Sunday morning roundup

New guidance for mass attacks: fight back.

Ag-gag is a reality in more than one state. How ridiculous is it:

One of the group’s model bills, “The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act,” prohibits filming or taking pictures on livestock farms to “defame the facility or its owner.” Violators would be placed on a “terrorist registry.” 

I guess that Orwellian bull$hit is easier than treating animals humanely?

Pesticides--specifically neonicotinoids--are killing bees and that's really not good.

I loved Bill Hayes' moving, beautifully-written essay about finding solace in nature (specifically, in trees). It reminded me of that line, of which I think often, in the Indigo Girls' "Thin Line"

Thought the time was passed when I could find beauty in the birds. 

That, in turn, reminded me of Jonathan Franzen's essay about birdwatching (specifically, after the death of his friend David Foster Wallace). I excerpted what to me was the most home-hitting part here.

Speaking of poignant and well written, Hisham Matar's "The Return" (sadly, subscription only in The New Yorker) is a must-read. Just, wow.