Local News

[Charger]

Oh that's cool! Foxes are fun.

There used to be one that ran around here few years ago...it came pretty close to me few times in the evening as I was walking around...followed me a bit. Found out later that an old lady neighbour had given it some sausages and it became rather tame with her...don't know what happened to it as it just disappeared...

[Vyn]

There are groups of grey and red foxes that run around here - usually they stay far away from anyone. I know the little dude that showed up in my garage had no idea there was someone in it. I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye and swing around to look. That caught the fox's attention and we both froze, looking at each other. stood there for about four seconds, then the fox spun around and ran off. Was a red fox.

I know if I sat food outside I'd end up with God knows how many critters up in my shit all the time. The foxes come around my place because we have rabbits that like to nest around it. Coyotes come around looking for foxes, opossums come around because that's what they do. Deer come around because there's 15 acres of managed field behind me, and every once in a while I'll see a bobcat.

Other visitors include skunks, moles, groundhogs, and one time in the 16 years I've been here a mountain lion. All of these critters are regulars except the mountain lion of course. Bobcats usually only see them once a year.

So, I don't leave food out haha.

[Charger]

Hahah! Yeah best not.

I don't leave food out either...sometimes I take out some cat food for the hedgehogs but I'm expecting Sly or one of the neighbourhood cats actually eating it...

There (reportedly) are some bobcats running around here too but I have never ever seen one. But they are quite rare here.

[Zzzptm]

No mountain lions here, but we'll get coyotes in daylight from time to time. Most of our critters here are birds, squirrels, possums, and trash pandas aka raccoons.

[Typhon]

Humm. . .

[Zzzptm]

"We're twins because we share the same soul."

[Zzzptm]

And the answer to your man's question is Trump, by Trump's own words: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-rant-mitch-mcconnell-elaine-chao-b2188074.html

Sorry, but actual quotes beat dudes musing on YouTube. I didn't even have to search for this one, it was in the day's headlines.

Just to be clear, I'm not posting to bash conservatives, I'm posting because it's a response to a previous allegation that was unfounded and false. If we'd rather cancel the political discussion as a community, I'm all on board with that. I don't start the discussions and I'm happy to not have them as part of the discourse here.

[Zzzptm]

How do we deal with climate change? Looks like better building codes. Here's a story about a Florida city that made it through Ian because of the improvements in how it was built, laid out, and powered.

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/new-florida-community-designed-for-resilience-survived-hurricane-ian-virtually-unscathed/

[Zzzptm]

Problems with math? Get an abacus, kid!

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/boy-struggling-at-school-is-now-a-math-genius-after-his-mom-taught-him-to-use-an-abacus-which-may-help-todays-children/

[Typhon]

Sorry, but actual quotes beat dudes musing on YouTube.

Okay, you got it.

Joe Biden Quotes:

— Barack Obama is “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

— “You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.”

— “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”

— “Unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things.”

— “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black.”

[Zzzptm]

Sorry, but actual quotes beat dudes musing on YouTube.

Okay, you got it.

Joe Biden Quotes:

— Barack Obama is “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

— “You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.”

— “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.”

— “Unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things.”

— “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black.”

Good news is that Biden's quotes are still printable. Mr. Trump's go for the full epithets. And then there's the voting/policy records, which themselves tell a full story. But if Biden's "he means well, but golly!" quotes make you pale, then I caution you to be seated and relaxed before you delve into Trump's open courting of white supremacist groups, as he's got much harder stuff in there.

But I'd much rather not dwell on such picking at nits - I'd rather focus on the good in the world.

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/renewables-met-100-of-the-rise-in-global-electricity-this-year-in-2022/

The good news here is that by developing renewable sources of energy, we're diminishing our need for carbon-based energy production and are making progress towards a healthier planet.

[Zzzptm]

This one is interesting...

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/undersea-cable-to-funnel-3-gigawatts-of-solar-energy-from-egypt-to-europe-via-greece/

Will it work? Well, there's already a similar cable from Morocco to Devon in England, and it carries 10 gigawatts. That would be something to have the Sahara become a source of renewable energy for a large chunk of Europe.

