Neoliberal environmentalist Karens in the wilderness

And, I mean that literally. 

Several times on my recent trip, in both Colorado and New Mexico, I saw dogs off-leash in federal wilderness areas. Even if not posted (it wasn't in Lizard Head Pass Wilderness), that is strictly illegal. 

It's for the wildlife's sake more than the dog's. That said, a dog could tangle with a coyote and come out the worse for wear, a skunk and come out stinky, or a porcupine and possibly have to be put to sleep if it gets quills in its neck that work into its throat and esophagus. I speak from childhood knowledge.

When called out on it, the Karens, whether one woman or a group, tend to get indignant.

Hence, the full title.

I mean, seriously, it's like they think it's a doorknob-given right.

Sadly, they're aided and abetted by others. New Mexico magazine, a year or so ago, had a story about a woman wilderness hiker who let her dogs run off-leash in wilderness in or near where I have hiked, near either Taos or Santa Fe.

I emailed the publisher saying that it was poor form to have that in the story without at least having an editor's note at the end about federal regulations. Heard crickets back.

The magazine arguably mirrors the state as The Land of Disenchantment at times.+

Coronavirus week 118: The nuttery of China's zero-COVID lockdowns

Between the mix of population density, sucky vaccines, and the resulting deaths of more than 2 million people, Xi Jinping seems stuck on total lockdowns when coronavirus "surges" or even "mini-surges" happen.

Because a close contact of a COVID case was traced to a Shanghai IKEA, Chinese officials decided to lock the place down — while people were shopping. That, in turn led to a mad scramble to flee the lockdown. And, why wouldn't there be? 

Shanghai residents saw all of their entire city locked down late this spring, then an ongoing lockdown for selected portions of the city after that, even as this wreaks havoc on the Chinese economy. As I have blogged before, these lockdowns are pretty draconian. Imagine being stuck inside Ikea for an entire week, dependent on something like the Chinese equivalent of fast food being thrust through a door, and hoping you might get a blanket and a pillow by the second or third day in.

But, once again, per Howie Hawkins, Margaret Flowers and the late Kevin Zeese, we should judge China in Chinese terms. Or per Rainier Shea at the People's Republic of Humboldt Bay, this is surely actually a sign of deeper Chinese brilliance.

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Non-COVID sidebar: Alleged Great Corruption Fighter Xi Jinping has started the process of getting a first round of Chinese companies delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because he doesn't want possible corruption investigated.

Never Abbotters go Dumpster diving for crappy ads

Yes, Texas has its equivalent of Never Trumpers, and they're exemplified by the Mothers Against Greg Abbott PAC, which like the Project Lincoln of Rick Wilson and other Never Trumper Republican Grifters, includes "moderate" Republicans and centrist independents as well as Democrats.

Their latest stunt? Exploitative of children, as shown by the picture below that leads the Chronic's story.

Abbott's a shit on guns, I totally agree. But, this is manipulative and exploitative of a kid's emotions.

Second, it's a PAC. Those of us not ensconced in the duopoly know the cozy arrangement that Beto-Bob, aka R.F. O'Rourke, has had with PACs in his political past.

Third, the Dems in Mothers Against Greg Abbott are surely ConservaDems at heart, as they call for change "from the center."

Fourth and related? Though they have a subvertical for "Press and News Articles," as well as an "About," under "Information," there's not a lot of detailed position-type stuff. For example, and knowing Beto-Bob's history, while also knowing that state-level "national health care" is dicey, where IS their position on anything beyond Medicaid expansion? Where is their position on unions? On actual lawsuit reform?

Fifth? Nancy Thompson's own story about realizing the acronym for her organization seems ... uh, not exactly the same?? ... from story to story.

Sixth, somebody's giving them big bucks for cutting ads like this, and the pros to help them do it, per this story.

