We've had a request for Clark Kessinger's version of Under The Double Eagle. The tune is on his 1967 album Sweet Bunch of Daisies. The Westerner http://thewesterner.blogspot.com/
https://youtu.be/sAk848Cg3Lg
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Friday, November 25, 2016
7 Thanksgiving Traditions Environmentalists Want To Ban
Environmentalists have a long history of demanding that anything fun be shut down, so The Daily Caller News Foundation decided to celebrate Thanksgiving by looking at the top seven essential traditions green groups want banned.
After all, Thanksgiving isn’t just a time to be with your family, it’s also a time to throw away traditions in the name of going “green,” according to environmental groups.
So, before you carve the tofu turkey and dig into the organic kale pie, think about these seven Thanksgiving traditions that environmentalists want to get rid of.
1: Eating Turkey And All Other Meat Environmentalists are terrified of all the carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions generated by cooking meats, including Thanksgiving turkeys. “Studies are emerging that whether the meat is grown locally or far
away, it still requires a lot of resources, including carbon resources,”
Mike Tidwell, head of the environmental group Chesapeake Climate Action
Network, told The Baltimore Sun. “If you really want to have a low-impact diet in terms of change, then you just have to eat a lot less.” Tidwell claims raising beef generates the most CO2, but also says farm-raised fowl, like turkeys, are “still high-impact.” Activists claim at the rate we’re munching through burgers alone, the world will need to use 42 percent of all land to meet future demand. 2: Long Drives To Visit The Family The liberal blog ClimateProgress wants you to use mass transport to get to your turkey dinner this Thanksgiving to avoid spewing out excess CO2. But there’s actually a big debate about whether mass transit actually reduces carbon emissions. Even though gasoline is at records lows, environmentalists are already running campaigns discouraging summer road trips. Green politicians have spent years trying to convince Americans to drive less, with extremely limited results. A study by Duke University researchers found
that taking the bus instead of a car causes a small reduction in carbon
dioxide emissions, but only if the average bus is more than 63 percent
filled with passengers. However, in practice, buses only rarely have that many passengers and thus tend to create more emissions than moving a similar number of people by car...more
Report: Nearly all, 99.8%, of illegal drugs shipped to U.S. from Mexico
Over 99 percent of all marijuana and methamphetamine seized at U.S.
borders has come from Mexico, a colossal cache of 8.2 million pounds
since 2012 and a demonstration of the efforts by drug cartels to feed
America's habit, one that is leading to increasing deaths, according to a
new report. U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizure figures show that in 2015,
99.8 percent of methamphetamine and 99.9 percent of marijuana seized in
the U.S. came from the southern border. Another 61 percent of cocaine
seizures were on the West Coast, mostly California, suggesting that
Colombian drug cartels are looking for a new route in, according to a
new report...more
Can Trump undo Obama’s policies? What the President-elect can — and can’t — do when it comes to water, coal and climate change
...Environmentalists have good reason to
worry about President-elect Donald J. Trump. In 2012, Trump tweeted that
climate change was a “concept” ginned up by the Chinese. Now, he’s appointed a prominent critic of climate science and policy to oversee the Environmental Protection Agency’s transition. On his new website, Trump promises to grease the permitting skids for fossil fuel production, end the “war on coal,” support
renewable energy and scrap the Clean Power Plan. At the same time, he
professes a commitment to “our wonderful natural resources.” The energy industry is delighted. “I
think what we’re looking for right off the bat is simply having an
administration that is not openly hostile to us,” says
Kathleen Sgamma of the Western Energy Alliance. Meanwhile,
conservationists expect to spend the next four years defending their
Obama-era gains. But Obama’s environmental achievements
are considerable, and Trump can’t vanquish them with a snap of his
fingers. Many power plants have already taken steps to rein in toxic
mercury emissions and pollutants that cloud parks and wilderness with
brown haze. Obama’s clean car rules have already stood up in court. So
far, Obama has designated 27 national monuments — more than any other administration — and the new president has no clear legal authority to erase those protections. Still, the carbon-cutting Clean Power
Plan, one of the president’s most significant accomplishments, is in
peril. And the rarely used Congressional Review Act allows Congress to
weigh in on any rule finalized after May 30 of this year, according to a
Congressional Research Service estimate, by giving it 60 days in
session to pass something called a “joint resolution of disapproval.” If the president signs the resolution, the rule is nullified, and agencies are forbidden to issue similar rules. Here we highlight some of the Obama
administration’s achievements and Trump’s position on them, if known,
and explain how Trump could attempt to undo them...more
Massive project proposed to remove juniper trees in Idaho
Federal officials are proposing one of the largest ever projects to remove juniper trees to protect habitat for imperiled sage grouse and might also benefit cattle ranchers.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Monday announced it’s taking public comments through Jan. 3 on the plan to eliminate the trees from 940 square miles in Owyhee County in southwest Idaho.
“For juniper, these numbers are unprecedented,” said Karen Launchbaugh, director of the University of Idaho’s Rangeland Center. “This is bold.”
Launchbaugh said the sheer scale of the project could give scientists new insights into how to deal with vast juniper forests across the West that have sprung up in the last century. The project must first go through an analysis that includes an environmental impact statement.
Experts say juniper trees have expanded, displacing sagebrush needed by sage grouse and several hundred other species in many Western states due to fire suppression efforts and other human activities. The trees also reduce grasses for cattle.
“The cattlemen will benefit from this because it will mean more forage,” Launchbaugh said. “Also, elk and deer will benefit because it’s the same forage they eat.” The total size of the project is more than 2,300 square miles, but only a portion of that involves juniper removal, which will be done with chain saws or by mobile, tree-cutting machines called masticators. Officials say the overall project area includes about 70 occupied sage grouse leks...more
Greens gear up for long court fight against Trump
Environmentalists are planning a vigorous strategy in the federal courts to fight President-elect Donald Trump’s aggressive deregulatory proposals. With
the executive and legislative branches of the government controlled by
Republicans and unlikely to adopt their priorities, green group leaders
said they will increasingly lean on the judiciary to push their agenda,
along with public campaigns and traditional lobbying. Groups
are largely dusting off their playbooks from the administrations of
Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, whose efforts to
scrap environmental rules were met at every turn by litigation. But green groups face a tougher task this time as they try and protect President Obama's environmental legacy. Obama's
efforts were built almost entire on executive actions and regulations,
making them particularly vulnerable to dismantling by Trump. And
courts traditionally give federal agencies great leeway in how they
regulate and interpret laws from Congress, so green lawsuits are likely
to face uphill battles...more
Trump urged to abolish national monuments, including 2 in NM
A congressman from a bordering state is calling on President-elect Donald Trump to abolish national monuments created during the Obama and Clinton administrations, an idea that could threaten two newly created monuments in New Mexico.
Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, head of the House National Resources Committee, is getting push-back from conservation groups and some in the New Mexico congressional delegation for his suggestion that Trump could take back monuments preserving public lands from California to Maine.
Obama designated the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in Taos County and the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in southern New Mexico.
Doing away with national monuments created by presidential proclamation under the 110-year-old Antiquities Act has never been done, but also has never been legally tested. The act was passed in 1906 during the Republican administration of President Theodore Roosevelt, an early leader in the conservation movement.
“If any administration thinks they’re going to start divesting us of a hundred-year history of lands that belong to every American, they’re going to have to do it over my dead body,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich.
Heinrich was joined in his condemnation of Bishop’s idea by New Mexico Democrats U.S. Sen. Tom Udall and U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján. But U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, New Mexico’s only Republican member of Congress, pointed out this week that he had introduced legislation to protect 60,000 acres of the Organ Mountains, as opposed to the 496,000 acres Obama set aside.
“The Antiquities Act requires that a President designate the smallest possible footprint in order to achieve the desired environmental preservation. American’s have witnessed the Obama Administration disregard that part of the law,” Pearce said in a written statement to the Journal. He called on Trump to review the Organ Mountains designation and others around the country, reducing their footprint “to an acreage supported by existing federal law.” He added, “Additionally, Congress should work with President Trump in the years to come on changing the designation process – so that no future President may unilaterally restrict lands from the people. These decisions must be made in Congress.”...more
Editorial - Obama’s blitz against energy
A president is not a dictator, but there’s always the temptation
before leaving office to act like one. Accountable only to his own
political impulses, President Obama is revealing his infatuation with
radical environmentalism in ways only glimpsed during his eight years in
the White House. In short order, he has cranked up his “green” agenda
and cracked down on fossil fuels. His new-age benefactors may be
toasting his moves, but it’s the American people who will get burned.
Fortunately, President-elect Donald Trump has a different agenda.
The Obama administration committed last week to pushing its climate change agenda, only harder. Having already pledged to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum of 26 percent by 2025, Mr. Obama wants to keep in place plans to cut emissions by 90 percent by 2050. The news was orchestrated to bolster spirits at the United Nations climate change conference in Marrakech, Morocco, which concluded last week. Secretary of State John Kerry assured them that the American commitment to climate-change schemes is irreversible.
The Obama administration said it would not permit drilling for gas and oil in the Arctic Ocean, after all. Its five-year plan to sell drilling leases in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas has been tabled, though drilling will be allowed to proceed in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet. The sudden reversal “removes regions that are simply not right to lease,” says Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, and she puts the blame on “industry’s declining interest in the area.” The change in plans will embolden Russia, which is furiously exploring the Arctic for energy resources. To the bold go the riches: between 44 billion and 157 billion barrels of oil and between 299 and 1,547 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The Obama administration committed last week to pushing its climate change agenda, only harder. Having already pledged to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum of 26 percent by 2025, Mr. Obama wants to keep in place plans to cut emissions by 90 percent by 2050. The news was orchestrated to bolster spirits at the United Nations climate change conference in Marrakech, Morocco, which concluded last week. Secretary of State John Kerry assured them that the American commitment to climate-change schemes is irreversible.
The Obama administration said it would not permit drilling for gas and oil in the Arctic Ocean, after all. Its five-year plan to sell drilling leases in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas has been tabled, though drilling will be allowed to proceed in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet. The sudden reversal “removes regions that are simply not right to lease,” says Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, and she puts the blame on “industry’s declining interest in the area.” The change in plans will embolden Russia, which is furiously exploring the Arctic for energy resources. To the bold go the riches: between 44 billion and 157 billion barrels of oil and between 299 and 1,547 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Arizona takes steps to repay ranchers for wolf depredations
The thorny problem of how to compensate ranchers for cattle killed by the Mexican gray wolf is now one step closer to getting a procedural solution.
Earlier this month, the Arizona Livestock Loss Board met and approved a number of measures, including one aimed at providing compensation for ranchers who lose cattle to wolf depredations.
According to a press release issued last week by Arizona Game and Fish Department, “the board’s unanimous vote Nov. 3 allows ranchers to be compensated for a wolf depredation incident after it is investigated and confirmed by a U.http://thewesterner.blogspot.com/2016/11/happy-thanksgiving.htmlS. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services field representative.”
The Livestock Loss Board voted unanimously Nov. 3 to compensate ranchers up to $2,500 per animal for confirmed wolf kills. The action is an interim policy while the board works to set up more formal measures for identifying wolf depredations and compensating ranchers for them.
Previously, ranchers in Arizona and New Mexico’s Mexican wolf territory worked with the so-called Coexistence Council, but ranchers were not satisfied with that agency’s efforts to compensate ranchers.
“There were just concerns about not reacting quickly enough,” said Arizona Game and Fish Ombudsman Kevin Kinsall, who added that there was also concern about parity of resources to compensate ranchers between the two states with the Coexistence Council...more
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Trump Says He Has 'Open Mind' On Climate, But Staff Pick Raises Questions
The good news for those worried that the U.S. will lose its leadership role in confronting climate change: President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday, "I have an open mind to it. ... I do have an open mind."
At a meeting Tuesday with New York Times journalists and executives, Trump said he thinks "there is some connectivity" in terms of human activity causing climate change.
However, he went on to say that "it depends on how much" connectivity. "It also depends on how much it's going to cost our companies. You have to understand, our companies are noncompetitive right now."
Then he noted that he also finds the climate issue interesting because "there are few things where there's more division than climate change." ...It seems unlikely that Trump — who has called global warming a hoax
perpetrated by China — has dramatically changed his views on climate
change. Consider that on the same day he was informing the Times that he's open-minded, Trump formally announced that Myron Ebell would lead his transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency. That's a telling pick for those who've been watching debates over climate and energy. Ebell was one of seven people whose faces were recently featured in an activist campaign labeling them "Climate Criminals." He
directs the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive
Enterprise Institute. It's one of the few conservative, free-market
groups that's been an accredited non-governmental organization at the
United Nations' climate meetings. Ebell has long questioned mainstream
climate science and has argued against any need to rein in greenhouse
gas emissions that are warming the planet...more
Election revives Commisioner Dunn's aspirations for oil-rights transfer
New Mexico State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn said Wednesday that his proposal to boost early childhood education funding has a better chance of approval with the election of Donald Trump as president.
Dunn is seeking support from state and federal lawmakers to transfer federal mineral rights underneath private lands to the state of New Mexico. The State Land Office would lease the subsurface holdings to oil and natural gas developers, and other potential mining interests, and deposit revenues in a trust fund for early childhood education.
“I just think the transfer of federal mineral rights to the state under private land might be more favorable under a Trump administration, because the (leadership of the) Interior and the BLM will change,” Dunn said.