[Zzzptm]

Breakthrough in plastics recycling, we may be able to do something with those bags, after all:

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/polyethylene-recycling-breakthrough-from-berkeley-lawrence-lab/

[Typhon]

But if Biden's "he means well, but golly!" quotes make you pale,

No, they don't make me pale.  He's your guy, not my guy.  Besides, your the one that asked for actual quotes.  But when I give you his actual quotes, which expose him to be the racist he really is, suddenly actual quotes aren't all that important.  This honestly makes me feel like I am arguing with a 5 year old.

[Zzzptm]

But if Biden's "he means well, but golly!" quotes make you pale,

No, they don't make me pale.  He's your guy, not my guy.  Besides, your the one that asked for actual quotes.  But when I give you his actual quotes, which expose him to be the racist he really is, suddenly actual quotes aren't all that important.  This honestly makes me feel like I am arguing with a 5 year old.

Maybe you're arguing with someone who really doesn't want to argue?

Last few times I've had my blood pressure taken, it's been higher than in the past. I know I'm getting older and all, but I still want to do things to reduce overall stress. I like coming here to have friendly discussions on sports, music, TV, weather, all kinds of things. But this political stuff gets my BP up, and I can live without it. I can also live without that "arguing with a 5 year old" bit. We are better than that here, aren't we?

You're going to vote your way, and I'm going to vote mine. I'd much rather we talk about better things that we can come together on than to harp on divisions.

Now, you asked for your response, and so I shall provide it in citing the Trump administration's record on Civil Rights. Actions speak so much louder than words:

2017
On January 27, Trump signed an executive order – the first version of his Muslim ban – that discriminated against Muslims and banned refugees.
On February 3, the FCC rescinded its 2014 Joint Sales Agreement (JSA) guidance, which had led to the only increase in television diversity in recent years.
On February 7, the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy supporting H.J. Res. 57, a resolution under the Congressional Review Act to overturn a Department of Education accountability rule that clarifies states’ obligations under the Every Student Succeeds Act. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights opposes this resolution.
On February 9, Trump signed three executive orders “to fight crime, gangs, and drugs; restore law and order; and support the dedicated men and women of law enforcement.” The orders, though vague, were viewed suspiciously by civil rights organizations.
On February 27, the Department of Justice dropped the federal government’s longstanding position that a Texas voter ID law under legal challenge was intentionally racially discriminatory, despite having successfully advanced that argument in multiple federal courts. The district court subsequently rejected the position of the Sessions Justice Department and concluded the law was passed with discriminatory intent.
On March 22, the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy supporting H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act, which The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights opposes. The White House issued a statement supporting the Senate’s motion to proceed to this legislation on July 24.
On March 29, The Washington Post reported that the Department of Education decided to terminate the Opening Doors, Expanding Opportunity grant program, which helps local districts devise ways to boost socioeconomic diversity within their schools.
In a March 31 memo, Sessions ordered a sweeping review of consent decrees with law enforcement agencies relating to police conduct – a crucial tool in the Justice Department’s efforts to ensure constitutional and accountable policing. The department also tried, unsuccessfully, to block a federal court in Baltimore from approving a consent decree between the city and the Baltimore Police Department to rein in discriminatory police practices that the department itself had negotiated over a multi-year period.
On April 3, Attorney General Jeff Sessions tried to back out of a consent decree to address civil rights violations by the Baltimore Police Department.
On April 13, Trump signed a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act, which overturned the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ final rule updating the regulations governing the Title X family planning program – a vital source of family planning and related preventive care for low-income, uninsured, and young people across the country.
On May 10, Sessions announced in a two-page memo that DOJ was abandoning its Smart on Crime initiative that had been hailed as a positive step forward in rehabilitating drug users and reducing the enormous costs of warehousing inmates.
On May 11, Trump signed an executive order creating the so-called Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity headed by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has a history of trying to suppress the vote in Kansas.
On May 23, Trump’s fiscal year 2018 budget proposed eliminating the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and transferring its functions to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This would have impeded the work of both the OFCCP and the EEOC as each have distinct missions and expertise, and would have thereby undermined the civil rights protections that employers and workers have relied on for almost 50 years.
On June 28, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division sent a letter to 44 states demanding extensive information on how they maintain their voter rolls. This request was made on the same day that President Trump’s so-called Commission on Election Integrity sent letters to all 50 states demanding intrusive and highly sensitive personal data about all registered voters.
On August 1, The New York Times reported that the “Trump administration is preparing to redirect resources of the Justice Department’s civil rights division toward investigating and suing universities over affirmative action admissions policies deemed to discriminate against white applicants.” In a move without recent precedent, this investigation and enforcement effort was planned to be run out of the Civil Rights Division’s front office by political appointees, instead of by experienced career staff in the division’s educational opportunities section.
On August 7, the Justice Department filed a brief in the Supreme Court in Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute arguing that it should be easier for states to purge registered voters from their rolls – reversing not only its longstanding legal interpretation, but also the position it had taken in the lower courts in that case.
On September 15, the Department of Justice ended the Community Oriented Policing Services’ Collaborative Reform Initiative, a Justice Department program that aimed to help build trust between police officers and the communities they serve.
On November 16, the Federal Communications Commission voted to gut Lifeline, the program dedicated to bringing phone and internet service within reach for people of color, low-income people, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities, with particularly egregious consequences for tribal areas. They also voted to eliminate several rules promoting competition and diversity in the broadcast media, undermining ownership chances for women and people of color.
On November 20, the Trump administration announced it would terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation in 18 months for approximately 59,000 Haitians living in the United States.
On December 21, it was reported that Sessions rescinded 25 guidance documents, including a letter sent to chief judges and court administrators to help state and local efforts to reform harmful practices of imposing fees and fines on poor people.

