COTW: Why Its Hotter than Ever

The chart shows that the world's most developed nations (rich) emit the most carbon dioxide per person.  Obviously China, India and the US are the big three.  China and India are heavily dependent on coal burning to produce energy. Over its history, the United States has emitted more than any other country because its industrial development began earlier. The US is attempting to transition away from coal, if the politics do not get in the way.  Right now just 12 percent of the world's population living in rich countries (US, Japan, Canada, Western Europe) are responsible for 50% of the planet warming CO₂ produced over the past 170 years. A decade ago, rich countries pledged $100 billion per year to aid poor countries to develop infrastructure to mitigate the effects of catastrophic climate change.  They are falling tens of  billions short per year.  Are you reading this, Joe Manchin?  

In fact the biggest polluters are producing even more greenhouse gases as this chart shows:

At the current rates of carbon pollution, the Paris Accord limit of 1.5℃ of warming over pre-industrial levels by 2030.  The combined profits in the second quarter for Exxon, Shell, Chevron, BP and Total were $50 billion, a new record.

TWIT: Better Late than Never, DOJ !

Wackydoodle sez:  Y'al send him money now, ya hear!

It is well known in the Swamp, nothing get done unless it become embarrassing to deny a problem any longer.  Look how long it took Joe Manchin to support climate change legislation!*  The Justice Depart was finally embarrassed by the January 6th Committee by the avalanche of evidence showing Herr Trumpilini's criminal culpability for the coup that culminated in the Capitol Insurrection. The Department has opened a criminal investigation in which Trump is a subject. Witnesses at the federal grand jury say they were asked question about Trump's involvement in the fake elector scheme by Justice Department prosecutors. Those witnesses included two top aide to former Vice President Mike Pence according to the WaPo that broke the story on Tuesday. 

There are more indications that pressure is building against Trump's wall of omerta Former Chief of Staff Mike Mulvaney testified in private before the Committee on Thursday.  Mulvaney resigned from his appointment as special envoy to Northern Ireland after the insurrection on January 6th. Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State told reporters that he has had discussion with investigators about testifying. The Committee has apparently reached an agreement with the Justice Department to turn over transcripts dealing with the fake elector scheme. This aspect of the coup has interested DOJ the most and has been under investigation the longest. Fraudulent elector certifications are tangible evidence and attempting to foist them onto Congress is an unambiguous indication of fraudulent intent. Trump's role in the gambit has not been made explicit until the latest communications turned over to the Committee show Trump direct involvement. At one point in the plotting he put the Republican National Chairperson on the phone with his chief legal minion,s John Eastman, telling her it was important that the RNC aid in obtaining alternative slates of electors. The plan went forward despite the fact that several legal advisors told him his plan was illegal

In an interesting historic sidenote, the idea for alternative slates of electors may have come from the 1960 election between Kennedy and Nixon, which was extremely close.  The Kennedy campaign prepared a list of contingent electors for Hawaii, in case the recount of the popular vote there went against the Senator from Massachusetts.  The recount came out in Kennedy's favor by only 115 votes, which was considered an upset at the time.  Hawaii presented both the original three Republican electors and the three newly certified Kennedy electors.  Nixon, as Vice President, counted the Kennedy electors at the joint session of Congress.  

The salient distinction here is that the Hawaii popular vote was genuinely contested  In the 2020 there was no credible dispute about who won the contests in swing states like Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Trump's scheme was a fraud from the beginning and he knew it.  At the start of this sorry saga, many pundits thought (NOT US Person!) that the various facets of his plan to stay in power were unconnected--  the riot, the pressuring of the Vice-President, his demand to find more votes in Georgia, and the bogus electoral gambit.   The evidence collected so far mostly by the House Select Committee, shows unequivocally that these were all facets of the same corrupt conspiracy to seize power in violation of the foundational laws of this country.  The man who would be king was at its center like a poisonous spider in her web waiting to devour the hapless fly of democracy. 

*The backstory behind Manchin's abrupt flip on climate legislations is laid out at Politico.com.   Another example of how the Swamp really works: hee was pressured by CEOs, labor unions, Bill Gates, and even wildlife conservationists to support the Democratic bill.  But what really counted is the fact that his state stands to gain new green industries like a battery factory backed by Gates, and millions in federal subsidies, which in one of the poorest states in the Union is not coals to Newcastle.  As an extra added bonus he extracted a promise from Democratic leadership that they will support completion of a pipeline in his state that has run into permitting problems.  Just doing his  representation thing, folks!

Time to Bring Back Jaguars

Jaguars (Panthera once) once lived in the southwestern United States before they were eradicated by man. The last native big cat was probably killed in 1964. The last female jaguar was killed in 1949. There is a significant amount of historical data to show that the cats were at home in Arizona and New Mexico all the way north to the Grand Canyon.  In fact the infamous colonizer, Sam Houston wore a jaguar skin vest.  Ranchers poisoned the ones they could not shoot and eventually were eradicated by hunting, usually with dogs, and urban development.  The USFWS eventually protected them under the Endangered Species Act but only in Central and South America.  The policy toward the magnificent cat swayed back and forth with the politics of Washington, DC.

Green areas are current habitat; red dots are sightings

The policy landscape was altered in 1996, when a rancher hunting mountain lions came face to face with a jaguar in the Peloncillo Mountains of Arizona.  Fortunately, rancher Warner Glenn did not kill the feline with "eyes of fire"-- for he knew it was rare.  He did take ten photos of the animal.  His photographic evidence that jaguars were roaming into historic range country was undeniable.

Since then camera traps have recorded the presence of jaguars south of I-10, as recently as March of this year. Several models were developed to show how the feline could repopulate its former territory. The Service only considered the region south of 1-10 could only support six jaguars--not a sustainable number. Several prominent conservationists considered the repopulation of jaguars to the borderlands to be a waste of resources better spent preserving breeding populations south of the border.

More recent scientific work sees the potential habitat for jaguars expanding dramatically. Three recent computer models show a vast area of mountainous central Arizona and New Mexico between Flagstaff and Silver City to be good jaguar lands. There is over 20 million acres in this region, 68% of which is managed by the federal government The new estimate is that 90-150 jaguars could live there sustainably. But with the construction of Trump's Folly, jaguars will need human help to move three hundred miles north from Mexico's breeding population in Sonora. Reintroductions in other countries have been successful.There are perhaps only two natural corridors for jaguars to migrate north, one of which is the remote Guadalupe Canyon that was bisected by the Folly. Two males were photographed within two miles of the border near Guadalupe. Leaving repopulation to Nature would take a significant amount of time and luck. Sonora has an estimated 4800 jaguars, but populations are decreasing rapidly. The cat is on the IUCN's Red List as near threatened.

Its time to make amends for what was done to the iconic big cat of the Americas. Wildlife has been, and still is being eradicated or an industrial scale. Given a chance and a helping hand, jaguars can be more than just a football team in the USA.  Nature is ready.

The New AIDS?

HIV killed thousands of gay men in the 80s, so far monkeypox has not proven as deadly, but it does seem to have a preference for men who have sexual relations with other men.  Tens of thousands of cases of monkeypox infection have occurred world-wide prompting The Who to declare a global health emergency for the second time in two years.  Only two other diseases have reached this classification, polio and COVID-19.  The the reported cases are overwhelming among homosexual men.  The panel of experts advising the Secretary General of the World Health Organization could not come to a consensus on the matter, but Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus issued the declaration telling reporters that too little is know about the mechanism of transmission, which meets the criteria for international concern.  He also criticized the process for issuing such statements

This is the seventh international  public health emergency since 2007.  Some seventy-five countries including the United States have reported about 16,000 cases of infection. Two children have died in the USA of the disease. Previously monkeypox was common in Africa, but now it has spread worldwide. As African outbreaks flared over the years experts warned that it could become a global risk. The virus is in the same family as the variola virus that causes smallpox.  A health scientist at the University of Nebraska's Center for Health Security said it might take a year or more to get the outbreak under control, and by that time hundreds of thousands will become infected allowing he disease to become embedded in some countries by establishing pathogen reservoirs in animal populations.  US Person aka "Senator Chimp", thinks that outbreaks of previously uncommon and novel diseases are an indication of the increasing degradation of  the global environment.  

Because of its relationship to smallpox, two vaccines are now available,  The safer of the two, called Jynneos, is in limited supply.  The vaccine was developed in the USA, but is manufactured by a small Danish company, which owns the only plant in the world has been shut since last August for planned expansion.  It can supply the USA with two million doses by the end of this year, but that leaves only about 5 million doses for the rest of the world.   Currently, only people at high risk are being vaccinated in this country. The stockpile in this country is around 56,000 doses to be distributed immediately.  An estimated six million homosexual men are at risk in the USA.  The need for government controlled vaccine production facilities is becoming more apparent all the time.  There is little profit in vaccine manufacture, especially against pathogens that are rare, less virulent, or episodic in nature.  Of course those facilities cannot be here since that would be 'SOCIALIST'

TWIT: Crimes in Plain Sight

credit: M. Lukovich, Atlanta Journal Constitution
Wackydoodle sez:  He'll take a cheeseburger with ketchup and fries too.

What the live hearing tonight by the January 6th Committee showed is more than the oft repeated phrase "dereliction of duty" though without question is was that, is the commission of a felony by the President of the United States.  Donald Trump planned and executed as best he was able, to illegally remain in power by obstructing Congress in its execution of constitutional duties.  He did this using various stratagems, but in the end it came down to a violent mob action that he instigated and would have led but for the actions of the palace guard, the Secret Service, more on them below.  His behavior during the insurrection for 187 minutes was more than confused inaction, or failure to protect the Constitution.  He actively leveraged the violence by calling US Senate supporters in the hope they would submit to his pressure and raise objections to the Electoral College vote count.  There can be no clearly indication of his corrupt intent short of his confession. He resisted the insistent advice of his close advisors and family members to go on national television and tell the rioters to stop the violence that concerned even the professional protecting the Vice President. Rep Kinzinger (R-IL) insightfully observed that Herr Trumpillini did nothing because the violent mob he raised and aimed at the Capitol was serving his purpose.  Even the next day after Congress belatedly certified the election results, his flying monkey, Rudy Guiliani, was still trying to wrangle support from Senators for the Big Lie

The most concerning development in US Person's opinion is the apparent cover-up of Trump's actions by the US Secret Service.  Yesterday, the Service told the Committee that it could not retrieve the deleted text messages from January 6th.  This deletion happened after the Service was told three times by various investigators in Congress and the Homeland Security IG to preserve all communication records from that time.  The Service also has a legal obligation under the Federal Records Act to preserve official communications.  The National Archives, which is responsible for preserving these records, has requested the Service to explain how the deletions occurred in light of the preservation requests.  Frankly the refusal to present the messages to the Committee smacks of a potentially illegal cover-up rivaling "Tricky" Dick's attempt to keep the Watergate break-secret.  Anthony Ornato, an Assistant Director of the Service and a former White House Deputy for Operations, has a history of lying in order to support his former boss according to two former White House staffers, Olivia Troye and Alyssa Farah Griffin.  His misplaced loyal apparently is shared by others within the secretive agency.  Certainly this development is another avenue of inquiry that will keep the Committee busy until their next public hearings in September.  Meanwhile the Homeland IG has launched a criminal investigation into the "migration" of data.

As co-chair Liz Cheney (R-AZ) rightly pointed out at the end, a man so desperate for power that he is willing to pervert democracy by peddling a lie that prays on false notions of patriotism, is a present danger that cannot be allowed to hold high public office again.  He continues to spew the Big Lie to further his political ambitions to this day.  The atrophied organs of justice must be used to stop him for good.

Its Official: Monarch Butterflies are Endangered

Their populations have plummeted in recent years, but now the ICUN is officially recognizing their plight by listing them on its Red List as endangered.  According to counts in California and Mexico at the overwintering sites, the migratory insect's population has dropped by 95% since the 1980s. Danaus plexippus plexippus migrates in four generations over 4,000 miles from Canada to Mexico and California, one of the longest migrations in the Animal Kingdom.  It is beset with a host of threats from habitat loss to chemical poisoning and drought.

There are two populatins of Monarch butterflies in North America. The eastern population spends it winters in the coniferous forests of central Mexico. The western population lives in the Sierra Nevadas. The Mexican population is the most numerous and serves as a proxy for population counts. Its winter home is threatened by logging.  California's Monarch have increased in number recently up from a shocking 2,000 in 2020, an estimate undoubtedly affected by the pandemic. Still their numbers are well below the 1.2 million recorded in 1997.  They suffer from herbicide and pesticide overuse, and human development. In June of this year a California court ruled that invertebrates can be protected under the state's Endangered Species Act, opening the possibility of protecting their over-wintering sites.

The US Fish &Wildlife Service says Monarch qualify for listing as endangered under federal law, but priority is being given to other butterfly species.  According to a 2020 study the Service estimates that the Mexican population has a 50-70% chance of going extinct in sixty years. For the California population the chances are nearly certain of extinction in sixty years (99%). People are responding to the species plight by planting milkweed and other nectar bearing plants which they need for food and laying eggs. Reducing the use of pesticides and herbicides will also help them survive. There is hope for the Monarch, but time is running out. [photo credit: Xerces Society]

Oregon Couple Sentenced in Wildlife Crime

An Oregon hunting couple shot into a herd of fleeing elk, killing five animals.  They tagged two and left the others to rot in the field.  On July 4th a state judge handed down several days in jail and bench probation for Chris Lardy, but did not confiscate their weapons.  He did however, assess a total of $2500 in fines and restitution.  Witnesses who turned in the couple over the Turn in Poachers tip line(1-800-452-7888) say they fired 30-40 rounds into the herd from their vehicle, pursued another 400 yards and fired again.  The Lardy had tags for four animals.  They only gutted two and removed them in their Suburban.  By the time the authorities arrived at the scene in Harney County, the meat left behind was spoiled.

In a news release, ODWF said the Lardys, "acted in complete disregard for the elk...to chase them with a vehicle and then leave five elk to waste...is almost unbelievable".  They shot two calves, two cows and a young bull.  The Lardys must be from Texas. 

When the Tarmac Melts

Update:  The UK hit an all-time temperature record of 104.5℉ today, Tuesday. That is more than 20 degrees above normal [see map below]  This heat wave is playing havoc with infrastructure and human services.  Wildfires pose a threat to thousands of Europeans who are not accustomed to surviving extreme heat.  Air-conditioning is not omnipresent as it is in the USA.  Remarkably, London does not have cooling centers for an escape from the heat that is how rare extreme heat waves are in Europe's largest city and biggest urban heat island.  Firefighters battled grass fires that damaged homes in the greater London metro. The village of Wennington in East London was among those locations that were hit with wildfire.  By the end of the day the London Fire Brigade had 105 of its available 143 engines responding to fires.  The fire commissioner criticized members of the public for being careless and reckless during the heat emergency. 

Luton Airport in the UK had to shut down because the tarmac on the runway began softening in the record  heat on Monday.  Hundreds of trains were cancelled as the temperature climbed into the high 30s (100s℉ =37.8℃). A UK man actually got his foot stuck in a pothole when he stepped on soft asphalt. He had to be chilled out.  Asphalt begins to melt at 50℃ Temperatures are expected to drop on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in France wildfires have stretched resources and caused casualties.  In Gironde fires have been raging since Tuesday. So far 32,000 acres have burned driven by high winds.  Sixteen thousand holiday makers have been forced to evacuate as the fires reached the beach near the famous sand dune of Pilat.  In Brittany, which rarely has to deal with extreme hot temperatures, the thermometer could reach 104, setting a new record.  The cyclists competing in the Tour de France are finding the weather conditions very difficult.

Spain is also burning.  About 20 wildfires are out of control across the country.  A firefighter died while trying to contain the blazes in Zamora.  Two Spaniards died of heatstroke over the weekend.  Portugal set a new record of 47℃ (116.6 ℉) on Thursday, but as largely been spared destructive wildfires.  Thirty fires were burning on Friday in Portugal according to the BBC.  238 more people have died than usual at this time of year Portuguese health officials reported.  Italy, Greece and Croatia have all reported wildfires.  

Only 3% of American voters polled think that climate change is the most serious problem facing the country, which is understandable when one considers mass shootings almost daily in the most gun-crazy country in the world.

'Toontime: The Greatest Gap and the Power of Denial

credit: N. Beeler, Columbus Dispatch
Wackydoodle sez:  Wer'nt you the dude in Dallas?

The story of this country's greatest political crime since its founding took another nasty turn this week.  The chair of the J6 Committee, Benny Thompson is also the permanent chair of the Homeland Security Committee. In that capacity he received a letter from the Homeland's Inspector General that the Secret Service deleted text messages from January 5th and 6th in what that agency described as a routine update of their mobile telephone equipment.  This incredible deletion of evidence highly relevant to the Committee's investigation of the attempted autogolpe may demonstrate where the loyalties of the Secret Service actually lie, and apparently they are not with the nation.  These communication records were requested by the Homeland Security Department's Inspector General before the equipment updating was scheduled to take place.  The modern-day pretorians have a history of not providing crucial information when requested by other departments.  Of course, the House Select Committee has asked for the text records to be recovered if technically possible. A subpoena for their production was issued.  The Service said in a statement that communications relating to the Insurrection were not affected by the device replacement migration.

The role played by the Service in keeping the deranged Der Leader from inflaming the mob in person at the Capitol has come under scrutiny since Cassidy Hutchinson revealed that he was prevented by security agents from going there.  Her version of events have been corroborated by a DC police person working the motorcade, who saw and heard the heated exchange between Trump and his guards at the Ellipse.  The deleted SS communications could shed light on how the agency intended to move Mike Pence from the Capitol after the mob broke in.  It has been reported that the VP refused to get into his Service chauffeured  limousine waiting in the Capitol basement while the attack was on-going.  All the media attention focused on a small detail of whether Trumpillini actually lunged for the wheel of his SUV is distracting and misplaced, but it makes sensational headlines.  No one has come forward to deny the essential, corroborated fact that Trump insisted on being driven to he Capitol to lead his assault, but his demands were refused.

Peter Navarro, the minion who authored a memo attempting to justify the BIG LIE that Trumpillini referred to in his December 19th "wild" tweet inviting the mob to Washington, refused to accept a plea deal in the criminal contempt case against him.  He faces two misdemeanor charges for refusing to testify and hand over documents to the Committee.  Steve Bannon, another key loyalist and co-plotter, faces trial this coming week.  The Committee has properly ignored his last-ditch offer to testify, since he is doing so merely as a means to disrupt a fair trial.  

According to press reports only eight of the fifty Repugnant senators are following the hearings--another display of the power of denial. That there are co-conspirators in Congress is undeniable.  The person delivering lists of bogus electors to Congress has been identified as Mike Roman, a Trump election official who worked as an intelligence operative for the extremist Koch Brothers.  Roman delivered the lists to Matt Stroia, chief of staff for Congressman Mike Kelly (R-PA) who then deputized a colleague to desalinate them on the Hill.  Roman was subpoenaed to testify in February. A "vast right-wing conspiracy"?  Indeed!

credit: T. Tomorrow
BC Idonwanna sez: Thus, history repeats.

Giant California Sequoias Saved

Yosemite National Park officials say the threat from wildfires to the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias, some of which predate Christ, has been significantly reduced.  At least one expert is crediting controlled burning with stopping the Washburn Fire before it could reach the ancient trees.  Fire has been used for fifty years to clear vegetation and dead wood from beneath the sequoias. The fire started on Thursday and burned 5 square miles by Tuesday.  The fire is now 22% contained and prevailing winds are moving it away from the grove.  Park authorities do not think the fire was caused by lightening and began near a trail.

Some of the trees were charred, but are expected to survive.  Only one named tree, the Galen Clark, was fire damaged.  Sequoias are adapted to fire, which is part of their natural habitat.  In fact their seeds are activated by heat.  A century of fire suppression have left forests dense with downed timber and debris that makes excellent fuel. Proscribed, low intensity burns reduce the amount of fuel available to a wildfire and give firefighters more opportunity to control a wildfire.  Proscribed burns are not unproblematic, as people in New Mexico found out when a "controlled burn" got out of control and caused the state's largest recorded wildfire in its history. A sprinkler system has been set up beneath the trees to help protect them.  About 20% of all giant sequoias, native to the Sierra Nevadas, have been lost to fire. [photo credit: AP]

The Mariposa Grove was protected by President Lincoln in 1864, and became part of the first national park in 1872.  It has not experienced a wildfire in over a hundred years. Several large blazes have come close, but were halted before reaching the giants.  In 2022 over 35,000 wildfires have burned 4.7 million acres (1.9 million hectares) above average for a fire season.  Scientists have repeatedly warned that climate change is making forests dryer and the fires hotter and more frequent.  Firefighters are battling huge blazes in  Utah.

TWIT: The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth

credit: O. Hajjaj
Wackydoodle sez:  I dint know he's Irish!

The American public now knows what US Person has been predicting for a year or more thaks to the work of the J6 Committee: Der Leader was at the center of a many-pronged conspirarcy to overthrow the United States government by force, if necessary. He was the hub at the center of the spokes in a conspiracy wheel touched two levels of government and three federal branches. Today, the Committee showed graphically that the plotter knew of the violent tendencies of some of his extreme supporters and hewas willing to exploit that with speeches and messages intended to motivate the mob. The armed storming of the Capitol building was his last option. He was willing to be present at the scene of the insurrection he incited, but for the actions of a professional security agent driving his vehicle. 

After an "unhinged", "ugly" six hour meeting on December 18th in the White House, where advisors told him his claim of election fraud were unsupported, and the seizure of voting machines by the military was discussed, he issued an early morning December 19th twit in which he told his stormtroopers that a memorandum by Peter Navarro, a loyalist trade advisor, supported his claims that the election of Joe Biden as President was fraudulent. He told them to be in Washington for a rally, as it would "be wild". On January 6th he told his armed supporters on the Ellipse at his invitation to "fight like hell" to take back their democracy. What happened next is on undeniable video. The word unprecedented has been used a thousand times by now, but should not obscure the truth: Trump conspired to hinder or delay by force an official proceeding of the government of the United States*. That is a felony crime which carries a maximum sentence of twenty years. He should be indicted, period. The American people, if they still care about their Republic, must demand that a timid Attorney General, Merrick Garland, indict the crime boss. Condescending Washingtonians like to tout the phrase, "no person is above the law" often. US Person says: prove it.  Look at the pretty picture of the cosmos all you want, the real action is right here on Earth.

credit: R. McKee

Brought to you by....

*18 U.S. Code § 2384: If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

TWIT: The Sinking Ship

credit: L. Alcaraz
BC Idonwanna sez:  He big back-seat driver!

After months of stonewalling the J6 Committee, former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone reached an agreement to testify under oath in private.  His deposition concluded today after 8 hours with investigators.  As revealed by Cassidy Hutchinson, Cipollone was a pivotal figure in White House conversations about the coup attempt. He was characterized as being one senior staff member who warned against Trump's plot, saying at one point that participants would be 'charged with every crime in the book' if it went forward. Cipollone was with the former guy when he watched the riot on television in the White House dinning room and did nothing to stop it for 187 minutes. According to other witnesses Cipollone also opposed the installation of Jeffery Clark as acting Attorney General because Clark was willing to send an official DOJ letter to swing-state election officials informing them the election was tainted by fraud.  He called the letter "a murder-suicide pack" and wanted nothing to do with it. A source told media Cipollone was cooperative in his interview within the parameters of his agreement, and did not contradict previous witnesses. Cipollone met with J6 investigators in April, but resisted his subpoena to testify under oath. He defended Trumpillini in his impeachment trial. Definitely one of the last loyalists to leave the sinking Trump ship.

Concerns over attorney-client privilege and executive privilege were waived off by Committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California. She reminded interviewers that Cipollone represented the Office of the President and not the Maximum Liar personally, and that executive privilege belongs to the current President, who has made it clear that he will not invoke it when it comes to the Insurrection plotted by Trump and his minions. Speculation is that portions of his videotaped deposition will be exhibited at the next public hearing on Tuesday. His eyewitness testimony could be the "smoking John Dean", irrefutably linking the chief plotter to the deadly riot he incited on January 6th in an attempt to stop the Electoral College vote count.

In a closely related investigation, the special grand jury impaneled in Fulton County, Georgia to investigate attempts by Trump and his supporters to illegally alter the election vote count in Fulton County (Atlanta) served subpoenas on Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, gonzo legal strategist John Eastman, and gadfly US Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina.

So bad for the USA!

New Giant Water Lilly Found

In the deepest rainforest of the Amazon or Congo? No, in Kew Gardens, London. Not only are the Gardens a magnet for tourists like US, but also a treasure house of biodiversity.  In a greenhouse devoted entirely to water lilies scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, as it is formally known discovered that a water lilly they thought to be another species is a distinct speciest.Victoria bolivianais also the world's biggest water lilly, growning up to 10 feet wide and strong enough for a child to sit on without getting wet. A native of Bolivia's Amazon River basin. Horticulturalist Carlos Magdalena suspected the lily to be separate from two other giants in the collection, V. amazonica and V. cruziana.

Bolivian scientists gave Kew some seeds, so they could grow the plants side by side. The distinctions were easy to detect once the plants reached maturity. Detailed anotomical drawings were made of the three lilies, but they had to be accomplished at night, which is the only time the lilies flower. [photo credit: C. Magdalena]

The genus is named after Queen Victoria who was on the British throne at the time of their discovery in the 1800s. Waterlily House was built in 1852 to showcase the collection. Much remains to be understood about the giant plants such as how they are pollinated in the wild and how they disperse. More about the plants can be found at the journal, Frontiers in Plant Biology.

Great Salt Lake Shrinks

Utah's Great Salt Lake, hit another new low, a sign of the mega-drought caused by climate change that is plaguing the western United States.  Surface elevation has dipped to 4,190.1 feet exceeding the previous low set in October.  The shrinking saline lake, the largest in North America, poses a threat to the survival of migratory birds and humans.  Scientists say winds blowing over the drying lakebed could transport dust containing arsenic, which humans could breath.  There are economic impacts as well since the natural feature supports tourism, brine shrimp, and recreation industries.  Water has been pumped out of the lake for years to supply a growing population in the country's fastest growing state.  It is likely that the lake will shrink further until winter rains replenish some of the water loss.

On the other side of the globe, Sydney, Australia is experiencing the worst flooding in living memory. Four flooding events have occurred this year.  Torrential rain is responsible for the devastation.  Some areas in the Sydney metropolis have received as much as 59 inches in twenty-four hours, near the average rainfall mark for an entire year along the NSW coast. The worst flooding was along the Hawksbury-Nepean river system, north and west of Sydney. [Windsor, NSW photo credit: AP]The Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley is home to 134,000 people and that population was projected to double by 2050 as Sydney’s population and real estate prices grow, a key economic driver retarding effective flood control measures, according to a local university professor of environment. Evacuation orders were given to 50,000 people on Monday.

COTW: Bigger Guns!

Here is an inconvenient fact: Russia is winning the war of attrition in the Donbas.  Once it has captured all of Luhansk (the Russians claimed control of Lysychansk, the last major city in the province this weekend) and most of Donetsk, it will be in a formidable position at the negotiating table. [see map below]  Yes, Putin failed miserably in his initial war aim--the toppling of the Zylenskiy government--but the Donbas seems a lost cause now, and if the Kyiv government is not careful Ukraine will be cut off from the Black Sea too.  Russia appears not to have sufficient military assets to capture the entire country, but it does have the capacity to consume considerable chunks.  Ukraine must develop the capacity for offensive operations on a larger scale to fend off the bear. Fighting a defensive war only encourages it.  Retaking the city of Kherson in the south seems to be a likely target of a counter-offensive, which would give it two remaining ports on the Black Sea that are vital to its grain export economy.

Meanwhile, the West's economic war is having only limited effect on Putin's ability to pound Ukraine into submission.  These charts help explain why:

The EU is literally funding the Russian war machine with oil and gas revenues.  It can afford to loose hundreds of vehicles and weapons to superior guns and ammunition.  As long as the military can maintain discipline in the ranks, it will continue to press forward with merciless bombardments intended to terrorize civilians, while capturing strategic infrastructure like steel, nuclear, and chemical plants:

Russian Oil Exports

China is Russia's largest oil importer, so even if the West shuts down oil imports from Russia completely, it still has a willing customer in the BRIC block.  The EU is hardly monolithic.  The countries within the economic union vary widely in their economic policies towards Russia, even after its indefensible invasion of Ukraine.  This last chart shows which European countries import the most natural gas from Russia:

EU's hole in the dyke

The Supremes: Burn, Baby Burn!

credit: K. Siers, Charlotte Observer

A trio of partisan, reactionary opinions handed down by the right-wing majority now at the Court is perhaps the culmination of an effort to build a bulwark against demographic and social changes in the USA.  This decades long project underway since the so-called "Reagan Revolution", has created a third branch of government that is isolated, partisan, and out of touch with the opinions of a majority of citizens. It has been liberally funded by religious fundamentalists and right-wing corporate executives like the Koch Bros. Confronted by an erratic Democratic opposition, the effort was sure to succeed. Besides striking down reproductive freedom and further restricting gun control, Joe Biden and future Democratic presidents are now faced with a severe curtailment of the executive branch's ability to reduce carbon emissions.  These decisions are a trifecta gift to conservatives who put them in a position of unassailable power on the Fourth of July.

Justice Roberts 6-3 majority opinion noted it was not making action on global warming unconstitutional, but that on policy questions of the magnitude of climate change, the executive will need the explicit authorization of Congress to move ahead. Of course given the brick wall of the filibuster rule in the Senate, his opinion amounts to the same result. The conservative justices found that EPA exceeded its authority in implementing Obama's Clean Power Plan, which did not go into effect before the Trump regime took power.  Typically, the Maximum Liar proposed substitute regulations that were much more favorable to the power industry, but these also did not take effect since they were struck down by a DC federal court in January 2021. Eventhough West Virginia vs. EPA addresses the constitutionality of those defunct regulations, the opinion is broader in effect. Potentially, any regulatory scheme intended to deal comprehensively with climate change will run afoul of the Court's "major question doctrine" that will require explicit congressional authority.  Justice Kagan wrote in her scathing dissent joined by the two remaining liberal justices that, "The Court appoints itself the decision maker on climate change."  Democratic leaders have excoriated the decision, saying it is part of an attempt to push the country backward to a time when robber barons held sway over government.

For half a century the EPA has regulated stationary sources of pollution that endanger the public health or welfare under the Clean Air Act.  The Clean Power Plan allowed an expansion of regulatory authority to off-site methods such as cap and trade to mitigate carbon emissions. The Court has shown considerable hostility towards administrative rule-making that is part of conservatives' bête noire, the administrative state, but conveniently exempts the Pentagon from their approbation.  A Columbia University law professor wrote in Harvard Law Reviewthat the current battle over big government harkens back to the 1930s and the New Deal, when President Roosevelt used expansion of federal power to counteract the effects of the Great Depression.  The activist Roberts Court is ready to end the era of expansive federal powers regardless of precedent*.

Action to reduce global warming is becoming more critical all the time.  Capitalist skeptics have run out of credible objections, since the science community thinks the causes and effects of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere is settled.  Secretary General of the UN said that the goals of the Paris Climate Accord, which the USA rejoined after Trump left office--will be more difficult to achieve since the USA is a major contributor to the problem The current health secretary called the decision, "a public health disaster". US Person calls it: payback for polluters.

credit: J. Sorensen

*But only when it suits their ideological preconceptions. As an example US Person cites Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta in which a conservative majority of five ignored a century and a half of tribal sovereignty and legal precedent to allow state and federal law enforcement to prosecute crimes by non-Indians on Indian reservations. Previously an act of Congress was required for this to occurr. Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, who dissented in the case, wrote “This declaration comes as if by oracle, without any sense of the history recounted above and unattached to any colorable legal authority. Truly, a more ahistorical and mistaken statement of Indian law would be hard to fathom.” Cheap talk about scofflaws? But then everybody knows Indians cannot police themselves.