Bits and Bites from around the World > Giant Sunfish washes up on Oregon Beach; Bear breaks into home terrifying Mom and kids in B.C.

 

Massive, rare fish from South Pacific

washes ashore in Oregon

By Staff  The Associated Press

Posted June 8, 2024 11:18 am

 2 min read

A massive rare fish thought to only live in temperate waters in the southern hemisphere has washed up on Oregon’s northern coast, drawing crowds of curious onlookers intrigued by the unusual sight.

The 7.3-foot (2.2 meter) hoodwinker sunfish first appeared on the beach in Gearhart on Monday, the Seaside Aquarium said in a media release.

It was still on the beach on Friday and may remain there for weeks, the aquarium said, as it is difficult for scavengers to puncture its tough skin.

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Federal government announces new protections for B.C.’s orca population

The aquarium’s photos showed a flat, round gray fish lying on its side in the sand.

Photos of a person kneeling next to it, plus another of a pickup truck parked alongside it as well, gave a sense of its large scale and size.

The stir it has created on social media prompted a New Zealand-based researcher who has studied sunfish to contact the aquarium.

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A photo showing the size of the fish, with a pickup truck in the background for comparison. Tiffany Boothe / Seaside Aquarium via AP

After looking at photographs of the fish, Marianne Nyegaard confirmed that it was indeed a hoodwinker sunfish—rarer than the more common ocean sunfish — and said she believed it may be the largest such fish ever sampled, according to the aquarium.

In research published in 2017, Nyegaard discovered through genetic sampling and observation that the hoodwinker sunfish, or Mola tecta, was a different species than the ocean sunfish, Mola mola.

“Tecta” in Latin means hidden or disguised, referring to a new species that had been “hiding in plain sight,” the aquarium said.

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A closeup of the hoodwinker sunfish that washed ashore in Oregon. Tiffany Boothe / Seaside Aquarium via AP

A hoodwinker sunfish washed ashore on the California coast in 2019.

Other hoodwinkers have washed ashore again more recently in California and Alaska as well, challenging the theory that it only lives in the southern hemisphere, the aquarium said.

The aquarium added that it’s also likely that the fish washed ashore in other parts of the Pacific Northwest but was mistaken for the more common ocean sunfish at the time.

British Columbia family hides from bear

after it breaks into home

A Rossland family is recovering after a bear broke into their home

Black Press MediaJun 7, 2024 9:40 AM

A Rossland family is recovering after a bear broke into their home over the weekend. 

The homeowner called Trail and Greater District RCMP on Sunday, just before 1 a.m., to report that a bear was breaking into their home in the 1400-block of Columbia Avenue. The woman locked herself, her children and her dog in an upstairs room to hide from the bear until officers could arrive. 

RCMP say that when police arrived, one of the officers had to force open the front door which freed the bear that had ended trapped inside the home. 

No one was injured, but the family was very shaken up, Trail RCMP said in a release Tuesday (June 4).

"The family did the right thing at the right time by calling the police and sheltering in place," Sgt. Mike Wicentowich.

"This was a scary incident for them as it would be for anyone. The BC Conservation Office Service was notified about the incident and hopefully will follow up with the family. Please secure all of your garbage and potential food sources to help prevent incidents like this from occurring."

Is This Part of The Great Reset? Oregon Dumbs Down Education Standards for People of Color

..

Oregon governor signs bill removing reading, writing, & math

requirements for high school kids, to help ‘students of color’

10 Aug, 2021 14:33

Oregon Governor Kate Brown. © Reuters / Steve Dipaola

Oregon Governor Kate Brown quietly signed a bill last month that removed the requirement for graduating high school children in the state to be proficient in reading, writing, and math, in an effort to aid “students of color.”

Brown signed Senate Bill 744 on July 14, but did not issue a press release or hold a ceremony to mark the occasion, instead opting to pass the bill into law as quietly as possible, according to the Oregonian. The bill also wasn’t entered into a legislative database until two weeks after its signing – an abnormality, as bills are typically entered on the same day.

Though Brown was quiet about the bill, the governor’s deputy communications director, Charles Boyle, told the Oregonian that suspending the reading, writing, and math proficiency requirements would benefit “students of color” while the state comes up with a new set of “equitable” graduation standards.

Until then, the suspension will apparently help those who are “Black, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, [or] Tribal.”

I'm sure there are jobs, even careers that people can get without reading, writing, and arithmetic, but I am very sure they are limited even in communities on that list. 

Boyle said that “leaders from those communities have advocated time and again for equitable graduation standards, along with expanded learning opportunities and supports.” However, lawmakers reportedly have not passed any actual concrete support this year to help those groups.

