Category: Society & Laws

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Zoos Are No Longer Able to Acquire African Elephants from the Wild

You might have already assumed that trade in wild African elephants – and endangered species in general – was illegal, even if it was a zoo that was looking to take one in.

We would have been wrong.

Though hopefully that won’t be the case for much longer.

At the 18th meeting of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, members from over 180 countries reassessed regulations on international elephant trade. A vast majority of the the representatives voted to end the capture and sale of wild African elephants for display in zoos worldwide.

The issue will go for a vote in front of the full conference, but with 46 of the 83 countries in favor, it looks to have a good chance of passing.

Iris Ho, a senior policy advisor at Humane Society International (HSI), told Bloomberg that everyone in the business of supporting endangered species sees this as a win.

“It’s a huge step forward. It’s really historic that the majority of the parties present recognized that African elephants should not be captured in the wild, sent to zoos and be kept in captivity for the rest of their lives.”

The ban would largely affect countries in southern Africa, where elephant populations are healthier and herds are regularly thinned for the purpose of selling them to zoos. Zimbabwe alone sold over 100 wild-caught baby elephants to China in the past 7 years, and the issue of separating calves from their mothers and the rest of the herd certainly has animal welfare experts concerned.

“Calves suffer psychological and physical harm when taken from their mothers,” explains elephant biologist Audrey Delsink of HSI Africa. “Zoos and other captive facilities force these calves to live in an unnatural, unhealthy environment that doesn’t meet their complex needs.”

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Did you know that African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth? They are slightly larger than their Asian cousins and can be identified by their large ears that look like the continent of Africa. Their ears radiate heat to help keep them cool, but sometimes the African heat can be too much so they use their trunk to give themselves a shower. Elephants eat roots, grasses, fruits, and bark and they eat a lot of it. In fact, an adult elephant can consume up to 300 pounds of food a day. Female elephants have a longer pregnancy than any other mammal (22 months) and usually give birth to one calf. In 2018, Tarangire’s famed Eloise was the oldest elephant to give birth to twin calves. Source of information: National Geographic https://www.wanderlusttours.org #wanderlust #tours #africa #tanzani #tarangirenationalpark #tarangire #elephants #africanelephants #thisisafrica #travel #concioustravel #mindfultravel

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Elephant trade has long been a hot topic, with African nations often territorial about managing their own wildlife without outside interference. Black market demands for ivory has drastically increased elephant poaching in the last few decades, though, so organizations like CITES feel as if they have a duty to protect the endangered species as if it belongs to the world, and not only to its endemic areas in Africa.

Over a million species are listed as at risk thanks to all manner of human activity, so committees like CITES are set to have busy years as they work to revamp how different species are protected around the globe.

“Nature’s dangerous decline is unprecedented,” says CITES Secretary General Ivonne Higuero. “Business as usual is no longer an option.”

I feel like that statement applies to environmental challenges all over the globe, and I hope there are people in every nook and cranny waiting to step up to do their part to save us all.

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A Recent Study Shows That More Guns Lead to More Violent Crime

A recent statistical analysis of 33 U.S. states might be a game-changer for the argument that more guns on the street would help reduce violent crime.

The report will likely come into play as the Supreme Court gets ready to hear arguments in a case lobbying for the constitutional right for Americans to carry guns outside the home.

The debate over whether more guns leads to more or less crime harkens back to the 1998 book More Guns, Less Crime, by John Lott Jr. of the Crime Prevention Research Center. Since its publication, 11 states have loosened their right-to-carry laws, and more than 30 states allow the open carrying of a gun with no permit necessary.

In those same states, violent crime increased 13%-15% in the decade after right-to-carry laws were adopted.

Which is one why, argues the study’s lead author John Donohue, adopting them could be a “dangerous mistake to make.”

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“It just another day.. and I stand behind you in line at the store with a smile on my face…and a gun in my purse and you are none the wiser. You have no clue that I carry because I have my gun concealed, yet you are safer for having me next to you. I will not shoot you. My gun won't pull it's own trigger. It is securely holstered. It can't just go off by itself. However, rest assured that if a lunatic walks into the store and pulls out a rifle and starts shooting innocent people, I will draw my pistol and protect myself and my family.. and because your next to me, I will protect you and your family. I may freeze up, I may piss my pants, I will be terrified just as you. I may even get shot before I can pull the trigger…but, I won't die helpless on the floor begging for my life or my families life without trying to protect us. I won't be that victim. I REFUSE to be that victim. No one will take my life or those around me without me fighting back. As for you, I don't ask you to carry a gun. If you are not comfortable, then please don't. There are some people that feel guns kill people.. I’m here to tell you people kill people. I choose to not be a HELPLESS victim. This world is ugly and there is evil in the world and if evil has a gun, I want one too… because that’s MY RIGHT and I pray that day NEVER HAPPENS but if that day did, you’ll be blessed to have me by you.” #concealedcarry #glock43 #myright #secondamendmentrights #gunsafe #concealcarry #countrygirl #SelfDefense #RefuseToBeAVictim #Glock #9mm #KeepCalmAndCarry #defendthesecond #2A #AllGunLawsAreInfringements #righttocarry #ihavetherighttoprotectmyself #DontBeAStatistic #Southcarolina #ThisIsMySafety

