TWIT: S.E.A.L Team 6

Even moronic MAGA types can appreciate the absurdity of the answer to a hypothetical posed by Judge Pan of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Arguing for absolute immunity, Trump's appellate counsel answered in the affirmative the hypothetical: would the President be immune from criminal prosecution if he ordered S.E.A.L Team Six to assassinate his political rival? Clearly absolute criminal immunity cannot be part of our constitutional government. If it were so, "L'etat, c'est moi" would be the motto, not "equality before the law" emblazoned on the Supreme Court's pediment. Rightfully so, all three judges on the panel expressed their skepticism of his argument for immunity from criminal prosecution.  Judge Henderson, appointed to the bench by H.W. Bush, said she found his claim of immunity "paradoxical" to his constitutional oath to faithfully enforce the nation's laws. 

Trump's argument twists the meaning of the impeachment clause*, intended to limit Congress' ability to punish a president to removal from office, not turn the partisan legislative body into a high court of law in violation of the principle of separation of powers contained in Article III and elsewhere. The only reason Trump was not convicted the second time in the Senate was because not enough partisan Repugnants voted with Democrats to convict. A majority of senators thought he was guilty.  Even Senator McConnell thinks a president can be prosecuted for criminal behavior in office without a pre-condition of a Senate conviction.

credit: KAL, The Economist
Wackydoodle sez:  He's a victim too!

*Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

South Korea Bans Dog Meat

Considered a delicacy by older Koreans, legislators outlawed the sale and slaughter of dog meat for human consumption. It was once common after the Korean War when the country was destitute and other meat protein scarce. It was used in a well-known soup dish called "bosintang", literally "soup good for your body". Young people consider the consumption of dog to be appaling. 93% of Koreans say they have no intention of consuming dogs in the future in response to a survey by an animal rights group. President Yoon Suk Yeol and his first lady are pet owners and campaigned for the law's passage.

Under the new law passed by the National Assembly, a person convicted of butchering a dog for consumption would face three years in prison or a $23,000 fine. A person breeding dogs for consumption would be punishable by two years incarceration or a $15,000 fine. The law also offers incentives to farmers and restaurant owners to change jobs. Currently about 520,000 dogs are being raised for consumption in 1600 restaurants nationwide. Millions of dogs are killed each year for consumption in Southeast Asia.

2023: Hotest

NASA tells US that 2023 was the hottest on record since records began in 1880. Meteorological summer in the Northern Hemisphere is June to August and the period was 0.41 degrees warmer than any previous recorded summer and 1.2 C warmer than the average for the period 1951 to 1980.  Exceptional heat swept across much of the world causing extensive wildifires in Canada's boreal forest, heat waves in Europe, South America, Africa and the US, and severe rainfall in Italy, Central Europe and Greece.

The record setting summer continues a long-term warming trend in the data. Both NASA and NOAA have shown that this trend is caused by human greenhouse gas emissions.  The natural phenomenon of El Niño also contributed to the record breaking heat. Scientists expect the biggest El Niño effects to occur in February, March and April of this year. A scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center  responsible for compiling the data said that, "it will get worse if we continue to emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into our atmosphere.”

Norway Votes for Seabed Mining

Norway's parliament voted to allow seabed mining in a 108,000 square mile area of its Atlantic continental shelf and the Svalbard archipelago.  Only a small portion of area falls within the country's exclusive economic zone. [see chart, credit Mongabay.com] The country applied for permission to access the extended continental shelf with the UN in 2009.  The legislative action was expected despite public protests and scientists' warnings of environmental damage to the contrary,  The next step appears to be the sale of licenses by the Norwegian Offshore Directorate, the agency responsible for offshore oil regulation. Norway intends to mine for valuable minerals that play a prominent role in 'green' alternative energy transition.

The government assured that deep sea mining will only go forward if it can be done in a,“sustainable way and with acceptable consequences.”  Mining in the open ocean, beyond national jurisdiction has attracted a lot of attention from companies willing to exploit seabed resources.  Of particular interest is the Clarion-Clipperton Zone where there are nodules dotting the sea floor containing manganese, nickel,  and copper. Critics think that mining will inevitably release toxic heavy metals and noise into the sensitive marine environment.

Exploitation of these resources could endanger biodiversity say conservationists, especially since there is very little scientific data about the deep seabed and the creatures that live there. According to the Institute for Marine Research there is a lack of information for 99% of the proposed mining zone. [see chart]. Nevertheless, Norway could be the first nation to issue a mining license for the sea floor.

Beavers Moving North

In response to a rapidly warming Arctic region, Nature's engineers--beavers--are moving north into previously unoccupied regions of Canada and Alaska.  Previously, beavers made sporadic inroads into the north, but not the migration is on a large scale.  In Alaska alone, the number of beaver ponds in the tundra has doubled in the last twenty years, now numbering about 12,000. [see photo below, credit U. Alaska] More lodges are found dotted along river banks and lakeshores. Computer modeling shows that by 2100 the entire north slope will be colonized by beavers.

