COTW: Bomber- in-Chief

credit: Iraqibodycount.org

Civilian casualties in Iraq have spiked sharply after Trump, the bomber in chief ordered more aggressive air strikes in Mosul to aid the Iraqi forces retaking the city.  According to the New York Times, 200 civilians were killed in the recent round of airstrikes.  In one bombed building alone, 100 civilians perished on March 17th.  The Air Force Times reports over 2000 bombs have been dropped on the city by imperial forces in the past month.  Irony is lost on the civilian victims, of course, but it is worth noting here that the US severely criticized Russia for its aggressive use of air power in Syria's civil war which caused hundreds of civilian casualties, but contributed to the retaking of Aleppo from the rebels.

Trump Promotes Fossil Fuel Burning

In the face of the obvious effect fossil fuel burning is having on the global climate, President Trump signed an executive order rescinding Obama's Clean Power Plan that was intended to bring the United States into compliance with the goals set in Paris for reducing carbon emissions. During his campaign he vowed to take 'Merica out of the Paris climate treaty.  Repeating the false and misleading corporatist claim that carbon regulations "kill jobs" he signed the executive order before a group of white male coal miners.  The Clean Power Plan is unpopular with companies who rely on fossil fuel and Republican states who have challenged the regulations in court.  The conservative Supreme Court has enjoined portions of the regulatory scheme while lower courts decide the cases brought to them.

During the signing ceremony Trump said the previous administration "devalued workers".  In 2015 Trump called climate change a "hoax". It is a fact that more US workers are now employed in alternative energy production than fossil fuel production.  Environmentalists who worked diligently to achieve the Paris climate treaty are enraged and vow legal action of their own.  But that tactic plays into the hands of the climate deniers, whose only goal is to delay all regulations intended to replace fossil fuels for as long as they can.  The man's bombast boggles the rational mind.  US Person understands that politicians prevaricate for a living, but the Trumpster has set new standards of deceit in just his first three months in office.

Ring Tailed Lemur Now on Edge of Extinction

The iconic ring-tailed lemur (Lemur cattus) perhaps the most well-known member of a large genus inhabiting the island nation of Madagascar is living on the edge of extinction in the wild according to a new study of the animal's population.  According to the study published in Primate Conservation, only 2,000 to 2,400 ring-tails now remain in the wild.  The study confirms the catastrophic decline in their numbers observed by other scientists and due mainly to loss of forest habitat and the bush meat trade.  The population crash maybe as high as 95% since 2000.  Fragmentation of their forest homes are isolating small groups which prevents out breeding and contributes to the decline in genetic health of the species. Ring-tails are highly social primates living in female dominated groups averaging 17 members.

This situation is especially alarming since ring-tails are the most adaptable of lemur species.  More specialized lemurs such as the indri and safakas will find it increasingly difficult to survive in what remains of natural Madagascar.  Over 90% of the island natural tree cover is gone, and what hangs on is degraded and fragmented.  Humans have occupied the island since at least the first century CE.  Madagascar separated from mainland Africa millennia ago, so many of its wild creatures are endemic including the 106 species of lemur, 17 of which have gone extinct since the arrival of humans.  The human population of the island is thought to be in excess of 25 million, 85% of which live in poverty and are dependent on subsistence farming.  More and more land is being cleared to support a human population level that is increasingly unsustainable.   The lemur's future on the planet is in the hands of island's human inhabitants.  Fortunately, lemurs do relatively well in captivity, reproduce regularly, and can live to thirty years of age compared to twenty years for wild lemurs.

'Toontime: Explaining President "Twit"

credit: Kevin Siers, Charlotte Observer

Wackydoodle sez: When 'Mericans elected him, they all didn't mean it!

A siren should go off at the Trump Mansion (formerly 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW) when Trump says something he really, really means so 'Mericans can know the difference between his throwaway agitprop and his policy pronouncements.  After four years of this, not even the white supremecists that voted for him will believe anything the White House says.  In the biggest test of his credibility so far, his colleagues in the Congress failed to muster enough votes to repeal Obamacare, a major tenant of their so-called policy reforms.  The fact is that conservative hard-liners (the House Freedom Caucus) refused to support any kind of legislation that involved federal intervention into the dysfunctional profit market for health insurance.  Obamacare with all of its faults will be with us for "the foreseeable future" thanks to deal-maker in chief's failure to make a deal.

COTW: Historic Spending for EPA

While the Trump administration intends to ramp up defense spending, it also intends to slash spending for environmental protection, revealing once again is corporatist agenda for 'Merica.  This chart shows that EPA's budget as a percentage of total federal spending has been relatively flat since the halcyon days of the late seventies under President Jimmy Carter.

The following pie chart shows the relative amounts of discretionary federal spending in 2012.  Note the lion's share going to defense (57%) compared to the slender blue wedge spent on natural resources and the environment:

Added testament to the Trump government's motto of profits before the planet is his decision to resurrect the environmentally disastrous Keystone XL Pipeline that the previous administration decided to cancel. The pipeline would carry 800,000 barrels a day of climate wrecking tar sands crude from Alberta to US refineries. Insult to injury is his threat to take the United States out of the landmark Paris climate agreement.

Amazon Tree Frog Glows in Dark

Scientists have located the first known fluorescent frog in the Amazon.  Poka-dot tree frogs are an unremarkable brown-green with reddish spots in daylight, but glow a bright blue-green under ultraviolet light. [photo credit: New Scientist]  Researchers at the Natural Science Museum in Buenos Aires discovered the fluorescence while studying the frog's pigmentation. Their discovery is reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,  10.1073/pnas.1701053114,  Fluorescence increases the frog's visibility at dusk by 30% and is thought to play a role in communication since the fluorescent compounds in the frog's skin emit light frequencies the frogs can detect visually.  This particular characteristic is known in other species  (corals, scorpions and parrots), but no one has thought to look for it before in the world's 5000 frog species.  It's unlikely that the poka-dot is the only one that shines.

Creature Feature: Buffalo Return to Wind River

Watch this sensitive video about the return of buffalo to the Shoshone Wind River Reservation after 131 year absence. Each buffalo returned to rightful place in Nature is a victory for all of us.