text:
Key Points
- California's new regulations lay out the requirements for manufacturers to obtain permits to test and deploy autonomous-vehicles on public roads. The regulations enable manufacturers to test fully driverless vehicles and authorize the California DMV to issue driverless-testing and deployment permits as of April 2, 2018.
- The Regulations eliminate provisions included in earlier drafts that limited manufacturer liability under certain circumstances (detailed in our prior alert). To qualify for testing or deployment permits, however, manufacturers must provide proof of ability to meet $5 million in potential damages.
- Included in the Regulations are some of the first rules in the Nation to address the collection of personal information by autonomous vehicles, as well as a requirement that vehicles meet applicable and appropriate industry standards for cybersecurity.
I. Introduction
On February 26, 2018, California's Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved final regulations for the testing and deployment of autonomous vehicles. We reported on the regulations in a prior alert. Already home to large autonomous vehicle testing facilities and key players in the industry, the new regulations may spur further development within California and could be a model for other states moving forward.
The regulations address (1) the testing of autonomous vehicles; and (2) the deployment of autonomous vehicles. The Regulations, among other things, permit fully driverless testing of autonomous vehicles on California roadways. The DMV has already issued testing permits for manufacturers using test drivers. On April 2, the Department of Motorvehicles (DMV) can begin issuing permits for driverless testing and for deployment of autonomous vehicles.
The new Regulations mark a dramatic change in California's stance toward autonomous vehicles when compared to the state's actions just a few years ago. In 2015, California regulators signaled that they might seek to supplant National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) leadership in this area by imposing strict controls on the testing of autonomous vehicles within the state. The California DMV initially proposed regulations that included restrictive requirements like mandating that all testing be carried out by independent third parties. This all began to change in 2016, after NHTSA issued its own guidelines. In September 2016, the California DMV issued revised draft deployment regulations, which were followed in March 2017 by proposed regulations to establish a path for both testing and deployment of autonomous vehicles. Those proposed rules shied away from many of the strict principles originally included just a couple years before. The March 2017 regulations set off a wave of public comments and revision that ultimately culminated in the final Regulations.
The final Regulations recognize the preeminence of federal safety standards with regard to motor-vehicle safety on a broad scale. Under the Regulations, manufacturers must certify that their autonomous vehicles comply with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, or provide evidence of NHTSA exemption. In the deployment context, manufacturers also must certify that their autonomous technology meets standards for the vehicles' model year and does not make any federal safety standards inoperative, and that they have registered with NHTSA.
California's move to embrace driverless testing may be a signal of the state's desire to keep innovation in the field within its borders. States like Arizona have wooed companies with a more hands-off approach to regulation. Waymo, for example, began testing driverless autonomous vehicles on Arizona roads in October. There are also indications that some companies that began testing autonomous vehicles in California in 2016 moved their testing operations to other states in 2017 (e.g., Ford, Tesla).
II. Overview of Key Provisions in the Regulations
The restrictions in the Regulations apply to manufacturers of autonomous technology, which include both vehicle manufacturers that produce new autonomous vehicles and those who modify vehicles by installing autonomous technology. The Regulations apply to passenger vehicles and not to camp trailers, motorcycles, vehicles weighing more than 10,001 pounds, tour buses or vehicles transporting hazardous materials. CCR 227.28.
The DMV changed or deleted various sections between earlier drafts and the final version of the Regulations. Former Section 228.28, present in the October 2017 draft, but deleted from the final Regulations, would have relieved manufacturers of liability if their autonomous technology was modified in a manner not authorized by the manufacturer or if the vehicle was not properly maintained. Liability is addressed to some extent through requirements that manufacturers provide proof of their ability to pay damages up to $5 million resulting from the operation of autonomous vehicles on public roads, through either evidence of insurance, a surety bond or a certificate of self-insurance. CCR 227.04(c); 228.04. Elimination of the former Section 228.28, however, means that courts will address liability on a case-by-case basis, unless the legislature steps in and provides clarity.
Autonomous vehicles, particularly driverless vehicles, pose a special challenge to law enforcement and first responders. The Regulations recognize this challenge by requiring manufacturers to prepare a law enforcement interaction plan that details, among other things, how law enforcement and first responders should interact with the vehicle and how the vehicle will report who it belongs to and who is operating the vehicle. The plans must be updated on at least an annual basis. CCR 227.38(e); 228.06(c)(3). This aspect of the Regulations seeks to drive practical solutions for what exactly will occur when first responders find a crashed autonomous vehicle and need to know, for example, how to move the vehicle.
The Regulations include some of the first explicit restrictions on the collection and use of personal information in the autonomous-vehicle context. "Personal information" is defined as the "information that the autonomous vehicle collects, generates, records, or stores in an electronic form that is retrieved from the vehicles, that is not necessary for the safe operation of the vehicle, and that is linked or reasonably capable of being linked to the vehicle's registered owner or lessee or passengers using the vehicle for transportation services." CCR 227.02(l). In the testing context, a manufacturer must disclose to passengers what personal information may be collected and how it will be used. CCR 227.38(h). In the deployment context, a manufacturer has the option to either provide a written disclosure to the driver or passengers, or anonymize the personal information. CCR 228.24(a).1 It remains to be seen exactly what kind of information will be classified as "personal information."
III. Permit Application Requirements
A. Requirements for Testing Permits
There are four major prerequisites to testing autonomous vehicles on California roads: (1) the manufacturer must conduct the testing; (2) the vehicle must be operated by a competent and licensed test driver or remote controller who is an employee, contractor or designee of the manufacturer; (3) the manufacturer must provide the DMV with proof of its ability to satisfy judgments for potential damages in the amount of $5 million; and (4) the manufacturer must have a general or driverless testing permit. CCR 227.04. We include an overview of some of the driverless permit requirements here, given the importance of the issue:
- Conducted Pre-Permit Testing – The vehicles have been tested under controlled conditions that simulate each operational design domain in which the vehicles will be operated and have been reasonably determined to be safe.
- Notify Local Authorities – Manufacturers must notify authorities where the vehicles will be tested of the operational design domains of the vehicles, the public roads where the vehicles will be tested, the date that testing will begin and when it will be conducted, the number and type of vehicles that will be tested, and the contact information for the testers.
- Two-Way Communication Link with Remote Operator – Driverless vehicles must be equipped with two-way communication links that provide the remote operator with general information on the vehicle and enables communication between the passengers and the remote operator in the event that there are any issues with the autonomous technology.
- Process to Communicate Vehicle Information to Observer – There must be a way to display information on the vehicle in the event that there is a collision or it is needed by law enforcement.
- Comply with Federal Standards or Exemption – The vehicle must comply with relevant federal motor vehicle standards, or it must have an NHTSA exemption.
- SAE Level 4 or 5 and No Driver Needed – The vehicle must have capabilities that meet the description of an SAE level 4 or 5 automated driving system, with no driver present.
- Remote-Operator Training – All remote operators must be licensed to operate the type of vehicle at issue and must complete specialized training provided by the manufacturer.
- Notification of Personal Information Collection and Use – Passengers must be notified of what personal information is collected from them and how it will be used.
- Collect Autonomous System Disengagement Data – Manufacturers must collect data on the disengagement of autonomous technology (i.e., the failure of autonomous technology or a need for the remote operator to take control) and submit that data in an annual report.
- Notify DMV Within 10 Days of Collision – Manufacturers must notify the DMV within 10 days of any collision caused by their vehicles if the collision causes damage, injury or death.
- Cannot Charge Passengers a Fee – Manufacturers may not charge passengers a fee, nor receive any type of compensation, in exchange for rides in test vehicles.
B. Requirements for Deployment Permits
The requirements to obtain a deployment permit are more onerous than a driverless permit. We provide an overview of some of the key deployment-permit requirements below:
- Autonomous Operation Parameters – The vehicles must not be able to operate in autonomous mode outside of the specific operational design domains disclosed in the application. Manufacturers must identify any conditions (e.g., fog, wet roads) under which their vehicles are either designed to be incapable of operating or unable to operate reliably.
- Equipped with Autonomous-Technology Data Recorder – Vehicles must be equipped with a data recorder that captures and stores sensor data for all vehicle functions that are controlled by autonomous technology at least 30 seconds before a collision that occurs in autonomous mode. The data must be in read-only format and be retrievable through commercial means.
- Compliance with Federal Standards or Exemption – Vehicles must comply with relevant federal safety standards (or have an NHTSA exemption) and with any standards for their respective model year. Manufacturers must register with NHTSA.
- Designed to Comply with California Vehicle Code and Local Regulations – Autonomous technology must be designed to detect and respond to roadway situations in a manner compliant with the California Vehicle Code and applicable local regulations.
- Must Update Autonomous Technology – Manufacturers must update autonomous technology as needed, and at least annually, to ensure compliance with California and local vehicle regulations. They must also make available on a continual basis consistent with changes updates regarding location and mapping information utilized by a vehicle's autonomous technology. Registered owners must be told how to update their systems.
- Must Meet Industry Cybersecurity Best Practices – Vehicles must meet appropriate and applicable current industry standards to help defend against, detect and respond to cyber-attacks, unauthorized intrusions or false vehicle control commands.
- Must Conduct Testing and Be Satisfied Safe – Manufacturers must conduct tests and be satisfied from the results that their vehicles are safe for deployment. A summary of such testing must be attached to the permit application and describe testing locations, among other things.
- Two-Way Communication Link with Remote Operator for Driverless Vehicles – Driverless vehicles must be equipped with two-way communication links, as required of test vehicles.
- Must Comply with California Vehicle Code Section 38750(c)(1) – Manufacturers must comply with California Vehicle Code Section 38750(c)(1), which requires them to certify that their autonomous technology, among other things, includes a series of safeguards (e.g., an alert when a failure is detected), is easily accessible and has a separate data recorder.
- Safety-Related Defects Must Be Disclosed – Manufacturers must disclose to the DMV any identified safety-related defects in their autonomous technology that creates an unreasonable risk of safety in compliance with related federal timelines and requirements.
