Wildlife Is the Frontier of COVID-19 Research

Researchers are enduring cold, snow and potentially dangerous animals to collect data on SAR CoV-2 spreading in wild animals.  Working on an Indian reservation near the Canadian border, they test deer, moose, bears and wolves for the virus in the same way humans are tested, with nose swabs. That procedure required they get up close to the animals, for example crawling into a hibernating bear den head first.  The scientist is held by the feet in case a quick exit is required.  The sleeping bear is administered a drug just in case it wakes up while a sample is taken. [photo credit: AP]

swabbing a bear

Scientists are concerned that the virus may establish an animal reservoir where it can mutate into variants resistant to current vaccines.  The pandemic has brought home the hard lesson that human and wildlife health is connected.  Most experts think that the virus that causes COVID-19 spread from bats to animals at a meat market in Wuhan where they are handled and consumed by humans.  The virus has now been confirmed in to exist in wildlife in twenty-four US states. An early study in Canada showed that a person contracted a highly mutated strain from a deer in Ontario.  The potential spread of mutated viruses spreading from wildlife to humans will increase as Spring progresses and animals begin to move around more.

The research is meant to forewarn public health authorities and the public. Coronaviruses take over host cells by 'unlocking' protective cell membranes with their protein spike 'key'.  Living in animals allow the pathogen time to mutate its protein spikes to fit different species cells.  Eventually, the virus hits on a mutation that works in humans, allowing it to re-infect a population. Omicron is an example of this process in action.  A virologist told AP that unknown coronaviruses were found in New York City sewage, likely coming from rodents.  Abundant white-tailed deer are a possible animal reservoir.   A third of deer tested in an Iowa study between September and January 2021 were infected. Other researchers found COVID-19 antibodies in deer in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois and New York.  Infected deer generally have no symptoms.Encroaching on animals' habitat is a large contributor to this potential deadly problem and will likely increase in the future as wild habitat continues to shrink around the globe. Another connection to Nature modern man ignores at his peril.

Agoura Hills Wildlife Bridge Set to Begin Construction

Years in the planning and development, {25.11.19} the Agoura Hills wildlife overpass is schedule to break ground on Earth Day, April 1st. The bridge over Hwy 101 connects two nature reserves in the Santa Monica Mountains. The heavily travelled highway has taken an enormous toll on wildlife attempting to cross ten lanes of traffic. Especially hard hit are the remaining mountain lions hanging on to rapidly disappearing habitat. It will be the largest in the world, over 2oo ft long. The project will cost an estimated $90 million and is scheduled for completion in 2025. Sixty percent of the project cost is funded by private donations. Governor Gavin called the bridge an "inspiring example" of public-private partnership not to mention a huge win for wildlife conservation. 

The 'poster cat' for the bridge is P-22, a mountain lion who became famous for crossing two freeways to make a Los Angeles park his home. He is one example of the native cats risking life and limb to find suitable homes in one of the largest metropolis in the world. Drivers will speed through Liberty Canyon beneath the 65-foot wide bridge covered in natural vegetation, including trees, growing on top. Many motorists will hardly notice another overpass, but wildlife will be able to cross without becoming roadkill. Designers took pains to make it blend in with the local topography with berms and hollows to block out highway noise and lights. The project has widespread public support, unusual for a transportation project. The enviornmental impact statement received 9,000 public comments with only 15 expressing opposition to the crossing.

East Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapses

Scientists announced on Friday that an ice shelf the size of New York City collapsed after record high temperatures in the region. {23.03.22} The event is significant because it occurred in the Greater Antarctic region adjacent to the Indian Ocean that has previously been stable.  The collapse of the 460 square mile Conger ice shelf between 14 and 16 March will contribute to the rise of sea levels around the globe. Climate scientists are concern the collapse may indicate they have been overestimating the resistance of East Antarctic ice cap to melting.

'Toontime: This Week in Trump

credit: M. de Adder, San Francisco Chronicle,
BC Idonwanna sez:  That's Democracy lying in the weeds!

