'Toontime: Myth Busters

BC Idonwanna sez: Dolchstoss!

Another long standing shibboleth, since the days of Ronnie 'Raygun' Reagan, is the economic "trickle down" theory that lifts all boats, rich and poor alike. NOT! David Hope at the London School of Economics said in a recent paper that five decades of tax cuts for the wealthy have only benefited the wealthy and did not promote jobs or economic growth. Not surprising, but this myth was embraced by conservatives and neoliberals alike for fifty years. As a result, we now have the greatest wealth disparity in 'Merica since the Gilded Age. Hope said his analysis ends in 2015 but could equally apply to the tax cut given the wealthy in 2017. It is facts like these that make the support Killer gets from people who feel left behind and dispossessed hard to fathom. The delusional quality of their fealty has often been commented upon, and put down to racism or neurosis, such as co-dependency.

Be that as it may, the new administration now has political capital to begin rebuilding the working class, starting with recouping the revenue trickled down the rabbit hole. Speaking of inequity, Congress seems ready to pass a last minute pandemic relief bill that includes direct payments to the unemployed. The payments may be in $600-700 range and will last only a few months. One source says that if the money billionaires have made during the pandemic (> $1 trillion, led by Jeff Bezos of Amazon) were split among 330 million of us, we could each receive a check for $3,000 and a family of four $12,000. Now is the time to tax the rich, which is only one reason Democrats need to capture control of the Senate in January. Senator Bernie Sanders noted, "Unfortunately this [current] proposal does not address the crisis in the way that it should. This is a step forward, and I certainly look forward to a Biden administration working with us to get significantly more help to those people who need it.”

When the walls begin to close in, declare martial law...

Undercover Investigation Stings Pebble Mine

Readers  of PNG know that the Pebble Mine is once again on the verge of elimination {14.06.17} thanks to the tireless opposition of tribal and conservation organizations who fight to save the Bristol Bay salmon run and irreversible damage to a pristine ecosystem. [photo credit: C. Arnold] A two prong offense in court rooms and  boardrooms of financial backers has produced results. The regime worked fast to undo the 2014 EPA restrictions set by the previous administration. However, a stunning reversal by the Army Corps of Engineers to impose a requirement for a rigorous mitigation plan again put the reality of the project in serious doubt. The decision was not an outright denial of federal permits, but a difficult regulatory hurdle for the sole remaining partner of the Pebble Partnership joint venture, Northern Dynasty Minerals of Canada.

Pebble Partnership shot itself in the foot a month after the Army Corp's sudden reversal.  The incident occurred because of an undercover investigation by the non-profit Environmental Investigation Agency, headquartered in London. Two investigators posing as Chinese investors interested in the mine asked to meet with Tom Collier and Ron Theissen, CEOs of Pebble Partnership and its parent company, Northern Dynasty. The CEOs were interested in talking because Northern Dynasty had lost a series of partners as the project encountered more public opposition. Mitsubishi, Anglo-American, Rio Tinto, and First Quantum Minerals all abandoned the project, leaving the remaining mining company cash-strapped. Global financial companies have also backed away in the face of pressure from NRDC and conservation allies. The financial services firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, the chief fundraiser for Northern Dynasty, is also being pressured to sever ties to the Pebble Mine project.

Undercover video tapes released after the meetings were a bombshell. In the tapes Collier and Thiessen can be seen boasting about their political connections at the federal and state level, including to Alaska's governor, Mike Dunleavy. What is more damaging to the company's credibility is the admission of a hidden agenda long believed to exist by mine opponents: the current proposal for a twenty-year mine is really a Trojan Horse for a huge 200-year mine to be gouged out of the Bristol Bay wilderness. One of the investigators asks Collier, "So the likelihood is pretty much 100% almost?", referring to the mine's planned expansion beyond it current scope. Collier replies unequivocally, "Yes." That response is a direct contradiction of his congressional testimony in 2019 that Pebble Partnership has, "no current plans...for expansion." Independent analysis shows that a twenty-year mine would lose $3 billion. Northern Dynasty needs a much bigger mine to turn a profit. Such a gargantuan project would generate 10 million tons of mining wastes contaminated with toxins. One reason an effective mitigation plan is nearly impossible to draft.