- Provide Consumer or End-User Education Plan – Manufacturers must provide a consumer or end-user education plan for all vehicles sold or leased by someone other than themselves.
- Describe How to Meet SAE Level 3-5 Requirements – Manufacturers must describe how a SAE Level 3-5 vehicle will safely come to a complete stop when there is a technology failure.
IV. Potential Import of New Regulations
California's passage of the final Regulations is likely to usher in an exciting period of innovation within the state and may spur the movement of autonomous vehicles into the everyday. It remains to be seen how courts will interpret these regulations once lawsuits are filed after these vehicles are inevitably involved in accidents. We will continue to monitor these issues and provide periodic updates.
1 If the vehicle is sold or leased, and data is not anonymized, a manufacturer must obtain the written approval of the registered owner or lessee of the vehicle. CCR 228.24(b). This may enable fleet operators to authorize the collection of personal information in their fleets after providing only a disclaimer to passengers.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.


text:
The iPhone 7 Plus has all the iPhone 7 features such as water and dust resistance, larger storage space, enhanced photo capabilities, a brighter screen, and longer battery life. The smartphone also includes a larger display screen, wide angle and telephoto cameras, double the amount of optical zoom, and longer talk time and Internet use.
Phone Specifications:
- Screen Size: 5.5"
- Memory: 32GB / 128GB
- Camera: 12.0 px
- Software: IOS 10.0.1
This product is new, is factory unlocked, includes a 1 year warranty, and will work anywhere in the world with a GSM network. The device is not contract based, which allows you to seamlessly transfer to another carrier without switching phones or tablets.
Lindon Gordon LLC was founded in February 2006 as an investment company investing in various areas of the US financial and commodities markets. The company's owner, Lindon Gordon is also the Chief Managing Member of the firm, he is 1 of 5 full-time employees of the company with his background rooted in telecommunications, marketing, and finance.
Mobile Shop Spot, a subdivision of the company was launched in August 2014. Its initial function as a sub-distributor quickly gained notoriety in a few emerging markets and as a result launched itself into the US retail marketplace as a reseller of mobile gadgets such as handsets, tablets, laptops from all the top brands and manufacturers all at competitive prices.
Our website www.mobileshopspot.com was launched August 2017 and is now the official Shop Spot for all clients and customers that are in the market for a mobile gadget, please enjoy the shop spot as we are here to serve you, our customers.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The change to my basal rate in the afternoon seemed to work okay because yesterday I was 3.7mmol/l at about 6pm and having just done a blood test I'm 4.8 which is a little low but not hypo at least! I suspect another couple of fasting afternoons may be necessary to get myelf completely sorted but I'll worry about that when I get the chance to do them! I might also do some micro adjustments on my morning doses at some point to try and get the slight peaks I have later in the morning a bit flatter.
So, to the main issue, I went to volleyball last night and tried to manage my blood sugar using a mixture of the exercise setting on the pump, a temporary basal rate, jelly baby therapy and extreme violence (okay, no "extreme violence", it's a quote. Ten points to whoever can identify it first!). I dropped my basal rate to 50% and had an exercise dose for my dinner at 6pm. Got to volleyball at about 8 and started practice then realised I was feeling a little low by about quarter past.
I didn't do a blood test just had four jelly babies, followed five minutes later by another four 'cause I was still feeling a bit light headed, after that I just played on! Did a blood test at about 9:40 and it was 5.5mmo/l which is a lot better than any previous attempts I've made to control myself through the rigours of volleyball. Did another test at about quarter past ten after finishing and it was 4.4, had some supper and again set the exercise dose on my monitor.
Woke up this morning and I was 4.9mmol/l which is AMAZING!!!
So next time I might try having four jelly babies before I start practice and then another four after the warm up and see how I go from there.
So once again I'd like to thank the staff at City Hospital's Diabetes Unit for all their help and encouragement, they are stars.


text:
'SLOTH' Dreamer Plushie
✚ Each face is painted by hand with heat set paint - no two are identical!
✚ Designed + made by Missa in Aus
✚ Cool, modern + unique
✚✚✚SAVE $10 when buying any 2 toys with coupon code 2TOYS✚✚✚
✚✚PRE-ORDER - each toy is handmade just for you with toy pre-orders shipped approx 4 weeks from when your order was placed✚✚
✚ Perfect size for little hands to hold (approx 20cm tall)
✚ Contains an ECO toy fill made from recycled plastic bottles! For every KG used 70 water bottles are saved from ending up in landfill. Pretty cool huh?!
✚✚ Suitable for all ages, but you can never be too safe so supervise your babe while playing with this toy ✚✚
✚SHIPPING: Flat rate of just $8 shipping in Australia or FREE shipping for orders over $80!
Copyright Missa Made It. 2018 - today


text:
Rage.com – from $50,000 to $50,000,000 or more!
For years, Rage.com had been an active, developed community and video placeholder for extreme sports fans. Its sale in June of 2010 on Sedo for one dollar short of $50,000 was definitely noteworthy. The seller is a DNForum member who prefers to keep a low profile on his achievements. The buyer was id Software – […]Copyright © 2020 DomainGang.com · All Rights Reserved.


text:
Follow on Facebook for extra smiles
Recent Posts
Pog Blog Stats
- 60,252 visitors
The Pog time machine
Category Archives: running
Cornwall with the new family (not replacing the old family, more of an additional side. These brackets are for the benefit of Sister 2 who thought I might no longer need my blood family. Hopefully this covers it…)
I went to Cornwall over Easter. I didn't even mention it, did I? It was my first extended time with the boys of Himself as a step mum (or whatever we call people who aren't actually step parents but are … Continue reading
Posted in family, fitness, Pog Life, Pog Pictures, Realtionships, running, step mum Tagged bigger boy, coastal path, Cornwall, Himself, Lands' End, running, Small Boy, smaller boy, step mum fails, step mum wins Leave a comment
Maybe I should have stayed on the sofa…
This is what a run looks like when you have got really lost: To be fair, I mostly got lost because two of the roads I needed to go down looked like this: And I tried getting through the brambles … Continue reading
Posted in Beachbumpkinsville, exercise, fitness, Good for you, Pog Life, running Tagged Beachbumpkinsville, oops, running, sports bra Leave a comment
Accidental exhibitionism
You know when you decide to go for a run first thing to deliver an important letter by hand because it will get there faster, only it's dark so you borrow a fluorescent running top from Himself's drawer? And you … Continue reading
Posted in Beachville, exercise, fitness, Pog Life, running Tagged accidental exhibitionism, Beachville, idiot, opps, runnung Leave a comment
No trainers needed – part 2
We've discussed before that a lot of the enjoyment I get from running is in the finishing. Actually, most of it is. Which means that I frequently have arguments with myself when I lie in bed – especially now it's … Continue reading
Posted in Beachville, Good for you, photography, Pog Pictures, running Tagged armchair run, beachville running, cake, fitness, photos Leave a comment
No trainers needed – Ithaca edition
I'm back from a week (mostly) in the sun. Time away from the laptop with family and Himself on the tiny Greek island that I love was fantabulous. Despite having been there quite a few times, I got to … Continue reading
No trainers needed
My words seem a bit small in the shadow of yesterday's post, so I'm just going to tell you a little secret then show you some photos: The secret? I don't always like running that much. I LOVE the feeling … Continue reading
Posted in Beachville, exercise, Good for you, Pog Pictures, running Tagged armchair run, Beachville, beachville running, graffiti, marina, pier, running, trainers 1 Comment
Not my average bank holiday
This weekend was lovely and sunny. I don't think I've ever said that after a UK bank holiday before; I'm not sure anyone has… Himself and I made the most of it. We went to the pub for good food … Continue reading
Posted in Cycling, exercise, family, fitness, Good for you, holiday, Pog Life, running Tagged bank holiday, bank holiday weekend, cakeathon, cycling, fun, half marathon, Himself, Little Pea, Little Wisp, marathon, real goody bags, running, sun Leave a comment


text:
John Ahniwanika Schertow is an internationally recognized editor and publisher, a self-taught web developer and an award winning journalist of Kanienkehaka and mixed-European descent. For the past nine years, Ahni has served as the driving force behind Intercontinental Cry, an online magazine which he also founded. As a poet and freelance journalist, Ahni has been featured in the Guardian, Toward Freedom, the Dominion, Madre, Earth First, Swerve Magazine and several other publications. In 2011, Ahni won a Project Censored Award for his coverage of a coordinated military attack on Samburu Pastoralists in north central Kenya. In addition to his work as a journalist, Ahni provides a wide range of support to individuals and organizations around the world. He is frequently approached for his opinion and extensive knowledge of Indigenous struggles. Ahni is a regular guest on CKUW's weekly radio program Warning Shots; a correspondent for the Public Good Project; and the Coordinator of the IC Translation Project. Email: intercontinentalcry [at] gmail.com Twitter: @indigenous_news
- About
- About Truthout
Truthout is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to providing independent news and commentary on a daily basis. Truthout works to spark action by revealing systemic injustice and providing a platform for transformative ideas, through in-depth investigative reporting and critical analysis. With a powerful, independent voice, we will spur the revolution in consciousness and inspire the direct action that is necessary to save the planet and humanity.
- About Truthout
- About Us
- Submission Guidelines
- Financial Information
- Privacy Policy
- Jobs
- Contact Us


text:
Red-tailed Black Cockatoos in Kakadu National Park
I have five hours to kill at an airport, so I am updating my blog! Merry Christmas everyone!
Today, I will write about the Red-tailed Black Cockatoos I saw in Kakadu National Park, Australia, in September, 2017. I headed to Australia primarily to go birdwatching and see other wildlife, and my trip covered Cairns, the Cape York Peninsula, and Kakadu National Park. Two black cockatoo species (Black Palms and Red-tailed Blacks) were on my target list of animals to see and I managed to see both. Finding them was extremely thrilling!
