Saturday, August 12, 2017

Pic Of Husky With Shaved Body Causes Concern

Pic Of Husky With Shaved Body Causes Concern


The photo appears to be legit; however, its provenance isn’t clear.

One Twitter user posted the pic on June 7 with the jokey caption: “If you’ve never seen a husky with absolutely no body hair then here you go. Enjoy.”
The post generated tens of thousands of retweets. In a conversation thread, the user said the dog was not his. He hasn’t responded to HuffPost.
The photo has quickly circulated on the internet, prompting debate about the motivation for shearing the pooch.
“It will protect them from the heat and sunburn, and in the cold it protects from the cold weather,” Emmy-winning vet Dr. Jeff Werber said in an email. “However if the coat is unhealthy and is matted or has some type of skin disease and for medical reasons we need to shave, then it would be advisable.”
Professional groomers say that huskies and other double-coated breeds like malamutes, akitas and Australian shepherds are among dogs that require frequent grooming.

Gorilla Dances To ‘Maniac’ And Another ‘Flashdance’ Star Is Born



Zola the gorilla has become a viral hit for his twirling moves in a tub at the Dallas Zoo.
But there was something missing ― “Flashdance,” the 1983 film featuring Jennifer Beals as a steel mill worker who tries to prove her worth as a dancer.
And CBS DFW obliged by adding the movie’s smash-hit song “Flashdance ... What A Feeling” by Irene Cara as a soundtrack to the zoo video, above.
But the CBS affiliate wasn’t the only one. Below, our favorite, a Twitter user went with Michael Sembello’s “Maniac.”
The confrontation with North Korea grows more dire, threatening 'fire and fury'

The confrontation with North Korea grows more dire, threatening 'fire and fury'


The North Korean nuclear threat is a “hinge” moment for the United States and China, and for the new international order both nations say they want.
If Washington and Beijing manage to stay together in dealing with Pyongyang, the door opens on a new era in which China will play a larger and more responsible role in global affairs, commensurate with its economic power. If the great powers can’t cooperate, the door will slam shut — possibly triggering a catastrophic military conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
The bullying style of President Donald Trump, even in dealing with trivial matters of domestic politics, obscures the extent to which he has tried to marry U.S. policy on North Korea with that of China. For the most part, he has been successful. Beijing and Washington have mostly been aligned, as in this past weekend’s unanimous U.N. Security Council vote in favor of additional sanctions against Pyongyang to punish its continued missile tests.
Washington’s diplomatic goal, although it hasn’t been stated publicly this way, is to encourage China to intervene between the United States and North Korea and organize negotiations to de-nuclearize the Korean Peninsula. The U.S. threat is that, if China doesn’t help find such a diplomatic settlement, America will pursue its own solution — by military means if necessary.
Mr. Trump amped up the rhetoric Tuesday, telling reporters: “They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
The U.S. threat may be a bluff, but with Mr. Trump, you never know. Top U.S. officials understand that a preemptive war against North Korea could result in horrendous loss of life and a post-conflict outcome that would be worse for all parties. But when national security adviser H.R. McMaster says that a nuclear-armed North Korea is “intolerable” to Mr. Trump, one should assume he means it — and that he is preparing a menu of military options.
Now comes the moment of nuclear brinkmanship. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said Monday, in reaction to the U.N. vote and Chinese-American calls for talks: “We will under no circumstances put the nukes and ballistic rockets on the negotiating table.” Is he bluffing? Again, we don’t know.
Some diplomats saw ambiguity in the vagueness of Mr. Ri’s conditions for any talks. But many leading analysts believe that North Korea, rather than stepping away from the edge, is racing toward having an operational nuclear-missile capability that can strike the United States, as a matter of self-protection.
Two intelligence assessments disclosed Tuesday added increased urgency to the crisis. The Defense Intelligence Agency concluded late last month that North Korea has mastered the technology for a miniaturized nuclear warhead that could sit atop a missile that could hit the United States, according to Washington Post reporting. A white paper by Japan’s defense ministry reached a similar conclusion and warned that the nuclear threat was now an imminent problem.
North Korea’s rhetoric blasts the United States. But China is being put in an even more intolerable position by Pyongyang. China has been flashing red lights about the North Korean program for more than a year. President Kim Jong Un’s regime responded by conducting North Korea’s fifth nuclear test last September and continuing its missile tests, despite urgent Chinese warnings. Mr. Kim’s slap to Beijing even included assassinating his half brother Kim Jong Nam, who was under Chinese protection.
North Korea’s defiance of the United States and China is rooted in its ideology of militant self-reliance. The official North Korean website sums up the philosophy as “independence in politics, self-sufficiency in the economy and self-reliance in national defense” — a creed that promotes go-it-alone confrontation.
What’s at stake in this confrontation was underscored by discussions this weekend at an annual gathering of the foreign policy establishment called the Aspen Strategy Group. This year’s meeting included five Trump administration officials, as well as a collection of former top officials from previous Republican and Democratic administrations.
Among the clearest points of consensus among former officials was that the North Korea crisis provides what one participant called a “catalytic” moment. If China and the United States can find a common path and resolve the crisis peacefully, they will succeed in “modernizing the global order,” which was the broad topic of the Aspen discussions.
And if they fail? If Mr. Trump’s fiery rhetoric alienates Beijing rather than motivates it? If Pyongyang decides to test its doctrine of self-sufficiency with a roll of the nuclear dice? If Mr. Trump becomes the first president since John F. Kennedy to truly find himself at the nuclear brink? One way or another, the coming months will shape global security for many years ahead.
David Ignatius is a foreign affairs columnist for The Washington Post.
Twitter users are reporting Trump’s account for ‘threatening violence’ against North Korea