More:  A participant in the planning of the Ellipse rally, told Rolling Stone that chief of staff Mark Meadows was involved in the creating the attack on the Capitol including making iy look like they had nothing to do with it. Scott Johnson told the Committee and press interviewers that he overheard Mark Meadows, then-former President Trump’s chief of staff, and Katrina Pierson, Trump’s national campaign spokesperson, talking with Kylie Kremer, the executive director of Women For America First, about plans for a march to the Capitol.  He heard their conversation on a speaker as he drove Kremer between rallies in late December. No one, according to Johnson, wanted to apply for a traceable rally permit, so they settled on holding the event without an official permit that would have cost extra for security. 

 

{25.03.22}There were significant developments this week in Herr Trumpillini's war on democracy. When former Manhattan prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz resigned from the investigation of Trump's fraudulent business dealings, US Person speculated that the reason was a disagreement with Alvin Bragg, the new DA, over whether to prosecute the former president--the first in history--for financial crimes. This week the New York Times published his resignation letter, In it he wrote that Braggs' decision not to bring charges against Trump now to be "misguided and completely contrary to the public interest." Pommerantz told Bragg that there is enough evidence against the reality TV star turned politican to convince an impartial jury of his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Further delay, in his opinion, would only make prosecution of his "numerous felonies" more difficult. Bragg has not publicly commented on the letter. His office only restated previous announcements that the prosecution is ongoing under a staff attorney. Pomerantz was brought in by the previous DA, Cyrus Vance, because of his experience in prosecuting mobsters. Pomerantz told Bragg, he could no longer participate in "a grave failure of justice".  Trump's minions continue to adhere to the propaganda line that all investigations into Trumpworld are politically motivated.  A Trump Org spokeswomen smeared Pomerantz, a career federal prosecutor, as a "radical left lawyer".

Trumpillini is not known for his loyalty to associates, and Alabama Repugnant Mo Brooks got a taste of his treachery this week.  Trump withdrew his endorsement of the Representative who is currently running third in his race for a Senate seat.  Angered by the move, Brooks retaliated against his former leader by telling an NBC interviewer that Trump asked him to "rescind" the 2020 election, remove Biden from office, and hold a new special election.  Brooks said he had drawn Trump infamous displeasure when he told him that could not be done under the Constitution.  His berserk request came in September 2021, seven months after Biden's inauguration.  Brooks spoke at the January 6th rally on the Ellipse from which an inflamed mob marched on the Capitol to interfere in the official tally of Electoral College votes. Trump's state of mind seems to swing widely between delusional and cynically corrupt.  

The January 6th Committee will consider more criminal contempt of Congress citations next week. The subjects are two of Herr Trumpillini's most senior aides,  Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro for refusing to comply with their subpoenas for testimony and document production.  The panel is expected to vote unanimously for referring the citations to the full House for a vote and criminal referral to the Department of Justice.  They will join Steve Bannon and Mark Meadows in facing possible criminal prosecution for their failure to cooperate with the investigation of the wide ranging conspiracy to overthrow the duly elected government of the United States  No high level official has been indicted for their participation in events leading to the insurrection, another "grave failure of justice" this country can ill afford, and is a measure of the corruption in high places.

Ukraine is No Push-over

It becoming increasing obvious that Putin's war on Ukraine is anything but a blitzkrieg.  Fighting on their native land, a motivated Ukrainian army has stalled the armored spear thrust toward Kyiv.  Now the defenders are mounting successful counterattacks, driving the invader back twenty. miles or more.  Mariupol, despite being reduced to rubble by shelling and missiles. refuses to capitulate, which is somewhat ironic given that the city was home to ethnic Russians.  Civilians are trapped in basements beneath the ruins of their apartment homes. So far there has been few evacuation arrangements made between the waring sides.  Kharkiv, the second largest city, is also withstanding the Russian's constant brutal hammering. Some 500 buildings have been destroyed.  Photos show a wasteland similar to the devastation imposed on Germany during WWII.