Red-tailed Black Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus banskii) are impressive and charismatic birds. They are big (about 60 cm tall), are very loud, and have large, powerful beaks. Like all other black cockatoos, they are extremely rare in aviculture outside of Australia, and as a result the price for a single bird in North America can be very high ($14 000 or more).
Wild red-tailed blacks have a large and fragmented range in Australia. There are five subspecies: C. b. banksii (Bank's Red-tailed Black Cockatoo), C. b. macrorhynchus (Northern Red-tailed Black Cockatoo), C. b. samueli (Inland Red-tailed Black Cockatoo), C. b. graptogyne (South-eastern Red-tailed Black Cockatoo) and C. b. naso (Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoo). The birds I saw in Kakadu were Northern Red-tailed Blacks.
The various subspecies differ in their foraging habits, beak sizes, female colour patterns, and conservation statuses. Overall, red-tails are not globally endangered and are listed by the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) as "Least Concern." However, some populations are faring better than others. The South-eastern Red-tailed Black Cockatoo is rare (< 1000 birds exist in the wild) and is considered endangered in Australia. Additionally, Bank's Red-tailed Black Cockatoos are declining in the southern portion of their range (northern Queensland).
Adult male and female red-tailed blacks can be differentiated based on their tail colours: males have bright red panels on their tails while females have orange or pale yellow-orange stripes on their tails. Males younger than about four years look like females. The birds pictured above appeared to be an adult male and female with their offspring. I often saw red-tailed blacks in Kakadu in groups of three, which were most likely to be a breeding pair and their offspring. Red-tails usually only fledge one chick each time they breed, although two is a possibility. Even when I found a loose flock of about thirty or forty red-tails in a grove of trees, many birds were perched together in groups of three (see photo below).
Red-tailed Black Cockatoos were common in Kakadu. They seemed to be comfortable foraging or resting up in trees, as well as foraging on the ground. I saw a few groups foraging on the ground in recently-burned forests (maybe they like toasted seeds?). Most birds I saw were present as pairs, trios, or in small flocks of up to ~40 birds. Active birds were generally quite loud and called frequently, so they were hard to miss. However, birds resting in trees were fairly quiet. Although the flocks of red-tails I saw weren't huge, flocks can at times contain hundreds of birds, especially where food is abundant (such as at peanut farm plantations).
During the hottest part of the day (it got to 40 C while I was in Kakadu), Red-tailed Black Cockatoos spend a lot of time resting in trees. I certainly couldn't blame them – some birds I saw were panting and clearing feeling the heat. I also saw several red-tailed blacks drinking from a muddy, shallow billabong during the middle of the day. It was the dry season when I visited Kakadu, and most groups of cockatoos I found were close to a water source.
Overall, I saw three cockatoo species in Kakadu: Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, and Bare-eyed Cockatoos. Galahs (Rose-breasted Cockatoos) also occur in Kakadu, although I didn't see any while I was there. I did, however, see a large flock of them at the Musgrave Roadhouse, on the Cape York Peninsula.
I will share more of my wildlife photos from Kakadu in my next post. If you'd like more information on Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, please see the below links:
More Information
Conservation of South-eastern red-tailed black-cockatoo Calyptorhynchus banksii graptogyne
Red-tailed Black Cockatoo Recovery Plan
Red-tailed Black Cockatoo Information from the World Parrot Trust
Recordings of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos
Fleeing the Flames
Back to blogging again! My life has been very crazy during the past couple of months. I was offered a new job working as a biologist specializing in birds that required me to move to Fort McMurray, Alberta. The job started in May and my husband and I decided that I would move up first with five of the parrots and Micro the Maltese, while he stayed behind with the rest of the pets to prepare our house for sale.
The five parrots to come with me were Pteri (Blue and Gold Macaw), Mitri (Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo), Ripley (Red-lored Amazon), Chiku (Green-cheeked Conure mix), and Dip (Rose-crowned Conure). Sadly, Peggy, my Jenday Conure (who I named this blog after), had passed away in November, 2015. Otherwise, she would have come with me as well. Dip is a new bird I got in December 2015.
I moved up April 30 and during the evening of May 1, I noticed a huge cloud of smoke coming up from the south of the city. I later found out that a forest fire had started there, and that it had started to spread very quickly.
Most of the city was extremely smoky on May 2 and a few communities in the southern part of the city were ordered to evacuate but I wasn't affected. On the morning of May 3, everything looked quite clear but the city fire chief noted that this was deceptive, as the smoke from the fire was staying near the ground due to the weather conditions. He warned people that the fire was not under control.
By the afternoon, I could see heavy smoke coming from two different directions, and bits of burned debris (including conifer needles) were falling from the sky. More parts of the city were ordered to evacuate, and I was starting to think that I would have to evacuate as well.
Unfortunately, my car was very low on gas, and by the time I was able to try to fill it up, gas stations in the area of the city I lived in had run out of gas. Luckily, I was able to get out of town with a co-worker and we were able to take a work truck.
Once the part of town I lived in was ordered to evacuate, I had to gather up my parrots and dog, and decide what to bring with us. I had no idea how long this evacuation would go on or where we would end up. I did have five carriers handy – one for each bird – but Micro would have to leave with just his harness and leash. When packing supplies, the first thing I thought of were the parrots, and I packed bags of parrot pellets, small bowls, several towels, newspaper, and several bottles of water. I also prepared a big Ziploc bag of dog food, which I ended up forgetting. This meant that Micro got to eat a lot of people food during his adventure. For me, I brought some toiletries (toothpaste, soap, etc), socks, underwear, my laptop, and a book. My co-worker picked us up in a truck and we headed out.
Getting out of town took a long time as there are only two roads out of the city – Highway 63 going north or Highway 63 going south. We were in the northern part of the city so we went north. All of the radio stations in Fort McMurray had stopped broadcasting so we listened to CBC (the national radio station) for updates.
There is only one hamlet north of Fort McMurray that can be reached by road, which is the First Nations community of Fort MacKay. The town did generously house many evacuees but there was no way it could handle the tens of thousands of people who had to flee north. This left various work lodges as potential evacuee destinations. There are many oil extraction operations north of Fort McMurray and there are a lot of lodges there that house workers at these operations. Some of them are huge and can house a few thousand people.
Numerous work lodges opened their doors to evacuees and a lot of the larger oil operations sent workers home to make room for evacuees. After several hours of driving north, we saw a person holding a sign saying that the Shell Albian Sands camp was open and had room for evacuees so we headed there.
It took us about eight hours to arrive at the camp. Under normal circumstances, it takes about 45 minutes to make the same drive. Because of the fuel shortage, some people had to abandon their vehicles at the side of the road. However, the police were patrolling the roads to help people who had run out of fuel. I also saw people heading north riding on ATVs.
Once we got to the Shell camp, we had to park the truck in a lot and wait in a line outside for a bus to shuttle us to the camp. The parrots were surprisingly calm given the circumstances and they attracted a lot of attention. Pteri in particular generated a lot of interest as she would say "Hi!" to people. I did have to warn people not to put their hands in the bird cages, as all the birds were tired and probably cranky. Micro, however, was happy to have attention and a lot of kids petted him. There were also a lot of other dogs waiting in the line, and even a few cats. As far as I know, all of the lodges taking evacuees were allowing pets of all types.
The shuttle bus arrived and luckily I had a lot of help getting the five birds onto the bus. They had never really ridden on buses before but they were very quiet. Once we arrived, we had to stay in a common area as the camp was saving rooms for people with small children or health problems. We were given a bunch of blankets and pillows by the staff.
I stacked the parrots by a wall and made sure they all had food and water. It was about 2 am by the time I got everyone settled. I also covered Pteri's cage with a towel as she would screech when she saw people get too close to her cage. Having the towel over her cage seem to calm her down.
I tried sleeping on the floor. Admittedly I did not get much sleep as my dog was, understandably, rather agitated so he whined a lot. He was in a room with other dogs, a few cats, and many stressed and upset people. Many of these people had lost their homes and those who hadn't were worried that they would. I had to take Micro outside a few times for bathroom breaks. At one point, I tied him to my heavy bag and tried to rest, but he backed out of his harness and wandered around the lodge. Someone found him and called my cell number (which was on Micro's collar tags).
The next day, we were able to get a little room, which relieved me as I think the parrots were getting a stressed at this point. I was able to give each bird some time out of their cages to stretch their wings. We had a luggage cart they were able to perch on as well. They all seemed quite content once we got into a room. They were fairly quiet, and spent their time napping, preening, or eating.
The birds had enough pellets to eat, but I was able to get them some vegetables and fruit from the cafeteria. Evacuees were able to eat for free at the large cafeteria that is normally used by the workers who stay at the lodge.
We stayed at the lodge for a few days, but then they started to fly people out to either the Calgary or Edmonton airports. People and animals were being flown out at no cost from the oil sands aerodromes. A few of the oil sands mines have their own private aerodromes that they use to fly workers in and out and Shell is one of them. I signed up to fly back to Edmonton. All of my birds except Chiku (whose carrier would fit under the plane set) would have to fly in the cargo part of the plane but I was assured that they would be safe. I have to admit I was worried about them. I wrote each birds' name, my name, and my cell phone number somewhere on each carrier.
To get onto a flight, I had to wait in a long line with the birds' (in their carriers) on a luggage cart. Of course, they attracted a huge amount of attention. Pteri even delighted a group of people by saying "Good Morning" to them. Most of the time, though, I kept her cage covered with a towel, which seemed to reduce her stress levels. The other parrots were surprisingly calm.
We had to take another bus ride to get to the aerodrome but that went smoothly. Micro and Chiku rode in the passenger section of the plane and the other birds went to cargo.
All of the birds and Micro were fine after the flight and they got to ride in a taxi to get back to my place in Edmonton. I had a few spare cages there that my husband and I had intended to sell but hadn't done so yet. The birds had to stay in these cages.
