April 8, 2019

People With Albinism Are Being Killed for Body Parts in Malawi

Albinism is a rare condition that results in a person’s body producing little to no melanin pigment. People with the condition may have visual impairment and skin sensitivity. But for people with albinism in Malawi, the condition may also put them at risk of being killed for their body parts.

People with albinism living in Malawi have been abducted, killed and mutilated for their body parts due to the belief that they have magical powers and can bring good luck and wealth.

People with albinism also face other dangerous misconceptions, such as the belief that they are a curse from the gods and that the condition is contagious, according to an Amnesty International report. And women with albinism are at an increased risk of sexual assault and rape due to the belief that having sex with a person with albinism can cure AIDS.

Although people with albinism make up a small portion of the country’s population, the killings still represent a grave human rights issue. Amnesty International estimates between 7,000 and 10,000 people have albinism in Malawi. And according to a United Nations report, 150 cases of killings, attacks and other violations against people with albinism have been reported in the country since 2014. Victims are mostly children or young adults. And these attacks likely do not represent every instance of violence against people with albinism — as many cases could go unreported.

Victims of this violence face gruesome deaths — in part because it is believed that causing the victim to scream during the killing enhances the magical powers, according to the United Nations. Illustrating this horrific practice, a man with albinism named Yasin Phiri recently was brutally killed in front of his 9-year-old son. The attackers stabbed him in the stomach, cut off his arms and removed his intestines.



Jeez! This is a new one on me.

April 5, 2019

Comment: What do we do after Trump has been forced out of office?

From Socialjusticeamerican

Donald Trump demonizes Muslims.

Donald Trump demonizes Latinos.

Donald Trump demonizes rape victims.

Donald Trump demonizes Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump demonizes immigrants.

Donald Trump demonizes scientists.

Donald Trump demonizes professional athletes who protest institutionalized racism.

Donald Trump demonizes CNN, NBC, MSNBC, the Washington Post, the New York Times and most of the American Mainstream Media.

I’ve had face-to-face conversations with people about Trump’s hate-filled rallies, hate-filled tweets and hate-filled interviews, and I’ve been told that I worry too much. I’ve been told that Trump will be out of the White House in 2021 and the hatred, ignorance and cruelty will be over.

It will be over?

I’m sorry, but the hatred, ignorance and cruelty didn’t begin with Trump. Trump is like a fever caused by sepsis. He’s a symptom of a much greater problem.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/4/5/1847969/-What-do-we-do-after-Trump-has-been-forced-out-of-office?detail=emaildkre

April 5, 2019

Beached East Coast Dolphins Show Signs of Alzheimer's Disease

Could the toxins in our oceans’ blue-green algae blooms—which have been increasing due to global warming—be a cause of Alzheimer’s disease?

University of Miami researchers who examined the brains of dolphins that had beached themselves in Massachusetts and Florida have published a new study that ponders this question. (No dolphins were killed for the study, thank goodness.)

Of the 14 dolphin brains they studied, 13 contained plaques of the protein beta amyloid, which has also been found in the brains of humans who died of Alzheimer’s disease. The dolphins’ brains also contained high levels of the algae toxin BMAA.

The researchers found that ongoing exposure to BMAA can lead to Alzheimer’s-like abnormal protein accumulations, called neurofibrillary tangles, in the brains of dolphins. These tangles cause brain cells to stop functioning and eventually die. The researchers are now looking into whether BMAA causes or accelerates these tangles.

https://www.care2.com/causes/beached-east-coast-dolphins-show-signs-of-alzheimers-disease.html

March 30, 2019

Watch raving hypocrite Sen. Lindsey Graham make the case for impeaching Donald Trump

Sen. Graham: You don't even have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job in this constitutional republic if this body determines that your conduct as a public official is clearly out of bounds in your role, because impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor in integrity to the office.

It was January 23, 1999. A younger Sen. Graham was on the Senate floor imploring his fellow senators to impeach then President Bill Clinton, for Clinton’s lying about his extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky. He explained that even though Kenneth Starr’s pornographic novel—ostensibly about real estate holdings in Arkansas, but almost entirely about Clinton’s sexual promiscuity—didn’t convict Clinton of any wrongdoing, it was clear that wrongdoings had taken place...in Lindsey’s mind.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1111582732663091200

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/3/29/1846213/-Watch-raving-hypocrite-Sen-Lindsey-Graham-make-the-case-for-impeaching-Donald-Trump?detail=emaildkre

March 30, 2019

This American Trophy Hunter Shot a Sleeping Lion

A few years before Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer infamously killed the beloved Cecil the lion, another pathetic American trophy hunter did something as despicable: he shot a lion in Zimbabwe that was sleeping in the sun.

