East Coast Pipelines Shut Down in Cyber Attack

Update: Colonial Pipeline Co. is putting its system back on line after reports of hoarding behavior, supply shortages, and rising gas prices in the southeast. Bloomberg reported that the company paid nearly $5 million in cyrptocurrency as ransom to eastern European hackers.  The company generated $1.4 billion in revenue last year.

More: Colonial Pipeline's four main lines to the northeast remain closed after the ransomeware attack
launched by a gang known as DarkSide on Friday. Officials scrambled to contain the damage to northeastern markets by allowing emergency transportation of fuels by road.  Despite the emergency declaration relaxing rules, it will not be enough to replace lost capacity.  DarkSide released a statement saying it was "apolitical", and only trying to "make money".  A London cyber security firm says the organization operates as a business, licensing encryption software it develops to "affiliates" who pay a percentage of their extortion gains.  DarkSide is not adverse to publicity about its activities.  When it developed improved encryption software, it invited journalists  in March to review the product.  The gang even has a website where it lists all of the companies it has hacked, and those types of companies it will refrain from attacking.

{13.05.21}The security firm went on to tell BBC that the pandemic aided DarkSide, when engineers with access to the company's data work from home.  It could have bought account login details for remote desktop software such as TeamViewer and Microsoft Remote Desktop.  There are so-called "access brokers" who steal login details on active users and sell them to the highest bidder.  According to the security firm, it is likely that DarkSide is based in a Russian-speaking country, as it avoids attacking companies in post-Soviet states including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.  Joe Biden will be meeting with Valdimir Putin soon.  Undoubtedly the issue of criminal cyber attacks, which is becoming a major on-line problem for infrastructure firms, will be discussed.

{07.05.21}For the first time in US history a major energy infrastructure system was shut down by a cyber attack. The Friday attack on Colonial Pipeline, which supplies half of the East Coast's fuel supply through 5,500 miles of pipe, affected its IT network. The resulting shut down is expected to drive fuel prices above $3.00/gal. in the southeast. Officials say ransomware was used by a gang known as "Darkside". The group depicts itself as a sort of "Robin Hood" organization that targets deep corporate pockets and donates to charities via bitcoin. "I’m unaware anything approaching this magnitude in the U.S.," said Bob McNally, president of energy consultancy Rapidan Energy, who served on the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration. If so, the strike represents an escalation of attacks on vital infrastructure in the US. It also reveals the vulnerability of national infrastructure owned and operated by private companies. Imports through eastern ports should buffer the outage at Colonial Pipeline, which makes deliveries to terminals every five days. If the outage is prolonged, shortages may occur as customers begin to hoard. What the demand for ransom is, has not been made public.

Colonial Pipeline is the largest refined products pipeline in the United States, transporting 2.5 million barrels per day, and about 45 percent of all fuel consumed on the East Coast, including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and heating oil. The attack will add pressure on congressional negotiators who are debating Biden's $2+ trillion infrastructure plan, which so far lacks funds for improving cyber security. Cyber security is clearly lacking at some facilities: last year a leak that spilled 1.2 million gallons of gasoline into a nature reserve in Charlotte, North Carolina went undetected for a week. In February, hackers busted into a Tampa, FL water treatment facility and attmepted to raise the level of sodium hydroxide, lye, used to purify water. Russian GRU hackers have played havoc with Ukraine's computer systems attacking banks, airports, energy firms and government officials. Fortunately, that has not yet happened in the US. But you do not have to be a leftist hot-head to imagine the worse.

COTW: Inflation is Baaack!

Wolf Richter at WolfStreet.com tells US that inflation is back and red hot at 7.0% annualized on the CPI. Here is the chart:

The increase in prices has been especially noticeable in the hone, lumber, and used cars markets. Apparently consumers are itching to spend the few extra bucks [chart below] ]they have stashed during the pandemic. With Repugnants claiming that Americans do not want to work, and some low-wage employers claiming a labor shortage because of the enhanced unemployment benefits many are receiving, it is unlikely that the so-called 'free ride' will last beyond September.  Biden has made it clear that workers will have to take "suitable" employment or lose the benefits they may be enjoying. Remember what happen to Oliver Twist when he asked,"Please Sir,  may I have some more?"

