COTW: Red Covid

This chart reveals the close correlation between ideology and COVID-19 vaccinations in the US.  Thanks to the previous occupant's demagoguery, what should be a matter of science and public health has become a divisive political issue:

US Person can only conclude that the MAGAs are willing to die for Der Leader.  Total US COVID-19 DEATHS: 101,000,000 (estimate based on CDC provisional statistics)

Florida Feeds Manatees

Normally feeding wild animals is out of bounds but Florida manatees, Trichechus manatus,  are starving to death due to man-made pollution, so wildlife officials have determined to begin feeding the marine mammals. They normally eat sea grasses and other marine plants. A pilot program at a Cape Canaveral power plant has the green light to begin this week. Manatees gather in the Indian Lagoon waters near the plant, warmed by power plant discharges. The officials plan to feed lettuce, cabbage and other greens delivered via a conveyor belt. The public has been warned not to undertake feeding the beloved mammals on their own, which is illegal.  

manatee swims in Stranahan River; AP

Manatees struggle to live successfully next to man. The slow-movving creatures are constantly struck by boats resulting in numerous fatalities every year. Pollution that prevents the growth of sea grasses and recent cold winters in Florida have also taken a significant toll. A record 1,017 have died as of November 17 according to the state. Their numbers have rebounded in recent years, but starvation threatens to reverse that trend. Saving the manatee is also saving the environment as toxic algae blooms that block sunlight also affect other sea creatures.  Artificial feeding is considered to be a temporary, emergency measure to save the mammals from a man-made problem.

COTW: Can You Spare a Trillion?

This pie says it all.How plutocrats like Joe Manchin have the gall to complain about a $2 trillion much need social infrastructure bill can only occurr in the Swamp were they give out kudos for hypocrisy.

credit: Our World in Data

This chart is from 2014, so the glaring imbalance is even worse now.  In 2014 the US spent $581 billion, more than the nine countries in the chart that include allies. The House just passed a $776 billion annual defense budget, $25 billion more than the administration asked.  

White Rhinos Arrive In Rawanda

Threatened by humans hunting for ivory, southern white rhinos, Ceratotherium simum, have come to Rwanda. A South African game park translocated by air thirty of the species to Akagera National Park to establish a new range state. White rhinos are near threatened by constant poaching so transporting them halfway across the continent to a region less plagued by poachers makes conservation sense. Such a long trip under sedation is very stressful for large animals.  There were long delays to the flight and a six hour truck ride to the park before being released to an enclosure for acclimatization.  Communities along the route greeted the rhinos and their rescuers with a positive welcome [photo credit: African Parks]

White rhinos have a population of about 18,000 spread over five southern African countries. Their close relatives, the northern white rhino C. s. cotton subspecies survives in only two individuals, a mother and daughter living under constant guard in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. The nineteen males and eleven females will reestablish a rhino population in Akagera after the park was nearly destroyed in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The African Parks organization helped reestablish the park.  It reports that not a single high-value animal has been poached in eleven years.  The park has become a refuge for many re-located animals including lions and black rhinos. Akagera has a variety of habitats and is very secure according to the park's manager, Ladis Ndahiriwe.  One of the conservationists involved in the transcontinental relocation project says the rhinos are doing well in the new (old) home, calmly moving together and foraging.  A dedicated team of rhino rangers will monitor their progress.  Community support is high and very important for these rhinos continued success in Akagera.  

Wolf Pack Poisoned in Oregon

The state police is seeking information from the public concerning a probable mass poisoning of the Catherine wolf pack in Eastern Oregon.  It has taken public officials almost one year to appeal to the public for information, which gives an indication of how committed the state is to wolf recovery in Oregon and the need for restoring federal protections under the Endangered Species Act.   A collared wolf was found by ODFW on February 9, 2021, who reported it to the Oregon State Police.  Troopers responded to the location and found five more dead wolves, all known members of the Catherine Wolf Pack.  A dead magpie was also found.  On March 11, 2021 ODFW personnel found a dead female wolf, a skunk, and a magpie.  The female was a member of the Keating pack. All of the deceased animals were located in Union County. [map above]

Samples were submitted to the USFWS forensic lab in Ashland, OR. In April 2021, the USFWS submitted their examination reports finding poisoning as the cause of death for all six wolves, the skunk, and two magpies. Lab results also confirmed the presence a poisonous substance.  Two more collared wolves in Union County were also found dead from poisoning in April, an adult male from the Five Points pack and a young female from the Clark Creek pack.  A necropsy on the female showed that her poisoning was related to the extermination of the Catherine pack. Obviously there are wolf haters at work in Eastern Oregon, which is plagued by a right-wing extremist movement. 

The state police have apparently exhausted their leads in the case after additional investigation. They ask that anyone with information contact them through their OSP tip line:1-800-452-7888.  A $26,000 cash reward posted by conservation groups may be available. What this tragic and inhumane slaughter shows is that the state's wolf management program, tilted toward livestock interests from its inception, is simply inadequate to protect wolves from humans with a culturally embedded grudge.  Re-listing the grey wolf is needed now before they are all killed, again. [Oregon wolf pups; credit: Oregon Wild]

'Toontime: This Week in Trump

credit: S. Nease

Latest: Late Friday, Clark informed the Committee he would not be appearing at his deposition due to a heath problem. The chairman postponed his appearance until December 16th. According to a record made by the Committee chief counsel at Clark's previous appearance where he walked out at midday, Clark would have been asked about White House involvement in drafting the letter to be sent to Georgia state officials requesting an investigation of fraud allegations. Apparently metadata associated with that draft indicates a source within the White House communications office. 

