Kavaan Sentenced to Freedom

Update: Kavaan, the lonely elephant who has spent 35 years in captivity at an Islamabad zoo, was loaded into a Russian cargo jet today for a flight to his new life in a Cambodian elephant refuge where he will enjoy the company of other Asian elephants. Kavaan was slowly cajoled into entering his transportation crate backwards during the night. His jet is scheduled to leave on Monday for Cambodia. Kavaan was seriously overweight from a diet of 550 lbs of sugar cane. He was put on a diet and lost one thousand pounds over the past three months. The Asian elephant ladies awaiting his arrival should appreciate his new figure. His foot condition caused by confinement with chains will require more treatment in Cambodia.

Kavaan lost his mate, Saheli, in 2012. She developed a small food infection that went untreated ending in gangreen. Kavaan suffered from the lost, exhibiting stereotypical behaviors of boredom and misery. Celebrity Cher contributed to rescuing Kavaan through her non-profit Four Paws. A documentary is being made of Kavaan's journey to freedom.

Mara in the zoo

Further: Readers of the post below about the imprisoned Asian elephant Kavaan, are probably wondering how US Person expects a poor nation like Pakistan to move a full grown bull elephant to Cambodia, four thousand kilometers away during a pandemic? The answer is: very carefully by air. It is not an impossible task--case in point--the relocation of Mara, a fifty year old female Asian elephant from the Buenos Aires zoo to a sanctuary in Brazil. The border between Brazil and Argentina was closed in early May when Mara arrived by truck en route to the sanctuary 1700 miles from her prison in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires.

The zoo was the height of fashion in 1904 when an elephant enclosure was built to resemble a Hindu temple. [photo] Mara had been imprisoned in the small enclosure with two African elephants for two decades. Mara did not get along with a different a race, a problem that should be familiar to humans.  Keepers were forced to alternate exhibiting Mara outside; when the African elephants were outside, Mara was forced to stand for extended periods in a cage.   Before that she performed in a circus, where she killed one of her captors.  She was an unhappy elephant exhibiting stereotypical swaying of distress.

Mara's salvation began when the city took over running the zoo and began rethinking the concept of keeping exotic animals in captivity in response to citizens' protests. Twenty-five hundred animals were confined in just 42 acres in 2016. Planners decided to replace the zoo with an "ecopark" where residents could learn about conservation and interact with indigenous animals being rehabilitated for release to the wild. Just two years before, Argentina became one of the first nations to recognize the person-hood of a great ape, Sandra, who also lived at the zoo.  The massive logistic hurdles were eventually overcome, and by spring of this year 861 animals had been relocated to sanctuaries.

Understandably Mara's international movement to the Mato Grasso sanctuary required a mound of paperwork, including an investigation into Mara's previous life.  She had grown up in an Indian work camp and was purchased by the Tejidor family, circus owners, from a Hamburg zoo.  The unfortunate Mara had spent her entire life in captivity.  Despite great perseverance in coordinating her translocation to Brazil, her human guardians were thwarted by the pandemic.  Argentina imposed one of the strictest lockdowns on Earth.  Fortunately authorities were eager to make Mara's move possible.  The arduous journey 1700 journey exhausted Mara, but she survived the final forty miles of rough road to the trees, grass, and open space of the sanctuary.  She bonded quickly with another Asia elephant, Rana, after being starved of company during many years of isolation.  Freedom was a long time coming for Mara, but she is in a much better place now.  GREEN KUDOS to Buenos Aires!

{04.08.20} Prison reformers think that incarceration in a "supermax" prison where inmates  are confined to their cells for 23 hours a day, is like being buried alive. Prisoners are literally driven insane by the endless confinement. Imprisonment for elephants, a highly intelligent and social animal is has similar psychological effects which can be observed in their daily behaviors. There is fantastic news for one imprisoned male elephant whose only crime is being an elephant. Kaavan, Sri Lankan elephant given to the Islamabad Zoo thirty five years ago is to be set free from his sterile condition and sent to a Cambodian refuge where he can roam free with other rescued elephants. The Islamabad High Court ruled on May 22nd that Kaavan be relocated to Cambodia. Pakistan does not have such a facility, so the authorities chose the elephant sanctuary abroad. Kaavan was given to Pakistan by Sri Lanka as a gift to strengthen bilateral relations in 1985 without considering the effects of captivity or the elephant's right to live freely.

credit: D. Jayantha

Kavaan got a mate in 1990, but Saheli died in 2012. Since then Kavann has been alone in his cell. He began to exhibit symptoms of boredom, lethargy, stress, and later showing no respect for authority, aggression. This development caused his keepers to further restrict his movements by chaining him. Animal welfare experts have complained about treatment of captive elephants as they often experience mistreatment at the hands of their captors. Kavaan imprisonment captured worldwide attention. Animal rights activist, including the celebrity Cher, campaigned for his release beginning in 2016. A petition for his release gained 400,000 signatures. The court's decision delighted elephant advocates.

Transferring Kavaan to a foreign country will undoubtedly be very stressful for the thirty-five year old; his relocation must be handled with utmost care and respect.  But the benefits to Kavaan being able to move freely and socialize with others of his kind are immeasurable.  A Sri Lankan biologist who studies elephant social behavior says putting an elephant in captivity is like putting humans in solitary confinement indefinitely.  "Deprivation of social interactions is a form of trauma, or one might even say torture.”  Although bull elephants are more solitary than females, they still need relationships with other elephants.  Elephants have long played a central role in Sri Lakan culture, but despite their importance to humans, they are often trained with cruel beating and stabbing with sharp ankus, or bull hooks.  Sri Lanka holds the world's record for the highest number of annual Asian elephant deaths.  Recently an old, emaciated and sick elephant, Tikiri, was forced to parade in a religious pageant until she fell dead.  May Tikiri rest with her kin in peace.

'Toontime: Still Losing

credit: P. Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune; Wackydoodle sez: Aliens voted twice!

Trumpillini had to pay 3+ million for the Wisconsin recount in the vain hope he could collect more votes and perhaps flip the state. Of course that hope is delusional, but it won't stop the narcissist-in-chief from formenting a false narrative that the election was stolen by November Criminals. In fact, the Milwaukee recount ended with Biden collecting 132 more votes than the original canvass. At least Killer has told reporters that he would leave the White House if the College confirms the popular vote on January 6th (in his typical inflammatory fashion, he backtracked on that statement). Until then he will continue to rant on-line, to the media, and bring his anti-democratic attempt to disenfranchise millions of Americans all the way to a packed conservative Supreme Court. This propaganda campaign is a profound disservice to the nation's political integrity. The for-profit press bears some responsibilty by obsessively repeating his deranged propaganda.

US COVID DEATHS (est.): 281,000

Pebble Mine Denied Corps Permit

The Army Corp of Engineers denied a clean water permit for the proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay Alaska. The denial was a reversal of a previous finding tha the proposed open pit copper and gold mine would not adversely affect the salmon fishing industry in the area. The decision is likely a lethal blow to the project which has survived two administrations and reversals of fortune. Owner Pebble Partnership said it would appeal the discharge permit denial. A salmon industry spokesman said, “Sometimes a project is so bad, so indefensible, that the politics fall to the wayside and we get the right decision. That is what happened today,” Environmental groups now want the Biden administration to impose permanent protection for the Bristol Bay watershed after its fate being legally whip-sawed for a decade. Joe Biden has said he opposses the project, since the sallmon runs that supply half of the world's sockeye salmon are incompatible with a mine discharging toxic wastes. Alaska's Repugnant congressional delegation largely applauded the decision. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in a statement, it was “the wrong mine in the wrong place.” Her opposition became clear this summer after tapes were released in which the Pebble CEO can be heard bragging about his close relationship with government officials.

Creature Feature: This Squirrel is Having a Happy Thanksgiving!

Steady on! Ferrmenting pear gave this backyard denizen some holidaze cheer. Obviously enjoying his one-squirrel party, he was fine the next day, coming back for a hangover breakfast. Happy Thanksgiving!

Australia's most iconic animal after the kangaroo, the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), [photo credit: Reuters] is losing its habitat at a threatening rate. The animal is one of five living monotremes--mammals which lay eggs--making it an archaic evolutionary form. It is one of the few mammals that is venomous. Males have a spur on their back legs that can deliver an excruciatingly painful wound to humans. Platypus habitat in Australia has shrunk by 22% says new research, causing scientists and Australian conservation organizations to call for listing as a threatened species under national laws. Research has found that since 1990 suitable habitat has declined by an area almost three times the size of Tasmania.

Platypus are crepuscular, elusive, and there has been no long term monitoring of their populations making quantification of their decline possible. New South Wales and Queensland apparently have the sharpest population declines. The animal is thought to be extinct in South Australia. Victoria's state scientific advisory board has recently recommended an official listing of vulnerable for the platypus. In some areas affected by bushfires, palypuses have never returned. Being aquatic, they are affected by degraded water quality and flow diminution caused by human development and drought.

Australia's current federal government is considering amending the nation's environmental laws to allow more state and territorial approval powers. Greens and Labour have called the proposed changes a "sham". A report on the failures of Australia's environmental laws by the Australian Conservation Foundation was given to the government last month, but the proposed legislation does nothing to address key failures of national environmental law according to the report's chair. Government records show the proposed devolution of power to states was decided before the conservation report was submitted. The Abbott government has a standing policy of "streamlining" regulation similar to the discredited, anti-science Trump regime in the US.

'Toontime: The Loser Will Return

credit KAL, Counterpoint.com

So, from now until January 20th when the US Marshalls and Secret Service escort him from the Room Without Corners, we all live in Trumplandia, a sickening carnival ride of mendacity, reality-TV, and authoritarian ineptitude* while a quarter million fellow citizens are laid to rest. Starring, who else, 'Killer Trumpillini' and his legion of pettifoggers headed by his favorite flying monkey, Rudy 'Gouly'--neither of whom has any shame, or respect for democratic process.   US Person feels for Joe, tasked with herding cats in an attempt to bring some unity and civility back to our beleaguered political process. The best thing we can do is help Joe by taking back control of the Senate, otherwise his administration will be a four year exercise in frustration. The other to-do item is prosecution of the Antichrist, otherwise he will be back in 2024, like another re-run of "I love Lucy". All caps for Killer: YOU LOST THE ELECTION!--time to get out of Dodge.

credit: J. Danzinger, Rutland Herald; Wackydoodle sez: It was a lot easier going down!

 

*The latest wing-nuttery to emerge from the fevered legal brains on the extreme right, is an  unsupported conspiracy allegation rivaling Hillary's "vast right-wing conspiracy" claim she made in defense of her husband. Roughly it argues the electronic voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems were rigged using a secret algorithm controlled remotely by Democrats from Germany and Venezuela that caused votes to be switched. This incomprehensible story features leading roles by George Soros, Antifa, the media, and the dead Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez, and is especially favored by the current delusional White House occupant and Q ANON. US does not mean to be RUDE, but why not throw in Pope Francis and the Illuminati, Sydney, since you covered everybody else? Absurd--you bet! Election officials all over the country have publicly stated there is no evidence of electronic vote switching. The facts keep getting in the way of Killer's attempted coup. 

Has it happened before that a state legislature sends its own slate of electors to Congress for counting? Yes, 1876, when Republican Rutherford B. Hayes won a contested election in Congress over Democrat Tilden by one electoral vote.  It took a Congressional commission and a political deal to end Reconstruction to decide the election. All of this mess led to the Electoral Count Act of 1887, which provides that when a state certifies an alternative slate of electors, Congress decides which votes to count. As US Person recalls, Oregon was one of three states in which two slates of Electors were sent to Congress.  Under Section Two of the title governing failed elections, state legislators may choose a slate of Electors when the election "fails to make a choice.", originally meant to apply to a specific situation.  electors must win with a majority, not a mere plurality. However, It could be argued that massive vote fraud could be a  reason for invalidating an election outcome. But here Trump is out of luck; in the case of the 2020 election the results are unequivocal and fair by all rational accounts. Biden won swing states handily, and these states have previously decided by law to chose their Electors according to the state's popular vote. The close Florida vote in 2000, is simply a factually different case.

The last nail in this sorry saga many have been driven home when Michigan GOP legislators invited to the VWH on Friday, told the Antichrist that they had to follow the law, not his wishes. The best way to prevent this psycho-drama from happening repeatedly is to get rid of the anachronistic Electoral College. Full stop.
 

His loss is finally sinking in....

Florida's Reefs Are Dying

mostly dead elkhorn thicket, Looe Key, FL; credit:K, Nedimyer

A new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Maryland say that only 2% of Florida's reef system remains in tact. Analyzing data from 2012 to 2018, the report characterizes the outlook for living coral reef as "dire". The report concludes that climate change causing ocean warming and acidification is the major cause of coral die-offs. Coral reefs are widely considered to be the most diverse marine environment, responsible for supporting over 25% of marine life. Along the populated Florida coast pollution and over-development are additional stressors leading to unhealthy corals. What corals remain are types marine scientists refer to as "weedy" species that are resilient, but are not stony coral, the major reef builders important to bio- diversity. 

Last year NOAA announced a plan to revitalize seven reef sites arouind Floriad in a decades long effort to preserve some of what remains. The "Iconic Reefs" project calls for restoring nearly three million square feet of the Florida Reef Tract, about the size of 62 football fields. Growing corals in the laboratory and transplanting them in Nature has proved successful over the past fifteen years. The project will escalate these techniques to large-scale replanting. In the first phase, efforts will focus on transplanting elkhorn and staghorn corals that are fast growing, and remove invasive species like algae and snails while reintroducing sea urchins and crabs that help keep reefs cleand and healthy. The initial goal is to grow coral cover from 2% to 15% . The project's second phase will focus on slowing growing foundational species propagated from surviving or rescued colonies with the goal of establishing self-sustaining colonies that return coral cover to its historic 25% level.

Healthy coral reefs are not just visually stunning, but have economic value. Florida's reefs are estimated to be worth $8 million to the state's economy and are are responsible for 70,000 local jobs. Scientist have been studying ways to replant reefs that are damaged from ship strikes and storms. There is hope that the same techniques can be used to replace corals killed by climate change. Legislation was introduced into Congress last year, the Restoring Resilient Reefs Act, sponsored by legislators from Florida and Hawaii, to establish a national task force and set strategies for reef restoration. Experts do not think restoration of corals to pre-industrial levels is possbile, but do think restoration and management efforts can buy time for corals to adapt to new environmental conditions.

Discredited Regime Seeks Revenge for Historic Defeat

In a move that is a slap to the face of the incoming administration of Joe Biden, 'Killer' announced he is ready to sell oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). [photo: C. Miller] The oil industry has struggled for decades to obtain drilling rights to the Refuge, the last wild sanctuary on the North Slope of Alaska. Joe Biden said he was against opening the refuge to oil and gas exploitation, so his administration would have to try and void any leases after the fact should the sale occur just before Inauguration Day on January 20th. The Federal Register, Washington's official bulletin for legal announcements, published a call for nominations on Monday that allows oil companies can designate which tracts they are interested in developing. Final sales could occur as soon as a comment period of thirty days has elapsed. Biden's administration could refuse to issue leases on the grounds that the scientific underpinnings for the sale are flawed, an allegation supported by environmental groups. The pristine Refuge is home to polar bears and caribou among other species. Conservation allies successfully resisted industry efforts to open the sanctuary to development until 2017 when Repugnants in Congress threw down the gates to Area 1002, the coastal plain within ANWR. Although some insiders believe that ANWR is not that valuable from a commercial standpoint. Five of the six major U.S. banks--Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo-- are among the two dozen financial institutions around the world that have announced they will not fund any new oil and gas development in the Arctic Refuge.

Only one exploratory well has been drilled there, and its results were disappointing. According to one lawyer involved in litigation by shareholders of Standard of Ohio who wanted a valuation of the company's share in the KIC-1 well, "the discovery well was worthless". Well data was a closely guarded secret. Estimates of oil reserves beneath the Refuge are based on 1980's and older seismic data. Estimates as high as 12 billion barrels have been touted, . In 2008 the Energy Information Agency estimated the recoverable reserves at 4.3 billion barrels, only enough to supply the United States for six months. Industry personnel are quick to point out that one "tight hole" does not mean an area the size of South Carolina does not contain commercial deposits. They totally ignore the value of biological diversity that lives there, which would be severely impacted by oil and gas development. Use your voice because it matters, as the recent election reminded us. Submit a comment opposing lease sales in ANWR.

the dolchstoss by the November Criminals begins....

Michigan Shuts Pipeline to Protect Great Lakes

Michigan's Democratic Governor, Grethcen Whitmer took action to shut down the Enbridge Line 5 oil and gas pipelines under the Mackinac Straits, which connects Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. The state informed the Canadian fosssil fuel giant that jthe 1953 easement was being revoked. It gave the company until May 1st to cease operations. Whitmer cited structural problems with the aging pipeline that the company has not addressed. That failure has "imposed on the people of Michigan an unacceptable risk of a catastrophic oil spill in the Great Lakes that could devastate our economy and way of life." 

Enbridge has a history of environmental neglect. It was responsible for one of the largest inland spills in US history when one its pipes broke, fouling 38 miles of the Kalamazoo River. The spill took four years and more than $1 billion to clean up. The company settled with the EPA and DOJ for $177 million, including $62 million in penalties. The action to revoke Enbridge's easement drew praise from environmental activists, indigenous people, and politicians. Newly re-elected Senator Gary Peters (D) said a rupture of Line 5 in the Straits would be catastrophic, and have "long-term consequences to the economic and environmental health of Michigan and the Great Lakes", referring to the Kalamazoo River spill.

'Toontime: The First Reich

credit: Rogers @ Daily Kos

"Killer's" delusional antics inside the Very White House are doing damage to the transitional process in the Swamp, and public perception of electoral integrity. Biden will get no cooperation from His Petulance before January 20th when he is sworn in as #46. It is even doubtful the Electoral College vote in December will make any difference to an unstable narcissist who is willing to sacrifice his nation's fragile democracy in an effort to remain in office no matter what. The man is still claiming he won 28 states, when the latest result from Arizona, a state he lost, is that Biden won by 11,000 votes. Biden is on track to win 306 electoral votes (Georgia has been called by major media for Biden-Harris) in an election that officials have declared clean and secure. Thanks to mail in voting participation was enormous, the highest in a century. US Person says the odds are 6 to 5 the Antichrist will have to be evicted by federal agents from 1600 Pennsylvania NW as part of his persecuted martyr theater of the bizarre. Perhaps more disgusting than his politically motivated psycho-drama are the Repugnant enablers who refuse to call on him to concede and reaffirm Biden's win.

  

The Antichrist cons again....

US COVID-19 DEATHS (est.): 252,884 

COTW: Emissions by Sector

The chart shows clearly that energy production and use is responsible for almost three-quarters of the world's carbon emission. Simply put, the planet must become more energy efficient and use sustainable methods of energy production if it hopes to avoid the worse consequences of anthropomorphic climate change. Burning fossil fuels must be largely phased out in favor of wind, solar, geothermal and other alternative energy sources. The effects of global warming are increasingly apparent if you are deliberately ignorant for reasons of profit: meterologists have run out of hurricane names, and are up to Eta in the Greek alphabet. The fire season in the west has been the most destructive in living memory. The Arctic icecap is melting so fast that extraction companies are lining up to mine Greenland's ore deposits. So Joe is absolutely right when he says that oil and gas are polluting and that we must transition to a sustainable energy future. Left or right, we all live on the same planet and the delusional lemmings have to be ignored. It is not 'socialism', it is survival.

VOTE FOR A UNITED CONGRESS!

Murder Hornets Sucked Into Oblivion

More: Washington state agricultural officials destroyed the Whatcom County nest of 'murder' hornets just in time, a post mortem of the nest determined. It was the size of a basketball, and inside researchers found 76 virgin queen hornets and 108 pupae, nearly all queens. Queen hornets mate and then leave the next to establish new colonies. So, destroying this nest came just in time to stop further spread of the lethal insects. Scientists think other colonies are already established in the county. Neighboring British Columbia also harbors the pest. Hornets kill a few dozen people a year in Asia.  By comparison, native hornets, wasps and bees kill an average of 62 people a year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said.  The giant Asian hornet is an invasive pest and Washington is mounting a campaign to eradicate the species before it decimates local bee hives. Honeybees pollinate many crops that make up the state's multi-billion dollar agricultural sector.

{25/10/20} Real essential workers* in Washington state have eradicated the first nest of invasive "murder hornets" found in the US. The giant wasps, Vespa mandarinia, are an Asian forest species that specializes in raiding bee hives to massacre its inhabitants. The first nest located by agricutural department workers was found Thursday in Blaine, Washington near the US-Canadian border. They spent weeks searching for the invaders' nest, tracking individuals using tiny transmitters tied to their bodies with dental floss. The insects are large, about two inches, and have a painful sting, which can penetrate ordinary apiary garments. On Satiurday, workers dressed in protective isolation suits vacuumed out the nest in a hollow tree. An official said they may be other nests, but the raid was successful and demonstrated the feasibility of eradicating them before they commit more bee "murder" by decapitation.

* The Very White House is claiming an exemption for VP Mike Pence as an "essential worker" from quarantine under CDC guidelines. His chief of staff and four other staffers have tested positive for SARS CoV-2. Pence is the titular head of the regimes COVID-19 task force. The VP has scheduled campaign appearance in Kansas on Sunday and will preside in the Senate for the confirmation of Amy Barrett

Denmark's Mink Cull Illegal

Denmark's prime minister admitted that the mass mink call she authorized last week is illegal. Opposition to the cull is growing and the government dropped the emergency legislation underpinning the cull order. The legistlation was intended to protect any emerging vaccine from a SARS-CoV 2 strain migrating from mink to humans. Unfortunately the cull was already begun in areas seriously infected with the virus when the government admitted during question time in parlament on Tuesday the cull was illegal. The agricultural mnister apologized for his handling of the cull saying that there were not legal grounds for ordering farmers to destroy their stock outside of infected zones. So far 2.4 million mink have been destroyed; an estimated 17 million animals are raised in Denmark. 

Warnings of further mutations in the virus, as well as support for the cull order came from the State Serum Institute, the public health body advising the government. Although the virus mutation is not a health risk for humans, Cluster 5, as the mink variant is known, poses a threat to the efficacy of human vaccines and antibody treatments. According to the Institute, eleven people are known to be infected with the Cluster 5 virus. Statens Serum Institut (SSI), has not found evidence of the mutated strain for more than a month. Farmers outside of infected zone are understandably confused by the government's reversal on the necessity of a cull. 

In the US the American Veterinary Medical Association says 8,000 mink have died of SARS-CoV 2 virus infections in Utah. Thirty-four hundred more have reportedly died of the virus in Wisconsin. Death comes after serious distress from respiratory failure among populations of caged animals already under stress from cramped, unhealthy living conditions. Mink are farm raised for their fur, so they are non-essential, and the fur sector is shrinking as animal fur apparel becomes less socially acceptable. US Person thinks this potential disease reservoir should be shut down after existing animal stocks are depleted for public health and animal welfare reasons.

Guiseppe Was Very, Very Happy

And now this celebratory interlude, after four years of darkness which will soon come to an eventual end. Note: Guiseppe is the Italian Prime Minister, who was "very, very happy" for the aid received from the United States in March when Italy was hit hard by the pandemic:

Before you get carried away like an octopus on ecstasy, remember there are two Senate run-offs in Georgia in January that are perhaps as equally important to this country's future as giving 'Killer' Trumpillini his walking papers!

The Damage Done

Pundits are already bloviating about the damage the malignant narcissist in the VWH has done to our political institutions and norms. US Person is more concerned about the physical damage he has wrought on the landscape. This is damage is near permanent, and is epitomized by what his ridiculous wall building has done to the sensitive desert habitats of the borderlands. The picture shows remote Guadalupe Canyon, Arizona, a riparian habitat that the Department of Homeland Security is ripping up to build a wall that will not stop illegal immigration and is extremely expensive. The agency was able to do this damage to the landscape because the regime waived all relevant environmental protection laws. It has waived more than sixty laws including the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.

Home to bands of Apache, the canyon is a magnet for wildlife that come to its springs and streams to drink and browse beneath the willows and cottonwoods which shade them from the scorching desert sun. Rare birds such as the violet crowned hummingbird and aplomado falcons live here. Part of the Peloncillo Mountains, the canyon is a corridor ocelots, black bears, mountain lions, white-nosed coati and even jaguars. This mountainous region had been designated critical habitat for North America's biggest cats.  It is precious, unspoiled wilderness under study for legal designation. But that will not stop the destruction that is occurring now. The canyon is very steep, so Homeland Security is building switchbacks and blasting cliffs, just for construction access.  Their has been recorded dumps of debris onto Mexican territory in violation of the border compact between the two nations.

Guadalupe is literally in the middle of nowhere, thirty miles from the nearest town of Douglas, Arizona. There is no documentation about how much illegal migrants use the canyon as a route north. Most undocumented migrants use existing border entry points. The number of people apprehended while crossing the border illegally in the Tucson sector, of which Guadalupe Canyon is a part, hit a three-year low this past April. There is no national emergency to justify wholesale habitat destruction, some of which cannot be restored. Perhaps now that Arizona has joined the effort to oust the regime, restoration can begin and the land returned to the endangered animals it supports. The wall can be taken down, but the scars on the land will remain.

Fake election = the derangement of Trump...

US COVID-19 DEATHS (est.): 252,639

'Toontime: Fake News

credit: R. McKee;  BC Idonwanna sez: Stop being a JERK!

You want some real fake news? Just listen to what is coming out of the VWH. Joe Biden has won the election, but nasty fascist, 'Killer' Trumpillini, is not going to concede defeat. His claims of election fraud are without factual basis, and his lawsuits will fail. Possible recounts in Georgia and Pennsylvania will not matter because Joe has reached the magic number of electoral votes (270 )without those states. But for a landlord hustler who has litigated his way through life, truth is irrelevant as well as inconvenient. If he is not careful he will add "trespasser" to his list of dubious accomplishments on January 20th. US Person has had a debate with himself about Killer's unwillingness to vacate scenario. US thinks the judicial branch should be responsible for ejecting him if he does not vacate the premises voluntarily. So, as the judicial branch's enforcement arm, the United States Marshall Service, should be the agency evicting him from the 'people's house'.

A lot of people are saying: Looser!....

Revisiting Fukushima Daiichi

Just because the infamous nuclear power plant that melted down after an earthquake and tsunami hit is no longer in the news does not mean the disaster is over. Far from it. The latest development are the plans of the Japanese government to dump radioactive cooling water into the Pacific Ocean. Why? TEPCO is running out of storage space for the contaminated waste. More than one thousand water tanks currently store about 1.2 million tons of radioactive water. [photo credit: Korea Times] The water is used to cool three reactor cores that melted during the accident. The melting cores weigh about 800 tons. In addition there are 1500 units of fuel rods that must be continuously cooled, or an uncontrolled nuclear reaction could occur that would exceed the core meltdowns in destructiveness. All of this mess is extremely radioactive and contaminates the cooling water with high levels of tritium, or radioactive hydrogen. About 300 tons of water a day is added to the total waste. Understandably the authorities are running out of room to build more tanks.

Fortunately tritium is a rather weak radioisotope that can be blocked by human skin. It is a carcinogen and its principle risk to humans is from ingestion. Water containing tritium is usually excreted from the human body within a month. There are other much more serious contaminants in the water tanks such as caesium-137 and strontium-90. TEPCO has deployed a filtration system intended to filter out 62 isotopes, but the system is prone to breakdowns according to Greenpeace and cannot filter out tritium. TEPCO admitted failures to reduce radioactivity to levels below regulatory limits in more than 80% of the storage tanks. Reported levels of strontium-90 were more than 100 times regulatory standards with some tanks at 20,000 times.

Environmentalist obviously do not think dumping millions of tons of radioactive water into the ocean for fish to swim in is a good idea. The Japanese public also objects to the plan. They want the government to buy more land and build more tanks until the tritium has time to decay. Ten half-lives of tritium is 123 years. TEPCO plans to remotely remove the dangerous fuel rods by 2031. Absent a near-miraculous technical development, Fukushima will continue to pose a danger to humans that live nearby for decades to come, making it the worst industrial disaster in history.

COTW II: The Great Divide

This county by county election map shows a divided nation. The date: 1880! (Scribner's Popular Vote). Then red is blue, and blue, red. Garfield (R) won the Electorial College by sweeping the northeast and the upper midwest, but won only a 0.1% margin of the popular vote or about 1,889 votes. Notice the solid Democratic (now Republican) south, only a few years after the end of Reconstruction. Confused? US PERSON provides a short cut tip to watching returns tonight: Note the returns from the southeast: if Biden wins either North Carolina, Georgia or Florida, its over for Killer. The polls close in those states by 8pm, Eastern.  The New York Times provides a convenient live tip meter for those states. US PERSON compliments Nebraska and Maine for at least attempting to award electoral votes on a fairer basis--per congressional district. Go some, 2nd District (Omaha, you figure prominently in one blue winning scenario)! The map accentuates the fact that an absence of a national electoral system--or even a coordinated local ones--does not meet core international standards. In US PERSON'S humble opinion voting should be easier than paying taxes.

It is not just Killer's political supporters who are getting nervous about tonight's results, but his favorite bank is actively seeking ways to dump him.  According to a Reuters report, Deutsche Bank management is actively evaluating the reputational risk of continuing Killer as a client.  The Trump Organization has about $340 million in outstanding loans coming due in the next two years.  So far Trump has only been paying interest on the loans. The bank has over the years lent Trump more than $2 billion, one of the bank's officials said.  Selling Trump's loans may be problematic for the bank given his penchant for litigation and history of defaults.

Government probes and negative press have become an unwanted distraction at a time when Deutsche Bank is struggling with huge losses after a decades long attempt to become a major Wall Street player.  Senator Elizabeth Warren told the press that she intends to keep pressing investigations into allegations of Deutsch Bank's money laundering.  If Killer is no longer in office, bank management believes it will be easier to demand payment from his businesses, and from the man himself since he has personally guaranteed the loans, and end a troubled, unwanted relationship

COUNT THE VOTE!

Thank you NE2ND!
 

 

COTW: The One that Matters Most in Elections

"Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid...." There he goes again! If it is not the disease "hoax", it is the greedy doctors and nurses. The truth is that Killer's economic performance, earned or not, is only mediocre. His "beautiful" economic expansion before March is mostly in his unbalanced mind. Clinton's dot.com boom is by far the best economic expansion of the post-war decades, and Killer's economy is matched by Obama's. He simply assumes in his blind narcissism, that everybody who counts has a 401K, and the Dow Jones Index is the latter day Testament. Tell that to the unemployed who have run out of UI benefits in Michigan and Pennsylvania*.

Whaddayagontodoboutit?

*An example of how much Killer and Co. does not care about the lower bourgeoisie he supposedly represents: a Stanford U. study, not yet peer reviewed, concluded that 18 of his fascist-like rallies are responsible for 30,000 cases of COVID-19 and 700 deaths. And now this from Greensboro NC: Alamance County sheriff’s deputies and Graham police pepper-sprayed people—including a 5-year-old girl and other children—who were participating in the “I Am Change” march to the polls on Saturday afternoon.

This is what novelist Jack London wrote in 1908: "And in the day we [labor] sweep to victory at the ballot-box, and you refuse to turn over to us the government we have constitutionally and peacefully captured, and you demand what we are going to do about it--in that day, I say, we shall answer you; and in roar of shell and shrapnel and in whine of machine guns shall our answer be couched." Iron Heel.  US COVID-19 DEATHS (est.): 241,796