Venice. Few Italians had an appetite for the alien predator blamed for decimating their prized Manila clams.

While experiments in containment continue, including the release of tens of thousands of octopus predators, the industry’s response has been shifting to find new markets for the crustaceans. The strategy is already salvaging the livelihood of some fishermen and, some hope, may even rehabilitate the much-maligned crab’s image in Italy.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/italians-enter-uneasy-truce-invasive-040730509.html

May I suggest exporting them to the UK they seem to be fish-centric and they might enjoy the crab meat.

That does it for me for this week…..I hope has a great weekend….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Donny Will Quit After Midterms

More juicy bullshit from Carville

There is always someone on the interweb that is predicted this or that around Donny….his health, his mental problems and so on…..but this one I found and thought I would post to get reactions if possible.

The Mouth of the South, Carville, is predicting that Donny will bow out after the midterms and Vance will advance to the seat of power…

The so-called “Ragin’ Cajun” James Carville has sensationally predicted that US president Donald Trump will resign from office following this November’s midterm elections, which are widely-tipped to yield a disastrous result for the Republican party.

Carville, who was the strategic brain behind presidential candidates such as Bill Clinton, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, told the Daily Beast Podcast: “He’s going to walk away.”

Trump simply lacks the strength to face the crushing defeat headed his way, Carville argues: “He’s a soft man.” A medical expert has also suggested that Trump’s health is ‘getting worse’ after spotting several worrying signs

Concerns have also mounted over Trump’s health, with noticeable signs including drowsiness, swollen ankles, and dark bruises on his hands.

Current projections indicate that the Democrats have a 76.9% chance of securing a majority of seats in the House, a number that has climbed consistently in recent months. The president will bear the brunt of his party’s collapse, Carville says: “They’re going to blame [Trump] – the whole culture is going to change. The whole conversation is going to change.”

https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-will-quit-after-37623128

Seriously?

This dinosaur of past Dem glory is smoking crack.

Keep in mind that Carville pukes up something and the media runs to him….only because he had some success in the 90s….today he is a grumpy old man that carves attention.

This is a brain fart of an aging pundit that desperately wants to stay in the news so he belches out bullshit every chance he gets.

Does anyone seriously think Donny will give up his stranglehold on the country voluntarily?

I don’t….but what do I know….some aging pundit with more mouth than brains just keeps puking up fanciful bullshit.

Please do not hold your breath.

Please let me know what you think of this pile of manure.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

To Fight The Imbecilic Fight

There is so much happening around Donny that the Dems could be focused on….but no they had rather join in the imbecilic fight among themselves.

As usual the Dems are proving just how worthless they truly are with this tired discourse on progressives.

There was an opinion piece in USAToday that highlights this useless fight.

Once again, Democrats are playing into Republican talking points. It almost seems like they’d rather incite fights among factions of their own party than try to keep the opposition from controlling the narrative, or remind voters of the disastrous Republican reign of the past two years.

In an ABC News interview that aired Aug. 9, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, was asked about comments former Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong had made in 2020, saying the country should “cancel Thanksgiving.”

“And I have a local city councilman that has this saying ‘Woke 1 was crazy,’ and I think that what’s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now,” Ocasio-Cortez said, referencing an X post by New York City Councilmember Chi Ossé.

I don’t think Hong’s comments in 2020 were smart – I don’t necessarily think they’re why she lost the Aug. 11 primary election, but I also concede that they were the perfect fodder for Republicans to attack her with. I’m just frustrated that, of all the things happening in this country, members of the left are choosing to critique one another instead of everything happening during President Donald Trump’s second term.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/08/24/woke-meaning-republicans-democrats-redefine-policy/91341106007/

Come on people the president is at a weak moment and there are midterms on the horizon and yet instead being on the attack they are slap fighting among themselves and using tired dinosaur strategists from the past to do some of the hard lifting in the media.

Once again the Dems prove just how incompetent they are and the need for the progressives to thrown their worthless butts out.

This fight is doing nothing but taking away from the fuck ups of Donny and making people think back to the 1950s when they should be laser focused on the future.

Will this be a winning tactic for 2028?

I think not….I think they are handing the GOP just what they need to make a successful run in 2028.

