Grumpy Editor

VETERINARIANS CAUTION AGAINST DRESSING ANIMALS FOR HALLOWEEN

Veterinarians warn against dressing pets in Halloween costumes which can cause them harm and spark anxiety on a day they already find stressful, notes Grumpy Editor.

Costumes designed for dogs, cats, rabbits and other furry friends have been rising in popularity, with people often posting images online of their pets dressed as pumpkins, ghouls and ghosts at this time of year.

In Great Britain where the day also is noted, the British Veterinary Association warns costumes could put pets at risk, as the extra layers and accessories could limit their movement.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

PANDEMIC AFFECTS FOURTH AND EIGHTH-GRADERS.   Fourth- and eighth-graders are behind in reading and are in the largest ever decline in math — an effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Findings are based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress reading and math exams, often called the “Nation’s Report Card” and conducted by the National Center for Educational Statistics, a branch of the Education Department.

IT’S PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK.  As of September, 63 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, according to a Lending Club report. That’s close to the 64 percent historic high hit in March and compares with 57 percent a year ago.

 

IRS HIRES 4,000 MORE.  The Internal Revenue Service hires 4,000 additional customer service representatives.  They are being trained to answer taxpayers’ questions during the 2023 tax filing season.

 

GDP UP 2.6 PERCENT IN THIRD QUARTER.  Gross domestic product rose 2.6 percent in the third quarter versus the estimate of 2.3 percent. The number is boosted by a narrowing trade deficit and increases in consumer spending and government outlays.

 

POPULAR SEATTLE DOG RODE SOLO TO PARK.  Eclipse, a black Labrador mix that became well-known in Seattle and worldwide for her solo bus rides to the dog park, has died.

 

PINE-SOL PRODUCTS RECALLED.  About 37 million bottles of Pine-Sol products are being recalled because they could contain a potentially harmful bacteria called pseudomonas aeruginosa, says the Consumer Product Safety Commission. 

 

EMPEROR PENGUIN RECEIVES PROTECTION.  The emperor penguin will be receiving protections under the Endangered Species Act now that climate change has pushed it into "threatened" status, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Climate change has altered the penguins' sea ice habitat required for their survival.

 

CITY SEEKS TO CURB NOISES ANIMALS MAKE OUTDOORS

Aurora, Illinois adopts a law limiting the number of pets kept by residents, notes Grumpy Editor.  What’s more, Aurora seeks to curb noises animals make outdoors.

With the new law, Aurorians can own no more than four “companion” or farm animals per home and up to two of the same species.  (A “companion animal” is defined as a dog, cat, ferret, rabbit, guinea pig or hamster.)

Dog owners also will be fined if their canines make “excessive noise” during certain times of the day, according to a revised animal control ordinance.

Owners with more than four pets before the ordinance would be exempt.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

 

HOMICIDES BY FIREARMS JUMP.  The firearm-homicide rate in 2020 reaches the highest level in 26 years. That makes it 6.1 homicides per 100,000 people in the first year of the pandemic.

 

MARILYN MONROE PAINTING BRINGS HIGH PRICE.  An iconic painting of Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol is auctioned for $195 million, making it the most expensive 20th century art sold. It was painted in 1964 using a famous photograph as inspiration. 

 

ATTACKS BY UKRAINIANS TAKE TOLL ON RUSSIA.  Since March 21, Ukrainian missiles and drone attacks have damaged or sunk four Russian landing ships, three patrol boats and the cruiser Moskva (the Black Sea Fleet flagship), which sank in April.

 

OOPS!  WRONG NUMBER.  The Mega Millions website says its host announced Tuesday's drawing incorrectly, calling the Mega Ball, the sixth and final ball, a 6 instead of a 9.  The first five numbers were correct. 

 

NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES MORE BALLISTIC MISSILES.  Fired from near Pyongyang, North Korea launches three ballistic missiles off its east coast.  They reach an altitute of about 56 miles and travel about 224 miles, bfore dropping into the sea.

