Calling all Patriots!

A viral image shared on X claims to show Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arriving in Damascus following a visit to Russia. نورت سورية يا كبير وصل السيد الرئيس بشار الأسد إلى دمشق عائداً من روسيا pic.twitter.com/QZw3zRDFxU — عمر رحمون (@Rahmon83) November 30, 2024 Verdict: False The claim is false, as the image shows al-Assad visiting […]

A video shared on X claims to show the aftermath of airstrikes on Syrian rebels. عاجل الان الله اكبر ?✌️ إبادة المئات من أرهابيين ادلب الطيران الحربي يبيد 3 أرتال للتنظيمات الإرهابية مكونة من عشرات الآليات والعربات المحملة بالذخيرة والعتاد والعناصر الإرهابية في ريف إدلب الشرقي مما أدى إلى تدمير الأرتال بالكامل . pic.twitter.com/3XOjNJFQio — نمير الكواك (@nm_iq1) […]

Powers first felt symptoms before going into heart failure during a segment on Fox Business

Former Trump aide John McEntee emerged as a key player in shaping the Republican Party through his influence in the Trump White House, where he served as Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office. As the U.S. looks to a second Trump administration in 2025, McEntee is aptly positioned to make an even bigger […]

Conservationists in New Mexico are celebrating the state’s expanding population of wild river otters, as their numbers have tripled in the last 14 years. Though native to the state, the beasts were extirpated completely during the 1900s, likely due to a mixture of overtrapping and habitat destruction. However, groups can now be seen swimming about […] The post Once Locally Extinct, ‘Top Predator’ River Otter Flourishing Again in New Mexico appeared first on Good News Network.