Speaking of world wars: a new one would undoubtably be nuclear.  Europe would suffer immense damage, huge casualties, and an unimaginable refugee crisis.  Major European centers might end up like Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  This outcome is what western leaders must avoid, even if it prolongs the war on Ukraine.  That sound somewhat heartless, but the calculations are clear.  Zelenskiy is calling for a no-fly zone, which borders on the irresponsible, but his country is being attacked by a much larger and well-equipped army willing to inflict mass casualties.  A no-fly zone cannot be effectively enforced by the West without direct conflict with the Russian military.  Such a zone would do little to protect Ukraine from long-range missile strikes emanating from within Russia.  Destroying those assets would involve a direct attack on Russian soil, giving Putin the perfect excuse to drop a nuke somewhere in Europe. Better to give Zelenskiy SA-300 surface-to-air missiles in the inventory of several NATO nations.  If NATO can replace fighter jets without the Russians finding out about it, that should be done too.  In the age of satellite surveillance, such an effort would be difficult and dangerous, perhaps overland indirectly by rail or truck. US Person is not sure a twelve ton MIG jet can be partially dismantled for covert shipment.  

Never underestimate a cornered, angry bear. Western leaders are concerned Putin might resort to chemical weapons such as tear gas (banned by the 1925 Geneva convention) and white phosphorus munitions (Zelenskiy has accused the Russian of deploying it).  No need to disastrously over-react, the economic war is working, but if chemical weapons have been deployed, Europe as a whole must double down and totally embargo Russian oil and primarily gas.  Oil money is what fuels the Russian war machine, and the war is getting very expensive in terms of money and men.

Ukraine is putting up a brave and somewhat surprising resistance. It is improbable that they could force all of Russia's troops out of the country through military operations alone, but they can force Putin to negotiate.  The longer the war goes on, the more likely that will happen.  Ukraine enjoys the advantages of familiar terrain, decentralized command and control, interior resupply lines, and effective anti-armor weaponry supplied by NATO.  It has a large population willing to fight, and as Napoleon might have said, morale is to numbers as 3 is to 1. [photo credit: AFP] And by the way, someone should tell US police forces that tear gas is considered a chemical weapon in the civilized world.

COTW: Freakish Heat at the Poles

 

Record setting temperatures are occurring at the Earth's poles, yet another unmistakable sign of global warming. Parts of Antarctica are as much as 70℉ warmer than average, and Arctic temperatures are 50℉ warmer [red areas on charts].  A scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, CO said the temperatures in opposite seasons was, "definitely an unusual occurrence", in a stroke of masterful understatement.  Climate scientists are worried that this freakish situation could be a signal of faster climate breakdown than previously estimated.

Antartica's warming is unusual because it is occurring in part of the continent that was largely unaffected until now.  Attention has been focused on the peninsula, which is loosing ice and warming rapidly.  Antarctica's ice sheet melted to a record low point in February loosing 741,000 miles².  The two-mile high Vostok station beat its previous record high temperature of 0℉ by 27 degrees.

Two Transparent Frog Species New to Science Found

Two transparent frog species were recently located in the same Ecuadorian rainforest reserve. Though similar, the two species are genetically distinct enough to be classified as separate. Hyalinobatrachium mashpi is found on the south side of the Guayllabamba river valley, while the other frog, hyalinobatrachium nouns lives in the other parts of the same valley about thirteen miles apart. The remarkable photograph of H. mashpi above shows a female loaded with eggs (white). Northwest Ecuador is home to the Tropical Andes Biome that is richer in amphibian species than the Amazon, which is rather flat in comparison. The terrain barriers of the Andean landscape provide isolation in which species differentiate, a process referred to as endemism. [photo credits: J. Culebras]

Weekend Music

It is really amazing that sixty years on the cryptic lyrics issued by Lennon-McCartney during their "psychedelic" phase still swirl around in your mind. This song led to wild rumors of Lennon's premature death, based on the claim that in Norse mythology the walrus is a symbol of death. Lennon was actually seeking revenge on the pndits who over-analysed Beatle lyrics. The walrus in the song is taken from a Lewis Carrol poem in Through the Looking Glass Lennon wrote the song wile taking LSD. Are you a "stupid bloody Tuesday man" who let his face grow long? Maybe not, but US Person could be the "eggman", or just a "servicable villan". So, in honor of Lennon's visionary lyrics, here is "I am the Walrus", goo-goo g'joob:

'Toontime: Paper Trail

credit: R. Mekel, Counterpoint

One of the more surprising piece of evidence to come out of the prosecutions of the "useful idiots" who stormed the Capitol is a written plan to occupy six Congressional offices and the Supreme Court on January 6th.  A leader of the right-wing extremist group, the Proud Boys, Enrico Tarrio, received a document titled "1776 Plan" from a a source unnamed in court documents.  This nine page planning document contained two prongs of action, one named "Storm the Winter Palace" called for 'filling the buildings with patriots", and the other named "Patriot Plan" provided for distribution of a list of demands in the streets that included holding a new election since the "evidence of election fraud is overwhelming".  Repeating a lie does not make it true, Nazis not withstanding.  Fifty people were to be recruited to enter the seven targeted buildings and stage a sit down with provision for distractions actions such as pulling fire alarms.

