Scotland Goes Green

If the Affric Highlands Initiative becomes a reality, a large swath of the Scottish Highlands will be re-wiled and preserved for wildlife. The plan is to increase the connectivity of habitats and species diversity over an area of half a million acres including the Kintail mountain range, and glens Cannich, Moriston and Shiel. The project was announced after two years of consultation with landowners, local residents and conservationists from the organization Trees for Life. The project is similar to another one launched in East Anglia called WildEast. Now, only a quarter of the surface is managed by people and concerns who have signed on to the project.

Re-wilding is a movement not without controversy, as many people believe that re-wilding involves bringing back unappreciated large carnivores that pose a danger to livestock and humans, or worse, removing people from the land. [photo: Mountain hare, Lepus timidus, one of the species that will benefit] Re-wilding is more than that. Projects across Europe aim to re-establish pre-existing ecosystems that have been degraded by man or extinguished altogether. Trees for Life employs a psychologist to help relate to people that might object to their land returning to a wild state. Around 70% of England is farmed. A recent report found that re-wilding 5% of England would result in a 50% increase in jobs compared to intensive farming--maximizing the potential of Nature, both biodiverse and economic, is what rewilding is all about.  Lynx and wolves, as integral parts of healthy ecosystems may come later, with local buy-in. Scotland currently has a deer overpopulation problem.  Dare US Person speak of bears, once inhabitants of Albion?

The Affric project is one of nine on the Continent, and received funding (£250,000) from Rewilding Europe. Trees for Life has already established two million trees in the Caledonia Forest. It will open a visitor center on the Dundreggan Estate, providing local employment and a forty bed accommodation for nature lovers. The project also expects to help local owners obtain funding for green initiatives on their properties. So far the largest rewilding project in the UK is the Cairngorms Connect, which covers about 158,000 acres. Practical work in the Highlands is set to begin in 2023. Re-wilding lanscapes on a large scale is one significant way to increase carbon capture and thereby reduce global warming. Green Kudos to Scotland! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

The 6th Extinction Rolls On

US wildlife officials reported twemty-two animals and one plant should be removed from the Endangered Species list because they are extinct. The man-made biodiversity crisis emperils one million species as habitat destruction, climate change, pollution, poaching and expoitation kill creatures. The species declared extinct include eleven birds, eight freshwater mussels, two fish, a bat and a plant. These were probably extinct or almost so by the time the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973 says the Center for Biological Diversity.

So far fifty-four species have been removed from the Act's protections due to their official recovery. Forty-eight have been upgraded from endangered status to threatened. Eleven species have already been declared extinct. Official extinction is not taken lightly by scientists. Years of searching take place before such a drastic admission is made. The last confirmed sighting of the ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) took place in in Louisiana in 1944. A flurry of unconfirmed sightings occurred in the early 2000s. The sightings led to a 2005 paper in the prestigious journal, Science that concluded the ivory bill still persists in the backwater bayous of southeastern US. Repeated recent searches have failed to locate the bird. It now only exists in legend according to the most recent assessment of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The biologist who submitted that assessment said it was the hardest decision she had to make in her professional life.

Conservation has played a key role in preventing more extinctions as man transforms the planet beyond healthy biological functioning. One idea that is gaining traction as policy makers endlessly discuss what to do about biodiversity decline is the "30x30" plan. That is, conserve and protect 30 percent of the Earth's surface by 2030. What is needed now is action, not more rhetoric, or as Greta Thornberg antipoetically put it, "blah, blah, blah".

Myanmar's Eden

Even in the 21st century there are pockets of Eden's remaining. Scientists recently trekked to the northernmost area of Myanmar near the Chinese-Indian borders to survey the fauna that lives there. What they found during their arduous journey to remote forested valleys beneath snow-capped mountains in the Hkakaborazi region was surprising. They placed 174 camera traps to see what they could find hidden from their view. This landscape, with the country's highest mountain, Hakabo Razi (19,295 ft) and far from human encroachment is a haven for large mammals. Threatened species such as the Chinese red panda,(Ailurus Styani)clouded leopard,(Neofelis nebulosa),and Shortridge's languar (Trachypithecus shortridgei) appeared in their camera frames.

