JUNE 16 AND 17, 2018


NEWS AND VIEWS


https://www.splcenter.org/hate-in-the-white-house-december
Hate in the White House – December 2017

The following is a timeline of instances of extremism in the Trump administration in December.

President Trump has opened the White House doors to extremism, not only consulting with hate groups on policies that erode our country’s civil rights protections but enabling the infiltration of extremist ideas into the administration’s rhetoric and agenda.

Once relegated to the fringes, the radical right now has a toehold in the White House.

Groups and individuals referenced in the list below are not associated with hate groups and extremist ideology unless indicated by a hate group profile.

Trump’s pick for UN ambassador, Patrick Murray, who shared an image defending Cliven Bundy and praised alt-right figure Milo Yiannopoulos, clears Senate Foreign Relations Committee

KKK
SPLC-Designated Hate Group
Dec 8

Trump’s judicial nominee, Brett Talley, is withdrawn after revelations of his blog post defending an early KKK leader



ANOTHER GREAT SCIENTIST IS LAID TO REST. RACKED WITH DISEASE, BUT NOT MENTAL DISABILITY, HE CONTINUED TO EXPLORE IDEAS UNTIL HIS DEATH. HE IS ALSO A POSTER CHILD FOR THE DISABLED AND WHAT I SEE AS “THE HUMAN SPIRIT.” THAT IS A COMBINATION OF INTELLECT, COMPASSION, HOPE, PERSISTENCE, AND ENJOYMENT OF LIFE, AND HE EMBODIED ALL OF THOSE. THE BRITISH MOVIE ON HIS LIFE, CALLED “THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING,” CAME OUT IN 2014. IT WAS MOVING WITHOUT BEING OVERLY SENTIMENTAL AND I’M SURE IT’S STILL AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET. I SUGGEST YOU WATCH IT.

SEE THE BLOCKBUSTER MOTION PICTURE OF HIS LIFE, THE TRAILER IS BELOW:
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUpl0HDGq1Q
LIVE DOCUMENTARY – “HAWKING 2013 ENGLISH MOVIE,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXgmxC4zpcA


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/15/benedict-cumberbatch-leads-tributes-stephen-hawking-westminster/
Stephen Hawking laid to rest between graves of Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin
By Guy Kelly, at westminster abbey and Gareth Davies
15 JUNE 2018 • 5:50PM

On a day honouring one of the world’s most brilliant theoretical physicists, it was only fitting that Professor Stephen Hawking’s farewell be a unique blend of the terrestrial and extra-terrestrial.

On Friday afternoon, thousands gathered to see the ashes of Prof Hawking, who died in March at the age of 76, buried between those of Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Charles Darwin in an entirely earthly thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey. Some 3,500 light-years away, meanwhile, the nearest black hole from our planet, 1A 0620-00, was preparing to receive a special message.

Shortly after the noon service in London, scientists from the European Space Agency were to use the Cebreros antenna in central Spain to beam a recording of Prof Hawking’s voice giving a message of “peace and hope” to the black hole, his family said in a statement. The recording had been set to music by Greek composer Vangelis – famed for his Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner scores – and lasts six-and-a-half minutes.

If traversing galaxies wasn’t indicative enough of Prof Hawking’s extraordinary influence and fame, the sheer range of guests arriving in Westminster earlier in the day certainly was. Alongside the scientist’s family, friends and former colleagues from Cambridge University were actors, musicians, politicians, astronauts and Nobel prize winners.

There were also representatives from charities connected to Prof Hawking, including sufferers of motor neurone disease, the affliction that gradually paralysed him over 55 years, hundreds of schoolchildren, and one thousand members of the public, from more than 100 countries, who were invited to attend after a ballot attracted around 25,000 applications.

Benedict Cumberbatch makes a speech at the memorial service for Professor Stephen Hawking CREDIT: EDDIE MULHOLLAND/THE TELEGRAPH

Making their way past media crews from around the world and the hundreds of onlookers gathered at the Great West Door at noon, well-known guests included the musicians Nile Rodgers and David Gilmour, Professor Brian Cox, the astronaut Tim Peake, the leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, and Benedict Cumberbatch, who arrived with his wife Sophie Hunter. In tribute, some of the guests wore ties or pins with stars and planets on.

