Animal Art Work I Like...

"Fake News" - The President versus The New York Times

At 8:30 AM (EDT), on 29 July 2018, the President of the United States tweeted from his usual account (Donald J Trump  @realDonaldTrump)  one of normal comments.  It read:  "Had a very good and interesting meeting at White House with A G Sulzberger, Publisher of the New York Times. Spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, "Enemy of the People." Sad!"  (The capitalizations are the President's own, not mine.)

  At 9:01 AM (EDT), on 29 July 2018, a tweet appeared from NYTimes Communications @NYTimesPR reading: "Statement of A. G. Sulzberger, Publisher, The New York Times, in response to President Trump's tweet about their meeting  bit.ly/2LHSFoB"   Following the link, one finds:

"Statement of A. G. Sulzberger, Publisher, The New York Times, in Response to President Trump's Tweet About Their Meeting

   Earlier this month, A.G. received a request from the White House to meet with President Trump.  This is not unusual; there has been a long tradition of New York Times publishers holding such meetings with presidents and other public figures who have concerns about coverage.
  On July 20th, A. G. went to the White House, accompanied by James Bennet, who oversees the editorial page of The Times.  Mr. Trump's aides requested that the meeting be off the record, which has also been the practice for such meetings in the past.
   But with Mr. Trump's tweet this morning, he has put the meeting on the record, so A. G. has decided to respond to the president's characterization of their conversation, based on detailed notes A. G. and James took.

Statement of A.G. Sulzberger, Publisher, The New York Times:

My main purpose for accepting the meeting was to raise concerns about the president's deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric.

I told the president directly that I thought that his language was not just divisive but increasingly dangerous.

I told him that although the phrase "fake news" is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labeling journalists "the enemy of the people." I warned that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence.

I repeatedly stressed that this is particularly true abroad, where the president's rhetoric is being used by some regimes to justify sweeping crackdowns on journalists. I warned that it was putting lives at risk, that it was undermining the democratic ideals of our nation, and that it was eroding one of our country's greatest exports: a commitment to free speech and a free press.

Throughout the conversation I emphasized that if President Trump, like previous presidents, was upset with coverage of his administration he was of course free to tell the world. I made clear repeatedly that I was not asking for him to soften his attacks on The Times if he felt our coverage was unfair. Instead, I implored him to reconsider his broader attacks on journalism, which I believe are dangerous and harmful to our country."

A little over four hours later, the President came came with a flurry four tweets, connected by a series of three dots behind and before.  At 1:09 PM (EDT) on 29 July 2018 from the account of Donald J Trump  @realDonaldTrump :

"When the media - driven by their Trump Derangement Syndrome - reveals internal deliberations of our government, it truly puts the lives of many, not just journalists, at risk! Very unpatriotic! Freedom of the press also comes with a responsibility to report the news...

... accurately. 90% of media coverage of my Administration is negative, despite the tremendously positive results we are achieving, it's no surprise that confidence in the media is at an all time low! I will not allow our great country to be sold out by anti-Trump haters in the...

... dying newspaper industry. No matter how much they try to distract and cover it up, our country is making great progress under my leadership and I will never stop fighting for the American people! As an example, the failing New York Times...

... and the Amazon Washington Post do nothing but write bad stories on very positive achievements - and the will not change!"

I loudly and support the freedom of the press and the right to freedom of speech!  Too bad the President does NOT.   -  Sad!