 

NBC'S FOOTBALL NIGHT GETS NEW HOST.  NBC Sports names Maria Taylor new host of Football Night in America.  Taylor made her debut on the show as a co-host last season.  She joined NBC Sports in July 2021 after eight years as a reporter, studio show host and anchor at ESPN.

COUPLE IN INDIA SUE SON.  A couple in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand are suing their only son and his wife for not giving them a grandchild after six years of marriage. They are demanding compensation worth nearly $650,000 if no grandchild is born within a year.

BIDEN CALLS ONE MILLION COVID-19 DEATHS 'TRAGIC MILESTONE.'  President Joe Biden marks the "tragic milestone" of  one million America lives lost to COVID-19.  He calls each death an "irreplaceable loss” and “one million empty chairs around the dinner table.

Bit of Americana fades; Ringling Bros. folds big top in May

 

A long-running piece of Americana will disappear in May: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus, sadly notes Grumpy Editor.

Performances by exotic animals along with death-defying acrobats and flashy costumes --- for years set up under a “big top” --- have been a staple of entertainment since the mid-1800s. Performers and animals traveled by train and were greeted with much fanfare in towns around the U.S.

High operating costs and the decline of ticket sales "made the circus an unsustainable business for the company," says CEO Kenneth Feld.

A major factor in declining attendance was mounting criticism from animal rights groups that triggered phasing out of performing elephant acts last year. The elephants were sent to a 200-acre conservation farm in central Florida between Orlando and Tampa.

Feld points out after "the transition of the elephants off the road, we saw an even more dramatic drop" in ticket sales.

Several animal rights groups repeatedly criticized, picketed and sued Ringling Bros. for its treatment of performing animals.

The animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), spent years petitioning against the treatment of circus animals.

The Humane Society of the United States, another longtime critic of the show's animal welfare practices, acknowledges Ringling Bros. made changes over the years, but asserts the changes didn't happen quickly enough.

"It's just not acceptable any longer to cart wild animals from city to city and have them perform silly yet coercive stunts," says Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society. "I know this is bittersweet for the Feld family, but I applaud their decision to move away from an institution grounded on inherently inhumane wild animal acts.”

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

Look for busy reporters in Washington on Friday as thousands of demonstrators are expected to show up at 12 security checkpoints and a 2.5-mile parade route in an effort to “shut down” the nation’s Capitol with the inauguration of Donald Trump as president…In reviewing his prepared remarks, The Daily Caller notes President Obama referred to himself 75 times in his farewell address Tuesday night. Meanwhile, CNSNews.com says “President Obama, the man who has embraced ‘change’ throughout his presidency, used the word 16 times in his farewell speech”…Following blistering criticism of CNN and BuzzFeed for reporting on explosive but unsubstantiated information, Trump calls for “more honest reporting” by media in the wake of “fake news”… Trump has asked Britain to send Winston Churchill’s bust back to the White House so he can return it to the Oval Office. Soon after moving into the White House in 2009, Barack Obama replaced the wartime leader’s image with one of Martin Luther King…The Washington Examiner reports Trump may kick the press out of the White House briefing room and into a different space nearby after he takes office. Possible sites mentioned are the White House Conference Center or a location in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, located next door to the White House…TMZ reports an 18-year-old White House visitor was bitten in the face by the First Family's four-year-old Portuguese water dog Sunny. A half-inch gash under her left eye required stitches…In London, the BBC is assembling a team to fact check and debunk deliberately misleading and false stories masquerading as real news.

A problem with repeats on TV:

CNN headline at bottom of screen, three hours AFTER President Barack Obama made his farewell speech:

Awaiting President Obama’s final speech to the nation.

