Free Republic

Personally I would LOVE to have that variety of wildlife in my yard! As others have pointed out, critters like opossums are very beneficial, and the others you mentioned pose no threat, unless you had chickens etc. Even foxes are not considered potentially dangerous to anything but the very smallest dogs.

As for the foxes: According to every resource I can find, they only occupy dens when caring for their young. Everything I found states that the family will abandon the den by late summer/early fall at the latest.

It’s your call of course, but I would be sitting there with multiple cameras enjoying and recording the show!

Early reports said they started their takeoff roll from the middle of the runway, but I saw a very thorough later report which said a review of the flight radar/tracking data showed a normal, full-runway takeoff.

Typical of today's crappy reporting, the article about the arrest of Dugan seems to have completely missed the fact that ex-judge Cano not only resigned, but was arrested along with his wife. It only mentions the arrest from Trump's first term, which was negated by Brandon.

So Dugan is the second very recent arrest of a brainless left-wing judge. Hopefully the start of a massive trend!

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4313066/posts

The action against Mr. Fauber is particularly heinous because Article 10-5 of the NAR Ethics Code was not even implemented until November 13, 2020! This was 5 years AFTER his post!

So in addition to violating his First Amendment rights, they are trying to retroactively penalize him for something he did that broke a rule which wouldn't even exist for another 5 years!

I hope he and everyone else going after NAR wins, and in a HUGE way. Speaking as a former realtor, it was already bad enough that you were pretty much forced to join NAR if you wanted to practice real estate, let alone when they decided to become a political activist group and impose their ideology on everyone.

Another reason I'm glad I left!

"Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans,......been there!... Stood on the Glass Shark tank about six months before it collapsed....................."

It happened at a private, after hours party. I didn't dive that particular party, though I dove for such events pretty often, as they were fun.

It wasn't the round Plexiglass "window" in the floor which collapsed, but the catwalk over the water; part of the (very nicely) simulated oil rig. About 1-2 dozen guests, and staff, were on it as part of a behind the scenes tour, and it gave way. Had to be a might scary for them, though I have no doubt that the sharks immediately bolted to the other end of the exhibit.

From what I understand, it was a structural fiberglass support that failed. Apparently that material has a grain to it, and had been installed wrong, with the grain running vertically. Under a heavier than normal load, and after years in service, it sheared.

I never heard anything about any injuries, though I'm sure it was quite exciting there for a couple of minutes!

I’m a native of New Orleans, and lived in southeast Louisiana until just recently. Originally imported from South America, nutria have been a problem ever since being released in the early 1900s. They are prolific breeders, and eat vegetation voraciously, including the roots. They also burrow into levees and canal banks, causing erosion and weakening.

While they are a concern wherever they go, Louisiana has been hit the hardest. Back in the 1990s our nutria problem made national news, as local authorities considered various ways of controlling them. One of the most successful methods was done in Jefferson Parish by then sheriff Harry Lee. He assigned deputies to hunt the nutria with .22 caliber rifles. This was safe and humane, without any collateral damage which would result from poisons or traps. It also allowed his deputies to hone their marksmanship skills.

Around the same time some restaurants tried introducing nutria meat to their menus, calling it “marsh rabbit.” That was not successful. One company announced that it had signed a trade deal with China to export millions of pounds of nutria meat, but I believe that fell through. I also think an attempt was made to market nutria fur, also without success.

Back then I was a volunteer staff diver at the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, something I did for 20 years. Another volunteer there was a colorful Cajun fellow named Art. Among other things, he had been a licensed alligator trapper, and wore a huge alligator tooth on a necklace. In 1996 I happened to turn on an evening network news magazine show, and they were covering the nutria story, including how Jefferson Parish was dealing with them. The reporter then brought in a local expert, and it was none other than Art! I sat and watched him give his informed opinions, and humorous stories, right there on national television.