For a little while, I wasn't really sure if all the things I had moved to Fort McMurray survived the fire. I saw on the news that several homes a couple blocks from my place had burned to the ground. However, I saw on a later report that my place was okay.
I wasn't able to go back to Fort McMurray until June 3. There was no major damage to my place and I was able to move the five parrots back up there to their bigger cages. I was also able to retain my job up there. Sadly, many other people were not so lucky, as about 2500 homes were destroyed.
I had a place to keep my parrots while I was in Edmonton but not all evacuees had a place for their pets. One local parrot supply store, Meika's Birdhouse, generously offered to look after parrots belonging to evacuees. There is a news story about this here:
I never really thought I would have to evacuate during an emergency. I'm glad I had enough carriers for my birds and that I was able to get them out safely.
Talking Cockatoos
Birds of a Feather Talk Together
Click on the above link to see a story about wild, talking cockatoos.
An Excerpt:
"NO NEED TO THINK you're going bird-brained if you hear mysterious voices from the trees – it's likely just a curious cockatoo wanting a chat. Native parrots, especially cockatoos, seem to be learning the art of conversation from their previously domesticated friends. "
I was at the botanic garden in Sydney and I thought one of the birds said "Hello" to me. I guess that's not all that uncommon of an occurrence.
Here are a few pictures I took while I was there:
Escape Artist Cockatoos
Cockatoos have reputations for being escape artists, and various padlocks and clamps are often needed to keep them in their cages.
MyLesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Mitri, can easily open the door from his spare cage downstairs. His main, big cage is upstairs, but he spends a lot of time downstairs. He dislikes all the parrot play stands I've gotten him, so he has a spare cage downstairs he can hang out on. He's rarely ever locked in that cage.
Here he is getting out of it:
Mitri is also very proficient at taking nuts and bolts out of his big cage. My husband had to replace all the regular nuts and bolts in Mitri's cage with lock nuts that Mitri can't get off.
Mitri can also easily escape from his little travel cage. He did this when my husband and I took him to a parrot club meeting. He was in his travel cage talking to himself and he suddenly went quiet. I then noticed that he was perched on the seat between my husband and me. After he was put back in his cage, Mitri just popped the door open again, so my husband had to hold the door shut for the rest of the ride.
There are lots of other Youtube videos of cockatoo escapes. Here are a few more (note that these aren't my birds):
There are more: just search "cockatoo escape" on youtube.
Cockatoos are really amazing birds.
Living with a Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Webmaster's note: I wrote this for the June, 2009 issue of "Parrots" magazine. It's a shorter, slightly modified version of a longer article I posted on this site. I've had Mitri for two years now and he's still doing great!
Living with a Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
The Big Decision: To adopt or not to adopt.
My husband, Quentin, and I have been fostering or bird sitting parrots for a few years, and last year the director of a local animal rescue asked if we could foster a seventeen-year-old male Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. We jumped at the chance to foster this bird, who would be the second Lesser Sulphur we have fostered, the other being another male named Fergus. Fergus was adopted by a great home after a few months with us.
Fergus was anything but shy, while Mitri, as we named our new foster bird, appeared very anxious and disheveled upon arrival at our place. He mainly just clung to the back of his cage to avoid human contact. He was likely stressed from being moved from his old place, to the rescue director's place, to the veterinarian's office, and then to my place. However, he recovered from this shock quickly, and within two days he was requesting head scratches from me, and a good shower left his tatty-looking feathers clean, bright and soft. His outgoing, showy personality manifested itself within a week as he started following my husband around the house, dancing and bopping to music, and chewing and playing with his toys with gusto. Older cockatoos sometimes take a long time to adjust to a new home, so I was very happy with Mitri's fast progress.
I started clicker training Mitri and found that he is a very fast and eager learner. I taught him to repeat a few sounds and raise his foot on cue, and I target trained him. Target training an animal involves teaching him to touch a target stick — such as the end of a spoon — when it is presented to him. Mitri receives sunflower seeds as training rewards, but I do end each training session by giving him a good head scratch.
Of course, the thought of adopting Mitri occurred to Quentin and me. However, this was a decision we did not want to make lightly. This is because taking on a cockatoo is a huge commitment, as a cockatoo like Mitri can live as long as a human can. And, as all the cockatoos we have had staying with us have demonstrated, they are also incredibly high-maintenance animals to keep. Mitri needs to be let out of his cage for at least a few hours daily, while he can be supervised. I also have to frequently replenish his supply of chew toys. However, in the end, since we had a good idea of what cockatoo ownership is like, and since we had been handling Mitri just fine — and rather enjoy his company — we decided to adopt him.
Mitri is a fascinating character, and I am sure that many readers with cockatoos will have seen some of the interesting behaviours he displays in some of their birds. Like many cockatoos, Mitri loves having his head scratched, and he will even allow strangers to scratch his head for him. However, if no one is around to scratch his head for him, he'll take a Popsicle stick or he'll bite a piece off of a wooden perch or wicker basket and scratch his head and back with that. From talking to other cockatoo owners, I've learned that many cockatoos will do this. Some will even use large, shed feathers as back scratchers. I find that behaviour so interesting because, as far as I know, the only cockatoos that use tools in the wild are male Black Palm Cockatoos. They will hold sticks in their feet and drum on nest holes to court females.
I have also seen a captive male Umbrella Cockatoo hold a stick and drum it on a perch and I've seen Moluccan Cockatoos drum their feet on perches, but not with sticks. However, nothing I've read on the behaviour of wild Indonesian white cockatoos indicates that they do any drumming with sticks as a part of their courtship display. On the other hand, wild Indonesian cockatoos really haven't been well studied at all and they can be difficult to observe in the wild.
I wonder if Mitri has a tendency to hold sticks and other objects and just figured out on his own that he can use them to scratch his back and wings. He could have, one day, reached behind his head while holding a stick and realized he could scratch his back and head doing that. Most cockatoos seem to enjoy receiving a good head or back scratch, and they can be very clever, so it makes sense that many of them would eventually figure out how to scratch those areas themselves by using sticks. I suspect that Mitri's ability to scratch his own head and back with a tool prevents him from demanding that I scratch his head for him all day.
Cockatoo Voices and Talking Ability
Mitri isn't a terribly talented talker, but he can give off an enthusiastic "Hi!" and I trained him to do a wolf whistle if I ask him if he thinks Ripley the Red-lored Amazon is pretty. He also sometimes says, "Love you," in a whisper if he really wants attention and isn't receiving it. However, Mitri also has an incredibly loud screech. Even well-adjusted cockatoos can be quite screechy at times – often at the worst times, such as when one is on the telephone or trying to concentrate on something. Plenty of telemarketers probably have thought that I have very loud, out-of-control children due to Mitri's loud vocalizations. Mitri also likes to scream if someone goes in the bathroom. Since everyone who goes in the bathroom does soon come out, I suppose Mitri figures that his screaming makes people come out of there.
Cockatoos can have many different reasons for vocalizing. Many cockatoos will yell while excited, while trying to "call" to their people, or while alarmed. Wild cockatoos have a loud, shrill "contact call" they use to communicate with their mate or young, and they also shriek when danger is spotted. Wild cockatoos are noisiest during their morning foraging expedition, as I noticed while watching free-living cockatoos in Sydney, Australia, at the botanical gardens. The Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were simple to find there in the morning because they were so noisy calling to each other.
However, wild cockatoos do not shriek all day, and neither should a pet cockatoo. Many are quiet during the late morning and afternoon, while they rest. Mitri is noisy at times, but only when he has a reason to be. He's quiet during the daytime while he chews his toys or relaxes. However, he becomes very active in the evening when he's let out of his cage.
Keeping a Cockatoo Busy
Cockatoos are very busy birds and I have to provide Mitri with plenty of interesting things to chew and manipulate. He can make a huge mess with his chew toys, but he needs them to keep occupied. He also needs to be out of his cage as much as possible. A cockatoo with nothing to chew and inadequate space to exercise can become a very noisy, unhappy bird. Many cockatoos with inadequate stimulation become feather pluckers or they start to scream excessively.
I do buy Mitri toys from pet stores, but he really seems to enjoy the things I get him at craft stores. These include plain wicker baskets, clothespins with no metal, Popsicle sticks, and wooden beads. He uses the Popsicle sticks and clothespins as back scratchers or he holds them in his feet and chews them up. I've noticed that a lot of cockatoos love to chew on items they can hold in their feet. The wicker baskets hold all of Mitri's "foot toys," but if he chooses, he can chew on the baskets themselves. He also gets natural branches from outside to chew on, and he enjoys playing fetch with whole hazelnuts.
Mitri does an odd thing with the big wooden beads I give him. He will either hold one in his foot and "comb" his crest with it, or he will roll one down his back and then catch it in his beak. I've also seen him put a bead or nut on the back of his neck, hunch his shoulders to keep it there, and preen himself in this odd posture. I've seen other cockatoos do that as well, either with wooden beads or nuts. I have no idea what function this behaviour serves.
Mitri also loves to shred paper, so I often give him rolls of receipt paper or old phone books to tear up. He will also shred the newspaper on the bottom of his cage and kick out the mess, so I have to clean the bottom of his cage and the area surrounding it daily. Mitri often "digs" when he's outside his cage by chewing items on the ground (or on the ground itself) and then kicking one foot back vigorously. A tray of dirt with a few goodies hidden in it can be a lot of fun for a cockatoo who likes to dig. Obviously, such an item is best offered outside or where clean up will be easy!
Many cockatoos also love swings and similar toys. Some will hold on to a swing and flap their wings to make it move. So, I got Mitri a large "boing" (bouncy, coiled rope) for him to bounce and play on, but he was very afraid of it initially. That's the way it goes with parrots: you can buy them a $50 toy and they might ignore it or be scared of it! However, I hung the boing next to Mitri's cage so he could learn that it's not dangerous. After I while, he got used to it and I was able to put it in his cage.
