'Toontime: Confused

credit: Rivers; Wackydoodle sez: Ask football players!

That could be Joe Biden sitting there, as he contemplates how to get 80 million lemmings in line for COVID-19 vaccine. The mind boggles to think that many people would refuse to take a safe, effective vaccine to avoid a serious illness, or infecting those close to them. Consider the fact that the first president of the US, Gen. George Washington himself, required the vaccination of his troops against smallpox during the struggle for independence. (1777) The level of cognitive dissonance in this country is reaching...epidemic proportions. Of course the alternate reality being constantly broadcast by a neo-nazi demagogue and boxing match commentator is only fueling the delusion of millions to the detriment of the nation. The personality cult once called the GOP is employing anti-vaccination as a culture war distraction from the actual, grave issues facing the nation for which they have no satisfactory ideas, being enslaved to the status quo ante. Herr Trumpillini will use his status as a political candidate for the 2024 presidential election as a shield against criminal prosecution for insurrection. The legal immunity afforded a president are irresistible to him.

Idaho Resorts to Triage

Idaho has been forced to order triage of patients in the northern part of the state due to overcrowding of medical facilities by COVID-19 patients. Idaho, a red state, has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the US. (39.5%). The Repugnant governor said the rationing was unwanted but necessary. Despite the crisis, he has not ordered another partial quaranteen which he ordered in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. The state’s health department said they were suffering from “a severe shortage of staffing and available beds in the northern area of the state caused by a massive increase in patients with Covid-19 who require hospitalization”. Ten hospitals accross the state's northern section will begin prioritizing patients seeeking hospitalization. The change in care standards means that hospital administrators can now give an ICU bed to a patient with the best chance of survival, similar to the practices of a field hospital in wartime. Patients unlikely to survive will be given hospice care. If infection trends continue, Idaho could see an increase of 30,000 new cases a week.

COTW: The Kettle is Black

LOOK at this graph. It shows by state that the US incarcerates more of its residents per capita than any other nation on Earth. This statistic includes authoritarian countries like Russia, China, El Salvador and Turkmenistan. Biden recently doubled down on sanctions against Cuban officials after a public demonstration against its communist government resulted in imprisonment of activists.  Where is Cuba on this list? Look near the bottom.

Throwing people in prison for prison is not the only thing the US does a lot of. An estimate by an authoritative military journal estimates that the number of civilians killed by US air strikes in the two decades of the so-called global "War on Terror" is 22,679 or perhaps as many as 43, 308 based on a sworn number of strikes carried out by the Pentagon of 91,340 [chart below]

The last civilians killed by a drone strike in Afghanistan occurred during the evacuation that frantically took place during the last two weeks of August. A US drone incinerated a car filled with canisters of water in a misguided attempt to stop what the military thought was an attempted car bombing, but in reality was retaliation for the killing of 13 US service personnel at the airport. Ten family members were killed including seven children and an allied aid worker.

Gulf Pipeline Breaks

Apparently more damage from hurricane Ida is the leaking undersea pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico owned by Talos Energy. The US Coast Guard said that clean up crews are responding to the spill. So far the crude oil slick which is ten miles long has not reached the devasted Louisiana coastline. The spill is ongoing, with no reported date for plugging the leak. The spill was spotted from space on Thursday. [photo credit: Planet Labs]

Hurricane Ida hit Port Fourchon, Lousianna hard. The port is a hub for the offshore oil industry and is dense with industry infrastructure that is vulnerable to storms like Ida. The damaged pipeline is out of use and has not been decommissioned. A report published earlier this year by the GAO said that federal regulators which control use of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) have allowed producers to leave 18,000 miles of pipe on the seafloor, many of which are abandoned without decommissioning. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan destroyed an oil platform about 10 miles off the Louisiana coast. It triggered what is still the longest oil spill in United States history.

'Toontime: Denial in the Time of Coronavirus

credit: Joel Pett, Lexington Herald Leader

One man's proof is another man's ICU bed. The right wing fringe's antisocial demands that their 'freedom' to become infected should be respected is costing other 'Mericans their lives and livelihoods. It seems that these deniers have no concept of social responsibility despite claiming to be "Christians", which makes them hypocrites as well willfully ignorant. They should know what Christ said about hypocrites. (Mathew 23, 27-28)

Florida, where the governor is conducting a scorched earth campaign against common sense, recorded a record number of deaths since the pandemic began in August. Warm weather and stagnant floodwaters mixed with sewage is a witches brew of disease. Cholera, typhoid and mosquito borne diseases are a potential threat as the Ida aftermath unfolds in the south.