Inside, the hour-long service was conducted by The Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster. An address was given by Astronomer Royal Martin Rees, who first met Prof Hawking at the University of Cambridge in the early 60s, while Prof Hawking's collaborator and Nobel prize winner Kip Thorne also gave a tribute.

While traditional in nature, the service made frequent reference to Prof Hawking’s lifelong fascination with all things cosmological, including the “sun and stars sublimely [moving]” in the hymn ‘Lord of beauty, thine the splendour’, to the choice of Gustav Holst’s ‘The Planets’.

Congregants watched as a small box containing Prof Hawking’s ashes was interred in what’s become known as Scientists’ Corner, a section of the Abbey dedicated to the great and good of science.

Choral music echoed through the grand building as family members, led by the Dean of Westminster, processed to Prof Hawking's final resting place.

His daughter, Lucy, and first wife Jane Hawking, were among those who laid flowers, while a medal created by the Stephen Hawking Foundation was also placed in the grave next to the wooden casket.

The area’s newest memorial stone bears the inscriptions, “Here lies what was mortal of Stephen Hawking, 1942-2018” and, per his request, his most famous equation, describing the entropy of a black hole. The words are a translation of the Latin on the nearby grave of Sir Isaac Newton.

Designed by artist John Maine, it is made from Caithness slate from the north of Scotland and was chosen to represent deep space.

Lucy Hawking, daughter of British scientist Stephen Hawking speaks at his memorial service during which his ashes will be buried in the nave of the Abbey church CREDIT: BEN STANSALL/AFP

Prof Hawking's interment between Newton and Darwin marked the first time a well-known person has been laid to rest in the Abbey since Sir Laurence Olivier 29 years ago, and the first scientist since Joseph John Thomson, the discoverer of the electron, who died in 1940.

Lord Rees said: "Stephen described his own scientific quest as learning the mind of God, but this was a metaphor. He shared Darwin's agnosticism, but it is fitting that he too should be interred in this national shrine.

"His name will live in the annals of science. Nobody else since Einstein has done more to deepen our understanding of space, time and gravity.

"Millions have had their horizons widened by his books and lectures, and even more worldwide have been inspired by a unique example of achievement against all the odds."

Cumberbatch, who played a young Prof Hawking in a 2004 BBC film, read a passage from Wisdom 7: 15-24, while Peake read from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘Queen Mab’, ending with the lines, “In eloquent silence, through the depths of space / Pursued its wondrous way.”

Appropriately, Shelley and Prof Hawking share the same alma mater, University College, Oxford, albeit 149 years apart. While the latter graduated with ease, however, Shelley was expelled after less than a year later for distributing a pamphlet on atheism.

“It was a wonderful service, everything was so well chosen. The music, readings and tone was just right. I’m a great admirer of his work, but it was also so important for people with disabilities. It was a fitting send-off,” said David Edwards, 70, a guest who won his place through the ballot, afterwards.

Adela Ksasna, 19, worked in communications for the Hawking Foundation for two years, and travelled from the USA to pay her respects to the man whose ideas she promoted around the world.

“For me it was very personal and sad, especially at the committal, but it was a balance of respect and joy,” she said. “Ultimately it’s a happy day, though, because he so deserves to be there with Newton and Darwin, because that’s who he is equivalent to these days.”

A private funeral service was held for Prof Hawking in Cambridge in March. At the age of just 22, he was diagnosed with a rare form of motor neurone disease and given just a few years to live.

His illness left him wheelchair-bound and dependent on a computerised voice system for communication.

However, he defied all odds, going on to become a towering figure in the world of physics, a bestselling author particularly with his book A Brief History Of Time, a father of three and a TV celebrity.

Paying tribute to his friend and former colleague, Professor Thorne said: "Stephen and I were very close friends for 43 years, he was by far the most stubborn friend I ever had.

"He absolutely refused to let his physical disability get in the way of doing great science or get in the way of having great fun."

As guests filed out of the Abbey to a peel of bells, many looked up at the blue sky. Far above, Hawking was to live on. Only for now, though. Over billions of years, black holes emit radiation that shrinks their mass and energy, eventually seeing them disappear entirely. The process is known as Hawking radiation. 44 years ago, it was he who provided the argument for its existence.