WTF= Wha the F**K!

More Room for Jaguars

Conservationists say there is more room in the United States for the return of "America's Big Cat" and only surviving member of the genus Panthera than previously estimated. The US Fish & Wildlife Service reported in 2018 that there was only enough suitable habitat along the border for six jaguars to roam. Now a group of scientists write in Conservation Science and Practice that there is enough habitat in central Arizona and New Mexico spanning 2 million acres so that 90-150 jaguars could be reintroduced. Surviving jaguar ppopulations in Mexico are unlikely to repopulate the US border region due to human interference and habitat loss in this century. So reintroduction to the more northerly portion of their former range is the way forward to increasing their numbers in the USA. This area was not considered by the USFWS in their 2018 recovery plan study. The jaguar, once common in the southwest before extermination mostly by government hunters, is on the Endangered Species list. Their ancestors crossed the Beringian land bridge milenia ago and lived in the central mountains of Arizona and Mexico long before the white man occupied the land.

The central mountains of this region are well populated with prey animals and suitable vegetation. Water, all important in this arid zone is also available. Given its latitiude and elevation the vast region could prove to be a snctuary for the species in an age of climate change. A recent reintroduction effort has met with success in Argentina where only 200 jaguars remain in the wild. Seventy years after their extermination, jaguars will return to the protected Iberá wetlands as part of a rewilding program. As a keystone species, jaguars shaped the ecosystems of our southwest canyonlands. Putting them back in their natural place is the humane thing to do.

'Toontime: Never Forget

credit D. Whamond

The MAGA folks that brought you the latest insurrection and their politico enablers want you to forget all of it--the lying, the pardons, the collusion, the grafting, the psycho-drama, the cult of personality, or death, take your pick. Don't swallow their amnesia juice! Rudy, the mouthpiece of Oxy Contin, is under severe pressure to flip on his former client. Either he will be indicted or given a plea deal. He clearly colluded with Russian agents to smear Biden and acted as their lobbyist with Trump. Former AG Bill Barr has been exposed as a lying bootlicker who made sure the Mueller investigation did not end in an indictment of the President for obstruction of justice.

So the quest for justice goes on. If the Democrats want to hold on to their meager majority next year they need to prosecute Killer and reform the filibuster to pass a new voting rights act regardless of Joe 'Dino' Manchen and other closet reactionaries. Otherwise, Killer will be back like a bad dream, and people will vote for him on watermarked"bamboo ballots".

credit WaPo; Wackydoodle sez, I heard the Gran Cyclops ordered it!

US COVID-19 DEATHS (est.): 780,654

COTW: Pfizer Cashes In

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, maker of the first successful Covid-19 vaccine, revealed that it made $3.5bn in profit on the vaccine during the first three months of 2021, about a quarter of its total revenue. Pfizer points out it did not accept any government money to produce the vaccine, but conveniently omits the facts that its German partner, BioNTech, did receive substantial government financial support, and the technology--messenger RNA--used to manufacture its drug was developed and patented by the US National Institutes of Health. Pfizer has agreed to contribute 40 million doses to COVAX the international partnership that distributes vaccines to poor countries. That figure is less than 2% of total doses it plans to produce in 2021. World Health Organization figures make clear that Pfizer has provided minimal help to the world’s poorest countries where there is a vaccine shortage. India is the best example of a developing nation facing a crippling increase in cases due to lack of vaccine and medical equipment. Pfizer sells it shot in the US for about $19.50 per dose, which is comparable to a flu shot. Israel reportedly paid $30 a dose. Pfizer previously predicted that profit margin for the drug could be as high as twenty percent.