Related articles

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Will Shut Down in May

END OF AN ERA 'Greatest Show on Earth' closing after 146 years

Harry Reid turns up rhetoric in Nevada cattle feud

Senate majority leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, who was mysteriously quiet during a week-long standoff involving a Nevada cattle rancher and the Bureau of Land Management that ended (at least temporarily) April 12, suddenly became quite vocal over the past week --- following the abrupt BLM pullout --- with a series of  interviews from Reno to Las Vegas, going so far as to label those who sided with rancher Cliven Bundy in the cattle-grazing feud “nothing more than domestic terrorists,” observes Grumpy Editor.

About 300 cattle in the BLM roundup were returned to Bundy after the week-long “bullying” by the feds.  

Reid’s almost daily attacks last week grabbed front-pages and broadcast news leads in the state and elsewhere, especially after the Nevada Democrat appeared at a Las Vegas Review-Journal “Hashtags & Headlines” luncheon at a major Strip hotel on Thursday.

Attendees paid $40 a head to hear Reid answer questions directed at him by a Review-Journal liberal columnist. 

While Reid received wide coverage of his “domestic terrorists” phrase, there was no mention of the range dust being kicked up when the BLM rode in with 200 armed agents, including snipers positioned in the hills plus growling police dogs along with use of tasers and helicopters at Bundy’s ranch in Bunkerville, 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.  Since 1870, the Bundy family’s herd has been grazing on that Clark County land.  

The BLM and its hired “cowboys” went to the ranch to start rounding up Bundy’s 908 cattle grazing on 1,200 square miles of remote mountains and desert managed by BLM and the National Park Service.  Early reason for the roundup was triggered by supposed endangerment of the desert tortoise.  Then the emphasis switched to Bundy not paying grazing fees for 20 years.

Major media stories in the past week did not mention Reid’s close ties with the communist Chinese and the possibility of a major solar facility locating on the vast sun-bathed grazing land that also contains rare minerals along with the tortoises.  (See the April 14 Grumpy Editor on earlier developments at the Bundy ranch and mention of Harry Reid in the headline over a revealing Infowars.com story --- a day prior to the BLM pullout.)

Reid was linked to a proposed $5 billion solar plant in southern Clark County two years ago.  That operation, later shelved, involved a Chinese energy company.

Interestingly, in the same edition that reported Reid’s “domestic terrorists” description of Bundy backers, an illustrated Review-Journal feature focused on about 750 sheep dispatched to the hills on the western edge of Carson City, on the western side of Nevada, to munch on invasive grasses to reduce risk of wildfires as the fire season nears.

No comment from Reid on those grazing animals that belong to a four-year-old Gardnerville sheep farming company.

 

In case you missed these…

WESTERN POLITICAL LEADERS SEEK LOCAL CONTROL ON LANDS.  Allied with the Bundy feud with the feds in Nevada, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Friday that more than 50 political leaders from nine states convened in Utah’s capital to discuss their joint goal --- wresting control of oil, timber and mineral-rich lands away from the feds. "The urgency is now,” declared State Rep. Ken Ivory (R-West Jordan, Utah) who organized the summit with Montana State Sen. Jennifer Fielder (R-District 7).

 

LOS ANGELES GETS ANOTHER DAILY.  First editions marking the Wednesday debut of the Los Angeles Register were hawked on Los Angeles City Hall grounds --- across the street from the Los Angeles Times building. The paper will be sold at more than 5,500 retail outlets and vending machines. It’s the first new daily in the City of Angels since the Daily News turned into a daily in 1981.  The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, a long-time daily, folded in November, 1989.

  

MEDIA PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.  Fox News re-signed Chris Wallace to a multi-year deal to continue anchoring Fox News Sunday.  He has anchored the Sunday morning program and contributed to Fox News’ political and election coverage since joining the network in 2003…Radio host Laura Ingraham joined ABC News as a contributor and will continue as guest commentator for Fox News Channel, often filling in for Bill O’Reilly on The O’Reilly Factor…Dee Dee Myers, one of former President Bill Clinton’s press secretaries, was named head of corporate communications and public affairs for Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros., Hollywood’s largest studio.

