COTW: Hot Enough?

The charts tell the story of global warming and the threat it poses to humanity.  It is right up there with nuclear war:

The black line is the current trend.  The 1979-2020 mean for July is the dashed line. Climate scientists think it will only get worse unless there is a drastic reduction in the burning of fossil fuels.

Florida, bless its backward heart, set a world record surface sea temperature of 101.1F just off Key Largo. Almost nothing on Earth can live in that high of water temperatures except those extremophiles that live in deep ocean thermal vents.

Despite all the warning flags Nature is giving us we keep burning. “These are not canaries in the coal mine,” Gavin Schmidt, a climatologist and the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies noted, “The canaries died a long time ago.” Bernie Sanders tells us as far back as the late 1950s, over 60 years ago, physicist Edward Teller and other scientists were warning executives in the fossil fuel industry that carbon emissions were “contaminating the atmosphere” and causing a “greenhouse effect” that could eventually lead to temperature increases “sufficient to melt the icecap and submerge New York.” Exxon conducted research in the 1970's the accurately predicted the extent of global warming due to fossil fuel burning, Yeah, we know it's better in Barbie land.

TWIT: 10,000 Dead Voters in Georgia

Update:  "Employee #4 has been identified by CNN as Yuscol Taveras.  He has not been charged and is presumably a witness to the events described in the updated indictment.

{28.07.2023} That is just one of the fabrications used by Team Crazy to keep Don 'Legit' in power after loosing the 2020 election.  Supposedly Team Crazy found that many dead Georgian voters who had voted for Biden in the election. In reality, state elections officials found about 12 ballots that may have been submitted after the death of the named voter--hardly enough to swing the vote count in his favor.  But that fact did not stop Rudy Giuliani, Sydney Powell and other "Kraken" from attempting to coerce state officials into invalidating its voting results.  Now, finally, almost three years after Trumpilini's mob attacked the Capitol the long con is unraveling.  The barricades are going up around the Fulton County courthouse.

Giuliani made an almost inexplicable admission in the civil defamation suit brought by two Georgia election workers against him.  He admitted in a filing that his statements about the workers tampering with votes were false.  He says he did this to end discovery in the case, which is apparently bankrupting him.  Unfortunately for him and his former employer such an admission can be used as evidence of corrupt intent by Jack Smith in the J6 case that soon will be filed against Don 'Legit' in Washington, DC. The discovery in the civil case may yet reveal even more damning information about planning the coup attempt.  Lawyers for Trumpilini met with prosecutors on Thursday to make a final protestation of innocence. Giuliani had a stellar career as a federal prosecutor at SDNY and then as mayor of New York, but his life is coming to a tragic conclusion because he decided to work for a would-be mobster after years of working to send real mobsters to jail.

Another conspiracy insider who was in  the 'war room' at Willard Hotel in DC on January 6th and former New York Police Commissioner, Bernard Kerik, has turned over his 600MB of documentation concerning the election to the Special Prosecutor. He served as Giuliani's investigator into alleged election fraud. According to NBC, he is expected to sit down for a voluntary interview with federal prosecutors in mid-August.  Kerik was pardoned by Trumpilini for his tax fraud crimes in 2020.  

In the Mar-a-Lago Papers case, the Special Prosecutor has filed a superseding indictment charging three more federal crimes against Trump and another individual, Carlos De Oliveira. (See page 27 et seq.) The new charges allege Don 'Legit' asked his employees, Nauta and De Oliveira to delete security camera footage subpoenaed by investigators.  Nauta made a secret trip to Mar-a-Lago from Bedminster for the purposes of deleting the footage. De Oliveira subsequently asked another unnamed employee ("Employee Four", an IT employee) to delete the footage. That employee said he did not think he could do that.  In a conversation in a hall audio equipment closet, Olivera told him "the boss" wanted the security footage deleted. The video footage was eventually recovered in tact by the FBI. Oliveira also lied to investigators when he was asked if he knew of any document boxes being moved around Mar-a-Lago.  The new charges strengthen the obstruction of justice case against the Ochre Menace.   The new indictment includes a charge for the dissemination of top secret information at Bedminister, New Jersey, which occurred when Trumpilini showed contingency Iran war plans to unauthorized persons in his office.  

credit: T. Tomorrow

Schumer Introduces Extra-Ordinary, Extra-Terrestrial Bill

Update: The House held its first public hearing on UAPs today, marking the first such hearing in half a century.  Testimony came from former National Reconnaissance Office member Maj. David Grusch (USAF Ret.), who told the committee that the US has been investigating "non-human" activity since the 1930s. He also claimed that US is in possession of alien "biologic material".  He refused to provide details in public session. Representatives want to establish a SCIF (secure compartmentalized information facility aka a 'secret room') for further details from Grusch. The Pentagon has denied a cover-up and that there is no evidence of alien craft in US airspace.  It said that it has received several hundred reports of UAPs since re-starting official inquiry into the phenomenon.

{18.07.2023} Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is raising a whole bunch of eyebrows with his proposed legislation requiring the government to publicly disclose information it has collected of "non-human intelligence". According to the statement released with the bipartisan bill,  the proposal was prompted by the undisclosed  UFO data collection program revealed in 2017, which prompted a congressional investigation of UAPs, as they are now referred to (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena).  That investigation has revealed a vast network of groups and individuals claiming knowledge of secret UAP programs and information. {We Are Not Alone, Officially 09.06.2023} Are these just fanatics seeking limelight, or are they telling the truth?  Inquiring minds want to know!   Stay tuned for the congressional hearing slated for July 26th featuring both Democratic and Republican "stars" who will testify.

Schumer's bipartisan bill, introduced July 13th, is perhaps a recognition that revelations concerning tangible evidence of extra-terrestrial technology or even biology is credible enough to warrant mandatory disclosure to the public. According to former director of national intelligence, UFO's take "actions that are difficult to explain. Movements that are hard to replicate, that we don’t have the technology for, or are traveling at speeds that exceed the sound barrier without a sonic boom.” Schumer's bipartisan bill sets up a nine-person review board tasked with reviewing the evidence submitted to it and deciding which information to release.  The bill is written in favor of disclosure.  It makes the President the sole decision-maker after receiving a recommendation from the board. Any information not deemed immediately disclosable will be subject to a benchmark plan that establishes a time for eventual disclosure.

credit: Getty Images

The decades-long struggle to get to the bottom of the UFO-UAP mystery may finally be headed toward partial culmination. Senator Schumer recognizes the right of Americans to learn about the technologies of unknown and possibly unworldly origin buzzing around the planet. The recent sightings described by military aviators and tracked with radar and cameras have brought new light to a scientific problem shrouded in bureaucratic secrecy for too long. A massive 1969 study funded by the Air Force, the Condon Report, debunked the theory of non-human technology in operation and recommended no further scientific inquiry into the subject. This conclusion was reached despite 30% of the studied incidents remaining unexplained.

Condon's report has been criticized as flawed, notably by two respected scientists involved in UFO investigations over the years, Hynek and McDonald. Fifty years on, the stigma against scientific research of the "anomalous phenomena" remains. Hynek wrote in his book about twenty years of work on UFOs as part of USAF's Project Blue Book and later, "So powerful and all-encompassing have the misconceptions among scientists been about the nature of UFO information that an amazing lethargy and apathy to investigation has prevailed. This apathy is unbecoming to the ideals of science and undermines public confidence.” It should be noted that both Hynek and McDonald began as confirmed skeptics of UFOs. Perhaps that stigma will be absolved with public congressional hearings of expert witnesses on the subject.  The truth is out there.

Biblical Scourge Is Back in Florida

Florida has become known for a lot of shocking conditions and politics, but this one may be the most shocking.  Besides malaria, leprosy is making a comeback in the "sunshine state". Hansen's disease attacks the peripherial nervous system and skin causing sometimes hideous deformations.  It has been largely uncommon in the United States since the 1980s, but eight cases have been reported in central Florida this year. The number of cases has doubled in the last decade indicating it may have become endemic in the region. 81% of 263 cases in the past twenty years originated in central Florida.  Nine banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) have been identified as a possible source of the disease in humans, since they are naturally infected with the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae.  [photo credit: Katerina Kon]

The good news is that 95% of people are naturally resistant to the disease since there seems to be a genetic predisposition to infection.   The disease is transmitted in humans by prolonged contact or through aerosols.  Symptoms take a long time to appear and the infection grows slowly.  Casual contact with an infected person such as hand shaking is usually not sufficient to transmit the disease.  Leprosy, if treated early, is treatable with a combination of antibiotics taken over one to two years.

When Socialism Worked

Yes, friend there have been periods of social economy in capitalist America. Ordinarily, price controls are considered anathema to capitalist economists.  Their criticisms range from price signal distortion to under production that creates black markets due to inadequate supply.  Now, those criticisms are valid to some extent.  Price controls have to be carefully established and rigorously enforced.  Price controls have actually worked to bring down inflation during two periods in American history: the Great Depression and WWII.

The NRA was created by FDR to do something about the crippling deflation that raged during 1930 to 1932.  Under the NRA industrial committees made up of business, labor and consumers were created to negotiate codes that set wages, working conditions, and market shares.  It was not wildly successful at its inception and implementation, but it did accomplish one critical goal as seen in this chart:

credit: Attewell @ Money, Guns and Lawyers

Deflation was well under control by 1933, and price controls did not hamper the recovery.  In fact wages increased from an average of 47.6¢ per hour in January 1933 to 57¢ per hour in January 1935, a rate well above inflation of 2-3%.  Capitalists argue that the economy would have recovered without price controls--a hypothetical that cannot be tested.  What can be said is that social economics contributed to one of the fastest recoveries in American history.

A more successful example of comprehensive price controls was administered effectively by the Office of Price Administration (OPA) during WWII.  Its job was to keep prices from inflating widely during an increase in government spending of almost 50% of GDP, and full employment among unionized workers whose pay packets were swelling with overtime earnings.  The agency was also responsible for rationing of strategic comodities such as fuel, rubber and metals.  Its economic staff was stellar and its enforcement mechanism was robust, extending down into individual households where housewives were mobilized into local advisory committees to keep watch over local retailers.  OPA's success in holding down inflation during a time of 100% production utilization was spectacular.  Even though the economy was growing at 12%--the highest it has ever been--inflation was controlled to under 3%, down from 11% fin 1941.

  

credit: Attewell @ Money, Guns and Lawyers

This performance made OPA popular, and it was continued after the war.  Only one problem: the capitalists hated it with a passion.  They pulled high profile goods (mostly foodstuffs) off the market for higher prices in what was essentially a capital strike in late 1945.  Notice the spike in inflation in 1946, above. Coupled with an intense lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill, the program was crippled and it expired without presidential support.  In order to respond to renewed high inflation the central bank imposed higher interest rates that led to the recession of 1949.

Price controls can be badly mismanaged too.  See Nixon's use of this valuable economic tool during the Vietnam War inflation crisis.  For a discussion of that clusterf--k see Attewell. So the next time a MAGAist you know touts the free market system remind him or her what social economics did for 'Merica during two of the most severe crises in our history.

 

COTW: Welcome to the Pliocene!

Earth is now experiencing the hottest temperatures since the Pliocene 2.58 million years ago.  Climate scientist predicted the global increase in temperatures due to combustion of fossil fuels on a global scale, but it is happening much faster than expected.  Look a this chart of North Atlantic surface temperatures:

The spike in temperatures is frightening.  Riders in the Tour de France are wearing "ice vests" to keep from collapsing in the unnatural heat.  In 2022, 257 people died from heat stroke in Arizona compared to the average of 38 between 1995 and 2015.  Preliminary data from the World Meteorological Organization shows the first week of July, 2023 to be the hottest on record.  Two reasons US Person moved to the northwest:  more water and lower temperatures.  Believe science!

credit M. Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

TWIT: Deep in the Heart of MAGA

credit: M. Luckovitch

Update: Judge Cannon set May 20, 2024 as the new trial date, basically splitting the difference between defendant's "after the election" and the government's suggested date.  

DA Fani Willis will charge a RICO crime against Trumpilini based on at least two predicate acts: the pressure campaign against Georgia election officials, most notably the Secretary of State Brad Raffensburger, and  Coffee County officials allowing access to confidential computer voting records by "cyber ninjas" hired by lunatic Trump lawyer Sidney Powell.

{19.07.2023}In a tiny Ft. Pierce, FL courtroom packed with journalists, MAGA jurist Aileen Cannon heard arguments for indefinitely delaying Don 'Legit's' trial for unlawfully retaining classified national security secrets and obstruction of justice.  According to a Wall Street Journal reporter at the scene on Tuesday, Cannon sided with the defense team on the December 11th date suggested by the government. She emphasized the amount of evidence and laborious classification procedures made that date unrealistic. She did not accept the defense's argument that their client could not get a fair trial before the election. Significantly, Cannon did not set a trial date from the bench, saying only she would rule "promptly". Then she denied the government's request for a protective order on the grounds that the Government did not adequately confer with defense counsel when it was the defense counsel that dodged a meeting with DOJ.  Based on her questions during the Tuesday hearing, she is leaning towards declaring the case "complex" that would further slow the process towards trial.

So we are waiting again, thanks to a judge who is clearly sympathetic to the defendant, and facing a potential juror pool full of his fanatical MAGAites. Every day of delay brings the Ochre Menace closer to the election and a political shield against prosecutions. However, it seems that Jack Smith is set on bringing some charges for the most serious crime, a nationwide conspiracy to overthrow the United States Government, before the 2024 election begins in earnest. Smith sent Individual One a "TARGET" letter informing him that he is the focus of the Washington DC grand jury investigating the January 6th attempted coup.  These letters are usually a step before a true bill is handed down. Apparently, Smith will stop short of charging him with fomenting an insurrection to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. Because Trumpilini is an expert of circumlocution and innuendo, time constraints may prohibit Smith from attempting to prove a more complicated crime heavily dependent on evidence of specific intent to incite violence. Nevertheless, US Person expects Smith to charge Trumpilini with conspiracy, attempting to defraud the United States, and obstruction of an official proceeding. These charges arise from his leading the fake elector scheme, pressuring state officials to find more votes, and attempting to obtain the Vice President's collaboration in stopping the electoral vote count.

At the state level, the Michigan Attorney General announced felony charges against 16 political activists and party officials for forgery and conspiracy to commit forgery. These individuals participated in the attempt to submit false certification that they were Michigan's "duly elected and qualified electors" to the Vice President counting the votes in Congress. Michigan's electoral votes were won by Joe Biden. The Attorney General Dana Nessel said each of the defendants knew that the certifications was false. Those charged include Meshawn Maddock, who served as co-chair of the state Repugnant Party, and Kathy Berden, a member of the Repugnant National Committee.  Maddock claimed the charges were a personal vendetta and part of a "coordinated national effort to stop Trump".  Investigations are still on-going in Georgia and Arizona.  It appears Fulton County, Georgia DA Fani Willis will obtain an indictment next month for similar criminal activity in Georgia.  The former guy and criminal defendant could potentially be confronting four criminal indictments before the end of this year. Mafiosi got nothing on Don 'Legit'!

The Michigan fake electors gathered on December 14, 2020 to sign false certifications after the electors pledged to Biden met in the state capitol and signed the actual certifications.  These electors were approved by the State Board of Canvassers and their certifications transmitted to Washington for counting at a joint session of Congress.  The Eastman plan supported by Trump partisans and approved by Trump was to create the illusion of disputed slates of electors in seven swing states that would cause the Vice President to submit a disputed election to the House of Representatives pursuant to the Twelve Amendment where Repugnants have a majority of state delegations.  Ms. Nessel began investigating this scheme in early 2021, but because of the interstate aspects of the conspiracy, referred the investigation to federal law enforcement in January 2022.  However, due to inaction by the DOJ, she re-opened the case this year.

Giant Armadillos vs. Bees

When conservationists heard of aparists complaints against giant armadillos (Priodontes maximus) destroying bee hives in Brazil, they were skeptical since the armored mammal was known to feed on ants and termites. Camera traps provided the evidence of the giants toppling bee hives not to feed on honey, but for the bee larvae. [photo credit: WACI]  It is an easy, protein rich meal for armadillos, but a loss of income for beekeepers.  So retaliatory killings are the result of the conflict. Armadillos are very slow reproducers, producing just one pup every three years. Any loss of an adult has an impact on the species' survival chances.  

An NGO, Wild Animal Conservation Institute, sponsors a program to encourage peaceful co-existence between humans and armadillos. Beekeepers are allowed to sell their honey at a higher price if they employ mitigation measures instead of killing the otherwise unobstrusive creatures. The certification provided to cooperating farmers increases the value of their product by about 20% in local markets in the Cerrado region. Conservationists want to expand the program into the Amazon rainforest.

Apiarists in the Cerrado place their hives near native flowers for their bees to pollinate. This location is also near the armadillos who inhabit what remains of the Cerrado native biome. An armadillo can destroy five bee hives in one night. One beekeeper lost 120 hives in two weeks, representing a significant monetary loss. The animals are large and strong, and their scales protect them from bee stings. They stand on their hind legs and use their head to topple bee hives mounted on racks 2-3 feet above the ground. Bee hives weigh around 75-80 pounds. [photo above].Beekeepers appreciate Nature since their livelihood relies on natural surroundings, so many are willing to engage with the sustainable honey program. Armadillos turn to bee larvae for survival if their habitat is disturbed, as in the heavily fragmented Cerrado savanna where fifty percent of the land has been converted to agriculture.  In the Pantanal, giant armadillos do not eat bee larvae because Nature there is more pristine. Unable to eat bee larvae, they go back to eating their normal food, ants and termites. 

Armadillos are valuable members of the ecosystem. They dig deep tunnels that often shelter twenty other species including peccaries, ocelots and giant anteaters.  Like elephants they are ecosystem engineers, modifying the landscape for the benefit of all.  Fortunately for armadillos the conflict with humans is rooted in one cause, destruction of beehives.  Unlike the conflict with jaguars, which is affected by cultural bias.  Once mitigation measures make it impossible for the animals to destroy hives, the conflict abates and everyone can live in peace.

Joe's Boondoggle Gets Blocked

Update: The Supreme Court, without dissent, lifted the 4th Circuit's stay so construction of Joe's favorite pipe can continue on Thursday.

The price of Joe Manchin's support for raising the debt ceiling was approval of the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline through the Appalachians.  The project was temporarily halted when the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals  sitting in Richmond issued a stay order on Monday affecting a segment passing through the Jefferson National Forest.  Manchin backed the project in the Senate, and was visibly peeved that it got blocked by a federal court.  He tweeted his displeasure by calling the order unlawful.  One of the provisions of the debt ceiling bill removed the Fourth Circuit's jurisdiction over the project and gave it to the DC Court of Appeals.  Whether this provision is constitutional remains to be seen.  The Wilderness Society's case against the pipeline will probably end up in the Supreme Court on jurisdictional grounds.

The Fourth Circuit has repeatedly issued orders against he project going forward, including unanimously vacating its federal permits in April.  Local opposition to the project is significant, and inclusion of the pipeline in the debt ceiling deal was controversial in the Senate.  The pipeline is about 55% complete, projected to extend 303 miles through Virginia and West Virginia. Since construction began in 2018 at least 350 water quality violations have occurred. Mudslides, rolling equipment, slipped pipe and muddy waterways and behind schedule budget overruns have also resulted.  The fast-tracking of this fossil fuel project to appease one Senator is in stark contrast to the administration's efforts to do something significant about global climate change, and another example of bad policy being made by closely divided government.

A Real Death Valley Story

Death Valley is living up to its name in spades. With place names like Furnace Creek and Badwater Basin,
a traveler should get the idea to avoid the lowest point in North America.  Furnace Creek, an unincorporated settlement officially recorded 128℉ on Sunday.  That is just under the all time record recorded in 1913 at 134℉.  But that record is disputed by some who think 130 is the highest reliably recorded.  Temperatures above 130 have only been recorded worldwide a few times. Furnace Creek is home to the National Park's Visitor Center where tourists enjoy posing next to the large digital thermometer for pictures. The unofficial thmometer registered 132 at one point. [photo credit Getty Images]  High temperatures extend across the southwest and southeast in a heat wave bringing discomfort to millions. Phoenix hit 114℉ on the same day, just one day of an extended period of hot weather expected to break a record for the most consecutive days (18) of 110 or higher. 

Meteorologists expect 2023 to go down in the books as the hottest year on Earth since records began in the 19th century. June was the hottest on record.  Scientists think that global warming is responsible for the increasingly severe, and in some instances deadly heat waves on three continents.  

TWIT: Carrying Boxes for the Boss

credit: A. Telnaes, Washington Post

US Person has been posting for months that Team Crazy and their obnoxious leader use every trick in the law book to extract more delay from the system. The Special Master gambit is a prime example. Trumpilini even resorted to using his servant's lack of a local attorney to screw a three more weeks out of the judge in the Mar-a-Lago Papers case. The repeated use of delay tactics were confirmed beyond doubt this week when Trump lawyers requested an indefinite delay in the case until all substantive motions have been decided.  Of course the DOJ filed an objection to the request citing the Speedy Trial Act, which requires a date certain for trial,and the lack of legal justification for such an unprecedented delay request.

Jack Smith called the defendant's ludicrous invocation of the Presidential Records Act as a defense to an Espionage Act criminal prosecution "borderline frivolous". The 6th Amendment speedy trial provision protects both the defendant and the public.  Clearly the public would not be served by delaying the trial until after the election in 2024. If Trumpilini should win the White House again, it is a certainty he will direct his Attorney General to stop his prosecution. Barring that, he would grant himself a pardon. The tactics are clear: create political opposition in public to his criminal prosecution in a court of law until the next election.  The evidence in the case is so strong that this is his only hope, outside of a hung jury from deep red West Palm Beach. Not bringing the case in Washington DC, where the crimes began, was a mistake. If Judge Aileen Cannon grants the defendants' request for an indefinite delay, it would be another clear of instance of her bias for which the DOJ should seek recusal in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Down in Fulton County, Georgia, two grand juries were empaneled this week. One of those will hear the evidence in the election interference case against Don 'Legit'.  DA Fani Willis previously announced that a true bill will be handed down sometime in August or September.  Observers think that the indictment will include a RICO count against the former guy as well as violation of Georgia election law.

credit M. Lukovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wackydoodle sez:  But they is his boxes!

Grizzlies Reclaim Lost Habitat

Grizzlies in the Northern Rockies are on the move.After decades of protection under federal law, the big bears are beginning to move out of the artificial boundaries set for them by man. Grizzlies (Ursus arctos horribiles), a subspecies of brown bear once ranged as far south as Mexico where they were called "oso plateado" or silvery bear due to the grayish cast of fur on their backs. When Lewis and Clark explored the West on behalf of a young nation, an estimated 50,000 populated the landscape. Those were hunted and trapped until only a 1,000 remained. They disappeared from California in the mid 1800s and their southern limit contracted to the Yellowstone basin ecosystem. The surviving bears retreated to the high forests of the northwestern US. Finally in 1975 the species was placed on the Endangered Species list in six identified ecosystems.

America spent millions through taxes and donations to restore the iconic apex predator, one that can easily kill a human. Some of the money was spent on relocations. Wildlife biologists supplemented the Cabinet-Yaak population with bears from Canada in the 1990's. It is those bears that have now moved into the Bitteroot Range near the Montana-Idaho boarder, which was devoid of bears for decades. The Yellowstone population has expanded northward. Bears in the Northern Continental Divide recovery zone are moving south. These two population are now only 50 miles apart, the closest they have ever been, and which demonstrates the need for protected connective habitat. The species now numbers just below 2,000 in the contiguous states. This increase represents a significant conservation success story, especially for a large carnivore with a slow reproductive rate. An adult male can have a range of over 600 square miles, and is a danger to humans, having four inch claws and 800+ pounds of muscle and fat.  Only the wolf engenders more hatred and distrust.

The southern range states--Wyoming, Montana and Idaho--want to re-introduce trophy hunting now that the bear is becoming more numerous and visible. In 2007 the federal government declared the Yellowstone population recovered and removed protection under the ESA.  Wildlife advocates disputed that finding on grounds that the USFWS failed to consider the impact of climate change on the white bark pine, a critical food source for the Yellowstone bears.  The court agreed with the 'bear huggers'.  Responding to the loss in court, the government conducted its own study of grizzly food sources.  Researchers concluded that the bear does rely on the white bark, but it eats more meat than other populations.  The study proposed that cubs and yearlings were dying because they are crowded into limited space.  Adult males will kill cubs not their own.  Federal authorities again recommended culling the population.  In 2017 grizzlies lost their legal protection for a second time. Less than a year later Wyoming began selling grizzly hunt tags for only $20. Eight thousand nimrods signed up. The white bark pine, suffering from a beetle infestation exacerbated by rising temperatures, was declared endangered in 2023.

Government was sued again, this time by the Tribes who faulted wildlife managers with not seeking to connect the isolated bear populations so Yellowstone bears could disperse naturally. Since 2016 more than 100 Indigenous Nations have signed a treaty committing themselves to restoring grizzly bear populations across North America. A tribal chief wrote, “In our Genesis, it was the great grizzly that taught the people the ability for healing and curing practices, so the grizzly is perceived as the first ‘medicine person.’ ... It is no coincidence that the spiritual reawakening of Native people on this continent has coincided with the modest recovery of the grizzly since the 1970s --a recovery that will end with delisting and trophy hunting in a return to the frontier mentality of the 1870s.” Fortunately the judge presiding over the conservationists suits ruled that the decision to de-list without considering the impact on other bear populations was premature.  Trophy hunting has abated for now.  All grizzlies in the lower 48 are still protected under the ESA, but in February 2023 the Service once again announced it would review de-listing for the Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide populations.  It seems the grizzly is a victim of the never-ending human culture wars.

As the number of Montana bears grows, they are coming down from the mountains and into contact with humans.  In 2019 the state paid out $261,000 in compensation to ranchers for livestock kills. In 2021 the state paid $340,00 with twice as many kills by bears than wolves.  Humans have had to adapt to the bears increasing presence.  Ranchers have installed electric fencing, which requires less maintenance than barbed wire, and allows elk to migrate safely.  Educating the public on how to live safely with bears has played an important role in conservation efforts. The leading scientific expert on grizzlies, the man who oversaw the recovery of bears in Yellowstone, Chris Serhveen says the lower 48 could support 3400 bears, or at least 1000 more than are already there. Right now, there are no grizzlies living in the North Cascade recovery zone. Ultimately, part of the solution to more bears in human areas is more protected habitat for them to live in peacefully.

COTW: Deny This At Your Peril!

The shocking spike in the extent of Greenland's ice cap melt is shown above.  Is it enough to obtain significant response from the world's government?  Global warming is become dangerously worse.  The alarm signals are increasing in number and intensity.  A leading example comes from Greenland where an event never before recorded by humans occurred on August 14, 2021: at Summit Station, 10, 551ft above sea level, it rained.  Scientist are so alarmed that they have resorted to street protests calling for action.

Per IPCC, “There is high confidence that climate change has already caused irreversible losses in terrestrial, freshwater and coastal and open ocean marine ecosystems.” Yet the signatories to 2015 Paris Accords take no significant action to reduce or reverse the rise in global temperatures.  Melting of the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps poses significant risks of flooding coast cities.  The ten most vulnerable to sea level rise are Miami, Bangkok, Amsterdam, Ho Chi Minh City, Cardiff, New Orleans, London, and Shenzhen.  Sea surface temperatures for the North Atlantic have risen more than 5 degrees in June, the highest rise 170 years.  What is disturbing is that the temperatures are not going down as they used to do in historical cycles.  These high temperatures are causing the ice caps to melt faster than previously.  From 116 billion tons in the 90's to 410 billion in 2017-2020, the most recent data.  That is a 250% increase in one decade.  Even the pro-capitalist Economist called Greenland a "goner", saying the ice sheet has melted past the point of no return. (April 25, 2020).  A US government study expect significant sea rise in the next thirty years, projecting 10-14 inches on average for the East Coast, 14-18 inches for the Gulf Coast and 4 to 8 inches for the West Coast,

The IPCC modeling of sea rise is too conservative, concludes a paper published in Geoscience (June, 2023).  The Greenland ice sheet is destabilizing due to millions of hairline cracks that cause hydro fracking leading to gaping caverns large enough to hold a cathedral.  Other studies show additional dynamic forces such as warm currents undercutting ice shelves, abnormal rainfall, and foreign surface particles increasing solar absorption at work to destabilize previously solid ice masses.  An international body monitoring ice melting announced in an April press release that melting is increasing by five times.

US Destroys Last Chemical Weapons

Workers in eastern Kentucky destroyed the last of the declared chemical weapons in US arsenal according to to President Joe Biden, who made the declaration on Friday.  That closed a chapter of US military history that began in WW1, more than a century ago.  By the end of the Cold War the chemical weapons stockpile grew to more than 30,000 tons.  Destruction of sarin nerve agent rockets represents the culmination of a process that began with the signing of the International Convention on Chemical Weapons in1997.  The announcement came on the same day the President decided to send cluster bomb munitions to Ukraine, a weapon two-thirds of NATO has banned from use as too dangerous to civilian populations. [photo credit: AP]

The US used mustard gas in WWI. Chemical weapons are thought have been responsible for killing at least 100,000. Subsequent use was banned by the Geneva Convention. Nearly 800,000 munitions containing mustard gas were stored at the Pueblo, CO Army Chemical Depot.  Workers there started to destroy the munitions in 2016 and completed neutralizing the entire stockpile in June.  The location and disposal process was always a concern to civic leaders. In Kentucky, the local community succeeded in stopping the building of an incineration facility to dispose of 520 tons of chemical agent. The Army responded by burning the munitions at remote sites on Johnson Atoll in the Pacific, or in the desert of Utah.  A Kentucky disposal facility using a dilution process was eventually built in 2015 that began operating in 2019. The Colorado and Kentucky sites were the last where chemical weapons were stockpiled and destroyed. Other sites included Arkansas, Alabama and Oregon.

Only three countries have not signed the chemical weapons treaty--Egypt, Sudan and North Korea. Israel has signed, but has not ratified the treaty. There is some concern among US officials that Russia and Syria still possess undeclared chemical weapons. Next on the disarmament agenda: nuclear weapons. The vice-chair of the Arms Control Association declared,“It shows that countries can really ban a weapon of mass destruction. If they want to do it, it just takes the political will, and it takes a good verification system.”

Iceland Suspends Whaling

Iceland, one of the few remaining whaling nations, has suspended its fin whale hunt on ground of animal welfare until August 31st.   Its fishery minister, Svandis Svavarsdottir, took the action after an Animal Welfare Board found that the methods used for killing whales do not conform to the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act.  The news comes as a blow to the last remaining commercial whaling operation, Havlur hf. Owner, Kristan Loftsson, a regular Captain Ahab, has fought hard to keep the industry in Iceland alive.  The unprecedented study found that 40% of the fin whales taken suffered slow and painful deaths.  Surveillance video showed that some whales took two hours to die.  Apparently the Icelandic government has concluded there is no future in an outdated cultural practice which justifies the tremendous suffering inflicted on the marine mammals. [photo credit: BBC]

During the 2022 hunting season 148 whales were killed, 73% of which were female with eleven being pregnant at the time of their death, which is a violation of the Animal Welfare Act.  Havlur hf was forced to allow observers from the Fisheries Directorate on board their vessels. Whalers use cannons to launch harpoons tipped with an explosive device.  They do not always result in a kill shot, and the grenades do not always explode. Havlur hf resumed whaling in 2009, killing 993 whales since then.  The meat is exported primarily to Japan. 2,576 tons of meat were shipped to Japan in 2023. The IFAW maintains that there is no humane way to kill an intelligent, sentient mammal as large as a whale short of destroy its entire carcass.  Fin whales are the second largest whale in the oceans, weighing 38 to 50 tons,  and are fast swimmers.  The ICUN considers the species vulnerable to extinction.  The US has imposed diplomatic sanctions on Iceland since 2014 because of its whaling trade.

TWIT: Enough Already!

credit: D. Granlund
Wackydoodle sez: Bring in some Cokes, Walt!

US Person bringing you up to speed: Walt Nauta, former Navy cook and Trump minion, was finally arraigned today after being granted two continuances.  He claimed he was unable to find local counsel to stand next to him to plead to the six charges against him*.  As expected, he pleaded not guilty to all charges on Thursday.  The FBI affidavit supporting the search warrant is heavily redacted, but the magistrate judge ordered a few tidbits to be unsealed.  The unsealed portions show Nauta and Trump playing hide and seek with his boxes containing highly classified material.  Video tape reveals Nauta, allegedly at Trumpilini's direction, moving boxes out of the storage room just before Trump attorney Evan Corcoran examined the room and its contents. Cocoran then directed a junior attorney sign a certification to the DOJ that all classified material had been turned over. However, only fifteen boxes were returned, the rest were scattered in Trumpilini's personal residence and ballroom at his resort, which contained 100 classified documents. 18 of those are marked "Top Secret".  It is very likely he showed some of this classified material to unauthorized persons, another violation of the Espionage Act. The grand jury investigation of the Mar-a-Lago Papers case continues; more indictments may follow.  Informed observers point to the fact that the affidavit remains heavily redacted, apparently to protect sources and lines of inquiry.

In the January 6th Insurrection investigation, Mike Roman, the former Election Day director for the Trump campaign, and who was responsible for turning over fake elector certifications to Congress, has testified under a proffer agreement with the Special Prosecutor.  He is the latest in a group of Trumpilini's closest co-conspirators in the plot to overthrow the government to testify.  He received a subpoena  months ago, but only recently reached an agreement to interview with investigators. Roman previously invoked the Fifth Amendment when questioned by the House Select Committee.  Meanwhile™ his former boss and sociopath, Don "Legit" Trumpilini continues to pollute the nation with his outlandish exculpations and attacks against his political opponents.  What is even more tragic than his bizarre sideshow is that the cult of personality that is now the Republican Party, is too weak to find a viable alternative to the Ochre Menace. 

credit: Margulies
BC Idonwanna sez: Tell that to Aileen!

*Nauta's attorneys are paid for by one of Legit Don's PACs.  He has raised a reported $35 million for his political and 'get out of jail' campaign.  Some of that money is being used to pay his legal bills.  Money is power, so Jack Smith knows he has his hands full.  He must go big or go home.

Another Conservation Success Story

In a world where the type of military weapon you should be using (Falcon versus Prowler?) gets more headlines than the hottest day on record, US Person wants to focus on conservation stories. There is a positive one coming from Tanzania. The Kipunji (Rungwecebus kipunji)is a lesser known monkey living in the country's southern highlands. The population there has increased by 65% following twenty years of intense conservation effort by the Wildlife Conservation Society in partnership with the Tanzania government. The monkey was facing extinction multiple times over the decades since 2003 when conservationists heard from local hunters that a monkey lived on the slopes of Mt. Rungwe they had never heard of existing. They were skeptical since the locals have a reputation for story-telling.

In May of that years they found out that the hunters were truth telling.  While working on a biodiversity project in the area, conservationists got their first look at the unusual monkey. After many months of trekking through thick montane forest, they found a species new to science.  But the Kipunji were in trouble.  The mountain where they live contains 93% of the total population and it is unprotected.  Human activity--logging, charcoal burning, and agriculture--were rapidly encroaching on their home.  The attention garnered by the discovery allowed support to arrive for the species' conservation.  Over the past 13 years signs of human disturbance has dropped by 81% says a journal article in the International Journal of Primatology.  The paper concludes that intervention successfully achieved preservation of the species.  The authors' survey shows 1,866 individuals in groups living in Livingston Forest (Kitulo National Park), Mt. Rungwe Nature Reserve and Madehani Village Forest (unprotected).  A habituated group also studied showed a 121% increase in size.

Kipunji eat a wide range of foods found in the forest.  They live in mixed groups and are territorial. Farmers in the area grow a variety of crops--bananas, corn, potatoes and carrots. Monkey groups occasionally approach the edge of the forest to raid fields.  Farmers retaliated by laying crude traps. WCS staff tried a number of deterrents; a combination of chili paste and dung smeared on corn stalks worked the best.  Farmers adapted by planting less preferred crops like avocados and potatoes close to the forest. WCS also worked to strengthen forest protections.  Livingston Forest was added to the newly formed Kitulo National Park (2005) and Mt. Rungwe was designated a nature reserve (2009). WCS also provided financial and technical support for personnel to protect these areas, while creating economic opportunities such as woodlots, beekeeping, tree planting, and community ranger programs.  Educational programs for youth living near the forest also played a significant role in reducing human disturbances and creating a sense of pride in the animals they live near. [photos credit: T. Davenport]

Despite all of these efforts the population of Kipunji is still classified as endangered by IUCN. The Kipunji was on the "Primates in Peril" list three times--2006-08, 2008-10, 2018-20--fortunately it is not on the most recent list. The most recent population estimate is 1966 including the Udzungwa Mountains population of 60-150 individuals.  The study shows that population size is increasing.  If they continue to be protected, the population could double in the next 25 years and expand into the forests.

New Plan for Mexican Wolves

US Fish & Wildlife Service unleashed a draft new plan for the recovery of the Mexican wolf (Canis lupus Baillei) in the southwestern US. Since the subspecies was declared endangered in 1976, recovery plans have been mired in controversy.  Between 1978 and 1980 captive breeding began with three lineages introduced onto three ranches   By 1999 the captive wolf population reached 178 individuals.  They were released into the Apache National Forest and allowed to recolonize east-central Arizona and south-central New Mexico.  These wolves bread successfully, increasing their numbers, spreading into central Arizona and southern New Mexico.  Wolves were also released in Mexico.  As of February 2023 there are approximately 241 wild Mexican wolves living in the US.  The captive population is 380 spread across 60 facilities.  

Coronado Forest pack

However, the USFWS set a population cap of 325 wolves as part of its wolf management plan. The Service was ordered by a federal court to review its population cap.  Consequently, a new plan was drafted and released eliminating the population cap, but wolf advocates say the plan does not go far enough to insure the complete recovery and genetic diversity of the US population. Ignoring the effect of government policy on genetic diversity of a species in contrary to the spirit if not the letter of the Endangered Species Act. Ranching interests, of course, are concerned that removing the population cap will encourage larger wolf numbers that will have an adverse effect on livestock.  Wolves prey on large, wild ungulates.  Rocky Mountain elk make up 76-80% of their prey, but they will take livestock if given an opportunity.  Consequently, herders must take responsibility for protecting their herds especially if those animals graze year-round on public land.  Compensation is available for owners who loose livestock to confirmed wolf predation.

Federal officials hope to see their population goal of 320 wolves living in the wild by 2028. A criteria for downgrading their protected status to threatened is a stable, wild population over eight consecutive years averaging 320.  According to officials the new plan includes, for the first, time genetic health considerations which will result in a 90% likelihood of the species surviving in the wild into the next century.

Oregon Looses Another Wolf

A yearling wolf of Oregon's newest pack, Indigo, was killed along Hwy 138.  Wildlife experts think his behavior around humans indicated he was being fed by travelers from their vehicles. OR 143 was a member of one of the few remaining packs living in southwest Oregon.  He was killed by a vehicle strike.  In its update report, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife stated, "The level of illegal wolf take in Oregon remains unacceptably high..."

The annual report for 2022 was released in April, and it shows another stagnant year for Oregon wolves due to poaching.  Of the 27 known deaths, 17 were human caused Wolves have found sanctuary in areas where they are still federally protected west of Hwy 395.  According to Oregon Wild, a conservation group, the states wildlife management agency rubber stamps about half of the number of human kills.  Only one kill was known to have occurred from animal predation (cougar).  Statistics show that when legal protections are reduced, poaching increases.