So, they are making grads for the next several years that will not be able to compete for university positions, and they will have no new skills that might prepare them for something else. This is disgraceful!

Any new graduation requirements that do pass will reportedly not take effect until 2027, meaning five years of classes could graduate without needing to demonstrate proficiency in three basic areas.

Oregon Republicans attempted to push back against the bill, with Oregon House Minority Leader Christine Drazan arguing that it would “lower our expectations for our kids” at a time when “we have had this year of social isolation and lost learning” due to Covid-19. They were unsuccessful, however, as the Democrat-controlled legislature overwhelmingly supported the move.

Florida Republican congressional candidate Vic DeGrammont called the bill “insane,” while Oregon’s Senate Republicans wrote, “This was perhaps the worst bill that passed this session and Democrats can't come up with a good reason for it.”

Politician and commentator Barrington Martin II – who has been a Democratic Party candidate in several Georgia elections – said that while the bill was aimed at giving “struggling races a shot,” all it does is set them up for failure. “The road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions,” he wrote.

I am inclined to believe that this is the most racist bill I have ever heard of. It will be very difficult for people of color to be able to rise to, or above, a lower middle class. Perhaps that's the point of it all.

U.S. Revokes Citizenship of Portland Mosque’s Imam

Mohamed Sheikh Abdirahman Kariye, the former imam of Portland’s largest mosque, arrived in Somaliland this weekend, and the United States has revoked his citizenship. The government had arranged for Kariye, who is on the government’s ‘no fly list,’’ to travel back to his homeland after reaching a settlement agreement with him in January.

By Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive

The U.S. government has revoked the U.S. citizenship of the former imam of Portland’s largest mosque after he arrived in Somaliland last week.

Mohamed Sheikh Abdirahman Kariye is on the government’s no-fly list, but the government arranged for him to travel back to his homeland after reaching a settlement with Kariye in January.

Under the deal, Kariye agreed not to challenge an order revoking his citizenship and acknowledged having provided false information to immigration officials in July 1997 when he had applied for U.S. naturalization.

The settlement appeared to be briefly in jeopardy Monday morning, when Kariye’s lawyers asked to rescind it after learning that Kariye had been detained during a stopover at the Dubai airport.

Kariye, 57, boarded a flight last Wednesday from Seattle for a 14-hour flight to Dubai and a planned flight four days later to Somaliland.

He arrived in Dubai as scheduled, according to court records, but soon sent his Oregon-based lawyers a text from the airport that read, “some thing is wrong.’’

Kariye was detained and interrogated for seven hours in the Dubai airport by United Arab Emirates officials and questioned about the “Portland Seven,’’ the As-Saber Mosque in Southwest Portland and others who may have attended services there, according to his lawyers. He wasn’t allowed to contact his attorneys during the questioning and all his personal belongings were seized, according to his lawyers, Philip Smith and Nicole Nelson.

In October, federal government lawyers told a federal appeals court that Kariye was placed on the no-fly list based on his history as a "mujahedeen fighter in Afghanistan against the Russians,'' as well as his expressed support for "violent jihad'' in conversations recorded between a cooperating informant and two members of the Portland Seven. They were a group of American Muslims from the Portland area who were prosecuted and convicted of trying to join al-Qaida forces in their fight against the United States military and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

The U.S. sought to strip Kariye of his U.S. citizenship because he "provided false information and both willfully misrepresented and concealed material facts’' when applying for naturalization to the United States.

During the process, the FBI informed U.S. Justice Department attorneys that Kariye had coordinated with Osama bin Laden and other known terrorist leaders and was associated with terrorist organizations including Makhtab Al-Khidamat, or MAK, a designated terrorist organization and pre-cursor to al-Qaida.

"The parties agreed denaturalization was appropriate, following which Kariye agreed to depart the United States,'' said Kevin Sonoff, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Kariye ultimately was able to fly to Hargeisa, Somaliland. He arrived last Friday.

His lawyers alleged the questioning in Dubai amounted to a “breach’’ by the government.

"It is inconceivable that UAE officials would have interrogated Defendant about the Portland Seven and activities at the As-Saber Mosque in Portland without having received information directly from'' the government, Smith wrote to the court.

Kariye’s lawyers urged the court either to compel the government to explain why Kariye was detained Dubai or allow him to renounce his U.S. citizenship, instead of having it revoked, and withdraw his admission that he had lied previously to U.S. immigration officials when he obtained his naturalization certificate.

In a brief hearing before U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones, attorney Christopher W. Hollis of the U.S. Department of Justice said by phone that he had no communication with the United Arab Emirates about Kariye.