The post Do Caracals Make Good Pets? Vet-Verified Ethics, Legality & Facts by Ashley Bates appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com. Click to Skip Ahead Caracals Are Wild Animals Why Do Some People Want to Keep Caracals as Pets? Legalities Exotic Pet Trade About the Caracal Caracals are wild animals that should never be kept as pets for any reason. The only reason they should be in captivity is to preserve their lives, and only under professional care in zoos, wildlife rehabilitation conservation organizations, etc. These wild cats thrive in their natural environment and have no desire to be your pet cat. Even though they might look cute and cuddly, they are anything but. People touting keeping these beautiful creatures of nature in a domestic setting should not be praised, as it is not in the animal’s best interest at all. There are many reasons why caracals should not be kept as pets, not least of which is the fact that, in most areas, it is against the law. Let’s take a closer look at why these beautiful creatures should be admired from afar, and not forced to live as a pet. Caracals Are Wild Animals Caracals (species name Caracal caracal) are felines ready for a fight. These beautiful creatures are fearsome carnivores who thrive in roles of hunting, and they tend to be very solitary in nature. Animals like this do not make good pets whatsoever. Even those that have been raised in zoos or alongside humans are not domesticated felines, but wild animals in captivity, which is an important distinction. Caracals are a specialized species that have particular dietary and habitat requirements that cannot be met by a pet owner, and forcing them to live in the confines of a home or enclosure is unfair to them, and dangerous to the people who keep them. They might resemble our feline pets, but they are separated from cats by thousands of years of domestication. Image Credit: slowmotiongli, Shutterstock Why Do Some People Want to Keep Caracals as Pets? People are people—we try to domesticate all sorts of things that we really have no business domesticating. From big cats like tigers to intelligent primates—we want to conquer all. Some people are even brave enough to have alligators living in their homes like dogs. In theory, the ownership of wild animals seems fun, and even cool. But if we stop to think about it—what benefit does that have to the animal? You are taking the creature out of its natural habitat, and forcing it to try to be “tame” which is essentially making them something they are not. Caracals are meant to be caracals—wild and free. They are meant to explore the great unknown and chase down prey. They are not meant to be bathed in a tub and marked with a collar and tags. Some caracals might be in captivity due to injury, illness, or other means of rehabilitation. Sometimes, these creatures can be returned to the wild—other times, they cannot. Unless a person has a wildlife license and it is in the best interest of the animal’s health and safety, they really shouldn’t be kept in captivity or domesticated. Legalities of Keeping a Caracal as a Pet In most areas, you need a license to own one of these cats. Every state looks at wildlife ownership differently. Some ban the practice, others require hefty fees and licensure, and others have loose laws that don’t so much specify what is and isn’t allowed. It really just depends on where you live whether or not it is legal. However, even if it is technically legal, it still doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Some people feel that it is their right to own wild and exotic creatures like the caracal, but that doesn’t give much consideration to the rights of the caracal. Image Credit: eumates, Shutterstock The Exotic Pet Trade Is Horrendous Many people buy exotic animals without understanding exactly where they came from. The exotic pet trade is by no means an ethical or moral trade, and the animal’s best interest certainly doesn’t come first. Many of these animals are confiscated from the wild through illegal means and put into a trade where people are only looking to benefit from them financially. The exotic pet trade is a multi-million dollar industry and most of the animals die in transit before they ever even reach their destination. Often, in order to obtain young wild animals, the mother, or even the whole family group, will be killed to access their babies. When we purchase these animals, we are only aiding in the continuance of this horrible practice. If you love animals, purchasing exotic pets with a sketchy back story certainly is not the way to show your adoration. About the Caracal If you need further reasons why a caracal is not a good pet, here’s a little bit about their lives in the wild that you likely wouldn’t be able to accommodate in your home. A caracal is a stunning, medium-sized cat hailing from Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. They can also be found in areas of Pakistan and India. These cats go by other names, such as the Desert Lynx. Image Credit: Stu Porter, Shutterstock Diet Caracals are extremely efficient carnivorous felines. They stalk and kill their prey and are known for being extremely efficient hunters. Their diet primarily consists of smaller animals such as rodents, birds, and baby antelope. Habitat Caracals are adapted to a variety of different habitats. Typically they live in scrub forests, woodlands, or savannahs, but avoid sandy deserts. Social Behaviors Caracals are nocturnal animals that are very solitary and secretive. When cornered or when necessary, they can be highly aggressive animals, with powerful and sharp teeth and claws. In their natural setting, they are hunted because they are problematic to farmers, so they now steer clear of most populated areas. Caracals can make all sorts of odd vocalizations. If you have ever seen any videos on social media of caracals, you will notice that they hiss a lot! They also make an interesting number of other vocalizations and always appear to be alert and on the lookout. When placed in captive environments like zoos, they often engage in ‘stereotypic’ behaviors like pacing and are even less settled in home environments. Being solitary creatures by nature, they do not do well sharing their space with other creatures. Conclusion With their exotic looks, pointy black ears, and russet-colored coats, we can understand why some people may be tempted by the idea of bringing one home. Unfortunately, social media platforms have made it seem like a good idea, but we can assure you that it is not. Domestic cats have undergone many changes over thousands of years in their behavior, physiology, and temperaments to make them well-adapted to living with humans. Placing a wild feline like the caracal, even one that has been raised in captivity, is nothing like keeping a pet cat. These beautiful creatures are born to live in the wild, and keeping them as pets is dangerous for humans and cruel for the animals. By buying into the purchase and trade of wild animals, even if done so through legal channels, you are financing the illicit wildlife trade, which relies on the unethical actions of others to bring these wild animals into captive hands. If you’re looking for feline companionship, look no further than the domesticated Felis catus, and admire the wild Caracal from afar. Also see:  Hybrid Cat Breeds (With Info & Pictures) What Kind of Cat Is Hecker? Famous Cat Breeds Revealed Featured Image Credit: Sfax D.C, Shutterstock The post Do Caracals Make Good Pets? Vet-Verified Ethics, Legality & Facts by Ashley Bates appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