Did I miss anything?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Do Unto Others….But First

The GOP has been accusing Dems of trying to fix elections or allowing immigrants to run  rampant or well you get the picture….but as far as voter fraud goes there have been more GOpers caught than Dems….and the GOP is not above some disgusting dirty tricks to win elections.

This one caught my eye this morning….

A Missouri House primary race allegedly came with a side of hardball that crossed into felony territory. Federal prosecutors say Republican candidate Thomas Ross schemed for weeks to plant cocaine and Adderall on his primary opponent, Louise Secker, in an attempt to sink her campaign, the Missouri Independent reports. Ross, who won the GOP nomination for the state’s 161st House District by just 32 votes last month, was charged Wednesday with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. Investigators say Ross’ former campaign manager told police about the plot, saying the candidate told him to plant the drugs in Secker’s purse or vehicle while she was out of state on vacation, reports the AP.

According to an FBI affidavit, the then–campaign manager went to Joplin police in July with a glove holding a baggie of cocaine and an Adderall pill, and shared text messages in which the pair allegedly used code phrases like “the substance of the matter.” The manager later wore an FBI recording device to Ross’ home on July 31, less than a week before the Aug. 6 primary. He said he still had “the bag and addies” and could tip off police about drugs in Secker’s car. Ross allegedly replied, “If you can pull it off…pull it off.”

“The American people deserve confidence in an electoral process that has served our nation for generations,” said R. Matthew Price, US Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, said in a news release. “Candidates are expected to conduct their campaigns with integrity, honesty, and respect for their opponents, allowing voters to make informed decisions without fear of misinformation or undue influence.” Peter Kinder, chairman of Missouri’s Republican Party, said the arrest was “serious and deeply troubling” and urged Ross to drop out of the race, the AP reports.

These are the types of people the morons among us are electing….

“Candidates are expected to conduct their campaigns with integrity, honesty, and respect for their opponent”….when was the last time a GOPer held to those characteristics?

If he decides to stay in the race he may just win….after all it is Missouri.

Anything to add?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Political Parties. Why?

Readers going to Daily Agitator has fallen off so I re-post this to hopefully generate some interest in my secondary blog.

AS the way that our political system is functioning is with 2 parties that are basically the same party just with minor differences but I ask why they are needed.

 

Political Parties, Why?

I would be interested in just what you think about the party system as it is today.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Quick Look At The Midterms

We are quickly closing in on the midterm elections and in some circles there seems to be optimism there will be some sort of blue wave and in others it is not so rosy predictions.

There is an op-ed that states that the GOP may have already won the midterms….

President Donald Trump is alarmed that Democrats may retake the House of Representatives during the upcoming midterm elections, which in turn would empower them to impeach him. Yet according to one expert, Democrats will not have an easy job gaining control of that legislative chamber, despite their seeming advantages.

“President Donald Trump’s low job approval ratings, coupled with large Democratic leads in generic congressional polling, have most analysts expecting the House to flip to team blue in November,” wrote Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, for The Washington Post on Wednesday. “That’s still the most likely outcome, but a seat-by-seat analysis reveals a tougher challenge for Democrats than the overall picture suggests.”

Olsen began by pointing out the raw numerical strength held by Republicans.

“Large midterm gains usually occur when the party in power loses seats that typically lean toward the other side. In 2018, Republicans held 25 House seats Hillary Clinton had carried two years earlier; they lost 22 of them,” Olsen wrote. “But thanks to increased polarization (and mid-cycle redistricting shenanigans), the GOP only holds eight seats won by Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024.”

He added, “Redistricting has also shifted the House map sharply in the GOP’s favor. The median House seat — the 218th seat required for House control — under the 2024 maps was Arizona’s 1st District, which Trump carried by 3.1 percentage points. Now it’s Virginia’s 1st District, which he won by 4.9 points. Winning that district plus every single House seat Trump carried by less than that will be a tall order.”

https://www.alternet.org/republicans-midterms-trouble-house/

I see where the author is coming from ….and I have saw a report that most Americans think that Donny and the Boyz are corrupt….and yes it is a poll a dubious result at best….but here is what was found…

Nearly 90% of Americans now believe there’s “widespread corruption” within the U.S. government, according to a recent poll.

The data came from a Gallup poll published Wednesday. For the survey, respondents were asked, “Is corruption widespread throughout the government in this country, or not?” According to Gallup, 89% of participants responded to the question with “Yes.”