Kariye’s lawyer said Hollis could have been kept in the dark, but the U.S. government still could have communicated with the United Arab Emirates about their client. Smith noted that the government had three months of advance notice of Kariye’s scheduled flight and itinerary.

"Plaintiff had a responsibility to not simply be silent but to inform the UAE that he is coming through and it is OK for him to fly,'' Smith argued.

Jones denied Kariye’s motion. The judge ordered the settlement to stand and signed an order revoking Kariye’s U.S. citizenship.

The judge said it was "unfortunate'' that Kariye was interrogated in Dubai, but that didn’t negate the settlement agreement. Jones said it appeared that the United Arab Emirates’ interrogation of Kariye was "done unilaterally'' and that the "U.S. government played no role.''

When Kariye had first sought citizenship, he had lied on his application to federal immigration officials about not being arrested in the past, failing to acknowledge a 1993 arrest in Pakistan, according to court documents.

Under the settlement, Kariye is forever prevented from claiming any rights or benefits under any document that shows he had obtained U.S. citizenship on Aug. 14, 1998.

He’s also been ordered to complete a form abandoning any lawful resident status in the United States and must send his U.S. passport by DHL Express to the government lawyer, no later than five days after his arrival in Somaliland.

The revocation of Kariye’s U.S. citizenship falls at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Calls to the Islamic Center of Portland were not returned on Monday.

Swede Fined $500 for Pointing Out Flaw in US Traffic Lights

Instead of thanking the engineer, Oregon circled the wagons and shot him with a $500 fine, an absurdity of the first order

Libertarians defend Swede fined $500 for pointing out flaw in US traffic lights

© InstituteForJustice / YouTube

An engineer fined for disclosing the results of his independent investigation into the formula that regulates traffic lights has received legal backing from a law group claiming a violation of his First Amendment free speech rights.

In early 2015 Mats Järlström discovered a flaw in the mathematical formula used to regulate the timing of US traffic lights but was handed a $500 fine after disclosing his findings to authorities.

The Swedish electronics engineer, who has lived in the US for over 20 years, realized the flaw in the traffic systems after his wife received a fine from an automated traffic camera in Oregon.

Upon digging into the intriguing world of traffic light timing mathematics, Järlström concluded that a formula designed in 1959 accounted for only two yellow light scenarios: driving straight through, or stopping.

Following his discovery, the Swede set about trying to improve the formula by managing the transition time from yellow to red, so that a driver can travel through an intersection with a yellow light to slow down, without the system thinking they have broken a red light.

In 2015, Järlström decided it would be a good idea to share his findings with the media, policymakers and those interested in traffic technology but this is where the engineer ran into some difficulty.

On the back of Järlström’s discovery, the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying opened an investigation in August 2016 and announced that the curious Swede had engaged in unlicensed engineering and handed him a $500 fine which he duly paid.

Every state in the US regulates the practice of engineering and as Järlström isn’t licensed in the state he received the fine. He now fears that his ongoing interest in traffic light timing may land him with more fines or even jail time.

What is the purpose of the practice of ensuring engineers are licensed? Isn't it so that structures are not created that are unsafe? Since nothing was created here, how can Järlström's work be of any threat to anyone. The only threat is that his work might cause some work and expense for municipalities in Oregan which would result in fairer policing at intersections. 

It's a bit ridiculous that an engineer licensed in one state cannot practice in another, anyway. Are there really significant differences in standards? Is there one state that allows half-wits to be licensed engineers? Is this simply a money-grabbing construct for state authorities?

The engineer, buoyed by positive feedback after presenting his radical traffic light theories at a 2016 Institute of Transportation Engineers meeting, is now working on a potentially fine-inducing paper, though this time he has back up.

On his behalf, the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest legal group, filed a federal lawsuit last week in Portland’s US District Court, challenging the Beaver State’s Professional Engineer Registration Act.

The lawsuit claims that the act is in violation of Järlström's First Amendment right to free speech.

“Criticizing the government’s engineering isn’t a crime; it’s a constitutional right,” Sam Gedge, an attorney at the Institute for Justice, said in a press release.

“Under the First Amendment, you don’t need to be a licensed lawyer to write an article critical of a Supreme Court decision, you don’t need to be a licensed landscape architect to create a gardening blog, and you don’t need to be a licensed engineer to talk about traffic lights.”

“Whether or not you use math, criticizing the government is a core constitutional right that cannot be hampered by onerous licensing requirements,” said Gedge.

In an interview with The Register, Järlström said he felt “violated that I can't state who I am by saying 'I'm an engineer' and I can't even talk about traffic signals."

“I have this information I want to get out, however, I am literally blocked. I can be punished, even jailed for sharing this information and I think it's outrageous. We need to have freedom of speech to promote innovation," he added.