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“The important takeaway is that more guns seem to lead to more crime. So it is probably wise to think in terms of appropriate controls and it would be very unwise to push the 2nd amendment too far.”

The team behind the study looked at violent crime rates in all states, controlling for policing, incarceration rates, poverty, and other demographic issues to estimate the impact of the right-to-carry laws on the books.

3.1 million people were victims of violent crimes in 2017, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and jailing everyone responsible would double the prison population in most states.

Donahue says that even he and his team were surprised at what the data presented.

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"I stand behind you in line at the store with a smile on my face…and a gun under my shirt and you are none the wiser, yet you are safer for having me next to you. I won't shoot you. My gun won't pull it's own trigger. It is securely holstered with the trigger covered. It can't just go off. However, rest assured that if a lunatic walks into the grocery store and pulls out a rifle, I will draw my pistol and protect myself and my family and therefore protect you and your family. I may freeze up. I may piss my pants. I may get shot before I can pull the trigger…but, I won't die in a helpless blubbering heap on the floor begging for my life or my child's life. I won't be that victim. I choose not to be. As for you, I don't ask you to carry a gun. If you are not comfortable, then please don't. But I would like to keep my right to choose to not be a helpless victim. There is evil in the world and if evil has a gun, I want one too…” -unknown . . #SelfDefense #RefuseToBeAVictim #Glock #GlockPerfection #glock43x #9mm #therearemanylikeitbutthisoneismine #KeepCalmAndCarry #defendthesecond #edccarry #2A #AllGunLawsAreInfringements #righttocarry #ihavetherighttoprotectmyself #DontBeAStatistic #ConcealedCarry #Texas #ThisIsMySafety

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“It was really only after we had 13 more years of data and 11 additional adoptions of RTC laws that a clear picture emerged that RTC laws increase violent crime.”

And not by a little – by a lot.

In 23 of the 31 states with right-to-carry laws, violent crime increased by as much as 24% (PA) in the last decade.

Incidents of gun violence related to road rage disputes, bar fights, police shootings of armed civilians, and everyday disagreements explain increases, as the study did not find a statistically significant change in rates of homicide or property crimes.

Other researchers, like Daniel Webster of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told Buzzfeed News he’s thrilled to have more numbers.

“I have read the study and consider it to be the most rigorous of studies of right-to-carry laws to date. This is a very important piece of research.”

Mr. Lott – the author of the original pro-gun argument – is keen to dismiss the emerging numbers.

“Basically, poor areas are more likely to be affected by violent crime, so lowering barriers to permits has a bigger effect in states that do so.”

The insinuation (without evidence) is that the study didn’t take such things into account. He also complained that other studies that support his own findings have “gotten no news coverage.”

Criminologist Philip Cook from Duke University, though, argues that new studies often trump old research and topple old data. That’s just how science often works.

“The scientific process does not always get the answer right the first time, but if it’s working well, then important findings are reviewed and tested and the truth becomes clearer.”

The new study, which encompasses 33 states and an extra decade of data, should be the beacon going forward – unless another study as rigorous effectively challenges it sometime in the future.

Until then, these numbers should give everyone – including the Supreme Court – something to think about.

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A New Study Shows Police Violence Is a Leading Cause of Death for Young Black Men

It’s become clear that young black men have different experiences with – and more reasons to fear – interactions with police.

At least, that’s how it seems.

But now, a scientific study is backing up that idea with proof.

According to new research, black men between the ages of 20 and 29 experience the highest mortality rate, with use-of-force by police being the 6th leading cause of death (after accidents, suicide, other homicides, heart disease, and cancer).

Study author Frank Edwards, of the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University-Newark, issued a statement about their findings.

“We haven’t really known for sure how often these killings have been happening because the data hasn’t been good enough. But if we are going to try and change police practices that aren’t working, we need to track this information better.”

