Two birds. One St(one)ate Trooper.
Suspect #1 pulled over for going 96 mph and being investigated for DWI escapes from patrol car. Suspect #2 vehicle then hits officer while trying to secure suspect #1 and is in possession of meth.
Somehow it is not at all surprising that certain self-professed “Christians” would relate more to Goliath than David.
The current Islamophobia about “Islam trying to take over America”. They have gone nuts over Muslims trying to build communities like every other ethnic group. They fear Sharia Law being forced into actual legal practice. It’s the newest “Red scare” running around.
I’m not as informed on Girl Scouts, but Scouting USA (Boy Scouts) is largely sponsored by religious groups like churches. The LDS Church has a big presence. Every troop has its own flavor based on its sponsor.
SA also has the “God and Country” award to explore the Scout’s personal religious connection.
So GS groups sponsored by Islamic groups tailor the “reverence” aspects to fit their religion.
It’s the uninformed in a culture panic and discovering something that the can twist to fit their paranoia.
Nope. The LDS church got completely out of scouting in 2020.
Huh. I hadn’t heard. Back when I lived in SLC it seemed that every Stake and Ward had a troop. When they had the big floods in 1983 and 1984 it was the Church-organized scout troops that provided a lot of the muscle for filling and stacking sandbags.
When the Boy Scouts instituted diversity changes (particularly accepting gay scouts and leaders, and permitting girls to join), the LDS pulled out, and established their own replacement organization, Children and Youth.
Next time he skims the Bible or even hears something about it second-hand from social media or even word of mouth, he might conclude that Sodom and Gomorrah seem pretty neat and they should be models for how society should be run.
Some of the fallout with Doubleplusungood Golf
National Park touron posts himself doing stupid shit, gets busted
An influencer petted a Mount Rainier marmot. A national park ranger called his parents.
…23-year-old influencer from Texas reached a scenic viewpoint and noticed a marmot and a squirrel mingling with other visitors. They seemed comfortable around people…Shult gave it a quick scratch on its back while it hugged his leg, and his friend filmed the encounter.
So he gave a pet to the critter that was hugging his leg? The bastard.
Fuck the park ranger, I 100% would have petted a leg marmot.
The marmot started it.
It’s illegal to touch or feed wildlife in national parks. Yeah, this particular case seems to have been a totally victimless crime, but I still think park visitors should be aware of and follow the rules. Especially when they’re trying to monetize their park experiences as “influencer” content by broadcasting them to the world.
That said, I have to acknowledge that this particular influencer seems to have handled the consequent dustup and his partial responsibility for it gracefully and ethically. I don’t feel too sorry for him getting hit with a fine for this minor infraction: if you choose to invite the world to watch you going about your life online, you have to accept that the stakes may be higher when you fuck something up, however unintentionally.
Nonetheless, the way the ranger publicly pursued him for the infraction (and calling his parents??) seems to have been excessively aggressive and invasive. Pay the fine, but make a complaint.
Me, too! 100%.
I see it from both sides.
If the marmot approaches you in a friendly manner, acting like a domesticated pet might, for example, it’s natural to respond in kind. As long as you aren’t tempting it with food, or pursuing and coaxing it. I don’t see anything malicious in that. And he probably had no idea it was illegal.
On the other hand, being ignorant of the law doesn’t mean you aren’t subject to it. Having the intent to break a law is usually not necessary to establish guilt. Just because he didn’t mean any harm, that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be punished for it.
And posting the video on social media, that can certainly be seen as encouraging behavior that is not only illegal, but also can result in a situation that can injure animals and/or humans. Wild animals shouldn’t be treated like domesticated pets, no matter how cute they are, and while this one liked humans and seemed to enjoy his company, the next one a person sees probably won’t be like that. That is not normal behavior for such animals, I’m sure. So I have no problem with the authorities responding to the video negatively.
This is just a weird and unfortunate situation. A cute moment, a person acting naturally in that moment, and wanting to share that cute moment with others. Absent all other context, it all seems fine.
I just consider this an example of how life isn’t always simple, and what’s right and wrong isn’t always so black and white.
And I agree the ranger seems like an ass for the way they pursued this, even if it was correct and necessary to do so.
Yeah, but I wouldn’t have posted it. People don’t need to be encouraged to be stupid.
And calling his parents is cooler than calling someone official.
When I was hiking Mt. Whitney, we were positively swarmed by marmots. When we camped by Lake Consolation before going for the summit, the Boy Scouts camped near us were being continously berated by their Scoutmasters to not feed the marmots. They (the marmots, that is) are pretty irresistible.
That’s one of the unfortunate things about it. Marmots shouldn’t be so comfortable around humans. In areas hunting them is allowed, they certainly aren’t. Dependency on humans is not a good thing to encourage in them, but it’s unavoidable in many cases.
Marmots are a pretty well known pest in some backcountry trailhead parking lots. Rodents tend to chew on electrical wiring generally, this is not optimal for your car and can be expensive.
First, he was violating park rules. So what if the marmot was “friendly”, don’t touch the wildlife.
Second, being an “influencer”: if even one person saw his post and decided, “Hey that looks cool, I wanna do that!”…that’s fucked up.