Seventh, if only 25 percent of Texas' child abuse cases are sexual abuse, and if only 1 percent of those 18,000 happen in school settings, why aren't Mothers Against Greg Abbott wrapping kids in five oversized condoms instead?

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To put it another way, per Zvi Mowshowitz, this ad is as exploitative and abusive of children as is an active shooter drill.

FDA puts black box warning on puberty blockers

I had heard about this while on vacation, and remembered to Google when I got home.

Sadly, the Daily Caller is the most read and least wingnut of the top search results from both Google and DuckDuckGo. In other words, yes, this issue IS getting a mainstream media blackout, sadly.

Given that many general practice MDs and psychiatrists were (allegedly) handing out Lupron and others like candy, despite Mayo Clinic warnings on how, when and why such medications should be used, as discussed in depth by me, and despite strong correlational evidence (remember, the correct form of the old phrase is: "Correlation does not NECESSARILY imply confirmation) of harms of Lupron, to bones, teeth and more, the media has seen fit not to cover this. (That too is at the "discussed in depth" link.)

The cerebral "pseudotumor cerebri" (which has many correlational causes) may not be life-threatening, and it may not be that common, but it shouldn't be ignored, obviously. 

The pseudotumor issue aside, I welcome the black-box warnings in general as just maybe getting parents to thing about gender and sex not being the same, to look at the whole dysphoria issue, to look at the idea of "watchful waiting," and to look at the good possibility of having kids who eventually become healthy, sex-unchanged gay and lesbian adults, the usual end result of such watchful waiting.

If one doesn't know about the Mayo Clinic guidelines, with only, by and large, wingnut media talking about this, mainstream media is indeed lamestream media on this issue and does much of America a big disservice.

UPdate, pre-publication, but post-advance writing. Maybe this story is starting to trickle out beyond wingnut media. WSFJ, the NBC affiliate in Montgomery, Alabama, recently ran something, tying it to comment by Alabama state lawmakers.

Even more interesting, outside traditional media, Gnu Atheist evolutionary biologist and blogger Jerry Coyne has an in-depth post generally favorable to this issue, and, given his scientific background, playing up all the items noted above. Part of the piece notes that some European countries, like Sweden, inventor of sexual reassignment surgery, are also reassessing transitioning issues.

Sadly, Coyne spoils the piece by citing first Bari Weiss, then telling readers that claims she is alt-right are not an excuse to not read her, then doubles down by citing racist Andrew Sullivan. (In fact, Coyne has on occasion referred to himself as a "classical liberal" or very similar, like ... you know who.) Also related to his uncritical citing of Sully, Coyne, several months ago, in talking about the accusations of racism against the just-deceased E.O. Wilson, comes off as ignorant about just how much of a racist/racialist Rushton was. In fact, he admits not even knowing who Rushton was. Given his connections to Murray and Herrnstein (tying this back to Sully!) that's, uh, interesting! 

(Sidebar: I thought I had blogged about these revelations about Ed Wilson, not just Coyne's response, but apparently not. Coyne the not-so-leftist appears to give him a pass on the original sociobiology contretemps vis-a-vis Steve Gould and Richard Lewontin. Oh, yes, now I remember ... I wrote about it in reviewing Richard Rhodes' 2-star bio of Wilson, far and away the worst book he's ever written. Of course, as P Zip Myers wrote almost a decade ago, Coyne is a dyed-in-the-wool ev psycher, which is why he gives Wilson a pass on its auntie, sociobiology.

But, along with being a Gnu, Coyne, while not a wingnut and while claiming to be a leftist, nonetheless has simplistic views on things such as cancel culture, which goes along with his simplistic adoption of determinism. This Chicago Maroon's story on him shows this simplistic mindset at play. Of course, if you're a biological determinist and one of simplistic views, it stands to reason you'll adopt philosophical determinism on matters of volition and again with simplistic views.

Since his blog ate my comments (he may have me, by that email address, on a shadowban), I Tweet-threaded him to cite some people left of center when he writes again.

