US Leads Push to Open New Oil Fields

Houston, TX

IEA experts at the Paris Accords said that no new development of oil and gas infrastructure could take place if the planet is to meet the agreed goal of 1.5℃ rise in global temperature. That red-line will be breached sometime in the next decade as a surge in oil and gas development is occurring. At least 20 new fields are being readied for production equivalent to 20 bn barrels of oil. The United States leads the way in the new expansion. The US has produced more crude oil than any other country in history six years in a row. The demagogue running for office wants to produce even more. [photo credit: Getty Images]

One industry expert says the increase in production efforts shows a clear lack of commitment on the supply-side to global warming goals calling it "disappointing". The industry's attitude of "drill, baby drill" is more than that, it's dangerous. Earth is already experiencing erratic and severe weather caused by global warming.

Fossil fuel development is also expanding in the global south. Four countries--Namibia, Cyprus, Guyana and Zimbabwe--account for one third of new discoveries in the past two years. These countries previously produced little oil or gas. The Venus Project in Namibia is the second largest discovery behind the Shahini gas field in Iran reportedly containing 623 bn meters of gas. Already operating oil and gas fields will be enough to push the planet beyond the Paris limit. New projects will only add to the planet's climate crisis. Since the 2021 IEA report, forty-five new projects have been fully approved.

TWIT: Trumplaw

"Get your Bible now!"

More: A California Bar judge has recommended to the California Supreme Court that John Eastman be disbarred for his participation in the January 6th Insurrection. It is expected the recommendation will be upheld by the Court. Ten out of eleven counts against him including failing to support the Constitution of the United States were found proven by the state's Office of Chief Trial Counsel. Eastman was employed at the University of Colorado, Boulder as a visiting scholar on conservative thought while he was advising the Boss on how to overthrow the US government.

Critics of the US justice systems think that there are actually two systems of justice, one for the rich and one for the rest of us. Case in point: The first division of the New York Applelate Court reduced the celebrity defendant's supersedeas bond in the civil fraud case from $464 million to $175 million and gave him ten more days to raise the money! The one page order did not explain why the intermediate appellate court granted such an astounding break to defendant Trump. Granted, there is a criminal case against him in the same department, but that is his doing not the people of the state of New York. US Person expects the judgement debtor to convince a surety to put up the lower amount given that Boss Trumpilini has already told the court he could afford $100 million. Posting bond effectively stays execution on the judgement until at least September when the intermediate appeals court begins a new session and can decide his appeal. The court-ordered monitorship of his company remains in effect.  Meanwhile™ he received a $5 billion windfall when his Trump Media company went public this week.  Shares are now selling at $68, and his Bible at $60.  In effect, his assault on American democracy is being funded by the herrenvolk.  One informed estimate is that he spends $90,000 a day on legal bills, none of which comes out of his pocket.

Why quibble over distinctions without a difference, when the similarities are so striking? Americans have long harbored fascistic tendencies. It is historic fact that Nazi race laws were modeled on southern American anti-miscegenation laws. Hitler called racist industrialist Henry Ford his "inspiration".  Hero Charles Lindbergh admired the Nazi rise to power in Germany and accepted a medal from Hitler. He became spokesperson for the defeatist "America First" political action committee. You want to call him "proto-fascist"?  Fine, with US Person. That is enough for him to join a united front against a narcissistic dilettante who cannot make up his mind about contemporary issues, and consistently echos Nazi rhetoric. If given another chance at power he will become a more consistent and accomplished fascist, perhaps with lessons from Europe's Viktor Orban.

On the side of equal justice under law, Justice Juan Merchan has rejected any more attempts at delay in the criminal fraud case and scheduled the trial to begin on April 15th, and imposed a limited gag order on Der Leader. Trump's attorneys tried to implicate the prosecution in the delay of providing discovery material to the defense at a hearing on the 25th. Justice Merchan was having none of that, and forcefully admonished the defense for making accusations of prosecutorial misconduct without any support. So a jury verdict in the case could come sometime this summer, in the middle of the presidential election. History is be made being made as the first US President goes to trial for crimes committed while in office!

credit: M. Lukovich, Atlanta Journal-Constituiton

New Beetle Discovered in Australia

While camping on the Gold Coast of Australia, researcher James Tweed found a beetle that he described as looking like bird pooh on a leaf. He looked more closely to see a centimeter long beetle covered in long white hairs. He collected the unusual insect and asked beetle enthusiasts on-line if they had ever seen one before. After receiving no information, he next consulted the Australian National Insect Collection. Again, nothing was found in the extensive collection resembling the beetle he found in Queensland. Mr Tweed, a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland, told interviewers that, "I worked with a couple of colleagues from the national insect collection, who literally wrote the book on these groups of beetles...they examined tens of thousands of specimens in museums all over Australia and the world, and they've never found it before." 

AUNIS eventually declared the bug a new insect so different it was put into a sepearate family of long-horned beetles, and named Excastra albopilosa Scientists are not sure, but they think the fuzzyness is a mimic of an insect being killed by a fungus, which repells possible predators. One thing for sure Mr. Tweed has a ready-made thesis subject describing for science his new beetle.

TWIT: Mashugenah

The latest from Trump lackeys, Eileen Cannon, has earned her the name. In a bizarre twist of usual procedure she has asked Special Counsel and the defenant Trump to brief two proposed jury instructions, both of which mistate the current law applicable to Espionage Act prosecutions. A trial date has not even been set in the case! At the urging of Trump amicus loonies, she has proposed jury instructions that would guarantee an acquittal of the insurrectionist. How the prosecution is supposed to "engage" her peculiar order is unclear. By conflating the Presidential Records Act with the requirements of the criminal law, she attempts to create a non-existent defense to the illegal retention of national defense secrets. She thinks, at the urging of Trump's mob, that the PRA allows a president to categorize personal records which he may retain when leaving office that is conclusive as matter of fact, and without first declassifying all classified information that may be contained within personal records.   In other words, magical declassification by boxing.  In the other proposed instruction, she allows the jury to make these category determinations.

Bottom line: her order is schmegeggge. Pundits, including US Person, are urging the Special Counsel to take this matter and her other errors up with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and ask for her removal from the case. Her bias in favor of her benefactor is too glaring to ignore and perhaps exceeded only by her inexperience. Just prior to this bizarre order, she authorized the public release of the identities of witnesses against her boss, contrary to practice in Espionage Act prosecutions. At the beginning of the case she appointed a special master to examine the records in issue, which the Eleventh said exceeded her judicial discretion. A third strike would give the appellate court grounds to remove her and reassign the case under 28 USC §2106. Even if the case is reassigned on appeal, it is unlikely to go to trial before the election and Cannon's job will be done.  If elected, the Boss would owe her big time; Clarence, keep that seat warm!

In New York, DA Alvin Bragg says most of the newly discovered documents from the SDNY are immaterial or duplicative to his prosecution of Don 'Legit' for business records fraud.  He told Judge Merchan this week that the trial should go forward in April.  Bragg, in his filing, denied that his office had committed any discovery violations and had made a good faith, diligent effort to obtain the documents from the SDNY.

credit: M . Lukovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Re-wilding the Southern White Rhino

A century ago there were just 100 southern white rhinos Ceratotherium simum simum living in the African wild. Now there are an estimated 18,000 because of intensive conservation efforts. This achievement is one of the great conservation success stories of our time. Now, a group of 2,000 rhinos in a private collection are planned to be returned to protected habitat over ten years. African Parks, an NGO that manages reserves in 12 African countries, is preparing to translocate these rhinos from their farm in northwest South Africa to their former ranges in southern Africa. African Parks manages 20,000 hectares of protected land.  About 98% of white rhinos live in four countries, South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. They form groups of females and their calves guarded by a dominant male.

Moving these 2-3 ton herbivores is a logistically complicated and expensive task. Transporting a single rhino across borders can cost more than $50,000. But the expense is worth it. White rhino play an important ecological role, often seen as a sentinel species that indicates the health of a landscape. These rhino will replace ones lost to poaching for magical medicine and recover populations where there are none. They are the only species of five that are not endangered. A Protecting rhinos allow other species to flourish. The director of Berlin's Natural History museum says the planned relocations shows the "omnipotence of man"--we can choose to live in a healthy, biodiverse world or a self-made hell. The Sixth Great Extinction has even reached "60 Minutes":

Competing for Space In Sri Lanka

As climate conditions worsen, land suitable for agriculture shrinks as does habitat for wildlife.  In Sri Lanka the competition between humans and wild elephants for living space is intensifying.  Last year reports The Guardian, 176 people died in elephant encounters on the island while 470 elephants were killed.  That is double the number of elephant deaths in 2010.  These figures make Sri Lanka the worst country in the world for elephant-human conflict.

In 1997 the island was 30% covered by trees or nearly 20,000 sq. km.  By 2022 it lost 2100 sq. km of cover.  As global warming progresses,  rivers are drying up and rainfall becomes erratic making existing agricultural land less productive.  More habitat is cleared, often illegally,  forcing elephants to cross human settlements to obtain food and water.  Elephants increasingly resort to raiding fields and storehouses to survive as natural resources dwindle.   Residents resort to increasely cruel methods to defend their homesteads from raiders.  A man in the village of Hambatota on the south-east coast killed four elephants in one night by connecting his home electricity main to a fence.  He was let off by authorities with a small fine.  Other recent incidents include shooting, poisoning, and so-called "jaw bombs"--explosives hidden in bait that go off in an elephant's mouth. [photo credit: TheIslandOnline.lk]

Wild elephants play an economic role in Sri Lanka as star attractions of the tourist trade; the country needs foreign exchange. Conservationists want the elephants protected from humans. Humans want protection from raiding elephants. There are ways to coexist, but it will take sincere efforts on the part of Sri Lankans to learn these methods and use them effectively to control their wild neighbors. The country's first elephant research center was opened last year in Anuradhapura with the help of a tourist hotel. The center will study elephant behaviors and habits to help avoid conflicts. Community fences powered by batteries not electric mains are one solution to keeping elephants at bay. Enforcing laws protecting elephant habitats and providing corridors for traditional elephant walks are also effective deterrants to conflict. What is needed most of all is human toleration and respect in a dire situtation the elephants did not create.

TWIT: The Outlaw Trump

credit: J. Heller, Duluth News Tribune

Latest:  Judge Merchan in the Manhattan business records fraud case postponed the trial set for the 25th until at least mid-April.  He is asking both parties to explain the delay in receiving and reviewing new records. He will hold a hearing on March 25th to determine how much delay is justified.

More:  Judge McAfee in Georgia ruled that Fani Willis can stay on the case, but chose to chastise her for an appearance of impropriety by dating her employee, Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade.  Wade must resign for Willis to continue the prosecution to cure the impropriety.  Judge McAfee previously struck down 3 counts against Trumpilini on grounds of specificity under Georgia law, had scathing remarks for DA Willis' testimony calling it "unprofessional manner". US Person urges Ms. Willis to bite the bullet and continue prosecuting Don Legit for his attempted coup for the good of the order.

Update:  The score in favor of the rogue former president is now 4-0.  Team Trumpillini has incredibly succeeded in delaying all four criminal cases against him.  The situation is simply grotesque.  Now voters will almost certainly be denied the benefit of at least one criminal conviction before voting.  

In the Mar-a-Lago espionage case,  Aileen. Cannon, handmaiden to the demigogue, took an entire day of hearing to decide what should have been done in a written order without a hearing.  She decided, for now, that the Espionage Act is not too vague to support a constitutional prosecution.   She dismissed the motion without prejudice, indicating that the defense can bring it up at a later date. perhaps at jury selection.  Since 1917 thousands of prosecutions have occurred and been upheld on appeal for violation of the Act.  Other than dismissing the motion, everything she did was favorable to the defense. More pending motions remain undecided by her. To top it off, Don Legit was at the hearing  to remind everyone that her judicial future hangs on how she handles this case. So far she is leaning over backwards for Trump without giving the prosecution grounds for an immediate appeal to the Eleventh Circuit.  This case is another example of politics outweighing due process of law.

DA Alan Bragg has asked for a one month delay to allow examination of new evidence obtained from the Department of Justice. His case is currently the only one scheduled for trial beginning this month.  Most of the 31,000 documents are irrelevant, but some of the witness statements may be relevant.  Left unexplained is why the Justice Department took so long to turn over the information requested by the Manhattan DA a year ago.  The defense waited until January to subpoena the information.  Is this an another turf war?

{11/04/24}Perhaps the most popular since Jesse James rode the Missouri borders. The MAGA Supremes has cut Don 'Legit' enough legal slack to tie up his criminal prosecutions.  Predictably, he raised his bogus absolute immunity argument in the NY criminal fraud case to ask for a delay going to trial until the Supreme Court rules on his absolute immunity claim.  Two problems with this argument: one, the  NY criminal indictment's gravamen is his conduct before he became the forty-fifth President; and two, he waived the immunity argument in a previous appeal in the same case.  Federal judge Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York found in response to Trump's federal removal petition that immunity does not apply because he expressly waived his theory of absolute presidential immunity and that his criminal acts are not "official business" [see below]. Trump later withdrew his appeal of Hellerstein's decision.  Thus, the principle of collateral estoppel applies. 

Trump also raised evidentiary complaints related to "official acts".  Like any evidentiary objection these can be ruled on by the trial judge before the trial is scheduled to begin on March 24th.  Trump's specious circus show must be ended now for the sake of democracy and the rule of law.   But since he has a reliable five vote majority on the Supreme Court in his pocket, he may seek an emergency stay if a ruling goes against him.  

In Florida, Employee Five of the indictment, aka Brian Butler, has gone public with his participation in Don Legit's obstruction of federal authorities seeking to recover classified documents. Butler helped Walt Nauta load banker boxes (10-15) full of government documents, including classified material, onto Trump's private plane bound for his Bedminster club.  Don Legit and his lawyers at that time were negotiating with DOJ for return of the material at Mar-a-Lago.  The two-decade employee faced repeated requests to obtain an attorney paid for by Trumpworld, but he said he is willing to testify at trial, if that ever occurs.   The Mar-a-Lago Papers case is a pathetic expose of the weaknesses of our judicial system.  Politics has overtaken due process because the defendant happens to be a prominent national politician. He may not be Mussolini, but it is not from want of posing:

Maine Votes to Join Interstate Compact

The problem is the Electoral College.  It is biased in favor of small states and is anti-democratic.  It may have served once to counteract an illiterate, uniformed electorate (debatable).  But times have changed, as they often say.  Getting rid of the anachronism by constiutional amendment is highly unlikely, but another path is being pursued that has great chance of success.  The National Popular Vote Compact could allow states willing to elect the president and vice president by popular vote to pledge their Electoral College votes to whoever wins the popular vote in the state.

States with 205 electoral votes have already signed the Compact. [see map]. Maine has recently voted to pledge its 4 electoral votes to the Compact.  Maine's Democratic governor is expected to sign the bill once it gets out of the legislature where another vote is necessary to pass it. The Compact does not go into effect until a majority of the 270 Electoral College votes are committed.  The goal is getting closer; a big state like Michigan or Pennsylvania voting to join would be enough to put the agreement into effect. Admittedly the Compact is a work around, but given the current political gridlock it would work.  Thank you, founders!

Mass Salmon Death on Klamath

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that 830,000 salmon fry released in February from a new $35 million hatchery died while migrating downstream.  Officials think the cause was "gas bubble disease", often associated with internal injuries caused by extreme pressure changes.  The small fry were forced to migrate through the Iron Gate dam tunnel built in 1964.  The tunnel and the dam are scheduled to be removed from the river.  Work restoring river habitat is underway with four dams scheduled to be removed. The Department said the die off was yet another example of how man's dams have severely damaged the Klamath River for decades.   After this latest mass die-off, officials will only release salmon below the tunnel. [photo credit: CDFW]

Fish Creek hatchery still holds about 3.27 million young Chinook salmon, and there are plans to release more at various life stages later this month. The fall Chinook run collapsed in 2022 triggering a ban on commercial and recreational fishing.  Only the tribes are allowed to fish and their take is restricted to just 2,000 fish.  The Kalmath is officially in a "overfished" condition. The poor conditions are the direct result of dams constructed beginning early last century for irrigation and water storage.  It took decades of persistent conservation effort to finally get them removed and restoration to begin on the Klamath River system.  Work has begun, but not a moment too soon. In the meantime salmon seasons are likely to remain closed this year. 

Horrendous Suffering Uncovered on British Farm

An undercover film crew has exposed horrendous animal abuse on a Devon pig farm.  The revelations have prompted demands for legal action against the owners, WJ Watkins & Son.   Pigs condemned to filthy cramped conditions resorted to canibalism of corpses to stave off starvation.  In one clip a screaming pig was trampled on an bitten by others, and apparently died in view of the crew from Glass Wall Films.  The farmer was aware of the filming on Cross Farm, Holsworthy in October.  He refused to comment to the press, but referred them to the industry's lobby group, National Pig Association (NPA).

The Farm was investigated by Animal Equity, an animal welfare group in 2017. It found unsanitary, cramped, and barren concrete pens confining an estimated 12,000 pigs. Improvements were promised.  Glass Wall decided to visit farms where improvements were committed.  It was shocked to find that conditions had actually gotten worse.  Video were made of carbon dioxide asphyxiation, used to slaughter animals.  England has some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world, and its people are known for their love of animals.  To know such barbaric conditions existing on a Denvon farm shocks the conscience.  An NPA spokesman claimed parts of the film are not authentic and do not portray actual operations at the farm, which has been found compliant with all relevant requirements.  Tell that to the pigs!

Originalism When It Suits You

Historians filed an amicus brief in the recent Colorado disqualification case reaching the Supremes.  The Court found only Congress can disqualify a candidate for federal office. The historians, reviewing the history of the passage of Section 3 clearly disagree. Allan Lichtman at American University who signed the brief told interviewers their brief,“decisively proved not a single one of the thousands of ex-Confederates who were disqualified under section three of the 14th amendment were disqualified under an act of Congress. They were automatically disqualified, as Jefferson Davis himself recognized in his trial and the two judges in the trial agreed.”

Because Section 3 has been so rarely at issue, this fundamental misconstruction of the Constitution is likely to stand for a century unless Congress passes legislation enforcing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.  

Allowing individual states to control access to their voting ballots, which they already do when it comes to age and residency, would not have created an unmanageable patchwork of disqualifications.  The first state disqualification case to reach the Supreme Court would decide the matter, at it did with the Colorado case; Maine and Illinois promptly fell in line with Supreme Court's decision.   This is not the first time the MAGA court has perverted the historical record. They did something similar in District of Columbia v. Heller, in which the Court construed the right to bear arms as an individual right not a right of a state to raise an armed militia, a position not supported by the historical record. 

The MAGA majority will get another crack at derailing Trump's prosecution for the insurrection in a case styled United States v. Fisher, set for argument before the immunity case.  There the defendant argues that the statute (§1512) prohibiting obstruction of an official government proceeding is limited to the impairment of evidence.  If the Court decides he is correct, despite the clear legislative history to the contrary, the decision would moot the criminal obstruction counts in the indictment against Trump.

Besides speeding up decisions that favor Trump's candidacy and slowing down those that do not, this Court seems only to pay lip service to so-called "originalism" in its interpretations of the Constitution, invoking the doctrine when it gets them to the result they want. The Roberts Court will go down in history as one of the most corrupt in the nation's history.

TWIT: Cheeseburger in Paradise

credit: A. Zyglis, Buffalo News
BC Idonwanna sez: Apré moi, le deluge!

Don 'Legit' posted an appeal bond of $91 million in the E. Jean Carrol defamation case at the last minute, allowing him to appeal the verdict without paying her a dime.  US Person had little doubt he would be able to come up with the money.  The bond was provided by the Chubb Group of Companies. 

Readers may remember the infamous "Steele Dossier", the source of salacious allegations that Trumpilini cavorted with prostitutes while on business in Moscow. Trump sued Orbis Business Intelligence, founded by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele. His case was thrown out of court by a British judge as being "bound to fail" because it was filed outside the six year statute of limitations.   He was ordered to pay all court costs and legal fees incurred by Orbis amounting to an initial £300,000.

Other developments in the prosecution of the most dangerous man in 'Merica are also not favorable. Kenneth Chesebro, former Trump attorney, agreed to a plea deal in the Georgia election interference case, but his testimony may be discredited by new evidence revealed as part of the settlement of a Wisconsin civil suit brought against fake electors.  Chesebro maintains that the Trump electors were a legal strategy in the event a court found that their claims of election fraud were valid. But emails and text communications show the scheme was much more intentional and planned.   Chesebro began communicating with Wisconsin MAGA campaign lawyer Jim Troupis as early as November 8th, 2020 to create a fraudulent scheme claiming Trump won the Electoral College vote in Wisconsin and submitting an alternate slate of electors. “Having the electors send in alternate slates of votes on Dec. 14 can pay huge dividends even if there is no litigation pending on Jan. 6,” Chesebro said in an email.  Chesebro asked Troupis in a text to send his detailed December 6th memo on the idea to the White House.  Troupis was then in touch with Rudy Guliani and Boris Epshteyn, senior Trump aides.  Troupis spoke to Congressman Ron Johnson a full month before January 6th about the plan to submit fake electors.  A Johnson aide spoke to Mike Pence's legislative director Chris Hodgson, telling him that they had the lists for Michigan and Wisconsin.  Hodgson told him, "do not give that to him [Pence]". Keneth Chesebro texted Troupis on January 8th, two days after the insurrection, saying that the events opened more avenues for legal opinions favorable to Trump.

The new evidence confirms Chesebro always intended to sow confusion about the outcome of the electoral vote in order to throw the election into the US House of Representatives where there is a majority of Repugnant state delegations.  By now it is beyond deniability that MAGA operatives, with the approval of the deranged nascent dictator, wanted to exploit the weaknesses of the Electoral College system.  To prevent another autogolpe in the future,  the President should be elected by a binding popular vote and the College discarded as obsolete.

Alan Weisselberg, who is a witness in the business records criminal fraud case in Manhattan, has plead guilty to two felony counts of perjury.  Former CFO Weisselberg has already served time for tax evasion related to Trump Org.  He lied in the NY Attorney General civil fraud case about the size of Don Legit's apartment in Trump Tower, a major asset on his financial statements, and about his lack of knowledge of the process in which fraudulent documents were created.  His perjury conviction increases the chances of Trump being convicted of business records fraud. The judge in Trump's criminal prosecution, Juan Merchan, is the same one who sentenced Weisselberg for tax evasion.   At seventy-nine, he cannot afford to stop another bullet on behalf of the Boss.

Bad Air Will Increase

A new report by a climate NGO says that air pollution has increased in the US for the first time in 8 years primarily due to wildfires offsetting gains in reductions in human caused pollution achieved by the Clean Air Act.  Vast swaths of the continental US will have unhealthy air by 2054.  Now one in four Americans are exposed to unhealthy air and that is expected to grow by 50% in the next few decades.

An example of what is occurring is the Canadian wildfires of June 2023 that turned the skies of northeastern America orange and caused exposure to the worst day of polluted air since 2006.  The smoke carried tiny particulate matter called PM2.5 (microns) that can lodge deep inside a person's lungs and cross the brain-blood barrier. Prolonged exposure can cause Parkinson's Disease and dementia, as well as respiratory illness.  There is no safe exposure level to PM 2.5.  Although wildfire smoke is not counted against air quality goals by the EPA, wildfire smoke accounts for a third of all particulate matter pollution.

The number and intensity of wildfires are expected to increase as the planet warms up and vegetation drys out.  Disadvantaged populations in urban centers will be affected most since they do not have the means to ameliorate the effects of air pollution by moving or filtering in-door air.  Black children are five times more likely to suffer asthma than white children.  Outdoor workers will also be affected more.

Miami's Seaquarium is Unfit For Animals

Several members of the theme park's staff have quit in protest of the conditions in which animals are held captive,  In their resignation letter they cited managements dismissal of staff concerns for animal welfare and keeping the park understaffed.  Public pressure is mounting for Dade County, which owns the site to terminate Dolphin Company's lease, after USDA issued citations for animal welfare violations,.  The company is also behind on rent payments.  In February the park lost its certification from the American Humane Society.  Its county lease requires this certification be maintained.  If the county proceeds with evicting the Dolphin Company for non-payment and lease violations Seaworld would be over.

Not a moment too soon. Readers may recall the tragic story of orca  Lolita  held in North America's  smallest tank that died last year. One veterinary staff person who resigned told management that, "These animals deserve better than this and it breaks my heart every night knowing there’s not even a fight in any of you to TRY!” Seaworld is over seventy years old, one of the first ocean aquariums to be established. in the USA.  Seaworld is loosing money and management is cutting corners on animal health care. It has been sued ten times in the last two years for debts. [credit: AP]

USDA inspectors have visited the park multiple times and have found unhealthy conditions.  For example, a young dolphin with pieces of plastic and a large chunk of concrete in its digestive tract, and another with multiple bilateral rib fractures.  An animal welfare group flew a drone over the site and discovered a manatee named Romeo swimming in circles in a small, filthy tank.  The video was exposed on the Internet prompting the US Fish & Wildlife Service to remove the sixty-seven year old captive to a sanctuary.  A bottlenose dolphin named Sundance died in December after USDA inspectors raised concerns about his health.  They found four other animals in need of urgent care on their return visit in January.  So far the Dolphin Company has been able to dodge eviction and animals confiscation by taking what one animal advocate organization called "superficial" remedial action.  For the sake of the animals held captive, it is time to take effective action and close Seaworld for good and all.

TWIT: The Craven Court Freezes Trump Prosecution

Update: No surprise here!  The MAGA court ruled today that Colorado must put the Ochre Menace back on the ballot since 14th Amendment Section 3 must be enforced by Congress alone.  The prospect of that happening is statistically zero. The majority relied on the language in Section 5 stating that Congress shall have the authority to enforce the provisions of the Amendment;  three liberal justices concurred in the result.  Notably the Court did not disturb the finding by the Colorado Supreme Court that Don Legit is an insurrectionist.  

What some learned observers see is an issue that the DC Appeals did not address in their opinion.   The Court may want to provide guidance to lower courts on the distinction between former and current presidents, and official and unofficial acts when it comes to immunity from criminal prosecution.  Potentially, the Court could find that a former president is not entitled to immunity for either type of act.  And that a president, either current or former, can be prosecuted for criminal acts considered unofficial, such as interference in an electoral vote count for which a president has no official role under the Constitution. Such a conclusion, handed down with alacrity after April 22nd, would send the case back to Judge Chutkin for trial, which could be accomplished before the November election.  There is light at the end of the tunnel, but it is faint.

{29.02.24}Exposing the majority's tilt towards MAGA, the Supremes agreed to hear Dear Leader's claim of immunity from criminal prosecution and kept the stay of the trial court proceedings in place. The Court scheduled April 22nd for oral arguments.  The decision required at least four votes in favor.  The DC Court of Appeals has ruled unanimously against his claim. Many Court watchers expected the Court to let that opinion stand given its "masterful" treatment of the law. Jack Smith, Special Prosecutor, said in his brief that accepting Trump's radical immunity claim, "would upend understandings about presidential accountability that have prevailed throughout history while undermining democracy and the rule of law", especially in a case where a president sought to subvert the democratic transfer of power by disenfranchising millions of voters. 

Delineating the contours of alleged presidential criminal immunity is a complicated question and unnecessary to decide this case. No one in their right mind thinks a president of a republic has the right to foment his own coup. What is clear is that this Court has no interest in expediting its process to obtain a jury verdict before the vote.  Thus the American people will be deprived of an answer to this critical question: is Trump guilty of subverting our democracy? The Court said that it wanted to consider whether there is criminal immunity for "official acts" of a former president, leaving open the possibility that Trump's subversion of the democratic process falls outside the perimeter of "official acts".  But the Court's formulation of such a broad question for review is disturbing.  Of course, Trumpilini claims that every thing he did or did not do while in office was an official act.  Parsing which acts could reasonably be described as official would be time consuming to say the least.

Their decision has de facto allowed Trumpilini to win his years' long campaign to run any prosecution for wrong doing in office head-on into the election of 2024. After winning Michigan's primary easily, he is on course to the Repugnant Party nomination.  Any trial occurring during the presidential election campaign is unlikely. Even the New York criminal prosecution for election fraud scheduled to begin in March will be tied up in interlocutory appeals of a gag order request by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg to protect witnesses and court personnel. The granting of a Supreme Court appeal in the federal insurrection case exposes the deplorable extent to which politics plays a significant role in the US justice system, and how helpless it is when opposed by a legal tactician and "professional litigant" with funds.  His campaign claims of being smeared in a political "witch hunt" may now proceed uncontradicted by a jury verdict based on facts.   Pundits make fun of his in-court legal representation, but his attorneys have effectively hog-tied multiple efforts to hold him legally accountable for his actions before the November election. 

On a positive note in Georgia, defense counsel failed to provide any evidence that DA Willis benefited from the prosecution of the Ochre Menace despite grilling witnesses about when her affair with Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade began. Wade's divorce attorney had a conspicuous lack of memory on the stand about this question. Apparently the defense was attempting to show Willis lied under oath, allegedly disqualifying her for an appearance of impropriety. Willis and Wade both testified their sexual liaison did not begin until after Wade began working in her office.  Regardless, there was no showing she benefited financially from hiring Wade, and therefore no conflict of interest.  Nota bene: Judge McAfee faces a retention vote in November.

In New York, Trump counsel filed for emergency relief from the $454 million dollar judgment handed down by Justice Engoron.  Trumpilini is apparently unable to raise the necessary 120% appeal bond on his own, but a state appeals justice did allow him to find loans in New York pending a hearing by the full appeals panel.  Several non-bank lenders may be willing to help the "King of Debt" including billionaire political contributors. Once again, 'Tiny' is playing for time.  He may have access to $4 billion in new money in March if he is allowed by other stockholders to sell or hypothecate 78 million shares in his Truth Social internet platform.  He has thirty days from the date of judgement entry (02/23/2024) to raise the bond money, otherwise execution on the judgments may begin.

credit: A. Telnaes, Washington Post 
Wackydoodle sez, But we want to hear about Fani's love life!

Festus' Tragic End

Festus, the humpback whale, was a regular visitor for forty-four years to the southeast Alaska coast.  He was recognizable to humans by the black and white marking on his fluke. One day in 2016 he was found floating dead in Glacier Bay. Whale scientists determined that his cause of death was most likely starvation. A new paper by the Royal Society Open Science says that during an extreme heat event in the Northeast Pacific, when water temperatures rose 3-6℃ during 2014-16, an estimated 7,000 humpbacks disappeared during the period 2013-21. Populations had been increasing prior to that. The whales were removed from the Endangered Species list. Scientists think that the decline was a "mass mortality event" due to the lack of food. Phytoplankton, at the bottom of the marine food chain, cannot proliferate in warm water that has knock-on effects up to humpbacks despite their being flexible feeders. A similar high mortality event is affecting gray whales, which scientists think is due to the reduction in the size of a seabed crustacean that the whale consumes in the Bering Strait due to warmer ocean temperatures in the Arctic. [skinny whale on right; photo credit: UK Guardian]

Research in Antartica has shown that humpbacks breed less successfully when there is not enough food. It also results in 'skinny whales' that are more susceptible to disease. During the heat wave, fewer females showed up in the Au'au Channel between Maui and Lanai, a known breeding ground. Only three calves made the annual migration to Alaska, and they to went missing. To estimate the number of whales in the North Pacific, study authors used an extensive data base of identification information called "Happywhale" that is extremely accurate and can be described as a Facebook for whales since it uses similar algorithms for identifying individuals. One researcher told interviewers that, "Healthy oceans make healthy whales and vice versa.”