Occasionally we would have continuing education events at the Aquarium, which were done as potluck dinners. Art and I attended these often. On two occasions he brought dishes cooked with nutria meat. One was a stew, the other a gumbo. I ate both, and was stunned at how delicious it was. Unlike some other wild game, it had no gamey flavor whatsoever. It was very lean, and literally tasted like chicken. I’m actually surprised that it never took off as a food source, but I suppose it’s because many people can’t get over the animal’s resemblance to a rat. (Yet people eat snails and raw oysters, go figure...)

As soon as I turned 50 I received AARP’s junk mail. I took a red Sharpie and wrote on it in big block letters:

DO NOT CONTACT ME AGAIN UNTIL YOU STOP SUPPORTING SOCIALIST POLICIES IN AMERICA.

I then sent it back to them in their own postage paid envelope.

That was over 12 years ago, and I haven’t heard from them since.

Using 2 different kinetic energy calculators, including SAAMI’s, I obtained identical results for a 36 grain projectile:
Mach 10: 10155 ft/lb
Mach 20: 40460 ft/lb

I am hoping "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" is a decent one to take the cubs to.

Just got back from seeing "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". It definitely lived up to my expectations, and remained faithful to the true meaning of Christmas throughout. One of the VERY few movies I've gone to see in theaters in many years.

“Just upload the 737 MAX software to the capsule, it got things down to the ground quick.”

With that, you absolutely and irrefutably win the Internet today.

I most humbly salute you.

Exactly!

Another incredulous thing I read in some of the early reporting on this assassination attempt was that the Secret Service ROI (Rules Of Engagement) specify that they cannot fire until the suspect has fired first! I do not believe that for a second. It sounds like another CYA announcement from their incompetent leadership.
Pointing a deadly weapon at someone (Especially when the person pointing it is someone already demonstrating suspicious behavior) is a solid threat and grounds for use of lethal force to stop the threat.
(Unless the target is Trump, of course...)

Imagine Kamala standing on stage

Easier to imagine her kneeling...

I suspect it won’t be long before Pat Benatar files legal action to have that video taken down. (Unless they’re paying her enough for it of course.) From what I’ve read, she’s a hard leftist. So much so that she no longer performs “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”, in order to show her support for gun control.

Myself, my ex, and our son had all been Verizon users for many many years. Because of geography we all had our own plans. The cheapest of those plans was mine, and it was in the neighborhood of $90 a month for 8GB of data with rollover. The other two plans were far higher.

I looked into the Verizon options, and honestly they were a joke. I had to get a new phone and the bill would drop by maybe $10 a month.

After researching the reasonably priced carriers extensively, I went with Mint, choosing their 15GB plan. Paid annually, it’s only $20 a month, and they had a special where you get that price while paying only 3 months worth and getting three additional months free. So for only $60 plus about $10 tax, I got 6 months of service. Activating my several year old Galaxy S9+ went like clockwork! Almost instantly I was off Verizon and on Mint.

I also referred the ex and my son to Mint, and their bills dropped as did mine. Mint allows you 4 paid referrals per year, and just with those two I earned a $150 credit! And, as newly referred Mint customers, each received a $15 credit on their accounts as well!

The service has been excellent. There are a couple of places where I had very weak Verizon service but now don’t have service. These are both inside a couple of metal buildings. That is literally the only difference I’ve noticed.

My 6 months is almost up, so I’m about to renew for a year at 12 x $20 = $240, minus my $150 credit, for a net amount of $90.

I recommend them very highly.

And also, I have 2 more remaining referrals, so if you go with Mint, help a Freeper out and let me refer you! :-D

That report on Gary Plauche is the shortened, sanitized version.

This is the one I really like: https://rumble.com/v37qr4t-gary-plauch-shoots-jeff-doucet-rare-full-video-aired-live-on-tv-1984-watch.html

You can see the pool of blood spreading from the dead sicko’s head as one of the cops rolls his lifeless corpse over.

Gary Plauche plead no contest to manslaughter charges, and was given a suspended sentence. He served no jail time, and passed away in 2014 from natural causes.

His son Jody grew up and became a sexual abuse counselor, and also wrote a book about his experiences to help other victims.

I’ve actually seen posts of his where he chose to participate in online discussions about what happened.