Related Topics
Stephen Hawking


FLINT MICHIGAN 2018 WATER STATUS UNDER DEBATE, AGAIN.

Officials Say Flint’s Water Is Safe. Residents Say It’s Not. Scientists Say It’s Complicated.
“It could be five years from now, and I’ll still never drink this water.”
NATHALIE BAPTISTE APR. 16, 2018 6:00 AM

PHOTOGRAPH -- A Flint resident collects water from a distribution centerJake May/The Flint Journal-MLive.com/AP

Four years ago, the city of Flint changed its water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Almost immediately, foul-smelling, discolored water began coming out of city taps. For almost two years, the mostly low-income and black residents were left to cook, drink, and bathe in water that was contaminated with lead. The crisis led to criminal charges leveled at more than a dozen state and city officials, thousands of children with dangerous levels of lead in their bloodstreams, and the collapse of confidence between residents and their government.

Now, at the fourth anniversary of the water crisis, state and city officials say the crisis has ended and Flint’s water is safe to drink. But residents aren’t buying it.

“Flint residents have had a long journey that started with betrayal by all levels of government,” Marc Edwards, a scientist and Virginia Tech professor who was among the first to confirm Flint’s residents’ fear about their water. “It’s understandable that they’re not going to trust anyone.”

During the crisis, one resident’s water had 397 parts per billion of lead. There is no safe level of lead for children, but the federal limit of lead in water is 15 parts per billion. As part of a $450 million federal and state aid package, Flint residents were able to receive free bottles of water for cooking, drinking, and bathing at various water distribution centers. By the end of 2016, more than two years after the crisis began, lead levels in the city had finally fallen to 12 ppb. “There are several hundred million dollars used in Flint to improve the water system, and we’re starting to see those benefits,” Edwards says. “It’s better than many of its peer cities, but the trust issue is real.”

So, earlier this month, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder announced that the bottled water program would be ending once the distribution centers ran out. “We have worked diligently to restore the water quality,” he said, “and the scientific data now proves the water system is stable and the need for bottled water has ended.”

But for residents, that reassurance meant nothing. Ariana Hawk, a Flint resident whose children developed rashes after bathing in the water, told WJRT, an ABC affiliate, shortly after Snyder’s announcement, “I don’t trust the filter, I don’t trust the water. Everything that me and my kids do from cooking to boiling their water for a bath, we’re using bottled water, I do not trust anything.”

Her lack of trust has deep roots. The crisis began because the water from the Flint River wasn’t treated properly, so it leached lead off old lead pipes fitted in homes across the city. After nearly two years of complaints from people living in the city and denials from state and city officials, an emergency was declared and Michigan attorney general Bill Schuette opened an investigation into the crisis. By the time the water was switched back to Lake Huron in 2015, thousands of children’s blood registered high levels of lead and at least 12 people were dead from a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak related to the water switch. Schuette has charged more than a dozen officials with crimes, including Nick Lyon, the head of the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, accused of involuntary manslaughter for the death of an elderly man in 2015.

“The data we’ve collected is now not in disagreement with the state showing that Flint is in the range of federal standards. But that doesn’t mean its safe.”
Edwards notes that worried residents may have a point. “The data we’ve collected is now not in disagreement with the state showing that Flint is in the range of federal standards,” Edwards explains, “But that doesn’t mean its safe.” While lead service lines, the pipe that connects homes to municipal water sources, are a big source of contamination, Edwards explains that there are others that are inside the home and not owned by the government, including the glue that’s used to hold pipes together and galvanized steel pipes, which can contain lead in the coating. “It’s a risk in any old city with lead pipes,” he says.

Through the Flint Action and Sustainability Team Start program, an initiative funded by the state and federal government, officials are aiming to replace the 18,000 lead service lines across the city. As of December 2017, more than 6,000 pipes have been replaced.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha thinks the city should end the bottled-water service only when lead service lines can be replaced—which isn’t expected to happen until 2020.


Mona Hanna-Attisha
✔
@MonaHannaA
This is wrong.