Lest you think those numbers aren’t striking, they mean that 1 in every 1,000 black men will be killed by police – a 2.5x higher rate than for white men.

They join American Indians and Alaskan Natives in being “significantly more likely” to be killed by police. Even black women are 1.4x more likely than white women to be killed by police.

The data comes from Fatal Encounters, a journalist-led effort to document police-related deaths, which otherwise are lumped in with other crime statistics.

“We find that African American men and women, American Indian/Alaskan Native men and women, and Latino men face higher lifetime risk of being killed by police than do their white peers.”

Even though the data includes so-called “justified” killings, the results are nonetheless compelling. Race and police brutality continue to stand in the national spotlight, largely due to the fact that even though black people make up a mere 13% of the population, they encompass 34% of the prison population and 25% of people killed by on-duty police – making them closer to 3x more likely to die that way than their white peers.

While these results can be partially explained by the fact that younger people are more likely to engage in risky behavior, the study authors point out that police in the U.S. kill more people overall than forces in other industrialized democracies, particularly when it comes to people of color.

Hopefully studies like these, combined with thoughtful policies and departments intent on improving relations between officers and those they serve, will help steer America in the right direction.

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Steve Jobs Made Some Accurate Predictions About the Future of Technology in the 1980s and ’90s

Steve Jobs was truly a one-of-kind businessman. The co-founder of Apple was a visionary who helped change the way we work, play, and live. And Jobs made some predictions in the 1980s and 1990s that may have seemed far-fetched at the time, but it turns out he absolutely nailed it.

Here are some examples of the foresight that Jobs had years before these things became a reality.

Tablets

Photo Credit: Pixabay

The iPad wasn’t launched by Apple until 2010, but all the way back in 1983 at the International Design Conference in Aspen, Jobs talked about “an incredibly great computer in a book that you can carry around with you that you that you can learn in five minutes.”

Virtual Assistants

Photo Credit: Pexels

Before Siri and Alexa became household items, Jobs said this…in 1984: “The next stage is going to be computers as ‘agents. In other words, it will be as if there’s a little person inside that box who starts to anticipate what you want. Rather than help you, it will start to guide you through large amounts of information. It will almost be like you have a little friend inside that box.”

Sound familiar?

iPhones

Photo Credit: Pexels

Those “agents” Jobs talked about? Jobs said they would evolve. “I’ve always thought it would be really wonderful to have a little box, a sort of slate that you could carry along with you.”

Sounds like an iPhone to me.

Young people and devices

Photo Credit: pxhere

Jobs really nailed this prediction. In 1984, he said, “You’d get one of these things maybe when you were 10 years old, and somehow you’d turn it on and it would say, you know, ‘Where am I?’ And you’d somehow tell it you were in California and it would say, ‘Oh, who are you?’”

The online marketplace

Photo Credit: Flickr,Elaine Smith

In 1995, Steve Jobs predicted that the newly-flourishing Internet would allow startup companies to compete with established companies because they’d be able to sell directly to consumers. He said, “it’s very exciting because it is going to destroy vast layers of our economy and make available a presence in the marketplace for very small companies, one that is equal to very large companies.”

Sadly, Jobs passed away in 2011 at the age of 56 from pancreatic cancer, but he sure did accomplish a lot while he was alive.

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A New Study Confirms That No Single ‘Gay Gene’ Controls Sexual Preference

A groundbreaking study recently published confirms that genetics can’t confirm if a person will engage in same-sex sexual behavior. The research showed that there is no single gene that controls sexual preference – instead, some genes play a tiny role in contributing to sexual behavior, with social and environmental factors determining the rest of the outcome. In other words, genes play small a role in sexuality, but there is no “gay gene.”

Researchers studied almost 500,000 people to come up with their results. Study author Ben Neale said, “This is is the largest and most thorough investigation into the genetics of same-sex sexual behavior to date.”

The study analyzed associations between the genes of people and same-sex behavior that the people reported. It’s important to note that these behaviors do not absolutely equate sexual identity. People who reported that they had same-sex encounters could be bisexual, gay, pansexual, etc.

The authors revealed that between 8% and 25% of same-sex sexual behavior in the study could be explained by genetics. The rest could be chalked up to environmental and social factors. Ben Neale said, “I think it underscores that there is an element of biology and it underscores that there’s an element of the environment. And it underscores that this is a natural part of our species.”

The authors of the study worked with LGBTQ advocacy groups to talk about the best way to reveal their work to the public, and they were mindful about what kind of message the results might send. There is still concern about potential backlash, however. Darren Whitfield, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh who studies LGBTQ health, said, “These things do have the potential to reinforce homophobia. It can reinforce the idea of any abnormality [connected] to same-sex attraction.”