However, Dunn’s initiative faces resistance in New Mexico from owners of private ranches with federal mineral rights underfoot and from environmentalists.
The proposal so far has no sponsor in the state Legislature, where Democrats reclaimed an overall majority in November elections, and it would require U.S. congressional approval.
Dunn said he has the support of U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah, chairman of the House committee on natural resources, as well as Rep. Steve Pearce, the sole Republican among New Mexico’s delegation to Washington. Trump has yet to name an Interior Department secretary to replace Sally Jewell...more
In the Klamath River Basin, Water Rights Are Personal
You’d think a bird would have an easy time finding a watery rest stop
along the over 260-mile-long Klamath River. That should be especially
true in the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, a huge marshland
along the Pacific Flyway. But in 2012 a dry year cut water supplies,
which then chopped available wetlands in half and accelerated the spread
of avian cholera. Up to 20,000 birds died off, including snow geese, ducks and coots. Water rights along the Klamath River have always been a matter of survival, and birds aren’t the only ones competing for water — they’re just the last in line. The federal government manages a complex hierarchy of rights along the river, claimed by irrigators, tribes and fish in the two states it runs through: California and Oregon.
And shortages are becoming more common. “The challenges we have here are because we’ve promised too much water to too many people,” says Trout Unlimited’s Chrysten Lambert. “We’ve promised more water than there is here.” While the November election has brought stories of uncertainty and
division, in the Klamath Basin a sprawling and unlikely group of allies
has been working across political lines for years to establish a
sustainable sense of the river. Six years ago, they hashed out a huge
compromise deal, to take out dams, sort out rights and allocate water.
Without congressional support, that agreement died. But earlier this
year, the dams’ owner, PacifiCorp, applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to abandon its interests, a move that doesn’t require congressional approval. With dam removal now in process, sharing water remains a separate
negotiation. Several parties to the original deal confirm talks about
water rights and water allocation have begun...more
Western Canada Ranchers Fear Going 'Broke by Spring' as Disease Spreads
Ranchers in western Canada whose herds are under quarantine due to the spread of bovine tuberculosis told federal legislators on Tuesday that they desperately need to sell cattle or collect compensation to avoid financial disaster.
Ranchers who raise calves typically sell them in autumn to feedlots, where they are fattened to slaughter weight.
But some ranchers are absorbing the cost of feeding calves longer due to quarantines by the Canadian government on 34 farms in southeast Alberta and two farms in southwest Saskatchewan. The federal Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed six cases of Alberta cattle with bovine TB, dating back to the September discovery of an infected cow at a U.S. slaughter plant.
"The feed costs are going to destroy us," said rancher Ross White, speaking by video to Canada's agriculture committee meeting in Ottawa. "...I'll be broke by spring."...more
Trump eyes former congressman to lead Interior Department
Former Colorado congressman Bob Beauprez is in the running to become the Trump administration's first secretary of the Interior.
Bob Beauprez, who has been a candidate for governor in Colorado, is the latest name to come onto the Trump transition team list to lead the Interior Department next year.
Beauprez told the Denver Post Tuesday afternoon that he is being considered for the post, and that he would "love to do it if given the opportunity." He is an avid rancher and farmer, and said he would bring a real love of the land to the job. Beauprez said he discussed his interest with Trump's transition team, but has not met with Trump himself.
Other candidates being vetted for the job include Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, who met Monday with Trump...more
EDITORIAL: Obama cancellation of Colorado leases a ‘mockery’ of property rights
by Mesa County, Colorado Commissioner, Rose Pugliese
Last week, the Obama Administration canceled twenty-five of western Colorado’s natural gas leases, ten years after issuance. The lease cancellation announcement was made in a special fly-over Denver press conference...
...Mesa County’s comments were brazenly ignored by the Bureau of Land Management. To make matters worse, Secretary Jewel announced the lease cancellations with Governor Hickenlooper in Denver, rather than in western Colorado, where many of our economies and our jobs have continually suffered at the hands of the job-killing policies of the Obama Administration.
As a jurisdiction that is being impacted socially and economically by the action, we expect communication and accountability from the decision makers. Instead, the Commissioners learned about the press conference from constituents who contacted us; not from our federal and state “partners”. Federal officials informed us that there was “no time” for a stakeholder meeting to discuss the effects of their actions on our constituents and their families.
As a Mesa County Commissioner, I swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States. I take that duty very seriously. The federal government, under the Obama Administration, made the confiscation of property rights a priority.
The taking of property rights has not been limited to oil and gas. Ask Powderhorn Ski Resort when the Forest Service confiscated their water rights. Talk to farmers and ranchers about the Obama Administration trying to confiscate their water through the “Waters of the U.S.,” an insulting proposal that should be subsequently struck down by the courts.
Now, the natural gas producers of western Colorado, who invested millions of dollars in the Southern Piceance Basin and Roan Plateau, have had their contracts revoked arbitrarily and without regard to the long-term implications on the rule of law and property rights.
The best place to commit a crime in America? Yellowstone National Park
More than 3.5 million people visit Yellowstone—the jewel in the United States's national park crown—every year. They gawk at the geysers, crisscross the canyons,
bond with the bison, and take selfies with the scenery. So far no one,
as far as I know, has ever gone to Yellowstone to commit murder, murder
most foul. But it's not a bad spot for it! (If you're a murderer—and we
don't advocate that you become one.) The park actually contains a narrow corridor less
than two miles wide where evildoers could do literally anything, and the
law couldn't touch them. Beware when you enter…the Yellowstone Murder
Zone.
Yellowstone is too big for any one state to contain.
Yellowstone National Park is a wilderness area the size of Rhode Island, so vast that it's the only national park that includes part of three different states (Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana). The bulk of the park is in Wyoming, and so Congress has given Wyoming's federal court district jurisdiction over the entire park, even the tiny slivers in Idaho and Montana. It's the only court district in America that covers multiple states.
How to get away with hiking, and murder.
But here's the problem: The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution requires that criminal cases be tried "by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed." That's called the vicinage clause, and assembling a local jury is usually no problem.
But what if you went on a crime spree in the 50 square miles of Yellowstone that's part of the state of Idaho? Your jury would need to come from both the state (Idaho) and district (Wyoming) where the crime was committed. It turns out there aren't 12 permanent residents of the Idaho wilderness that's part of Yellowstone. In fact, there isn't even one!...more
Yellowstone is too big for any one state to contain.
Yellowstone National Park is a wilderness area the size of Rhode Island, so vast that it's the only national park that includes part of three different states (Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana). The bulk of the park is in Wyoming, and so Congress has given Wyoming's federal court district jurisdiction over the entire park, even the tiny slivers in Idaho and Montana. It's the only court district in America that covers multiple states.
How to get away with hiking, and murder.