Until all lead pipes are replaced, state should make available bottled water and filters to Flint residents.#FlintWaterCrisis

Roberto Acosta
✔
@racostaJourno
#BREAKING: State of #Michigan to end bottled water for #Flint residents. #FlintWaterCrisis https://twitter.com/flintjournal/status/982315287818141696 …

2:15 PM - Apr 6, 2018
425
383 people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy

The Flint water crisis is playing a prominent role in the race for the governor’s mansion. Schuette, who is overseeing the charges related to the Flint disaster, has tried to distance himself from Gov. Snyder and his lieutenant governor, Brian Calley, who is the other top Republican in the race. As I previously reported, some see Schuette’s charges as an attempt to jockey for position in a close race:

The investigation has led to an increasingly tense relationship with Snyder. A particular point of contention has been Schuette’s prosecution of Lyon, a Snyder appointee who is the highest-ranking official to be charged in relation to the water crisis. Calley has accused Schuette of using the high-profile charges to exploit the Flint tragedy. “I don’t see how there can be any shadow of doubt that the process that [Schuette] has carried out has been highly politicized,” Calley said in November, according to the Detroit Free Press.

That’s a concern that has been echoed by some Flint residents, as well. “It’s political grandstanding,” says Nayyirah Shariff, a longtime activist with the Flint Democracy Defense League. She argues that the attorney general didn’t act until national media attention forced him to get involved.

Flint now has one of the best researched water systems in the country. But overcoming the well-deserved trust issue may be nearly impossible. Debra Coleman, a Flint resident, told WNEM, a CBS affiliate, “Point blank. I don’t trust the water. It could be five years from now, and I’ll still never drink this water.”

More MotherJones reporting on Climate Desk
FIGHTING DISINFORMATION

As President Trump and his acolytes ramp up their efforts to distort the truth and discredit the Mueller investigation, you can see how urgent our new priority to build a team focused on exposing disinformation will be.

If you're fed up with the lies coming from Washington and proliferating on social media, help us push back with a tax-deductible donation today.

We still need to raise about $105,000 by June 30 so we can bring on a full-time reporter and a data scientist to dig deep on disinformation—who's behind it, how it spreads, and how we can counter it—before this fall's midterms. Please don't sit this one out. Join us and your fellow MoJo readers today.

NATHALIE BAPTISTE
Nathalie Baptiste is a reporter in Washington, D.C.



COULD IT BE THAT GIULIANI HAS “STRZOK” A DEAL? I DID READ SEVERAL STORIES ABOUT STRZOK’S EMAILS AND IT COULD BE SEEN AS DAMNING, BUT IT IS SO TYPICAL OF THE KIND OF “GO TEAM” STATEMENTS THAT PEOPLE MAKE WHEN THEY AGREE FULLY ON SOME IMPORTANT ISSUE, AND ONE ON WHICH THEY DO INTEND WITH ALL THEIR MIGHT TO TAKE ACTION FULLY, BUT ONLY WITHIN THE LAW. SO, I THINK GIULIANI IS BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE. THAT INCLUDES EVERY REAL DEMOCRAT OR PROGRESSIVE THAT I KNOW.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-agent-peter-strzok-willing-to-testify-before-congress/
CBS NEWS June 17, 2018, 4:32 PM
FBI agent Peter Strzok willing to testify before Congress

Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who was removed from special counsel Robert Mueller's team of investigators looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election, says he is willing to testify before Congress. Strzok played a key role in the Clinton email investigation and was one of Mueller's top deputies before he was reassigned following the discovery of anti-Trump text messages he exchanged with another FBI official.

A spokesperson for Zuckerman Spaeder LLP, the law firm representing Strzok, confirmed to CBS News that he would be willing to testify without immunity before any congressional committee and would not plead the fifth in response to any questions. The Washington Post first reported Strzok's willingness to testify.

Strzok had a leadership role in both the Clinton email probe and the early phase of the Russia investigation. New revelations about his communications during the 2016 campaign came to light Thursday in the Department of Justice's inspector general report about the Clinton email investigation. Strzok has been a frequent target of President Trump and his allies, who argue his conduct was part of a concerted effort on the part of the FBI and DOJ to damage the Trump campaign.

The Post writes that Strzok "wants the chance to clear his name and tell his story." His attorney Aitan Goelman told the paper that Strzok "intends to answer any question put to him, and he intends to defend the integrity of the Clinton email investigation, the Russia collusion investigation to the extent that that's a topic, and his own integrity."