In the wake of the scandal generated by his admission on tape, Collier was forced to resign, but the zombie project continues to menace Bristol Bay. Tribal organizations, NRDC and allies continue the good fight to restore the restrictions set by EPA during the Obama-Biden administration that would permanently end this mine in the wrong place for good. US Person asks: Joe, are you reading this post? Add this task to your 100-day to do list.

COTW: Criminal Negligence

The actual number of deaths in the US is substantially higher than "official" figures. (>423,000) The tragic truth is it did not have to be this way. If the United States had a competent federal administration in power, rapid and comprehensive action to control the spread could have saved tens of thousands of lives. Whether KIller was merely incompetent, or recklessly indifferent is for history to decide, or perhaps the New York Attorney General because Central Joe is not interested.

The truth is that deaths in the US will approach the estimated 650,000 who died in the Great Flu Pandemic of 1918 before widespread immunity is achieved through mass inoculation. At least public officials then had an excuse--it was not known viruses existed. (Shope, 1931). Hysterical crying of wolf? Not so much! The most frightening figure: 74 million citizens and 126 legislators of a decrepit republic agree with Der Trumpenführer and his clownish attempt to overturn representative democracy. This time there was no capital fire and no paramilitaries in the streets, but white supremacist militia stabbed four counter-protestors and burned BLM banners at black churches--close enough for US Person. Yes, Virginia we have a fascism problem and it is not going away even after the Tangerine Menace goes golfing in Palm Beach until 2024.

credit: GettyImages

Bats May Hold Genetic Key

With the pandemic far from over, scientists are already looking for the source of the next one. Modern commerce and travel make the most isolated habitat ground zero for the next lethal virus to strike humanity. This is the reason Brazilian researchers are in the dense rainforest looking for bats. Bats are thought to be a vector in several lethal viral epidemics, iincluding COVID-19. Of all mammal vectors, primates, rodents, carnivores and ungulates, viruses found in bats tend to be the most lethal to humans. For example the Hendra virus, first identified in 1994 near Brisbane, Australia, was found in fruit bats that transmitted the disease to horses, which in turn infected humans. This virus is highly lethal, killing 75% of horses it infects, and 60% of humans.

Australian grey-headed, credit: A. Ruzicka

Another disturbing fact is that habitat destruction caused by man is responsible for bats living in areas close to settlements. This is what happened in Hendra, Australia where destruction of flowering eucalyptus trees drove fruit bats (Pteropus) [photo] closer to residences and farms where they infected horses. Fortunately, though highly lethal, Hendra virus infections are rare. Habitat destruction also contributed to the outbreak of the Nipah virus in Bangladesh which causes severe encephalitis in humans. Fruit bats looking for food moved into urban areas. They spread the virus by licking date palm sap from collection barrels. Fearful humans have taken to attacking bat colonies, but that only makes the risks of transmission worse. An investigation by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Ugandan health authorities found that after a mining operation attempted to exterminate bats from a cave in Uganda, the remaining bats exhibited higher infection levels of Marburg virus. This led to Uganda’s most severe outbreak of Marburg hemorrhagic fever in 2012. It is obvious from these and similar zoonotic events that bats host virus infections well, to which humans succumb in great numbers. Why?

That is the question the Brazilian bat researchers are hoping to answer by collecting bat tissue samples for genetic study from bats living in an urban park. Flying places great stress on a relatively small body, so bats generate extremely high metabolic rates--as much as 16 times resting rate--without apparent cell damage. Some bat species live for thirty years. Scientists theorize that along with the development of flight capability, bats evolved immune systems that are highly efficient and selective. Two mechanisms suggested for this enhanced capability are rapid DNA repair and inflammatory response suppression.

Genetic coding may hold to the key to their secret of bat resistance to some of the nastiest pathogens on the planet--COVID-19, SARS, MERS, Ebola, Nipah, Hendra and Marburg viruses. For now, the best defense is to keep bats away from human interaction. However, tropical rainforest deforestation is increasing the contact between host colonies and humans. Replacing destroyed habitat is an effective means of keeping bats to themselves. India is among the most likely places in the world for a “spillover” event to occur, due to high human population density and increasing human and livestock incursion into its dense forests teeming with wildlife.  Bat phobia is counterproductive since bats are valuable members of a balanced ecosystem, providing valuable insect control, seed dispersal, and pollination services. The fact is that bats are a highly successful organism with more the 1400 species flying around every continent except Antarctica. Man is disrupting nature's balance, NOT bats.

The Artful Tax Dodger

Killer does not care about the environment--he has proved that as he rolled back over a hundred protection rules. Except when it comes to tax subsidies. Associated Press reports that conservation officials in Scotland have cancelled his Aberdeenshire golf resort's special status for protecting the coastal sand dunes on the course. [photo:Trump International Scotland] NatureScot, the country's environmental protection agency said the dunes no longer merit "special scientific interest" despite efforts to protect rare habitats and plants remaining there. Scottish authorities have approved plans for a second golf course next to the original one on his estate.  The existing golf course and luxury hotel have not been profitable since they opened.  Conservationists deplored the decision, which they say shows that golf still trumps natural heritage in Scotland. Opening a second course will cause further harm to the dune system that was of great scientific interest.  Undoubtedly, Trump received some special tax treatment for his resort because of the conservation designation.

Killer has a history of seeking and obtaining protective designations for his properties in order to take advantage of special tax incentives.  A prime example is his Seven Springs estate, which includes rolling woodlands covering three Westchester County, NY townships.  He agreed to conservation easement to preserve these woodlands in exchange for $21.1 million tax break according to court records examined by the Washington Post.  The size of this windfall was set by 2016 assessment that was double that of the townships' assessment of the estate.  That assessment has become embroiled in the investigation being conducted by New York attorney general, Letitia James.  In question is whether the estate's value was inflated as part of the conservation easement tax break.

The Trump associated firm which established the value assumed a future buyer could build twenty-four $2.1 million mansions on the land without evidence that such projected developments could meet local regulations.  Killer himself tried to build on Seven Springs--including a golf course--but the projects were stymied by local opposition and environmental disputes.  The appraisal also claimed the land preserved under the easement had no economic value of its own, a suspect opinion since the tax break is calculated by subtracting the value of the conserved property from the value of developed property.  Killer also wrote off as a business expense $2.2 million in property taxes by classifying Seven Springs as an investment property rather than a residence.  His family members have often described Seven Springs as a family retreat. [photo credit: Washington Post]

The pink sandstone, sixty room mansion perched above a reservoir was built by the former owner of the Washington Post in 1919.  Killer bought the property in 1995 for $7.5 million with plans to transform it into a luxury hotel and private golf course, but these plans were never realized in the face of stiff opposition.  His plans were also complicated by the fact that three different town planning agencies were involved. He even rented the property to dictator Moammar Ghaddafi, who was in town for the UN General Assembly.  Ghaddafi staff's

promptly pitched a Bedouin tent in the yard. [photo: WaPo]  Local officials promptly issued a stop work order, deeming the tent a "temporary residence" that had no building permits.  A Bedford town supervisor expressed outrage that a "known criminal would attempt to set up camp in our community."  Killer claimed later in an interview that Ghaddafi "paid me a fortune" for the privilege.  He left unpaid a bill for Bedford town engineering services of $46,976.63, incurred to evaluate his building proposals.

The organization that Killer signed a preservation agreement with, North American Land Trust, has been involved in eight high profile IRS easement cases, including four that involve golf courses. The 150 acres of wooded land covered by the easement is without doubt of ecological value since it contains mature stands of hardwoods, and is adjacent to another tract of preserved forest. Cushman & Wakefield, the appraisal company whose headquarters are in a building co-owed with the Trump Organization, does not mention the development difficulties associated with the estate, nor does it offer evidence that a proposed luxury subdivision could meet strict local planning regulations.  Conserved land has economic value and is often bought and sold. Despite the easement the owner has many use rights including hunting, recreational vehicle traffic, erection of storage facilities and subdivision.

As in any appraisal situation, the valuation depends on who is "sprinkling the fairy dust'.  Eric Trump, who is allegedly handling Trump Organization affairs during his father's public service, relied on a long-time Washington attorney Sheri Dillon during the easement process. Dillon put pressure on Cushman & Wakefield to up the value of the land if it were developed, after her client "blew up on her".Cushman appraisers asked Dillon to back off since the issues had already been discussed.

Killer is not alone in abusing tax breaks to encourage conservation. In 2014  3,219 rich people claimed $3.2 billion in charitable deductions for conservation easements. An IRS analysis conducted in 2017 showed that conservation easement investors “claimed an average of $9 in tax deductions for every dollar they put in.”  The conservation provisions are so abused that the IRS declared the tactic part of their 2019 "dirty dozen" tax scams to avoid. In 2015 he told AP that his company had claimed $63.825 million in conservation easements since 2010, including a $25 million tax break for his Los Angeles National golf course in 2014. In 2017 the Palm Beach Post reported that Killer claimed a $5.7 million historic easement for his new resort home, Mar-A-Lago, which is criticized as a quid pro quo for development permission, not a charitable contribution. Killer told a 2016 campaign crowd in Pueblo, CO, “As a businessman and real estate developer…I have brilliantly used those [easement] laws. At last, a true statement from the Killer on Fifth Avenue! 

Only loosers pay taxes....

'Toontime: A Tale of Two Turkeys

credit: K, Koterba, Omaha World Herald; BC Idonwanna sez: Really?

The mass media is run for profit, which means they have to generate advertising revenue because that is their main source of revenue. Advertisers want what they pay for, audience. To get audience the media engages relentless sensationalism, fear mongering, and moral outrage. Ergo the Killer Trumpillini--Rudy Ghouly clown coup splashed across the public airwaves. Yes, what they are doing is reprehensible, unprecedented and damaging to the Republic's political integrity, but they are only governed by neurosis and profit, not constitutional traditions. Media attention feeds their damaged egos and lines their deep pockets (>$200 million since Election Day). They have an audience of some seventy million rabid partisans in seventeen states*--a vicious feedback loop, indeed. US Person recommends ignoring their insane antics and the media outlets that advertise them until at least December 14th when the College officially awards Biden 306 votes. As Dorothy in Oz put it, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtains." There is one long-term lesson from this imbroglio: the nation needs direct presidential election because a celebrity dictator has amply demonstrated the current system's vulnerability to unprincipled manipulation. You can cut and paste that piece of advice!

This loon was Mayor of New York?

*That is how many states attorney general have joined in Texas' suit invoking the Supremos' rare original jurisdiction over disputes between states of the Union. Only one problem with this--where is the evidence of fraud backing up the petition's allegations and extraordinary request to throw out millions of legally cast votes in four states? Even his sychopant Barr has publicly stated that there is no evidence of fraud of a magnitude sufficient to overturn the election. At some point these baseless, even frivolous allegations, made by unscrupulous attorneys seeking to undermine representative government should be sanctioned by bar discipline. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro called the suit a “cacophony of bogus claims” to support a “seditious abuse of the judicial process.” Any questions remain about why US Person names them "Repugnants"?

Asian Bees Use Feces to Repell Killer Hornets

PNG readers know that giant Asian hornets unintentionally imported into North America pose a serious threat to domestic bee colonies because our bees have not developed a defense mechanism against the armored invaders with a lust for bee meat. {11.11.20} It may take thousands of years of evolution for such behavior to appear though natural selection. A recent discovery was made about how Asian bees defend their colonies against the predatory hornets. Asian honeybees paste pellets of animal feces around the entrances to the hive. This behavior surprised entomologists since bees are famously fastidious. Their honeycombs are wet and warm, perfect places for the growth of fungus and bacteria harmful to larvae, so they make an effort to keep clean. Researchers from Canada found that Vietnamese bees collect buffalo dung and other kinds of poo to plaster around the hive entrance. Later, they determined that the behavior observed in Vietnam is widespread among bees in Asia. [photo credit: H. Matilla]

plastered with poo

How the mechanism works is not understood yet, but the bees only paint the hive entrance after a raid from a predatory hornet. Investigators found hornets spend half the amount of time at nests protected with dung, and 94% less time trying to chew their way inside. Hornets target hives for destruction with secretions that the bees apparently counteract with feces, a sort of olfactory camouflage, or perhaps hornet repellent. Other insects, such as the hornworm moth caterpillar are known to cover themselves with feces for protection. Even mammals sometimes use dung. A recent study from China shows giant pandas wallow in horse dung as a means of insulating themselves from cold.