Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Experts" is an important comic and I love it.
Now let me note a song.
No regrets Coyote
We just come from such different sets of circumstance
I'm up all night in the studios
And you're up early on your ranch
You'll be brushing out a brood mare's tail
While the sun is ascending
And I'll just be getting home with my reel to reel
There's no comprehending
Just how close to the bone and the skin and the eyes
And the lips you can get
And still feel so alone
And still feel related
Like stations in some relay
You're not a hit and run driver no no
Racing away
You just picked up a hitcher
A prisoner of the white lines on the freeway
-- "Coyote," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her album Hejira
I thought we'd do a science post on coyotes. Especially after what Sabina shared this week in the roundtable for HILDA'S MIX. White Rock Village is an area of Dallas, Texas. A two year old was attacked by a coyote:
A coyote that matches the description of the animal sought in the attack of a 2-year-old boy this week in Lake Highlands has been shot and killed, officials say.
Dallas Animal Services confirmed a coyote was shot by crews with the United States Department of Agriculture Wednesday evening in a residential area near White Rock Lake.
DAS said they were not able to immediately confirm whether the coyote shot and killed was in fact the one that attacked the toddler Tuesday. However, its markings were similar to those of the animal wildlife officials have been hunting since the attack.
Exclusive video captured by an NBC 5 photojournalist appears to show the final moments of the coyote's life as wildlife officials moved in on the animal.
There are statements by locals int he area who state they have been calling to report this or other coyotes for weeks now and have been ignored.
LIVE SCIENCE notes:
Coyotes (Canis latrans) are members of the Canidae family and share many traits with their relatives — wolves, dogs, foxes and jackals. They have narrow snouts, lean bodies, yellow eyes, bushy tails and thick fur.
Labeled "wily" by humans, coyotes are intelligent and versatile creatures. These traits have helped coyotes spread across North America and even adapt to living alongside people in cities. Despite a sometimes rocky relationship with humans, the continental coyote population continues to thrive.
Coyotes are about as big as medium-size dogs. They are 32 to 37 inches (81 to 94 centimeters) long from head to rump, plus another 16 inches (41 cm) for their tails, according to National Geographic. Coyotes typically weigh 20 to 50 lbs. (9 to 23 kilograms).
Coyotes are smaller than wolves. For example, a coyote skull rarely exceeds 7.9 inches (20 cm) in length, while wolf skulls are commonly over 8.9 inches (22.5 cm), according to the San Diego Natural History Museum. Coyotes' fur may be gray, white, tan or brown, depending on where they live.
Coyotes live across North America and roam the plains, forests, mountains and deserts of Canada, the United States, Mexico and Central America. They have colonized all of the continent except for the polar regions, and continue to move south — so much so that they are approaching the border between Central and South America in eastern Panama, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List.
Coyotes are not necessarily life threatening. The Urban Coyote Project explains:
Although coyotes have been known to attack humans (and pets) and as such are a potential danger to people, especially children, risks are minimal and we feel that the majority of attack incidents could be reduced or prevented through modification of human behavior.
Here are the six rules they offer:
1. Do not feed coyotes
2. Do not let pets run loose
3. Do not run from a coyote
4. Repellents or fencing may help
5. Do not create conflict where it does not exist
6. Report aggressive, fearless coyotes immediately
Coyotes are across the United States. They have a long history in this country. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC notes:
The howl of the coyote is America’s “original national anthem,” says Dan Flores, author of Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History. A totemic animal in Native American mythology, the coyote has lived in North America for more than a million years. But since the early 19th-century, when Lewis and Clark first encountered them, coyotes have been subject to a pitiless war of extermination by ranchers and government agencies alike.
Even today, some 500,000 coyotes are killed each year, many shot to death from small planes and helicopters. Yet the coyote has survived all attempts to eradicate it, spreading from its original territory west of the Rockies to the East Coast, where it has now found a safe, new refuge in cities like Chicago and New York. (Why coyotes thrive in cities.)
Coyotes are beautiful and have every right to be here and to live. This isn't an anti-coyote piece. Equally true, climate change is driving them from wooded areas and other natural places and will do this in even larger numbers as we continue to fail at addressing climate changes. But we need to be aware of their needs and our needs and safety issues.
They are beautiful, by the way. And sometimes we honestly cannot tell the difference between a little puppy and a young coyote. Joshua Rhett Miller (NEW YORK POSAT) reports:
A kind-hearted Massachusetts family got more beast than they bargained for when they rescued what they thought was a lost puppy – but was actually a baby coyote, wildlife officials said.
