COTW: Busted in the OIl Patch

Everything hunky-dory in Trumpland now that the impeachment charade is almost over?  Look at this chart from WolfStreet.com:

The shale oil patch is hurting because a barrel of WTI is at $56.  Fracking is expensive extraction, and production companies need higher prices to make a profit.  The total debt involved in these bankruptcies since 2015 is $207 billion. Predictably banks, with the best collateral took the smallest losses, secured bondholders next, bondholders next, then equity owners the most.  The bust started in 2016 when WTI dropped from $100 a barrel to below $30. Historically the oil 'bidness' has been boom or bust as production chases prices, gluts the market, and then drops in response to lower prices.  Similar price action is seen in the natural gas market. The current price o $1.90/mBtu is well below everybody's break even.

Bankruptcies occur when E&P companies can no longer obtain financing to service their perennial negative cash flows or debt burden.  When these companies cut back on drilling the knock-on effect is then felt by distribution companies (pipelines) and oil field service companies.  As soon as priice go up again, investors looking for yield wil pour money back into the sector and its boom times again.  It's just how finance capitalism works.

Coronavirus Spreads

The corona virus epidemic has finally spread its way into the headlines. More toxic than the disgusting political pandering occuring in the Senate, WHO has declared a global health emergency. Russia has partially closed its 2600 mile border with China, and 170 people have died in 7,818 confirmed cases worldwide according to health officials. Wuhan, the city where the outbreak took place, has been quarantined. The infection is thought to have originated in a seafood market which also sold illegal wildlife.

The first recorded person to person transmission of the disease in the US has occurred. The infected US patient is the husband of a woman who returned to Chicago from Wuhan.  Corona viruses cause the common cold, but also cause the deadly SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome--killed 774) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome--killed 858) infections.  This outbreak appears to be a novel variety of the six known corona viruses.

With the spread of the dangerous virus, anti-Chinese sentiment has too. In a regional French newspaper the headline reads: "Yellow Alert". In Japan a hashtag reading, "ChineseDon'tComeToJapan" is trending on the Twit network. In a typically insensitive remark, a regime cabinet official told media that the Chinese disease outbreak may be a "silver lining" for US as jobs return from China.  The profit line is never out of focus for the Ferengi; by the way, gold is up [chart, left] as investors dump stocks.

Anger from residents of Wuhan has erupted over the handling of the virus outbreak.  Doctors have been assaulted at hospitals that are overflowing with patients.  Medicines are running dangerously low in central China, despite an influx of supplies from abroad.  Wuhan is eerily quiet with residents venturing out only for necessities in a city under lock down for a week.  The government has promised adequate food supplies, but as Hubei province barricades itself to prevent disease spread, food supplies may become short or non-existent.  City residents have already complained of price hikes by vendors.

America's Former Parrot

credit: J.J. Audubon, Birds of America

America once had its own, native parrot.  When European settlers arrived in the 'New World' they were greeted by a gorgeous parakeet, the Carolina parakeet ( Conuropsis carolinensis).  Its gone now, the victim of mans intrusions upon the land.  You can only see what the beautiful bird looked like, by going to the Field Museam of Natural History and watching a stuffed specimen--admittedly not the same thing as seeing a flock of brightly colored, raucous parakeets in the wild. The last captive died in the Cincinatti Zoo in 1918 and declared extinct by 1939. The earliest reference to these parrots was in 1583 by British explorers; they were later scientifically described in 1731. They had a secret weapon, apparently. John Jay Audubon reported that cats died from eating them, and they were seen eating poison cocklebur seeds, loaded with enough toxins to kill a man.

The great naturalist and artist commented as early as 1832 on the disappearance of the parrots from their deciduous forest homes of the south as settlement moved from east to west. He wrote when the parrots landed on a farmer’s field that, “they present to the eye the same effect as if a brilliantly coloured carpet had been thrown over them.” Hunting also played a major role in the parakeets' decline since their bright feathers were prized for the haberdashery trade. The birds flocking behavior facilitated their mass slaughter. Sufficient nesting sites allowed the species to persist despite extinction pressures into the 20th century. However, the birds rapidly declined in number at that point, leading some researchers to conclude that disease transmitted from poultry was the final blow that ended their life on Earth.

Modern genetics has successfully modeled the Carolina parakeet's genome from specimens and bone fragments collected by scientists and stored in museums. What was needed to patch together a complete genome for the bird was a genetically close relative.  Researchers chose a living relative, the sun parakeet of South America. Scientists have determined that America's last parakeet diverged from its southern relatives about 3 million years ago, at the time the Isthmus of Panama appeared. The genetic record shows a robust development with no in breeding and possibly two subspecies--one located in the Midwest and one centered on Florida--so whatever killed the parakeets happened in a relatively short time. No natural selection process was involved. The Carolina parakeets demise resembles the end of the dodo and the great auk, both hunted to extinction.; The Midwest subspecies crashed first, extinct by 1913.

