An Arizona goat farmer who asked not to be named for fear of being embroiled in partisan politics said Noem’s decision to use a weapon on the goat that required more than one shot was tougher on the animal than it was on her.

“The goat gets shot… but the brain’s intact, it’s aware of what’s going on,” the farmer said. “And then she has to go and futz around and get another shell and then come back and do the same thing and it finally expires.”

The farmer suggested that Noem’s account “reveals not just callousness toward life and poor political acumen, but also a limited understanding of the basics of farm life.”

…. Saturday.

Figures.

… Michael Vick vote!

She’s trying this and she’s trying that, but she’s forgetting the most salient fact of all: She couldn’t have taken the puppy to a shelter, because none exist in the entire state! Shooting the dog to death in a gravel pit was her only option.

Obviously UD wants to know more, more, more about Catholic University’s Pat Fagan; but on searching for him and his, er, institute, initiative, whatever, she finds nothing.

I mean — not nothing, but … well, take a looksee. Here’s the first CU hit you get on his name. Then a link to a faculty-in-the-media list, which takes you to an article about sex, and then a link to Fagan’s initiative (not institute); but CU’s only mention of the initiative (MARRI) includes no link…

Given Fagan’s natalist hysteria about the incipient death of Christian populations via low birth rate, I’m wondering why CU seems a bit coy about acknowledging his existence, let alone his institute/initiative. Fagan holds the key to healthy numbers of incoming CU students, etc.

Plus UD is panting to find out more about superorgasmic Christian sex.

LOL unnamed goat.

**********************

‘At the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, she tied with Vivek Ramaswamy for first place in a poll of whom attendees wanted to see Mr. Trump select as a running mate.‘

In what is regarded as a desperate bid to overtake Noem, Ramaswamy was quick to claim a dog named Juno, an unnamed goat, and a local skateboarder.

**********************

Shelley’s “To a Skylark,” rendered by Kristi Noem.

 Hail to thee, blithe Cricket!
        Dog thou never wert,
    That from heaven, or near it,
        Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated bark.

Higher still and higher
        From the earth thou springest
    Like a cloud of fire;
        Dead birds to me thou bringest
And bringing bringest more, and yet more thou bringest.

******************************

Chorus canineal
        Your triumphal chaunt
    Now seems to me of a sudden
        But an empty vaunt,
A thing wherein I feel there is some hidden want.

Yea now thy clear keen joyance
        Doth put me in a snit
    Shadow of annoyance

O’ertakes me for a bit…

And so I killed you in a gravel pit.

The sun provides light, warmth and life for us on Earth, but it’s also a star—a massive ball of thermonuclear and electromagnetic fury—and it would do us all well to never forget that…

Think of [a solar flare] like a bag of mousetraps: one snaps shut and jostles the bag, making others snap over and again, rapidly discharging their stored energy in a single explosive event.

Now imagine each one of these mousetraps is the equivalent of, oh, say a few hundred million thermonuclear bombs, and you will start to get the idea of how the sweatiest sci-fi apocalypse doesn’t even come close to the power of a solar flare…

Coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, are also ridiculously powerful solar phenomena. If solar flares are like tornadoes—local but intense—CMEs are like far larger hurricanes. They don’t emit much visible light, but they blast upwards of a billion tons of hydrogen into space, sometimes at speeds of several thousand kilometers per second.

*******************

And, you know, the point of the piece is that you really don’t want to be home when a big one comes calling.

For the most part, the retractions haven’t propagated; work that relied on Sato’s is still up: “His work has had a wide impact: researchers found that 27 of Sato’s retracted RCTs had been cited by 88 systematic reviews and clinical guidelines, some of which had informed Japan’s recommended treatments for osteoporosis.”

Scientific fraud leaves a real mess.

This essay suggests some ways to clean it up.

• University Yard was previously reserved and is not available for demonstrations. GW Law final exams are taking place at adjacent buildings.
• Demonstrators must move with their tents to Anniversary Park at F Street NW between 21st and 22nd streets.
• GW will prohibit all non-GW individuals from participating in any demonstration on university property.
• GW does not permit overnight encampments on university property. 
• Students may demonstrate until 7 p.m. if they abide by the university’s free expression guidelines, the Code of Student Conduct, and other applicable policies. 
• At 7 p.m., the students will be required to remove tents and disperse.

Who can be surprised – even if you’ve only read this l’il ol blog – that an all-male concentration of moral primitives issues in so much enemy abuse that our country is about to sanction the group? These fanatics think it’s fine to spit on Christians, and women wearing skirts a quarter inch shorter than godly, and women who forget to sit in the back of the bus etc etc. They riot when slightly perturbed, set cars aflame when slightly more perturbed, and ignore court rulings against them that come from a nation whose existence they deny. They reject science and refuse to vaccinate their children. It’s hilarious that Israel thinks establishing a lord of the flies fighting faction will result in anything other than war crimes.

And oh yes. Right. Religious people are so much more ethical than non-religious.

And UD knows every inch of hers, especially the system of paths she created through her forest.

Early this morning, gazing out her back windows at the path closest to her house, she saw a largish unmoving object on it. Her binoculars revealed this.

It’s a stock photo. UD wouldn’t know how to photograph an animal at that distance.

Her fox was bigger than this one, and seemed half-awake, calmly watching me as I watched it. I’d never seen a fox this close, and certainly not one comfortable enough to bed down so nearby.

I had all the usual thoughts… It’s beautiful. Is it rabid? Is it wounded? When will it leave? I can’t let the dog out. Will I have to call animal control?

And then I Googled. Turns out this is not an unusual event – foxes are nocturnal and will sometimes bed down close to people in daylight. And I mean – our garden is packed with rabbits and voles, etc. Why wouldn’t you want to be around that?

But Mexico seems to have inspired her.

 I serve with some real scumbags! Matt Gaetz, he paid minors to have sex with him at drug parties. Bob Good endorsed my opponent, a known neo-Nazi. These people used to walk around with white hoods at night. Now they’re walking around with white hoods in the daytime.

A Texas Republican unburdens himself.

A whole new desert for Arizona, as California fast-tracks Arizona’s women’s health care providers to practice in that state instead of in the land of no abortions.