Update: John Eastman, author of the memo that erroneously concluded the VP has the power to intervene in an election vote count, announced he will also plead the Fifth in a letter to Select Committee Chair Benny Thompson.

Update: More significant developments took place in the J6 Insurrection investigation by the House Select Committee this week.  The Committee finally voted unanimously to hold former DOJ attorney Kenneth Clark in contempt of Congress for failing to comply completely with his October 13th subpoena for testimony and production of documents.  He held the Committee off for months with dilatory tactics.  He will nevertheless be given another opportunity this weekend to fully answer questions put to him.  Most tellingly is that his attorney wrote the chairman that his client intends to invoke the Fifth Amendment at the hearing.  Nothing to hide? Not much! Clark advocated involving the Department of Justice in delaying the certification of Electoral College votes, and drafted a letter to Georgia state officials asking that they investigate claims of fraudulent voting. It is a crime for an administrative official to attempt to influence the outcome of a federal election, 18 USC 595. Because of his intentionto invoke his privilege against self-incrimination, the House Rules Committee will hold a House floor vote to refer Clark to his former employer, DOJ, for criminal indictment in abeyance until after he testifies to the Select Committee this weekend.

Former Trump loyalist and chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has also played the delay game with the Committee.  He has "engaged" the Committee in negotiations through his attorneys without complying with his subpoena. At one point he claimed he could not comply because of Trump's misplaced attempt to invoke executive privilege.  His attorneys announced after Steve Bannon was indicted for contempt, that he will testify. Whether he will actually cooperate in the investigation remains to be seen.  It is apparent that the Committee would like to have an insider cooperate so as to expose to the fullest possible extent the plotting that occurred.  A complete picture would certainly expose the involvement of the former president in seditious conspiracy.  Any criminal accountability for Individual One would require an insider to testify against him.  Is Mark Meadows that man?  Certainly his position as White House chief of staff puts him in a position to provide the granular detail.  The leniency shown Meadows so far indicates he may be approachable. Two other former White House officials, Kash Patel and Dan Scavino have yet to comply with Committee subpoenas.  Nevertheless Herr Trumpillini's cover up appears to be unraveling.

The House investigation has definitely taken a more serious turn.  Even Committee co-chair Liz Cheney warned that any communications with the former chief executive will be under oath, and he will be held accountable for every false statement he makes, which is a serious problem for a sociopathic liar. Ms. Cheney also announced public hearings will take place early next year detailing "in vivid color" the events that culminated in the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6th. Cheney was stripped of her GOP party leadership role after she refused to stop criticizing the ex-president for spreading the false conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was rigged against him.

credit: J. Pett
Wackdoodle axes: Can I sell you a used copy of Mein Kampf?

Portugal Creates Largest Atlantic Sanctuary

The regional government of Portugal's Madeira Islands in the North Atlantic expanded a marine reserve around the Selvagens Islands [map] between the Madeira and Canary Islands. The reserve covers 1035 square miles protecting all species from extraction.  Conservation organizations, including National Geographic, who did the research backing the designation say the region in a vital passageway for migrating fish and mammals while the islands' coastal areas provide critical nursery habitat. Only eight percent of the ocean is currently protected. Portugal's new sanctuary is the largest in the North Atlantic. The regional government president issued a statement in which he expressed hope that the designation would inspire others to "take similar measures to preserve our oceans." Green Kudos!to Madeira. 

In other ocean related news closer to home, a Canadian company has given up on a liquified natural gas terminal to be located at Coos Bay, Oregon after failing to receive  necessary state permits.  The project was opposed by locals for nearly two decades.  In 2019 protestors invaded the governor's office until they were hauled away by state police.  FERC and the city counsel of Coos Bay approved the project, but the state's Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Lands refused to grant necessary permits to Pembina Pipeline Corp. of Calgary, Alberta.  Federal authorities agreed with the state permitting agencies this year noting Oregon had not waived its certification authority under the Clean Water Act and Coastal Zone Management Act.

NOAA asked that mariners voluntarily slow down in a zone south of Long Island after endangered North Atlantic right whales were detected in the area by acoustic sensors on November 20th.  Only 350 of the whales remain in the wild.  NOAA told mariners to refrain from crossing the area or slow down to protect the whales from entanglement and collisions.

The waters near Huntington Beach, CA opened to fishing on Tuesday after a burst pipeline spewed thousands of gallons of crude oil into the ocean in early October.  The fishing and beach closures covered 650 square miles of coastal waters and 65 miles of coastline.  The closures affected economic activity in the popular seafront community. Fish in spill areas can ingest crude, making them toxic to humans who eat them. Fortunately the spill was smaller than initially feared, and much of the contamination was broken up at sea, sparring sensitive wetlands on shore.  Amplify Energy, owner of the distribution pipeline, has been sued for damages.  Investigation of the cause of the leak is underway, but the US Coast Guard has said it was likely caused by a ship's anchor.