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| Porn Users Forum » Shame on the human race. |
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| 02-09-21 06:35am - 1318 days | Original Post - #1 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Shame on the human race. They are talking of sterilization, taking away the native right of reproduction. Hippos, like humans, enjoy making babies. And the cruel scientists are saying: Stop having fun, to these massive beasts. ----- ----- Fear and love surround Escobar’s hippos thriving in Colombia By REGINA GARCIA CANO and FERNANDO VERGARA26 minutes ago A hippo warning stands on the shore of a lagoon near Doral, Colombia, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. The offspring of hippos illegally imported to Colombia by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in the 1980s are flourishing in the lush area and experts are warning about the dangers of the growing numbers. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) PUERTO TRIUNFO, Colombia (AP) — Tucked between mountain ranges, the sprawling palace of Pablo Escobar was home to kangaroos, giraffes, elephants and other exotic animals — a private zoo of illegally imported animals that was the greatest ostentation of the feared drug kingpin as he reigned over the cocaine trade in Colombia. Escobar and his Medellin Cartel are long dead, but one of the zoo’s prized specimens is flourishing in the tropical countryside and wetlands in and around the palace-turned-theme park — the hippopotamus. Like the man who introduced them to this country after obtaining them from a U.S. zoo, they are a source of endless controversy. Government attempts to control their reproduction have had no real impact on population growth, with the number of hippos increasing in the last eight years from 35 to somewhere between 65 and 80. A group of scientists is now warning that the hippos pose a major threat to the area’s biodiversity and could lead to deadly encounters between the huge animals and humans. They say hippo numbers could reach around 1,500 by 2035 if nothing is done. They say the animals need to be culled. “I believe that it is one of the greatest challenges of invasive species in the world,” said Nataly Castelblanco-Martínez, an ecologist at the University of Quintana Roo in Mexico and lead author of the group’s study. The idea of culling the herd has already drawn some criticism and is likely to see more. There was an outcry years ago when three hippos wandered from the Escobar compound and were causing problems and one was killed by hunters sent after the animals. The humans in this rural area have embraced the hippos as their own, in part because of the tourist dollars they bring in. For outsiders, it can be a puzzling bond, considering the aggressive animals kill more people per year in Africa than any other wildlife species. Here, elementary school students are used to walking past a sign that reads “Danger — hippopotamus present.” But the experts say the government’s attempt to keep down numbers by sterilizing some hippos just isn’t enough. “Everyone asks, ‘Why is this happening?’ Well, imagine a town of 50 people and you perform a vasectomy on one man and in two years on another man, obviously, that is not going to control the reproduction of the entire population,” Castelblanco-Martínez said. The scientists began working on the hippo population forecast last year after one of the animals chased and severely injured a poor farmer. Their study was published in the journal Biological Conservation in January. Another study last year by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, found the hippos are changing the quality of the water in which they spend much of their time and defecate. As their population continues to grow, they could end up displacing native animals like the Antillean manatees, Castelblanco-Martinez said. Escobar in the 1980s arranged for three female hippos and one male to be brought to his 5,500-acre (2,225-hectare) estate, Hacienda Napoles. After his death in a shootout with authorities in 1993, most of the exotic animals were relocated or died. But the hippos were abandoned at the estate due to the cost and logistical issues associated with transporting 3-ton animals and the violence that plagued the area at the time. The hippos thrive in the fertile region lying between Medellin and Colombia’s capital, Bogota. They live in the area around the Rio Magdalena — the Mississippi River of Colombia — spending the day mostly in the lakes and waterways and the night roaming endless grass pastures. Unlike in their native Africa, they have no natural predators in Colombia. “About 10 years ago, we realized that we have a giant population of hippopotamuses. We began to learn how the population was constituted, to see if there was an immediate solution,” said David Echeverri-Lopez, a researcher at the regional environmental agency that oversees the hippos. “We really began to realize the dimensions of the problem.” While Echeverri agreed that culling the hippos would be the best solution, he said the animals’ magnetic personality and government regulation may never allow it. After the public criticism erupted more than a decade ago over the killing of the hippo by hunters, touched off by a photo showing soldiers posing with the hippo as a hunting trophy, the government instituted a ban on hunting hippos. It decided to try sterilization, but that is a complex and expensive process. First, an animal must be tricked into entering a huge metal corral to be sedated. Then a team of wildlife experts must spend about three hours cutting through the animal’s thick skin and then try to find its reproductive organs, which is not easy. “The community keeps an eye on us to make sure that we are actually sterilizing (the hippo) and not doing anything else,” said Gina Serna-Trujillo, a veterinarian who has conducted some of the sterilizations. “They love them.” Serna said each procedure can cost around $8,500 — a steep price for the regional environmental agency that oversees the animals. She said a documentary’s production sponsored the cost of one procedure in 2019 and another film will do the same this year. No procedures were conducted in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Echeverri said the agency has conducted 10 sterilizations and relocated four juvenile hippos to Colombian zoos. Zoos in other countries have shown interest, but bureaucratic red tape has gotten in the way. This year, the agency hopes to be able to start carrying out a type of chemical sterilization that has worked on pigs. Castelblanco understands the appeal of hippos, even describing a baby hippo as “the most beautiful thing in the world,” but said the discussions over their future in Colombia should not be ruled by warm feelings the animals generate. “We have other invasive species in Colombia that have undergone normal protocols, and no one ever makes a fuss because they are fishing lionfish,” she said referring to a fish native to the Indo-Pacific that is now an invasive species in the Atlantic Ocean. “You can’t even talk about (culling hippos) because the rejection is staggering. ... I am being called a murderer.” | |
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| 02-10-21 07:09am - 1317 days | #2 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Florida town backs down before the powers of the Let's Make A Deal President. Although Trump signed an agreement that he would not be a permanent resident of his Palm Beach resort in exchange for permission to convert the resort from a residence into a club, his lawyers now say that Trump is the "mayor of the resort, and has earned the right to live there permanently. Also, Trump is hard at work while he lives there, and loves everyone he meets, and greets guests himself. Therefore, Trump deserves permanent residency, in spite of the prior agreement. God bless Donald Trump, a man of his word. And the mayor of Palm Beach agrees that Trump's prior agreement has loopholes, that permit the ex-president to be a permanent resident. Be careful when shaking hands with Donald Trump, that he doesn't grab your wallet when he lets go of your hand. ------ ------ Trump now the ‘mayor’ of Mar-a-Lago, lawyer claims in bid to let him live there HuffPost S.V. Date February 9, 2021, 3:54 PM Donald Trump’s new role as a hybrid property manager and social director at his Palm Beach resort essentially makes him a “bona fide employee” of Mar-a-Lago and qualifies him to live there, a lawyer for the former president argued Tuesday. “This guy, as he wanders the property, is like the mayor of the town of Mar-a-Lago, if you will,” John Marion told the Palm Beach, Florida, Town Council. “He’s always present, he’s ever-present. And he loves it there. And he loves the people that he sees there.” Trump has been living in the four-room, two-bath “owner’s suite” in the 126-room estate since leaving the White House last month, despite promising in 1993 that he would not if the town let him convert it from a residence into a members-only tennis and pool club. Some neighbors and others in the town had complained that Trump was violating his agreement. Reginald Stambaugh, a lawyer representing next-door neighbors, said the town should enforce the terms of the deal by revoking the special use permit for the club and turning it back into a residence. “And then the former president and his family could live there,” he said. Philip Johnston, a lawyer representing the group Preserve Palm Beach, said that Trump’s residence clearly violates the agreement and that Trump basing his post-presidential office there will bring problems for the town. “We feel that this issue threatens to make Mar-a-Lago into a permanent beacon to his more rabid, lawless supporters,” Johnston said. But Marion pointed to the town’s zoning rules, which permit a business to serve as a residence for some employees who need to be there. He said Trump does everything from evaluating employees’ performance to attending events held there to greeting guests to suggesting improvements to the club’s operation to recommending candidates for membership. The council took no formal action Tuesday and did not offer any indication on whether it might. Council President Maggie Zeidman, however, cited Town Attorney John Randolph’s concurrence with Marion’s opinion on the zoning rule exception. “It appears to me that Mr. Trump … has met the criteria for bona fide employee, and it seems that there is nothing therefore that would prohibit him from living in the owner’s suite at Mar-a-Lago,” she said. A moving truck is parked at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Jan. 18, two days before Joe Biden's inauguration. (Photo: Terry Renna/ASSOCIATED PRESS) A moving truck is parked at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Jan. 18, two days before Joe Biden's inauguration. (Photo: Terry Renna/ASSOCIATED PRESS) Trump bought Mar-a-Lago in 1985 as a winter residence but by 1993, facing financial woes because of his mismanagement of his Atlantic City casinos, found he could not afford the upkeep on the aging mansion. He sought and received special permission from the town to convert it into a for-profit social club. One condition of that zoning exception, however, was that Mar-a-Lago could not be turned into a hotel, and the Town Council limited stays to no longer than seven straight days no more than three times a year. Trump’s lawyer at the time promised that Trump would abide by that rule, just like any other member. But Trump began reneging on that promise almost immediately, according to those familiar with his habits in those years. During his presidency, Trump broke the seven-day limit in 2017, 2019 and 2020, and the three-visit limit in all four years of his presidency. Marion, Trump’s West Palm Beach lawyer handling this issue, actually cited his repeated breaking of his promise through the years as a reason he should not be held to it now. “It has always been the case, before and after the execution of the Agreement in 1993, that President Trump has resided in the owner’s suite when at MAL, a use which has been far in excess of three visits per year and has never been challenged,” he wrote in a letter to Randolph on Jan. 28. Trump could, if he wanted, avoid the dispute altogether by living at any of the three houses he owns in the immediate vicinity. Homes of 6,000 and 3,000 square feet are immediately adjacent to Mar-a-Lago, while a 10,000-square-foot oceanfront home is across Highway A1A, abutting Mar-a-Lago’s beach club. But Marion in his presentation to the Town Council said this would be far worse for residents on the road immediately to the north of Mar-a-Lago, some of whom are represented by Stambaugh, as it would mean all cars turning onto the street would have to be inspected and there would be a constant Secret Service presence. “It would be a horrible imposition for them if they got what they wanted,” Marion said. The Mar-a-Lago property, which occupies several square blocks between Lake Worth lagoon and A1A, has its own private entrances for cars, and all the roadblocks and barriers that had been erected during Trump’s presidency have been removed. | |
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| 02-11-21 09:25pm - 1316 days | #3 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Capitalism at work. Fake masks being sold. Some fakes are surprisingly effective. Other fakes are poor. ------ ------ Millions of counterfeit N95 masks distributed to health care workers in the U.S. NBC Universal Christina Jewett, Kaiser Health News and Eli Cahan February 11, 2021, 1:30 AM Thousands of counterfeit 3M respirators have slipped past U.S. investigators in recent months, making it to the cheeks and chins of health care workers and perplexing experts who say they're not vastly inferior to the real thing. N95 masks are prized for their ability to filter out 95 percent of the minuscule particles that can carry the coronavirus. Yet the fakes pouring into the country have fooled health care leaders from coast to coast. As many as 1.9 million counterfeit 3M masks made their way to about 40 hospitals in Washington state, according to the state hospital association, spurring officials to alert staff members and pull the masks off the shelf. The elite Cleveland Clinic recently acknowledged that, since November, it had inadvertently distributed 3M counterfeits to hospital staffers. A Minnesota hospital made a similar admission. Nurses at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, New Jersey, have been highly suspicious since November that the misshapen and odd-smelling "3M" masks they were given are knockoffs, their concerns fueled because mask lot numbers match those the company listed online as possible fakes. "People have been terrified for the last 2½ months," said Daniel Hayes, a nurse and union vice president at the hospital. "They felt like they were taking their lives in their hands, and they don't have anything else to wear." According to 3M, the leading U.S. producer of N95s, more than 10 million counterfeits have been seized since the pandemic began, and the company has fielded 10,500 queries about the authenticity of N95s. The company said in a Jan. 20 letter that its work in recent months led to the seizure of fake 3M masks "sold or offered to government agencies" in at least six states. After Kaiser Health News sent photos of the masks the New Jersey nurses had questioned, a 3M spokesperson referred to them as "the counterfeits you identified." Testing the fakes At KHN's request, ECRI, a nonprofit that helps health care providers assess the quality of medical technology, agreed to test the masks that sparked the New Jersey nurses' concern. Tests of a dozen masks showed that they filtered out 95 percent or more of the 0.3-micron particles they're expected to catch. ECRI engineering director Chris Lavanchy said several health care organizations across the U.S. have recently made similar requests for tests of apparently fake 3M masks that the company warned about. Lavanchy said the results have shown similarly high filtration levels but also higher breathing resistance than expected. He said such resistance can fatigue the person wearing the mask or cause the mask to lift off the face, letting in unfiltered air. "We're kind of scratching our heads trying to understand this situation, because it's not as black and white as I would have expected," Lavanchy said. "I've looked at other masks we knew were counterfeit, and they usually perform terribly." 3M spokesperson Jennifer Ehrlich said a critical feature of N95 masks, aside from filtration, is how well they fit. "Without a proper seal and fit, respirators are not filtering [properly] — gaps could allow air to enter," Ehrlich said by email. The materials management team for Hackensack Meridian Health, which owns the Jersey Shore hospital, is "working with an independent lab on validating the quality and compliance of specific lot numbers of 3M N95 respirators the company identified as potentially problematic," according to a company statement. When the Washington State Hospital Association purchased 300,000 N95s in December, it sent samples to hospital leaders, who said they appeared legitimate. "It's not like we just ordered them sight unseen," said Beth Zborowski, spokesperson for the association. "We had two major medical centers in Seattle ... look at the quality, straps, cut them open and decide 'this looks like it's the real deal' before they bought them." She said major hospital systems in the state bought more on their own, adding up to 1.9 million. Throughout the pandemic, workers have also been provided with Chinese-made KN95 masks — approved by U.S. regulators on an emergency basis — that turned out to be far less effective than billed. In April, the Food and Drug Administration, responding to dire shortages of high-quality masks for health care workers, opened the door to KN95s, which are supposed to offer the same level of protection as N95s. Image: Federal agents intercepted boxes of fake N95 masks (CBP) Image: Federal agents intercepted boxes of fake N95 masks (CBP) Yet, as months passed, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Harvard University, MIT and ECRI discovered that KN95s didn't meet the high standard: 40 percent to 70 percent of the KN95s failed their tests, and some filtered out only 30 percent of the tiny particles. More than 3,400 front-line health care workers have died during the pandemic, KHN and The Guardian have found in the ongoing Lost on the Frontline project, and many families have raised concerns about inadequate protective gear. Yet the actual harm that any substandard or knockoff device presents remains difficult to assess. Researchers say it's unethical to conduct a study that involves giving health care workers a product they know is less protective than another when lives are at stake. And short of performing in-depth genome sequencing on each worker's viral strain, it's hard to know exactly how any person got sick. At the U.S. border, safeguarding the medical gear supply is a high priority, said Michael Rose, a section chief in the global trade division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. His job for the past year has been to investigate a wide variety of Covid-19-related scams. Of all those cases, Rose said, the flood of fake 3M masks from China has been the most consistent. "It's definitely cat and mouse," Rose said. "Where we might get better" at intercepting counterfeits, "they can ship elsewhere, change the name of the company and keep going." Many investigations lead to seizures in the country's massive ports of entry, where enormous cargo ships and planes carry giant containers of goods. There, agents might spot a dead giveaway like a box just off a ship from Shenzhen, China, marked "3M" and "Made in the USA." "I'd like to say that makes it easier, and it does, but the sheer volume of them coming in — it's like a needle in a stack of needles," he said. The demand for highly protective masks has surged twelvefold during the pandemic, said Chaun Powell, vice president of disaster response for Premier, a major hospital supply company. The national medical use of N95s used to be about 25 million a year, but it soared to 300 million last year, he said. That meant hospitals and other health care providers couldn't rely on their usual sources of products to meet their need for personal protective gear. Health care providers "had to find alternatives," Powell said, "and that created opportunities for fraudulent manufacturers to be opportunistic and sneak in." Many of Rose's investigations originate from customer complaints about apparent fakes to 3M, which forwards reports to his team. Others come from hospitals, health care systems or eagle-eyed first responders who email Covid19fraud@dhs.gov. Border Patrol agents, working with Rose's team and anticipating shipments from known counterfeiters, have seized thousands of fake N95s in recent weeks, including 100,080 at a port of entry near El Paso, Texas, in December and 144,000 flown from Hong Kong to New York. In all, federal officials say, they have seized more than 14.5 million masks, many of them fake 3Ms, along with other counterfeit cloth or surgical masks. Download the NBC News app for full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak In New Jersey, staff members began complaining in November about their masks to union leaders at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, said Kendra McCann, president of the hospital's Health Professionals and Allied Employees union local. The masks, which seemed flimsy and made some workers' faces burn, were turning up in every unit of the hospital. After a union member discovered a letter on the 3M website pinpointing the mask lots as potentially fake, managers began to remove the masks, but suspected fakes continued to turn up, McCann said. Hackensack Meridian Health said a daily call with hospital leaders includes "reminders to report any suspect PPE so that it can be removed immediately and evaluated." The episode added stress to caregivers who are terrified about getting infected and taking the virus into their homes. "Nurses are scared to death," McCann said in mid-January as the masks continued to pop up, "because they're not being provided with the proper PPE." | |
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