Tarrio and his five co-conspirators have pleaded not guilty to conspirarcy charges. Steward Rhodes. leader of the extremist Oath Keepers militia, has been charged with sedition for his violent plot to overthrow the government.  So far there is no evidence that Herr Trumpillini was connected with these plotters

Another piece of written evidence does, however, lead directly into the White House.  A report, apparently made to distribute to state legislators who might be influenced to create alternative slates of electors. was created by a senior member of the White House staff, Joanna Miller, who worked for Petter Navarro, trade advisor to the president.  So far, Navarro has refused to comply with his subpoena for testimony and documents served on him in early February.  The Supreme Court has rejected claims of executive privilege made by Trump's senior aides and advisors.  Navarro told the Daily Beast, that Trump was "on board" with the coup dubbed "the Green Bay Sweep".

The report deals with claim that Dominion Voting Systems provided electronic ballot machines that were hacked to give Joe Biden more votes than Trump. According to the wild allegations, the machines used software produced by a Venezuelan company that had ties to the Venezuelan government.  Navarro used the report to create his own three part report, also intended for distribution to swing state officials.  It formed the basis for draft Executive Order 13848, which provided for sweeping powers  against foreign election interference, including the seizure of voting machines.  The  alleged Venezuelan connection apparently motivated the deranged 'kraken' lawyer Sydney Powell to request she be appointed a special counsel to investigate the matter at a December 18, 2020 a the White House.  To believe that the 'boss' in the Oval had no knowledge of his closest staff's activity to overthrow the election result on his behalf beggars belief.

COTW: Covid-19 Still With US

Europe has been a few weeks ahead of the US in terms of pandemic case numbers.  This chart from NYT shows the spike in cases due to the latest virus variant BA.2 that appears to be even more contagious than Omicron.  The virus is fighting back, just like the Ukrainians.  BA.2 has already spread to the USA, accounting for 12% of newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases.

If the current trend holds, the USA could see an end to declining case numbers in about two months.  New daily cases are at the lowest since last summer before the Delta surge.  Fortunately vaccination reduces the  virility of the infection, and about 45% of Americans have already endured Omicron.  Just to see how bad the new infection can be, LOOK at this chart:

Hong Kong has a low vaccination rate among the elderly.  Vaccination is still the key to defeating the virus. You may be enjoying not having to wear a mask in public, but the virus is still out there.

House Democrats Want to Know Why

Why did the USPS purchase mostly gas powered truck to renew its existing fleet of vehicles.  Electric vehicles seem to be ideal for the short haul urban trips you most mail trucks making.  Gas powered vehicles get terrible mileage with the constant stop and go driving mail personnel make every day.  The purchase, undoubtedly influenced by the Trump minion in charge, Louis DeJoy, who has been widely criticized for taking the USPS in the wrong direction--backward.

The decision to purchase gas vehicles from defense contractor, Oshkosh Defense, is contrary to the Biden administration's attempts to do something about climate change.  Carbon pollution from vehicle traffic is a major contributor to global warming emissions.  The contract is worth an estimated $11 billion over ten years to replace the post office's fleet of 230,000 vehicles.  So this contract is not chicken feed, and could make a significant difference in reducing carbon emissions.  The post office has a 122 year history of using electric vehicles to deliver the mail.  The gas engine beat out the electric motor as a means of conveyance in largely rural America.  But an  electric delivery vehicle made an experimental come back in the 1960s. [photo]  It was not until the gas-short 70s that the Post Office took electric vehicle seriously,  In 1999 the postal service's first electric fleet took to the streets of Los Angeles' Harbor City district, and helped the agency meet its alternative vehicle requirements passed into law in the early 90s.