The camera trap survey took place before the military coup in Myanmar during 2015-19, The team had to slog through dense tropical vegetation that eventually opened up to pine groves and alpine meadows as elevation increased. The region has been studied before and new species identified, but because of its remoteness and rugged terrain, little is known about the wildlife that lives there. The landscape spans from the lowland tropical forest to the high Tibetan plateau, so much remains to be discovered. Species living on the slopes above 10,000 feet are yet to be recorded. It could be this zone is home to the snow leopard(Panthera uncia). Researchers were able to record the presence of forty different large mammals in Hkakaborazi. Ten thousand usable photographs were collected, half of which revealed large mammals

One of those is the Chinese red panda. Photographing even one panda is a notable achievement. From the single photograph, researchers were able to determine that the panda is the Chinese species, distinct from the Himalayan one. Until 2020 red pandas were thought to be a single species related to bears or raccoons. Based on genetic decoded, science now considers the pandasto be their ownunique family and one of the most genetically distinct, and endangered, mammals in the world. [photo credits: Chinese Academy of Sciences]. Takin,(Budorcas taxicolor) a rare type of gnu that inhabits the eastern Himalayas, also made an appearance on camera. Gibbons were heard vocalizing in the trees, but not recorded on camera. Villagers assisted with identifying six more species from their remains.

The authors of the study, published in Global Ecology and Conservation recommend that plans to extend protections afforded by Hkakaborazi National Park into forested areas to the south be implemented. Although the region is only accessible by walking for several days,small scale agricultural and hunting threaten an important ecotone where montane and lowland meet. This edge community provides refuge to animals escaping human activity in the lowlands. Camera traps at lower elevations registered sambar deer (Rusa unicolor), small-toothed ferret-badgers(Melogale moschata)and sun bears (Helarctos malayanus). The study proves Eden still exists on Earth, but those small portions that remain will disappear if man does not act to protect it.

Weekend Music: Land of the Free

 

THEN

NOW

'Toontime: This Week in Trump

credit: Sheneman, Star Ledger

Is the former guy beginning to sweat?  He should because the House Select Committee investigating the J6 Insurrection have issued subpoenas to four high officials of the former guy's regime to appear and produce documents.  The officials subpoenaed include former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former Presidential Advisor Steve Bannon. Most likely these demands will be litigated by Herr Trumpillini as a delaying tactic since the legal grounds for objecting are practically non-existent.  Bannon  was not a government official at the time of the coup, so there is no executive privilege that applies to him, and the current administration controls the application of the privilege.  His administration has already indicated that it leans toward not objecting to the production of evidence that could be considered privileged.  The former guy, no matter how much he would like to, cannot legally control the privilege after he is no longer in office.

The contours of the coup attempt are becoming increasing clear--allow US Person to briefly explain. There is a memo in existence, referred to as the Eastman Memo after its author John Eastman, a Trump loyalist, that outlines a scenario for the Vice President to follow on January 6th, the day Congress was assembled to open the votes of the Electoral College.  Eastman's half-clever plan probably would not have worked had VP Pence agreed to cooperate because in actual fact there were no disputed electoral votes in existence. Nevertheless the memo does reveal the state of play on that fateful day, at least in the fevered mind of the would-be dictator desperate to hold on to power.  The plan centers on the role of the VP in counting electoral votes pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment and the Electoral Count Act.  The Electoral Vote Count Act, passed in 1887 in the wake of the disputed election of 1876 provides:

If more than one return or paper purporting to be a return from a State shall have been received by the President of the Senate, those votes, and those only, shall be counted which shall have been regularly given by the electors... 

Pence was to skip counting Arizona's votes based on an alleged election dispute. Which votes are "regularly given" is determined by the state in the first instance, and ultimately if both houses of Congress cannot agree which votes are legitimate, then by vote of each state delegation in the House of Representatives,  Currently the Repugnants control 26 state delegations, so presumably they would vote to install Trump. At the end of the counting of state electors, Pence was to announce that in view of ongoing election disputes in seven swing states, there were no electors in those states whose votes were "regularly given".  Therefore, the majority of electoral votes was 228 in those circumstances, and since Trump had 232, he won the election.  Of course that decision by the President of the Senate would have been met with howls of derision from Democrats.  Pence's fallback position would be to rule that since neither candidate received a majority of electoral votes, the House of Representatives would have to decide the election.  Trump wins again.