The Oregon School Board Has Decided Brainwashing is Better Than Science

A woman wearing a face mask to protect herself from pollutants walks past office buildings shrouded with pollution haze in Beijing, Monday, Dec. 7, 2015. Beijing issued its first-ever red alert for smog on Monday, urging schools to close and invoking restrictions on factories and traffic that will keep half of the city's vehicles off the roads. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

By Jessica Chasmar - The Washington Times 

The Portland Public Schools board unanimously approved a resolution this week that bans textbooks and other teaching materials that deny climate change exists or cast doubt on whether humans are to blame.

The resolution, introduced by school board member Mike Rosen, also directs the superintendent and staff to develop a plan for offering “curriculum and educational opportunities that address climate change and climate justice” in all Portland public schools, the Portland Tribune reported.

What is 'climate justice'? This is a scary term. Does it mean that the IPCC (read UN) will punish those countries who don't meet certain targets for reductions in pollution? If by signing the Paris protocol we have given the UN authority to punish us, then we have signed away our autonomy and are no longer a sovereign country.

“It is unacceptable that we have textbooks in our schools that spread doubt about the human causes and urgency of the crisis,” Lincoln High School student Gaby Lemieux said during board testimony Tuesday. “Climate education is not a niche or a specialization, it is the minimum requirement for my generation to be successful in our changing world.”

Bill Bigelow, editor of the ReThinking online magazine and co-author of a textbook on environmental education, worked with several environmental groups to present the resolution, the Tribune reported.

“A lot of the text materials are kind of thick with the language of doubt, and obviously the science says otherwise,” Mr. Bigelow said. “We don’t want kids in Portland learning material courtesy of the fossil fuel industry.”

He took particular issue with teaching materials that used iffy language when discussing climate change, like “might,” “may” and “could.”

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.

The IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has made numerous predictions since 1991 and none of them have worked out. That means there is something wrong with the 'science' of climate change. But the Oregon school board thinks the science is so strong that it is infallible. Yet they feel the need to protect that science from any kind of logical debate. That's brain-washing, pure and simple. 

To make matters worse, they don't think a student should have the right to question that science. If science can't stand up to rigorous cross-examination, then it's not worth beans. How long will it be before the absurd Oregon school board expels students for asking questions?

Mississippi Passes Controversial 'Religious Freedom' Bill

From BBC US & Canada

Mississippi Legislature - Governor Phil Bryant signed the law despite criticism that it discriminates

The governor of Mississippi has signed a controversial bill that allows businesses to refuse service to gay couples based on religious beliefs.

Governor Phil Bryant signed HB1523 into law on Tuesday amid opposition from equal rights groups and businesses.

He said the bill "protects sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions".

Protesters say the bill would allow for lawful discrimination of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

The bill comes at a time when numerous US states are passing or considering similar laws.

North Carolina recently passed a bill that revokes protections for LGBT people and requires transgender individuals to use restrooms based on their biological gender identity.

Major companies and CEOs signed on to a letter urging North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory to repeal the law.

Tech company PayPal has withdrawn its plan to open an operations centre, which would have employed 400 people, over the law.

The governor of Georgia rejected a similar bill after pressure from major companies that do business in the state.

Mr Bryant (left) signed the bill into law despite pressure from equal-rights groups

States have been drawing up religious freedom laws, largely under pressure from religious groups, in response to the US Supreme Court ruling last summer legalising gay marriage. And also, I believe, in response to the gay couple in Oregon successfully suing a Christian Bakery for refusing to decorate a cake celebrating homosexuality.

The intention of the Mississippi bill, the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act," is to protect people who think marriage is between one man and one woman, that sexual relations should only happen in marriages and that gender is not changeable.

Mr Bryant, defending himself on Twitter after signing the bill, said the bill does not limit rights of citizens under the US Constitution and was designed to "prevent government interference in the lives of the people".

Churches, religious charities and private business can use the law to legally not serve people whose lifestyles they disagree with. Governments must still provide services, but individual government employees can use the law to opt out.

The bill also ensures that anyone who wishes to establish "sex-specific standards" for restrooms and dressing rooms is free to do so.

"This bill flies in the face of the basic American principles of fairness, justice and equality and will not protect anyone's religious liberty," the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement following the bill's passage.

"Far from protecting anyone from 'government discrimination' as the bill claims, it is an attack on the citizens of our state, and it will serve as the Magnolia State's badge of shame."

Another skirmish in the war on Christianity, the bill would give people like those who owned the bakery in Oregon the right to refuse to violate their consciences and denegrate the sanctity of marriage, without having their business destroyed by do-gooder, human rights councils.

Of course, you will never hear that angle from the liberal media.