The House government oversight committee asked the agency's inspector general on Monday  to determine if it complied with NEPA when it made the decision to purchase gasoline vehicles.  The committee said numerous stakeholders, including EPA and the White House, raised concerns about the Post Office's obligation to consider environmental impacts of its decision.  The committee also said the purchase of electric vehicles would make the Post Office a leader in environmental action. The contract does provide for the delivery of 5,000 electric vehicles by 2023, a small portion of the total number of vehicles to be delivered by Oshkosh.  The purchase conflicts with Biden's stated goal of converting all of the government's vehicle fleet to electric by 2035.  Converting the entire postal service fleet would save 135 million gallons of gasoline a year.

The postal service is not under Biden's control.  It is governed by a board of governors which is occupied by a majority of Repugnant appointees, and is headed by a Repugnant chairman, Roman Martinez. The Repugnant Postmaster claims a 10% conversion to electric is the best his agency can do given its "dire financial circumstances".  What is left unsaid is that his party has contributed mightily to the present present financial difficulties in their on-going effort to shrink government.

'Toontime: Guilty Knowledge

credit: M Luckovitch
BC Idonwanna sez:  Democracy is down!

Latest: Former national security advisor, General Mike Flynn, pled the 5th Amendment before the January 6th Select Committee of the House on Thursday.  Flynn told the investigators he did so on the advice of his counsel.  He joins a growing list of plotters to take the Fifth.  At one point in the coup, Flynn suggested Herr Trumpillini declare martial law and seize voting machines to allow the would be dictator to oversee the election results, undoubtably resulting in his re-election.  That move would have been right out of the Banana Republic playbook.  His grotesque suggestion resulted in a confrontation in the Oval with Trump's more sane advisors in December, 2020, also attended by erratic "kraken"attorney, Sidney Powell. 

Readers may be destracted by news of the war in Ukraine. PNG is NOT. This week in Trump, the January 6th Committee revealed in court filings,  that Trump co-conspirator John Eastman knew the efforts to delay the Electoral College vote count were illegal. In an email exchange with VP Pence's legal counsel, Eastman wrote that even though delaying the count for up to ten days was a violation of the Electoral Count Act, Pence should do it anyway since the Act was not strictly followed by Congress in its deliberations. Pence's lawyer attempted to deflect the guilty knowledge by writing that the President "did not get the memo" on the illegality of the "Green Bay sweep". Even if Trumpillini did get the memo, he would not have cared since his mind set was one of "what do I have to loose". Only democracy, dimwit.

If Eastman knew the effort to delay certification was illegal, who else knew? That is a question to which the Committee wants answers.  Giuliani was urging Senator Thomas Tuberville on the same evening of January 6th to block the count of ten states, which would have dragged the proceedings into the next day.  The Committee is challenging the claim of attorney-client privilege raised by Eastman to withhold his communication records on the crime or fraud exception. A federal judge who heard the case ruled in favor of the Committee that will begin parsing the hundred or so emails to determine if they are privileged.

Tribe Sues Seattle on Behalf of Salmon

In another suit claiming the rights of nature, the Sauk-Suiattle tribe is suing the city of Seattle, WA on behalf of endangered salmon that the tribe says have an “inherent rights to exist, flourish, regenerate, and evolve”. Lawsuits recognizing the nature's 'civil rights' is a growing trend. {2-10-2017} The suit was filed in tribal court and the city is seeking to dismiss it. Rivers damned for the city's benefit no longer support sufficient populations of salmon for the tribe's needs. The Indian attorney representing the tribe incourt said the suit was a means to force the city to recognize legitimate needs of the salmon to surive. Seattle negotiated an agreement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 1995 that allowed it to damage Salmon habitat by draining the Skagit River. The city is currently seeking a new license that could extend for another fifity years, long enough to insure the salmon's extiction. The tribe says it cannot rely on federal regulators to protect endangered salmon because FERC considers business benefits over the protection of habitat. The salmon is sacred to the Sauk-Suiattle and other northwest tribes.

the Klamath at sunset, credit LA Times

In 2018 a Minnesota tribe, White Earth Nation, passed a law recognizing the legal rights of manoomin, a sacred wild rice. The Ojibwes filed a lawsuit in their tribal court to stop Enbridge Energy's Line 3. They claim the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is failing to protect the state’s fresh water by allowing Enbridge to pump up to 5 billion gallons of groundwater and surface water for construction amidst a devastating drought. In 2019 the Yurok tribe declared the legal rights of the Klamath River, which allows lawsuits to be filed on its behalf in tribal court. “From New Zealand to Colombia, the powerful idea that nature has rights is taking root in legal systems,” says David Boyd, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and the environment. We must no longer view the natural world as a mere warehouse of commodities for humans to exploit, but rather a remarkable community to which we belong and to whom we owe responsibilities.” What seems a novel legal idea is actually a long awaited acknowledgment of man's proper place in the biosphere.

