The Retired Commodore

06/20/2026

:'(

A devastating ecological tragedy is unfolding in one of the most remote places on Earth. A highly pathogenic strain of H5 bird flu has swept through a critical sub-Antarctic breeding sanctuary, wiping out thousands of newborn marine mammals.

According to a sobering study published by the Australian Antarctic Program, an estimated 13,359 southern elephant seal pups have died from the virus out of a total island population of 17,364. This means a catastrophic 76% of the season's baby seals perished, with mortality rates in some individual colonies and harems peaking as high as 97%. Scientists warn the true toll could be even higher, as deaths were still actively occurring when their field observations concluded.

Researchers on an initial expedition first detected an unusual spike in pup deaths in October. Follow-up aerial and ground surveys in January 2026 confirmed the unprecedented scale of the mass mortality event. Biologists believe the virus first arrived on the island via migratory wildlife from the Crozet Islands. Alarmingly, the deadly H5 strain wasn't limited to seals; testing confirmed it has also infected and caused elevated mortality among King penguins, Gentoo penguins, Antarctic fur seals, and South Georgia diving petrels.

Located roughly 4,000 kilometers southwest of Perth, the World Heritage-listed Heard Island archipelago is normally a pristine, human-free haven supporting over one million breeding seabirds and marine mammals. Because elephant seals have incredibly slow reproductive rates and take years to reach maturation, experts fear these catastrophic population losses cannot be easily or quickly recovered. While mainland Australia currently remains free of this specific virulent strain, the federal government has invested $113 million to bolster agricultural and environmental biosecurity preparedness as the disease continues its steady eastward march across the globe.

06/17/2026

that about sums it up
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BMNfskkPk/

Just twelve days after trump blew $14.2 million of your tax dollars painting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool a patriotic "American flag blue," workers were on their hands and knees this morning pouring what looked like Walmart pharmacy bottles of hydrogen peroxide into what is now a very green, very algae-covered swampy national embarrassment that looks like something RFK Jr. would take his kids swimming in.

Pool renovation expert Steve Goodale had literally predicted this exact outcome, warning that darker paint absorbs more sunlight, raises water temperature, and makes algae blooms inevitable. It was, in his words, "a foregone conclusion." And here is the kicker: to actually treat 6.5 million gallons of water properly, you would need a minimum of 8,000 liters of 12% hydrogen peroxide injected directly into the filtration intake so it disperses evenly throughout the entire pool, not guys kneeling at the edge dumping gallon jugs in one spot like they are cleaning a bathroom. As one doctor put it on social media, "is this what happens when you have zero scientists in your administration?"

The whole spectacle would be funny if it were not so expensive and so completely on brand. The actual fix here is embarrassingly simple: repaint the pool the original light grey, which does not absorb heat, does not supercharge algae growth, and did not cost $14 million dollars. Instead, this administration would rather send workers out daily with bottles from the medicine cabinet than admit the dark blue paint was a vanity mistake that any pool professional could have told them not to make, and in fact did tell them not to make, loudly and publicly, before they did it anyway.

This is what the trump administration does. It does not solve problems, it performs solving them. The reflecting pool is green, so they pour something in it and hope you stop looking. The underlying issue stays broken, the band aid goes on top, and everyone moves on until the next embarrassing photo goes viral. From the Kennedy Center tarp hiding where they removed his name, to the Epstein files they have fought to keep buried, the whole operation runs on the same logic: if you can cover it up fast enough, maybe nobody will notice. But we notice, donald. We always notice.

06/17/2026

Odd sort of freedom we have here.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1JTY3jV5MQ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The government is breaking down doors and hauling away people who simply watched and filmed ICE agents in Minneapolis, and today they're dressing it up as a terrorism case with no actual definition of terrorism.

Only a corrupt Department of Justice charges 15 people for blowing whistles and filming cops while the federal agents who killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti walk free?

Today U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen held a press conference to announce charges against 15 people he called members of "antifa" groups conspiring to impede federal officers during Operation Metro Surge. The problem? Rosen refused to define "antifa" at the press conference, leaning instead on the fact that some of the defendants had self-identified as "antifa" and showing reporters social media posts as evidence of a grand conspiracy. That's the case. That's it.

Meanwhile, Minneapolis City Council Member Jason Chavez was fielding calls all morning reporting that community members who observed ICE activity were being arrested by federal agents across south Minneapolis. The Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild called the whole thing an "act of political repression and targeting of our community."

As anyone with half a brain knows, antifa isn't an organization. The term literally means anti-fascist. Period. There is no official membership list, and the trump administration's executive order designating it a domestic terrorist group is ridiculous and doesn’t pass serious legal scrutiny. Civil rights attorneys have been pointing out for months that these charges tend to evaporate in court.

In Minnesota, federal prosecutors had already walked back or dismissed charges in more than a dozen similar cases. A U.S. Attorney who can't define the organization he's prosecuting people for belonging to isn't building a legal case; he's committing fascism for a wannabe fascist dictator.

06/16/2026

Indeed

Love… is love ❤️

06/15/2026

Down with HOAs
https://local12.com/news/nation-world/hoa-board-votes-euthanize-canada-geese-despite-opposition-residents-madison-alabama-edgewater-goose-cull-petition-birds-euthanasia?fbclid=IwY2xjawSdK_5leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF5MjVYUnBPZnpIdGo4SG1Bc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHkDsOyQCcFN4r8tNlVnEKBE4X8HJAho_jggkIQRojCs22Vf8lg4DlqUM5UU__aem_s9hbpXLdN4P6bVwiCPfyGA

A HOA voted last week to euthanize hundreds of geese living in its neighborhood, despite vocal opposition from residents who say there are better options.

06/14/2026

🤬

06/13/2026

Humans are the least humane life forms on the planet.

A video recently resurfaced showing prominent hunter Aron Snyder taunting and torturing a coyote.💔 The footage sparked outrage because the cruelty was undeniable and was captured on camera for the world to see.

Last night, we reposted the video. Today, announced that Aron Snyder is no longer an employee of the company. This is a meaningful example of accountability, but the reality is that this video was only seen because it was filmed.

Across the United States, coyotes are routinely treated as “pests” rather than as intelligent, social wildlife. More than 500,000 coyotes are killed every year in the U.S. alone through hunting, trapping, poisoning, aerial gunning, killing contests, and other forms of predator control.💔💔💔

Most of that suffering is never recorded, victims are never seen, and acts of cruelty never go viral.

The outrage over this video matters because it exposes a broader culture that normalizes violence against coyotes and other predators. Accountability should not depend on whether someone happened to turn on a camera.

THANK YOU to everyone who raised their voice, shared the truth, and demanded better. Animal cruelty should NEVER be tolerated. 🐺✊

Sources: Born Primitive Outdoor statement (2026); Project Coyote (2025); Wildlife for All (2025).

06/12/2026

I have no words… just really strong feelings. 😢😭

The baby called out in terror.

Its mother came back, desperately trying to save it.

Both suffered for hours before they died, trapped just inches from one another. They were so close.

As a parent, I cannot imagine hearing your child cry out in fear and pain, knowing there is nothing you can do to help.

There is a third bat on a separate glue trap. As soon as we wipe away the tears so we can see, we will spend the next several hours trying to free it, all while caring for the dozens of orphaned pups already in care.

This shouldn’t be happening.

Catchmaster.

Please stop using adhesive traps. Yes, they are inhumane and should be banned.

They remain on store shelves for one reason: we keep buying them.

Every purchase tells manufacturers there is a demand for a product that causes prolonged suffering to wildlife and countless non-target animals. If we stop buying them, they will eventually disappear from the shelves.

Until then, stories like this will continue to repeat themselves.

06/11/2026

Oh…

Fully autonomous drones with no human oversight have killed soldiers on the battlefield for the first time. This is according to a senior figure in the Ukrainian defence industry, marking a watershed moment in warfare.

The one-off test involved 10 AI-controlled “Terminator” drones on the front line of the Ukraine war. Russian soldiers were killed.

“We tried it,” says drone-maker Alexander Kokhanovskyy, who supplied the technology and spoke to New Scientist at a press event hosted by the Ukrainian embassy. “It’s a test. We never implemented it [more widely].”

Read more here: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2529849-fully-autonomous-drones-have-killed-human-soldiers-for-the-first-time/

Image: Frank Herrmann/Getty Images

06/10/2026

🤬

They've tried this before. We beat them in court. Now, the current administration is back at it.

​Last year, a federal court was crystal clear: federal agencies cannot arbitrarily shrink the definition of "secure habitat" for grizzly bears without scientific evidence. The court ruled that redefining habitat security down to 10 acres was a violation of the Endangered Species Act because it ignored biological reality.

​So, what is their solution? Instead of respecting that ruling, the Trump administration and their appointees at the U.S. Forest Service have quietly moved the goalposts even further: they are now claiming that a single acre of forest is enough to qualify as "secure" for a grizzly.

​This isn't management. It is a shell game.

​By redefining what "secure" means on paper, they are clearing the path for the Larabee Hat project, a huge 43,000-acre road-building operation that would fragment a critical wildlife corridor connecting the Northern Continental Divide and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

​They think if they do this quietly enough, we won't notice. They want to turn our public wildlands into industrial zones, and they are using semantic tricks to do it.

​A one acre patch of trees surrounded by clearcuts and logging roads is not "secure habitat." It is a death trap.

​We stopped this charade once, and we are already back in federal court to stop it again. If you’re tired of seeing science tossed aside for the sake of bureaucratic convenience, now is the time to make some noise.

What are your thoughts on this grizzly bear issue? Drop them below