But here's the problem: The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution requires that criminal cases be tried "by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed." That's called the vicinage clause, and assembling a local jury is usually no problem.
But what if you went on a crime spree in the 50 square miles of Yellowstone that's part of the state of Idaho? Your jury would need to come from both the state (Idaho) and district (Wyoming) where the crime was committed. It turns out there aren't 12 permanent residents of the Idaho wilderness that's part of Yellowstone. In fact, there isn't even one!...more
103-year-old man gets biggest buck of his hunting career
Good things come to those who wait, and Clyde Roberts has been waiting a long time.
The 103-year-old hunter recently harvested the biggest buck of his hunting career, according to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
Roberts shot the deer while on a hunt with his granddaughter Christin.
“Papa likes to tell everyone that I got so excited…of course I did!” Christin said. “Not only had I been able to hunt with my 103-year-old grandfather, but I had witnessed him take the biggest buck of his life. Most importantly I had the hunt of my lifetime with him! It was one of the most awe-inspiring moments of my hunting career. I will never forget it.” While he might be country’s oldest active deer hunter, Roberts was not always a hunter. He did not have much time for hunting during the years he raised a family. He started hunting in his retirement at the urging of his son Mike.
That was 40 years ago...more
Ranch Radio Song Of The Day #1737
A Country Classic: George Morgan - Candy Kisses. The tune was recorded in Nashville on January 16, 1949. The Westerner http://thewesterner.blogspot.com/
https://youtu.be/E4yY9mW3960
https://youtu.be/E4yY9mW3960
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Killing Wolves Who Prey On Livestock Could Become More Common In Washington State
Over the summer, wildlife managers killed seven wolves in the Profanity Peak pack in northeast Washington. The wolves had been preying on cattle grazing on the Colville National Forest. Under Washington’s wolf management plan, the trigger for so-called “lethal action” is when a wolf pack attacks livestock four or more times in a year.
And Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Jim Unsworth expects to see more depredation as Washington’s wolf population continues to grow.
“We’re guaranteed to have more conflicts with livestock in the future and probably things could get worse,” he said. “We could be in situations in the future where we have multiple depredations occurring at one time.”
And that could mean more orders to shoot and kill wolves. Washington currently has 19 identified wolf packs. Most are still in the eastern third of the state where wolves have been delisted as an endangered species.
According to Unsworth, Washington’s wolf population is growing by about 30 percent a year and spreading into central Washington. Wolf packs have been identified in the North Cascades and as far west as the Teanaway in Kittitas County.
Washington’s Wolf Advisory Group is expected to issue a report before the end of the year on the Profanity Peak wolf pack. That pack was reduced from 12 to five by state wildlife managers who track wolf packs by radio collar and then shoot them from a helicopter. Another wolf pup is believed to have died from natural causes.
The remaining four members of the pack were spared this October when Unsworth suspended his lethal removal order after the cattle were moved off of their summer grazing allotments...more
Prosecutors face deadline to decide on remaining Oregon standoff defendants
Federal prosecutors must tell the court on Dec. 12 how they plan to proceed with the remaining seven Oregon standoff defendants set to go to trial in mid-February, U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown ordered Monday.
The prosecutors must say what charges they intend to pursue against each of the defendants or if they plan to seek a further delay in the Feb. 14 trial.
During a brief status conference, Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Gabriel told the judge that the government is still evaluating evidence and considering other charges against the seven in light of last month's acquittal of occupation leader Ammon Bundy and other key figures. He asked for several more weeks to decide.
The judge wasn't pleased.
"You can't keep a trial date with maybes and ifs. It's just not good enough,'' Brown said. "If the government is going to proceed against one or more defendants, it should be able to say so.''
Earlier Monday, prosecutors indicated in an email sent to defense lawyers that they wanted to confer about delaying the February trial...more
The battle over a state-owned forest
...In December, the Oregon State Land Board will meet to announce the fate of the Elliott State Forest after public testimony.
Last year, the board decided to sell off 82,500 acres that belong to the Common School Fund because it was hemorrhaging money. After several lawsuits, one over violations of the Endangered Species Act, the state began looking for a way to compensate for the $4 million loss that state land director Jim Paul said the school fund has incurred since 2013.
The state is between a rock and a hard place, because it needs to make money for the school fund and has reached a point where the Elliott costs more to maintain than it makes.
So, it decided to sell off the land for $220.8 million — no more, no less. Backlash over the sale has caused many outspoken advocates of the state forestland to come out of the woodwork. Right now, the forest is logging 11.2 million board feet that were approved last year, generating $3.5 million.
That number is relatively low. In the past, the forest was producing more than 25 million board feet a year. But in recent years the state has been rocked with lawsuits, causing them to sell off three parcels to recoup their losses to the Common School fund.
A lawsuit surfaced over the $4.2 million sale in 2014, citing a 1957 law that prohibits the sale of lands in the forest that were formerly national forestland. According to the case, the land in question was transferred from the U.S. Forest Service to the state in 1913.
Before that, the state was sued for allegedly violating the Endangered Species Act by clear-cutting old growth forest that houses the endangered seabird the marbled murrelet. The suit was settled out of court and the state dropped 900 acres worth of timber sales...more
The Trump Administration Can Relieve Embattled State Attorneys General
Alan Wilson
Attorney General, South Carolina
Over the last 8 years unelected Washington bureaucrats have flaunted
their disdain for the Constitution, circumvented Congress and attempted
to rule through administrative fiat rather than govern under the rule of
law. This approach set the stage for what would be one of the most
unorthodox elections in history. The American people sent Washington
D.C. a simple message – stop!
Republican state attorneys general have been the last line of defense fighting countless unconstitutional laws, regulations and executive actions for the last eight years. President-elect Trump has an opportunity to provide us with much needed support. By doing so, he will re-energize our economy by promoting a limited-government that is responsible, predictable and more accountable.
Some of this work can be done before the inauguration by the transition team. I am certain Vice President-Elect Pence, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and other members of the transition team are studying the scores of legal actions state attorneys general have taken over the last eight years to protect the Constitution. Our efforts serve as a road map for actions that can be taken in the first 100 days of the Trump presidency to restore the rule of law.
This road map also includes nominating individuals in the mold of Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court. There is not a finer list of potential jurists than the 21 names Trump announced for consideration earlier this year. My hope is these legal minds will find their way to the Supreme Court and various appellate and circuit courts nationwide.
Trump can also appoint rule of law minded individuals to key posts throughout his administration. These new appointees will have the ability to eliminate a large number of job-killing regulations by simply directing their attorneys to drop their appeals of lower court stays against the federal government.
These stays include immigration and costly overreaches, such as the Clean Power Plan and the EPA’s interpretation of Waters of the United States (WOTUS), currently stayed by various federal courts. The Clean Power Plan could increase energy costs by nearly 30 percent. WOTUS is a similar overreach equivalent to an illegal land grab by unelected bureaucrats which would subject something as simple as a drainage ditch to the same regulations as navigable waters like the Mississippi River. WOTUS will drive up the cost of building everything from homes to schools and churches, and make it very difficult for citizens to use their private property the way they want.
Aside from dropping the appeals of lower court stays against these unconstitutional executive actions, Trump can stop President Obama’s plan to ship terrorists from Guantanamo Bay to military bases in Colorado, Kansas and South Carolina. He can also halt the Department of Labor’s Overtime Rule, which harms employees and small-businesses alike. The list could go on and on.
The longer process will be the repeal of Obamacare and Dodd-Frank. These federal laws should have never passed and should have never been upheld by the courts. These laws have centralized control over the health care and financial industries into the hands of unelected bureaucrats who lack an understanding of their constitutional limits, the free market and the unintended consequences they are creating from the implementation of these laws.
Republican state attorneys general have been the last line of defense fighting countless unconstitutional laws, regulations and executive actions for the last eight years. President-elect Trump has an opportunity to provide us with much needed support. By doing so, he will re-energize our economy by promoting a limited-government that is responsible, predictable and more accountable.
Some of this work can be done before the inauguration by the transition team. I am certain Vice President-Elect Pence, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and other members of the transition team are studying the scores of legal actions state attorneys general have taken over the last eight years to protect the Constitution. Our efforts serve as a road map for actions that can be taken in the first 100 days of the Trump presidency to restore the rule of law.
This road map also includes nominating individuals in the mold of Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court. There is not a finer list of potential jurists than the 21 names Trump announced for consideration earlier this year. My hope is these legal minds will find their way to the Supreme Court and various appellate and circuit courts nationwide.
Trump can also appoint rule of law minded individuals to key posts throughout his administration. These new appointees will have the ability to eliminate a large number of job-killing regulations by simply directing their attorneys to drop their appeals of lower court stays against the federal government.
These stays include immigration and costly overreaches, such as the Clean Power Plan and the EPA’s interpretation of Waters of the United States (WOTUS), currently stayed by various federal courts. The Clean Power Plan could increase energy costs by nearly 30 percent. WOTUS is a similar overreach equivalent to an illegal land grab by unelected bureaucrats which would subject something as simple as a drainage ditch to the same regulations as navigable waters like the Mississippi River. WOTUS will drive up the cost of building everything from homes to schools and churches, and make it very difficult for citizens to use their private property the way they want.
Aside from dropping the appeals of lower court stays against these unconstitutional executive actions, Trump can stop President Obama’s plan to ship terrorists from Guantanamo Bay to military bases in Colorado, Kansas and South Carolina. He can also halt the Department of Labor’s Overtime Rule, which harms employees and small-businesses alike. The list could go on and on.
The longer process will be the repeal of Obamacare and Dodd-Frank. These federal laws should have never passed and should have never been upheld by the courts. These laws have centralized control over the health care and financial industries into the hands of unelected bureaucrats who lack an understanding of their constitutional limits, the free market and the unintended consequences they are creating from the implementation of these laws.
Bald eagle shot, killed
Authorities are looking for the person responsible for shooting and killing a bald eagle in eastern Oklahoma. "Oklahoma game wardens in Sequoyah County are seeking information on the killing of (a) bald eagle," The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation - Game Wardens posted to Facebook. "Our national emblem was head shot from County Road 4790, south of Roland in Paw Paw Bottom." The
bald eagle was found with a gunshot wound to its head. Due to its
graphic nature, KOCO 5 has decided to show an edited picture of the bald
eagle. Paw Paw Bottom is located between Interstate 40 and the Arkansas River, near the Oklahoma-Arkansas border...more
Interior Dept shortlist vexes workers, greens
Are they getting ready to battle? Oh, yes.
Maureen Finnerty, chair of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, an organization of more than 1,200 current and former National Parks employees, said it was ready to launch a public relations campaign against Trump if he pursues an anti-environmental agenda. "We will be vigilant and hope for the best," she said.
Who else is on the shortlist?
Governor Butch Otter of Idaho, venture capitalist Robert Grady and US Representatives Cynthia Lummis and Rob Bishop of Wyoming and Utah are also potential candidates for the job.
Will Removing Klamath Dams Lead to a Salmon Revival?
Year after year, volunteers return to tributaries of the Klamath River, just like the fish they’re trying to help do the same thing. Jimmy Peterson, a fisheries project coordinator for the Mid-Klamath Watershed Council, places rocks and stones to make fish passages in Fort Goff Creek, 60 miles up from the river’s mouth on California’s North Coast. “This creek has extremely awesome habitat up top here,” Peterson says. “Extremely awesome.” Then he translates: “The water stays really cold and there’s plenty of nice spawning gravel that go up fairly far into the watershed. There’s not a lot of human activity up there either, so it’s fairly untouched.” Scientists estimate that a century ago, hundreds of thousands of coho may have run up the Klamath’s streams and tributaries. Now it’s a few thousand. Federal and private grants fund the council’s work, helping coho access “extremely awesome” habitat because coho are threatened with extinction. Dams aren’t the only reason salmon, trout and other fish need help on the Klamath. But they are a big one. The promise of dam removal is free passage for fish up to cooler spots and native headwaters. And the Klamath River, near California’s northern border, may become the next big western river to see that happen. Federal energy regulators are considering a plan that would open hundreds of miles of the Klamath to the potential of the largest river restoration in U.S. history. Three of the dams are on the California side of the river. The lowest of these is Iron Gate Dam, near Hornbrook, in Siskiyou County, which has trapped silty sand, clay and rocks behind its walls. Reservoirs behind multiple dams slow water down and heat it up into a toxic algae breeding ground. Six years ago, these dams almost went away as part of a locally driven deal among fishery advocates, tribal and farming interests from two states, above the dams and below. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger touted the plan’s goals: removing dams, sharing water, and, yes, helping fish.“I can see already, the salmon fishes screaming, ‘I’ll be back,’” he said to a roomful of laughter. But Congress sat on the deal for five years, and it fizzled in Washington. Now, dam removal is moving forward again, without Congress this time, thanks to an agreement signed in April at the mouth of the Klamath...more
COOL Unlikely to Make a Come-Back After All
The U.S. livestock industry was up in arms late last week when it was reported
that support for country-of-origin labeling (COOL) may be a point of
discussion by the new administration, as part of a renegotiation of the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). However, an article on Politico this morning states, “COOL will not be making a comeback under a Trump administration, and that's apparently thanks to Trump's Agriculture Advisory Committee. “…They were quick to mobilize and inform Trump's transition team that
such a policy - which has been litigated in both the U.S. court system
and the World Trade Organization - is a non-starter for most farm
groups,” the news report stated...more
Jury still out on success of sagebrush protections
Fifty years ago, sagebrush in the West seemed endless, inexhaustible … and worthless. Land managers and landowners did not conserve sagebrush; they were asked to remove it.
Until, that is, land managers realized that sagebrush actually hosted a diverse variety of life. The abundant greater sage-grouse was disappearing, along with 350 other sage species, from mule deer to pygmy rabbits.
Holly Copeland
Management shifted from sagebrush eradication to sagebrush conservation. But while it was straightforward to eliminate sage, a reversal was more difficult.
To halt declines of grouse — and avert a listing under the Endangered Species Act — state and federal agencies worked together on science and actions to benefit grouse. As a result, one year ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made a landmark decision not to list sage grouse as an endangered species.
But a year later many are wondering: Are these plans working?...more
Lawyer: Idaho open range laws complicated
Idaho’s open range laws have come under a lot of scrutiny the last couple of years, and there’s a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation about those laws among the public and even ranchers.
It’s a complicated area due to the crosscurrent of federal, state and local laws, said Bill Myers, a public lands and natural resources attorney with Holland and Hart.
The scrutiny came to a head with the shooting of rancher Jack Yantis, he said during the Idaho Cattle Association annual convention.
Yantis was killed by two Adams County sheriff’s deputies in November 2015 after he was called to put down his bull that was struck by a vehicle on Hwy. 95 near Council. The owners of the vehicle are now calling for change to Idaho’s open range laws.
There are “lots of wrinkles” in open range laws, and ranchers should pay attention to any proposed changes, Myers said.
The laws are difficult to weigh through, and immunity on federal highways is unclear. But Idaho is a “fence-out” state — it’s up to landowners to fence livestock out of their land. Ranchers are not liable for damage or injury resulting from an accident involving wandering livestock, Myers said.
“But herd districts turn that on its head,” he said.
Herd districts are a legislative exception, wherein livestock owners must fence in their land to prevent livestock from roaming off their property and are potentially liable for any damage caused by their livestock.
Herd districts can be created through a petition of landowners to their county commission, or commissioners can simply do it by ordinance — not a herd district per se but a controlling of livestock, Myers said.
Herd districts cannot include state or federal land or impose liability on a highway district for damage or injury resulting from livestock. Nor can they prohibit trailing of livestock on a public highway or hold the livestock owner liable for any harm while trailing, he said.
Herd districts require a lot of fencing and cattle guards, and property owners within the district are on the hook for the cost through county taxes, he said.
“It can be a fairly significant tax burden,” he said...more
Trump's attack dog on climate
In the seven weeks since reporters confirmed
that climate-change skeptic Myron Ebell would be the head of
President-elect Donald Trump's EPA transition team, environmental
websites have lit up with worry, and reporters have started to unpack
the views of someone referred to as a “climate contrarian” and free-market “public-policy wonk.” It’s true that Ebell has inhabited the think tank world, working for almost two decades at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and frequently appearing on TV to attack the mainstream consensus that man-made global warming is a threat to the future of the planet.
But a close look at Ebell’s record paints the picture of a different kind of operative, one more clearly in line with Trump’s bomb-throwing approach to setting up a new administration. For a person with a role at a think tank, friends and foes alike say Ebell isn’t particularly well-versed in the intellectual side of the debate. His role, instead, has largely been an outside agitator attacking politicians who look like they might be going soft on environmental issues—especially Republicans. Today, Ebell, at age 63, is rumored to be a candidate to run the EPA, the main agency tapped with keeping America’s environment safe and protecting the health of Americans. That possibility has provoked an outpouring of opposition against his nomination: An online petition to stop him from leading the EPA transition team has garnered almost 50,000 signatures.
Much of that criticism has centered on Ebell and his employer’s position on climate change. He is the director of the center for energy and the environment at CEI, an industry-funded think tank that promotes climate-change skepticism. From that perch, he has railed against the science behind global warming, attacking the motives and competence of the world’s leading climate researchers...more
Monday, November 21, 2016
A Cry For Kelp? Scientist discovers particular seaweed reduces methane to nearly zero in cow burps, farts
A P.E.I. farmer has helped lead to a researcher's discovery of an unlikely weapon in the battle against global warming: a seaweed that nearly eliminates the destructive methane content of cow burps and farts.
Joe Dorgan began feeding his cattle seaweed from nearby beaches more than a decade ago as a way to cut costs on his farm in Seacow Pond. He was so impressed with the improvements he saw in his herd, he decided to turn the seaweed into a product.
"There's a mixture of Irish moss, rockweed and kelp, and just going to waste," he said. "And I knew it was good because years ago, our ancestors, that's what they done their business with."
Then researcher Rob Kinley caught wind of it. The agricultural scientist, then at Dalhousie University, helped test Dorgan's seaweed mix, and discovered it reduced the methane in the cows' burps and farts by about 20 per cent.
Kinley knew he was on to something, so he did further testing with 30 to 40 other seaweeds. That led him to a red seaweed Asparagopsis taxiformis he says reduces methane in cows burps and farts to almost nothing...more
So, are you gonna convert to an insect ranch, or start baling seaweed? The choice is yours.
Another thought: Most folks know I have chronic progressive multiple sclerosis and that I'm a licensed medical marijuana patient in New Mexico. So if I got back in the cattle business, both I and the cattle would be on weed! Yeehaa!!
Rob Kinley tested different types of seaweed to use to feed cattle. |
So, are you gonna convert to an insect ranch, or start baling seaweed? The choice is yours.
Another thought: Most folks know I have chronic progressive multiple sclerosis and that I'm a licensed medical marijuana patient in New Mexico. So if I got back in the cattle business, both I and the cattle would be on weed! Yeehaa!!
The Rush To Regulate Oil And Gas Accelerates As Jan. 20 Approaches
Since election day delivered the realization that President Obama’s two terms in office would be succeeded by a Republican rather than a fellow Democrat, the Administration’s regulatory agencies have accelerated their efforts to cram through as many last-minute regulations as possible. Nowhere has this effort been more focused than on the oil and natural gas industry.
Since November 8, we have already seen the following events take place:
- On November 15, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued its final rule on venting and flaring natural gas from wells drilled on federal lands. Later that same day, both the Western Energy Alliance (WEA) and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) filed suit in federal court challenging the regulation. The industry lawsuit contends that the new regulation goes outside of the TBLM’s authority by creating an air quality regulatory program, and area of regulation reserved to the Environmental Protection Agency (BLM) and state environmental quality agencies.
- On November 17, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced unilateral cancellation of 65 oil and gas leases in the White River National Forest. Sec. Jewell said she was taking the action due to the fact that the leases, which sit atop the Mancos Shale, were “non-performing”. She failed to note that the main reason the leases were in that “non-performing” state is that they have been tied up in the feederal bureaucracy for the entire duration of the Obama Administration. The cancellation of these leases is especially impactful since these leases represent the best opportunity to develop the Mancos Shale, which the United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimated in June of this year to be the second largest deposit of natural gas in the United States, behind only the gargantuan Marcellus Shale in the Northeastern part of the country.
- On November 18, the Department of the Interior (DOI) issued its final five-year plan for leasing on federal lands and waters. The plan removes areas of the Arctic waters in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas – which had been included in its previous draft – from leasing consideration. The plan represents a victory for anti-development groups who have long sought to block development of oil and gas resources in the U.S. Arctic region. As I wrote in August, the plan will also leave the U.S. without any program to compete for resource plays in the Arctic at a time when Russia has created the world’s largest fleet of ice-breaker ships and is aggressively moving into the region. DOI Secretary Sally Jewel cited “industry’s declining interest” in the region as a major reason for the decision, but again failed to note that the Administration’s efforts to make development in the region as difficult and expensive as possible have helped to reduce such interest.
Alaskans vow pushback if Trump targets mountain's new name
Among Donald Trump's many promises on his way to the White House was a tweeted vow to change the new name of North America's tallest mountain back to Mount McKinley.
The Obama administration renamed the Alaska peak Denali in a symbolic gesture to Alaska Natives ahead of the president's visit to the state last year.
Alaskans long have informally called the mountain Denali — "the great one" in Athabascan. But the federal government recognized the name invoking the 25th president, William McKinley, who was born in Ohio and assassinated early in his second term. McKinley never set foot in Alaska.
In his tweet, Trump called the name switch a "great insult to Ohio."
But if he indeed moves to undo it, Trump can expect pushback from Alaskans.
"We wanted that change for a long time, and now we finally have it, and we need to leave it alone," said Victor Joseph, president of Tanana Chiefs Conference, a consortium of 42 Athabascan tribes in Interior Alaska. The organization spent years advocating for what they consider the 20,310-foot peak's original name.
"It was an insult to the first people of this land when they took away the name and gave it to somebody else," Joseph said...more
US bans mining near Yellowstone national park
The US government has banned new mining claims close to Yellowstone National Park as the Obama administration steps up efforts to keep the extractive industry out of environmentally sensitive areas before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January. New mining claims will now be prohibited
on about 30,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service land near the park’s
northern entrance. The exclusion will be in place for two years while
the Departments of Interior and Agriculture evaluate whether to withdraw
the land from new mining claims for another 20 years, the US Department of the Interior said in a statement. “There are good places to mine for gold,
but the doorstep of Yellowstone National Park is not one of them,”
Secretary Sally Jewell said in the release. The move comes after two applications for gold and copper projects
near Yellowstone recently sparked some heated discussion, drawing
hostility from local business owners, environmentalists and Montana
elected officials...more
Trump can’t revive fossil fuel industry, EPA chief taunts: ‘Train has left the station’
Even if he tries to resuscitate a sagging coal industry and ramp up oil and gas drilling across the country, President-elect Donald Trump will be unable to reverse the nation’s move toward clean energy, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said Monday. In one of her final speeches before leaving office in January, the EPA chief — a controversial figure who has presided over an unprecedented crackdown on coal-fired power plants — said she’s confident much of the agency’s work will stand the test of time. While Mr. Trump has vowed to reverse the some EPA regulations and put coal miners back to work, Ms. McCarthy said those efforts largely will be unsuccessful due to broader market forces. She said the agency’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), which greatly limits emissions from coal plants, has been just one reason why the U.S. is getting more of its power from renewable sources. “Folks, clearly there is more going on in our world and our energy sector that the Clean Power Plan can account for. … This is all about the energy transition that’s already happening,” she told an audience in Washington. “The clean-energy economy, folks, that train has left the station.”...more
video - Police, citing ‘ongoing riot,’ use water cannons on Dakota Access protesters in freezing weather
Tensions over the Dakota Access oil pipeline flared again Sunday when
North Dakota law enforcement used water cannons to disperse a group of
about 400 protesters trying to move past a barricaded bridge toward
construction sites for the project. As temperatures in Cannon Ball, N.D., dropped into
the 20s, police in riot gear sprayed activists with a hose mounted atop
an armored vehicle and formed a line to prevent them from advancing up
the road, according to the Bismarck Tribune.
Protesters also reported being pelted with rubber bullets, tear gas
and concussion grenades during the standoff, which lasted until late
Sunday night. A grainy Facebook Live video
from the scene shows throngs of people gathered around the Backwater
Bridge on Highway 1806, with flood lights shining down on the grass and
road below and a haze of smoke and water vapor rising near police
vehicles. The clashes began around 6 p.m., when protesters tried to remove burned
out trucks that had been blocking the bridge since authorities and
activists faced off there in late October. Police have since set up wire
and concrete barriers on the bridge, which is about a mile south
of where the pipeline developer plans to drill...more
Here is the video:
Here is the video:
Sunday Spotlight: Finding common ground on public lands
Grasslands on Tom and Mimi Sidwell’s JX Ranch, south of Tucumcari after brush removal. Tom Sidwell has used a method called Holistic Range Management for 40 years. |
Ranchers say thieves stealing wood fences to satisfy home decorators
VANCOUVER — A home decor trend appears to be fuelling a series of “highway robberies” in the B.C. Interior.
The B.C. Cattlemen’s Association has had six reports of stolen fencing this fall, general manager Kevin Boon said. It is believed the weathered wood is being sold to Vancouver-area homeowners eager to add a “rustic touch” to their living spaces.
Although wood rustling sounds like the plot of a particularly bad Western novel, the theft of $50,000 worth of fencing could create a dangerous situation as cattle return home from the range this fall.
The wood has been stolen from the sides of highway underpasses that allow cows to cross beneath the Coquihalla, explained Boon. “Imagine 200 head of cattle trying to funnel through (when) they find a break in the fence. They could end up on the highway.”
The speed limit on the Coquihalla Highway south of Merritt is 120 km/h and cows returning from the range typically weigh more than 500 kilograms.
In late August, Merritt RCMP caught three thieves dismantling a cattle corral belonging to the Coquihalla Cattle Company.
Ranch owner Lou Cooke said he drove past his corral one night and returned the next morning to find it destroyed.
Police arrested three Surrey men when they returned to load a pile of sawn boards into a rented truck the next day.
They had already sold some of the wood to a Lower Mainland lumber company...more
Nebraska rancher is removed from Humane Society post
A rancher from central Nebraska’s Sherman County has left the
chairmanship of the Humane Society of the United States’ Ag Advisory
Group. Kevin Fulton, of Litchfield, says he was removed from the post by the
society’s CEO, Wayne Pacelle. Fulton says a minority of the members
promote veganism and give agriculture a bad name. Fulton says, “There’s a very strong faction of vegan abolitionists
there that really resisted our efforts and it caused dissension inside
the organization as well as with a lot of our farmers.” Some of those vegan members, he says, are hurting the organization by pushing forward a radical agenda. “The final straw for me was their farm animal protection campaign
promoting an event called ‘The Future of Food and Farming’ that didn’t
include any farmers or food producers, which I thought was unusual,”
Fulton says. “Yet they brought in a very radical keynote speaker who
promotes bestiality. He says it’s wrong to eat animals but it’s okay to
have sex with them, as long as you don’t harm them.”...more
‘Gender-Equal Snow Ploughing’ Plunges Stockholm into Chaos
Politicians in Stockholm said the policy of “gender-equal” snow removal has failed after the weather brought Sweden’s capital to a standstill last week, with hospitals reporting a fourfold increase in broken bones. The city switched to a “feminist” system of clearing snow last winter but last week’s burst of snow, which threw the city into chaos, has cast doubt on its effectiveness. Hundreds of thousands of people were affected, with the majority of bus routes put out of service and commuters having to wait in queues for several hours. Previously, fresh snowfalls were cleared first from main roads and by areas like construction sites before being removed from pavements and cycle lanes. As men are more likely to drive and women more likely to travel on foot, more women slipped on the ice which led to complaints that the system was sexist. Vice-mayor of Stockholm, the Green Party’s Daniel Helldén, admitted that “equality snow removal” had failed the city, and apologised to residents who had injured themselves as a result...more
Trump urged to pardon Oregon ranchers who sparked armed standoff
Supporters of the father and son ranchers whose case led to a protracted armed standoff earlier this year have started a petition on the official White House website. It asks President-elect Donald Trump to pardon the pair on the day of his inauguration.
Dwight and Steve Hammond are the ranchers from Burns, Ore., who were sentenced to prison for controlled burns on their land that got out of hand and scorched some federal foliage as well.
They were sentenced and served time, then were made to serve longer sentences. The two were trapped by federal mandatory minimums that were created to fight not carelessness but terrorism. Now that the protesters are out and things have calmed down, the
Hammonds' supporters are hoping that Trump is still in a listening
mood. The official petition
was posted on the We the People website Saturday. It has until December
19 to get 100,000 digital signatures to guarantee an official response
from the White House...more
Ranch Radio Song Of The Day #1735
Its Swingin' Monday with Ginny Mac performing I Stop For Cowboys. The tune is on her 2003 CD Sweet Sentimental Dream.
https://youtu.be/gNLDHGsVHE4
https://youtu.be/gNLDHGsVHE4
Sunday, November 20, 2016
2 moose found frozen mid-fight near remote Alaska village
Two moose were recently discovered frozen in battle and encased in ice near a remote village on Alaska's unforgiving western coast.
Brad Webster, a middle school social studies and science teacher in Unalakleet, captured images of the massive animals poking through the ice as they lay on their sides with antlers apparently locked together.
He had taken a friend who recently moved to the village for a walk on Nov. 2 near a frozen slough at Covenant Bible Camp, where Webster volunteers as a camp steward.
“That's when we saw it,” he said in a phone interview Friday. He initially thought it was just one moose that had been shot but when he got a closer look, he saw the second moose.
It took him a moment to realize what he was seeing, he said.
It was the end of moose rutting season, and the animals likely were fighting over a female moose. Webster speculates that one of the animals was wounded by the other animal's antlers, and perhaps died as their antlers were caught together, dragging the rival down with it.
“It was a very interesting experience,” Webster said of the discovery.
On the way back to Unalakleet, he and his friend kept thinking about it and saying, “We really saw that,” in amazement, Webster recalled.
Jeff Erickson, student activities director of Bering Strait School District in Unalakleet, also captured the images when he went to check out the scene a couple days later with Webster...more
Cowgirl Sass & Savvy
In the line of duty
by Julie Carter
Score:
Gate - 1 Ranch wife - 0 And the town folk likely wanted to call authorities to
report a beating when they saw her in town a few days later.
Anyone
with any knowledge about ranch wives knew exactly what had happened when she
said the words "gate and cow." With a shiner that sent black and blue
over most of one side of her face, an eye that peeked through a narrow slit in
the swelling, and bruises that obviously weren't leaving anytime soon, she
laughed and said, "You should have seen it yesterday, it was a lot
worse."
It's
an old story and this tough little woman proved that it's still an ongoing
hazard for the ranch wife when a husband says, "Hold that gate and don't
let her by."
In
a hundred years of cattle ranching, the bovine species has never gotten the
memo about that particular plan. At something maybe close to 5 feet tall, this
little gal grew up holding her own in the corrals sorting and working cattle.
Gender has never required allowances for special treatment when it comes to
ranch work.
When
the operation is a "mom and pop" deal, mom has to pull her share of
the duty without regard to stature, age or necessary domestic duties.
As
a thousand pounds of cow steam rolls toward a gate with an obvious
determination to exit through it, and the little woman holding said gate knows
"this is going to hurt," there is a flash of mental calculating that
determines what happens next.
With
Herculean strength, at least in her mind, she more often than not will try to
hold her own, ergo hold the gate, against the cow, steer or even a freshly
weaned 500-pound calf. With a hope of the odds and perhaps angels on her side,
she prefers that option to the likely hollering or maybe even a cussing from
the "boss."
Or
worse yet, the thought that she "can't do this job." She knows from
experience there are consequences if she decides to pitch the gate away and
run. With any luck at all, the results won't require a wild and bumpy pickup
ride to the "local" hospital emergency room a couple hours away. That
would really mess up a well-planned afternoon of getting some cattle sorted and
tended to before dark.
But
sometimes, the cow wins. Odds are she'll be a favorite cow, one that's raised
5-6 good calves. And although she's a little on the cranky side even on a good
day, her production stats determine that she be given dispensation for her
attitude and grievances against the little missus.
And
the missus? Well according to the head cowboy, she needs to get a bag of ice on
that eye because she's got a job in town that she needs to tend to on Monday.
Have to keep the priorities in order so as to make a living.
There
are a few tough gals who have learned that quitting is sometimes a temporary
option. Nothing taxes a good ranch marriage like working cattle together in the
corral. Sign language and hollering are a given, as are threats of cold meals
or worse yet, a week of Spam sandwiches.
Worth
remembering is the story about the cowboy who, in his anger at his non-compliant
help in the corral, told his wife to "just go on to the house. I'll finish
up by myself."
Obediently
she got in the pickup and drove home. However, in his tempered state, he had
forgotten that they'd come to the pens together. That pickup she drove off in
was the only vehicle at the corrals.
It
was an eight-mile walk back to the house.
Julie,
a purple-heart veteran of the cow and gate wars, can be reached for comment at jcarternm@gmail.com
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