The coyote pup, which got separated from its pack, was scooped up by the unwitting family late last month when they found him “wandering and distressed” along a busy road, the New England Wildlife Center said Tuesday.
“He was then accidentally taken home by a local family after they mistakenly identified him as a lost puppy,” the organization said on its Facebook page. “After realizing their mix-up, they called us for assistance.”
The wayward young coyote is now “recovering comfortably” in an isolation ward, but he’ll soon be joined by a foster sibling, officials said.
That's my state. Between Sabina sharing what happened in her state and the family mistaking a baby coyote for a puppy, seemed like I needed to cover the topic here.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Thursday:
Thursday, May 5, 2022. The preening and posturing of our Congress needs to stop and we need to stop being such huge "f**king idiots."
On Roe v Wade, a number of e-mails to the public account are coming in about how they are upset that I am not commenting on this or that.
First, I have addressed this issue with community members via HILDA'S MIX. Second, because Elaine's asking me to address it again this morning, I will. Be sure to read Jonathan Turley's take on the issue. Third, don't think that you want my commentary, don't make the mistake of thinking that. You probably wouldn't like it to begin with.
I am firmly pro-choice, full on board with privacy rights and support safe and legal abortions for any woman who needs one.
Other than that, you may not be pleased.
I actually know the law. I'm not going to pretend I don't to say something that will soothe you and make you feel better.
People can disagree on the law. I think Jonathan Turley should be sitting on the Supreme Court and yet I will even disagree with him from time to time. I think he's the finest legal mind in the country but I do not agree 100% of the time. That's because sometimes something new comes along that we have to address. There is no building solely on precedent and there may be other issues. So he may offer a learned and wise opinion on a topic but I might beg to differ. Doesn't mean he's right and I'm wrong or vice versa, just means that we are interpreting the law and there may be more than one way to come at it in some instances.
Yesterday (believe it was yesterday), White House spokesperson Jen Psaki was asked a question by a reporter in the press briefing. It was about how revelations from Hunter Biden's laptop make it very hard to continue the fairy tale that Joe Biden was not involved in his son's business practices. The FOX reporter was clear that she was asking about the past -- this would be when he was vice president -- time covered on e-mails found on the laptop.
What did Jen respond?
No one seems to have gotten it right. They've quoted her correctly but they don't seem to have actually listened.
That's a real problem with politics today. A lot of stupidity.
Donald Trump says X and we're supposed to be outraged because, if you look into the original Psaki is being asked about an issue regarding Joe's vice presidency and is responding about President Joe Biden. It's a doge and even FOX NEWS didn't seem to note that reality.
For years, professional dram a queen Matthew Rothschild told you at THE PROGRESSIVE -- and on THE PROGRESSIVE RADIO HOUR -- that Bully Boy Bush was going to lock away al dissidents, that this or that national alert or FEMA measure was about that. He wasted a great deal of time. If only he had poured that energy into Iraq. Was he really worried about US government abuse because, if he was, strange, just like NEW YORKER whore Jane Meyer, he gave up the topic the minute Barack Obama was elected president.
To point a finger at myself, Rahm Emanuel, who I've known for years through his brother, told me I was a "f**king idiot" and he was right. We'll come back to that.
But we do tend to write a lot of things to fit however we want to see things.
I'm not going to offer nonsense about this justice lied!!! No. Susan Collins is an idiot. She proved that in 2002. She's a dumb idiot who hears what she wants to hear. Excepting her support for the Iraq War, I'm really not that vested in her one way or the other. And it's not fair to pin all the blame on her. The Democrats have done a lousy job and their work has been worse than Susan's.
But, for the future, don't hear what you want to hear. Examine the response youre getting.
Roe v Wade is settled law?
Yes, it is. Up until the Court chooses to hear a case on it. At which point, it is any judge's role to figure out if there is a conflict in the law, if the law applies, if . . . So you were an idiot -- this goes to various Democrats in the Senate and not just Republican Susan Collins -- hearing what you wanted to hear.
Quit nyou're whiing.
And if you produce a tape recording where some one on the Court promised you that they would enver vote to overturn Roe, first off we'd have ethical issues regarding your own behavior.
Second off, whether you like it or not Christian beliefs have had a significant role in the history of the US and one of those beliefs is redemption. Meaning, you can change. So let's use Alito. Alito promised not to overturn Roe (he didn't, this is a hypothetical) and Chuck Schumer has a recording of that office visit and makes it public.
After the outcry against Chuck died down, the point would be that Alito made a promise before he was a sitting Justice and he can easily argue that his opinion changed as his faith was renewed, as his faith grew, as he discovered a new religion, etc, etc.
And he wouldn't even have to bring in religion (but Alito would). He could merely argue that at that date in time, he meant what he said but that his years on the Court had increased his knowledge base and his opinons had changed.
So stop whining that you were lied to. And stop insisting that you had some promise before the justice sat on the Court Again, it's the law of the land (anything) up until you're asked to rule on it and then it is your role to interpret it and analyze it.
Again, don't ask for opinions if you 're not sure you want them. I'm not going to offer easy, pleasing takes that are devoid of reality.
If we're going to talk about this, we need to talk reality.
First off, no ruling has come down yet. Drafts are circulated all the time. The Justices confer and discuss and debate and some change their minds as a result of the give-and-take.
This draft may be destined for the trash heap.
That is not offered to say, "Cease working on this issue."
That is offered to say: Work smart.
Christine Pelosi thinks she's a feminist. She's not. Nepotism is not a feminist value. She's got a ton of opinions and they're all the opinions of entitled woman who has garnered every break the rich can receive in this country. She is not a learned mind.
As Margaret Kimberely has documented on her Twitter thread, when people were rightly noting that Ruth Ginsberg should step down, Christine showed up screaming sexism and ageism.
She was a stupid bitch then and she remains one today. Shooting out of Nancy Pelosi's vagina did not make Christine an expert on anything and we really don't need her faux wisdom.
Ruth was ill and she should have retired. She gambled and WE LOST. A lot of today is on her.
But let's get to Rahm correctly calling me a "f**king idiot."
Nancy, Steny Hoyer and Rahm controlled the House back then. There was concern over the ongoing Iraq War. I was so sure that the Democrats -- who were using it as an election issue in 2006 -- would end it as they promised. Rahm told me I was an idiot and explained why. It was big talk and it was nothing but an effort to get votes. The votes that had taken place where someone made a grand stand of voting against a buget for the war? Nancy had signed off on that. She had done so only after she had secured enough votes for the itme to pass.
It was all posture and play.
Rahm was right. I was wrong. I've said here many tiems I can be the world's biggest idiot.
How does that apply to today?
Democrats had years to make this a law. They didn't. They've used abortion as a political football and attempted to use it to get out the vote.
No one should accept them at their word in an election year if they promise that, come January, they'll pass it into law if you just vote for them.
They control the House, the Senate and the White House right now. If they can't get it done now, they can't get it done.
Nancy can -- and has -- kept her party in line when it comes to the votes she wants. That can take place in the Senate and in the House. Yes, even Joe Manchin can be put into line.
If they want votes this November, they need to deliver right now.
If they're uanble to do so when they control both houses and the White House, don't believe them that they'll do it at some point in the near future.
They could have stopped the Iraq War before it started. They could have ended it after it started.
They didn't.
They ran in 2006 on the promise to end the war. But they won both houses. And suddenly the Iraq War -- that they waffled on in the 2005 election -- was something they saw as a vote getter in the upcoming 2008 election. So they didn't end it. Not when it could be used in an election.
And I'm not prepared for the same thing to happen over and over with regards to abortion.
This would be chipping away at privacy rights. But I do not buy into the claim that this would mean that we'd lose the right to interracial marriage or to same-sex marriage.
I don't believe there's enough support for that. Abortion is a different issue that has other implications. Those who are strongly against it will argue that they can't do the live-and-let-live option on this (because they believe it's murder). With regards to who marries whom, that's a different approach and America is not fond of being told what to do.
I think trying to build that argument at this time is wrong and a distraction.
I think the focus needs to be on how Congress must ask and must ack right now.
The draft might end up in the trash. That's not breathe a sigh of relief time. We need legislation that can prevent this from happening again. Our right to privacy should not be held hostage.
The legislation should have come a long time ago.
In addition, we need a Democratic Party that actually acts. Do you remember Barack's last years as president?
The Republicans refused to allow his Supreme Court pick to be confirmed. So why did Democrats allow Donald Trump's picks -- that they were all over the news objecting to -- to be confirmed?
The party wants votes, they better start fighting to win.
And votes better stop accepting 'someday' promises and demand that politicians deliver first and then they can win our votes.
Adding this from The Feminist Majority Foundation:
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Feminist Majority
1600 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22209
United States
The following sites updated:
