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Not an American flag insight.
Fascinating, ain't it?
All dancing to the same tune.
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Where DO they get these
numbers from?
According to the Washington Post, whatever hits Biden has taken, Trump’s rotten poll numbers suggest that any of the top four to five Democrats would be in a strong position to beat Trump. (If so, does Biden’s rationale for running needs to be tweaked?) In the Quinnipiac poll, nearly half (48 percent) strongly disapprove of Trump’s performance, 53 percent overall, while only 41 percent approve, 31 percent strongly. His approval/disapproval numbers with women (35/63 percent), white women (41/56 percent) and white college-educated men and women (39/58 percent) are simply horrendous.
By any definition, one has to consider which Democrats can maximize not only nonwhites’ vote but also the women’s and college-educated vote. The media continues to present the Upper Midwest as the land of old white men, when women make up more than half the electorate and nonwhite voting in urban areas and the growing suburbs are absolutely critical to Democrats’ success. (Maybe Democrats should go all in and put two women on the ticket.)
Even worse, a solid majority (51 to 45 percent) in the Quinnipiac poll approve of an impeachment inquiry, with opinion nearly evenly divided on impeachment and removal. Significant majorities think the inquiry is legitimate (51 to 43 percent) and disapprove of Trump’s response (59 percent). Two-thirds of voters have no problem answering the question that leaves many Republican lawmakers tongue-tied: Do you think it is acceptable for the president of the United States to ask a foreign leader to investigate a political rival, or is this not acceptable? (66 percent say unacceptable, only 24 percent acceptable).
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What an angry shrew.
What if I told you that a terrifying animal lurked in the woods behind your house - maybe very inches from your back door? Its body is a kind-of Frankenstein’s monster mash-up of many different animals. It has a Swiss Army knife set of 32 teeth built for seizing, grasping, tearing, crushing, and chewing; and claws ideal for digging - but it’s not a bear. Hiding in the pitch dark will do you no good, because it can use echolocation to find its way through the inky shadows - but it’s not a bat. If it does find you, well, that’s when things really turn ugly. See, this animal’s saliva is venomous - nope, it’s not a snake. Problem is, it lacks the fangs to directly inject this neurotoxic poison, and must chew it in to you. For some things it hunts, it’s enough to kill. But for others it only paralyzes, allowing them to be stashed away for later (but this isn’t a spider). I’ll leave it up to your imagination what those unlucky beings last few moments on Earth are like.
If another animal is unwise enough to try to make a meal of this creature - they are in for an unpleasant surprise. It can produce a highly malodorous musk from its body that is enough to turn the stomachs of many a would-be predator - but it’s not a skunk or opossum. So who the heck is the enigmatic, stuff-of-nightmares marauder?
Just When You Thought it Was Safe to Go in the Woods
If you think this all sounds like some bad Hollywood monster movie - you’d be right. 1959’s The Killer Shrews (3 out of 10 stars on IMDB) brought the worst characteristics of the northern short-tailed shrew to the silver screen. But don’t worry. As scary as the animal described above sounds, take heart that this member of the shrew family is only about 4 inches long and weighs in at around an ounce - soaking wet. Sheerly terrifying for an earthworm, snail, or beetle though. They are capable of taking down prey much bigger than themselves as well, including mice, snakes, and even ground-nesting bird chicks.
Definitely not a Mouse
People with only a passing interest in small, furry things often categorize all critters that scamper about the woods or in their house as “mice”. But shrews are not only not mice, they’re not even rodents. Shrews take their place in the much more sparsely populated family tree of “insectivores”, a branch of which that includes the moles. Upon close inspection they share little in common with mice. No outward ear flaps, beady eyes, and a short, stalky tail. This body build is ideal for a life under the leaf litter, under the snow pack, or underground - good thing since that just so happens to be where shrews spend the majority of their short, frenetic lives.
195 Pounds of Food a Day
That’s how much the average American male would have to ingest if humans shared the appetite and metabolism of this shrew. Being small, warm-blooded, and a carnivore means they must maintain a very high rate of metabolism to keep up with the relatively rapid loss of water and heat from their tiny bodies. To do so requires consuming the equivalent of their body weight every day. Going without a meal for even just a few hours could lead to starvation. No wonder they are so twitchy and high-strung. In their near constant search for prey, they pack in between 800 to 1300 heart beats a minute and up to 12 body movements per second.
Noxious Poison or Miracle Cure? Maybe both
Short-tailed shrews belong to that rarest class of life forms: the venomous mammal. Lacking a snake’s hollow, venom injecting fangs, shrews had to evolve a different way of introducing the poison into their victims. The bottom incisors in their mouths feature a groove, which allows for easier transmission of venom into shrew prey as it’s being bitten. The poison either kills or paralyzes the prey. At least one study suggested that an individual shrew carries within its body enough venom to dispatch up to 200 mice at any given time. Shrews also engage in the practice of “live hoarding”. In times-of-plenty, they will stash away an emergency supply of meals, often mealworms fittingly, for later consumption in leaner times. A paralyzed, live hoarded mealworm can stay fresh-and-crunchy for up to 15 days. Shrew saliva also contains a protein-digesting substance that helps to quickly break down muscle tissue, a must for an animal that eats almost constantly.
Sounds almost EXACTLY LIKE
Mz. Warren, doesn't it?
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Re-purposing done well.
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Guess who.
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Maybe the Duke shoulda been
the moderator last night.
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There has to be a GREAT bar on
this street somewhere
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This is pretty cool - I should get one for my truck. Check it out here:
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At least three members of the “Squad” of far-left freshman members of Congress will reportedly endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders for president.
Fox News has learned that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., will appear with Sanders on Saturday in Queens, N.Y., at a “Bernie’s Back” rally designed to generate excitement for the senator’s campaign following his recent heart procedure. Rep. Ihan Omar, D-Minn., will also endorse the candidate.
And we give a fuck why?
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Should be painted flat black but otherwise pretty cool.
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