Whitfield added that it’s important to consider what comes out of these studies and what’s next regarding this type of research. He said, “At the end of the day, we’re still looking for a genetic component for sexual behavior. The question I would have is—why? What is the purpose?”

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A Dad Built a ‘Bi-Chair’ for His Bisexual Daughter

A Brazilian artist named Má Matiazi shared a sketch for a “Bi-Chair” with that little phrase doodled on it on Instagram, and people took notice.

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Have you heard about bi-sitting?

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It’s become a running joke on social media that bisexual people don’t know how to sit properly, so much so that it’s even become a meme.

After Matiazi shared her sketch, an Iowa man named Israel Walker decided to reach out to the artist to see if he could attempt to make her vision into a reality. Walker has a bisexual, nonbinary daughter, which is how he learned about the whole “bisexual sitting” thing (stereotype? Is this real? I don’t know).

Matiazi gave Walker her blessing and away he went! And the result: Israel Walker nailed it. Perfection!

Walker’s Facebook post read, “My daughter (who identifies as bisexual genderfuck) thinks that her and other LGBTQ+ folks inability to sit “normally” is hilarious. So I asked Má if I could make my own rough style of Bi-Chair and she said yes! So behold in all its glory: the Bi-chair!”

Posted by Israel Walker on Saturday, August 10, 2019

And the photo of Walker’s daughter lounging in the chair says it all.

Posted by Israel Walker on Saturday, August 10, 2019

Of course, the builder himself had to take it for a spin as well.

Posted by Israel Walker on Saturday, August 10, 2019

Walker made a few alterations to Matiazi’s original design: the chair has shorter arms, the knee rest is a cutout instead of a sloping piece of material, but Walker obviously did a great job. I think he needs to patent this baby now before IKEA swoops in and takes over the Bi-Chair market.

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People Share Things You’d Only Know If You Grew up Poor

Poverty in the U.S. is rampant, even if you don’t see it all the time. And there are some things that you only know about and understand if you grew up poor.

AskReddit users weighed in on this topic.

1. Pre-cut

“Pre-cut Christmas trees are free on Christmas Eve. I remember the Christmas tree hunt on Christmas Eve was like our little family tradition. We would drive around in the evening looking for stores that still had trees sitting out front. Nine times out of 10, when we would ask about the tree we were interested in, they would say “just take it,” glad to get rid of them by that point.

Every year we had a perfectly beautiful tree and it was exciting to find perfect trees for free and then stay up late decorating it with home-made glitter pine cones and candy canes.”

2. Hot checks

“If you send a bad check to the utilities company on a Friday you have power for the weekend.”

3. No one will stop them

“Most gas station attendants will not stop a small child from stealing toilet paper from their bathrooms. Who knew?”

4. Libraries are lifesavers

“Libraries can save your life.

The first part of my childhood I would get home from school, usually to a vacant house. I really wouldn’t know if I was even going to see either of my parents each night. No cell phones of course. But I was always afraid… nervous at least, of what would happen if they did decide to make an appearance.

I started walking to the library everyday after school and staying till they closed every night just to avoid the feeling of anxiety for a little longer. Eventually one of the librarians noticed and took a liking to me. I think she might have been through similar things in her life that she saw in me. Gradually we got to know each other. First I started noticing there were more books being added in the genres that I liked. Then one day after the library closed, I walked over to McDonald’s.

I was a quarter or so short to buy a hamburger and she saw me asking people if they had any change. I saw her and was embarrassed and kinda hid from her. From that point on I think she decided that she was going to take me under her wing. For over a year she would come by my desk at the library and just drop off chips, granola bars, pop, whatever you know? Of course, I would tell her I didn’t need it, when in reality I only knew where one meal would come from each day.

When I would ask her where it came from, she would just say it was extras from the break room, even though I could hear her in there putting coin after coin into the vending machine. Eventually she would just bring dinner every night to the library and we would sit down in the break room with each other and eat. I finally opened up to her about my family/living issues and had her to talk to. Even though I was still pretty guarded, this was a huge relief. THEN, after I had been there almost 2 years, it was the week before school started, and I headed into the library.

Before I left she told me to meet her outside after close. I did, we walked to her car, and she pulled out a brand new school backpack, and inside was a new outfit, binder, and shoes (my first Nikes). That’s when I broke down, and my walls crumbled. She was a single lady working off a librarians income, but she still made room for me.

