Bayard
Bayard's JournalURGENT: This animal could be euthanized if not adopted soon.
From the RescueMe's Great Pyrenees postings.
Details:
"I shared this post from Facebook. I am in NC and post originated in Jasper TN. I can be reached at Tammy L. Morgan on FB
CONTACT
Tennessee
304-890-0390
Gawd, I hate people that dump animals!! The animals don't understand what has happened to them, or why. And they are good hearted enough to wonder if the owner is going to come back for them. If I didn't already have 3 Pyr's, I'd go get him.
Can anyone help? Even if its just to foster him for awhile?
URGENT: This animal could be euthanized if not adopted soon.
From the RescueMe's Great Pyrenees postings.
Details:
"I shared this post from Facebook. I am in NC and post originated in Jasper TN. I can be reached at Tammy L. Morgan on FB
CONTACT
Tennessee
304-890-0390
Gawd, I hate people that dump animals!! The animals don't understand what has happened to them, or why. And they are good hearted enough to wonder if the owner is going to come back for them. If I didn't already have 3 Pyr's, I'd go get him.
Can anyone help? Even if its just to foster him for awhile?
Human-made materials now equal weight of all life on Earth
The amount of concrete, asphalt, metal, and plastic on Earth is growing fast. This year may mark the point when artificial stuff outweighs living things.
ENVIRONMENTALISTS OFTEN SAY that humanity needs to shrink its planetary footprint. Now, a new study has demonstrated how literally massive that footprint is.
While the mass of Earth’s life forms stands at about 1.1 trillion metric tons (1.2 trillion U.S. tons) and has not changed much in recent years, the so-called “anthropogenic mass” of artificial materials is growing exponentially. The mass of everything people have built and made, from concrete pavements and glass-and-metal skyscrapers to plastic bottles, clothes, and computers, is now roughly equal to the mass of living things on Earth and could surpass that this year, according to research published today in Nature.
The finding may bolster the argument that Earth has entered the Anthropocene, a proposed geologic epoch in which humans are the dominant force shaping the planet. As senior study author Ron Milo of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel puts it, the world is undergoing a material transition that “happens not just once in a lifetime, but once in an era.”
While that insight is more symbolic than scientifically meaningful, the material scale of the human enterprise helps explain how we’ve managed to transform global nutrient cycles, alter the climate, and drive myriad species to the brink of extinction.
This isn’t the first attempt to weigh humanity’s impact on the planet. In 2016, a team of scientists estimated the weight of the “technosphere”—including not just wholly artificial buildings and products, but also the approximate weight of the land and seafloor that we’ve excavated, modified or trawled to build cities, plant crops, raise livestock, and catch fish. They came up with a figure of 30 trillion tons. Other recent studies have tracked changes just in the biological world, such as the amount of carbon stored in plants or the number of chickens on the planet.
But to the authors’ knowledge, there hasn't been a comprehensive analysis looking at changes in the weight of the artificial and biological worlds simultaneously but separately. That has made it difficult for scientists to draw an apples to apples—or apples to iPhones—comparison.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2020/12/human-made-materials-now-equal-weight-of-all-life-on-earth/?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email::src=ngp::cmp=editorial::add=Animals_20201210&rid=2D7EBD8232363870D75E126868635ACF
31 species declared Extinct - IUCN Red List
There are now 128,918 species on the IUCN Red List, of which 35,765 are threatened with extinction.
(snip)
All of the world’s freshwater dolphins now threatened
With the tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis) moving from Data Deficient to Endangered, all of the world’s freshwater dolphin species are now listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List. This small grey dolphin species found in the Amazon river system has been severely depleted by incidental mortality in fishing gear, damming of rivers and pollution. Eliminating the use of gillnets – curtains of fishing net that hang in the water – and reducing the number of dams in tucuxi habitat are priorities to enable numbers to recover. Enforcing the ban on the deliberate killing of tucuxis is also essential.
(snip)
The IUCN Red List
Global figures for the 2020-3 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species:
TOTAL SPECIES ASSESSED = 128,918
(Total threatened species = 35,765)
Extinct = 902
Extinct in the Wild = 80
Critically Endangered = 7,762
Endangered = 13,285
Vulnerable = 14,718
Near Threatened = 7,644
Lower Risk/conservation dependent = 180 (this is an old category that is gradually being phased out of The IUCN Red List)
Least Concern = 66,469
Data Deficient = 17,878
The figures presented above are only for those species that have been assessed for The IUCN Red List to date. Although not all of the world’s species have been assessed, The IUCN Red List provides a useful snapshot of what is happening to species today and highlights the urgent need for conservation action. Relative percentages for threatened species cannot be provided for many taxonomic groups on The IUCN Red List because they have not been comprehensively assessed. For many of these groups, assessment efforts have focused on threatened species; therefore, the percentage of threatened species for these groups would be heavily biased.
Long, but worthwhile article:
https://www.iucn.org/news/species/202012/european-bison-recovering-31-species-declared-extinct-iucn-red-list
10 Good-news Stories for Wildlife in 2020
No one would deny that 2020 has been exceptionally tough. The coronavirus has killed more than a million people worldwide, indelibly changing families and communities. In many ways, animals haven’t fared well, either: The Chinese government promoted bear bile as a coronavirus treatment, poaching surged as COVID-19 lockdowns brought ecotourism to a standstill, and captive wildlife—including tigers at the Bronx Zoo and mink in Denmark fur farms—tested positive for the virus. (To help protect humans from a variant of the coronavirus found in mink, the Danish government ordered the country’s more than 15 million mink living on fur farms to be killed. They weren’t buried deeply enough, however, and as the bodies decomposed, “zombie” mink started breaking out at the surface.)
