Alec Baldwin Charged in New Mexico

Readers are no doubt aware of the shooting on the movie set of "Rust".  It was not film shooting that killed  cinematographer Halyna Hutchinson and wounded assistant director Joel Souza, but a live round from a .45 single-action revolver.  The shot was fired by actor Alec Baldwin who was pointing the gun in the direction of his colleagues when it went off.  Baldwin has claimed he pulled back the revolver's hammer, but never pulled the trigger while rehearsing with it.  That claim was undermined by an FBI forensic examination of the weapon, which concluded the gun could not have fired without the trigger being pulled. Industry standards suggest a replica should have been used while working on camera angles.  [photo credit: Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office]

Baldwin and the film's armourer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, were charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, today.  One count is the common law felony of involuntary manslaughter, which requires a showing of negligence beyond a reasonable doubt.  Baldwin has maintained that he relied on the expertise of others to determine if the prop was safe to handle. Nevertheless, he was involved in an ultra-hazardous activity at the time of the killing that a jury could decide required him to exercise a greater degree of care, such as checking each cylinder to determine if the rounds were blanks or dummies.  Baldwin has handled weapons and ammunition before in his movie career. (See e.g., Hunt for Red October). Prosecutors say he skipped a mandatory on-set safety meeting.  Baldwin was also the co-producer of the Western, and there were several gun safety failures on the set according to prosecutors.  State workplace safety regulators fined the production for several such failures not fully addressed by the movie's production managers.  The year-long investigation found some 500 rounds on location that included dummies, blanks, and live rounds. One of those live rounds found its way into the pistol handled by Baldwin--how it got there is not material to proving the crime since Baldwin did not load the revolver himself.

The other theory presented by the district attorney is the statutory crime of "reckless disregard for safety without due caution or circumspection".  Because the legal term used is "reckless", the crime requires a slightly higher standard of wrongdoing.  It also cares a mandatory five year sentence enhancement provision, when the crime involves a firearm.  If convicted of common law manslaughter, he faces up to 18 months imprisonment and a $5,000 fine.

Baldwin has settled with Hutchinson's family for her wrongful death.  Her former husband is now a co-producer of the film.  Whether it will be completed should be open to question now. Whichever theory the jury decides to follow in the criminal case, the preventable death of Hutchinson emphasizes the need for rigorous safety protocols when using firearms on a movie set.  With the widespread availability of computerized graphics, use of ammunition of any kind to make movies seems obsolete as well as potentially deadly. 

Biden Administration Restores Tongass NF Protections

Trump stripped the Tongass National Forest of protections from clear cutting and road building.  Tongass is the largest remaining temperate rainforest in the world and key to maintain biodiversity in an era of climate warming, said the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, who is rolling back the Trump rules.  Land transfers have accounted for 43% of forest lost between 2015 and 2020.  In early 2001 the Clinton administration added most of the forest to its Roadless Initiative, since then the Tongass has become a political football, with successive administrations attempting to dismantle and restore protections.  The economy in southeastern Alaska have moved on from timber harvesting to more sustainable industries like fishing and recreation.

clear cutting in Tongass NF; credit AP

The Tongass has become increasingly important as a carbon sink.  About 20% of the carbon sequestered by the National Forest System comes from the Tongass in Alaska, making it the biggest.  That amounts to about one and a half times the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted by the Unites States in 2018.  To prevent private transfers endangering the forest, legislation is needed insuring its protected status.  Last August the House passed the Roadless Area Conservation Act, but the legislation has not received a vote in a Senate gridlocked by the filibuster rule.

Educate AOC? She Already Knows the Facts

Repugnant Duncan from South Carolina told AOC to educate herself about natural gas in a recent committee hearing addressing her amendment to a bill to lease more land to the fossil fuel industry.  He should read this before telling colleagues to "educate" themselves about the industry.  The Intercept posted a recent article about the propaganda strategy used by oil and gas companies to great success.  Congress subpoenaed documents in November 2021 from four of the world's largest oil companies and their US trade association.  These included internal communications about their communications and media relations.  They show an industry dedicated to preserving their social license, subsidies, and political power.  In football terms, it amounts to calling the same play because it gains ground.

The strategy began using early market research  to identify natural gas as a "bridge fuel" or "clean alternative fuel" that would allow the nation to switch from more polluting sources such as coal.  Duncan's rhetoric against AOC reflects the success of this propaganda program.  Identifying methane as a solution to global warming is slightly preposterous, since it its eighty times more potent than CO₂. Other so-called "low-carbon" approaches intended to prolonged the life of fossil fuel combustion include carbon capture and storage.  Despite claims that the industry is not subsidized, internal communications from Shell show one executive saying that joining a carbon capture project with Exxon-Mobil is entirely dependent on the government doubling the carbon capture tax credit.  Instead of discussing taxing carbon emissions, the industry and government is discussing how large to make the subsidy for storing carbon.  The Shell executive writes that, "if government funding and regulation do not happen, Exxon's management team will not move forward."  Subsidies? Not so much.  Carbon capture is not a solution either, it is a pernicious enabler, just like Mr. Duncan.   To reduce carbon emissions they must have a negative incentive--like a tax.

If you cannot reach a goal, move the goal posts.  That is exactly what Chevron did in 2020.  It skipped pass the 1.5C rise in global temperature supposedly agreed to in Paris.  It turns out that the industry never really accepted that goal as valid.  As early as 2017 BP was pushing a 2℃ rise.  In a document put out by the industry's climate collaboration project, Chevron suggested that changing the goal "net zero emissions" to a more realistic "reduced emissions".  None of the five major oil producers invest more than 5% of their capital in finding alternative energy solutions.  

Shell has apparently done the most to transition to clean energy, but it is still concerned about maintaining its "societal license" to operate.  In a 2019 plan to protect its reputation, the company noted that the industry suffers from low credibility and trust with the public concerned about climate change. One of its goals said the company is to,“secure partnerships with credible external influencers and commercial entities that support and strengthen societal license to operate and grow at country and asset level.”  Translation: keep politicians like Mr. Duncan on their side.  Another of the targets of this propaganda campaign is college campuses. The industry has extensive ties with major universities in the form of research grants. According to one study, research centers funded by fossil fuel companies show a bias in favor of natural gas compared to research centers not funded by fossil fuel companies. BP’s former vice president and head of regulatory advocacy and policy, wrote: “These relationships (along with those we have with Harvard, Tufts and Columbia) are key parts of our long-term relationship-building and outreach to policy makers and influencers in the U.S. and globally."

Oil and Gas companies are not shy about confronting media they do not like.  Mobil's combative former VP Herb Schmertz once cut off the Wall Street Journal from any information from his company.   The House Oversight Committee which subpoenaed the documents referred to here did not have the time or resources to complete its investigation. Now that the industry's handmaidens are in control of the House, it is very unlikely that it will be completed says Ro Khanna (D CA), who previously chaired the committee.  So Mr. Duncan, perhaps you should be the one to do his homework, and get the facts straight.

COTW: Cop Beat

LOOK at this chart! It shows the comparative rate in wealthy nations of people killed by police per 10 million population. What is wrong with this chart is sickeningly obvious, US police kill more people than anywhere else in the developed world. You might say, well it is because of racism. The UK has racism too, but its citizens are sixty times less likely to be killed by their police.

The United States has to come to grips with basic facts: violent police action is an accepted form of social control.  The nation has an ingrained history of white supremacy in which non-whites are marginalized, and subjected to brutality. Our popular culture is immersed in the depiction of lethal violence as harmless entertainment. Hell, even our most popular sport is an analog for war.  The pervasive availability of firearms, especially military grade weapons, contributes to more lethal interactions with police who see themselves as unaccountable for their excessive use of force.  In Finland, the police fired just six bullets in all of 2013!  Cops in Pasco, Washington fired 17 bullets in one 2015 incident killing a Mexican orchard worker.

The quick decision to file charges against five Memphis policemen (all black) for the second degree murder of motorist Tyree Nichols during a traffic stop is surprising and unusual.   Tyree was literally beaten to death on camera.  Ask yourself this: would the charges have been so rapidly filed if the officers were white?  Hiring more black and brown officers who have internalized the oppressive police culture will not change the behavior.  Individual accountability is needed, but it is not the entire answer to police violence.  A fundamental change in the model of insuring public safety is what is needed in the United States. It is time to start over.  Defund the paramilitaries!

TWIT: The Ethics of Insurrection

It took two years, but the most important person in the coup conspiracy, next to the Ochre Menace himself, law professor John Eastman, is finally facing disciplinary action from his state bar association.  He was the author of the infamous "Coup memorandum" in which he outlined the strategy of using flaws in the constitutional order to overturn the 2020  election results  to keep his leader in power.  The California Bar Association announced the filing of eleven disciplinary counts against him that if sustained by clear and convincing evidence before the state bar court will lead to his disbarment as a member of the legal profession.  Trial Counsel George Cardona said in his filing, "There is nothing more sacrosanct than the free and peaceful transfer of power.  For California attorneys, adherence to the California and United States Constitutions is their highest legal duty."  Of the eleven charges one is failure to support the laws and Constitution of the United States, six counts of seeking to mislead a court, six counts of moral turpitude by misrepresentation and six counts of moral turpitude in violation of California's Business and Professions Code Section 6106.

Eastman, as readers will recall, wrote two memos invoking the Electoral Count Act as a means to allow the Vice President reject slates of electors from states in which Trump supporters claimed there was material vote fraud.  Those claims were proved false.  Some sixty-two state court cases and the US Department of Justice determined these claims had no basis in fact.  Eastman ignored those facts when he urged armed supporters to march on the Capitol where the counting was taking place on January 6th. He told the crowd gathered on the Elipse that “dead people had voted” in the presidential election, that Dominion voting machines had fraudulently manipulated the election results, and that Vice President Pence did not deserve to be in office if he did not delay the counting of electoral votes. These statements contributed to provoking the mob that participated in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol after the rally.  Georgia state election officials later determined that just four votes had been cast in the name of deceased persons, who may have been alive when the ballots were cast, not the 5,000 claimed by Individual One.

Defendants that are members of the "Proud Boys" militia said they will subpoena Donald J. Trump to testify at their trial taking place in Washington, DC.  If convicted of seditious conspiracy, they face up to twenty years in prison. Reality may be sinking in at last, thanks in large part to the historic record created by the House Select Committee on January 6th.

credit: P. Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune

Wackydoodle sez:  He wins golf tournaments without being there too!

TWIT: Frivolity Costs

More:  After being sanctioned in Florida federal court for bringing abusive law suits (see below), Trump dropped his appeal of the dismissal of his suit against New York Attorney General for investigating him and his company for financial fraud.  Letitia Jame's case against Trump is pending in New York state court where she is asking that Trump be fined $250 million and be permanently banned from doing business in the state.  Jame's cleverly dubbed Trump's deliberate inflation of his assets for the purposes of receiving millions in bank loans, "the art of the steal" after Trump's popular ghost-written book, "Art of the Deal".

{21/01/2023} The US judicial system is finally recognizing the fact that the Orange Menace is a serial abuser of  legal process.  A federal district court judge imposed nearly $1 million in sanctions on Trump and his lead lawyer Alina Habba for bringing a frivolous lawsuit against Hilary Clinton.  Allegedly, without substantial basis the suit accused Clinton and the Democratic National Committee of engaging in a conspiracy to "weave a false narrative" that he and his campaign were colluding with Russia.  The civil RICO suit sought $70 million dollars in damages.

Judge John Middlebrook of the Southern District of Florida dismissed the suit with prejudice in September of last year.  The sanctions were imposed Thursday.  He wrote in the first paragraph of his order:

This case should never have been brought. Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start. No reasonable lawyer would have filed it. Intended for a political purpose, none of the counts of the amended complaint stated a cognizable legal claim.

Thirty-one individuals and entities were needlessly harmed in order to dishonestly advance a political narrative. A continuing pattern of misuse of the courts by Mr. Trump and his lawyers undermines the rule of law, portrays judges as partisans, and diverts resources from those who have suffered actual legal harm.

US Person could not have said it better himself.  Beginning on page 21 of his order on sanctions, Judge Middlebrook discusses Trumpilini's previous pattern of abuse of process.  The question is, why did it take so long for his sociopathic behavior to be recognized by the bench and bar?  Ever since Trump tutored at the knee of Roy Cohen, he has used legal process as a weapon against his enemies. Habba appears to be filling the role previously performed by Cohen, and lately Rudy Guiliani and Sidney Powell.  She has aggressively defended Trump in litigation, including the Mar-a-Lago Papers case, and has appeared on television in his behalf.  If she thinks the publicity will do her Bedminister practice good, US Person thinks she is mistaken.  According to the Daily Beast, "she is the one Trump lawyer the rest of the Trump legal team loathes."   Meanwhile™:

credit: Ramirez
Wackydoodle sez:  He's got a special on cool folders!

Federal Regulators Just Say No to Diablo Canyon

In a long-running battle, federal regulators told the operators of California's last nuclear power plant, Diablo Canyon, that it would not extend the operating life of the reactor beyond its shutdown date of 2025.  This decision was made despite Governor Newsom's position that the plant should keep running to insure blackouts are avoided in the state's transition to renewable power.  The current operating licenses for the two reactors expired in 2024 and 2025

Newsom and the legislature voided in September an agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric in 2016 to close the plant, allowing the company to seek renewals of its federal licenses.  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission rejected the idea of going back to the original renewal application, saying do so would violate principles of good regulation and transparency. The agency said new information is needed to assess the current condition of the facility, which has been heavily criticized for its location over a fault zone at the edge of the ocean. PGE has said it is planning a new application for an extension of two decades.  PGE has warned that license renewal will require "new maintenance activities" and modifications of unknown cost.  Crtics depict the re-start plan as a huge financial giveaway to the giant utility company.

Newsom's decision to support extension of the plant's operating life shocked environmentalists especially since he had been at the forefront of efforts to close the plant.  Diablo Canyon produces only 9% of California's electricity.

Dolphins in the Bronx River!

A sign of improving water quality in the New York City's Bronx River, an industrial waste dump for decades, is the spotting of common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) cruising the river on Monday,  The short river rises north of the City and connects to the East River that separates the Bronx and Manhattan from Queens and Brooklyn.  Sightings of wildlife previously absent have increased in the waters surrounding New York as water quality has slowly improved.  Park officials think the dolphins found their way into the urban river hunting for fish.  City authorities have stocked the river with fish, hoping to lure the predators.

The Bronx River, like many urban waterways, became a go-to dumping ground for industries along the banks, but as those industries declined and municipalities refrained from dump raw sewage, the marine habitat has recovered somewhat.  The improvement took decades of effort, so the dolphin sign is hugely encouraging. Dolphins were seen in March 2021 in the East River.  Whales regularly are spotted in the harbor.  The New York Department of Environment has found that the urban waters around New York are the cleanest they have been since the Civil War.  That is not surprising since raw sewage was dumped directly into the waters before sanitation practices came into being.  The City has spent about $45 million over 40 years to improve water quality, not a huge amount, but enough to attract dolphins. [photo credit: Alamy

Abrams M-1A1 Kfamppanzer in Europe Now

More:  The US administration has reversed itself on providing the unsuitable Abrams M1A1 tank, in a conspicuous bit of transatlantic arm-twisting.  Chancellor Scholtz has been demanding that the US also send in its main battle before his government would agree to release fourteen of his Leopards for battle in Ukraine.  Joe Biden complied by agreeing to send 31 of the seventy ton US tanks to Ukraine. Poland and Finland presumably will send their own Leopard contingents now that Germany has agreed to participate.  How how soon and how effective the Abrams will appear on the battlefield are open questions since significant training time will be required for the complex piece of equipment.  One US official said it will take "many months" for the its battle tank to arrive in the field, and that the Leopard would arrive before then.  US Person thinks the Ukrainian tank crews will find the Leopard II much more to their liking.  If the Abrams was required to break up indefensible political blithering, so be it--even if the Abrams just sit in Kyiv's town square on static display.

{23.02.2023}  Update: There are signs of movement on the question of Germany authorizing other users of the Leopard II to send them to Ukraine.  Poland is organizing a coalition of the willing, notably Finland and Denmark, to ask Germany for permission under their licensing agreements to send the main battle tank to Ukraine.  The German Foreign Minister told interviewers her country would not stand in the way of such a request. Media reports that Poland has agreed to begin training crews, and would send their tanks eventually should Germany refuse its request.  

Right now Poland is only considering sending a company, which is about 14 tanks.  To make a difference on the battlefield, Ukraine needs a brigade-size donation, which is about 90 main battle tanks.  The immediate strategic goal for a Ukrainian counter-offensive operation should be the liberation and capture of the important port city of Mariupol, already destroyed by Russia after a prolonged siege.  An armored thrust, led by combined arms manouver and superior firepower, would cut the southeastern land corridor to Crimea that Putin prizes. When successful, Ukraine would then be a in advantageous position to negotiate an acceptable peace.

Latest: NATO defense ministers meeting at Ramstein AFB in Germany failed to agree to release Leopard II tanks to Ukraine despite pleas by President Zelensky for advanced weaponry.

The reasons offered by the Pentagon for not supplying Abrams M-1 main battle tanks range from "too complex", not "suited to Ukraine's battlefield conditions" to "logistical difficulties" delivering the heavy tanks. While the first two may be legitimate--US Person thinks the Abrams requires too much maintenance to be reliably useful in Ukraine--the latter reason is NOT. Abrams are already stored on the Continent in numbers at pre-positioned storage sites such as the one at Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, Germany. [photo below] The equipment includes various types of armored vehicles, including the M1 Abrams tank and the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. When the war on Ukraine started, the US Army moved to issue some 600 units from the stockpile to the 3rd Armored Division, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team. This unit was sent from Georgia to the European theatre to reinforce NATO countries in Eastern Europe.

So the M1 is on-site, so to speak. Moving them into Ukraine would not be that difficult for the Army's 405th Field Support Brigade.  Of course giving them to Ukrainian armed forces would require training and replenishment of United States armored units serving in Eastern Europe.  Germany's Leopard II main battle tank is preferred by the Ukrainians for several reasons.  It is twemty tons lighter, more agile, and therefore less likely to sink into the mire of springtime fields. In addition it can wade water bodies up to 4m deep. Since thirteen European countries use the Leopard II, ammunition for its more accurate 120mm main gun (55 versus 44 calibre of the Abrams) is relatively plentiful. NATO rounds are also compatible. (contrast Challenger II that has a rifled barrel) Reputedly it is easier to operate than Abrams, requiring less training time. Its engine is a metric turbo-diesel as opposed to the Abrams' jet fueled-turbine, which would be more familiar to Ukrainian heavy equipment mechanics as well as requiring less maintenance. Abrams burns jet fuel at a high rate, consuming two gallons per mile, requiring a constant fuel convoy just to keep it moving.

The Leopard was specifically designed to operate successfully against Soviet armor. Germans estimate that the Leopard's armor-piercing rounds can penetrate the frontal armor of the T-72 at 2000 yards, and the older T-64 at 4000 yards. How it would far against the newest Russian Armata tank remains to be seen, but it is available in mass quantities. Leopard II has outperformed the Abrams M1A2, Challenger II, and France's LeClerc in intramural tank competitions. Leopard II makes sense from both a logistical and tactical viewpoint.

German reluctance to allow re-export of their main battle tank remains despite the willingness of Poland and Finland to give Ukraine some of their Leopards. Its hesitancy is understandable, but self-defeating.  No one in the NATO alliance wants to start an all-out war with Russia.  Injecting superior armor into the conflict would be seen by Putin as a direct NATO escalation.  As the only European power to confront Russia in modern war, Germany fears Russian retaliation. It relies on US nuclear capability.  Yet Ukraine is on the front line between two opposing military powers in which hundreds of people are dying every day the war continues as a tactical stalemate.  Without superior, offensive military equipment to spearhead counterattacks, Ukraine is not capable of ejecting the aggressor from its territory by force.  Therein lies the dilemma for Europe. [AP photo: Leopard 2A7A1, the latest operational version]

US Bans Trade in Shark Fins

The international shark fin trade affects uncounted millions of sharks each year.  Shark fin soup is extremely popular in Asia, so the demand for the delicacy is driving them towards extinction.  It is estimated that 73 million sharks end their lives in the global market.  Often fins are cut off from live fish and their bodies thrown back to die a prolonged death.  On December 15th the US Senate passed a bill banning the trade in the United States as part of the annual military appropriations bill. Before the bill passed into law, fourteen states and three territories had already banned the sale and possession of shark fins.

A recent study found that one-third of sharks and rays are now threatened with extinction, prompting CITIES to protect specific shark species, hammerhead and requiem, by placing them on CITIES appendix II in November 2022. Conservation leaders expressed gratitude for the legislative action protecting sharks in US waters.

The Curiously Valuable Coin

More: The US crossed its debt limit threshold on Thursday according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. The national debt hit $31.4 trillion. She  said her department will resort to "extraordinary measures" to prevent the US from defaulting on its bond obligations.  Those measures include suspending investments in the Federal Retirement and Disability Fund and Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund, which will last until June 6th. Yellow Dog Democrat Joe Manchin has already talked to the Repugnant House Speaker about cutting social programs in return for support for a debt ceiling increase.  Way to represent your poor state constituents from Davos, Joe! The White House said it is not open to negotiations on the debt ceiling.  

With control of the House of Representatives in the hands of insurrectionist radicals thanks to the political weakness of Kevin McCarthy (it took him 15 rounds of voting to get to the gavel) and the deals he cut with the likes of Matt Gaetz, Marjory Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert, the vote to raise the debt ceiling is in grave doubt. Even more rational Repugnants, like the new chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Jason Smith (R MO), are demanding deep cuts in federal spending, except defense, before they would allow a debt ceiling rise. (Reminder: the fiscal year 2023 defense budget is $816.7 billion!) their targets are Medicare and their perennial favorite, Social Security. Under the so-called Hastert Rule a majority of Repugnants must agree to allow a floor vote on a bill.

So, congressional Democrats are scratching their collective heads to figure out a way to get to a vote on the floor with the hope they can sway nine moderate Repugnants to vote with them to raise the ceiling and prevent a possible default, which would have catastrophic effects. It is important to remember that raising the debt limit is NOT about allowing more deficit spending. It is about paying for expenditures already appropriated by the federal government. In household terms, it is about paying the rent or mortgage when they are due. The fiscal bind is exacerbated by the fact that Congress authorized a spending bill of $1.7 trillion to keep the government operating through to September, which the administration cannot do unless the debt ceiling is lifted. Then there is the 14th Amendment provision that, "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law … shall not be questioned,” seeming making the minting of a curiously valuable coin a legitimate exercise of Executive constitutional authority.

Given that a legislative fix will be difficult without submitting to fiscal extortion by radicals, what can the Biden administration do? One seemingly unorthodox idea that surfaced during the last debt ceiling crisis in 2011 is minting a trillion dollar platinum coin. A 1997 law gave the Treasury Department the authority to mint platinum bullion coins to sell to investors and numismatists, referred to as seignorage. Minting a trillion dollar denominated coin would create more money by depositing it at the Federal Reserve, which would be required to accept it at face value just as it does with printed currency. The idea first emerged on a blog site in 2010. An Atlanta attorney, Carlos Mucha, suggested it on financier Warren Mosler's blog. Mosler is one of the founders of MMT, or Modern Monetary Theory, which considers the size of national debt to be a lesser daemon as long as government has the taxing authority to keep it satisfied.

Now, this idea has already been rejected by Janet Yellen, Treasury Secretary, in 2021 as a "gimmick", that conflate monetary and fiscal policy threatening the vaunted independence of the private central bank,  but several leading economic thinkers have endorsed it as a viable alternative to legislative gridlock. Perhaps a silly gimmick is necessary to counteract naked sabotage, opined Nobel economist Paul Krugman. It is clear that extremists are threatening to create the crisis in order to push through legislation they could not hope to achieve in the normal course of legislating. Using an arcane parlimentary procedure known as a "discharge petition" is a another possible solution, but that also would require some Repugnant support. These are not normal times. Creative solutions are needed to address unprecedented threats to our constitutional order. Absent that, the curiously valuable coin may be the only way forward.

Keystone Pipeline Leaks Again

The Keystone Pipeline, not to be confused with the canceled Keystone XL pipeline, has had a major spill three times in the last five years.  The latest occurred on December 7th of last year when the pipeline that transverses western Canada and the United States spilled 14,000 barrels of tarsand oil into Washington County, Kansas  Mill Creek.  It was the largest terrestrial oil spill in nearly a decade, and the largest for the pipeline since began operating in 2010.  A Nebraska farm advocate told interviewers that pipelines impose an uneven relationship on landowners calling it a "tremendous burden" in which land is taken by eminent domain and a lifelong easement imposed for access so oil companies can make a profit.  The spill affected surrounding crop fields, destroying the topsoil perhaps permanently.

Keystone was hailed as the "safest pipeline every built" during the push for approval of the bigger Keystone XL.  Tribes and environmental activists were eventually successful in getting the pipeline cancelled by the Biden administration after protesting through two previous administrations.  Keystone caries bitumen mixed with gas to make it flow.  Bitumen, a tar-like substance,  is particularly long lasting when it escapes into the environment.  Wildlife ingests the remains, leading to chronic health impacts. Owner, TC Energy, has only paid $300,000 in fines for its previous twenty-two oil spills, even though the property damage far outweighs that fine amount. [photo credit: Reuters]

Some critics call the Keystone a "lemon" due to its chronic failures, pointing to the possible use of substandard steel during the pipeline construction boom between 2007 and 2009.  One manufacturer linked to the Keystone pipeline was included in a 2010 report on pipeline construction using substandard material.  Owner TC Energy was repeatedly warned by federal regulators about corrosion control problems that took years to correct.  The GAO noted in a recent report that the company's safety record has been deteriorating and identified "construction issues".  Pipeline companies treat fines as operating expense that are passed on to consumers, if not compensated by insurance, since all pipelines leak over their operating life.  But that fact does not help landowners or wildlife who habitats are destroyed.  The company claims 6,973 barrels of oil have been recovered so far in cleanup operations.

Rare Earth Find in Sweden's Arctic

Swedish mining company LKAB announced it has discovered the largest deposit of rare earth oxides in the Arctic region of the country.  The announcement on Thrusday said more than a million tons of rare earth minerals was located in the Kiruna area, which is good news.  Europe currently gets 98% of its rare earths from China, the world production leader.  Currently none are mined in Europe.  These minerals are crucial to manufacturing in the electronics  industry for their conductive and magnetic properties. The road to exploiting the new deposit is long. The company expects to apply for a government permit to mine later this year.  Safety and environmental protections will be of concern. (photo: Chinese neodymium)

TWIT: A Wrench in the Machine

credit: K. Siers

The unexpected discovery of classified material in one of Joe Biden's former offices has literally thrown a wrench into the machine, just in time to disrupt and delay a pending prosecution of the Ochre Menace for his deliberate purloining of classified documents from the White House and stashing them at Mar-a-Lago in violation of the Espionage Act. Serendipitous? you bet'cha! Despite the two cases being factually distinct, the political overtones are outweighing the facts. Merrick the Timid has already appointed a special prosecutor to look into the reasons for the classified material being discovered in Biden's former think tank office he occupied between serving as Vice President and his campaign for President. More classified documents were found at his home garage in Wilmington, Delaware.

What does this development mean? The House Repugnants will generate a media frenzy and create a House investigation of the matter, making it politically difficult to prosecute Trump for hiding the Mar-a-Lago papers. In US Person's opinion, classification is a huge bête noir in the Swamp. The government tends to over-classify its documents, which leads to sloppy record-keeping and improper storage. The papers found in Biden's possession were probably improperly commingled with unclassified material by his staff and stored in insecure locations. 

This unfortunate mishandling hardly measures up to Trump's insistence on retaining documents he knew he had no right to possess. Recovery in his case required a search warrant based on probable cause a crime had been committed*. His lawyers lied to the DOJ about more documents in Trump's possession. Eventually hundreds of pages were found. In legal terminology, Biden had no criminal intent to obstruct the government's recovery of classified material. Once discovered by Biden's attorneys, the dozen or so documents were immediately turned over to the National Archives. Nevertheless, there will be a national security assessment at the request of the Repugnant Chair of the House Intelligence Committee. How did the papers get into his former office and garage is the sixty-four dollar question. While President Biden announced he is cooperating with his Special Prosecutor, the Ochre Menace launched a savage attack on Special Prosecutor Jack Smith and his family over the radio.

credit: Rogers
Wackydoodle sez: He's allowed!

*Concerning the crimes of Trumpillini, a Manhattan court has order the Trump Org to pay $1.6 million fine, the maximum, for its decades of tax fraud.  The Fulton County, Georgia special grand jury has completed its investigation of his attempts to pressure Georgia election officials into "finding" more vote for him in the 2016 election, which he legitimately lost to Biden. A RICO prosecution is a distinct possibility The special grand jury report is in the hands of the supervising judge who must decide whether to make it public.  Obviously the people have a right to know if the former president may have committed crimes.  Oh my, look at all the chickens!

COTW: North America's Energy Mix

This chart shows the largest source of electrical energy for each state  and province in North America:

As you can see, Canada relies mostly on hydro power, as does the Pacific Northwest (Oregon 46%, Washington 65%, Idaho 51%).  The rest of the US relies on natural gas, and to a lesser extent, coal.  In 2021, 38% of the 4120 terawatt-hours generated in the US came from gas combustion. ;Natural gas is sold by the fossil fuel industry as a "clean fuel" or a bridge to alternative forms of electric energy production. True clean energy sources, wind and solar, comprise a comparatively small portion of each nation's energy mix.The use of petroleum is declining, with only the remote regions of the Hawaiian Islands and Nunavut using it as the predominate means of generation.

Urban Lizards Are Divergent

Researchers in Puerto Rico have determined that lizards living in urban environments are genetically different from their forest dwelling relatives.  The crested anole (Anolis crestatallus), a brown lizard with an orange throat fan has developed special scales to allow it to scoot across smooth surfaces like walls and windows, while also developing longer limbs.  Scientist Kristin Winchell of NYU, lead study author, is watching evolution in action.

Her study looked at 96 Puerto Rican crested anoles, comparing the genome of lizards still dwelling in forest and those living in three cities including San Juan.  The researchers found 33 genes repeatedly associated with urban living.  The morphological difference appeared to be mirrored by the genetic changes.  The life span of the lizards is around seven years, but genetic changes can occur quickly, within 30 to 80 generations.  The alterations to their genetic codes allow urban lizards to adapt to urban conditions: longer limbs make them faster, and special scales help them to hold to smooth surfaces.  The study focused on male lizards, so it is unknown at this point whether female lizards are also changing.  If the adaptations allow males to breed more successfully, then the traits will be passed on to future generations which allows natural selection to take affect.

One of Winchell's favorite findings is an albino anole that is larger than normal (8 cm).  She named him "Godzilla", which is appropriate since we know Godzilla to be the "king of monsters"

Lion Cubs Arrive Safely in the USA

You may have read elsewhere of the lions rescued from a Ukraine zoo unable to care for them in wartime.  The cubs, Taras, Stefania, Lesya and Prada survived  being born into the exotic pet trade.  They were first taken to the zoo by animal rescue groups in Kyiv and Odessa after authorities began cracking down on illegal breeding facilities.  There they were treated by veterinarians and kept safe until permanent arrangements could be made. The cubs were transported to Posnan, Poland to escape the sporadic bombing attacks on Kyiv.  An estimated 200 lions reside in private hands in Ukraine, and their outlook is grim. Zoos and rescue centers across Europe have accepted many lions from Ukraine already and reported their facilities were at capacity. A leopard cub rescued with one of the lions in Kyiv, named Kiara, was sent to a rescue center in France. (two of the cubs resting in their new home, credit: IFAW)

Thanks to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the cubs next journey was to the United States and the Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone, MN. The small cubs, between 4 and 5 months old endured hours in specifically designed crates during their transit from Ukraine. They were accompanied by a veterinarian, Dr. Andrew Kushnir. Upon arrival at the sanctuary they were examined, fed, and given a warm place to rest from their 9 hour flight and 8 hour land journey to Minnesota. “These cubs have endured more in their short lives than any animal should,” an official of IFAW told media. They will enjoy the relative freedom of their sanctuary habitat without human visitors and live as a pride for the rest of their lives.  Because they have been hand-reared since birth, they cannot be released into the wild.  Help IFAW help animals all over the world by donating here.

TWIT: Closing In?

credit: Ramirez
BC Idonwanna sez: They call it the Trumpenburg....

Two moves indicating the Special Counsel may be getting serious about indicting Herr Trumpillini: Jack Smith asked the chief judge of the DC Federal District Court to order the identification by name of the investigators the Trump legal team hired to search for classified papers in places other than Mar-a-Lago.  The judge promptly so ordered. The other move was to appoint two DOJ prosecutors who specialize in public corruption prosecutions to his team of twenty lawyers.  His office still does not have a permanent location to set up shop even after the 2nd anniversary of the Insurrection.

Two factors may inhibit the Special Prosecutors from bring a conspiracy case against Trump: his cynical habit of using oblique language to communicate orders to underlings, and his understandable aversion to electronic devices.  The January 6th Committee showed he pushed the fake elector scheme forward and was in the communication loop about progress, including a phone call to RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. A memo of December 9th outlined the plan, and a group of legal advisors that included Wisconsin state Judge Jim Troupis and lawyer Kenneth Cheesebro put it into action.  But by December 11th after the Supreme Court refused to hear a last-ditch petition from team Trump, top election officials began to distance themselves from the machinations to keep the "boss" in office.

Often a successful conspiracy prosecution rests on the willingness of top conspirators to testify against their colleagues.  DOJ's mafia prosecutions often took the route (See e.g., Joseph Valachi). Without an individual of the inner circle willing to testify, the kingpin could escape conviction. In this case former chief of staff Mark Meadows, who successfully evaded attempts to obtain his testimony before the Select Committee, appears to be the key figure. White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified that both Meadows and Giuliani were early participants in the fake elector gambit. According to her, Meadows regularly burned papers in his office fireplace between December 2020 and January 2021.  

Jack Smith has been given a massive amount of admissible evidence of a highest-level conspiracy to overthrow the duly elected government of the United States that ended in mob violence at the Capitol. Select Committee members referred Trump to DOJ for criminal prosecution on three counts, unanimously.  Smith has at his disposal legal tools to compel testimony the Select Committee did not. If he fails to bring a prosecution, the ramifications for the Republic will be enormously damaging, and perhaps beyond recovery.

EPA Proposes New Clean Water Rules

The EPA proposed a new rule that re-establishes an old definition of "waters of the United States" that existed before 2015.  The Trump regime threw the broader definition under. the Clean Water Act ou as unduly burdensome to business. The change protects small streams and wetlands under the Act which requires developers to obtain federal water permits if their project will affect the waters in question.  Under the Obama administration the definition was expanded to cover 69% of the nation's waterways.  How far coverage should be extended is a question currently before the Supreme Court, which could overturn the agency's establishment of an older standard.  

In August a federal judge voided the Trump-era standard, long sought after by land developers, and reinstated the standard from 1986. The agency said that current exemptions for farmers will remain under the new rule.  Public comment is invited through this month.

Lula Acts to Protect Amazon

In his first day of his third term as Brazil's president Luiz Lula da Silva, issued six decrees revolving or altering rules issued by the his anti-environmental predecessor.  Immediately thereafter, Norway announced it would release funds for new environmental projects since Lula demonstrated his commitment to reducing deforestation and restoring governance structure of the Amazon Fund to which industrial nations contribute and Jair Bolsonaro stalled. 

Lula also created the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples to fulfill a campaign promise to "combat 500 years of inequality".  He accused the Bolsonaro government of destroying the protection of the environment in his inauguration speech. Bolsonaro did not attend Lula's swearing-in ceremony, copying his dubious hero, Herr Trumpillini.  Lula told his countrymen that the world, "expects Brazil to once again become a leader in facing the climate crisis, and an example of a socially and environmentally responsible country."  Brazil achieved a reduction in deforestation of 83% between 2004 and 2012.  Bolsonaro reduces the number of prosecutions of environmental violations from 5300 per year between 2014 and 2018 to only 17 in 2020.

In other positive conservation news from Latin America, the Mexican Navy announced that it has arrested members of criminal gangs involved in the trafficking of totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi) swim bladders that can be sold on the black market for upwards of $80,000 per kilo. The decline of this species has led to the near extinction of the vaquita, a small porpoise that inhabits the Gulf of California.  Only an estimated nine individuals are thought to be alive in the Gulf. Vaquita often become in entangled in nets set out to catch totoaba. The gangs supplied expensive nets to illegal fishermen and then transported their catch to China, sometimes using commercial flights. The Navy told reporters that it had installed radar sets in zero tolerance zones, and confiscated 744 illegal nets.  Enforcement works.