 

U.S. NEWSPAPER REVENUE CONTINUES DOWNWARD.  Newspaper Association of America said the industry’s 2013 revenue slipped 2.6 percent to $37.6 billion.  Print advertising revenue last year sank 8.6 percent to $17.3 billion but circulation revenue gained 3.7 percent to $10.9 billion.

 

GET READY FOR THE LOCAL ANGLE.  A newspaper editor in the west ran a distant police beat story in yesterday's edition like it happened down the street.  A woman in Dover, N.J. --- that’s 2,300 miles from the breaking news, headline-conscious editor --- reported that on the first date with a man she met on the Internet, Joel (last name unknown), swiped her TV set and dog. 

Now the editor is hoping for a follow-up.

Mystery: Who ordered shutdown of D.C. zoo panda cam?

While the partial U.S. government shutdown has many people up in arms about some of the strange closures at home and abroad, one of the most unusual is the “panda cam” that went dark at the National Zoo in Washington, notes Grumpy Editor.

Federal resources, including funds, are not an issue in showing the giant pandas on camera.

Thousands of viewers check in daily to see female panda Mei Xiang, her six-week-old cub and companion Tian Tian.

National Zoo's panda cams are sponsored by the Ford Motor Co. fund, part of a two-year, $400,000 grant to study giant panda health and the majority of the grant covers research into disease transmission, points out Danielle Elliot at CBS News.

And zoo staff doesn’t figure into the panda’s cam transmissions because volunteers operate the cameras.

As part of the Smithsonian Institution, the National Zoo is a 163-acre zoological park set amid Rock Creek National Park in the heart of Washington.

With the shutdown, the zoo and the rest of the Smithsonian museums are closed to the public along with all vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle paths into the area.

For panda cam watchers, an alternative:  Try the panda cam here to see Ya Ya and Le Le at the Memphis Zoo.

Senator cites shutdown for scrapping media call

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, cited the federal shutdown as the reason to eliminate his weekly press call with Iowa reporters, finds Grumpy Editor.

“Due to the funding lapse, Senator Harkin’s offices are now closed. Therefore, he will not host an Iowa media call this week. The call will resume when the lapse has ended,” Kate Cyrul Frischmann, Harkin’s communications director in Washington, advised Iowa reporters via email.

However, the Des Moines Register reported the federal shutdown didn’t stop U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Waterloo, from briefing Iowa reporters on his usual Wednesday conference call.

Braley, active with other House members while the Senate was mostly silent, is running for the Senate next year, seeking to replace Harkin, who is retiring.

In case you missed these…

Two words absent from weekend reporting on the unusual autumn snowstorm that smacked the upper Midwest with up to almost four feet of snow (in Lead, S.D.):  global warming…Stock of Tesla Motors, following media playing up a fire in one of its electric cars, dips 6.2 percent on Wednesday and 4.2 percent Thursday, but rebounds 7.67 percent on Friday as word gets out that its Model S becomes the best-selling car in Norway in September, its second month on the market there…The Associated Press and NPR are cutting back use of the term ObamaCare (for Affordable Care Act).  NPR describes the nickname as seeming "to be straddling somewhere between being a politically-charged term and an accepted part of the vernacular”…Political columnist and author George Will joins Fox News as a contributor.  Will, a long-time fixture as a panelist on ABC’s "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," will offer analysis and commentary across Fox News’ daytime and primetime programming…While many newspapers are reducing editorial content, the 113-year-old Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal is seeking freelance journalists and photographers to boost news, business, features, community events and sports coverage…Wichita radio station KLIO dumps its oldies format and moves to service its market’s Spanish-speaking population with sports talk using ESPN Deportes around the clock…Thomson Reuters plans to cut as much as 5 percent of newsroom staffers (out of 2,800 journalists worldwide) --- “to simplify and strengthen the Reuters news operation”…NBC and CNN shelve television projects focusing on former first lady and secretary of state Hillary Clinton.  Both efforts were slated to air prior to the 2016 election.