Gary Plauche and the lady in the UK are heroes who did the right thing.

$387.00 per invader X 64,800 invaders = $25,077,600.00

PER DAY!!!

Texas Secretary of State election results:

https://results.texas-election.com/races

There are also business owners like Edward Dickey who own services to capture the feral hogs.

“The way the traps work is that they’re larger,” said Dickey. “They're made up of 12, eight-foot wide metal panels. But at the bottom of them, the holes are smaller so that the piglets can slip through.”

Am I understanding this correctly? The traps used by this guy actually allow the piglets to escape? If so, that makes no sense at all, other than to guarantee future business. Unless I'm missing something???

Murdered 48 people and he is still breathing. 3 meals and a warm bed every day.

And just 1 demoncRAT governor's signature from being freed.

Here in Louisiana, our outgoing sh*tstain of a governor John (dumb)Bel Edwards has pardoned 40 convicted murderers since October, including one on death row and another who had fatally stabbed a woman 39 times.

I’ve done a lot of research on pitbulls on numerous occasions after reading about yet another unprovoked attack by a “loving gentle family pet”.

The exact percentage of pitbulls among all dogs owned in the US ranges from a low of 6 to a high of 25, depending on which source is cited. Some of the pro-pitbull crowd likes to distort things, but this range is very reasonable. Very well documented is the percentage of fatalities caused by pit bulls among all dog fatalities in the US. It has consistently been 66% to 70% at least since 2005, and I found one source which went back to 1982. The percentage hasn’t changed much from year to year, though it does seem to be trending upward a bit.

So, the BEST case is that 66% of all Americans killed by dogs were killed by a breed making up 1/4 of the dog population. The worst case is that 70% of those killed lost their lives due to a breed that’s only 6% of the dogs in the US.

Either way, for many decades the overwhelming majority of dog fatalities are caused each year by pit bulls. In addition, about 2/3 of those fatalities were a member of the family owning the dog.

Also, those defending the breed ALWAYS say it’s because of the owners, the way the dogs were brought up, blah blah blah.

However, I have NEVER, EVER, heard in the followup report after yet another mauled child etc someone sitting around saying “Yessir! That’s mah good ole boy Killer! I done been teaching him to eat people for 5 years, and it’s about dadgum time that he done it! Yee-Haw!”

On the contrary, it’s almost always “I just don’t understand... Tiny has been with us for years, and he’s the gentlest sweetest thing. Just yesterday he was snuggling the baby.” (The same baby that he tore apart 24 hours later.)

The pitbull apologists have a long list of excuses whenever something like this happens. Upbringing, failure to get the dog neutered, some innate “litter jealousy syndrome” (aka inherent violent aggression - point made!), failure to properly restrain the dogs, and even failure for someone physically able to fight them off being present at the scene of the attack, and on and on. (These are actual examples of some of the BS they have spewed after incidents.)

A perfect example of a horrific attack without provocation or “bad upbringing” occurred during the past year in Tennessee. A major, vocal pitbull activist had a wife and two small children. They owned two pit bulls, and had had them for 6-8 years, from when they were very young. They were household dogs. One day while the guy was at work, his wife heard chaos erupt in the next room. She ran in to find the two pits tearing apart her two children, who were around 8 months and 2 years old. She tried to intervene, and the pits turned on her, ripping her up savagely. When first responders arrived, the two children were dead and the mom in critical condition, with a, quote, “uncountable” number of stitches required to close the lacerations all over her face, head, arms, and elsewhere. She lived, but the damage was catastrophic.

I found a detailed follow-up report on this incident, which revealed that one or both of these pits were the XXL variety, and from bloodlines which included dogs that had also killed people. The breeder markets them as “lions on leashes”.

I love dogs, but have no compassion for pit bulls whatsoever. The same inbreeding that gives them their looks also continues the behavioral characteristics for which they were bred.

I don’t want a crystal vase full of nitroglycerin as a room decoration, nor a timber rattlesnake for a pet, nor a pitbull for a dog. All for the same reason.