We know now that Pence refused to be involved in such blatantly anti-democratic manipulation of an antique system that should have been discarded long ago and certainly by 2000 when hanging Florida ballot chads plunged US into a constitutional crisis.  The Supremes decided in Bush v. Gore (2000) that the states have the plenary power to appoint electors. The disputes in 2020 were manufactured, not based on law or fact, as numerous courts have held. However, the national effort by Trump loyalists to discredit or control state voting processes is on-going.  Mike Pence had no authority to reject electoral votes certified by the respective states on January 6th.  Former VP Dan Quayle, who presided over his own defeat, told him so.  The improbable scheme dreamed up by Eastman was on Herr Trumpillini's mind when he goaded the mob into marching on the Capitol. He told his minions, "I hope Mike is going to do the right thing. I hope so. Because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we win."  Reality is not enough to stop a deranged demagogue attempting to usurp power. The Eastman memo despite its twisting of the law, does serve as evidence of Trumpillini's state of mind: he intended to subvert the election and have himself declared the winner with no counted ballots, no lawful transfer of power, but only a continuation of his reign by fiat.

credit: R. McKee; Wackydoodle sez: So it is written, so let be done!

New COVID-19 Treatment from Llamas

COVID-19 is beginning to show up in animals that have close contact with humans such as pets and zoo captives.  Llamas are also susceptible to the disease.  Researchers at Reading University, UK have developed a treatment made of nanobodies, a smaller, less complex version of antibodies that camelids produce naturally.  In early trials, a therapy derived from a llama named Fifi [photo credit: Reading University] has shown great promise. Once this therapy has been tested in humans, it could be administered in a simple nasal spray.

Rodents infected with SARS-CoV-2 treated with the new nanobody  therapy recover fully within six days.  The apparent potency of the treatment is due to the affinity of the nanobodies for chemically bonding with the virus.  Researchers stimulated Fifi's immune system with non-infectious parts of the viral protein to produce the specific nanobodies for which they were searching.  Through an alembic process they were able to isolate those antibodies that matched the viral protein most closely.  The strongest "key in the lock" is processed into a spray application. Dr. Naismith lead researcher at Franklin Institute in Oxfordshire told BBC that,"The immune system is so marvellous that it still does better than we can--evolution is hard to beat." You do say doctor? The research is published in Nature Communications

Not Your Average Bear

 

As humans push ever further into remaining wilderness, contact with grizzly bear, Arctos ursus horribilis is becoming problematical. As its latin nomenclature impies grizzlys are nothing like your childhood stuffed toy. They are ravenous eaters, territorial and equipped to kill with one swipe of their huge paws. Fortunately confronting a hungry bear that stands over seven foot on its hind legs is less likely than being hit by lightening. [photo credit: Getty Images] We want bears to survive into the future, so we must give them room to roam and learn to coexist peacefully. Tragic incidents do occur as in the tiny rural hamlet of Ovando, MT when a sixty-five year old woman was mauled to death in her tent in July. Her attacker, a male bear looking for food, was tracked down and killed. The last time a bear was killed near Ovando was two decades ago. 

The number of people wanting a slice mountain paradise or visiting parks is growing. The human population of western Montana, a grizzly stronghold, has increase by one-third over the past decade. Gizzlies once numbered 50,000 strong from Alaska to central Mexico. Habitat loss and two centuries of conflict with humans have decimated to the species in the lower forty-eight states to the point thay are listed as "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act since 1975. After a recent review of status by the Fish & Wildlife Service, the bears have retained their protected status. A slow, but steady increase in bear population has occurred. Grizzlies are considered recovered in the Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems, but they are assessed as a single population throughout he contiguous US.

Removing a species that occupy only 3% of its historic range would condemn them to genetic isolation and eventual extinction. Ceeding domination of some wilderness to the gerat bear is necessary, but conservative politicians in western range states have reacted negatively to expanding zones of protection for the bear. Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, a Republican, has been given two bills for his signature– one that would strip grizzlies of endangered species protections, and another that would allow people to shoot the bears if they damage property rather than just in a situation where someone’s life was in danger. Such regressive attitudes are to say the least, counterproductive. It is illegal to harm, harass, or kill these threatened bears, except in cases of self defense or the defense of others.

Connecting bear concentrations in the northwest Rockies and Cascades is essential to genetic diversity. The map shows the current distribution of bears in the lower US:

There are six recovery zones that are identified in the federal species recovery plan and are suitable for grizzly bears. Two of them, the North Cascades and Bitterroot ecosystems currently do no have resident bears, but they live nearby and could potentially expand into these systems. What some conservationists including US Person envision is a connection of these recovery zones into a large, connected ecosystem reserve of the Northern Rockies, potentially transcending the US- Canadian boarder. Such a conservation goal would ensure the health and survival of the grizzly bear well into the future. Such a development will take more education of the public on how to live with a wild, elemental force that is the grizzly bear and a sense of humility in the face of Nature.

Most grizzlies avoid any contact with people, and those deemed too interested in us can be trapped, darted and relocated. Of course every human has the right of self-defense. The chances of a visitor to Yellowstone National Park begin attacked is one in 2.7 million visits. Being conscious of sharing the landscape with a large, intelligent carnivore may require more work on the part of humans who want to live closer to Nature. Erecting solar powered electric fencing and removal of carcasses and securing garbage are obvious steps to take. Have your can of bear spray handy, too.

Biden Abandons Wolves

Latest:  Oregon continues to kill members of the Lookout Mt. pack at the request of livestock owners. Thjis weekend the state killed three wolves on private land including the yearling male who was identified as the pack's breeding male. The fact that a yearling was the alpha male of the pack indicates the impact of the state's rentless removal policy. The male wolf was wearing a VHF collar. ODFW is issuing limited duration kill permits to four impacted livestock producers that allow them to take two uncollared wolves from on land they own or legally occupy (lease) from now until Oct. 31. With that decision the fate of the Lookout Mt. pack is eventual collapse. According to the state agency the pack numbered nine wolves before the latest cull. So far, five wolves have been exterminated since this summer. A female hunting alone will be unable to feed her surviving pups. ODFW claims that the pack will continue to pose a threat to livestock in the area. Wolves have been present for two years with little direct conflict. The agency claims that predation on livestock started in February 2021 when wolves began visiting calving pastures. Producers in the area increased night checks, installed flags, and hazed wolves from near their calving and winter pastures.

“This pack has made a shift in their behavior,” says Roblyn Brown, ODFW Wolf Coordinator. “Instead of the occasional opportunistic killing of a vulnerable calf, now they are targeting livestock despite the high numbers of elk and deer in the area where the depredations have occurred and extensive human presence to haze wolves.” No mention has been made in press releases of efforts to relocate the pack or use of trained guard dogs to deter predation on cattle. The Oregon Department of Agriculture estimated there were 1.28 million beef cows in 2014. While predation impacts on individual stock owners can be significant, the impacts are primarily related to the marginal profitability of cattle ranching on public land.

{16.09.21} Update: The Biden administration has said that it will review the de-listing of the grey wolf. That is certainly news welcomed by conservationists as several states have completely relaxed the restrictions on wolf hunting since the species was removed from the Endangered Species list. The status review by the US Fish & Wildlife Service will take about a year, during which time more wolves will be killed.  Over the summer the Service received several petitions asking for relisting the species.  On Wednesday, FWS said that the petitions “present substantial, credible information indicating that a listing action may be warranted". The federal agency also said that the hunting regulations in Idaho and Montana threaten the species survival in the wild. Idaho now lets hunters shoot wolves from parachutes, ATVs, or snowmobiles. Montana now allows for hunters to snare and bait wolves.  Politicians in the those states are keen to endorse such policies, as they believe them to be popular with their supporters.  Montana Governor Greg Gianforte said, “We don’t need Washington coming in and second-guessing our science-based approach,  Needless extermination of wolves seems to be more of a hate crime than science because allowing only an artificially low level of breeding pairs could cause the surviving population to collapse.

To underscore this dire situation, Oregon's Lookout Mountain pack that lost two juveniles to human demands for lethal removal on August 1st survived the reissue of a culling permit, which expired on September 14th, without further losses. The demand for eradicating the entire pack has not lessened as the pack has become another flash point in the unending culture wars. Given the state agency's bias toward ranching interests, and lack of transparency about its removal operations it may be that the ODFW will acquiesce yet again to local demands for lethal removal. The Lookout Mt pack has not reacted as expected to the state "reduc[ing] the caloric needs of the pack”.  This is a standoff that only federal relisting can resolve since several western state appear to lack the political will to ethically administer a wolf recovery program based on science and not myth.