Twitter users are reporting Trump’s account for ‘threatening violence’ against North Korea


By Brian Fung | Washington Post
Can a president be suspended from Twitter for threatening to attack another country?
That’s what some Twitter users, including actor and former Barack Obama aide Kal Penn, are demanding, after President Trump tweeted Friday morning that U.S. “military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely.”
Critics of the president’s tweet say the rhetoric reflects a threat of violence against North Korea that violates Twitter’s rules and terms of service.
“Seems pretty clear that you can’t threaten mass murder via nuclear war, right @twitter? Asking for 7.4 billion friends,” tweeted Penn, along with a screenshot of Twitter’s terms of service.


It is still unclear whether Twitter intends to act on requests for Trump’s account to be suspended. Twitter declined to comment on the matter, citing a company policy not to discuss individual accounts “for privacy and security reasons.”
Nor, for that matter, is it clear that Trump’s tweets actually constitute a terms-of-service violation. While Trump does appear to be sending a clear warning to North Korea, the stakes aren’t limited to a legalistic reading of Twitter’s policies. The company may need to balance Trump’s tweets against its own commitment to free expression, and also weigh the public interest value of Trump’s unfiltered musings. If Ukraine and Russia can be said to engage in public diplomacy on Twitter when they battle each other with memes, then it could also arguably be a form of diplomacy for Trump to seek to deter North Korea with tweets, alarming as those tweets may be.
Underlying all that, of course, is also Twitter’s commercial need for engagement with its platform – an ever-growing requirement for its business at a time when our collective attention has never been more fragmented.
This isn’t the first time people have accused Trump of violating Twitter’s rules. Last month, for instance, he was criticized for tweeting a modified video clip of himself beating someone up outside a wrestling ring. The victim’s face had been obscured by CNN’s logo – leaving viewers with the impression that Trump was, literally, beating up CNN.
“If that’s not a direct threat of violence against the American citizens who work for CNN, it’s certainly a celebration of violence,” wrote the Atlantic’s Adrienne LaFrance at the time.
Trump says he’s considering military response to Venezuela

Trump says he’s considering military response to Venezuela


WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says he’s considering possible military action against Venezuela in response to President Nicolas Maduro’s power grab.
Trump tells reporters at his New Jersey golf course Friday that he’s “not going to rule out” a military option.”
He adds that it’s “certainly something that we could pursue.”
Trump has been blasting Maduro’s moves to consolidate power, describing him as a “dictator.”
The Trump administration has issued a series of sanctions against Maduro and more than two dozen current and former Venezuelan officials.
But a military intervention would be an extraordinary escalation in response.