COTW: Unimaginable Death Toll

Legend:  US performance versus other wealthy nations: left, total deaths during pandemic;
right, deaths during Omicron wave, source NYT

COVID-19 has killed more than 6 million people on Earth.  The figure, according to John Hopkins University, is staggering, but health officials admit it is a vast undercount.  Deaths in the USA from the SARS-CoV2 virus already have surpassed 1 million, exceeding the death toll caused by the H1N1 virus in 1918-19.  USA has failed to vaccinate as many people per capita as other developed nations; the daily death toll is now about 1500 persons. Peru has the dubious distinction of being the country with the most deaths per 100,000 people in the world.  Now the world averages 7,000 deaths a da,y down from the daily peak of 14,000 in January 2021.  Deaths are surging in New Zealand, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Incredibly, science has given mankind the ability to fight a rapidly evolving virus in real time, an unprecedented development in history.  But because of wealth disparities, irrational fear of vaccines, and political opportunism the pandemic has been allowed to prolong itself.

Honga Tonga Sets Record

The submarine volcano that erupted in the remote SW Pacific on January 15th created a tsunami that crashed into the island nation of Tonga was heard in 5,000 miles away in Alaska and sent atmospheric pressure waves detected around the world. in a few words, it was a mighty blast that could be seen from space. Trite expressions aside, the volcano sent a plume of ash that ascended 36 miles into the mesosphere, a new record. The mesosphere is beyond our familiar troposphere where weather occurs, and the stratosphere, the realm of high-flying jets and baloons. That's three times higher than most thunderstorms and 14 miles taller than previous volcanic eruptions. 

 Scientists were able to measure the plume of smoke, particles and steam using two geosynchronous sattelites, GEOS-17 and Himawari-8. [photo]Using the collected data, scientists created a three-dimensional model of the record plume. The plume sparked significant lightening strikes--200,00 in just one hour--covering a staggering 60,000 square miles or the area of the state of Georgia. The effects of the mighty blast are still being studied, but scientists think that not enough sulfur dixoide was released to cool the Earth's climate.

Stupidity on Parade

US Person has avoided posting about Putin's war in Ukraine because the CCM is all over it, everyday. But some of the comments coming from on-air "experts" are mind-boggling bonkers. Advocates for a "no-fly" zone insist that that it would be effective in stopping the Russian's inevitable advance [see map]. Such a move requires enforcement, obviously. Who would be responsible for enforcing the embargo? It wouuld be, equally obvious, NATO. To think that enforcement would not bring Russian and western pilots into direct conflict is simply dangerous naivety. It is equally naive to think that Russia would not retaliate if one of its aircraft were shot down by NATO air forces operating in a war zone. Putin has already warned that any interference in his "special operation" by the West risks nuclear retaliation. Do these war-mongering pundits really want a nuclear confrontation in the middle of Europe? A one hundred kiloton device could wipe out a small city. Yes, there are mounting civilian casualties in Ukraine, but a nuclear blast would make those figures negligible by comparison. Ukraine is not strategically important to the West, nor is it a member of the western military alliance. Therefore, risking nuclear war with Russia is out of bounds. The Russian military attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station--a war crime--is a message to the West that Putin is playing for keeps. Note that the containment buildings and spent fuel rod storage pools were not hit. Apparently part of the Russian invasion strategy is to capture and control power plants, with the axis of advance along the west Bank of the Dnieper River that will split the country in two.