The post Celebrating the Holidays With Our Cats: The Wednesday Cats of Catster by Catster Editorial Team appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com. Welcome to the Wednesday Cats of Catster! Every month, we ask our cat-loving Catsters to weigh in on a new topic. This week, we asked them: How do you celebrate the holidays with your furry friend? Here’s what they had to say: Crystal & Ivy Hi Catsters! Happy Holidays! It’s the most wonderful time of the year – and also the most treacherous, if you have a curious, skittish, or anxious kitty! This will be our third Christmas with Ivy, and another year of figuring out how to set up the Christmas tree so that it won’t be destroyed on the daily. Honestly though, since our first Christmas together, she has gotten better when it comes to leaving the tree alone. Nevertheless, as soon as the Christmas tree comes out of the cupboard, there will be some investigating to be done! But that’s just cats, right? As soon as something new and shiny appears, all attention gets directed to said object, at least for the first couple of days. But I digress. We celebrate Christmas with Ivy by giving her what she loves most: our undivided attention, and treats! Last year, I got her the cutest kitty biscuit advent calendar, and as you may have read in the previous Wednesday Cats of Catster segment, Ivy goes crazy for Biskitty! Their advent calendar was no different. Also on the food note, Ivy loves a bit of chicken! Occasionally, I’ll give her some shredded, cooked, unseasoned chicken breast. After that, she will not leave me alone! Ivy loves eating chicken! So it’s only fitting that she enjoys a bit of chicky on Christmas Eve. All of the other Christmas food gets hidden away, though! As innocent as her little face seems, she will definitely try her luck if given the chance, and I am not exactly thrilled about the idea of rushing to the vet in a state of panic if she ingests something she shouldn’t. When it comes to the holidays, we also try to stick to our usual routines. Ivy (and many other kitties) don’t like their routines to be messed with. While this is also a time when we have off from work and have time to galavant around, we make sure not to stay away from home for too long. New Year’s Eve brings along its own challenge: fireworks. Since we live in a complex, there are quite strict rules around setting off fireworks. But, there’s always that one person… Each year after New Year’s Eve, I see countless social media posts of cats and dogs who have managed to escape their homes and gotten lost or injured in an attempt to escape the overwhelming sounds of fireworks. This is why we ALWAYS celebrate New Year’s at home. Cats and loud noises seldom mix, and I would never put her in a situation where she would be alone, afraid, and possibly injure herself or get lost. And there you have it, Catsters! Our holidays consist of togetherness, Biskitty, a bit of chicken, and lots of kitty-cuddles (when permitted, obviously). Isabel & Milly Milly enjoys a post-feast nap in her Hepper Nest Every December, as the festive spirit fills the air and everyone gets ready to wind down, Milly and I prepare for what we like to call “Clawsome Christmas.” If you think cats and Christmas don’t mix, let me assure you—you’ve never met Milly. Milly is not your average feline. While other cats might merely swat at ornaments or knock over a snow globe, Milly is a certified Christmas enthusiast. The moment the tree goes up, she’s there, inspecting every branch with the discerning eye of an interior designer. Her favorite pastime? Perching beneath the tree like a furry gift, only occasionally attempting to fight with the tinsel. (We’ve learned to tinsel-proof the lower branches.) Christmas movie nights are another staple of our holiday season. Milly curls up on my lap, her purring synchronized to the soundtrack of Home Alone or Elf. She’s particularly fond of animated movies, though I suspect it’s less about the plot and more about the movement on the screen. Once, during a screening of The Grinch, she lunged at the screen during the roast beast scene. Clearly, she thought the Grinch had no business with that feast. But the real highlight of our Christmas tradition is Milly’s three-course Christmas dinner. Yes, you read that right. While others may spend the day roasting turkeys or glazing hams, I’m in the kitchen preparing a feline-friendly feast. The appetizer is usually a small portion of chicken broth—warmed to perfection, of course. For the main course, Milly devours a tiny salmon filet, complete with a side of mashed sweet potato. Dessert is the pièce de résistance: a cat-safe pumpkin mousse, delicately served in a ramekin because Milly has standards. Watching her eat is pure joy. She’ll delicately paw at her plate before diving in, as though she’s on MasterChef: Feline Edition. Afterward, she’ll stretch out on the couch, belly full, looking as smug as a cat can possibly look—which, let’s face it, is very. Our Christmas day usually ends with Milly curled up in her Hepper Nest, while I sip hot cocoa and reflect on how lucky I am to have a holiday companion who’s equal parts mischievous and magical. Milly might not write Christmas cards or hang stockings, but she’s perfected the art of making the season bright. And isn’t that what Christmas is all about? Wes & Raphy For me, the holidays are always a bittersweet period. When the roasted vegetables have moved from the oven, to the plate, to my lips and stomach, my hunger might be satisfied and satiated, but you see, my heart is not. That’s because I invariably have to travel for Christmas, and cannot bring Raphael. I am still of an age where staying at home is deemed “unsociable” by my family, and so I relent. Be it Hong Kong, where flights don’t allow cats, or the UK, where my family’s severe allergies prevent a cat paw from coming within metres of the place. Poor Raphy, it is not his fault. In a future Catster post, I will mention the sadness and difficulty of separating from Raphy at the cattery for prolonged periods. The lows, the lower, and lowest of it all. Steph and I long for the day we are not required to venture beyond our door for the holidays and Raphael can run wild to his heart’s content, or eat as much turkey as his stomach will let him. But alas, not yet. He has a few more visits to the cattery to do first. Until then, we will celebrate the holidays through our mutual excitement of seeing him again! This article features all of our Wednesday Cats of Catster. Read last month’s article: Favorite Things: The Wednesday Cats of Catster Weigh In The post Celebrating the Holidays With Our Cats: The Wednesday Cats of Catster by Catster Editorial Team appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

