A California family spent the winter dismissing odd noises that sounded a little like snoring, only to discover that five bears had spent the cold season hibernating under their house.
The Bear League group, which works to preserve bear habitat and help bears in distress largely around the Lake Tahoe basin region in the state, recounted the family’s astonishing episode last week.
In a Facebook post, the group described how one mother bear, along with three of her own cubs and an adopted orphan, had decided to spend the winter in the crawlspace under a local house.
“It was a home where people lived, and they thought they heard some odd rumbling, snoring-like noises but ignored it because it simply didn’t make sense … and the neighbors said they were imagining it because they didn’t hear anything,” the Bear League said in a Facebook post.
It added: “The bear family awoke and prepared to exit, and the people in the house could no longer deny there was probably a bear under the house.”
The unnamed residents called the Bear League, who helped usher the bear family into the woods, as well as making sure the human family in the house was also unharmed.
“For all that defeating the far-right for the second time is a great victory for Macron, France’s allies will be very awake to the fact that nearly 42% of French voters, according to the data, supported someone who stands against so much of what they are for.”
“…Le Pen will remain an influential figure in France who enjoys a huge amount of support. While her loss means a continuation of France’s most hostile policy towards Putin’s invasion, Russia still has a valuable disruptor in a key European country who will likely continue to drive divides in France and beyond.”
Le Pen is Fance’s tRUMPsky. Egotistic sower of bad seeds. Friend of Putin.
“If the far-right continues to make gains, there could be a very different outcome five years from now.”
Macron is unpopular and generally disliked, and still won, because the French electorate does its duty and understands the nation’s role in European stability.
Macron’s reelection was a vote for French leadership in Europe and against Putin. Le Pen did so well relatively because almost all the candidates besides Macron were either hard-right or hard-left
I hate Illinois nazis.
— Joliet Jake Blues
The sound of that monster gas-suckin’ Oldsmobile engine gets me every time…..I had so many of em. Those fuckers could roll. 90 mph across Kansas or Oklahoma and the engine sounding like a symphony.
Le Pen worked to soften the hard right image of her party and it worked, but only to a degree. Her vote percentage increased from 33.9 in 2017 by about 8% in 2022 to just around 42%. When is the last presidential election here with a 16+ point margin?
Had pootin not screwed the pooch she might well have won, thus paving the way for the dipshit or some facsimile to win here. A very lucky and fortunate election. The kind of situation which results in great changes in the course of history. Lucky.
President Biden plans to nominate Bridget Brink to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, the White House announced Monday. The move is intended to fill a position that has remained officially vacant for three years — and is now even more crucial during the Russian invasion.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on the heels of a visit to Kyiv that Brink, who is currently the U.S. ambassador to Slovakia, is “deeply experienced in the region” and “will be a very strong representative for the United States in Ukraine.”
The announcement came as Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the first high-level U.S. visit to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began.
The officials said U.S. diplomatic operations would resume this week in Ukraine, in a first step toward reopening the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. Brink’s “decades of experience make her uniquely suited for this moment in Ukraine’s history,” the State Department said in a statement Monday.
Ukraine has not had a U.S. ambassador since 2019. Brink’s nomination is intended to fill a diplomatic void that has remained since President Donald Trump unceremoniously removed Marie Yovanovitch from the position in 2019 — a move that was scrutinized during Trump’s first impeachment inquiry.
Brink, whose Foreign Service career spans more than 26 years, is no stranger to escalating tensions in Eastern Europe.
From 2015 to 2018, she served as deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the State Department, with a close eye on ongoing tensions within the territory of the former Soviet Union. She also served in Uzbekistan and Georgia, two other former Soviet republics, and held an assignment on the White House National Security Council.
Brink supported Slovakia’s entry into NATO in 2004 and became the U.S. ambassador to the country in 2019, a position she currently holds.
[continues]
according to wiki:
President Donald Trump nominated Brink to become the ambassador to Slovakia. Hearings were held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on May 16, 2019. The committee favorably reported her nomination to the Senate floor on May 22, 2019. Brink was confirmed by the entire Senate via voice vote on May 23, 2019.
[…]
Brink speaks Russian, Serbian, Georgian, and French.
Well we got news that my rich uncles vacation place above Las Vegas N.M.
has burnt to the ground, the care taker barely got out alive.
CNN
—
Wildfires continue to burn across the southwest with two blazes in New Mexico merging to form a perimeter of more than 180 miles Sunday, according to firefighters.
The Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fires have combined – burning a collective 54,004 acres – and the flames were 12% contained Sunday night, New Mexico Fire Information said.
GA Gov. Kemp up 12 pts against Trump-endorsed Perdue with primary just a month away, could even avoid a runoff.
So, Disney loses a few wing nuts but gains all those millennial parents looking for a progressive kid frindly option.
Looks like a win for Disney.
BTW, Disney employs polsters too, so they know which way the wind blows.
Jack
Why was that creepy old vampire going to Disney World in the first place?? Hide your kids, the Republicans are here
Today’s Quibble:
Smokey Bear
not
Smokey The Bear
April 25 (Reuters) – Russia said on Monday it would investigate the cause of a large fire that erupted in the early hours of the morning at an oil storage facility in the city of Bryansk 154 km (96 miles) northeast of the border with Ukraine.
Unverified social media footage showed what sounded like two explosions followed by a tower of flames, with one unverified video showing a fire raging around a giant fuel reservoir.
Like it or not Florida Dems are stuck with Charlie Crist against DeSantis in November. Former GOP governor, attorney general, education commissioner and now a Dem congressman. Get over it and get behind him:
The interesting thing about the American west and fire, we have treated fire as an enemy for the last 150 years. But for 20 thousand years native people have used fire as a tool. Driving across Kansas a few weeks ago reminded me. How did the Native Americans protect themselves from the spring fire season. They stepped outside their winter lodge and set a fire.
It is the old 19th century hubris, that with science man can control his world.
When in fact chaos rules!
Jack
Bink
lol
yeah he does look like a Hollywood version of a child molester.
Jack
Droughs Warning Issued for Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming
Drought has reportedly continued to affect the Intermountain West as of late April, resulting in the start of the annual spring snowmelt.
As a result, US meteorologists have issued a new drought warning ranging from moderate to critical.
The latest drought forecast confirmed previous empirical evidence that drought has worsened for more than a thousand years in the region and will continue in the coming years.
This climatic problem may aggravate dry weather conditions and change weather
Jack –
No question the build-up of the fuel loads in the forests , was a huge blunder, it’s ironic that the first “Smoky the Bear” was from New Mexico.
Western US is Experiencing the Worst Drought Since Medieval Times
By Precious Smith Mar 01, 2022 01:40 PM EST
Western North America, southwestern US, and northern Mexico started experiencing megadrought at beginning of the new millennium. This drought is the most severe in the continent since the Dark Ages, and no one knows when it will end.
Blinken saying Ukraine will outlast Putin and Austin vowing to “weaken” Russia indicates we smell blood.
The U.S. holds one sanctions card close to the vest: Vladimir Putin’s alleged girlfriend and the mother of at least three of his children
The U.S. holds one sanctions card close to the vest: Vladimir Putin's alleged girlfriend and the mother of at least three of his children, the government says. https://t.co/VIiolfO37H
“Mr. Trump, I know you take your business seriously and I take mine seriously. I hereby hold you in civil contempt and fine you $10,000 per day until you purge that contempt,” Engoron said at a hearing Monday. A written decision with a start date for fines is expected Tuesday.
NEW YORK — A judge on Monday held Donald Trump in contempt of court for failing to turn over records being sought as part of a civil probe into Trump’s business practices — a striking and potentially costly public admonishment of the former president.
Lawyers from the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) did not seek to jail Trump, but asked New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron to penalize him financially for failing to comply with an order to produce the documents by March 31.
[…]
The judge said he would hold Trump in contempt until Trump and his legal team fully detail the extent of their search and either submit the records or swear that no records being sought exist. He asked for the “who, what, when, where and how any search was conducted.”
While the Trump Organization has given James’s office more than 6 million pages of records, investigators are still seeking items from Trump’s personal files, including handwritten notes related to statements of his net worth that he signed and submitted to banks and other parties. The documents were first requested nearly five months ago.
Also at Monday’s hearing, a lawyer for James’s office said an “enforcement action” may soon be taken in the long-running civil investigation. James has the ability to sue over her findings, a move that could result in significant financial penalties and other repercussions for Trump’s family real estate and golf resort operation if they are found to be in violation of the law.
[…]
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
now begins the “who doesn’t hold him in contempt” jokes and cartoons
Poobah, if SFB sees those GA numbers he’ll endorse Kemp in a New York minute so he can say a Trump candidate won in Georgia.
I’m guessing Disney isn’t planning to shut down because Rick Scott isn’t visiting anymore or subscribing to Disney+. Forking idiot.
Rich guy buys Twitter. Vows to make it better, eh? Do we now go back to Facebook?
Musk takeover. I have deleted my Twitter account.
Facebook and Twitter are compromised. Only Trail Mix safe and secure.
Did he buy it for real money or crypto-funny money?
Free speech? Pffft. He won’t let his workers discuss unionizing. Lying bastard.
“…he has a poor track record of protecting other Twitter users and respecting their free speech. He has used the platform to discredit and disparage those who disagree with him, and he has lashed out at journalists who have written or produced things he didn’t like.
Further, he has used the platform to sow doubt about Covid-19 vaccines. And he has been accused of making false statements about Tesla on Twitter, an allegation that resulted in a $40 million settlement with the SEC that required Musk and Tesla to pay $20 million each and Musk to step down as the company’s chairman.”
“Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke tested positive for COVID-19, his campaign said Monday.”
“In addition to being fully vaccinated and boosted, I regularly test for COVID-19 while traveling the state for town hall meetings,” O’Rourke said in a statement. “I tested negative yesterday morning before testing positive today. I have mild symptoms and will be following public health guidelines.”
“The lawsuit states that the county judge, commissioners and library director removed several books off shelves, suspended access to digital library books, replaced the Llano County library board with community members in favor of book bans, halted new library book orders and allowed the library board to close its meetings to the public in a coordinated censorship campaign that violates the First Amendment and 14th Amendment.”
“Public libraries are not places of government indoctrination. They are not places where the people in power can dictate what their citizens are permitted to read about and learn,” the lawsuit states. “When government actors target public library books because they disagree with and intend to suppress the ideas contained within them, it jeopardizes the freedoms of everyone.”
“Defendants’ censorship campaign targeted books that conflicted with Defendants’ political and religious views.”
Smokey Bear
Winnie THE Pooh
jamie and BiD
as in “Pat, the chastised” would “Smokey, the bear” (note the comma) pass muster?
mea culpa mea culpa mea maxima culpa
i didn’t want folk to think i was referring to Smokey, the sheriff 🙂
I wasn’t chastising anyone. I was just pointing out a way I could remember it, in the future. I didn’t realize it until Jamie pointed it out. Somewhere, in a trinket box under my bed, is a Smokey badge from my childhood…maybe a junior firefighter or some other designation.
Paddington seems to have no designation. He is the Cher of bears.
Yogi the Bear
Only Trail Mix safe and secure.
i never made a twitter, trailmix has always been the exclusive home of my bullshit👍
Ok, that’s it … I’m not tweeting any more. Wait, I never have.
87 degrees in East Bumfuck today, 90 yesterday. In April? How fucking weird.
another call “to arms, citizens” ‘ from Smokey the bear:
speaking of bears, this from the guardian:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/24/europe/macron-victory-analysis-intl/index.html
“For all that defeating the far-right for the second time is a great victory for Macron, France’s allies will be very awake to the fact that nearly 42% of French voters, according to the data, supported someone who stands against so much of what they are for.”
“…Le Pen will remain an influential figure in France who enjoys a huge amount of support. While her loss means a continuation of France’s most hostile policy towards Putin’s invasion, Russia still has a valuable disruptor in a key European country who will likely continue to drive divides in France and beyond.”
Le Pen is Fance’s tRUMPsky. Egotistic sower of bad seeds. Friend of Putin.
“If the far-right continues to make gains, there could be a very different outcome five years from now.”
Macron is unpopular and generally disliked, and still won, because the French electorate does its duty and understands the nation’s role in European stability.
Macron’s reelection was a vote for French leadership in Europe and against Putin. Le Pen did so well relatively because almost all the candidates besides Macron were either hard-right or hard-left
I hate Illinois nazis.
— Joliet Jake Blues
The sound of that monster gas-suckin’ Oldsmobile engine gets me every time…..I had so many of em. Those fuckers could roll. 90 mph across Kansas or Oklahoma and the engine sounding like a symphony.
Le Pen worked to soften the hard right image of her party and it worked, but only to a degree. Her vote percentage increased from 33.9 in 2017 by about 8% in 2022 to just around 42%. When is the last presidential election here with a 16+ point margin?
Had pootin not screwed the pooch she might well have won, thus paving the way for the dipshit or some facsimile to win here. A very lucky and fortunate election. The kind of situation which results in great changes in the course of history. Lucky.
wapo:
according to wiki:
editorial board
Opinion | Emmanuel Macron’s win over Marine Le Pen is cause for great relief – The Washington Post
hey… this moment calls for a song!
Well we got news that my rich uncles vacation place above Las Vegas N.M.
has burnt to the ground, the care taker barely got out alive.
CNN
—
Wildfires continue to burn across the southwest with two blazes in New Mexico merging to form a perimeter of more than 180 miles Sunday, according to firefighters.
The Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fires have combined – burning a collective 54,004 acres – and the flames were 12% contained Sunday night, New Mexico Fire Information said.
GA Gov. Kemp up 12 pts against Trump-endorsed Perdue with primary just a month away, could even avoid a runoff.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2022/governor/Georgia.html
Monsters
FL Sen. Rick Scott says he won’t return to Disney World and has cancelled Disney+.
So, Disney loses a few wing nuts but gains all those millennial parents looking for a progressive kid frindly option.
Looks like a win for Disney.
BTW, Disney employs polsters too, so they know which way the wind blows.
Jack
Why was that creepy old vampire going to Disney World in the first place?? Hide your kids, the Republicans are here
Today’s Quibble:
Smokey Bear
not
Smokey The Bear
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/large-fire-oil-depot-russias-bryansk-near-ukraine-agencies-2022-04-25/
Like it or not Florida Dems are stuck with Charlie Crist against DeSantis in November. Former GOP governor, attorney general, education commissioner and now a Dem congressman. Get over it and get behind him:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/cc-ads-gs-pro-dtd?refcode=ad_gs_us_dtd_pro&gclid=CjwKCAjwjZmTBhB4EiwAynRmD8Xrok8JTOBd6l8K8SU5Gwi-8Bkvk4zw5zYa92qcnVXrfASN6X8oExoC9doQAvD_BwE
The interesting thing about the American west and fire, we have treated fire as an enemy for the last 150 years. But for 20 thousand years native people have used fire as a tool. Driving across Kansas a few weeks ago reminded me. How did the Native Americans protect themselves from the spring fire season. They stepped outside their winter lodge and set a fire.
It is the old 19th century hubris, that with science man can control his world.
When in fact chaos rules!
Jack
Bink
lol
yeah he does look like a Hollywood version of a child molester.
Jack
Droughs Warning Issued for Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming
https://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/50515/20220423/drought-warning-issued-arizona-colorado-new-mexico-utah-wyoming.htm
Jack –
No question the build-up of the fuel loads in the forests , was a huge blunder, it’s ironic that the first “Smoky the Bear” was from New Mexico.
Blinken saying Ukraine will outlast Putin and Austin vowing to “weaken” Russia indicates we smell blood.
The U.S. holds one sanctions card close to the vest: Vladimir Putin’s alleged girlfriend and the mother of at least three of his children
Halleluiah!
Donald Trump Held in Contempt by NY Court, Faces $10k/Day in Fines – NBC New York
Trump held in contempt of court for failure to comply with New York AG’s subpoena – ABC News (go.com)
Donald Trump: Judge holds former President in civil contempt for withholding documents in NY AG investigation – CNNPolitics
wapo:
now begins the “who doesn’t hold him in contempt” jokes and cartoons
Poobah, if SFB sees those GA numbers he’ll endorse Kemp in a New York minute so he can say a Trump candidate won in Georgia.
I’m guessing Disney isn’t planning to shut down because Rick Scott isn’t visiting anymore or subscribing to Disney+. Forking idiot.
Rich guy buys Twitter. Vows to make it better, eh? Do we now go back to Facebook?
Musk takeover. I have deleted my Twitter account.
Facebook and Twitter are compromised. Only Trail Mix safe and secure.
Did he buy it for real money or crypto-funny money?
Free speech? Pffft. He won’t let his workers discuss unionizing. Lying bastard.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/21/perspectives/twitter-control-musk-trust/index.html
“…he has a poor track record of protecting other Twitter users and respecting their free speech. He has used the platform to discredit and disparage those who disagree with him, and he has lashed out at journalists who have written or produced things he didn’t like.
Further, he has used the platform to sow doubt about Covid-19 vaccines. And he has been accused of making false statements about Tesla on Twitter, an allegation that resulted in a $40 million settlement with the SEC that required Musk and Tesla to pay $20 million each and Musk to step down as the company’s chairman.”
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/25/beto-orourke-covid-positive/
“Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke tested positive for COVID-19, his campaign said Monday.”
“In addition to being fully vaccinated and boosted, I regularly test for COVID-19 while traveling the state for town hall meetings,” O’Rourke said in a statement. “I tested negative yesterday morning before testing positive today. I have mild symptoms and will be following public health guidelines.”
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/25/texas-public-library-bookbans-lawsuit-llano/
“The lawsuit states that the county judge, commissioners and library director removed several books off shelves, suspended access to digital library books, replaced the Llano County library board with community members in favor of book bans, halted new library book orders and allowed the library board to close its meetings to the public in a coordinated censorship campaign that violates the First Amendment and 14th Amendment.”
“Public libraries are not places of government indoctrination. They are not places where the people in power can dictate what their citizens are permitted to read about and learn,” the lawsuit states. “When government actors target public library books because they disagree with and intend to suppress the ideas contained within them, it jeopardizes the freedoms of everyone.”
“Defendants’ censorship campaign targeted books that conflicted with Defendants’ political and religious views.”
Smokey Bear
Winnie THE Pooh
jamie and BiD
as in “Pat, the chastised” would “Smokey, the bear” (note the comma) pass muster?
mea culpa mea culpa mea maxima culpa
i didn’t want folk to think i was referring to Smokey, the sheriff 🙂
I wasn’t chastising anyone. I was just pointing out a way I could remember it, in the future. I didn’t realize it until Jamie pointed it out. Somewhere, in a trinket box under my bed, is a Smokey badge from my childhood…maybe a junior firefighter or some other designation.
Paddington seems to have no designation. He is the Cher of bears.
Yogi the Bear
i never made a twitter, trailmix has always been the exclusive home of my bullshit👍
Ok, that’s it … I’m not tweeting any more. Wait, I never have.
87 degrees in East Bumfuck today, 90 yesterday. In April? How fucking weird.
NEW THREAD