Politico reported Friday that Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was preparing to subpoena Strzok to appear before the committee. Goelman told the Post a subpoena would not be necessary.

The IG's report on Thursday revealed an exchange between Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who also worked on the email investigation. The two were engaged in an extramarital affair, and said they used their FBI-issued phones to communicate in order to conceal their activities. Just two months before the 2016 election, Page texted Strzok, "[Trump's] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!" to which Strzok responded, "No. No he's not. We'll stop it."

The text exchange was the latest between Page and Strzok to be made public. The two agents became first known for their derogatory comments about the president throughout the campaign and well into Mr. Trump's time in office, which led to Strzok being removed from Mueller's investigative team.

As for Strzok's more controversial exchanges with Page, Goelman told the Post that there's "no question" that his client regrets the messages, but that he was expressing his political opinions in what he thought was a private conversation.

Paula Reid contributed reporting.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



IT WAS MY UNDERSTANDING THAT THE RUSSIA PROBE BEGAN WITH THE CLINTON EMAILS’ BEING STOLEN BY RUSSIA. BUT THEN I’VE HEARD ABOUT THE CHRISTOPHER STEELE TAPES AS BEING EARLY IN THE PROBE ALSO. THAT WAS QUITE A WHILE AGO, AND THERE IS LOTS AND LOTS OF INFORMATION ABOUT IT ALL, WITH NUMEROUS RUSSIANS INVOLVED, AND ALL RATHER MYSTERIOUSLY SO. THEY DISAPPEAR IN AND OUT OF THE PICTURE LIKE ALICE’S WONDERFUL CHESHIRE CAT.

THERE WERE SEVERAL OTHER REPUBLICANS INVOLVED TO SOME DEGREE ALSO, SUCH AS JEFF SESSIONS. ONE THING THAT DOES SEEM HIGHLY ATYPICAL FOR AN AMERICAN SITUATION OF ANY KIND IS THE SHEER NUMBER OF IDENTIFIED RUSSIANS WHO ARE INVOLVED, AND THE NUMBER OF THEM WHO ARE ACTUALLY WITH RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE. THAT ALONE IS PLENTY OF REASON FOR A RUSSIA/TRUMP/ELECTION FRAUD INVESTIGATION.

ANOTHER THING IS THE MONEY ISSUES, FROM THE NRA’S BEING USED AS A GO BETWEEN TO FUNNEL MONEY FROM THE KREMLIN TO THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN, AND THE EXTENSIVE SHADY MONEY CHANGING HANDS AND BEING LAUNDERED. DIRTY MONEY, APPARENTLY. IT ALSO, JUST IN A GENERAL WAY, REMINDS ME MORE OF THE INTERACTIONS OF A MOB BOSS THAN A PRESIDENT, ESPECIALLY “THE TEFLON DON,” WHO WAS OH SO CLEVER, BUT HE WAS FINALLY ARRESTED AND IMPRISONED. I THINK WE SHOULD TRY TRUMP AND ALL HIS HENCHMEN UNDER THE RICOH LAW, AND HAVE A SERIOUS LOOK AT ELECTION FRAUD AND TREASON AS WELL. THAT SOUNDS LIKE “HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS” TO ME.

A TIME SEQUENCED PRINTED LAYOUT OF ALL OF IT WOULD BE USEFUL FOR ME. THAT’S NOT BECAUSE I BELIEVE AT ALL THAT THE RUSSIA INQUIRY WAS IN ANY WAY BOGUS, BUT BECAUSE THE WHOLE THING IS FASCINATING TO ME. I NEVER MISS A RACHEL MADDOW ANALYSIS OF WHAT THE LATEST NEWS IS. I THINK IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THE STUDY OF TRUMP ET AL BE CONTINUED. AS FOR TRUMP’S BEING ABLE TO RESPOND IN WRITING, OR ENTIRELY IN AUDIO, I THINK BOTH OF THOSE ARE TOO EASILY EDITED AND RESHAPED, IF THEY LOOK COMPROMISING TO TRUMP’S HANDLERS. NO, IT SHOULD BE ALL VIDEO, PLEASE, AND IN ADDITION A WRITTEN TRANSCRIPT. I’VE NEVER HEARD AN AUDIO ACCOUNT BY ANYONE ON A TAPE LIKE THAT WHICH WAS CLEAR ENOUGH THAT I COULD UNDERSTAND THE WORDS WELL. IT WOULD BE IMPORTANT, AS WELL, FOR THE PURPOSE OF CLARIFYING QUESTIONS. ENQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rudy-giuliani-on-face-the-nation-calls-for-full-and-complete-investigation-into-origins-of-russia-probe/
By EMILY TILLETT CBS NEWS June 17, 2018, 11:22 AM
Rudy Giuliani calls for "full and complete" investigation into origins of Russia probe

President Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani is calling for a "full and complete" investigation into the origins of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Giuliani, speaking on "Face the Nation" on Sunday, claimed that "troubling, unethical behaviors" among some in the Justice Department had tainted the Mueller probe, which began as an FBI counterintelligence investigation. The department's inspector general released a report this week into the handling of Hillary Clinton's email scandal, revealing that FBI agent Peter Strzok, who oversaw the Clinton investigation and was later removed from the Mueller probe, had suggested in text messages that the FBI would "stop" a Trump presidency two months before the 2016 election.

Transcript: Rudy Giuliani on "Face the Nation," June 17, 2018

"How much did he infect that probe with his own very, very extreme positions? I don't know, but I want to find out before I go forward," Giuliani said when pressed about Strzok's influence on the investigation.

The inspector general found no evidence to suggest that political bias influenced the FBI's actions with respect to the Clinton probe. But Giuliani said he wants another investigation into the bureau's Russia investigation, which was eventually taken over by Mueller when he was named special counsel.

"It's crying out for someone to investigate the investigators," Giuliani said. "There should be a full and complete IG report and grand jury investigation of what happened here, after it became the Russia probe. What was the purpose of it? What did they gather?"

When asked if and when Mr. Trump would sit down with Mueller's team of investigators for an interview, Giuliani said he advised against it, but said his client is intent on providing his version of events.

"I don't want to do it," Giuliani. "The president wants to do it."

What shape an interview would take is still up in the air. "What we'd really like is something responded to in writing. And it could be under oath."

But Giuliani added: "We are in rather sensitive negotiations with them … there might be a narrow area that we could all agree on."

Areas of the negotiation include the format, the scope of questions and the duration. Unlike former President Bill Clinton's videotaped testimony in the Whitewater investigation, Giuliani indicated his preference for that only the audio of the interview be recorded.

"I think we've already agreed that it should be just audio recorded," said Giuliani. "We would like to see it limited to some specific questions about the heart of the probe – the Russian alleged collusion. We think that those questions could be answered quickly. We think two hours. They probably think four. So let's settle at three."

However, Giuliani made clear that he wants to know more before any final agreement. "I'm not sure we can possibly recommend being questioned until we know how badly is this investigation infected by what Strzok did at the beginning."

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



HEROINE GRANDMOTHER THINKS QUICKLY AND KILLS A RABID BOBCAT BY STRANGLING IT. THERE WAS A SIMILAR STORY OF AN AGING WOMAN NEAR JACKSONVILLE, FL WHERE I LIVE, KILLING A RABID FOX IN THE SAME WAY WHEN IT TRIED TO ATTACK HER, ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO. NO WILD ANIMAL WHICH IS AS SMALL AS A BOBCAT OR A FOX SHOULD TRY TO ATTACK A HUMAN. THEY SHOULD RUN INSTEAD. SO, A TRIP TO THE HOSPITAL SHOULD BE THE NEXT STEP, AFTER CALLING THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT, THAT IS. HUMANS ARE INVADING THE WILD AREAS WITH OUR SUBURBAN SPREAD, AND THE ANIMALS ARE COMING INTO OUR AREAS AS A RESULT. WHETHER A REPORT OF THIS KIND OF ATTACK HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED IN THE LOCAL AREA OR NOT, WE SHOULDN’T THINK ONLY OF OUR DOGS AND CATS, BUT CAUTION OUR CHILDREN ABOUT ALLOWING AN ANIMAL TO APPROACH TOO CLOSELY.