The tundra was once too sparse to be good habitat for Castor canadensis but warming temperatures has caused shrub expansion, which provides food and building materials for the industrious rodents.  Running water also extends into shorter winters for longer periods.  The downside of pond creatioin is that it creates more warming with the potential of melting permafrost, releasing methane gases stored underground.  In the Noatak River basin, scientists have found a clear evidentiary link between beaver ponds and methane hotspots using aerial infrared imaging.

Canada's beaver populations have been increasing in the far north, but not as fast as in Alaska.  Surveys conducted with the cooperation of Gwich'in people indicate a doubling in numbers since the 1960s.  Dam building has positive bio-feedback effects too.  Many other species are attracted to wetlands created by beavers forming an oasis of biodiversity.  Residents of Devon, England have been pleasantly surprised by the ability of relocated beavers to keep a wetland green during severe drought that has parched surrounding fields.  

Some human residents are concerned by local flooding that can block routes.  Whether beavers should be again controlled by human predation is a question open to debate as their numbers continue to increase. Researchers, conservationists and natives will gather in February at the annual meeting of the Arctic Beaver Observation Network in Fairbanks to discuss the issues.

TWIT: Article Four, Section Four

More: The Supremes have granted Trumpilini certiorari to hear the Colorado case banning him from that state's primary ballot. Oral arguments are scheduled for February.

In a previous post, TWIT: Fifth Avenue, US Person posed a question of fundamental political importance: Can the people elect a neo-fascist dictator President of the United States under its Constitution?  The question is not just idle speculation; the Trumpians have posed an argument in their defense of Der Leader in the affirmative.  US Person wishes to say: NOT!  

Careful readers should refer to Article IV, Section 4 of their Constitution of the United States, sort of our "little red book" if you will. There you will find the following language; "The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a Republican Form of Government [emphasis added]. As a thought experiment only, let us say Trumpillini wins a close Electoral College victory in 2024.  That means he may not even have won the popular vote count, a situation that has happened too often in US history (5 times).  There would be states of the Union won by his democratic opponent, Joe Biden.  

Upon his oath of office--"day one"--Don 'Legit' begins firing thousand of civil servants deemed disloyal, replacing them with hand-picked minions; imposes personal loyalty oaths for Executive offices; disbands the FBI; pardons convicted insurrectionists; declares martial law; sends US troops to the southern boarder to enforce immigration laws; and rules by administrative fiat which defies Congress, among other actions he promises to take.  He has already given aid and comfort to insurrectionists as part of his autogolpe against the constitutional transfer of power.  Hardly a republican form of government!  This situation is exactly why the Founders put that little used section into the Constitution--to prevent the rise of autocracy, which in their day was embodied by the British monarchy.  Today, it is embodied by an unscurpulous and manipulative demagogue whose favorite read is apparently Mein Kampf.

Those states voting for the democratic opponent would be deprived of republican government guaranteed them by the charter.  QED, the people cannot validly elect a dictatorship regardless of what the MAGAists claim in their increasingly desperate attempts to rescue Don Legit from long-awaited accountability for his crimes.  Hopefully the Supreme Court "originalists" will take their legal philosophy seriously, and pay attention to all the literal language and historical context of the Constitution.

credit: B. van Leeuwen
Mein Gott, vut Genius! 

Hawaii Hit Hard by Extinctions

Hawaii has lost eight forest bird species according to the US Fish & Wildlife Service, which removed 21 species from the endangered list in 2023 due to absence in the wild. The removal was finalized in November after two years of consideration by specialists.  The loss is tragic, but more importantly represents a moral failure by Nature's custodian, Homo sapiens.  Global warming has shifted weather patterns and reshaped sensitive island ecosystems A biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity told the UK Guardian that the extinction crisis,“is completely overwhelming to the capacity of the human mind to actually know and understand”. [graphic: two of the extinct Hawaiian species, kākāwahie and the Maui nukupuʻu]

Avian malaria is also becoming a severe problem as mosquitos, probably introduced in the early19th century, are breeding prolifically. Because of higher temperatures, the insects are moving to higher elevations leaving forest birds with no room to escape infestation. To combat the disease a coalition of environmental groups are releasing mosquitos with a strain of bacterium that hinders reproduction. Wildfires also present a threat to declining bird populations.  The Lahina wildfire came within 150 feet of a reserve for endangered birds, including the most endangered bird in the United States, the‘akikiki before conservationists put out the fire.

Among the birds gone forever is thep Kauaʻiʻōʻō. a black and yellow bird with a haunting, melodic song. Perhaps the last Kaua'i'ō'ō was recorded ibn 1984 by biologist Jim Jacobi who attracted a male by playing a recording of the bird's flute-like song. Jacobi speculated that he was drawn by the song of another of his species he had not heard in a long time. He was singing for a mate he would never find.  Listen to a lost voice of the forest.