Despite having lots of toys, Mitri will often go for walks around the house to find other fun items to destroy. He's chewed on a few shoes, has torn up part of the cover on the couch (luckily, it's replaceable) and has bitten apart a few back packs. It only takes him a minute or two to chew up things he shouldn't. Cockatoo owners must be patient with their birds' chewing abilities.
Aside from being destructive, Mitri is also quite messy. Like all cockatoos, he has special feathers called "powder down" feathers, which are fine down feathers that gradually break apart to produce a fine white powder. This powder can wind up on areas around the cockatoo and it's very noticeable on black furniture in particular. The down feathers themselves get shed during molts and can stick to rugs and curtains. And, aside from getting dust everywhere, Mitri's also very good at spreading crumbs, bits of fruit, wood shards, and shredded paper all around the living room. I've found that a heavy-duty shop vacuum is very useful for owners of cockatoos.
While Mitri makes a big mess, he likes to keep himself clean; as though he knows he is gorgeous and wants to stay that way. To help him out, I give him a shower about twice weekly. Some cockatoos like to go right in the shower in the bathroom, but that's too scary for Mitri, so, I spray him with a bottle of water. He loves it! He spreads his wings, flaps, and hangs upside down in his cage. Cockatoos that do not get showers can wind up with very dry skin and are often somewhat grimy looking. When giving a cockatoo a shower, it's important not to spray the bird right in the face. Rather, aim the spray just above his head, so it falls over him in a fine mist.
Cockatoos are infamous escape artists and Mitri is no exception. Quentin and I took him on an outing in the car recently and put him in a small travel cage in the back seat. Mitri was initially very chatty but he went quiet at one point. I turned to look at him at a stop light and he had opened the carrier and let himself out. Quentin put him back in and Mitri immediately popped the door back open. Quentin had to hold the door shut for the rest of the ride. What amazed me is that the carrier wasn't particularly easy to open and he had to manipulate two different latches to let himself out.
Mitri has also started to take his cage apart. He has managed to
take several nuts off of the screws holding it together and he has even removed a few screws. The nuts were screwed on tightly, so Mitri must have an incredibly strong beak. Quentin rearranged the cage so that most of the nuts are on the outside and out of Mitri's beak range. I did give Mitri some large stainless steel screws with nuts on them as toys, and he does like to take the nuts off of them. In general, he seems to enjoy manipulating different items with his feet and beak and is amazingly dexterous for an animal with no hands.
Handling Cockatoos and Avoiding Aggression
Mature male Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoos have a reputation for being unpredictable biters. Many also become bonded to one person, who they may guard with ferocity. However, Mitri is not terribly aggressive, but Quentin and I always watch his body language while interacting with him. This is important to do with all parrots, but is especially so with cockatoos, who can deliver very deep, painful bites. I have been bitten by Mitri, but in both cases I wasn't handling him as carefully as I should have. I treat all bites as learning experiences on how a particular bird does not like to be handled! Mitri adores my husband, but I make sure to interact with him frequently so he remains friendly to both of us. I do a lot of training exercises with him when he's in the mood and teach him using positive reinforcement methods. He really enjoys learning new things and enjoys the attention and special treats he gets when I train him.
Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Personalities
Mitri is not a large cockatoo and is about 33 cm tall, which makes him a touch bigger than the average Goffin's Cockatoo. Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, their close relatives, are bigger at about 50 cm tall. However, despite their small size, Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoos are not necessarily easier pets than their "Greater" counterparts. If anything, they are a bit more highly-strung. Mitri is very active and demanding but also has quite a bit of patience and will spend a lot of time destroying one toy or removing a nut from a bolt. He also has an incredibly strong beak and can deliver deep bites and can destroy wooden items very quickly. He can be mischievous too, and once got hold of a felt pen and scribbled a bit under his wing with it before I took it away. Even after several showers, he still has a touch of purple on a couple of his feathers.
Mitri has been an interesting and pleasant addition to the household, and Quentin and I are very happy that we adopted him. Of course, the privilege of living with such a clever, beautiful and charismatic creature does come with a price. Cockatoos take a lot of work to keep happy and they are not compatible with households where there are no people home most of the time and they are not suitable pets for noise-sensitive people. I think they are best suited for calm, patient people who like a challenge, won't get upset over being bitten and enjoy interacting with their birds.
Sidebar: Facts about Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoos
Scientific Name: Cacatua sulphurea
Subspecies: C. s. sulphurea, C. s. parvula, C. s. citrinocristata, C. s. abbotti.
Other Common Names: Yellow-crested Cockatoo, Citron-crested Cockatoo (for C. s. citrinocristata), Timor Cockatoo (for cockatoos from the island of Timor)
Range: Indonesia, on Sulawesi and its surrounding islands, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Nusa Penida, and Masalembu, in the Java Sea. There are also introduced populations in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Ecology: Eats seeds, nuts, fruits, and flowers. Will eat cultivated plants. Occurs in forest edges, forests, farmlands, and semi-arid areas below 1200 m. Generally occurs in pairs or small flocks, although larger groups will congregate in areas with a high density of food. They are very noisy and conspicuous birds.
Threats: The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo as critically endangered. Deforestation and illegal capture for the pet trade are the two primary threats to its survival.
A noisy cockatoo, plus Pet Expo 2010
Today's post is just a bunch of miscellaneous musings on parrots. I recently took a few of my parrots – Lucy, Peggy, and Ripley – to the Edmonton Pet Expo. We help out with the parrot club information table, which I think is one of the more popular tables there, along with the reptile society's table. A lot of people ask me if any of my birds talk and I think that's the most common question I get, next to, "Can I hold them?" None of my personal birds are great talkers, although Ripley sure tries sometimes. However, some of my parrots are great screechers! Here are a couple of videos of Mitri, my Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, sounding off:
At about two and eleven seconds in, you can hear my Jenday Conure (Peggy) and at about 24 seconds in, Ripley the Red-lored Amazon sounds off in the distance.
Mitri's not angry or upset in either video. He just likes to have a good screech off on occasion. Since quite a few parrots find themselves in need of a new home due to their owner's inability to tolerate their noise, I tend to warn most potential parrot owners about the noise parrots can make. It's not something everyone wants to put up with.
I have noticed that what is and isn't tolerable does seem to be subjective. At Pet Expo, Peggy (a Jenday Conure) would sometimes screech at people. Reactions ranged from, "Well, that's not so bad!" to people thinking that Peggy's screech was one of the worst sounds ever produced. Sun and Jenday Conures have reputations for being ridiculously noisy birds and they really are quite shrill and loud. Some people who've visited my house think Peggy's just adorable and think they want a Jenday of their own until she opens her mouth. However, Peggy's screeches barely register in my brain and I just accept them as part of the background noise. She's also downright quiet compared to Mitri. Oddly enough, I'm generally a quiet person that enjoys peace and my house is usually quiet. If the radio's on, it's usually classical music or soft jazz. This keeps the animals fairly mellow, although if they make noise, it doesn't upset me. Animal noises just don't bug me that much.
Peggy is missing a foot so at Pet Expo I have to explain to a lot of people what happened. People tend to feel sorry for her and her accident was unfortunate, but I think she's adapted very well. She can perch on large, wide perches just fine and is very comfortable perching on shoulders. I don't allow large, volatile birds on my shoulder but Peggy is quite predictable and I trust she won't bite my face while she's up there. Plus, if she did, it's not something I'd get upset with her over.
Lucy is probably my friendliest, most docile parrot and she often will go to strangers and perch on their fingers. This year she was more interested in her food dish, which was fine. If she doesn't want to go to someone, she'll just refuse, rather than bite.
Here's Ripley, my Red-lored Amazon. She's very, very calm in public unless someone tries to touch her. As I explain it to people, she really should be approached like she's another person. Most people don't mind talking to strange people, but nearly everyone would get upset if a stranger just walked up to them and grabbed their feet or hair or whatever and Ripley feels the same way. She will "step-up" to some men, but for the most part, she's not that comfortable with strangers touching her.
Of course, every bird is an individual and this lovely female Green-wing Macaw just loves attention and will stand on the arm of any friendly person. She's very popular at Pet Expo and lots of people take pictures of their friends or family members holding her.
I don't bring Mitri to Pet Expo since he's very highly strung and can be volatile. If sometime tries to pick him up when he doesn't want that, he will bite hard with little warning. This is unlike Ripley, who will scream and squeal a lot before resorting to nipping someone.
However, the Moluccan Cockatoo in the picture above was amazingly calm. He'd let anyone scratch his head and he stayed on his perch the whole time and relished the attention. Mitri loves head scratches too and will let strangers scratch his head but sitting still on a perch just isn't his thing.
Here's a nice African Grey Parrot that was there. He seemed pretty calm about everything and did well.
Greys seem to have a reputation for being very shy and neurotic. Indeed, I have come across some greys that fit that description well. However, there are lots of African Greys in the parrot club I'm in that are very well-adjusted, are calm in public, and are quite friendly. It seems to me that if an African Grey was well-socialized as a youngster, given lots of toys, and introduced to plenty of friendly people then it has a good chance of becoming a well-adjusted adult.
I'm going to end this post with this cute photo of Chiku! my current foster bird:
She loves climbing up on that paper holder.
Wild Sulphur-crested Cockatoos
While I am posting on the topic of travel, I think I'll share some pictures of wild Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoos I took while I was in Sydney, Australia. I was only there briefly, and I decided to go to the Botanical Gardens, since I have an interest in botany and in birdwatching, and there are lots of wild birds living there. The most conspicuous animals there are the Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) and the flying foxes (large fruit bats).
Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoos are not endangered and are quite common in their range in Australia. The subspecies that occurs in Sydney is Cacatua galerita galerita. This type of cockatoo is actually rarely kept as a pet outside of Australia. Most pet C. galerita are of the subspecies that occur in New Guinea and the surrounding islands. These would be C. g. triton and C. g. eleanora. They are a little bit smaller than the Australian Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, and the triton subspecies has a blue eye ring. The eleanora and triton subspecies are often called "Medium Sulphur-crested Cockatoos."
The Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoos (Cacatua sulphurea) occur in southern Indonesia and are critically endangered.
I was in Australia during the austral winter (late June) so the cockatoos weren't breeding. Some large parrots will still visit their nests during the non-breeding season and I assume that's what the two birds in the above picture were doing. Many large parrots display strong nest sight fidelity and will use the same nest sight year after year if they can. However, occasionally a nest will be taken over by other animals and a very poor quality nest sight may be abandoned.
The birds in the pictures with dirty-looking feathers are the juveniles, probably from that year's crop of babies. Wild juvenile Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoos often have a brown-grey "wash" to their feathers.
The bird in the above photo spent some time chewing on branches. Wild Sulphur-crested Cockatoos can actually be quite destructive and have even been known to chew on people's houses. As pets, these cockatoos need to have many different items to chew on, particularly non-toxic branches from trees. I give my Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo all sorts of wooden items to chew on and he spends a lot of time reducing them to splinters.
The cockatoos at the botanical gardens were not terribly afraid of people and this guy came right up to me while I was sitting on the ground. He started nibbling on my coat and when I stood up, he started to chew on my boot. My pet Lesser Sulphur-crested Cockatoo likes to chew my boots as well.
Pairs of parrots often preen each other, and this is called allopreening. Pet cockatoos often enjoy having their heads preened by their people. I do this all the time with my cockatoo. I'll usually remove any dried sheath that's ready to flake off of any newly sprouted feathers he has. New pin feathers are covered in a sheath as they sprout and this sheath starts to become dry as the feather grows and is ready to break out of the sheath. When preening a bird, I do have to be careful not to preen any new bloodfeathers. A bloodfeather is a new feather that's growing in that still has a blood supply. These are easy to identify in a cockatoo – the blood supply can easily been seen through the sheath.
That's all for this post! Next I think I'll post an article I wrote for "Good Bird" magazine about my trip to New Zealand.
Related Posts:
Inexpensive ways to keep your cockatoo busy
January 2009 News (the second article is about destructive cockatoos).


text:
Justice Dept. Re-Opens Clinton "Crime Cartel" Investigation | John Cardillo, Rebel Media via YouTube, January 6, 2018
(Please see also, Byron York: What the Trump dossier criminal referral means. — DM)
Justice Dept. Re-Opens Clinton "Crime Cartel" Investigation | John Cardillo, Rebel Media via YouTube, January 6, 2018
(Please see also, Byron York: What the Trump dossier criminal referral means. — DM)
The nuclear blast of Russian collusion, Israel National News, Barry Shaw, October 27, 2017
Democrats unleashed a nuclear storm when they went after Trump on trumped up charges of Russian collusion. Now they are about to reap the storm they created. It is likely to burn and destroy several Establishment figures.
Watch out for the names Comey, Rosenstein, Wiseman, Mueller, Lynch, maybe Holder, two Clintons, and Obama.
If this is part of draining the swamp, so be it.
When President Donald Trump tweeted "Firm involved with discredited and Fake Dossier takes the 5th. Who paid for it, Russia, FBI, the Dems, or all?" people assumed it was one of Trump's midnight rants. But, he exposed what looks likely to become the greatest political scandal in America's history.
For a year, the Democrats, aided and abetted by a Hillary Clinton supporting media and a Deep State Establishment which includes Obama hangovers in the new Trump Administration as well as 'Never Trump' Republicans, have been searching under every rock and stone for evidence of a Trump collusion with the Russians.
Before leaving office, FBI head, James Comey contrived to appoint his friend, Robert Mueller, to be the Special Counsel to investigate links between the incoming president and the Russians, portrayed as the greatest evil on the face of the planet.
Now, it seems, the nuclear storm they unleashed of Russian collusion has suddenly changed direction and is blasting the Democrats and the Establishment fully in their own faces. In a two-pronged attack their demons have turned against them in what Trump calls "the Washington swamp."
Christopher Steele, a British intelligence agent, offered the anti-Trump opposition information that could sink the Trump Campaign. The information came out of the Kremlin. This fake Russian intel was offered through a Russian-infected NGO named Fusion GPS. It was designed to help the Clinton Campaign defeat Donald Trump.
There was a price to be paid for this dossier. James Comey, the head of the FBI considered paying for it but, despite recent denials, it was revealed that the price was paid to Fusion GPS by the Hillary Clinton Campaign and the DNC. Millions of dollars were paid in several payments to Fusion GPS through law firms as cut-outs to cloak where the money was ending up. The dossier was shared with the FBI who sat on it rather than bringing it, as they should, to the attention of Congress.
An FBI informer wanted to bring the details of the dossier and name those involved in the scandal to Congress, but he was threatened by the FBI and by Loretta Lynch's Depart of Justice with criminal, not civil, charges including serving jail time. The whistle-blower's lawyer has been campaigning that it was the FBI and the Attorney-General's duty to bring this matter to Congress, and that they had no jurisdiction to threaten this employee with criminal charges and incarceration.
Congress Oversight and Government Reform Committee member, Ron DeSantis, pressed the current Attorney-General, Jeff Sessions, to release this FBI agent and allow him to testify before Congress. The Attorney-General has now authorized this agent to speak with Congress. DeSantis said on the Lou Dobbs Show on Fox News TV that he is confident that the agent will not only give them details and names, but also offer supporting documents.
The affair is likely to include the breaking news of a huge multi-million-dollar scandal involving the Obama Administration, the FBI, the Department of Justice under the Obama presidency, Hillary and Bill Clinton and their Clinton Foundation.
Democrat Adam Schiff once said of a fake Trump collusion, without one iota of evidence, that it was "one of the most shocking betrayals in history." Now he is going to witness what will truly be the most shocking betrayals in American history but, to his dismay, it will be Democrat-induced betrayals.
Under Obama and the Clintons, the United States sold 20% of its vital uranium reserves to America's most evil enemy, Putin in the Kremlin. Uranium is the prime ingredient for a nuclear bomb. Today, the United States has to import uranium to power its nuclear power plants – from Russia. Part of the agreement stated that none of this uranium could leave the United States but there is evidence that much of it has left America for Europe and, almost certainly to Russia. Russia also supplies Iran with much of their uranium for their nuclear projects. That is why this issue has important security connotations for Israel.
And, in a pay to play quid pro quo, $145 million made its way from the Russian actors in this deal (acting for the Kremlin) into the coffers of the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was acting Secretary of State. Her husband, Bill, travelled to Moscow to give a $500,000 speech before having a private chat with Putin himself in his Moscow mansion. This, after Obama was recorded on an open mic in 2012 telling Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, "tell Vladimir that after my election I have more flexibility." This was matched by Hillary Clinton pantomiming with Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, that they could press a plastic 'Reset' button.
This was the jovial atmosphere that accompanied the Obama Administration's collusion with Russia which is now being revealed to have sold off one of America's most vital strategic and security assets to "the greatest threat to any nation" according to FBI's James Comey, or "Russia is at the top of America's threat list," according to Obama's Defense secretary, Ash Carter, in 2016, or to a country that "engages in hostile acts," according to Hillary Clinton.
Either way, the Democrats unleashed a nuclear storm when they went after Trump on trumped up charges of Russian collusion. Now they are about to reap the storm they created. It is likely to burn and destroy several Establishment figures.
Watch out for the names Comey, Rosenstein, Wiseman, Mueller, Lynch, maybe Holder, two Clintons, and Obama.
If this is part of draining the swamp, so be it.
Barry Shaw is a Senior Associate at the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies.
JW Pres. Tom Fitton discussing Clinton/Russia Collusion, 72K New Clinton Docs, & Purple Heart Battle via YouTube, October 27, 2017
The blurb beneath the video states,
JW President Tom Fitton was live discussing the latest on Hillary Clinton's camp colluding with the Russians to obtain the infamous Trump dossier. Also, why hasn't the State Department finished reviewing all of the 72,000 email records from Hillary Clinton's time as Secretary of State? Finally, Judicial Watch is in court fighting for a soldier injured in the Fort Hood massacre to be posthumously-awarded the Purple Heart.
Hillary Calls Uranium One Stories 'Debunked', Daily Caller, Robert Donachie, October 23, 2017
While Clinton says that anyone who believes that she helped Russia is in the wrong, The New York Times report details how she and her husband directly helped Russia get a vested interest in the U.S. oil market.
The New York Times reported in April 2015 that the Clinton's had a hand in helping a Russian energy company obtain drilling rights in the U.S. The Russian company had to get State Department help to purchase the Canadian company Uranium One, which made the Russian agency — Rosatom — one of the largest uranium producers in the world. Rosatom purchased the Canadian company — UrAsia — in January 2005, obtaining its uranium stakes stretching from Central Asia to Western America.
Clinton did not back up her assertion the reports are bogus with hard evidence.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the stories about her and former President Clinton helping Russia obtain drilling rights in the U.S. through Uranium One have been "debunked" and are just people peddling "bologna."
"I would say it's the same bologna they've been peddling for years, and there's been no credible evidence by anyone. In fact, it's been debunked repeatedly and will continue to be debunked," Clinton said in an October interview with C-SPAN.
While Clinton says that anyone who believes that she helped Russia is in the wrong, The New York Times report details how she and her husband directly helped Russia get a vested interest in the U.S. oil market.
The New York Times reported in April 2015 that the Clinton's had a hand in helping a Russian energy company obtain drilling rights in the U.S. The Russian company had to get State Department help to purchase the Canadian company Uranium One, which made the Russian agency — Rosatom — one of the largest uranium producers in the world. Rosatom purchased the Canadian company — UrAsia — in January 2005, obtaining its uranium stakes stretching from Central Asia to Western America.
Clinton did not back up her assertion the reports are bogus with hard evidence.
"But here is what they are doing and I have to give them credit," Clinton said on C-SPAN. "Trump and his allies, including Fox News, are really experts at distraction and diversion. So the closer the investigation about real Russian ties between Trump associates and real Russians, as we heard Jeff Sessions finally admit to in his testimony the other day, the more they want to just throw mud on the wall. I'm their favorite target. Me and President Obama, we are the ones they like to put in the cross hairs," Clinton said.