For 3 years she supported me as much as she could, and she was more of a friend than I had ever experienced up until that point in my life. She is the number 1 reason I got out of that house and life. She was with me at all my adoption hearings, and made sure I was put with a nice family. She was at my graduation, and my wedding. She saw me grow up and succeed in life after coming from the bottom. She saw her work and love pay off. I went to her funeral this summer and it felt like I had lost my mother, but I couldn’t stop reflecting on how much she changed my life through her sacrifice.

Truly an amazing person, and I still donate to the library every year.”

5. You gotta eat

“How good a buttered tortilla is.”

6. Wintertime

“IDK about in other states but in Minnesota they can’t shut your power off during the winter because of the danger of someone freezing to death in their house. So that was a good time to try to catch up on some other bills you are way behind on too.”

7. All kinds of things

“Government cheese, doing your laundry in a bathtub using only cold water bc the gas was shut off, trying to spend the night at your friends house bc they had food and a warm room, (thanks Nikki) loving going to school because you could at least eat there, trips to Goodwill for “new” clothes, showers at school because at least three water was warm.

Being made fun of because you smelled like kerosene, having lice and no one doing anything about it, going to school with bruises bc your parents took their shitty decisions out in you. I’m so grateful to a handful of people that saw potential in me, I went to college, got a great job, and broke the cycle . Thanks Tom and Toni.”

8. Eat up

“Pizza nights are the best birthday present you could ever fucking get.

A whole pizza, ordered exactly how you like it, and you get to have more than one slice.”

9. Change

“Food stamp paper change.

When I was a kid , if you used food stamps they would give back the change in food stamp form. My Mom was too “proud” to publicly use them so she would make up a reason to leave & I would have to pay using them – I was 11 or so. She did it every time…I had to learn to keep my head up.”

10. Sacrifice

“That sometimes your parents sacrifice everything they have, including their sanity just to see you happy. And you only learn later in life the soul crushing existence of poverty. Then you wonder how they managed to do so much with so little.”

11. F*cked

“When you get home and see a yellow notice hanging off your door you’re fucked. It’s always on a Friday to so you’re out of luck until Monday.”

12. Going hungry

“What hunger really is. I remember waiting for my dad’s payday for the grocery shopping trip and being absolutely ravenous when the food got there.”

13. A good lesson

“Witness to the adage “how much you really do have”. Major fire wiped out several hundred million-dollar homes. Heat generated left rubble of two-story homes only feet high. Families devastated. I still see the face of one man so completely shattered, I wondered if he would live to be able to rebuild.

I later was in the Command Post area when I was approached by a young girl and her Father. The Dad couldn’t speak English, so the girl would translate. “My family wants to know if this is where we can bring donations for the people whose houses burned down?” To my working knowledge, none had been established at that point. Her Father talks, she translates: “can we leave it here? Many roads are being closed, and we’re not familiar with this part of town.”

I walk with them to their car, a much older beater, the Mom and a couple of siblings in it. Dad opens the trunk, and together, we all bring out couple cases of water, canned and dry food, adult and child clothing, some used toys, and prepared food. Almost list it when each kid handed me their toys. Little girl: “we have so much stuff and we want to share with those families.”

14. Work with what you have

“Outdated technology.

When I started college, one of my professors asked if anyone in our class remembered how you changed a channel on the TV before remote controls. I was the only person in the room who remembered turning dials and adjusting rabbit ears despite being one of the youngest students in the class, because my family had a TV from the 70s until 1995.

Same sort of thing with computers, phones, etc. If we had it at all, we got something much later than anyone else (after it got cheaper) and bought used. I got my first computer in 1999. It had Windows 3.1 and that was what I used until I was able to use my financial aid to get a new PC tower for college.”

15. Cheap items

“Knowing the cheapest thing on the menu at every restaurant, for when your friends’ family invites you out to dinner. Even though you’re not paying, you’re programmed to only select the cheapest thing. My friend’s mom said “you sure like hot dogs. That’s all you order no matter where we go to eat.”

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10 Facts so Good You Might Just Jump Around

Let’s cut the chit chat and the small talk RIGHT NOW. I’m here with 10 facts that you absolutely NEED in your life right now.

They’re so good, in fact, that I have a feeling you’re going to jump for joy. So go ahead and do it! …After you enjoy these facts.

1. Been there, done that

Photo Credit: did you know?

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2. Ouch…

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3. Freaky!

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4. That’s interesting

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5. It works!

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6. Give it a shot

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7. Here come the waterworks

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8. I’ll take two!

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9. Harry Potter critters

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10. Hey, Gramps!