Although this happened in 2011, a disturbing video of the killing recently went viral after Protect All Wildlife, an animal advocate in the United Kingdom, posted it on Twitter March 18. In the graphic video, you can see Guy Gorney of Illinois using a rifle to shoot the sleeping lion once. As the lion woke up in agony, Gorney shot him two more times before a guide told him to stop…and then congratulated him.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1107708673747501056

https://www.care2.com/causes/this-american-trophy-hunter-shot-a-sleeping-lion.html

I could only watch this once. It made me nauseous. I would throw this guy in a pack of lions and watch what happens.

March 14, 2019

Birth Announcement

New baby goatie! This is Kami (Kamala). Her mom is Lizzy (Elizabeth), and her aunts are Mazie and Claire. They are Pygmy/Nigerian crosses that I got last Nov, and pretty small themselves. Apparently Lizzy had been dallying.

I hadn't posted about her yet, because she was born the same night my mare died at 33 yrs old. I had her half my life. It was devastating. Life and death.

Having baby Kami has helped. She's incredibly tiny--about the size of a Chihuahua, maybe 3-4 pounds, and loves cuddles and pettings.

March 14, 2019

Pink and Indigo Girls.....Dear Mr. President

Written for Bush, but seems just as applicable today.

March 5, 2019

Shake A Tail and Think

A little Blues Brothers....

March 4, 2019

Trump's attorney general wants god's moral order enforced by government

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In a 1995 essay, Barr expressed the extremist Christian view that “American government should not be secular;” secularism is an abomination in Barr’s theocratic mind despite the law of the land is unmistakably secular. Furthermore, Barr contends America’s government is supposed to be imposing “a transcendent moral order with objective standards of right and wrong that flows from God’s eternal law;” eternal law best dictated by the Vatican and taught in public schools at taxpayer’s expense.

It is true that as attorney general William Barr will defend Trump’s criminality and corruption; it is one of the only reasons Trump nominated him. However, the real danger to the nation is Barr’s belief that the government’s primary function should be defending and enforcing his god’s moral edicts while ardently opposing any legislative branch effort to make secular laws according to the secular Constitution.

As noted by Michael Stone a couple of weeks ago, in addition to the racism and misogyny one expects from a radical conservative Christian, “Barr is also a bigot when it comes to non-religious people and others who respect the separation of church and state.”

Barr epitomizes the typical extremist religious fanatic by blaming everything from crime to divorce to sexually transmitted diseases on what he alleges is “the federal government’s non-stop attacks on traditional religious values.” In fact, he joins no small number of Republican evangelical extremists who demand that taxpayers fund religious instruction, specifically Catholic religious instruction, in public schools. Barr, as a matter of fact, has called for the United States government to subsidize Catholic education and categorically called for federal legislation to promote Vatican edicts to “restrain sexual immorality;” an explicit reference to his religion’s ban on homosexuality, extramarital sex, and “artificial” birth control.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/2/25/1837456/-Trump-s-attorney-general-wants-god-s-moral-order-enforced-by-government?detail=emaildkre

This is a damn scary article. Anyone who thought this guy might work out ok is in for a shock.

March 3, 2019

Sully the Service Dog (HW Bush's former) Just Got A New Job

As you may have known, now-passed former President George HW Bush had a service dog named Sully HW Bush.

Sully started working with George HW Bush during the summer of 2018, shortly after the former president’s 94th birthday. Sully was trained by America’s VetDogs, and was said to be a perfect match for HW Bush because he was an “old soul.” The two stayed together until the former president died at the end of November 2018.

Sully had always been a popular dog, but what really put him on the map was this viral picture of him lying in front of his former human’s casket:


But while his new job will certainly incorporate all those skills, it’s a little more specific.

Last Wednesday, Sully took his oath of office to become a member of the dog program at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, taking the following pledge:

“Do you affirm or pant as a hospital corpsman in the United States Navy that you will support, comfort and cheer warriors and their families, active duty and retired? That you embrace our staff and bear unconditional love and solace, especially on busy days? That you take this obligation freely, without any promise of treats or tummy rubs and that you will faithfully discharge the duties to provide joy, love and nurturing for our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and sailors and their families?”

Sully gave a paw-shake as an enthusiastic, affirmative response!

https://www.care2.com/causes/sully-the-service-dog-just-got-a-new-job-and-its-super-heartwarming.html