#colorado extreme

[bobyram]

one of my favourite things about the avs social media videos is that someone will always find a way to call landy hot whenever he’s brought into the conversation

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Christopher Wiggins at The Advocate:

Colorado officials, including the state’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis, who is gay, are countering a claim by Gays Against Groomers, an extremist group, that Polis supports their mission. The group, known for spreading harmful disinformation about the LGBTQ+ community, particularly transgender people, falsely claimed on social media that the governor had publicly recognized their work to “protect children” from the so-called “grooming” they accuse LGBTQ+ people of perpetrating.

On Monday evening, Gays Against Groomers posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Gays Against Groomers would like to thank Colorado Governor @jaredpolis for his public recognition for our hard work in protecting children across the state. It means so much to us. We are just getting started!” Accompanying the post was an image of what appeared to be an official state document bearing the Colorado seal and claiming that Polis had flown a flag over the Capitol in their honor. The document read, “This accompanying Colorado State Flag was flown at the Colorado State Capitol Building on October 1st, 2024, by authorization of Governor Jared Polis in honor of Gays Against Groomers. The people of Colorado present this flag to Gays Against Groomers with thanks and recognition for all their work to protect children.”

Jaimee Michell, the group’s founder, further amplified the false claim by writing, “So amazing. And Governor Polis is a Democrat, no less! To everyone who says we are far right, you are sorely mistaken. Protecting children is not a partisan issue. It is a moral one.”

The claim is entirely false, according to Colorado officials. The controversy stems from Gays Against Groomers’ use of Colorado’s Ceremonial Flag program. This program allows individuals and organizations to request that flags be flown over the State Capitol. However, the Department of Personnel and Administration, which oversees the program, did not vet the request appropriately. Within 90 minutes of The Advocate reaching out to the DPA for comment Tuesday morning, the Ceremonial Flag request program webpage was taken down, with a notice saying the form was “temporarily down.”

[...]

LGBTQ+ advocates and organizations denounced the extremist group’s deception. One Colorado, an advocacy organization for LGBTQ+ rights, called the group out in a statement sent to The Advocate.

"One Colorado strongly condemns the deceptive actions of Gays Against Groomers (GAG), who continue to misrepresent themselves as a supportive LGBTQIA+ group. This behavior reveals a profound lack of integrity and undermines the values of honesty and transparency that we uphold," the statement read. "It is crucial to recognize that Gays Against Groomers is an extremist group that seeks to invalidate and erase transgender individuals through harmful tactics. Their statements should not be taken seriously." One Colorado emphasized that GAG consistently spreads misinformation about gender-expansive people and gender-affirming care, putting youth at risk. "The true threat to children comes from groups that claim to protect them while actively working to dismantle decades of progress achieved by the LGBTQIA+ community," the statement continued. The organization also highlighted Gov. Polis’s longstanding support for the transgender community, including his issuance of a proclamation for Transgender Day of Visibility in March 2024. “We have reached out to the Governor’s office for clarity on this situation,” One Colorado added.

Gays Against Groomers, founded in 2022, has gained notoriety for promoting dangerous and false reports about the LGBTQ+ community. The group has equated gender-affirming care with pedophilia and repeatedly targeted LGBTQ+ people, including educators, healthcare providers, and drag performers, labeling them “groomers.” Following the 2022 mass shooting at Colorado Springs’ Club Q, Michell claimed such tragedies would continue “until we end this evil agenda” of gender-affirming care. Both the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center have designated Gays Against Groomers as an extremist group. According to the ADL, GAG spreads “dangerous and misleading narratives” about the LGBTQ+ community and engages in harassment campaigns that fuel real-world violence. The SPLC further notes that GAG’s rhetoric aligns with far-right extremist ideologies and has helped incite violent actions, including attacks on LGBTQ+ spaces and events.

Anti-LGBTQ+ far-right hate group Gays Against Groomers falsely claims that gay Democratic Colorado Governor Jared Polis supports their agenda.

[stealth-science]

There was a nice looking tornado on the north side of town today.

[boxwinebaddie]

i am so sorry about this, but for iconic and comedic purposes, and because i think it is my only chance...i think because put jk in all the clean, sleek, minimalistic dark academia fits ( and made him the fkn scariest top dom motherfucker alive >.> ) and put rm!stan as raven in all the thotty gothy hot topic rockstar boy looks ( ilu tiny pants ) ...

i think it's only fair that...

my bitchy, ginger, picky snobby ricky bobby ken doll son, AKA, red hot tire siren, toxic orange pit viper and mean green newjay devil -- who wears more comme de garcons/moshino than prada, imo -- espn celebpretty sh(it) boy, twitter's favorite #cred#head, /my/ precious daytona 500 winning pookie ( dirtbag ) and the #supreme tmz trashed-and-slated nastyboy of nascar racing, the one, the only...

Kyle 'Break Check!' Broflovski <3

should get to wear all the dramatic af, xxxtreme sportyspice, ubergay nightmarish perish hilton, twinky talladega nights, white #trashion, vodka&redheadbull, apple bottom jeans boots w the fur club fits <3

( also just for shits and gigs, pls note: toolshed stan is a super casual, fashionably challenged but unbothered old carhartt beanie, oversized flannel n beat up work boot wearin king...so i'm laaugghingsdk )

like...i am sorry, but this is the right answer:

[stuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu]

@annieqattheperipheral

Here are some of the scrapped logo designs for the team.

I can go into the story a little deeper if anyone wants, but the gist of it is that they were originally going to name the team Rocky Mountain Extreme, but when the public found out, there was such an outpouring of hate, that the owners did a hard 180 and instead did a poll of possible names.

In the fan poll, which included names such as Avalanche, Black Bears, Cougars, Outlaws, Rapids, Renegades, Storm, and Wranglers, the name Cougars ended up winning.

But the owners had the last say, and Avalanche ended being the golden name. It was a very unique name at the time since it was in reference to the dangerous snow slides that can happen in the mountainous area of Colorado.

And that’s how the Colorado Avalanche as we know them came to be.

Though it’s quite a shame that the Quebec Nordiques got sold since they were about to have a kind of sick rebrand.

[aurademortt]

[c-suvroc]

I-70 to Idaho Springs, Colorado.

March 2024

[alister312]

friendship beach vacation :)

[ivorysorrows]

I absolutely need to make the woods around my cottage even more sinister

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:

On Monday, Protect Kids Colorado announced at a sparsely attended press conference that all its anti-transgender ballot initiatives failed to meet the signature requirements to appear on the 2024 ballot. The initiatives included a forced outing bill and a transgender sports ban, as well as previously failed measures such as banning gender-affirming care for trans youth. Colorado joins a series of states where anti-trans ballot initiatives have failed to meet the ballot signature requirements, indicating potential fatigue on the issue among conservative voters.

"We are striving to make Colorado a safer place to live for families and children. Despite falling short of the required signatures to make the 2024 ballot, we consider this ballot initiative effort a major success," the group announced to a handful of people carrying signs. The only video of the press conference appeared on a small YouTube account titled "1A Media," which briefly panned to show only two other people attending. The group was responsible for two ballot initiatives approved for signature collection. The first, titled “Parental Notification of Gender Incongruence,” would have required public school employees to notify parents of any observed gender incongruence among students, effectively instituting a "forced outing" policy. The second, titled “Public Athletics Programs For Minors,” aimed to bar transgender individuals from participating in sports according to their gender identity. Other initiatives, such as “Prohibit Certain Medical Procedures For Minors,” which sought to ban gender-affirming care in the state, had failed earlier in the process.

The initiatives were heavily promoted by SPLC-designated hate groups and anti-transgender activists. Riley Gaines, for instance, called on "parents, coaches, spiritual leaders" to support the initiative effort on the Protect Kids California channel. Chloe Cole, who had pushed a similar failed initiative in California, also boosted the organization on her Twitter account. Gays Against Groomers Colorado posted the most widely viewed announcement, stating, "Although we were not successful in this round to get these issues onto the ballot, we were successful in educating Colorado voters about what is happening to children and motivating parents to become involved." Anti-transgender ballot initiatives, once touted by influential activists as the next front in targeting transgender people, have faced significant setbacks in recent months. In Arizona, Republican Senator Ken Bennett cast the deciding vote against a ballot referendum that would have banned transgender youth from using bathrooms matching their gender identity. He expressed concerns about the constitutionality of the bill and mentioned in a separate hearing that he had family members who would be affected. Had he voted in favor of the bill, the question would have appeared on the 2024 ballot.

Good news: Anti-trans ballot measures fail to make the ballot in Colorado.

The two that were rejected were a forced outing and a ban on trans sports in genders matching their gender identity instead of gender assigned at birth.

A gender-affirming care ban was rejected at an earlier stage.

[thechembow]

From Rain to Snow in SoCal Mountains

Feb. 6, 2024

We're expecting snow for the next few days. We've hardly had a break from precipitation in Cailfornia and we are now seeing the biggest results of the Denver gifting trip three months later. The point of that trip was to enhance the winter precipitation and it worked. I was expecting more snow than rain, but gridding Albuquerque and Tucson following Denver has brought more moisture from the south.

We have had a lot more rain in the mountains that we've seen in eight years here, even at normally dry times, like January. There has been a lot of snow too, but temperatures have been hovering around freezing, so we've had a mix lately and not much accumulation below 6000 feet. That is changing tonight. Last night's snow melted off, but for the next few days, temperatures should be cold enough at lower elevations for several inches of accumulation. We have a Winter Storm Warning in effect in northern Ventura and Kern County mountains.