Photo Credit: did you know?

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Might as well JUMP!

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Cops Share the Worst Excuses They’ve Heard That Actually Turned out to Be True

Cops have to deal with a lot of BS on a daily basis AND they get lied to constantly, so you know they’ve heard it all before.

But, apparently, sometimes those excuses that sound like total bullsh*t turn out to be true.

Here are some police officers spilling the beans.

1. Still a mystery

“Had a Domestic in Progress I responded to during Christmas Day and the excuse for them fighting was “We’re not mad at each other, we’re just upset because we wanted to surprise the kids for Christmas, we got some Deer, dressed them up, now they’re destroying our house.”

Turns out there was literally three fully grown white-tailed deer in the house somehow dressed with full bell harnesses like Santa’s reindeer.

I had to call the Game Wardens down who were then able to help me remove the deer from the property without injury to us or them.

How they managed to get the Deer and dress them up is still a mystery to this day.”

2. Because he could

“One of the funnier ones that I remember. We got a call for a kid (he was 18 and a gang member) brandishing a firearm. He had pulled up his shirt pretending to brandish a firearm to intimidate somebody. The person calling only saw a holster. After we got there, he kept telling us it wasn’t a gun but a dildo. We took him down at gunpoint and he was right. He was walking around with a holstered, black dildo. Why? Because he could. Haha”

3. Light him up

“One night I’m out working, and as I go down the street (fairly nice middle class area surrounded by some high crime neighborhoods) around midnight I see a dude on a bike, no lights on, pulling a lawnmower behind him on a rope.

I immediately flip a 180 and light him up. Recognize the guy as a local homeless dude with some prior burglary/theft arrests. I walk up and just open with “Dude, come on…”

Guy holds his hands out and swears he didn’t steal the lawnmower. Claims someone just gave it to him. I ask who, and he doesn’t know a name. So I demand he tell me where to find said lawnmower owner. The directions he gave were literally “go that way a bit, then right at a stop sign, and take one of those side streets that way. It’s about halfway down a street, at a house that has a pickup and a car in the driveway.”

By this point backup had arrived, so I leave him in the presence of backup, and drive off in search of his mythical donor of lawn equipment. I made a decent guess as to the first turn, then flipped a mental coin as to which of the next three side streets he would have gone down. I pick the second of the three streets, and start down it. Every other fucking house has a truck and car combo…there must have been a dozen houses that matched the description.

Halfway down, I see an average looking house and go “ehh, I’ll try this one”. After all, it’s midnight and this is a wild goose chase. Go up, ring the doorbell…middle aged dude comes to the door. “Hello sir, have you been giving away lawnmowers to random sketchy homeless guys at midnight today?”

Yes. As a matter of fact, he had. Homeowner goes on to complain to me that his wife was upset as his continual inability to get the mower running, and had ordered him with some severity to remove the mower from the house or face the consequences. He pushed it to the curb right as homeless guy rode by, and the latter had asked and received his permission to take it.

I drove back in shock and amazement. Apologized to homeless guy, and sent him on his way. A few months later we ran into each other at a nearby gas station, and he told me it turned out just to need a new spark plug, and that he had gotten it running again, before going on to sell it for $150 to someone.

For years after, whenever I would run into him, he would always make sure to remind me of the money he made from selling that “stolen” lawnmower…LOL.”

4. Remember to take your insulin

“Not really an excuse, but shocked the shit out of me. I’ve always been told a diabetic with high blood sugar acts the same as someone who is drunk.

Get a call for a car all over the road, hitting trash cans on the side of the road and what not. We stop the car and get the driver out. He’s slurring his speech like no other, can’t maintain his balance to save his life. Fails all the sobriety tests, but blew 0’s on the PBT. He denied drinking and swears up and down he didn’t do any drugs, never mentions the diabetes.

We’re all scratching our heads and I remember the blood sugar thing. Call medical to our location and sure as shit his blood sugar was 550, and he finally remembers that he hadn’t taken insulin in 8 hours.”

5. Burst implants

“My dad is an officer and he pulled someone over for speeding and running a red light and they said their breast implant burst. He called ems to rush them to the hospital and turned out it did and it’s actually very dangerous if they leak.”

6. Weird

“Was doing a tour as an MP (not my normal job, but whole other story), and we got called on a domestic. At the house, there is this huge corn-fed guy about 6’4″ and 275, and a petite Asian girl about 4″10″ and 95 pounds soaking wet. The whole house was in disarray, and the call had come because of yelling heard by the neighbors.