Scientists speculate that what happened to cause the final blow by man was the transmission of disease from his poultry farms.Carolina parakeets may have been attracted to farms by the cockleburs growing there as weeds. The parakeets came into contact with chickens, and picked up a poultry disease.  No signs of bird viruses in the Carolina parakeet have been found in the genes of birds studied.  Efforts to reconstruct--successfully--the parakeet's genome may offer some hope that another species eliminated by man, could be resurrected by him. The Carolina parakeet is a candidate for this scientific prestidigitation along with the thylacine, Yangtze river dolphin, and Xerces blue butterfly.

Knowing the entire genome is step towards this possibility.  But resurrection  may not be a good use of the immense time and effort involved. More needs to be known about the birds' habitat, behavior, and the primary cause of its extinction.  Five hundred or more protein producing genes would have to be reprogrammed from the sun parakeet model.  As one scientist put the proposition, “You spend tens of millions of dollars to get a few hundred Carolina parakeets, you let them out, and then they run into a chicken and all die. Enthusiasm should not overrun ethical considerations. Is not what the tragic story of Frankenstein taught us?

'Toontime: Kabuki Time

credit:Adam Zyglis, Buffalo News
Wackydoodle sez: It ain't no lie if Trump sez it!

The House managers are making their case ad nauseum.  Even the babble heads on TV are complaining about the repetition. Despite the complete obstruction of the House investigation organized by the Tangerine Tyrant, they have amassed an impressive amount of evidence against him.  It remains to be seen if four Repugnant senators can find their spines long enough to vote for witnesses. Only in the surreal Swamp can the argument be considered serious that the case is incomplete and simultaneously claim its too late to hear them at trial after Trumpillin blocked their testimony in the House. Certainly witness credibility has become an issue in the case, and that can best be determined from live testimony.  Despite the Stalinist show trial aspects of the current proceedings, they are forcing the public to consider what they have wrought by voting a disordered, narcissist billionaire with no respect for law into the land's most powerful office.

 

 credit: Jimmy Margulies
BC Idonwanna sez: No drink--pikes standing by in cloakroom!

Murder On Fifth Avenue

Looking for another basis on which to impeach the Antichrist 'Chosen One'? Repugnants complain that the current articles do not specify a criminal offense. Not that a criminal offense is necessary under historical precedent. But it might be useful to inquire if the dime-store Mussolini made good on his boast that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue in broad daylight and get away with it. He did not kill anyone on the streets of New York City, but he definitely killed a high government official of Iran on a visit inside Iraq with an armed US drone.

US Person is not arguing whether or not Soleimani qualified as a "terrorist" as currently defined by US law. For the sake of this argument that category is granted. The killing took place in a third country, not inside Iran. If it did it could be argued that Soleimani's elimination was an act of war. Significantly the current defense secretary, Mark Esper testified at his confirmation hearings that neither the AUMF of 2001 (against those responsible for 9/11 attacks) nor the 2002 AUMF (against Saddam Hussein's regime) would legally allow military action against Iran. Thus, an attack against Soleimani inside his home country would simply have been an unauthorized act of war. Not since the Korean Conflict has Congress cared much about exercising its constitutional prerogative to declare war. And even if Soleimani was considered a terrorist, he had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks or Iraq's previous regime--in fact he was its enemy.

Killing Soleimani inside Iraq is a whole different case, because doing so is arguably a murder under current US criminal law. US Person is not alone in this conclusion. An ex-CIA lawyer, Vikki Divoli, writing at the Daily Beast thinks so, too. Let's look at Section 1116, Title 18 of the US Code. it says:

Whoever kills or attempts to kill a foreign official, official guest, or internationally protected person shall be punished as provided...[herein] “Foreign official” means—A Chief of State or the political equivalent, President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Ambassador, Foreign Minister, or other officer of Cabinet rank or above of a foreign government or the chief executive officer of an international organization, or any person who has previously served in such capacity, and any member of his family,....

This law was passed after Israeli athletes at he Olympic Games in Munich, Germany were killed by terrorists in 1972. The UN required such a law from signatories to a 1973 anti-terrorism convention. Despite what the Department of Barr may think, the US criminal code applies to everyone in the US, including Il Douche.  He has already boasted publicly about ordering the drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Soleimani, who definitely qualifies as a cabinet level foreign official of a sovereign state with which the US was not in a state of war, on a visit to a foreign country, also a sovereign state with which the US is at peace.  Now, 'bad actors'--including US citizens--have been killed with armed drones by previous presidents, Democrat and Repugnant, but never a foreign official as defined in 18 USC 1116 on foreign soil.  The penalty for premeditated murder under the Code? (This murder certainly is premeditated since Soleimani's elimination was discussed  inside the RICO that currently passes for a US administration prior to the attack.)  The penalty is appropriately, life in prison with no parole.

Baby Right Whale Injured

One of only four North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) calves spotted this breeding season was photographed with deep wounds on both sides of its head, most likely caused by propeller blades. Experts said that it is unlikely that humans can intervene to assist the wounded whale, so it will probably perish from infection. The injured calf was photographed off the Georgia coast swimming with its mother on January 8th. The S shape gashes are characteristic of propeller inflicted wounds. The coast of Georgia is a known breeding ground for wright whales. Only about 450 right whales whales survive in the North Atlantic. In the past few years whale deaths have outnumbered whale births. Every year right whales move from the warmer waters of Georgia and Florida where they give birth up the Atlantic coast to feeding grounds in the Labrador Sea. The region is subject to heavy commercial and recreational boat traffic. The baby whale's wounds are serious. One gash left a loose flap of skin that will be difficult to heal. The other gash cut its mouth and may interfere with nursing. It is estimated to be about a week old. Attempts to get near enough to help the calf would add to high stress levels already inflicted on the duo and may cause the mother to abandon her offspring. Boat strikes and entanglement are the leading cause of whale deaths.

Hug A Tree Today

Because it could be your savior.  A bill is pending in the Massachusetts legislature to ban all logging on state owned forests.  The idea is that logging destroys a valuable carbon storage, which is the best and highest use of public forest at this point in man's journey.  Allowing the natural storage of carbon in trees is a strategic option in the global effort to reduce planetary warming that has been documented as economically and ecologically beneficial.  In fact, logging contributes to CO₂ emissions through the use of motorized equipment at every stage of timber production.  A study in Oregon found logging to be the most significant contributor to carbon emissions in the state.  Not only is there active contribution to carbon emissions but the removal and conversion of long lived trees into short term wood and paper products that end up in landfills is unsustainable from a carbon budget perspective.

Logging, contrary to its proponents, is a money loosing proposition.  The industry is heavily subsidized by government.  Taxpayers loose an estimated $2 billion a year from the federal timber program on public lands managed by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.  Researchers at the Center for Sustainable Economy estimate that societal values obtained from intact forests are two to three times higher than from logged forests.  Even the regime argument that logging prevents or reduces wildfires is flawed because after a fire, the remaining fuel, such as snags and root boles continue to store carbon for decades.  It should not be necessary to remind logging lobbyists and their political handmaidens using sham arguments to protect profit, that the fire which burned down Paradise, CA occurred in a forest that had recently been logged and thinned under intensive 'management'.  So hug a tree, it is your best friend and former home.

credit: C. Briscoe
Koalas hug trees to stay cool.

'Toontime: House Painter on Trial

As the long awaited Senate trial gets under way with ceremonial hoopla (fortunately somewhat subdued compared to the monarchical Brits) the current question for the cynical US Person is: why is not Lev Parnas, who is singing like a canary in a coal mine, immediately being deposed under oath by the House investigating committees? Even if he is allowed to testify at Trumpillini's show trial, his testimony needs to be nailed down under oath, first. If the grifter lies for whatever unknown motivvations, perjury can be added to the list of felonies he is confronting in SDNY. He did after all, provide receipts. The impeachment managers are almost all lawyers and some even have federal prosecutorial experience, so what gives? Are they serious, or only providing a reality-TV show for the rubes at home? (Perhaps US Person's cynicism is caused by the spectacle of partisan hack 'Moscow Mitch' McConnell solemnly swearing to be an impartial juror while simultaneously trying to railroad an acquittal without witnesses in record time.)

The only thing perfect about Il Douche's phone call to Zelensky is that it is PERFECTLY SELF INCRIMINATING. So pile on the corroborating evidence, Adam even if it means feeding his Senate lackeys  an H. Biden nothing burger! It is not the wildly vacillating Don Veto Trumpillini on trial, but kleptocracy itself--a far cry from 'Bubba' Clinton's illicit sex acts!

credit: Ann Telnaes, Washington Post
Wackydoodle sez: Congrats on yer Donald, Comrade!

{16.01.2020} Ghouly's fellow flying monkey, the indicted Lev Parnas, is desperate to cut a deal with SDNY prosecutors, so he turned over documents with court permission concerning his efforts to do the boss' wishes in Ukraine. Needless to say, those add color to the already clear picture of Trumpilini's CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY to extort political dirt on Joe Biden. One note on Vienna's Ritz-Carlton hotel letterhead in Parnas' handwriting says, "Get Zalensky to announce Biden case will be investigated", apparently that is a contemporaneous note from a phone call with Rudy Giuliani and one more smoking gun that obliterates the 'anti-corruption' defense of the criminal conspirator-president.  In a letter R. Ghouly makes it perfectly clear he is operating as citizen Trump's personal lawyer with his knowledge and consent.  So much for the 'rogue operator' defense.  Trumpillini may continue to claim he does not know Lev Parnas, but his current defense lawyer Jay Sekulow does, because he wrote in a letter that he has discussed the representation of Parnas and Furman, with the President. King Orange's guilt gets harder to ignore or deny by the minute.

Part of the machinations of Lev Parnass and Giuliani on behalf of Trumpilini included a persistent effort to remove US Ambassador Yavonovitch, who was seen by the conspirators as an impediment to their getting what they wanted out of Ukraine.  In fact, it was the corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor general Yuri Lutsenko who was demanding her recall in return for providing dirt on the  Bidens. Yovanovitch had publicly criticized Lutsenko for his lack of anti-corruption efforts. The conspirators were willing to give Lutsenko what he wanted. Later, Yovonovitch was abruptly recalled with the State Department citing "security concerns".  Parnas' divulged text messages reveal that Yovanovitch may have been subjected to surveillance in Ukraine by a possibly mentally ill American colleague running for Congress in Connecticut who offered to get a price for her ouster*, telling Lev anything could be done for money in Ukraine.  The "drug deal" only gets weirder.

credit: Ed Wexler
BC Idonwanna sez: You plenty loco too!

*Ukraine's interior ministry announced it is investigating the possibility that the former US Ambassador was subjected to illegal surveillance while on station, a violation of the Geneva Diplomatic Convention. The Republican Party chairman in Connecticut, where Robert Hyde is one of several Republicans vying to challenge Democratic Rep. Jahana Hayes this fall, is calling on Hyde to drop out of the race. 

Jakarta is Sinking

While Australia burns and its prime minister jets to Hawaii for vacation and holds up a lump of coal in Parliament, Jakarta, the capitol of Indonesia is sinking.  The World Bank, and it should know, says Jakarta will be 16 feet underwater in just five years!  Jakarta is a city of 9.6 million inhabitants.  Subsidence coupled with the facts of rising sea level and thirteen rivers passing through the metropolis are causing the crisis.  Last August the government took the frightening step of announcing the move of the nation's capitol to Borneo, a large, mountainous island in the archipelago.  While government bureaucrats may have breathed a sigh of relief, Jakata's teeming poor do not have the luxury of simply moving away. The wealth gap in Indonesia is severe; this photo on Twitter says it all: the resort hotel on the left is elevated by several feet, the poor neighborhood on the right is inundated.  So the next time you pay attention to the idiot in the Very White House telling Greta to 'get a life' remember the picture you saw here.  Policy matters.

NEPA Under Fire

Trumpilini marches on despite his trial in the Senate for high crimes and misdemeanors. His attempt to dismantle environmental protection in the US has reached a new low with his attack on a fundamental law: NEPA.  The National Environmental Protection Act is a groundbreaking statutory scheme that has been successful in protecting habitats and iconic landscapes.  Other countries have emulated it as part of their environmental protection efforts.  Yet the tinted tyrant wants to gut its central requirement: preparation of environmental impact statements for federal development projects. His proposed changes would limit the range of projects needing an impact study and impose strict deadlines for drafting one.  The changes would also eliminate the need to analyze cumulative impacts such as planet warming consequences of more greenhouse gases. He publicly announced his attack on the law standing in front of two construction workers wearing hard hats last Thursday.  Since taking office he has proposed 95 environmental law rollbacks.  Nearly seventy lawsuits have been filed against his disruptive actions that have been successful just four times according to the New York University Law School.

Nothing compares to what Trumpillini is doing to environmetal protection in this country, exceeding even Ronald 'Raygun' in his zeal to dismantle statutes that have been in existence since Tricky Dick. The National Environmental Protection Act was signed into law by Richard Nixon after the heavily polluted Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire, and a tanker spilled three million gallons of crude off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1969. Whether the proposed changes would hold up in court is doubtful according to law experts.  NEPA requires all environmental impactsof a federal project be assessed, and that statutory requirement cannot be changed by presidential fiat.

Austraila Burning

This graphic from the International Energy Agency is not exactly a chart, but in the context of Australia burning and the denial practiced by its coal advocate Prime Minister, it is very revealing:

2016 rankings by per capita emissions

Rank	Country	CO2 emissions (per capita)
1	Saudi Arabia	16.3T
2	Australia	16.2T
3	United States	15.0T
4	Canada	14.9T
5	South Korea	11.6T
6	Russian Federation	9.9T
7	Japan	9.0T
8	Germany	8.9T
9	Poland	7.7T
10	South Africa	7.4T

The fact is that Australia is heavily coal dependent. The coal industry accounted for $47 billion of the country's exports in 2010, by far the most valuable export commodity, contributing about 50% of total export earnings and representing a major shift from agricultural exports. Mining's share of Australia's GDP is steadily growing too, and is largely contributing to an overall hot 3.1% economic growth rate. Pointing fingers at China with its huge population is not going to solve the climate crisis.

The REAL Problem with Boeing's 737 Max

No software app is going to fix Boeing's fatal 737 Max.  Why? The answer is relatively simple: it has a flawed design, a matter of physics not software. Of course the company is not going to admit that because it would have to withdraw the flawed aircraft from service at huge expense. Easier to hoodwink a captured federal agency than spend money making an airworthy jetliner.

In its rush to compete against Airbus' new short range hauler, the company decided to modify its existing workhorse 737 rather than design a new aircraft from scratch. This approach would save Boeing time and money, including retraining pilots for a totally new aircraft. Some attribute this penny-pinching approach to Boeing's takeover of McDonnell-Douglas, which caused a corporate culture shift at Boeing. One problem though: the bigger turbofan engines would not fit under the 737's low wing configuration, so the engineers moved the engine up to mid level. This allowed ground clearance, but the altered engine position on the wing made the aircraft prone to stalls on take off. The Max problems were so obvious that company employees ridiculed management and laughed at the FAA. One employee wrote during the plane's certification process, "this airplane is designed by clowns, who in turn are supervised by monkeys." Later, two 737 Max planes crashed killing hundreds of passengers. Watch this six minute video from Vox which explains the problem:



The Lion Air 610 crash, which killed 189, has been investigated by Indonesia's air safety agency. Its final report concludes that the 737 Max needs design changes among nine contributing factors including the malfunctioning automated flight attitude system (MCAS). The Max has been grounded for 10 months while Boeing attempts a work around for a fundamentally flawed planet. Dennis Muilenburg, who led Boeing during the 737 Max fiasco, was recently fired by the company. He will walk away with $62.2 million in pension and stock. Res Ipsa Loquitor.

'Toontime: The Fat Lady Has Not Sung

Breaking: Big mistake, Nancy. You had the upper hand and you gave it away because of pressure from establishment Senators within your own party. She told Chairman Nadler to be ready for transmission of the two Impeachment Articles to the Senate next week without a Senate commitment to hear witnesses.  King Orange's impeachment has been successfully reduced to Kabuki theater. Sure, Il Douche is going to claim executive privilege, what else can he do when Bolton's testimony is so damning? Bolton did not call the Ukraine extortion conspiracy a "drug deal" for nothing!

The Swamp has a curious habit of ignoring the inconveniently obvious: the Suliemani assassination was conducted for political effect. Il Douche did exactly what he accused Barrack Obama of doing in 2010--trying to start a war.  An admission of his contemptible motivation was buried in a 2200 word Wall Street Journal article:

Mr. Trump, after the strike, told associates he was under pressure to deal with Gen. Soleimani from GOP senators he views as important supporters in his coming impeachment trial in the Senate, associates said...

All of which is consistent with his dangerous diagnosis [see below]. Fortunately, the Iranian SCUDs were not accurate enough to inflict US casualties. They can do better, just ask the Saudis. Res Ipsa Loquitor.

credit: Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune 
BC Idonwana sez: ADD big problem!

{11.01.20}Now we know the assassination of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. was ordered by the Tangerine Tyrant for its disruptive and distraction effect on the impeachment process because the attempted legal, and for that mater moral, justification for killing him presented on the Hill was wholly inadequate. That is a bipartisan opinion of Senators and Representatives who were briefed on the intelligence supposedly showing a "imminent" threat from Soleimani. The regime's invocation of a force authorization to remove Saddam Hussein nearly twenty years ago is simply "ludicrous". Without doubt the impeachment process must go forward because the current incoherent occupant of the Very White House is a clear and present danger to our security, but not before all the evidence has been collected*. So far the House has gathered evidence in the face of total obstruction and directives not to cooperate by the regime, so understandably the impeachment record is incomplete.

Two legal cases concerning first-hand testimony from former White House counsel McGahn, and documents withheld from impeachment investigators are proceeding to the Supreme Court. John Bolton continues to dangle his willingness to testify about the "drug deal" pursuant to a subpoena to boost his book sales. So need hot-headed, unpatriotic US Person tell the House Intelligence Committee: issue him one ASAP!  Even as this post is written, advocacy groups like American Oversight are liberating evidence in response to FOIA litigation. Speaker Pelosi should make no move to transmit the current articles to the Senate until the record is complete.  In fact, the House should be willing to amend its current articles or even vote more articles to conform to the evidence it has obtained. Almost all Senate impeachment trials have heard witnesses, the notable exception being Clinton's where witnesses had previously testified under oath. Who has heard from Mitch Mulvaney who implemented the hold on Ukraine's military aid?  Mitch McConnell's purely partisan attempt to avoid sworn first-hand testimony and documentary evidence he knows will be adverse to his pagan god, is despicable beyond words. Stalin would have welcomed his craven maneuvering at the Soviet show trials.  'Mericans regardless of whether they think Il Douche should be removed from office, want fair due process of law.  Want to get involved in the revolution? Go to https://www.mobilize.us/s/tSTGRN.

 Who is this true man of the people?

*The diagnosis is in: malignant narcissist. A leading psychiatrist stated at a conference called to discuss Trump's mental health, "As a malignant narcissist, when threatened, Trump must reassert his dominance over the world at all costs. And to a sadistic psychopath (one component of malignant narcissism), the collateral damage is not a cost but a bonus. The WaPo reports that one reason for killing Iran's second in command was Trumpilini's fear of "appearing weak". Another prominent psychiatrist at the conference stated, "Psychologically, the important point is that this act [assassinating Soleimani] demonstrates, once again, that Donald Trump’s single goal is to benefit himself and his hold on power, regardless of the disastrous risks to follow for many Americans and others. Trump has no conscience about those other people. Indeed, if Trump does not succeed in causing a war this time, in the case of Iran, it is highly likely that he will try again before the 2020 election." We have been warned! This latest catastrophe is yet more reason for Congress to reassert is constitutional authority to wage war, which has all but been usurped by the commander in chief in the fifty years since the Vietnam Conflict.

Killing A God

credit: G. Kuching

The end of another species is in sight.  Yangtze giant softshell turtle (Rafetus swinhoei) is reduced to just three known individuals. One male is in captivity and two females are thought to exist in Vietnamese lakes.  Decades of pollution and damming have eliminated most of the giant reptile's habitat, so it may now be the rarest reptile on the planet.

Rafetus also happens to be the embodiment of a Vietnamese diety, Kim Qui.  Kim Qui plays a pivotal role in Vietnamese legend for he gave Emperor Le Loi a legendary sword with which he freed Vietnam from a thousand years of Chinese rule.  After Le Loi's liberation, Kim Qui asked for the return of the sword for his master, the Dragon King.  Le Loi, grateful to the turtle god for his help, threw the sword into the lake, which he named Hoan Kiem, or "lake of the returned sword."

A female Rafeus died in captivity at a Chinese zoo in April last year, after five attempts to artificially inseminate her.  She never recovered from anesthesia; her male partner survives. She was an estimated ninety years old at her death.  So if the species is to survive extinction, another female must be located and partnered with the male and transferred to a semi-wild enclosure in their last home, Hoan Kiem Lake.  The sex of the two wild turtles, one in Dong Mo Lake and another in Xuan Khanh Lake, are unknown.  There may be more hiding in Laos.  If a healthy female can be found and relocated to the breeding enclosure established by the Asian Turtle Program at Hoan Kiem, she could lay up to 30 to 40 eggs in one clutch, and produce more than one clutch a year.  Such a performance could turn the species away from the precipice of extinction.

picturesque Dong Mo Lake, credit:ATP

As the name suggests, the soft shell giant is a river turtle that inhabited the Yangtze and Red rivers until man's development made that habitat unsuitable.  In their natural habitat, the turtles probably migrated through the rivers and nested on sandbanks in wetlands. Surviving turtles may have become trapped in reservoirs created by dams; unable to breed freely, their population plummeted.  Dong Mo is such a reservoir; while it may be sub-optimal habitat it allowed the long-lived reptile to hang on.   This odd looking turtle with googly eyes and pig-like snout can weigh up to 485 lbs, truly a giant worthy of deification.