Colorado grey wolf, credit UK Guardian

His administration has so far backed the de-listing of the gray wolf from the federal Endangered Species Act, which exposes them to hysterical persecution by wolf haters in a few western states. Federal wildlife officials are concerned that new hunting rules passed by states in the northern Great Lakes and Rockies pose a threat to the species full recovery. Wolf numbers are increasing, but are nowhere near their historic levels or existing habitat capacity. The new rules reflect the traditional wolf hatred of European colonizers' concerned for their livestock despite reimbursement programs for incidental wolf predation. States took over wolf management last decade in the Northern Rockies and in January for the remainder of the Lower 48 states.

In Montana, legislation to allow wolf hunting a night and substantial payments reminiscent of bounties that led to the wolf's extermination are advancing. Idaho legislation would allow hunters to kill wolves from the air without limits and the use of dogs. Wisconsin wolf haters killed twice as many wolves as the state wildlife authorities planned. Hunters and trappers killed at least 216 wolves of Wisconsin’s 1,100 wolves over three days, and forced an early shutdown of the season. Attorneys representing the Biden administration asked a California federal court to reject the petition of wildlife advocates to reinstate federal wolf protections last week, apparently signaling the administrations conclusion to allow the Trump era delisting to stand.

What is different from the 1800's eradication effort is that wolf killing has become politicized, a symbol of rebellion against perceived government overreach. The group behind the Wisconsin lawsuit that accelerated the opening of wolf killing in Wisconsin, Hunting Nation, has close links to Republican political circles including influential donors the Koch brothers, and other notable Trump supporters. The resumption of aggressive persecution of the wolf has become a way of expressing political outrage among right-wing extremists and gun owners. “It’s not a scientific approach to wildlife management. It’s management based on vengeance,” said Dan Vermillion, former chairman of Montana’s fish and wildlife commission. Hunting Nation leader, Luke Hilgemann, formerly served as CEO at Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group backed by industrialists Charles Koch and his deceased brother, David, that has spent tens of millions of dollars on Republican candidates. Former federal wildlife agent Carter Niemeyer, who killed wolves that preyed on cattle in the Northern Rockies and was later involved in restoration efforts, said wolves are too resilient to be easily eradicated. “They’re running them down with hound dogs,” he said. “ That’s wolf killing. That’s not wolf trapping or wolf hunting.” Delusional behavior dies hard.

'Toontime: Deranged

 

credit: M. Lukovich; BC Idonwanna sez:
Don't play with button, Lil' Don!

US Person is not the only person that thinks Herr Trumpillini is suffering a severe personality disorder. So does his niece who boasts a graduate degree in psychology. Then there is the former Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan. Ryan actually consulted a doctor on how to deal with someone classified as a malignant narcissist. According to the new book, Peril by Woodward and Costa, a wealthy doctor and a Republican donor, told Ryan that he needed "to understand what narcissistic personality disorder is," and sent him resources on the subject. Chief of Staff Milley offerred to warn his Chinese counterpart if the deranged occupant tried to start a war to stay in office. When Vice President Pense refused to participate in the coup d'etat on January 6th, Trump reportedly whinned, "You don't understand, Mike, you can do this. I don't want to be your friend anymore if you don't do this." Former VP Dan Quale advised Pense that he had no descretion in the ministerial Electoral College vote certification. Pense told Quale that "others in the White House" were telling him he did. Obvviously, congressional investigators will want to know the names of those co-conspirators. Even though there seems to be a consensus diagnosis of the former guy, a neurotic personality disorder is a long way from the legal definition of insanity that would excuse him from responsibility for his crimes including conspirarcy to overthrow the lawfully elected government of the United States of America..