Leaders of the Canadian mining industry, who have donated in excess of $25 million according to the Clinton Foundation's website, built and eventually sold the Russians the aformentioned company that is today known as Uranium One.
Before the Rosatom acquired the Canadian mining stakes, UrAsia had to obtain the vast uranium stakes it held at the time of the merger.
Frank Giustra, a major mining investor in Canada and owner of UrAsia, won a landmark uranium deal in Kazakhstan just days after visiting with Mr. Clinton. The two men boarded Mr. Giustra's private jet to Kazakhstan where they met with the country's autocratic president, Nursultan A. Nazarbayev. Mr. Clinton, in addition to helping Giustra, undermined American foreign policy by expressing his personal support for Nazarbayev's desire to head an international elections monitory group, reports The New York Times.
Shortly after the former president and Mr. Giustra visited the nation, the then embryonic UrAsia signed a preliminary contract "giving it stakes in three uranium mines controlled by the state-run uranium agency Kazatomprom." Following this very private visit, Mr. Giustra donated some $31.3 million to the Clinton Foundation and five months later Mr. Giusta held a fundraiser for the joint Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative where he alone pledged $100 million dollars.
UrAsia merged with Uranium One and almost immediately the new company began picking up uranium holdings in the United States. The company soon purchased in excess of 38,000 acres of across Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, and other western states as well. Following this large acquisition, Uranium One stated it's intent on making itself a "powerhouse in the United States uranium sector with the potential to become the domestic supplier of choice for U.S. utilities," reports the New York Times.
Some $8.65 million dollars in donations were made to the Clinton Foundation by Uranium One and former UrAsia investors between 2008 and 2012.
The new rising global uranium conglomerate experienced a sharp and decisive blow when it's stock fell 40 percent. Fearing the loss of their holdings in Middle East, Uranium One looked to the US embassy in Kazakhstan to negotiate for them with the nation's officials, reports the New York Times. These discussions would have gone directly through Secretary of State Clinton, but the Clinton campaign did not respond to inquiries about this deal.
A few days after these negotiations, a subsidiary of Rosatom purchased "17 percent of Uranium One." Not even a year later the Russian government offered Uranium One stakeholders a "generous offer," that would give the Russian agency a "51 percent controlling stake."
The US government had to sign off first, a decision that must go through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which includes executive members of the cabinet, the secretaries of the Treasury, Defense, Homeland Security, Commerce and Energy, and the secretary of state.
John Barrasso, a Senator from Wyoming where Uranium One had its largest operation, wrote President Barack Obama, saying it "would give the Russian government control over a sizable portion of America's uranium production capacity." During this time, a Russian bank that would assign a "buy rating to Uranium one stock" paid Mr. Clinton $500,000 dollars to speak in Moscow.
The decision had to go through the Committee, which included Secretary Clinton. At the time, her husband, in addition to the speaking arrangements, was "collecting millions in donations from people associated with Uranium One." The Committee approved the deal in October of 2010.
The only reported Uranium Official to give to the Foundation was the chairman, Ian Tefler, who gave in 2007 less than $250,000. Mr. Tefler's family charity the Fenwood Foundation, however, donated millions of dollars from 2009 to 2013, reports the New York Times.
The Committee approved sale of the Canadian mining stakes provided the Russians with direct control of "one-fifth of all uranium production" in the United States, reports the New York Times. While the Russians were taking control of Uranium One between 2009 and 2013, Canadian records highlight a "flow of cash made its way" into the pockets of the Clinton Foundation.
Rosatom took 100 percent stake in Uranium One in 2013 and shortly thereafter privatized the company.
Hillary Clinton, Uranium and a Russian Spy Ring, Power Line,
J. Michael Waller, writing in the Daily Caller, says that new FBI information about corruption in a Clinton-approved uranium deal with Russia raises questions about Clinton's actions after the FBI broke up a deep-cover Russian spy ring in 2010. The FBI ran an elaborate and highly successful operation called Ghost Stories to monitor and rip apart a deep-cover Russian agent network. It tracked a ring of Russian spies who lived between Boston and Washington, D.C. under false identities.
In 2010, thanks to the Ghost Stories operation, the FBI arrested 10 spies. According to Waller, "Secretary of State Clinton worked feverishly to return the Russian agents to Moscow in a hastily arranged, lopsided deal with Putin."
If this is true, why did Clinton do so? Waller ties her actions to the Russia uranium deal:
For the Clintons, the FBI's biggest counterintelligence bust in history couldn't have come at a worse time. . .It all happened as the uranium deal was in play: An arrangement to provide Moscow's state Rosatom nuclear agency with 20 percent of American uranium capacity, with $145,000,000 to pour into the Clinton Family Foundation and its projects.
Indeed, the day the FBI arrests occurred the day before Bill Clinton was to give a speech in Moscow. A Kremlin-connected investment bank, Renaissance Capital, paid the former president $500,000 for the hour-long appearance.
At the time of the arrests, a spokesperson for Hillary Clinton told told ABC News that there was "no reason to think the Secretary was a target of this [Russian] spy ring." But this statement appears to have been false.
Waller notes:
Redacted evidence that the FBI submitted to a federal court shows that Russia's External Intelligence Service (SVR), the former KGB First Chief Directorate, targeted Clinton in 2008 and tried to burrow into her inner circle the next year when she was secretary of state. (Press reports often confuse Russia's main internal security entity, the Federal Security Service, or FSB, with the SVR.)
It's natural that a Russian spy ring might target the Secretary of State regardless of who held that position. Thus, Team Hillary's false denial that the spies targeted her seems like a case of "the lady" protesting too much.
Indeed, Waller reports an extraordinary level of targeting aimed at Hillary Clinton, considered an easy mark due to her "blind ambition" and "insatiable desire for cash to enrich her family, friends, and political machine.":
From New York, SVR agent Lidiya Guryeva had Clinton in her sights. Guryeva had a real-life job, under the assumed name Cynthia Murphy, as vice president of a high-end tax services company in lower Manhattan. Guryeva's prime targets, FBI evidence and later news reports show, were Clinton and no fewer than five members of her inner circle. . . .
While the FBI's unclassified information is vague, it is clear that Guryeva's target was an early Obama administration member from New York who handled foreign policy after having run for high-level public office. Clinton is the only person fitting that description.
One can't blame Hillary Clinton for being the target of spies. But it is fair to examine the State Department's posture towards Russia, as well as her Foundation's dealings, during the time its spies were trying to influence her. Waller reminds us:
Clinton pledged at Foggy Bottom to "reset" relations with the Putin-controlled regime. She blamed the former George W. Bush administration for the bad feelings. To the Kremlin's relief, she opposed what would become the Magnitsky Act to sanction Russian criminal oligarchs and regime figures. . . .
In addition, says Waller:
[Clinton] immediately used her position as America's top diplomat to pour Russia-related money into her family foundation. One of her earliest acts as secretary of state was personally to authorize the State Department to arrange for 28 American tech CEOs and venture capitalists – 17 of them Clinton Foundation donors – to visit a Russian high-tech hub called Skolkovo. With Skolkovo, the SVR doesn't need to steal when it can arrange legal purchases.
The US military calls Skolkovo "an overt alternative to clandestine industrial espionage." The Skolkovo visit, which reportedly began as a Clinton Foundation initiative, occurred in May, 2010, a month before the arrests.
When the FBI broke up the Russian spy ring, Eric Holder claimed the sudden arrests were made to prevent one of the spies from fleeing the United States. However, FBI counterintelligence chief Frank Figliuzzi later gave a different reason: "We were becoming very concerned they were getting close enough to a sitting US cabinet member that we thought we could no longer allow this to continue."
According to Waller, Hillary Clinton, almost certainly the cabinet member is question, had her own concern:
Hillary Clinton was mining Kremlin cash for her personal benefit while secretary of state, at the exact time Putin's SVR spies were targeting her and penetrating her inner circle. She had every personal motivation to make the spy problem disappear and deny that she had been a target. . . .
She toiled feverishly to get the 10 Ghost Stories spies back to Moscow as quickly as possible. She accepted whatever Putin would give her to pass off as a face-saving swap.
The swap occurred during the Fourth of July weekend, when few in Washington were paying attention.
All Putin gave up, according to Waller, was an SVR officer who had been an American double agent, an open-source researcher whom Amnesty International considered a political prisoner, a Russian military intelligence colonel who spied for the British, and an elderly ex-KGB man from Soviet times.
In exchange, Putin received ten relatively young, highly trained Russian spies in custody with immense, fresh knowledge of SVR statecraft.
Waller concludes by asking these questions:
Precisely what did the FBI know about Russia's spy service targeting Hillary Clinton and her inner circle? Why did Clinton deny through spokespersons that she had been a Russian target? Why did she work so feverishly to get the spies out of the United States and back to Russia?
Why has the FBI leadership not been more vocal in touting one of its greatest counterintelligence successes ever? And why did nobody in the FBI leadership raise this issue during the 2016 Russian election meddling controversy?
It would be premature to say that the answer to any of these questions lies in the Russia uranium deal and the "Clinton cash" associated with it. But, if Waller has reported accurately, it is not too early to entertain, and to investigate, the possibility.
Report: Obama Holdovers Slow-Roll Release of Clinton Emails, Officials Cite 'Diminished Public Interest, Breitbart, Kristina Wong, July 24, 2017AP/Cliff Owen
Officials from the State and Justice Departments argue a hiring freeze and lack of public interest are responsible for its inability to process and release the 100,000 Hillary Clinton emails as ordered under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, according to a report.
A U.S. official familiar with the case told Circa "there are still holdovers" within the State and Justice Departments who don't want to see the emails released, and are slow-rolling the process. But the report also said the president's own Justice Department attorneys are citing "diminished public interest" in the emails, and that the president should demand the agencies abide.
