No one here was definitly not being critical. I would not eat a mink, infected or not. If I thought for one moment I would defend you by my post I certainly would have thought it through before expressing my own personal opinion in my own personal way. How foolish of me.

WTF
 

In my last post I did not mean defend I meant offend. I like to make sure I am being right on the post.

It really isn’t all that uncommon for humans to kill, or cull, animals carrying diseases that are known to threaten humans. Last year in China roughly 150,000,000 pigs either died or were killed for carrying African swine flu. In 1992 mad cow disease in England resulted in over 4 million head of cattle being killed.

The mink in Denmark are just a new chapter and I believe I saw an article talking about North American mink farms in I think it was Oregon that are also slated to be culled.

It’s quite horrible and very much WTF, unfortunately it is what it is…

“If it’s not for animal welfare, if it’s not for the environment, if it’s not because it’s a failing business, surely a pandemic would inspire the political will to finally create space to have conversations about transitioning people out of this industry,”


" At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, all eyes were on China, where the country’s wet markets – which in some cases sold live animals in cramped cages and unhygienic conditions that served as potential breeding grounds for zoonotic diseases – were linked to the early transmission of the novel coronavirus.

Now the world’s gaze has turned to Denmark, where at least 12 people have contracted a particularly worrying mutated version of COVID-19 from mink, prompting the region to lock down and begin the cull of tens of millions of farmed mink and causing the U.K. to ban travel to and from the Scandinavian country. Mink are the only known animals capable of catching the virus from humans and spreading it back, and since the beginning of the pandemic, mink infected with the virus have also been found in the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Greece, and the United States.

But while our heads may shake at these foreign places, tut-tutting at these “others,” Canadians should be looking at the mink farms in our own backyard and recognize that real risk exists right here – a risk our government helps fund.

According to 2018 data from Statistics Canada, we are home to 98 mink farms. When asked if mink on Canadian farms are currently being tested for COVID-19, representatives from Nova Scotia, B.C. and Ontario replied that the focus is instead on upping biosecurity measures. Similarly, the federal Minister of Agriculture assured me, in an email, that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is “collaborating with the Canada Mink Breeders Association on communicating the importance of biosecurity measures,” relying on the industry’s own, voluntary codes of practice, which are overseen by the non-governmental National Farm Animal Care Council. Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture, meanwhile, says farmers and farm veterinarians are “monitoring for any respiratory signs compatible with an infectious respiratory disease.”

But looking for respiratory symptoms is just not enough.

A typical mink farm holds as many as 20,000 animals, says Lesley Fox, the executive director of the Fur-Bearers, an animal-advocacy group. “And during pelting season right now, it’s even closer to 60,000 on some of these farms," she said in an interview. "So how in the world would one, two, three people max with a checklist and a clipboard be able to properly evaluate that many individuals?”

She’s not the only one with concerns. Jan Hajek, a clinical infectious disease specialist at Vancouver General Hospital, says he wishes the medical community would better acknowledge the public-health risks associated with farming such large numbers of animals. “Although the extent of the risk is uncertain, it is certain that a risk exists, and this risk includes devastating pandemic disease,” he said in an interview.

Indeed, the public should be asking whether farming mink is worth the potential risk. After all, as a fashion product, mink is increasingly falling out of favour. Prices for fur have plunged around the world. A recent survey by Research Co. found 81 per cent of Canadians are not in favour of killing animals for fur, and global fur sales have plummeted in recent years.

Yet governments continue to fund mink farming in Canada. The CBC has found that, since 2014, as much as $100-million in provincial and federal money has been spent or tied up in loans to keep mink farms alive. “The government knows these farms have the capacity and potential to further spread COVID-19,” said Ms. Fox. “To subsidize the industry is to contribute to this reservoir for disease.”

It is certainly curious that, with so many sectors of the Canadian economy being forced to shut down to try to curb the spread of COVID-19, fur farms are permitted to carry on with business as usual. “Mink farming in Canada has long imposed cruel costs on the animals and now poses real risks to human health,” said Liberal MP Nathanial Erskine-Smith. “It was unacceptable before, and it is even more unacceptable now.” He added that federal compensation to mink farming “should be tied to transitioning farmers into less problematic economic opportunities.”