Books Jo Walton Reads Jo Walton’s Reading List: November 2024 Space stations, selkies, Grendel, and a reminder about this year’s Best Series Hugo nominations By Jo Walton | Published on December 4, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share November began in Chicago with friends, and I took the train to Plymouth, Massachusetts, where I saw some Boston friends, and then I came home to Montreal, where I still am. I was writing in Chicago and Plymouth and have been writing a bit at home too, and I have high hopes of finishing this novel this year. I read twelve books, and they were an assorted lot, as usual. Alliance Rising — C.J. Cherryh and Jane Fancher (2019) Re-read, because the sequel came out. Set before Downbelow Station and indeed at the earliest point of chronology of any book in the Alliance-Union series, this is an exciting space adventure about a struggling space station and the struggling FTL merchanters who supply her. There are factions and alliances, parts of it are very tense and exciting. This is generally an excellent novel in Cherryh’s own tradition—if you like Ann Leckie or Arkady Martine, you should be reading Cherryh and this is a good place to start. If you have already been reading Cherryh, then you will notice some things that would be invisible to a reader who started here, which is an interesting experience. Knowing the future history of this universe affects what you can hope for. A Sweet Sting of Salt — Rose Sutherland (2024) Selkie romance novel set in Nova Scotia that didn’t quite work for me—I wanted it to be more overtly fantastical. Or less. That would have worked too. There’s a problem with genre which is that if the reader knows that one of the characters is a selkie, if the book is sold and recommended as being about a selkie, if it says in the blurb that it’s a “stunning queer reimagining of the classic folktale The Selkie Wife” then the writer cannot keep the selkie bit as an exciting surprise for later. The other characters may or may not know, but the reader knows, and so teasing the question just does not work. There’s a lot of very good detail of everyday life, and while I think the village is idealised into being less racist and less homophobic than it really would have been, that’s the kind of thing books like this do. But this annoyed me by treating the selkie thing both as a Big Revelation and as a cause of a Big Misunderstanding (my least favourite genre romance trope)—and as both it gets smoothed over much too fast. It’s not as if I was saying “Where’s the selkie, I thought there was supposed to be a selkie?” It was really obvious who was the selkie, and how the story was being retold, and that would have been fine except that it was written as if the reader was supposed to be surprised and excited at the “revelation.” Disappointing. Siena: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval City — Jane Stevenson (2022) Not quite as good as Light of Italy, Stevenson’s book on Urbino, but nevertheless an excellent volume on the history of Siena which clarified many things and answered many questions. I think this would be readable even if you know nothing about anything, and Stevenson writes in a lively engaging style. I’ve just looked her up to check that she is, indeed, an academic, which she is, but I discovered that she’s also written a historical fiction trilogy about Elizabeth of Bohemia secretly marrying an African prince, which sounds amazing, but sadly does not have a US edition. Get on that, publishers! Anyway, if you’re interested in Siena, and in the ways Italian city states were independent republics and then stopped being independent republics, read this. I learned a lot. The Barbie Murders — John Varley (1980, alternate title Picnic on Nearside) Re-read. It was interesting re-reading this after so long. Varley’s natural length is the short form, and all his best work is novella-length or shorter, and this collection contains some of his best work. When they first appeared they were startling and full of new ideas that made my head explode, and when I find that the Suck Fairy has been at them and I did not enjoy reading some of them now it feels like a betrayal of my fifteen-year-old self. I can find my fifteen-year-old head really easily, and my fifteen-year-old head is yelling at me for not seeing how brill these are, and really, is right. In the context of 1980 this was an astonishing collection, and I see why I thought so. But with my present head, it feels patchy and like a historical artefact of a moment of science fiction more than like something I actually enjoyed reading. Slow Dance — Rainbow Rowell (2024) An adult romance novel from Rowell, and I loved it. It also made me realise how seldom I see real contemporary American working-class people in fiction, because that’s what we have here. A divorced mother of two from Ohio who’s never seen the ocean and her best friend from school who’s in the navy find a way across their mutual spikiness and history towards eventual happiness. Really well written, as you’d expect, and powerful. Alliance Unbound — C.J. Cherryh and Jane Fancher (2024) Don’t read this without reading Alliance Rising first. And if you have read other Cherryh Alliance-Union books I guarantee there is something in here that will make you choke on your tea. I thought this was great and it had a really powerful end. I couldn’t put it down once I started it. But what I want to say isn’t that. What I want to say is that we have a Best Series Hugo now, and if we don’t nominate the Alliance-Union series this year when there is a new book out in it, we may not ever have another chance. Cherryh was born in 1942; she’s 82. She’s going to write a finite number of new books. The award is for the series, not for the new volume. This series has been going since 1981, it has won two Hugos for individual