I expect that when we tackle a northern city again, we will see more snow returning. Our eyes on on Idaho, a western state we have not gifted yet. Gridding Boise will have a major impact as just about everything to the west of it has already been done. Reno still needs a grid, having only been gifted along freeways. Our work in California is almost complete, with only a little filling in here and there. We have been gridding California, including all the cities, for eight years. Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico are thoroughly gridded, but we will still do more. Our first west of the Rockies gifting (and through the Rockies gifting) other than Santa Fe in 2018 was Denver in October 2023.

Precipitation for the next seven days. Everyone is getting some!

[thegayestpossum]

I’m feeling so conflicted over a job I haven’t even interviewed for yet

[aurademortt]

🩸 My Instagram is Cardaver Art 🩸 go and give me some support!

[quaranmine]

watching adventure archive's most recent video, right after watching their yellowstone video, and i'm starting to piece together in my head that perhaps a years worth of watching their videos and Yearning has also contributed greatly to me writing firewatch au

[christanbrowneyedgirl]

In Colorado I once saw a lovely little fox trotting casually along the wall by the side of the road. Both of us heading to the same little expensive-not-worth-it CVS with its trash honey and good chapstick.

look at me. listen to me. this is directed at americans for the record. the reason you think North American animals are boring is because you live here. there are so many cool and beautiful animals here. we have beavers. we have wolves. we have moose. we have sea lions. we have armadillos. we have mountain lions. we have alligators. we have foxes. we have bighorn sheep. we have manatees. we have bears. we have ocelots. we have BISON. and that’s not even touching on the birds! or the turtles! or the snakes! we have amazing beautiful and diverse wildlife right here and it deserves to be appreciated and protected

[reasonsforhope]

"Once thought to be extinct, black-footed ferrets are the only ferret native to North America, and are making a comeback, thanks to the tireless efforts of conservationists.

Captive breeding, habitat restoration, and wildlife reintegration have all played a major role in bringing populations into the hundreds after near total extinction.

But one other key development has been genetic cloning.

In April [2024], the United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced the cloning of two black-footed ferrets from preserved tissue samples, the second and third ferret clones in history, following the birth of the first clone in December 2020. 

Cloning is a tactic to preserve the health of species, as all living black-footed ferrets come from just seven wild-caught descendants.  This means their genetic diversity is extremely limited and opens them up to greater risks of disease and genetic abnormalities. 

Now, a new breakthrough has been made.

Antonia, a black-footed ferret cloned from the DNA of a ferret that lived in the 1980s has successfully birthed two healthy kits of her own: Sibert and Red Cloud.

These babies mark the first successful live births from a cloned endangered species — and is a milestone for the country’s ferret recovery program.

The kits are now three months old, and mother Antonia is helping to raise them — and expand their gene pool.

In fact, Antonia’s offspring have three times the genetic diversity of any other living ferrets that have come from the original seven ancestors.

Researchers believe that expanded genetic diversity could help grow the ferrets’ population and help prime them to recover from ongoing diseases that have been massively detrimental to the species, including sylvatic plague and canine distemper. 

“The successful breeding and subsequent birth of Antonia's kits marks a major milestone in endangered species conservation,” said Paul Marinari, senior curator at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. 

“The many partners in the Black-footed Ferret Recovery Program continue their innovative and inspirational efforts to save this species and be a model for other conservation programs across the globe.”

Antonia actually gave birth to three kits, after mating with Urchin, a 3-year-old male ferret. One of the three kits passed away shortly after birth, but one male and one female are in good health and meeting developmental milestones, according to the Smithsonian.

Mom and babies will remain at the facility for further research, with no plans to release them into the wild.

According to the Colorado Sun, another cloned ferret, Noreen, is also a potential mom in the cloning-breeding program. The original cloned ferret, Elizabeth Ann, is doing well at the recovery program in Colorado, but does not have the capabilities to breed. 

Antonia, who was cloned using the DNA of a black-footed ferret named Willa, has now solidified Willa’s place as the eighth founding ancestor of all current living ferrets.

“By doing this, we’ve actually added an eighth founder,” said Tina Jackson, black-footed ferret recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in an interview with the Colorado Sun. 

“And in some ways that may not sound like a lot, but in this genetic world, that is huge.”

Along with the USFWS and Smithsonian, conservation organization Revive & Restore has also enabled the use of biotechnologies in conservation practice. Co-founder and executive director Ryan Phelan is thrilled to welcome these two new kits to the black-footed ferret family.

“For the first time, we can definitively say that cloning contributed meaningful genetic variation back into a breeding population,” he said in a statement.

“As these kits move forward in the breeding program, the impact of this work will multiply, building a more robust and resilient population over time.”"

-via GoodGoodGood, November 4, 2024