dark squares indicate nuclear power plants

Here is the other thing about nuclear war: once it starts, it is nearly impossible to stop as warring sides ratchet retaliation with increasing force. If you really want to crimp Putin's war capacity without killing millions of innocents, embargo Russian oil and gas imports. Yes, this will hurt western economies, but so would smoldering, radioactive ruins. This measure has political support in Washington. Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters she would support banning Russian oil imports. Granted Russian oil does not make up a large part of the American market (7%), but if the boycott were joined by other western countries, especially in Europe where Russian imports are significant, it would cause Russian oligarchs to reconsider Putin's revanchist adventure in Ukraine. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, and a leading advocate of climate change strategies, also backs an oil embargo. “We cannot criticize Europe for its reliance on Russian energy as we pour dirty oil money into Russia,” he said. Some Republicans and reactionary Democrats back the proposal because it would mean an opportunity for more domestic production. Either way, no one would die from not being able to fill up their gas tank. So far the Biden administration has resisted using oil as a weapon agianst the aggressor petrostate.

'Toontime: Truth Be Told

The Committee has finally publicly stated in a court filing what US Person has been blogging about for a long time:“The Select Committee also has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States.”  The Select Committee stated their conclusion in a petition to obtain John Eastman's communication records, which he says in protected by attorney-client privilege.  Only one problem with that claim--it does not exist if the attorney and client are planning a crime. Eastman is the supposed "brains" behind the attempted coup, authoring memos laying out an erroneous legal theory to support the conspirators actions to overturn the election of 2020.  Eastman has already involved his 5th Amendment privilege not to incriminate himself in sworn testimony.

Herr Trumpllini, friend of brutal dictators, and his fanatic minions cannot rely on deliberate ignorance as a defense.  There were multiple warnings made by high-ranking officials to him that the election was not "stolen",  In fact 62 courts found the election was conducted fairly, but that did not stop the plotting. He deliberately chose to ignore his legitimate defeat at the polls, thus providing the necessary mens rea or intent to defraud the United States and obstruct an official proceeding--the joint session of Congress counting the Electoral College votes. Jason Miller, Mr. Trump’s senior campaign adviser, has told the Committee in a deposition that Mr. Trump had been told soon after Election Day by a campaign data expert “in pretty blunt terms” that he was going to lose, suggesting that Herr Trump was well aware that his months of assertions about a stolen election were false.  The Committee's court filing went on state that As the president and his associates propagated dangerous misinformation to the public, Mr. Eastman “was a leader in a related effort to persuade state officials to alter their election results based on these same fraudulent claims.”  The Committee has conducted over 550 depositions, and it should include the former Vice President in that tally, who stood up to personal pressure applied by Trump to participate in the overthrow attempt.  His has first hand knowledge of Trumps overt acts in pursuing the overthrow.

What Herr Trumpillini did in the days before January 6th is an unprecedented felony in the annals of American history, beyond on all bounds of acceptable behavior by a public official.  His actions demonstrate a reckless disregard for the rule of law and democratic process. His crime should shock the conscience of every American who believes in this country's elected government.  His crimes of historic proportions deserve an appropriate punishment.

credit: Komar
BC Idonwanna sez:  He should use his tie for that....

Klamath Restoration Clears Major Hurdle

Restoration of the Klamath River and its dwindling salmon runs took another step closer to reality as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a draft environmental impact statement on Friday that found significant benefits to removing four dams on the lower Klamath.  Public comments will now be allowed before finalizing the impact statement.  If the plan goes forward, it will be the largest dam removal project in the nation's history, costing nearly $500 million.  The dams are not used for irrigation or flood control and are increasingly uneconomic to operate.  Owner PacificCorp has provided funds for the project.  PacificCorp is owned by Bershire-Hathaway, billionaire investor Warren Buffet't holding company.

The dams cut the 253 mile long Klamath River in half, denying salmon access to their historic spawning grounds.  Consequently both coho and chinook have suffered disastrous declines in the populations.  Coho from the river are listed as endangered by both California and the federal government.  Spring chinook have declined by 98% forcing the Yurok tribe that depend on the runs for food to cancel its fishing season for the first time in history.  As many as 90% of juvenile salmon have tested positive for disease caused by low water flows.  Residents living around a reservoir created by one of the dams have sued to prevent the removal project from taking place. So far proponents have overcome the project's critics. A historic deal reached in 2020 made Oregon and California equal partners in the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, which will oversee the project.  Conservationists and commercial fishers have worked for decades to bring down the dams in a region suffering from drought and shrinking water supplies.