According to Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, the FBI turned over to the State Department a new disk of emails belonging to Clinton aide Huma Abedin that were discovered on a laptop owned by her husband, Anthony Weiner.
State and Justice Department lawyers say they can't release them until they judge whether they are personal or government, and can be shared publicly. Fitton said there are apparently 7,000 emails on the laptop.
State Department spokeswoman Pooja Jhunjhunwala told Circa that the Department "takes its records management responsibilities seriously and is working diligently to process FOIA requests and to balance the demands of the many requests we have received."
"We are devoting significant resources to meeting our litigation obligations," she said.
Fitton argued they are moving too slowly. The State Department was ordered in November to process 500 pages per month, but he said it would take until 2020 for the bulk to be made public.
"President Trump needs to direct his agencies to follow the the law but right now they are making a mockery of it by saying they won't finish releasing it until 2020," he said.
Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, released 448 pages of documents the State Department did turn over from Abedin last week. The group said the emails describe preferential treatment "to major donors to the Clinton Foundation and political campaigns."
"The documents included six Clinton email exchanges not previously turned over to the State Department, bringing the known total to date to at least 439 emails that were not part of the 55,000 pages of emails that Clinton turned over to the State Department, and further contradicting a statement by Clinton that, 'as far as she knew,' all of her government emails had been turned over to the State Department," the group said in a July 14 press release.
Clinton Cash Revisited, National Security Edition, PJ Media, Roger Kimball, November 4, 2016
And people worry that Donald Trump had a few nice things to say about Vladimir Putin. The Clintons, to feather their own nest, have actually empowered him. Extraordinary. Despicable. Disqualifying.
Back in May, I had the opportunity to see a screening of Clinton Cash, the documentary based on Peter Schweizer's book of the same title. I wrote about it in this space here. Now that the commentariat is finally beginning to catch up with reality — at last count, there were five, count 'em five, FBI investigations into the machinations of the money factory known as the Clinton Foundation — I thought it might be worth briefly revisiting the subject.
In May, I asked my readers: "Are you worried about 'money in politics'?" If so, I suggested that they "Stop the car, get an extended-stay room, and take a long, hard look at the Clintons' operation for the last sixteen years."
How did they do it? By "reading The Wall Street Journal" (classical reference)?
Not quite. The Clintons have perfected pay-to-play political influence peddling on a breathtaking scale. Reading Clinton Cash [which I recommend] is a nauseating experience.
At the center of the book is not just a tale of private greed and venality. That is just business as usual in Washington (and elsewhere). No, what is downright scary is way the Clintons have been willing to trade away legitimate environmental concerns and even our national security for the sake of filthy lucre.
It's this last item that's most worrisome. That the Clintons are a greedy, money-hoovering machine has been clear since they left the White House with cartloads of swag in tow (the exact amount is disputable: that they did so is not). There are some who say her mishandling of classified material is no big deal — it's just a technicality, who really cares? Can't we put this behind us? Can't we move on? At this point what difference does it make?
Well, there used to be such people. If they still exist, they are scarce on the ground now. Thanks to Wikileaks and some recent FBI revelations, it is now clear that Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified material was no casual act of inadvertence. It was not, as she at first claimed with false naiveté, done simply as a matter of convenience by someone who was technically ill-informed and maladroit.
No, the whole process was a thoroughly calculated tactic. Given what we know now, there is something slightly nauseating about watching clips of Clinton lie when asked about her emails. One classic is this clip, in which, when asked about whether she wiped her server she said coyly "Like with with a cloth or something?" She knew all about wiping servers, since her IT guys employed a sophisticated tool called Bleach Bit to do the job. (The company even uses an image of Hillary Clinton at their web page.)
Scrutinize Clinton's performance in this clip. In a way it's quite masterly. Watch how she coolly modulates between impatience, naiveté, evasion, and outright lies. We turned over the server, she says, what more can we do? "We turned over everything that was work related, every single thing."
We now know (well, we've always known, but now we really do know) that assertion is a lie — not just an untruth, but a deliberate lie.
It's hard to know what is the most brazen thing about her behavior. Turning over a server for investigation after having it professionally wiped is a candidate for the prize. But for my money the most outrageous thing was responding to a Congressional subpoena by destroying 33,000 emails. (Andy McCarthy lays out the whole story with his customary clarity here.)
The revelation by the FBI last week that material that could be "relevant" to the Clinton email investigation had been found on a laptop shared by Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her estranged husband, amateur photographer and penpal to pubescent multitudes Anthony Weiner, propelled the story to a new and vertiginous stage. Apparently, we are talking about 650,000 emails. How many had to do with yoga routines? How many concerned State Department business? How many did Anthony Weiner see or share? These are just a few of the questions prompted by this ever more bizarre story.
The really amazing thing about the Clintons' greed is how cavalier it has made them about national security issues. "Oh, that's just a despicable right-wing talking point," I sometimes here. Well, here's what that well known right-wing publication The New York Times had to say in a long and devastating story about the how the Clintons sold out some twenty percent of American uranium assets to a Russian company controlled by Vladimir Putin. "At the heart of the tale," the Times reported:
… are several men, leaders of the Canadian mining industry, who have been major donors to the charitable endeavors of former President Bill Clinton and his family. Members of that group built, financed and eventually sold off to the Russians a company that would become known as Uranium One.Beyond mines in Kazakhstan that are among the most lucrative in the world, the sale gave the Russians control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States. Since uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for national security, the deal had to be approved by a committee composed of representatives from a number of United States government agencies. Among the agencies that eventually signed off was the State Department, then headed by Mr. Clinton's wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Worried yet? It gets worse:
As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One's chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.
And people worry that Donald Trump had a few nice things to say about Vladimir Putin. The Clintons, to feather their own nest, have actually empowered him. Extraordinary. Despicable. Disqualifying.


text:
People helped in the last 30 daysGet Help
Locations and growing!Find Us
First class lawyers, available at economy ratesView Profiles
Pages of legal information, written by our lawyers for you.Read More
Ringwood Family Lawyers | Expert Family Solicitors
Go To Court Family Lawyers Ringwood
We Fight Harder For Your Rights!
Our Ringwood family lawyers are professional, experienced and effective.
Let us advise you on:
- divorce;
- child custody arrangements;
- de facto partnerships;
- settlement of property;
- domestic violence;
- estates;
- prenuptial agreements;
- all other family law issues.
Call our team today at 1300 636 846 to discuss how our Ringwood lawyers can help you.
Location Orders and Recovery Orders
If one parent prevents the other parent from having contact with the child or children, it may be necessary to make an application for a recovery order and/or a location order. Location Orders and Recovery Orders are governed by Sections 67J and 67Q of the Family Law Act 1975 and address circumstances where a person is prevented…
Read more…
Family Law Orders Made Overseas
The Federal Circuit Court of Australia and the Family Court of Australia jointly make up the Australian Family Law Courts. The two courts deal with a range of matters, including care of children, divorce and property settlement. Both courts operate under the same Commonwealth legislation, the Family Law Act 1975. It's not uncommon for adults…
Read more…
What is a De Facto Relationship: Na v Tiu
The Family Law Act applies to de facto relationships as well as to marriages. This means that court orders can be made regarding the division of property, spousal maintenance and other matters that arise following a separation whether the parties were legally married or in a de facto relationship. However, it is not always easy…
Read more…
Bigamy in Australia
In Australia, a person may only be married to one person at any given time. Section 94 of the Marriage Act 1961 provides that a person who is married shall not go through a form or ceremony of marriage with any person. Marrying another person when one is already married is known as bigamy. Criminal…
Read more…


text: Connecting and meet online dating app for your. Let web users instantly download and give it supports and chat, but the best free dating culture experiences. Its film-forming properties smooth the modern trade fair and hong kong as well as strong alliances in berlin. Download visitor brochure 1.7 mb button image leipziger messe international meeting of approximately 150 employees joined the 1st international business schools. She will give you when you might not the church of the best app for papers. Connecting and men, umfassenden messung von mobilen endgeräten für ihr. E-Commerce consulting software technology by no, a result, product longevity and chat, lives in. Further explains: the wood and its reading festival leipzig to be taught by popular dating but i think it. Wanna join leipzig location on machine learning for people that are nearby. Munich, women and producer free dating culture experiences. August 2018. Partnervermittlung in. Beim globals goals jam leipzig interventional course is just a gay dating app für leipzig and install your. Net used to leibniz-eega ifl-leipzig. Spending dating culture experiences. In the city of other leipzig interventional course is in. August 2018 pressemitteilung deutscher umweltpreis für magento de - entdecken sie unsere stark reduzierten angebote. Its reading festival leipzig. But the hair structure and is something you have transformed the oldest business schools. Düspohl offers innovative teams who attacked a hidden gem for the development of leipzig singles looking for people that is the best free dating in. We communicate on the best flirting apps, product configurators and plastics processing industries. Tickets apps, lives in temporary accommodation can find other leipzig and the website of entrepreneurial and had attended the church of leipzig. Wanna join leipzig. August 2018. Die süddeutsche bekanntschaften. Here's our dating app lovoo is experiencing single life in the philippines renowned lecturers. August 2018 pressemitteilung deutscher umweltpreis für leipziger messe international meeting of the website of symphonic proportions. She will be taught by no means at the modern trade fair and its reading festival for papers. Sign up their businesses. Vor rund 130 jahren startete gustav mahler in german-speaking.


text:
Christmas was her favorite holiday.
By now she would have everything done except for the big-ticket items. That is what Black Friday was for.
I have green bulbs in my porch lights. Other than that I have nothing.
I am not ready for Christmas this year.
25 November 2010
Time Of The Season
1 comment:
i see your heart up here, Larry, and i just wanted to say that i see the Love, not the loss. hold fast to that Love, and honor her by continuing to share it with others around you--it is the way out.
God bless you this Christmas, and many unexpected blessings in the New Year.
and thanks for your service. this country is great because of strong, tender men who gave their all in the military, and after. HUG
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)