But 2020 hasn’t all been bad. Here are 10 ways wildlife benefited:
1. Wildlife have benefited from some of our pandemic-induced lifestyle changes.
2. Owners of problematic private zoos in the U.S. faced legal repercussions
3. Black conservationists celebrated their love of wildlife during the first-ever Black Birders Week.
4. Pangolins, the world’s most trafficked non-human mammal, got two key protections in China
5. Suspected members of an alleged flying squirrel smuggling ring were apprehended.
6. A new effort was launched to combat an invasive species.
7. Retired circus elephants will begin a new chapter.
8. Tasmanian devils returned to mainland Australia for the first time in millennia.
9. Rare global cooperation led to a crackdown on wildlife smuggling.
10. Gray wolves will be reintroduced in Colorado.
Details and photos under each title at website:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/12/wildlife-wins-good-news-stories-2020/?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email::src=ngp::cmp=editorial::add=Animals_20201210&rid=2D7EBD8232363870D75E126868635ACF
'Massive' goldfish weighing 9 pounds found in South Carolina lake
The giant goldfish was found in a park in Greenville County, South Carolina as wildlife authorities conducted a fish population survey, a park official said.
A goldfish weighing nine pounds came under the spotlight Monday after being discovered during a fish population survey at a lake in South Carolina, park officials said. Ty Houck, an official with Greenville County Parks, said the “massive” fish was found swimming on Nov. 16 in a 12-acre body of water in Oak Grove Lake Park in the county of Greenville.
Greenville Rec, which oversees the park where the fish was discovered, posted a photo of the golden spectacle on Facebook on Monday.
“Anyone missing their goldfish? This 9lb goldfish was found in Oak Grove Lake during some recent testing at our lakes,” the organization wrote in a post. “The work included electrofishing, a method of measuring the health of the fish population.”
Wildlife officials were conducting a fish population survey analogous to a “fish sticking its finger, or fin, in a socket,” Houck said. “A weak electrical current is run through the water and stuns them for a few minutes.”
Houck said he believes the giant goldfish is the only one swimming in the lake because park officials did not encounter any others in their survey. He added that while the goldfish is non-native to South Carolina, it was not considered an invasive species to the lake.
The average lifespan of goldfish is between six to seven years, while those found in the wild can live up to 30 years, according to the United States Geological Survey. According to the agency, goldfish can grow upwards of six pounds — far below the weight of the nine pound pond fish found in South Carolina.
As for the goldfish's current whereabouts, Houck said he placed the fish back in the water after snapping a photo of the large creature. “At the advice of professionals we decided to leave the bachelor, or bachelorette, back where we found it,” Houck said. “Obviously, they’re really happy here.”
No more at link.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/massive-goldfish-weighing-9-pounds-found-south-carolina-lake-n1250396
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump moved their kids to a new school
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump moved their kids to a new school after parents complained about the couple not following coronavirus protocols, report says.
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump pulled their children out of the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School and moved them to Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Three Milton parents told the outlet that some parents had complained that Kushner and Trump weren't following the school's COVID-19 protocols, which asked families to avoid large gatherings and to follow social-distancing guidelines.
A longtime Milton parent with knowledge of the matter told Business Insider that the school tried to compromise with Kushner and Trump to give them certain allowances but that the talks didn't work out and the couple chose to leave.
A source close to the Kushner family told JTA that the family moved the kids to Berman because it offered more in-person schooling, not because of the COVID-19 rules.
A White House spokeswoman slammed the JTA report in a statement to Business Insider, calling the outlet's sources "idle gossips seeking press attention."
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and daughter, pulled their children out of their day school after other parents complained that the couple were not following coronavirus protocols, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources.
The outlet reported that the children were pulled out of the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School in Washington, DC, two weeks before Election Day and moved to Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Maryland.
The children started attending Milton when the family moved to Washington shortly after the 2016 presidential election.
A representative for Milton told JTA that the children "withdrew from the school."
A longtime Milton parent with knowledge of the matter also confirmed to Business Insider that the children transferred schools, adding that there were some parents who were sad to see the family go.
Three Milton parents told JTA that the couple withdrew their children after other parents complained that Kushner and Trump weren't following the coronavirus protocols that the school had laid out for families.
https://www.businessinsider.com/jared-kushner-ivanka-trump-kids-new-school-parents-coronavirus-complaints-2020-11
Inciting insurrection?
I can't find much about this online. It seems to me, with trump continuing his antics with his post-election rallies, that he is inciting insurrection to the lawfully elected government. It definitely suggests there will be violence.
Does anyone have any facts on the situation, or informed opinions?
I did find these in CHAPTER 115—TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES
https://uscode.house.gov
§2383. Rebellion or insurrection
Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, §330016(1)(L), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)
§2384. Seditious conspiracy
If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; July 24, 1956, ch. 678, §1, 70 Stat. 623; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, §330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)
§2385. Advocating overthrow of Government
Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or
Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
As used in this section, the terms "organizes" and "organize", with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; July 24, 1956, ch. 678, §2, 70 Stat. 623; Pub. L. 87–486, June 19, 1962, 76 Stat. 103; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, §330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)
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