That number, Gallup noted, was the highest it’s been in two decades. Additionally, the figure sat at 73% just two years earlier. That 16-point jump is the highest of any two-year span in the last 20 years.

That sentiment was shared among three major voting blocks, with 91% of Democrats, 90% of Independents, and a staggering 83% of Republicans believing in widespread corruption. Interestingly, Democrats saw a 15-point jump from the previous year. Republicans, on the other hand, had just a two-point increase, as 81% believed the government was corrupt in 2025.

(mediaite.com)

If the poll is accurate why on earth would people vote for the continuation of this blatant corruption?

I do not think this will make much difference when the vote comes around….do you?

But what about the Dems and the rise of progressives?

Personally I have written many times how useless and out of touch the Dems are and some are noticing just how bad it is….

For the first time in a long time, Democrats have some real energy behind them. We have candidates that people are really excited about, ideas that people are really excited about, and most of us hope that this will lead to us retaking the Senate and the House — which will allow us to do some real fucking important things, like keeping Trump from nominating a fourth personal Supreme Court justice should Thomas or Scalia retire. Yaaaaay!

But because we can never, ever have nice things, there are some people working to destroy that chance. What people, you ask? Democrats!

https://www.wonkette.com/p/hear-ye-hear-ye-a-few-house-dems

This situation does not bode well for the Dems in the upcoming midterms and definitely not for the 2028 elections.

If have asked this question many times….just what in Hell do Dems stand for?

So to say that I am optimistic about the midterm elections is a false assumption….if the Dems are successful then I shall be surprised but not thrilled.

How do you feel?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

US/Venezuela Oil Deal

Donny is all giddy about the new deal that he made with Venezuela… a deal worth millions….and as usual the claim is that this deal will lower gas prices….you know the usual bullshit.

President Trump and Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez have announced that Washington and Caracas have reached a major oil deal, which comes nearly nine months after the US attack on Venezuela to abduct President Nicolas Maduro.

Trump first announced the new oil deal, writing on Truth Social on Friday that the US, through a private business, has “secured majority US control of more than 65 BILLION BARRELS of proven Oil Reserves in Venezuela.”

The president claimed that the deal “greatly increases our Oil Supply, and will substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans, long into the future,” though any substantial increase in Venezuelan oil production will require billions of dollars in investment and years of work. Trump claimed the project will not come “at no cost to the American Taxpayer,” but it’s unclear where the funds for the necessary investments would come from.

In her announcement, Rodriguez claimed the deal involves “the development of 17 strategic fields, with a proven potential of 65 billion barrels of oil, an investment of more than $100 billion, and more than $209 billion in taxes for the State.”

A US State Department official speaking to TIME Magazine described the “private company” that has been granted access to the oil fields as a “joint project of the US government and an experienced private operator in Venezuela” and said that the company has the rights for 100 years, though in other comments Rodriguez said it was a 25-year deal.

Trump suggested on Sunday that he could fill the US strategic oil reserve with Venezuelan oil under the deal, though Venezuela’s current production levels are nowhere close to the US’s. Venezuela currently produces about 1.25 million barrels per day, and more than half already goes to the US, while the US produces 13.6 million barrels of crude oil per day.

“One of the things I am going to do with the Venezuelan Oil is fill up the Strategic National Reserves, which, because of Sleepy Joe Biden, has been virtually emptied. The ‘topping out’ process will begin very shortly, and is a Gift from Venezuela to the People of the United States,” Trump said.

Since the January 3 attack on Venezuela, the US has tightly controlled Venezuela’s oil trade, holding its revenue and cutting off oil shipments to Cuba, where the ramped-up US oil embargo has caused a devastating humanitarian crisis.

(antiwar.com)

The overall goal for the US, a fact sheet from the White House explained, is to ensure “a stable supply of low-cost oil that can facilitate refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve” at “no cost to the American taxpayer.”

I do not buy the con that is will cost the taxpayer nothing.

While refilling the US energy backstop won’t be quite that simple, the Trump administration has expressed confidence in Betancourt’s ability to deliver, calling him “a proven operator” and noting that NABEP already sits as the second-largest private oil producer in the country and aims to surpass Chevron (CVX), the leader.