2018
On January 8, Trump re-nominated a slate of unqualified and biased judicial nominees, including two rated Not Qualified by the American Bar Association.
On January 8, the administration announced it would terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for nearly 200,000 Salvadorans.
On January 11, the Trump administration released new guidelines that allow states to seek waivers to require Medicaid recipients to work – requirements that represent a throwback to rejected racial stereotypes.
On January 16, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Mulvaney’s leadership announced it would reconsider the agency’s payday lending rule.
On January 17, the administration announced its decision to bar citizens from Haiti from receiving H2-A and H2-B visas.
On January 18, the CFPB abruptly dropped a lawsuit against four online payday lenders who unlawfully made loans of up to 950 percent APR in at least 17 states.
On January 25, the Census Bureau announced that the questionnaire for the 2018 End-to-End Census Test will use race and ethnicity questions from the 2010 Census instead of updated questions recommended by Census Bureau staff. This suggests that the Office of Management and Budget will not revise the official standards for collecting and reporting this data, despite recommendations from a federal agency working group to do so.
On February 1, The New York Times reported that the Department of Justice was effectively closing its Office for Access to Justice, which was designed to make access to legal aid more accessible.
On February 1, reports surfaced claiming Trump’s Labor Department concealed an economic analysis that found working people could lose billions of dollars in wages under its proposal to roll back an Obama-era rule – a rule that protects working people in tipped industries from having their tips taken away by their employers.
On February 1, multiple sources reported that acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Mick Mulvaney had transferred the consumer agency’s Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity from the Supervision, Enforcement, and Fair Lending division to the director’s office. The move essentially gutted the unit responsible for enforcing anti-lending discrimination laws.
On February 12, the Trump administration released its Fiscal Year 2019 budget proposal, which would deny critical health care to those most in need simply to bankroll the president’s wall through border communities. The proposal would also eliminate the Community Relations Service – a Justice Department office established by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – which has been a key tool that helps address discrimination, conflicts, and tensions in communities around the country.
On February 12, the Trump administration released an infrastructure proposal that would reward the rich and special interests at the expense of low-income communities and communities of color and leave behind too many American communities and those most in need.
On March 5, the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education released a new Case Processing Manual (CPM) that creates greater hurdles for people filing complaints and allows dismissal of civil rights complaints based on the number of times an individual has filed.
On March 5, a Department of Housing and Urban Development memo announced Secretary Ben Carson’s consideration of revising the agency’s mission statement and removing anti-discrimination language and promises of inclusive communities.
On March 12, Attorney General Sessions announced the Justice Department’s ‘school safety’ plan – a plan that civil rights advocates criticized as militarizing schools, overpolicing children, and harming students, disproportionately students of color.
On March 14, the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy supporting H.R. 4909, the Student, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act, which The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights opposes.
On March 23, Trump signed a spending bill that included the STOP School Violence Act, which civil rights organizations are concerned will exacerbate the school-to-prison pipeline crisis, further criminalize historically marginalized children, and increase the militarization of, and over-policing in, schools and communities of color.
On April 6, Attorney General Sessions announced that he had notified all U.S. Attorney’s offices along the southwest border of a new “zero tolerance” policy toward people trying to enter the country – a policy that quickly, and inhumanely, separated hundreds of children from their families.
On April 10, a federal official announced that the Department of Justice was halting the Legal Orientation Program, which offers legal assistance to immigrants.
On April 10, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to push for work requirements for low-income people in America who receive federal assistance, including Medicaid and SNAP.
On April 17, the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy supporting S.J. Res. 57, a resolution under the Congressional Review Act to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s guidance on indirect auto financing. The sole purpose of the resolution is to undermine the ability of the CFPB to enforce laws against racial and ethnic discrimination in auto lending, which is why The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights opposes it.
On April 25, Secretary Ben Carson proposed changes to federal housing subsidies that could triple rent for some households and make it easier to impose work requirements.