Exhibit "A"

1428 Dolphins Killed in Single Day

In an orge of bloodletting a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins where herded into a shallow fiord in the Faroe Islands and massacred on the beach, turning the sea water red with their blood. This hunt known as the Grindadrap has gone on for hundreds of years in the remote Faroe Islands, a territory administred by Denmark. Natives defend the practice saying the hunt is a sustainable way of obtaining food and is part of their cultural identity. The number of dolphins killed in the slaughter on Sunday was unusually high exceeding the 1200 killed in 1940. Even the chairman of the Faroese Whalers Association, Olavur Sjurdarberg, called the excessive number of animals killed "a big mistake". "When the pod was found, they estimated it to be only 200 dolphins", he explained. "Somebody should have known better,"He added,. "Most people are in shock about what happened."

These hunts are regulated. Participants must first obtain a training certificate showing they know how to dispatch a large sea mammal. Killing involves severing the spinal cord with a lance. They are non-commercial and organized at the community level, often spontaneously when a pod is spotted. Meat is distributed to community members. A local MP visited the Faroes after the slaughter and told reporters that the hunts are legal, but not popular. He said, "People were furious," but defended the hunt as humane. Sea Shepard, an activist group dedicated to defending whales, disagrees saying,"the killing of the dolphins and pilot whales is rarely as quick as Faroese government makes out." Grindadrap hunts can turn into drawn-out, often disorganized massacres. The pilot whales and dolphins can be killed over long periods in front of their relatives while beached on sand, rocks or just struggling in shallow water." Surveys show that just over 50% of Faroe residents oppose dolphin hunting, but support the hunting of pilot whales. About 600 pilot whales are killed every year.

COTW: Correlation, Not Causation?

This chart shows what you have suspected all along: vaccination has become overtly political. What should be a science based public health decision is now being cynically manipulated by a desperate extremist faction for political advantage:

credit: Charles Gaba

Granted this chart shows only shows a strong correlation between the number of Trump voters by county to the death rate per hundred thousand residents, but it is so strong that political delusion cannot be ignored as a cause of high death rates in red areas of the country.The five states with the highest per capita death rate are all southern red states. Got Shots?

US COVID-19 DEATHS (est.): 921,000

A Scurry of Squirrels

Squirrels come to our attention this time of year, as they scamper about the yard gathering their winter stores. Often we think of them as manic, even slightly human-like in their behaviors. Could we be incorrectly ascribing human traits to a lowly rodent? Anyone who has watched a scurry of tree squirrels take nuts from a feeding table realize they are sociable, bold, athletic and occasionally aggressive. The University of California, Davis says perhaps NOT. Animal behaviorists have studied the golden mantle squirrel, Callospermophilus lateralis, which is a ground squirrel common to the western United States. Their study, published in the journal, Animal Behavior, claims to be the first to document personality in this squirrel species. Personality is defined as consistent behaviors over time. Behaviorist consider the golden mantle squirrel to be "asocial". They are relatively small, giving them little opportunity to form the tighter social bonds common in larger ground and tree squirrels, which typically spend more time in family units while reaching maturity. [photo credit: R. Loznak]

According to the data collected over three years, squirrels with more extrovert personalities covered more ground, collected more resources, and assumed the best perches for surveying their surroundings for food and predators compared to their shy, introverted counterparts. Makes sense right? As in humans, social skills contribute to an individual's well-being. Studying personality in animals is in its infancy, but there is a growing number of studies on individuality of squirrels. There is also a growing awareness that personality in animals have ecological consequences. Bolder animals may collect more food, but their consistent behavior exposes them to more risks. Personality could be a useful indicator of whether a species or an individual can adapt successfully to human induced changes in their habitat.

'Toontime: Confused

credit: Rivers; Wackydoodle sez: Ask football players!

That could be Joe Biden sitting there, as he contemplates how to get 80 million lemmings in line for COVID-19 vaccine. The mind boggles to think that many people would refuse to take a safe, effective vaccine to avoid a serious illness, or infecting those close to them. Consider the fact that the first president of the US, Gen. George Washington himself, required the vaccination of his troops against smallpox during the struggle for independence. (1777) The level of cognitive dissonance in this country is reaching...epidemic proportions. Of course the alternate reality being constantly broadcast by a neo-nazi demagogue and boxing match commentator is only fueling the delusion of millions to the detriment of the nation. The personality cult once called the GOP is employing anti-vaccination as a culture war distraction from the actual, grave issues facing the nation for which they have no satisfactory ideas, being enslaved to the status quo ante. Herr Trumpillini will use his status as a political candidate for the 2024 presidential election as a shield against criminal prosecution for insurrection. The legal immunity afforded a president are irresistible to him.