Use of the Pfizer vaccine is problematical for countries without a well-developed medical infrastructure since it requires transportation and storage in sub-zero refrigeration. Vaccines not requiring this special treatment such as Johnson & Johnson's and Astra-Zeneca's have run into problems surrounding possible rare side effects. In the US, use of the J&J vaccine was paused for a short time while cases of rare blood clots occurring were investigated. Astra-Zeneca experienced similar problems with EU regulators concerned with safety of its vaccine for elderly patients. Both companies said they would provide their medicine at cost. This chart from the BBC shows the relative amount of public investment in each company's vaccine:

Progressive politicians like Senator Bernie Sanders have called on pharmaceutical companies to waive their intellectual property rights so the world can be provided more easily with vaccine. President Biden, when running for office, said he supported waiving patent rights by vaccine makers. Pharmaceutical companies are not enthusiastic about developing and marketing vaccines--they are risky, expensive to produce, and the life span is relatively short lived compared to popular products like pain killers. But as evidence of the SARS-CoV2 behavior accumulates it appears the virus will become chronic in which case vaccines sales will resemble the flu shot, worth several billion a year. Governments around the world have pledged to buy billions of doses of the COVID vaccines at set prices. India has resumed its negotiations with Pfizer after breaking them off over disagreeing whether an in-country trial would be required first. India recently experienced over 400,000 infections a day, no doubt providing added incentive to purchase an effective drug even with a healthy profit margin.

Trashing Paradise

The far northwest Hawaiian Islands, a chain of tiny coral and sand atolls extending into the vast mid-Pacific like a string of pearls [map] is as about as far as you can get from civilization outside the poles. Many endemic Marine birds and mammals live here among some 7000 species. These specks were protected by establishing a national marine monument in 2006, the nation's largest covering 583,000 square miles. President George W. Bush was moved to create the monument after viewing Jean-Michel Cousteau's film, Voyage to Kure [atoll]. The reserve protects pelagic habitats, sea mounts, coral reefs, and lagoons. Commercial fishing in the monument is banned; several species like the spiny lobster have not yet recovered from exploitation. On two of the islands there are archeological remains of pre-European settlement and use. To native Hawaiian culture these islands are where life originates and where spirits return after death.

credit: M. Chauvin

However idyllic Papahānaumokuākea is, there is trouble in this paradise. Because of its location in the Pacific Gyre, a vast area of circular ocean currents, the islands are inundated with man-made debris ranging from micro-plastic waste to abandoned nets and fishing tackle. A team of volunteers supported by federal and state authorities recently collected and removed 47 tons of debris during a twenty-four day expedition. During their first day of clean-up team members spotted a young female monk seal tightly entangled in derelict fishing line. The line clearly irritated her as she dug at with her flipper. The crew was able to release her from the unwanted collar. Entanglement is a common hazard for marine life and there is no permanent human presence to help them. So-called 'ghost gear' is washed ashore, where it often has to be dug out of the sand. Plastic pieces smaller than 10 cm are left behind because there is so much of it. An estimated 11 tons of plastic enters the world's oceans every year where it quickly enters the marine food chain; this waste stream is expected to triple in the next twenty years. Clean up efforts like this one are barely keeping up with the waste stream. More than 2 million pounds of debris have been removed from the monument since 1996.

No More Free Lunch

Humans have been counting on the Amazon Basin absorbing a great deal of atmospheric carbon produced by economic activity. Over the past half-century plants and soil have taken up 30% of emissions with the oceans contributing 20% even as the amount of emissions have increased 50%. The Amazon contains about half of the world's tropical rainforest, which is more effective sponging and storing carbon than other types of vegetation. Not any more. A new study alarmingly reveals that for the past ten years the Brazilian Amazon is a net emitter of carbon dioxide by about 20%. The authors reported in Nature Climate Change that the region gave off 16.6 tons of carbon dioxide while absorbing only 13.9 tons from 2010 through 2019. Scientists suspected the Amazon might have flipped to being a net emitter. They are not sure if this process can be reversed.

As readers might expect deforestation and wildfires have been the biggest contributors to the change. Deforestation increased four fold in 2019--the year anti-nature President Jair Bolsonaro was elected to office--compared to the previous two years. Bolsonaro has been pursuing a exploitation policy, encouraging forest clearances and weakening environmental protections. Degradation of existing forest through fragmentation, selective cutting and damaging fires that do not destroy trees causes three times more emissions than outright destruction.  [illegal fire in the Amazon, photo: Getty Images]

One flicker of hope is that the study only examined the Brazilian Amazon. If the Amazonian Basin is looked at as whole, scientists think that the Basin is carbon neutral. No longer a carbon sink to assist man, reducing carbon in the global atmosphere will be more difficult. The massive forest is also threatened by drought, which could turn it into savanna. Grassland is great for cattle, which may be the end game for the exploiters.