Media, especially television, gearing up for winds that some predicted would blossom into the first hurricane to hit the U.S. this year, see tropical storm Karen fizzle in the Gulf of Mexico…with no deep low-pressure systems (candidates leading to a hurricane) on the horizon.

Romney’s China-made Jeep mention looms accurate

Just before the November election, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was criticized for declaring Chrysler would be building Jeeps in China, recalls Grumpy Editor. 

Democrats grabbed space and air time citing Romney and his campaign ads on the Jeep action in China was misleading. 

Grumpy Editor last Nov. 6 pointed out the report stemmed from an Oct. 22 Bloomberg News story that mentioned Fiat (majority owner of Chrysler Group LLC) “plans to return Jeep output to China.” 

Auto writers last Wednesday reported Chrysler is in talks to build some of its Jeep vehicles in China where the auto company already sells several of the brand’s models.

 

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Nocturnal sideline raises editors' eyebrows

Not getting much national coverage: a newspaper reporter with an unusual sideline job (for a newsroom staffer). 

After being outed for her after-hours job as a stripper, reporter Sarah Tressler, who was fired by the Houston Chronicle where she was a society reporter, now works for the San Antonio Express-News. 

But her beat now is quite different. 

She covers crime. 

Her Express-News byliner on Friday dealt with the shooting of a convenience store owner. 

She was let go by the Chronicle for failing to inform supervisors of her nocturnal sideline as an exotic dancer. 

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In case you missed these… 

Wal-Mart Stores, starting Memorial Day, plans to hire 100,000 veterans during the next five years.  Some of the giant retailer’s critics called it a P.R. move.  Sure, it is.  And a fine P.R. gesture it is…On the firing side, the Star-Ledger, New Jersey’s largest newspaper, cut 34 employees, including 18 (or nearly 10 percent) of its newsroom staff.  Meanwhile, Reuters released some of the wire service’s veteran editors and reporters…On the hiring side, Fox News signed liberal former Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D., Ohio) as a paid contributor.  He joins daughter, Jackie Kucinich, in media.  She is a USA Today reporter covering politics…Nissan P.R. people should be happy with large color shots of the Nissan Resonance concept car appearing in separate sections of The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday…Public relations pioneer Daniel J. Edelman, who died Tuesday at 92, was noted for many slogans.  “Which twin has the Toni?” was long remembered.  Edelman also was behind spotlighting Morris the cat in television commercials for 9-Lives cat food.

 

Speaking of pets, Grumpy Editor likes the title of Seattle’s KIRO-FM’s weekend pet show that debuted yesterday:  “It’s Raining Cats and Dogs with Shawn Stewart.”  

PETA unhappy over California 'happy cows' TV spot

A 30-second television commercial featuring “happy cows” --- so happy, they talk --- is not making People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) happy, notes Grumpy Editor.

What’s more, a California judge tossed out a PETA lawsuit, filed last year, seeking to shelve the California Milk Advisory Board/California Department of Food and Agriculture TV spot promoting happy, healthy and well-cared-for cows. 

In the action, the animal rights group demanded that California dairy farmers prove that California cows are “happy,” as claimed in the commercials. 

PETA complained that “most California dairy cows are subjected to physical and psychological pain and stress caused by intense and uncomfortable dairying practices, have a high risk of suffering from a number of diseases and die prematurely.”

(One wondered if PETA had happy cows mixed up with some chronically unhappy taxpayers struggling around tax-filing time.) 

Actually, PETA has complained about happy cows since 2002. 

The judge ruled the California Milk Advisory Board and the California Department of Food and Agriculture provided sufficient evidence to support their claim that dairy cows in the Golden State are comfortable, safe and happy. 

Few daily newspapers reported the judge's decision. 

However, the Merced (Calif.) Sun-Star covered the ruling under the headline:  Judge: California dairy cows are happy. 

In the TV spot promoting California cheese, two happy cows chat in a barn as a rooster crows nearby. 

