Pocket Realities

Study Finds That Female Octopuses Intentionally Throw Debris at Males Who Harass Them:

Scientists have discovered that female octopuses will deliberately hurl shells and other debris at males they feel are harassing them.

Amazon’s PAC is now backing Republicans who voted to nullify Trump’s election loss:

After top leaders of the Republican Party aided and abetted an actual damn coup in 2021, mostly by promoting hoax claims meant to discredit the election and justify Republican efforts to nullify its results, a number of United States corporations announced that they would no longer support lawmakers who participated in the effort.

This was because a good number of U.S. corporations did not want to be seen as backing the overthrow of U.S. democracy. Our corporate betters are fine when it comes to backing politicians that support pretty much any vile act you can name, whether it be political corruption, prisoner torture, or the slow destruction of the planet’s oceans, lands, and atmosphere, but supporting the violent overthrow of American government was a bit too on-the-nose for any company that depends on the wider public to buy their products. We finally found where the line was drawn: You’re not allowed to participate in an attempt to overthrow the government.

Except you are, because the corporate promises to not back lawmakers who engaged in a scheme to undermine democracy lasted (checks notes) zero election cycles. That’s right, zero.

The online buy-everything company Amazon, under the control of billionaire Jeff Bezos, was one of those companies that promised to cut support for lawmakers who voted to override the voting results of the 2020 presidential election. Judd Legum of Popular Information now reports that Amazon quietly resumed donations to those same lawmakers as of last September. Amazon’s PAC donated $17,500 to nine House Republicans who voted to overturn the election results in September, even though none of those Republicans have expressed remorse for their votes or for promoting the hoax election claims that they used to justify their votes.

Lawyer in Florida who fought against helmet laws killed on motorcycle while not wearing a helmet | Boing Boing:

The most shadenfraude form of FAFO.

jwz: The Terrible New Normal:

Because there is basically no chance that things are going to materially improve any time in the next 2, 3 years, or maybe ever. There comes a time when “I’m just waiting for things to get better” is self-delusion. Because they aren’t going to get better. This is the new normal. Forever.