She was crying and talking in an Asian language that none of us understood, and kept gesturing toward her huge husband. He wasn’t talking. We wrap him up, take him to the station, and are trying to interview him, but he’s not saying much. We intend to charge him with domestic assault. We notice somewhere along the way that he has horrible welts all along the backs of his hands and along his forearms.

It took a lot of prying, but we finally got out of him that his wife would beat him with wire coat hangers when she was mad, and apparently that was pretty often. He was too embarrassed to admit to anybody that he was being abused by his wife who was less than a third of his size. We finally got it straightened out, turned her over to the local police, and barred her from base. Hopefully the guy got the help he needed.”

7. No ID

“I used to work as a military police officer. I was working at the main gate one night and this guy tried to come on base but he didn’t have any ID other than a drivers license so I couldn’t let him on. The guy told me that a general said he could come on but he didn’t have any proof of that and he didn’t know what the generals name was.

It was also super late at night and he didn’t seem to have any answers that would help us identify who he was. Long story short, the dude ended up being legit and was coming on base to be awarded a silver star the next day from that general.”

8. Oh, boy

“Not a cop. Family friend was. Pulled a guy over who was speeding profusely. Guy was obviously disheveled. He said he was headed to the hospital because he had a tick on his penis. Cop was confused, but he escorted him there, then waited in the lobby to check on him/ see if he was blowing smoke. After a while, he asked the desk what was going on, why it took so long to take a tick off his penis.”

9. Pay attention to this story

“Popped a college kid for shitty driving and pulled a hundred grams of weed off of him. Also, a 1lb glass pipe shaped like a huge nail. No biggie. Also find weed under the other college kids in the car. Driver falls on the sword and tells me all of it is his and lets his friends walk free. I like this kid.

However during the search we find packaged addies in the cellophane of a cigarette pack with the top melted closed. <goddamnit intensifies>. Ask kid if hes dealing addies at school. Tell him I’m aware of the prescription pill epidemic. He says no and spins a huge yarn about how he only carries a few on him because hes had his orange pill bottle stolen so many times. Kid seems like a pretty good dude. I decided to take the x-files approach. Supervisor tells me pursue charges for dealing..blah blah blah. I tell the kid he has one chance to prove hes telling the truth.

Shows me the broken glass under his drivers seat from a vehicle burglary. Gotta do better. I follow behind him back to his dorm, he let’s me in and shows me the busted footlocker he kept them in under his bed. Dunno. Kinda weak. Supervisors telling me to hurry and and drop the axe. Tell him to do better. He calls one of the soccer team assistants up and we meet him in the locker room. Shows me the little wooden locker which has a broken lock. Ehhh.

Assistant coach tells me they have replaced the lock on his cabinet three times. Campus security has numerous reports of medicine theft from this kid. Nice. I call supervisor up and tell him I have no grounds to pursue delivery charges.

Poor bastard just kept getting his adderalls jacked and being the big dumb meatball he was, he started packaging them like that. I end up talking to his best friend breaking up a house party a couple months later. Friend tells me kid is a stand up guy who only uses weed due to extreme anxiety (totally believable from my interaction with him) and has never sold anything in his life. Friend thanked me and told me his buddy spoke well of me. Friend also tells me he had to drive his buddy to the hospital a few hours after I left from a panic attack due to the whole incident.

I felt bad for the kid. So now, whenever I see him smoking up in his car in the mall parking lot I just wave.”

10. Diabetic

“Former cop here. I was behind a vehicle that couldn’t stay in the lane, kept swerving, etc. It was 1am, and I think another drunk idiot on the road. Pull him over, guy is a straight up asshole to me. Cursed me out, yelling at me, and I notice his speech is slurred. I get him out to car, and I can smell a fruity smell on his breath and he has to lean against the car for support. I ask him how much he had to drink and he tells me to fuck off.

By this point I’m ready to bring him in for a DUI, but I just had a feeling something wasn’t right. I called EMS to come check him, blood sugar was at 40. Not drunk, just a diabetic. If I would have arrested him, he probably would of died before I finished the paperwork. Go with your gut if something doesn’t seem right!”

11. Ants in his pants

“My first ever real call was for a flasher at the local park, when i got there and finally found him it was a mentally impaired young man 16-17 who had a pair of headphones on in a full pooh bear. I said hey man come here what the hell is going on you know u have to keep your pants on especially at the park.

He goes on to tell me he had bad itching down his pants and couldnt take it anymore so he had to rip his pants off and was running home to get help, I said cmon you couldnt make it home first? He said no I had ants in my pants. As sure as shit according to more then one witness’s account, he had been sitting in a sandbox playing at the park and accidentally on a nest of red ants that had crawled up his pant legs…”

12. Recycling

“Former Park Ranger.