Percent of ICU beds occupied by Corona virus victims [courtesy: St. Clair @ Counterpunch]

Mississippi 59%

Alabama 55.7%

Florida 53.3%

Georgia 53.1%

Texas 49.6%

Arkansas 48.1%

Louisiana 46.8%

Idaho 46.3%

Okla 42.5%

Hawaii 41.9%

N.Carolina 39.9%

Missouri 39.3%

Kentucky 39.3%

Tennessee 36%

 

Trees in Danger of Extinction

A new report from Kew Gardens, which boasts a huge collection of the world's flora, says that at least thirty percent of the world's trees are in danger of extinction. Trees provide habitat for a host of creatures as well as replenish the Earth's atmosphere with oxygen. Experts think 17,500 species of trees, including some well known ones, are at risk. The Earth has about 60,000 species of trees and each fulfills a unique ecological niche. Some 142 species have already vanished, so conservation of the remaining species is important. As one might expect human agriculture and logging are the biggest threats to tree survival. Climate heating and rising sea levels also play a role. Some well known trees are on the edge of extinction among them are: 

• European Ash--is being killed off by a fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, and the emerald ash borer beetle, a native of Asia.   The hard, but flexible wood of this species once made English longbows, but a recent paper has said the tree will likely vanish from European woodlands, following the disappearance of the Elm.  Ash die-back known as Chalara, affects some 2m kms² of Europe.  It has the potential to kill 95% of England's ash trees. [photo: Getty Images]
  
• Giant Redwood--despite its impressive size the redwood is suffering from a restricted habitat in California and low regeneration rates.  The specimens located in protected areas may not be enough to save the species from extinction. Scientist currently list it as endangered.
• Star Magnolia--Popular with gardeners due to its large, white blossoms, this magnolia is on edge of extinction in the wild.  Only five populations are known to exist in its native Japan, and these are far apart making reproduction problematic.  Habitat loss (one was converted to a golf course) and seed collection are contributing to its demise.
• Brazil Nut--This tree's nuts are favored by animals and humans.  Once, Brazil nuts were only harvested from wild trees, but habitat loss to ranching make them more rare.  It is not know what impact human consumption has on the species' reproduction rate.  The agouti, which is responsible for spreading the tree's seeds in the forest, is exterminated as a pest and is now rare in the trees' southern range.
• Baobab--US Person's memory of encountering this tree with impressive girth in Africa is still vivid.  The oldest Baobabs on the continent are dying, but scientists do not consider it threatened with extinction. However, three of its Malagasy relatives are considered endangered (IUCN) species. This includes Grandidier’s baobab,;the much-photographed species found at Madagascar’s number one tourist attraction, the ‘avenue of the baobabs’. This tree is threatened by forest burning for subsistence farming and grazing of its seedlings.  International demand for baobab products is also having an effect. Madagascar has the most threatened tree species and has lost 90% of its original forest.
  

 Gerard T Donnelly, the president of the Morton Arboretum in Illinois, hopes policymakers will use the groundbreaking Kew study as a conservation tool: “This report makes clear that the world’s trees are in danger. It was developed through years of vigorous research and collaboration among the world’s leading tree conservation organisations and will guide further scientifically informed action to prevent tree extinctions.” Key to protecting trees threatened by extinction is to expand and create more natural areas and planting campaigns to replace endangered species.

COTW: Deadbeat States

Isn't it ironic--excuse US Person for using a descriptor that is dead--that some of the reddest states in the nation rely most on federal largesse. No one begrudges Louisiana receiving federal emergency aid despite the bashing its Repugnant delegation administers to the feds regularly, but look at Kentucky. This is not a state you would expect relies heavily on federal money. Perhaps this is what happens when you have a powerful Repugnant leader in the Senate as your senator Here is the chart from US Census Bureau data:

Part of the explanation about why souther states dominate the federal aid map is two prong. 1) when the South was solidly Democratic, Democratic congressmen who were leaders in Congress sent back federal dollars to their constituencies. The South also has higher poverty rates than other regions. Consequently, they receive more in federal welfare payments. These conditions are reflected in this table from The Atlantic, which shows the dollar return for each dollar of federal taxes paid by state residents. Once again Kentucky and Louisiana are near the top using this measure. As Business Insider put it, "As it turns out, it is red states that are overwhelmingly the Welfare Queen States. Yes, that's right. Red States—the ones governed by folks who think government is too big and spending needs to be cut—are a net drain on the economy, taking in more federal spending than they pay out in federal taxes." So the next time you hear a MAGA type ranting about 'damn 'Merica hating commie libs living off their sweat', show them the chart and ask them to LOOK:

Then ask them to get vaccinated before we have to pay for their hospitalization:

US COVID-19 DEATHS (est.): 890,000