Texas Progressives talk nature, water, Paxton, Rushdie

SocraticGadfly saw the obits news last week, and immediately remembered Michael Badnarik as "Mr. Driving Without a License," and gave the 2004 Libertarian presidential nominee a "proper salute" for that and more. 

Off the Kuff takes a look at some more in depth polling data about attitudes towards abortion in Texas. 

Stace gives us his Thoughts on Viernes about the FBI raid, Abbott's Human Trafficking bus, and Beto's MF'in comments.

The Southern Baptist Convention is under federal investigation for its history of sexual abuse and cover-up.

So, were Texas Dems not ConservaDems by all voting for Biden's so-called Inflation Reduction Act? Actually, since it benefits fossil fuels in a number of ways (which the Trib doesn't even note) ...

Rich Richman, the head of Child Protective Investigations within the Department of Family and Protective Services, the guy investigating families of trans (gender?/sexual?) kids at the behest of AG Ken Paxton, has resigned. He also oversaw the flubbed Bastrop investigation.

Speaking of, Kenny Boy is suing the feds again, this time over tweaks to the federal school lunch program's discrimination statutes, and which cover ONLY those statutes within the school lunch program. Contra mouth-breathing types, including a speaker I heard at a school board meeting, it doesn't go beyond that.

The Farmer's Almanac claims Texas could have another year of winter storms. That said, re its claim of being right 85 percent of the time? When you try to look precise yet carefully remain as vague as a horoscope, that's not hard to do.

Texas Parks and Wildlife officially hates mountain lions. 

Mean Green Cougar Red warns us about the threat to monarch butterflies.

I wonder how THAT barbecue tasted? Maybe we should ask Ronny Jackson?

Yes, I know about the 1850s Sacramento floods, and I know that Anglo alteration of the Central Valley, as well as the wildfires and climate change mentioned in the story, would make a similar flood worse today. But, basically insinuating the whole Central Valley could be obliterated by a megaflood today is laughable.

G. Elliott Morris reassesses the landscape for Democrats following the Kansas abortion vote.  

Juanita finds some more ridiculousness stemming from the Alex Jones lawsuit.

Your Local Epidemiologist has a plan for the upcoming school year.

The Texas Living Waters Project says that the bipartisan infrastructure bill will provide a bounty of funding to help us deal with our growing water problems.

The Houston Press finishes off its Houston Bucket List with some honorable mentions.

Did British intelligentsia abandon Salman Rushdie (after a fair chunk of both left and right took their chance decades ago to get in a few swift kicks)? Had Rushdie himself moved on or become tired of being the focus of free-speech issues? Unherd has thoughts.

Texas, national GOP starting to split over Mar-a-Lago

Chris Hooks talks about Texas Rethuglicans' reaction to the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, and their following non-reaction, so far, to the attack on the FBI's Cincinnati office. (Or to Trump's admission that he was able to see the raid, for the most part, on Mar-a-Lago's CCTV security cameras live, undercutting the whole planted evidence claim.) That said, he ignores that Dan Crenshaw is again a voice of semi-reason within the GOP, when he tweeted sarcastic "congrats" to Dems for getting his fellow Rethugs to call for abolishing the FBI. The Dallas Observer has more, while also overlooking Crenshaw.

Axios, noting cracks emerging within the GOP, actually references Crenshaw, who MAGAs are again attacking as a RINO and bringing up his support for Liz Cheney last year.

Crenshaw is enough of a nutter in other ways, I don't need to take any steps to normalize him, unlike some Dems. That said, VD Hooks and Simone Carter in Dallas don't need to write blank checks to apocalyptic absolutism.  In Carter's case, maybe the new Observer was already sent to print, but you can still update the online version. VD wrote only last Friday, though, after the DOJ released some additional documents and after some Rethugs started pulling in their horns, or maybe never stuck them all the way out in the first place.