Animal and environmental advocates have long called for the end to fur farming in Canada. Today, there is even greater reason than before. “If it’s not for animal welfare, if it’s not for the environment, if it’s not because it’s a failing business, surely a pandemic would inspire the political will to finally create space to have conversations about transitioning people out of this industry..."


Globe and Mail Nov 16 2020

.. The tragedy of freedom paired with a weak concept of commonality.

I keep reading long complex dense jargon filled paragraphs, full of the minutiae that political junkies love but the massive central conflicts just get buried.

Thing is, "political" differences reduced to whether this dam should be built or this tax should be reduced/raised miss the point.

Thing is" what is it you feel/believe about your relationship to your local community. your state. your country, the rest of the world.

Thing is "who am I in all this?"

Till we start going there, we will forever be electing, supporting, Fascist leaders who push an "Us First" agendae...and we will be forever electing them, every 60 -70 yrs,( a generation or so), after tiny burst of "feel good" liberalism. that are regrettably short-lived cause we never stopped to figure out "why".

Republican Resistance Looms in the Senate for Biden's Nominees....


IF the Dems don't gain control of the Senate it's going to be one big S!h#% Show!


https://news.yahoo.com/republican-re...150817442.html

As t-shirt slogans go......
 

Tucker Carlson gives 'update' after segment on Sidney Powell, voter fraud draws backlash!


Tucker why be an IDIOT when you could either get the facts straight with your own research or keep your big fat mouth shut!