And Now For Some Things Completely Different - Photos

Colorado Mustang

Paradise Huppe

Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas

Kitten

The new Beluga XL Airbus

Meadow Moonlight

Steampunk Motorcycle

Strangest Pony Swim Back to Assateague So Far

Well, the 93rd Annual Pony Penning may go into the record books as the strangest so far....  All of the southern herd ponies were rounded up on Saturday, 21 July, during intermittent rain showers, some quite heavy.  On Sunday, all of the northern herd ponies were brought in - except BlingBling and her bay colt by Chief.  She and the foal evaded the Saltwater Cowboys for the next two days, too.  On Tuesday, all the ponies, except the two missing just named, received their vet checks and the foals had their blood drawn for transportation certifications.
   The strangeness first appeared on Wednesday, near the end of the Pony Swim.  Last year, the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company was gifted seven Chincoteague ponies, who's pedigrees go back to the original Misty of Chincoteague.  Four were adult mares, and there were three yearlings, two fillies and a colt.  They were originally kept at the Carnival Grounds, but were released on Assateague during the Spring Round-Up in April.  The last group of ponies to enter the water for the swim from Assateague to Chincoteague on Wednesday were the four donated mares, and the foal of Suzy's Sweetheart and Riptide, who had attached himself to the mares before the swim began.  The four mares turned back to Assateague multiple times, refusing to swim (and, having never made the swim before), and finally escaped through the Saltwater Cowboys back on Assateague.  The problem was that Suzy's Sweetheart's colt was also with them.  The Cowboys rounded him up separately and took him across the Channel by barge, to reunite him with his mother.  The mare most upset by this was not Suzy's Sweetheart, but was Sonny's Legacy.  Odd.
   Thursday afternoon, the freak accident involving Butterfly Kisses happened.  As soon as she was removed, all of her herd-mates and her stallion, Riptide, were taken by trailer back to Assateague.
   On Friday, the herd of Ace and DLSII, along with most of the yearlings were herded back to Pony Swim Lane to swim back to Assateague.  Along the way, three of the ponies cut out of the herd and ran into a yard, and three Saltwater Cowboys went after them.  One of the Cowboys' horses slipped on the cement footpath of the yard, and fell, falling on the rider.  The entire group halted while the Cowboy was assessed, and taken away by ambulance. (He had scrapes and bruises and required stitches to his head, but was released in a few hours.) The group started back to do the swim.  The Cowboys cracked their whips and shouted to get the ponies started back across, once the Coast Guard sent up the flare for slack tide.  The ponies plunged into the Channel and started swimming; in the lead was a group of nine, including Taco, Pixie Dust and Goldie.  The rest of the mares were behind Ace, along with Taco's filly, who is a Fall Pick-Up foal.  The foal started to struggle with her swimming - and Ace stayed right beside her.  She started swimming in the wrong direction - back to Chincoteague - and Ace and all the other ponies followed her.  Since the filly was clearly in difficulty, she was helped back to shore and placed in a boat to ride across to Assategue and rejoin her Mom, who was grazing there.  But then the Saltwater Cowboys could not convince Ace or any of the other ponies to enter the water again to swim back to freedom.  After 30 minutes, the tide began to flow again, and it was decided to trailer all of the remaining ponies back to Assateague.
   As I said, a strange three days....
And, as stated above, the Pony Committee switched two herds around.  Ace is back south, while Maverick is now north....    We'll see what happens in the future, as the island tides turn.

Old Chincoteague Pony Photos 1932 - 1976

Proud new owner in 1951

Proud new owner in 1967

In 1932, Pony Penning was held in an open field that is now a part

of Mumford Street

Inside the Pony Pens in 1958

Pony Parade on Main Street in 1958

Pony Swim crowd in 1959

Pony Swim site in undated photo - Old Dominion Clubhouse

in background

Inside the Pony Pens in 1967

Inside the Assateague Pens in 1968

Delmas Taylor (left) and Kenny Rhodes carry a foal at the

1976 Pony Auction

Chincoteague Pony Auction 2018 - Prices and Pony Photos

King Neptune, the first foal to reach the shore of Chincoteague during the Wednesday Pony Swim is raffled off, so there were 53 foals sold.  Eleven were designated as "Buy Back" fillies, to help replenish our herds.  If you purchase a Buy Back, you  get to name it and have it's photo taken with you; then it is returned to the ownership of the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company for breeding purposes.  You can visit the pony on Assateague, but you never take it home.  (It's also a great IRS tax donation write-off when April comes around.)  The lowest priced foal this year was the first sold, at $1,000; the highest was a Buy Back, now named Wings, for $20,000.  The average price paid was $4,217.00, according to the Chincoteague Chamber of Commerce.  (I had not realized that we had lost eight foals this year, and not the three that I knew of.  My apologies for not being informed.)

As usual, DSC Photography, owned and operated by Darcy and Steve Cole, of Greenbackville, Virginia were way ahead of me in getting the photos and prices of the foals together.   Please visit their usual site to see photos of the foals born this year, at:
 https://www.dscphotography.net/2018/2018-Foals

And here is the album they put together with the foals selling information:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/dscphotoESV/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2026354557693181

The Pony Auction album starts out with the first foal auctioned, and finishes with a photo of King Neptune....
     Happy viewing!!!