Villagers living near the lake see the last inhabitant two to three times a month.  They have come to accept it as "their turtle", and if they go without seeing it, they become worried.  All the villagers and fisherman know their Rafeus is rare, and are motivated to preserve it for future generations.  They have reserved parts of the reservoir as no fishing zones and named the turtle "Trong".  Trong was rescued in 2008 when a dam broke and returned home safely. The future for a rare, giant soft shell turtle worth $2000 on the black medicine market is perilous indeed.  Its fate hinges on finding a female willing and able to breed in generous captivity.  But since Rafeus is also a god of fertility and good luck, perhaps it has all the right stuff to make its resurrection a reality.

"Toontime: Impeachment Two Times

Still More: In arguments before two panels of the DC federal appeals court on Friday, House counsel affirmed that he had Speaker Nancy Pelosi's approval to state the House was willing to impeach the 'Chosen One' again, if additional incriminating material is divulged by secret grand jury testimony that the Judiciary Committee is seeking to uncover. “This is it,” Doug Letter, the lead House counsel, argued during the second half of Friday’s proceedings over the Mueller grand jury material. “There is nothing more important than determining whether the president of the United States should remain the president of the United States.” The dispute over Very White House's blanket non-compliance with congressional subpoenas goes to the essence of the coordinate branch system of federal government. Judges indicated by their pointed questioning, which lasted for hours, they understood what was at stake.

Their grilling became somewhat surreal at one point when, in response to judges' questions about other remedies beside a court order to produce, House counsel suggested the Sergeant-at-Arms could resort to force, which might precipitate a gun battle with the FBI. The House has not resorted to armed force to compel compliance since the 1930's. But with theocratic extremist William Barr in charge of federal law enforcement, such a chaotic occurrence is not beyond the realm of contemplation. So far the House has won the peaceful legal battles in the lower courts, but should the appellate court rule against the regime, the Department of Barr has vowed to take the fight to the Supreme Court where it has a conservative majority Barr believes he can count on for support.  What is it going to take for the craven sycophants to admit the 'Chosen One' is unfit to serve?  Perhaps his public threat to commit WAR CRIMES is enough to allow the fair presentation of evidence in the Senate**. Nancy should hold out until the Supremes rule.

{2/01/20} More: More damning evidence surfaced during the standoff with the Repugnant Senate over a fair trial. Unredacted communications unearthed by a security watchdog group, Just Security, shows that Pentagon officials were deeply concerned about the legality of the Tangerine Tyrant's withholding of appropriated military aid to Ukraine. An email from OMB director of security programs, Michael Duffey, to the Pentagon comptroller states bluntly: “Clear direction from POTUS to continue to hold.” Concern was rising within the government that the Tyrant's hold on aid was illegal, violating both the apportionment process and Impoundment Control Act. Il Douche only released the aid after his hold became the subject of an internal whistleblower complaint.  The documents, previously withheld from Congress as part of the regime's mob-inspired policy of omerta, show the deranged occupant of the Very White House defied almost his entire administration in an effort to obtain damaging information from Ukraine on his perceived political rival. Democrats now have even more justification to demand that witnesses appear at his impeachment trial.  Among those slated to be called are Mike Mulvaney, Michael Duffey and John Bolton, who called the Ukraine extortion conspiracy a "drug deal".  What is crucial about the illegality of the hold is that the illegality nullifies any claim a potential witness may have to executive immunity regarding discussion of the hold with Individual 1.

Just how far will the dangerously deranged occupant of the room without corners go to disrupt his impeachment? Tonight we have an answer: an act of war against Iran.

{01.01.20}US Person wrote previously {23.12.19) that the delay in transmitting the two Articles of Impeachment would work in favor of the Democratic controlled House: it's working! New evidence was publicized this week by the New York Times that the Tangerine Tyrant ignored the advice of his most senior advisors in the Oval Office to release Ukrainian military aid. He only released the aid after he was caught making the illegal impoundment of congressionally mandated funding.  The regime imposed a complete ban on any executive branch officials from testifying to House impeachment investigators--an obstruction of Congress. The Times article has bolstered arguments in the Senate that first-hand testimony and documentary evidence must be allowed at trial.  One Repugnant senator facing reelection has endorse the Democratic call for a fair trial process, which the public overwhelmingly supports. 