Idaho Resorts to Triage

Idaho has been forced to order triage of patients in the northern part of the state due to overcrowding of medical facilities by COVID-19 patients. Idaho, a red state, has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the US. (39.5%). The Repugnant governor said the rationing was unwanted but necessary. Despite the crisis, he has not ordered another partial quaranteen which he ordered in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. The state’s health department said they were suffering from “a severe shortage of staffing and available beds in the northern area of the state caused by a massive increase in patients with Covid-19 who require hospitalization”. Ten hospitals accross the state's northern section will begin prioritizing patients seeeking hospitalization. The change in care standards means that hospital administrators can now give an ICU bed to a patient with the best chance of survival, similar to the practices of a field hospital in wartime. Patients unlikely to survive will be given hospice care. If infection trends continue, Idaho could see an increase of 30,000 new cases a week.

COTW: The Kettle is Black

LOOK at this graph. It shows by state that the US incarcerates more of its residents per capita than any other nation on Earth. This statistic includes authoritarian countries like Russia, China, El Salvador and Turkmenistan. Biden recently doubled down on sanctions against Cuban officials after a public demonstration against its communist government resulted in imprisonment of activists.  Where is Cuba on this list? Look near the bottom.

Throwing people in prison for prison is not the only thing the US does a lot of. An estimate by an authoritative military journal estimates that the number of civilians killed by US air strikes in the two decades of the so-called global "War on Terror" is 22,679 or perhaps as many as 43, 308 based on a sworn number of strikes carried out by the Pentagon of 91,340 [chart below]

The last civilians killed by a drone strike in Afghanistan occurred during the evacuation that frantically took place during the last two weeks of August. A US drone incinerated a car filled with canisters of water in a misguided attempt to stop what the military thought was an attempted car bombing, but in reality was retaliation for the killing of 13 US service personnel at the airport. Ten family members were killed including seven children and an allied aid worker.

Gulf Pipeline Breaks

Apparently more damage from hurricane Ida is the leaking undersea pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico owned by Talos Energy. The US Coast Guard said that clean up crews are responding to the spill. So far the crude oil slick which is ten miles long has not reached the devasted Louisiana coastline. The spill is ongoing, with no reported date for plugging the leak. The spill was spotted from space on Thursday. [photo credit: Planet Labs]

Hurricane Ida hit Port Fourchon, Lousianna hard. The port is a hub for the offshore oil industry and is dense with industry infrastructure that is vulnerable to storms like Ida. The damaged pipeline is out of use and has not been decommissioned. A report published earlier this year by the GAO said that federal regulators which control use of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) have allowed producers to leave 18,000 miles of pipe on the seafloor, many of which are abandoned without decommissioning. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan destroyed an oil platform about 10 miles off the Louisiana coast. It triggered what is still the longest oil spill in United States history.

'Toontime: Denial in the Time of Coronavirus

credit: Joel Pett, Lexington Herald Leader

One man's proof is another man's ICU bed. The right wing fringe's antisocial demands that their 'freedom' to become infected should be respected is costing other 'Mericans their lives and livelihoods. It seems that these deniers have no concept of social responsibility despite claiming to be "Christians", which makes them hypocrites as well willfully ignorant. They should know what Christ said about hypocrites. (Mathew 23, 27-28)

Florida, where the governor is conducting a scorched earth campaign against common sense, recorded a record number of deaths since the pandemic began in August. Warm weather and stagnant floodwaters mixed with sewage is a witches brew of disease. Cholera, typhoid and mosquito borne diseases are a potential threat as the Ida aftermath unfolds in the south.