First week in the job we pull up and see a couple of kids smoking in their car with the windows down. The city has an ordinance against smoking on park property, but it is too petty to give them a ticket.

We approach the car and they are visibly nervous. My FTO looks through the windows and sees a couple of beer cans in the car. Bingo.

We get them out and start running their info, they are all underage but old enough to smoke cigarettes. My FTO asks them where the beer came from- the driver says he recycles. FTO laughs and begins to search the car.

I’m finishing up running their info, and these guys are being really respectful. FTO finishes searching the cab and goes to open the trunk. All the sudden I hear him bust out laughing. He is laughing so hard he can barely breathe.

He waves me over to look at the trunk of the car and it is level with crushed cans and bottles.

My FTO said that he has heard that excuse for 20 years and this is the first time it was true. He walked up, uncuffed the driver and let him go.”

13. Whoops

“I’m running booking one night, guy gets brought in for posessing a truly stupendous amount of drugs. Im talking like 2 rubbermade totes full of shrooms, a huge bag of weed, and enough heroin to overdose half the county. “Well,” says he, “I’m a DEA informant and they told me to make the drop so they could be there and raid the crap out of everybody and let me go for helping.”

Uh huh. riiiiiight. Face left please.

Guy is like “I’m tellin you dude, theyre gonna be suuuuper pissed that you country retards fucked up thier bust!”

Whatever, get in the holding cell and shut up.

About 3 hours later three guys show up, DEA agents, theyre super pissed that our deputies fucked up thier bust. I go back to the holding cell to let the guy out, and he’s just like “theyre super pissed huh?”

yeah.

“told you so.”

14. Mind. Blown.

“I went to a disturbance at a backyard bbq once. Turns out it was a bunch of Roma (gypsies). As I was trying to figure out what was going on I had some old lady approach me and want to talk to me off to the side.

She told me she was an informant for the FBI and that if I left, she would be able to get some information on a matter the FBI was interested in. I rolled my eyes and thanked her and said I would be out of there as soon as I could make sure there was no violence going on.

Anyway I determined it was just verbal so I cleared the call and went back in service. About 15 to 30 minutes later dispatch radioed me to head back to the station. I got there and got a message to call some FBI Field office and ask for a certain agent.

I called and sure as shit this agent said he understood I spoke with his informant and wanted to know everything she told me.

Blew my mind.”

15. IKEA will do that to you

“Cop here – got a call of a domestic dispute that sounded very heated and a lot of banging was heard. Get to scene and I can hear someone yelling and swearing and brawling, doesn’t sound good at all. Guy answers the door, shirt off and angry, but seems bewildered as to why police had been called.

He told me he was building Ikea furniture – sounds like the most bullshit thing. But, we enter, see the new IKEA furniture half set up and no one else is home. Colour me surprised.”

The post Cops Share the Worst Excuses They’ve Heard That Actually Turned out to Be True appeared first on UberFacts.

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The New Vegan “Beyond Fried Chicken” from KFC Is a Big Hit

“A Kentucky Fried Miracle”. Yes, you read that right. If you need any more proof about how popular veganism is these days, look no further than that old standby, KFC.

Wait…what?

The fast food chain tested a new vegan chicken in Atlanta on August 27, and to the astonishment of literally everyone, they sold out in only five hours.

The new vegan chicken is made in collaboration with Beyond Meat, the fake-meat superpower that is gaining popularity by the day. The vegan product was offered as a nugget with dipping sauce and as a boneless wing covered in sauce.

Because the experiment went so well, it’ll be interesting to see what’s next for KFC in the vegan department. Will they forge ahead with permanent vegan items on the menu, or was this just a tease? You’d have to hope that the company will take note of what a big hit this was. I mean, the lines were out the door, apparently.

A nutritionist who attended the Atlanta extravaganza said, “These taste more like fried chicken than any of the other options that I’ve tried, so I really hope that they make these available nationwide and very soon.”

It’s been a big year for fast food vegan options. Burger King launched the Impossible Whopper, and other places like Carl’s Jr., my beloved White Castle, and Dunkin’ Donuts offered up vegan fare as well. Is the tide turning in the fast food world? We shall see…

One note: the KFC vegan products are 100% plant-based but they do share a fryer with meat products, so keep that in mind, okay?

The post The New Vegan “Beyond Fried Chicken” from KFC Is a Big Hit appeared first on UberFacts.