Also, if you are interested in the Chincoteague Pony Pedigree Database, it can be accessed at:
http://chincoteaguepedigrees.com/pedigree/pedigree.home.php

New Pony Names Information From 2018 Auction - With Photos

Still trying to match a few "look alike" foals and figure out which is really which.....  In the meantime, there ended up being 11 Buy-Back fillies and eight of them have names.  A few of the take home babies are named, too, so I'll share what I know. Of the Buy-Backs, Kachina's filly has not yet been named, and the two fillies (Black Pearl's and Whisper's) purchased by the Chincoteague Legacy Group are going through the voting process.  These are the named Buy Backs, with the designated "call name" in quotation marks:

Dreamer's Stardust  "Stardust"

By Ken, out of Dreamer's Gift

Jigsaw's Little Miss Skeeter   "Skeeter"

By Tornado's Legacy, out of Jigsaw

Miss Admiral Halsey

By Surfer's Riptide, out of  Kachina Mayli Mist

Carli Marie

By Ace's Black Tie Affair, out of Beach Baby

Serendipity

By Maverick, out of Calceti'n

Judy's Sunshine   "Wings"

By Tornado's Prince of Tides, out of Catwalk Chaos

Doc's Bay Dream

By Effie's Papa Bear, out of Doc Amrien

Wendy's Carolina Girl   "Carolina Girl"

By Maverick, out of Essie of Assateague

Three other foals with announced names: 

Maddox

By Maverick, out of Marguerite

Trigger

By Surfer's Riptide, out of Butterfly Kisses

Surfer's Stormy Eclipse  "Stormy"

By Ace's Black Tie Affair, out of CLG Surfer's Blue Moon

Freak Accident, Tragic Death

Near the end of this morning's Pony Auction at the Chincoteague Volunteer Fireman Company's Carnival Grounds, a freak accident occurred at the rear fence line.  Butterfly Kisses, a 2006 chestnut pinto mare, is the stallion Surfer's Riptide's lead mare and favorite girl in his harem.  She was in "foal-heat" this morning, and Riptide was in eager pursuit of her breeding pheromones.  Several other mares and Butterfly Kisses were running around the rear of the Carnival Grounds pasture, and Riptide was gaining ground in his pursuit.  According to eyewitnesses standing outside the fence, B Kisses tried to make an acute turn in an area where hay was scattered on the ground.  The hay was still wet with rain.  The mare's hooves flew out from under her.  She went flying, sideways, through the air - and the top of  her neck hit the fencing with a very nasty-sounding thunk.  She never moved again.  Her neck had been broken instantly.  Riptide plowed to a stop beside her and stood there, nuzzling her body and whickering to her, until the vet arrived and covered with a tarp.  Her body was removed by truck and taken to be buried on Assateague.  Then, by common consent, the Saltwater Cowboys rounded up all of Riptide's mare, along with the big man himself, and trailered them back to Assateague.  They will not make the return swim tomorrow, with fingers pointing at them. (Some people have already stated that Riptide caused Butterfly Kisses' death.)  It was a freak  accident, folks.
    On the other hand, the chestnut colt that Butterfly Kisses and Riptide produced 31 days ago was supposed to be a Fall Pick-Up.  The new owners already have Trigger at home and are bottle-feeding him, with close instructions from the attending veterinarian.

Butterfly Kisses  15 May 2006 - 26 July 2018

Riptide

Butterfly Kisses and Trigger, her 2018 colt

sired by Surfer's Riptide

Trigger being bottle-fed this afternoon

On the Carnival Grounds - Chincoteague Pony Photos

After Wednesday's swim from Assateague to Chincoteague Island, and then after being herded south on Ridge Road to Beebe Road and then north on Main to the Carnival Grounds, the ponies get to rest and sort themselves out.  For about 18 hours.  Thursday morning (today) is the Pony Auction.  There are sixty (60) foals on the Carnival Grounds at this time - and all will be sold to the highest bidder.  Two foals will go to Feather Fund girls, and either eight or ten fillies will be Buy Backs.  A Buy Back is a foal that is purchased with the right to name the foal, and to have your photo taken with it; but it is then returned to the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company to live on Assateague for the rest of it's life.  You buy the pony, but leave it behind.
   Most foals will be leaving the island for their new permanent homes. Some will be too young to separate from their mothers at this time; arrangements must be made to pick up these foals at the Fall Round-Up in October. I remember when there were set prices for the colts and fillies; recently the lowest prices have been $350 to $500 and the highest price was $25,000.  Cash, Visa and MasterCard are accepted.  No checks.
  Here are photos from the Carnival Grounds on Wednesday...

Saltwater Renegade, the Mystery colt, Bay Girl and Lyra's Vega

have had the pasture to themselves - they look surprised to see

everyone appear...

Riptide and Hoppy have a dispute

Legacy and Surfer Princess snuggle, as usual

Suzy's Sweetheart and her little escape artist

Phantom Mist's last colt and mom Daisy

Misty Mills' filly has a cat on her right shoulder, plus this Star Fleet badge

Kimmee Sue and Ken's filly has one blue eye (her left)