A voiceover mentions: “Great cheese comes from happy cows.  Happy cows come from California.  Real California cheese.” 

See the TV spot here.

California's July 1 foie gras ban: more work for police?

Some editorial page writers in California should be busy over the next few days, prior to the banning of foie gras in state restaurants starting July 1, pointing out how police departments face another decision:  whether to haul in chefs who keep the delicacy on menus, notes Grumpy Editor.

Starting Sunday in the Golden State, producing or selling the engorged livers of forced-fed ducks and geese will be prohibited by law.  The law was passed in 2004 with a grace period that ends this week.

Restaurants that defy the ban will be subject to stiff $1,000 citations.

Pushing for the legislation were animal rights advocates who cited cruelty in fattening fowl by overfeeding them to produce fatty liver.

Talk among chefs, in skirting the ban, is to bring in the foie gras from outside California, such as Nevada, and serving it as a free side dish --- but charging for toast that goes with it.

But that could lead to some major action.

“We’re going to come down like a hammer on any chef or restaurant that wants to continue serving this very cruel product,” Bryan Pease, co-founder of the Animal Protection and Rescue League in San Diego, said in an interview with Bloomberg writer Alison Vekshin.

“If we find somebody still serving that product, the gloves are going to come off and we’ll use every legal means available to shut that place down, including lawsuits, protests and boycotts,” Pease added. “There’s just no reason to allow restaurants to do business in California that flout the law and torture animals for a table treat.”

However, major police departments in California --- already busy enforcing assorted crimes --- appeared reluctant to issue citations or handcuff law-breaking chefs. 

 

All eyes on Punxsutawney Phil for ‘weather outlook’

Despite heavy election year news, look for Punxsutawney (Pa.) Phil to grab front page space in many newspapers following the appearance of the “weather forecasting” groundhog tomorrow, predicts Grumpy Editor. 

With a flock of note-taking media in attendance, Phil’s Groundhog Day weather outlook may be fuzzy, however. 

If he leaves his burrow and fails to see his shadow, according to lore, that means winter will end soon, but if the woodchuck casts a shadow, then it looks like winter will continue for six more weeks. 

The official weather forecast indicates Phil’s predictions this year may be confusing.  Clouds and sun are in the Feb. 2 morning forecast. 

Thus, if Phil emerges under cloud cover, that indicates a quick end to winter.  But if he pops out with the sun breaking through the clouds, then winter, according to Phil, is expected to extend through mid-March --- on a day when the official forecast for low temperature is 27 degrees. 

Phil is treated as Punxsutawney’s ace "public relations person" --- which he is.   He gains much attention for the town with a population of about 6,000.

As such, the famous rodent resident is housed in better-than-a-burrow quarters at Groundhog Zoo at Punxsutawney Memorial Library.

 

Missing from the Las Vegas Strip: outcry from PETA

While casino patrons from around the world are welcomed on the famous Las Vegas Strip, pending legislation by Clark County Commissioners would ban some dogs on public and private sidewalks plus pedestrian bridges along the five-mile stretch, finds Grumpy Editor. 

Behind the anti-pooch measure, slated for further action later this month, is commissioner Chris Giunchigliani who also drafted a proposed ordinance that seeks banning pigeon feeding in Clark County. 

The dual actions --- not generating media excitement beyond Nevada --- also have not attracted the attention of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). 

Giunchigliani a few years ago pushed an ordinance that promoted the capture and spaying/neutering of feral cats. 

One resident asked in print, “After attacking hungry birds and starving canines, will she (Giunchigliani ) target the poor defenseless rodent?” 

Pigeons come up for further discussion by commissioners next Tuesday.  Rules could lead to pigeon feeders (that would include unknowing tourists) getting a stiff up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. 

While the major thrust now is on birds and dogs, commissioners for years have been unable to curb the growing number of unlicensed street vendors, panhandlers and adult news distributors that line the busy Las Vegas Strip --- cluttering up the scenery more than pigeons and dogs.