MOST OF THE TIME THERE IS NO CONTROL AT ALL OVER THE INCIDENCE OF RABIES IN WILD ANIMALS, ALTHOUGH AT LEAST ONE EXPERIMENT, WHICH I READ ABOUT FIFTEEN OR MORE YEARS AGO, WAS CARRIED OUT IN ONE OF THE WESTERN STATES, IN ORDER TO TEST THE VIABILITY OF INSERTING THE RABIES VACCINE INTO MEAT AND PUTTING IT OUT FOR THE COYOTES. AS I REMEMBER, IT WAS AT LEAST SOMEWHAT SUCCESSFUL, THOUGH I THOUGHT THE VACCINE HAD TO BE DELIVERED BY INOCULATIONS.

SO, IF ONE OF THOSE CUTE RACCOONS HAS TAKEN UP IN YOUR AREA, CALL ANIMAL CONTROL AND DON’T APPROACH IT OR FEED IT.

http://abc7chicago.com/pets-animals/georgia-grandmother-strangles-rabid-bobcat-with-bare-hands/3613181/
Sunday, June 17, 2018 12:08PM
A Georgia woman says she killed a bobcat with her bare hands after she was attacked by the rabid animal.

In this wild story, Dede Phillips says she was heading out her front door when she saw a bobcat staring back at her near her truck.

Phillips said the bobcat attacked after she snapped a picture of it.

"As soon as it took the first step, I was in trouble and I knew it," Phillips said. "When it got to that pole, it leaped on me."

At that leap, Phillips said it was a fight for her life.

"I grabbed it by the shoulders and pushed it back away from me and I took it down right here."

The encounter ended when Phillips strangled the wild animal to death.

Due to the encounter, Phillips suffered broken fingers on both her hands and cuts and bruises all over her body.

According to authorities, the bobcat was rabid and Phillips will now have to undergo a series of expensive and painful shots.



KID DOES GOOD – REALLY GOOD! THINKING, CARING AND PRODUCING RESULTS. SHE DEFINITELY SHOULD GO INTO POLITICS, AFTER SHE FINISHES HER LAW DEGREE. BE SURE TO WATCH THE VIDEO INTERVIEW.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sarah-haycox-finds-way-to-honor-edwin-pratt-local-civil-rights-leader-decades-after-his-death/
By STEVE HARTMAN CBS NEWS June 15, 2018, 6:55 PM
10-year-old finds way to honor local civil rights leader decades after his death

SHORELINE, Wash. -- Sarah Haycox, 10, says she was walking through a park in Shoreline, Washington, when she came across something curious. It was a stone with a plaque and a tribute. It said: Edwin T. Pratt, 1930 - 1969.

"I'm like, 'Wow, that's a really short life," said Sarah. "I just did the quick math in my head and we're like, 'He died at 39.'"

otr-hartman-pratt-061518-frame-675.jpg
Sarah Haycox stumbled across a plaque for a man she didn't know. So she decided to learn more. CBS NEWS

Since there were no other markings, and no one around to ask, Sarah did something quite extraordinary. She gave herself a homework assignment to find out all she could about the life and death of Edwin Pratt.

She learned he was director of the Seattle Urban League, worked on school desegregation and was the first black person to move into Sarah's town. It was a bold and fatal decision. Pratt was assassinated, nine months after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

otr-hartman-pratt-061518-frame-1298.jpg
Edwin Pratt was the director of the Seattle Urban League and worked on school desegregation. CBS NEWS

"It was just the lack of recognition that really, I think, maybe, stunned me," Sarah said. "It just felt like he's gotta have something more than just a plaque outside of a bathroom."

At about that same time, Sarah noticed that across the street from her school the district was putting up a new early-learning center. She found out it didn't have a name yet, and her wheels started turning.

Sarah started a petition drive and went all over town, explaining to anyone who would listen why this new building should be named after Pratt.

otr-hartman-pratt-061518-frame-2037.jpg
Sarah Haycox CBS NEWS

"It's difficult times, but brighter futures are ahead of us and it's because of kids like Sarah," said Curtis Campbell, who works with the school district.

Indeed, a lot of people in Shoreline have been inspired by Sarah and many have boarded her bandwagon. We saw her at her eighth school board meeting, which was by far the most important. That's because one of the board members did move to name the new school after Pratt.

The vote was unanimous, making Sarah's dream come true. Thanks to her, there will never be another kid in Shoreline who doesn't know the name Edwin T. Pratt.

Someday, if she keeps up her efforts, everyone will also know the name Sarah Haycox.

For more information about Sarah's efforts to share Edwin Pratt's story, head to her GoFundMe page.

To contact On the Road, or to send us a story idea, email us: OnTheRoad@cbsnews.com.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



HOW I SPENT MY AFTERNOON IN TASMANIA, AND FREE OF CHARGE, TOO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItgS0TtU8hM
David Attenborough's Tasmania
Attenborough narrates the story of a vast island wilderness - ancient forests, pristine rivers & spectacular coastline. Seasons vary from dry heat, strong winds & cold bringing wombats, wallabies & platypus out in daylight.

Broadcast on ABC 7:45pm Sun 3 Jun 2018.
Category
People & Blogs
License
Standard YouTube License


ej
Published on Jun 6, 2018
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ONE OF THE PROBLEMS IN DEALING WITH CHILDREN ONCE THEY CAN WALK IS THAT THEY WILL WALK, JUST TO EXPLORE. I’M SO GLAD THIS LITTLE GIRL HAD A FAITHFUL COMPANION, EVEN THOUGH THIS DOG WAS TOO SMALL TO PROTECT HER FROM ANY ATTACKERS BY FIGHTING; BUT EVEN DOGS THAT SIZE WILL FIERCELY GROWL AND BARK IF THEY NEED TO, AND WHEN THERE'S NO DANGER, JUST CUDDLE. CUDDLING MEANS A LOT!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dog-waits-with-missing-3-year-old-all-night-in-cornfield-until-help-arrives/
By CAITLIN O'KANE CBS NEWS June 17, 2018, 10:31 AM
Dog waits with missing 3-year-old in cornfield overnight until help arrives

PHOTOGRAPH -- A toddler went missing near her home in Qulin, Missouri, and when authorities found her, they also found her dog, who had stayed by her side all night TWITTER/@MSHPTROOPERE

Remy Elliott, 3, disappeared on Thursday near her home in Qulin, Missouri, KFVS reports. Police officers and volunteers searched the cornfield near the girl's home for nearly 12 hours and when they finally found her on Friday morning, they found her Yorkshire terrier, Fat Heath, waiting by her side.

Timber Merritt, Remy's mom, said losing her daughter was stressful. "I looked for her by myself thinking maybe she was just in the woods or somewhere where I just couldn't see her," Merritt told KFVS. "And I was calling for her and calling for her, and when she wasn't calling back I realized, 'I don't think I'm going to find her on my own.'"

Merritt knew she needed help searching in the huge cornfield, so she called friends, family and law enforcement. The search party grew to about 100 people, Merritt said. Two helicopters also joined the search.

John Copp was one of the first people to start helping Thursday night. He said "it was stressful and emotional," looking for the lost 3-year-old. "We were all just walking back and forth from one end to the other just yelling her name. All the flashlights started dying and the sheriff's office decided to call if for the night," the family friend said.

The search party continued to look and more people joined around 6 a.m. on Friday.

Makayla Hardcastle was with the group searching in the cornfields. "The corn feels like razor blades cutting you, especially for a child. And you don't hear well in the corn either, so when somebody is yelling your name you can hear them but you don't know where it is coming from," she said.

Merritt's brother, Quinlin, drove from western Kentucky to help in the search. He was the one who eventually found Remy. But the toddler wasn't alone -- her dog was with her when they were spotted in the field about half a mile away from the house.

"They said that she was asleep when he picked her up," Merritt said. "She was definitely exhausted, hot, really sweaty and it took a while to drink anything."

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MSHP Troop E
@MSHPTrooperE
This is what #Community looks like. Law enforcement, 1st Responders and community volunteers coming together to find a missing child. Her dog stayed by her side all night. #StrongerTogether

11:51 AM - Jun 15, 2018
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Because her faithful, tiny dog was there, Remy wasn't terrified to be alone in the wilderness overnight. "She said she wasn't scared because Fat Heath was there. If he wasn't I think she would've been terrified," Merritt said.

Remy is back to her normal self after visiting Black River Medical Center in Poplar Bluff. She is suffering from mosquito bites, but has itch cream to treat them. Her trusty pup Fat Heath made sure the scary night wasn't worse.

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