WTF, why are these non face-masked wearers like....
 

~~~
Trump, Rudy, Chris Christie, etc etc getting such preferential treatment when they come down with Covid? Oh they get rushed right into a hospital, no waiting, they get top of the line care, drugs, etc where I bet us average Joes wouldn't!

I say put their sorry asses on a gurney and park em in a hallway, and give the preferential treatment to those who wore masks, practiced safe distancing, etc etc!

WTF was she thinking?!
 

Dr Deborah Birx, who is 64, cited the criticism she had faced for a family get-together over Thanksgiving in Delaware in her decision to step aside.

"This experience has been a bit overwhelming," she said. "It's been very difficult on my family."

Dr Birx had reportedly been seeking a job from US President-elect Joe Biden.

A world-renowned Aids researcher, she has worked in the US government since the Reagan administration.

Late on Tuesday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted President Donald Trump's good wishes, saying he "has great respect for Dr Birx and likes her very much. We wish her well".

This is priceless.........
 

The Fine Print in a 5,593-Page Spending Bill: Tax Breaks and Horse Racing.....

Tucked away in the 5,593-page spending bill that Congress rushed through Monday night is a provision that some tax experts call a $200 billion giveaway to the rich.

Also it authorizes 93 acres of federal lands to be used for the construction of the Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota and creates an independent commission to oversee horse racing, a priority of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the majority leader.

McConnell inserted that item to get around the objections of a Democratic senator, who wanted it amended, but he received agreement from other congressional leaders.

Alexander M. Waldrop, CEO of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, said Tuesday that McConnell had “said many times he feared for the future of horse racing and the impact on the industry, which of course is critical to Kentucky.”





https://www.yahoo.com/news/fine-prin...130020410.html

It's amazing that Mitch is so concerned with horses and the racing industry while the struggling millions of hurting families, not so much!

Lindsey Graham defends sending millions of your taxpayer dollars to Pakistan because women can’t open up bank accounts without their husbands’ signatures.

He also says he’s trying to make life better for women in Pakistan because “life is pretty tough”.

While it is commendable that Graham worries about the women of Pakistan, it'd be even commendable if his concerns about American's women were equal!

Why on earth ........
 

Donald Trump met with Republican House minority leader Kevin McCarthy at Mar-a-Lago yesterday to discuss “taking back the House” during 2022 midterm elections, signaling the former president’s critical role in the fractured GOP’s future after it lost a Senate majority and the White House.

“President Trump’s popularity has never been stronger than it is today, and his endorsement means more than perhaps any endorsement at any time,” according to a statement from the former president’s political action committee Save America.

"His popularity has never been stronger" how can this be!?

The former president has “agreed to work with Leader McCarthy on helping the Republican Party to become a majority in the House," according to the statement. “The work has already started.”

Congressman McCarthy flip flopping on the riot! First he said....

“He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding,” he said in remarks to the House. “These facts require immediate action by President Trump: accept his share of responsibility, quell the brewing unrest and ensure [then-President-elect] Biden is able to successfully begin his term."

Congressman McCarthy later backtracked, telling reporters that he does not believe the former president “provoked” the insurrection, and that he believes “everybody across this country has some responsibility.” Kevin McCarthy now says all Americans are culpable for Capitol riot.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around why ANYONE would want an endorsement from that ex-president or even want their name mentioned with Trump's if they are running for office!

More lies. T***p's popularity rating is 38.6% today, according to fivethirtyeight.com. But he has solidly got 1/3 of the country who will do anything he says in his back pocket. That's a lot of voters to bring to the polls. Even if he gets impeached and can't run for public office again, there's still the problem of his endorsement. He can endorse whoever he wants. Somebody's going to have to think of something to pull that 1/3 of the country back to the center, or toward someone else on the far right. We can talk all day about how stupid they are, but that won't make them vote any differently.

Excuse my language but now thanks to this fuckface McCarthy, we'll never stop hearing about 45!

And so the vindications continues......
 

Rep. Kinzinger: They claim 'I'm possessed by the devil'

Rep. Adam Kinzinger on Sunday offered a glimpse of what it’s like being one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump: Friends and family turned against him, and he was told he’s “possessed by the devil."
Rep. Adam Kinzinger on Sunday offered a glimpse of what it’s like being one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump: Friends and family turned against him, and he was told he’s “possessed by the devil.”

“Look it’s really difficult. I mean, all of a sudden imagine everybody that supported you, or so it seems that way, your friends, your family, has turned against you. They think you're selling out,” the Illinois congressman said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“I've gotten a letter, a certified letter, twice from the same people, disowning me and claiming I'm possessed by the devil.”

In the days after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, it appeared Republican leaders had decided to take a stand against Trump, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy saying Trump bore “responsibility” and that he must accept blame for the riot.

But GOP members have begun heading back to the former president. On Thursday, McCarthy met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, in a meeting that was later described as “very good and cordial.” The readout was released with a photo of the two men smiling.

“I was disappointed over the last few weeks to see what seemed like the Republican Party waking up and then kind of falling asleep again and saying, ‘Well, you know, what matters if we can win in two years and we don't want to tick off the base,’” Kinzinger said.

“The photo," he added, "shows that the former president is desperate to continue looking like he’s leading the party.”

Kinzinger has launched a website, Country1st.com, as an effort to refocus the Republican Party’s “conservative principles.”

WTF does he need a boulder to fall on his head.......
 

Senator Lindsey Graham was immediately fact checked after he suggested he doubted Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene had made a number of unhinged statements supporting a variety of conspiracy theories.

"Are these postings accurate?" Mr Graham asked reporters. "I want to hear from her before I judge what to do about her, I want to know what the facts are. If these are not accurate postings, [and] they've been manipulated, I'd like to know that. If they are accurate, does she still hold these beliefs, so I'm going to wait for her to come forward and tell us exactly what's real and what's not, what she believes, then we'll have more information."

In response, a reporter pointed out that many of the comments were made on video.

Rather than adjusting his position, Mr Graham dodged the question and insisted he would have to speak with her before he could pass judgement on her statements.

"She'll have to tell me, is it accurate," Mr Graham said. "I don't know, I haven't seen the video, what's accurate, what's not. What position do you have today, and if your position is different today, why?"

Was Lindsy Graham always such a treacherous asshole or did all this start when Trump threatened to out him with photos, videos, emails and texts.?

All his adult life, Trump has followed and fed on "celebrity" gossip. There is no way he doesn't have a huge file on Lindsay Graham.

I believe Trump can destroy Graham with the release of this stuff and he reminds Lindsay often. South Carolina is not a socially liberal State.

Is this really so difficult to believe?

And how many other members of Congress does Trump have files on?

His hero is Lawyer Roy Cohn who weilded these kinds of files like a beheading sword for Joseph McCarthy...until Joseph Welch, special counsel for the U.S. Army, finally asked McCarthy: “Have You No Sense of Decency, Sir?"

And that was the beginning of McCarthy's house of cards crumbling.

Maybe Lindsay Graham should take a lesson from Arthur Wellesley,
Duke of Wellington, who famously responded in 1824, when the courtesan Harriette Wilson threatened to publish her memoirs and his letters to blackmail him , wrote back "Publish and be damned!".

Today, no one remembers Harriette Wilson.