volumes (Downbelow Station and Cyteen), it is one of the best series ever, one of the series that has shaped what stories of future history and space can be. And there’s a thing that happens where women writers become invisible as they get older. They keep writing, and selling books, but they don’t get award recognition and visibility. I understand that it’s easy to get excited about a new writer, and hard to stay excited about someone continuing to be excellent, but I don’t understand why this happens disproportionately to women. But anyway, if you have read any book in the Alliance-Union universe you can nominate the series for Best Series Hugo next year, and you should keep that in mind when it comes to nomination time. Are there five series with a volume out in 2024 that you think are better than this one? Really? If not, remember that it’s eligible and give it a nomination slot alongside the new hot things. Grendel’s Guide to Love and War — A.E. Kaplan (2017) A version of Beowulf set in modern American suburbia, but so very different from Maria Dahvana Headley’s The Mere Wife even though they both have characters with PTSD and use Grendel’s POV. Anyway, this is very good and clever, very enjoyable, much more enjoyable to read, but much less serious. Kaplan is a very gripping writer, and the parallels are fun, and I really liked the community here, and the old women with so much agency. Seen from a different angle, this is a YA book about grief, and a very good one, and it might be better to think of it as that with Beowulf sprinkles than as a retelling. Lyra Celtica — edited by Elizabeth A. Sharp and William Sharp (1896) This is a very strange poetry anthology. Edited by William Sharp, who wrote poetry as Fiona Macleod, and his wife. The Sharps have collected and translated, or had translated, a lot of traditional Celtic poetry from Irish, Scots Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, and Manx, and then added a lot of contemporary (to them) poetry from poets of those nationalities, but who mostly wrote in English, including a fair sprinkling of William Sharp’s own work. It’s arranged by nation. This volume contains some things that are stunningly bad, but also a lot that is surprisingly delightful. I found it on Gutenberg when I was looking for something completely different, and I’m not at all sorry I read it. I like assorted anthologies, and this one was very assorted indeed, and contained a lot of poets I’d never heard of. Wooing the Witch Queen — Stephanie Burgis (2025) I got an advance copy because I saw two reviews that made it sound like a ton of fun. It is a ton of fun, but it wasn’t what I expected from the way people described it. It’s romantasy, and it’s about a serious nerdy young queen who’s leaning hard on projecting “evil” to defend her kingdom from her usurping uncle and an invading empire, and a young archduke in disguise who’s working as her librarian. In many ways it is a gothic, except that the young person who comes to the scary house to work and falls in love with the owner is the man. Just what I wanted on a pain day. Marry Me in Italy — Nicky Pellegrino (2024) Romance novel set in Italy. Nicky Pellegrino was my find of 2020, I have read all her books and pre-ordered this one but saved it for when I was home. It has two stories which twine together around food and Italy. Pellegrino is very good at writing about Italy, and also about writing about people reconsidering their lives and priorities. Both women here do this. Really very good example of the genre. The Edinburgh Mystery: And Other Tales of Scottish Crime — edited by Martin Edwards (2022) In the series of British Library Crime Classics that collects short mystery stories. There’s a fascinating gem from Josephine Tey here, and a generally very high level of stories. The Conan Doyle is a little bit of nothing, but apart from that these were almost all great. I wonder if it’s because the theme was Scotland, and not a thing that lends itself to less variety like “country house weekends” or “police detectives.” I always really enjoy these whatever the theme, but this one felt much more varied than most. There’s a Welsh one, I may get that next. Before the Coffee Gets Cold — Toshikazu Kawaguchi (2015) Translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot. Odd little novel about a cafe in Tokyo which has a very limited kind of time travel—you have to sit in a particular seat, usually occupied by a ghost, and available only when the ghost goes to the bathroom. You can only meet someone who has been in the cafe, nothing you can do can change the present, and you can only stay in the past until the coffee gets cold. Within these restrictions, the novel weaves a number of changes, though they are of necessity small-scale and not world changing—people changing things in their own lives. The book is sweet and surprisingly interesting, partly, I think, because it is a glimpse of a different culture with different assumptions. [end-mark] The post Jo Walton’s Reading List: November 2024 appeared first on Reactor.

When I came across this video by the Babylon Bee, a popular satire website, I couldn’t stop laughing. Imagine a Woke Apocalypse (The Woking Dead, as the channel joked) with people turning into politically correct zombies. It’s a take-off on the popular series, The Walking Dead, and as usual with The Bee, it’s right on target. Realistically, many of our institutions have been infected by the Woke Virus, causing a near-apocalyptic situation in the United States. The only cure is regular exposure to logic and getting folks out of the echo chamber. I hope this video brought you a giggle, too. Have any of your friends or family members succumbed to the infection? Let’s discuss it in the comments section. The post Scenes from “The Woking Dead” (HUMOR) appeared first on The Organic Prepper.