On April 26, the Trump administration announced it would terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation in 12 months for approximately 9,000 Nepalese immigrants.
On May 4, the Trump administration announced it would terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation in 18 months for approximately 57,000 Honduran immigrants.
On May 18, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it would be publishing three separate notices to indefinitely suspend implementation of the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule.
On May 24, Trump signed the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, which will undermine one of our nation’s key civil rights laws and weaken consumer protections enacted after the 2008 financial crisis. The law rolls back more expansive Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data requirements for banks that generate fewer than 500 loans or lines of credit each year, thereby exempting 85 percent of banks and credit unions.
On June 12, the Department of Justice sued the state of Kentucky to force it to “systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the registration records.” This voter purge lawsuit was filed one day after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Ohio’s voter purges in Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute.
On June 18, Nikki Haley, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, announced that the United States was withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council.
On June 27, the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy supporting H.R. 6139, the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act, which The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights opposes.
On July 3, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos rescinded guidance from the Departments of Justice and Education that provides a roadmap to implement voluntary diversity and integration programs in higher education consistent with Supreme Court holdings on the issue.
On July 10, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced cuts to navigator funding for outreach to hard-to-reach communities for the fall 2018 Affordable Care Act open enrollment period.
On July 25, the Department of Education proposed new borrower defense rules, which would further exacerbate inequalities – making the already unfair and ineffective student loan servicing system even more harmful to all students, particularly to borrowers of color. The proposal would strip away student borrower rights, end key deterrents of predatory school conduct, and make it nearly impossible for students hurt by school misconduct to get loan relief.
On July 26, the Trump administration failed to meet a court-ordered deadline to reunite children and families separated at the border.
On August 13, Secretary Ben Carson proposed changes to the Obama-era Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, which aimed to combat segregation in housing policy.
On August 30, the Department of Justice filed an amicus brief opposing Harvard College’s motion for summary judgement in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard, choosing to oppose constitutionally sound strategies that colleges and universities use to expand educational opportunity for students of all backgrounds.
On September 5, the Trump administration sent sweeping subpoenas to the North Carolina state elections board and 44 county elections boards requesting voter records be turned over by September 25. Two months before the midterm elections, civil rights advocates worried this effort would lead to voter suppression and intimidation.
On September 6, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services announced a proposal to withdraw from the Flores Settlement Agreement. The Flores Agreement is a set of protections for underage migrant children in government custody.
On October 16, the administration released its fall 2017 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. The document details the regulatory and deregulatory actions that federal agencies plan to make in the coming months, including harmful civil and human rights rollbacks.
On October 19, the Department of Justice ended its agreement to monitor the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County and the Shelby County Detention Center in Tennessee, which addressed discrimination against Black youth, unsafe conditions, and no due process at hearings.
On October 30, Axios reported that Trump intends to sign an executive order to end birthright citizenship. In a tweet the following day, Trump said “it will be ended one way or the other.”
On November 7, on his last day as Attorney General, Jeff Sessions issued a memorandum to gut the Department of Justice’s use of consent decrees.
On November 8, the Department of Labor rolled back guidance issued by the Obama administration that clarified that tipped workers must spend at least 80 percent of their time doing tipped work in order for employers to pay them the lower tipped minimum wage.
On December 11, Trump declared that he would be “proud to shut down the government” – which he did. It resulted in the longest government shutdown in U.S. history (35 days), which harmed federal workers, contractors, their families, and the communities that depend on them.
On December 18, the Trump administration’s School Safety Commission recommended rescinding Obama-era school discipline guidance, which was intended to assist states, districts, and schools in developing practices and policies to enhance school climate and comply with federal civil rights laws.