The deal has also moved ahead rapidly, even as questions have emerged about Betancourt’s past. He rose to prominence in Venezuela as an ally of Hugo Chavez before a falling out with the regime. More recently, he faced criminal investigations around allegations of money laundering in Spain and Switzerland.

Just as figured…..yet another criminal….

Is this deal all it is cracked up to be?

I thinking it is not….how about you?

But that aside it looks like Donny has picked his next war….

Since regaining power last year, Donald Trump has been clear on his intent to establish military dominance in the Western Hemisphere. That has ranged from demanding favorable trade arrangements from regional partners to expressing the desire to either control or annex territories and whole nations. Along the way, he has revealed a steady fixation with combating drug traffickers, and has unleashed the full weight of U.S. military power to pursue those ends. But it’s only in recent days that this has turned into a clear policy framework. These actions in Ecuador are a preview of a wider campaign that looks poised to quickly grow in the coming weeks.

It wasn’t until late August that the full extent of military involvement in the region started coming into view. Juan Jaramillo, the governor of Ecuador’s Esmeraldas province, located near the Colombian border, revealed that Green Berets from the 7th Special Forces Group were conducting joint operations against cartels with Ecuadorian troops. Soon after, two ships—an American destroyer and an amphibious transport dock carrying Marines sent to the region explicitly to fight drug traffickers—arrived in Ecuador’s waters. These maneuvers coincided with fresh sanctions against various individuals alleged to be involved in drug trafficking.

https://newrepublic.com/article/214958/trump-new-war-latin-america

Looks like Donny has found his excuse for more direct US involvement….it is as tired as the Israeli bullshit about nukes in Iran.

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

There Are Polls And Then There Are Polls

Polls the life sustaining info that pundits live and die by….I personally do not believe half the polls I read (I know I quote them from time to time but I also make it known that I think they are nothing more than a snapshot of the day they are taken).

That brings me to the recent election in Wisconsin where progressive Hong takes on Crowley and since Hong was leading by 20 points it was a major upset when she lost….but was it?

A poll of Los Angeles voters released last week found Mayor Karen Bass leading Councilmember Nithya Raman by a wide and growing margin. Days earlier, a poll of Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary showed democratic socialist Francesca Hong walloping Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley by more than 20 percentage points.

There were problems with both.

Crowley went on to comfortably defeat Hong in Wisconsin’s primary. And other polling of the Los Angeles race has shown a much tighter contest between Bass and Raman.

This wasn’t just another case of polling getting it wrong. These polls were fake. So was the polling company.

In response to inquiries from the Los Angeles Times, Median Strategies said it was all a test.

​​“Median Strategies was created as a short term social experiment to examine how purported polling information could enter and spread through the political information ecosystem without independent verification,” the company said in an email to the Times. “We are not seeking publicity or attribution for the individuals involved and are declining interviews.”

The experiment worked, at least to some extent. The California Post reported on the Los Angeles poll, declaring in a now-deleted headline that voters who had supported reality TV star Spencer Pratt in the primary could decide the election for Bass. Her campaign celebrated the results on social media before later deleting the post.

A fake poll made real news. What does that say about political polling?

A test!?  WTF?

Why give false information?

My first thought was to influence betting on the race.

Now we can see why I do not trust polls and then I ask how many others have tried this ‘test’?

The voter should not depend on polls for their information on their decision of a vote.

I will look at any poll results now with skepticism….I had pretty much done that before but now I will take a harder stance.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is SCOTUS Running Sacred?

I have not been the kindest of critics of SCOTUS and that has not changed I still think they are nothing more than political hacks.

I did read an article that I found interesting if it is accurate….

…

The court’s action, although temporary, raised the deepest concern about the intentions of Chief Justice John Roberts and the “conservative” bloc (whose version of conservatism no longer extends to upholding legal precedents or constitutional norms).

Americans rightly worry that the court will allow or even encourage President Donald Trump to deny voting rights, intimidate voters, and tamper with balloting, if only because the court majority has so relentlessly expanded his authority and exempted him from ordinary oversight.

In one decision after another, they have awarded him the powers and immunities of a monarch in a casual manner that would have made the founders retch.