The Washington Post reported that Putin's Pawn has broadcasted agitprop issued by the Kremlin to the effect that Ukraine, and not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election. The WaPo writes, "In an interview with the Associated Press, the president claimed that CrowdStrike, a computer security company the DNC hired to investigate the breach of its email systems, was based in Ukraine and played some role in hiding evidence from the FBI." His repetition of the Russian propaganda line has alarmed aides inside the regime. “We spent a lot of time... trying to refute this one in the first year of the administration,” Fiona Hill, a former senior director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council, told impeachment investigators in October. At one point the useful duroc told his aides he knew Ukraine was behind the election hack because, "Putin told him so." These latest revelations further erode confidence in the man's metal fitness for office, and reveal the actual, undue influence the Russian president and former spymaster has over a US president--aka "the Chosen One"-- who is obviously mentally impaired*. Meanwhile, the Reichstag burns.

BC Idonwanna sez:  Thank you, Chuck Heston!

*773 psychiatrists and other health professionals recently signed a letter warning that, "Donald Trump has the real potential to become ever more dangerous, a threat to the safety of our nation," Whether that statement is politically motivate hyperbole or legitimate, non-partisan medical opinion is debatable, but what is remarkable is that so many practitioners felt compelled to publicly question the President's metal condition. The stated reason for their concern is, "the brittleness of his sense of worth. Any slight or criticism is experienced as a humiliation and degradation. To cope with the resultant hollow and empty feeling, he reacts with what is referred to as narcissistic rage." That rage has been amply demonstrated in his twit storms, as he rails against what he considers to be an illegitimate impeachment process. This unusual public questioning of his mental condition is in conflict with the "Goldwater rule" initiated by the American Psychiatric Association in 1993, which prohibits commenting on the mental health of public figures unless they have personally examined the subject. During the 1964 presidential campaign, there was an attempt to publicly discuss Barry Goldwater's mental fitness for office. A Yale psychiatrist who is heading the effort to warn the public, even went so far as to advocate Nancy Pelosi demand a mental health evaluation since she is a "co-worker" who might be endangered by King Orange's derangement. Clearly this claim exceeds the bounds of reasonable political discourse, and says more about the author than Il Douche.

**Recall the international outrage when the Taliban blew up the giant Buddha statues in 2001, or ISIS destroyed the ancient  temple of Baal in Syria in 2015? Doing something similar in Iran with with drones or cruise missiles makes no difference--it is still a war crime under the 1954 Hague Convention for the protection of cultural sites. The United Nations Security Council also passed unanimously a resolution in 2017 condemning the destruction of heritage sites. In terms of retaliation for the drone strike that killed the al-Quds force general Qassem Soleimani, and made him a religious martyr. Iran possesses its own advanced cruise missile, the Hoveyzeh, According to Israeli intelligence sources it can evade existing US-Israeli anti-missile defense systems by using terrain-hugging navigation system. Its range is thought to be about 1350 kilometers, more than enough to hit targets in Israel. Iran could also use such a system to hit US drone command posts in the region. The Antichrist "Chosen One" has, by his intense and racially motivated obsession to one-up his predecessor in office, put the rest of US and our allies in a terrible bind.

SE Australia Burns While Government Fiddles

a homeless koala receives first aid

It may seem a bit ridiculous to focus on the death toll of koalas as the wildfires in New South Wales and Queensland rage out of control.  Amid the human deaths and property destruction, wild habitat that was already dwindling and fragmented, is being destroyed; about 12 million acres have burned with no end soon. The iconic Australian mammal has also been devastated. An estimated one-third of their habitat north of Sydney has been destroyed and thousands of them have perished in the flames.  WWF estimated last year there were only 20,000 koalas living in the wild, and they are on course for extinction due to habitat loss by 2050.  Their plight has gotten seriously worse since the wildfires have killed about a third of them.   Human victims in Cobargo, NSW are angry at authorities for what they see as a lack of concern for their plight trying to survive in a literal hell on Earth.  Perhaps these suffering thousands should be forgiven if they believe the end times are upon them.

credit: NYT

The conservative political leadership of the nation is in a state of denial- for-profit about the impact of climate change on Australia's seasonal wildfires.  The current disaster is unprecedented in ferocity and length, primarily due to a heatwave that has broken all records, drying vegetation to incendiary levels.  Prime Minister Morrison's response to the undeniable connection between warming and wildfires is to attack environmental activists with incendiary rhetoric saying in a November speech, that there is a “new breed of radical activism” that is “apocalyptic in tone” and "brooks no compromise".  He pledged to suppress boycotts aimed at the country's coal mining industry. “We are working to identify mechanisms that can successfully outlaw these indulgent and selfish practices that threaten the livelihoods of fellow Australians, especially in rural and regional areas..." US Person thinks indulgent and selfish certainly does not describe in Morrison's lexicon the needless exploitation of wild habitat for profit that may lead to the extinction of the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus).