Sign of the Times: When Sleeping Rough is a Right

Cities and towns are passing ordinances against public sleeping, sittling or lyingfaster than a politician can distort the truth. Seems nobody wants to see the homeless become too conspicuous, and since there are not enough shelters to accommodate the growing ranks of homeless, passing laws forcing the them to move on is perceived as the next best solution. A recent study found that in 187 cities surveyed 34% ban camping; 43% ban sleeping in vehicles; and 53% ban sitting and lying in public. Bans against sleeping in cars have increased 119% in the last four years. In a case filed against the city of Boise, Idaho on behalf of local homeless, the court cited a previous decision (Jones v. City of Los Angeles) that found enforcement of such ordinances to be unconstitutional in violation of the Eighth Amendment when there is inadequate shelter space because sleeping in public is involuntary and inseperable from the status of being homeless. The Department of Justice issued a statement of interest in the Boise case, saying these prohibitions may be "cruel and unusual punishment". The department told the court that 43% of homeless people slept in public in 2014. On any given night about 153,000 homeless are unsheltered.

'Toontime: Mistatements, Lies, and Damned Lies

Is it any wonder Bernie Sanders drew 19,000 supporters with 9,000 more standing outside in Portland, OR this week? Hillary is sinking like a rock and the FBI has confiscated her private web server for forensic analysis on Wednesday. It's wiped for sure, but who knows what digital artifacts may be left behind. Agents also seized a thumb drive from her attorney, David Kendall. A tiny of sample of her e-mail traffic (2 out of 40 reviewed by investigators from a total of 60,000 messages) shows classified material was compromised including some classified top-secret special intelligence because it comes from NSA signals intelligence including satelite data. Perhaps Clinton, Inc. has paid back  foreign financial support in more ways than cash. The truth is, despite her repeated claims of transparency and cooperation, the number of e-mails she has voluntarily turned over to the government is zero. The State Department had to track down missing material from her to prepare their responses in the House Benghazi investigation. Because she is American royalty she will not have to spend her life in exile or pay a $50,000 fine, but she may have to give up her run for the Uncornered Office.

credit: Lisa Benson

BC Idonwanna sez: Donkey should let go white woman.

All Hail, the Intelligent Octopus

Pacific striped, credit: The Independent

Scientists have decoded the genome of the octopus. In doing so they have discovered just how different the intelligent, eight-armed creature is. The intelligence of the invertibrate evolved much earlier than other "higher" vertebrates according to its genome. It contains 2.7 billion pieces of code, and hundreds of genes unique to the species. Some are related to the octopus' ability to change shape and color of its skin as a form of active camouflage. One British zoologist was so enthusiastic about the findings, he called the cephalopod "an alien". There is no doubt, however, that it evolved on this planet some 400 million years ago, about 230 million years before mammals, considered to be the most advanced animals living now. The octopus is Earth's first intelligent creature. A notable expansion of the octopus genome are the genes known as protocadherins, essential to developing nerve cells and their interconnections. Octopus have 168 of these, 10 times more than other invertebrates and twice as many as mammals.

These genes allowed the octopus to evolve an advanced and complex nervous system that helped it survive the ages. Its arms have there own neurons that work independently from the brain, plus huge optic lobes that make it a superb predator. An example of the octopus advanced hunting techniques is exhibited by the larger Pacific striped octopus that stalks prey close enough to tap it on the opposite side of its body with a smart tentacle. [video] This 'tap of doom' startles the prey, usually shrimp, directly into the octopus' waiting arms. Pacific striped octopus also have another interesting behavior. Most octopus have sex at a distance since the females become cannibalistic, but not the Pacific striped. These mating couples enjoy full frontal encounter with sixteen arms grasping each other sucker to sucker, beak to beak, in what scientists describe as "rough sex"!

mating, credit: R.Caldwell

Understanding how the octopus differs from its fellow cephalopods--squid, cuttlefish and nautilus--will help scientists understand what it means to be an octopus, genetically speaking. Unlike other cephalopods, they are protected by UK animal testing regulations in recognition of their obvious intelligence, dexterity and communication skills. Whether the octopus has a garden under the sea remains to be seen. They do seem to like cameras, however.

COTW: Hot Enough!

US Person wonders often why local weather forecasters largely ignore the obvious effects of climate change in their segments on the evening news. Oregon just experienced one of the hottest Junes on record, yet hardly any information was presented showing how the current June compares to other Junes for the number of hot days over 90℉ in a record of local temperatures stretching back beyond the beginning of the last century. He actually asked a local weatherman while attending a charity event why global warming was largely ignored by him. The reply was along the lines that such information might offend some of the station's viewers! Indeed. Not wanting to be rude, but in the interest of full disclosure US presents this chart from NOAA showing June temperature maximums for Oregon.  There is a 120 year trend line upward of two-tenth degree increase per decade.  No wonder the rivers are full of humans:

Rawanda Releases Lions into Akagera Park

The nation of Rwanda with the help of African Parks has translocated seven lions into Akagera National Park.  The lions, two males [photo] and five females, were brought from KwaZulu Natal in South Africa to Rwanda at the end of June.  The lions were kept in a protected boma prior to their release.  A waterbuck carcass was placed outside the gates to encourge them to accept their new freedom in the wild.  The two males refused to exit until park and press vehicles left the scene.  They spent 45 hours in trucks and abord an airplane for the exhausting trip north to Rwanda.

The lions are the first to roam the park in 15 years.  Akagera was unmanaged for years following the 1994 genocide.  Its few remaining lions were poisoned by cattle herders.    They come from different prides.  Among the females is a ten-year-old mother and her one-year old daughter.  All of the released lions will wear satelite telemetry collars for two years so park officals can keep track of their movements.  Also, the lions will be named by stakeholders and donors.

'Toontime: Biden Steps In

Hillary's decent in the polls and mounting attacks over her handling of official e-mail caused the Vice President, Joe Biden to reconsider his chances of succeeding the Obamanation. With Senator Sanders and Vice President Joe Biden in the race, Democratic voters will have a choice between a social democrat and a conventional neoliberal. Hillary's baggage and dependance on Wall Street minders* have made her increasingly unattractive to progressive voters regardless of her gender.

credit: David Horsey

Wackydoodle axes:  How y'al spell mysoginy?

*Ms. Clinton also carries the load of her husband's legacy. One of the influential persons in Washington that first contributed to the cultural capital that "greed is good", or to put it less crudely, a very powerful and extremely wealthy financial oligopoly is good for American governance was Robert Rubin, her husband's Director of the National Economic Council and second Secretary of Treasury. He began his career in arbitrage at Goldman-Sachs and rose to the firm's vice-chair. Rubin is the head of a long list of Wall Street insiders holding important positions in Bill Clinton's and subsequent administrations. Wall Street has infiltrated and taken over America's political economy. What started out as laudible policy of expanding home ownership under President Clinton became the biggest Wall Street rip-off in American history. See Chapter 4, 13 Bankers (2011). Then there is Senator Clinton's support for the other major fiasco of this century, the Iraq War.

"Now We Are All Sons of Bitches"

That is what physicist Kenneth Bainbridge said to Robert Oppenheimer head of
the Manhattan Project after the Trinity test was successful on 16 July 1945. Today is the anniversary of the dropping of an atomic weapon on Hiroshima, three weeks after the test in the New Mexico desert apply named Journada del Muertes. "Little Boy" wiped out 80,000 Japanese at a stroke. Historians have debated the reasons for America's resort to nuclear weaponry against a realistically defeated enemy ever since. The reasons are several and not just the self-righteous assertion that the bomb spared American lives in an invasion of Japan's homeland.

The bomb did make an invasion unnecessary; it was sure to be bloody for both sides as bitter peripheral battles demonstrated. After the second nuclear strike against Nagasaki, The Emperor ordered the Japanese people to lay down their arms. Contrary to American war policy of "unconditional surrender", he remains on the throne to this day because General MacArthur, our own demigod, wanted a compliant civilian population during the Occupation. Dropping the bomb was a geopolitical decision as much as a tactical one. Stalin knew of the bomb's development because he had spies inside the Project. He was unmoved by Truman's announcement at Potsdam that America possessed a terrible new weapon of war. Stalin agreed to invade Manchuria, and the Red Army destroyed a major portion of the Imperial Army. Japan was completely blockaded by the US Navy. It's navy was practically destroyed. Conventional bombing raids without effective opposition in the air were consuming great swaths of Japan's cities. More Japanese were killed in fire raids on Tokyo than in both nuclear strikes. Further resistance was useless. Given enough time the peace faction within the Emperor's war cabinet could have prevailed as Japan's people and infrastructure were slowly annihilated by American conventional arms.

The Manhattan Project was set up to produce nuclear bombs on an industrial scale, not just two. The Project cost $2bn, a huge amount of money in 1945. By the time the prototype was exploded, enough fissile material was being produced at Oak Ridge and Hanford to make several bombs a week. The United States, contrary to Oppenheimer's claim, could have afforded a demonstration first, as some Project scientists wanted. They were confident their technological wonder would work, and a demonstration would give the United States a defensible moral position against critics of its decision to use terror weapons against civilians. To not use such an expensive device against a fanatical enemy could have been characterized by Truman's political opponents as treasonous. Because it was dropped, and dropped twice, the US was able to occupy Japan alone as it could not do in Europe. We have been living with the fallout ever since*.

*The nuclear arsenals of Russia and the United States remain on hair-trigger alert.  Mistakes, both human and machine, have led to several close calls since the Cold War began seventy years ago.  November 9,1979: NORAD screens indicated a large-scale Soviet missile attack was underway.  The US nuclear arsenal was immediately prepared for a retailiatory strike.  However, satelite data failed to confirm any incoming missiles, so no strike was launched.  The cause of the false signals discovered later was that a technician had inserted a training simulation into an operational NORAD computer.  Opps!  September 26,1983 a Soviet early warning satelite indicated five US nuclear missiles were headed towards the USSR.  A Russian colonel looking at the telemetry decided it was a false alarm. He reasoned that the United States would not start a nuclear war by launching only five missiles at the Soviet Union.  Investigation of the incident showed the satelite mistook sunlight reflecting from the tops of clouds as missle launches.