Indeed, the majority has consistently lent its authority and reputation to his dictatorial ambitions, while increasing the power of the wealthy in politics and diminishing or eliminating the protections afforded to society’s least powerful groups. Making many of these bad decisions worse is the justices’ recent habit of issuing important rulings on the “shadow docket,” unsigned and unexplained, which undermines their integrity and shields them from criticism. It is hard to know how to evaluate a decision when no logic or law is offered to undergird its validity.

It would not be unlike the Roberts right-wingers to upend this election with a shadow docket ruling, a cowardly maneuver they have adopted in more than two dozen cases since Trump returned to the White House — and ruled in his favor in more than three out of four.

https://www.alternet.org/supreme-court-mail-in/

Roberts has seemingly been doing Donny’s work for him in recent rulings and some think that could bite them in the ass come midterm elections….if that is true then could Roberts’ recent dissenting opinion be a false flag to make them look more neutral?

Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court’s liberals on Monday in a dispute over the planned White House ballroom, warning that his colleagues’ ruling threatens Congress’ control of federal spending. In a six-page dissent, Roberts said the $400 million project is “likely unlawful” because lawmakers never explicitly signed off on funding, reports the Hill, and he rejected the Trump administration’s claim that the work qualifies as routine White House upkeep. The dissent marks a rare break for Roberts from Trump’s claims to executive power, notes CNN, with the chief justice borrowing a line from Winston Churchill: “‘We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us’,” adding, “All the more reason to ensure that those responsible follow the rules in deciding what to tear down and what to build up at the People’s House.”

The 5-4 majority didn’t decide whether the ballroom itself is legal. Instead, it ruled that a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation lacked standing to sue, saying her objections amounted to a simple dislike of the project. That cleared the way for above-ground construction to resume on what the administration now calls a national security upgrade. Roberts countered that the plaintiff’s long involvement in historic preservation and her interest in the White House as it currently stands make her injury concrete enough to get into court. “The White House is not just any building,” he wrote, and the decision is “no victory for the separation of powers.”

I realize this is just a minor thing but it comes when they are most worried about the midterms….so is this just a game for popularity (or as close to it as they could come in this short time)?

Is this just smoke blown up our butts?

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

BiBi Finally Got His Way

After many years of fabricated stories about Iran on a wide array of BS Israel finally found an idiot in the White House that was stupid enough to do everything BiBi wanted….go to war with Iran.

And now he boasts of that achievement….

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has boasted of his efforts to convince the US to launch a war against Iran, crediting his frequent appearances on US television networks and his “intimate knowledge” of US leaders.

Netanyahu made the comments Sunday night on Israel’s Channel 14, and a clip of his appearance was posted on X by the account Clash Report, which Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi later shared.

The Israeli leader said that he had been against Iran for “nearly 40 years” and that it took him a long time to get the Israeli security establishment and the US on board.

“It took a long time to bring the US in,” he said, according to Channel 14. “I was able to do this because I had close to a thousand hours on American television, influence in the United States, and intimate knowledge of all its leaders – both those who support us and those who do not.”

The New York Times reported in April that 17 days before the US and Israel launched the war on February 28, Netanyahu presented President Trump with an intelligence briefing at the White House and made a “hard sell” for the war. The report said that Netanyahu had been “pressing for months” for the US to agree to a major attack on the Islamic Republic.

Sources told the Times that during the briefing, Netanyahu made a series of predictions about the potential war that proved to be wrong, including the idea that Iran was ripe for regime change, that its ballistic missile program could be destroyed within weeks, that it would be too weak to close the Strait of Hormuz, and that Iran’s missile strikes on US interests in regional countries would be minimal.

Responding to Netanyahu’s comments about his influence on the US, Aragchi said that the Israeli leader was openly bragging about how he “suckered” the US into the war.

“In Hebrew, Netanyahu openly crows that he suckered the US Administration into a war on Iran on behalf of Israel. Netanyahu explicitly laughs about how he ‘influenced’ America through 1,000 hours of airtime on US networks,” the Iranian diplomat wrote on X. “In English, he praises POTUS’

(antiwar.com)

Now that BiBi got his way what has the US accomplished?

Let’s see….soaring gas and food prices, weapons depletion, and a world that is laugh it’s ass off at just how gullible this moron is.

He, Donny and BiBi, will be the death of us all eventually if this charade keeps going.

I am disgusted now….someone else talk…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”