Percent of ICU beds occupied by Corona virus victims [courtesy: St. Clair @ Counterpunch]

Mississippi 59%

Alabama 55.7%

Florida 53.3%

Georgia 53.1%

Texas 49.6%

Arkansas 48.1%

Louisiana 46.8%

Idaho 46.3%

Okla 42.5%

Hawaii 41.9%

N.Carolina 39.9%

Missouri 39.3%

Kentucky 39.3%

Tennessee 36%

 

Trees in Danger of Extinction

A new report from Kew Gardens, which boasts a huge collection of the world's flora, says that at least thirty percent of the world's trees are in danger of extinction. Trees provide habitat for a host of creatures as well as replenish the Earth's atmosphere with oxygen. Experts think 17,500 species of trees, including some well known ones, are at risk. The Earth has about 60,000 species of trees and each fulfills a unique ecological niche. Some 142 species have already vanished, so conservation of the remaining species is important. As one might expect human agriculture and logging are the biggest threats to tree survival. Climate heating and rising sea levels also play a role. Some well known trees are on the edge of extinction among them are: 

• European Ash--is being killed off by a fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, and the emerald ash borer beetle, a native of Asia.   The hard, but flexible wood of this species once made English longbows, but a recent paper has said the tree will likely vanish from European woodlands, following the disappearance of the Elm.  Ash die-back known as Chalara, affects some 2m kms² of Europe.  It has the potential to kill 95% of England's ash trees. [photo: Getty Images]
  
• Giant Redwood--despite its impressive size the redwood is suffering from a restricted habitat in California and low regeneration rates.  The specimens located in protected areas may not be enough to save the species from extinction. Scientist currently list it as endangered.
• Star Magnolia--Popular with gardeners due to its large, white blossoms, this magnolia is on edge of extinction in the wild.  Only five populations are known to exist in its native Japan, and these are far apart making reproduction problematic.  Habitat loss (one was converted to a golf course) and seed collection are contributing to its demise.
• Brazil Nut--This tree's nuts are favored by animals and humans.  Once, Brazil nuts were only harvested from wild trees, but habitat loss to ranching make them more rare.  It is not know what impact human consumption has on the species' reproduction rate.  The agouti, which is responsible for spreading the tree's seeds in the forest, is exterminated as a pest and is now rare in the trees' southern range.
• Baobab--US Person's memory of encountering this tree with impressive girth in Africa is still vivid.  The oldest Baobabs on the continent are dying, but scientists do not consider it threatened with extinction. However, three of its Malagasy relatives are considered endangered (IUCN) species. This includes Grandidier’s baobab,;the much-photographed species found at Madagascar’s number one tourist attraction, the ‘avenue of the baobabs’. This tree is threatened by forest burning for subsistence farming and grazing of its seedlings.  International demand for baobab products is also having an effect. Madagascar has the most threatened tree species and has lost 90% of its original forest.
  

 Gerard T Donnelly, the president of the Morton Arboretum in Illinois, hopes policymakers will use the groundbreaking Kew study as a conservation tool: “This report makes clear that the world’s trees are in danger. It was developed through years of vigorous research and collaboration among the world’s leading tree conservation organisations and will guide further scientifically informed action to prevent tree extinctions.” Key to protecting trees threatened by extinction is to expand and create more natural areas and planting campaigns to replace endangered species.

COTW: Deadbeat States

Isn't it ironic--excuse US Person for using a descriptor that is dead--that some of the reddest states in the nation rely most on federal largesse. No one begrudges Louisiana receiving federal emergency aid despite the bashing its Repugnant delegation administers to the feds regularly, but look at Kentucky. This is not a state you would expect relies heavily on federal money. Perhaps this is what happens when you have a powerful Repugnant leader in the Senate as your senator Here is the chart from US Census Bureau data:

Part of the explanation about why souther states dominate the federal aid map is two prong. 1) when the South was solidly Democratic, Democratic congressmen who were leaders in Congress sent back federal dollars to their constituencies. The South also has higher poverty rates than other regions. Consequently, they receive more in federal welfare payments. These conditions are reflected in this table from The Atlantic, which shows the dollar return for each dollar of federal taxes paid by state residents. Once again Kentucky and Louisiana are near the top using this measure. As Business Insider put it, "As it turns out, it is red states that are overwhelmingly the Welfare Queen States. Yes, that's right. Red States—the ones governed by folks who think government is too big and spending needs to be cut—are a net drain on the economy, taking in more federal spending than they pay out in federal taxes." So the next time you hear a MAGA type ranting about 'damn 'Merica hating commie libs living off their sweat', show them the chart and ask them to LOOK:

Then ask them to get vaccinated before we have to pay for their hospitalization:

US COVID-19 DEATHS (est.): 890,000