Alec Baldwin Charged in New Mexico

Readers are no doubt aware of the shooting on the movie set of "Rust".  It was not film shooting that killed  cinematographer Halyna Hutchinson and wounded assistant director Joel Souza, but a live round from a .45 single-action revolver.  The shot was fired by actor Alec Baldwin who was pointing the gun in the direction of his colleagues when it went off.  Baldwin has claimed he pulled back the revolver's hammer, but never pulled the trigger while rehearsing with it.  That claim was undermined by an FBI forensic examination of the weapon, which concluded the gun could not have fired without the trigger being pulled. Industry standards suggest a replica should have been used while working on camera angles.  [photo credit: Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office]

Baldwin and the film's armourer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, were charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, today.  One count is the common law felony of involuntary manslaughter, which requires a showing of negligence beyond a reasonable doubt.  Baldwin has maintained that he relied on the expertise of others to determine if the prop was safe to handle. Nevertheless, he was involved in an ultra-hazardous activity at the time of the killing that a jury could decide required him to exercise a greater degree of care, such as checking each cylinder to determine if the rounds were blanks or dummies.  Baldwin has handled weapons and ammunition before in his movie career. (See e.g., Hunt for Red October). Prosecutors say he skipped a mandatory on-set safety meeting.  Baldwin was also the co-producer of the Western, and there were several gun safety failures on the set according to prosecutors.  State workplace safety regulators fined the production for several such failures not fully addressed by the movie's production managers.  The year-long investigation found some 500 rounds on location that included dummies, blanks, and live rounds. One of those live rounds found its way into the pistol handled by Baldwin--how it got there is not material to proving the crime since Baldwin did not load the revolver himself.

The other theory presented by the district attorney is the statutory crime of "reckless disregard for safety without due caution or circumspection".  Because the legal term used is "reckless", the crime requires a slightly higher standard of wrongdoing.  It also cares a mandatory five year sentence enhancement provision, when the crime involves a firearm.  If convicted of common law manslaughter, he faces up to 18 months imprisonment and a $5,000 fine.

Baldwin has settled with Hutchinson's family for her wrongful death.  Her former husband is now a co-producer of the film.  Whether it will be completed should be open to question now. Whichever theory the jury decides to follow in the criminal case, the preventable death of Hutchinson emphasizes the need for rigorous safety protocols when using firearms on a movie set.  With the widespread availability of computerized graphics, use of ammunition of any kind to make movies seems obsolete as well as potentially deadly. 

Biden Administration Restores Tongass NF Protections

Trump stripped the Tongass National Forest of protections from clear cutting and road building.  Tongass is the largest remaining temperate rainforest in the world and key to maintain biodiversity in an era of climate warming, said the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, who is rolling back the Trump rules.  Land transfers have accounted for 43% of forest lost between 2015 and 2020.  In early 2001 the Clinton administration added most of the forest to its Roadless Initiative, since then the Tongass has become a political football, with successive administrations attempting to dismantle and restore protections.  The economy in southeastern Alaska have moved on from timber harvesting to more sustainable industries like fishing and recreation.

clear cutting in Tongass NF; credit AP

The Tongass has become increasingly important as a carbon sink.  About 20% of the carbon sequestered by the National Forest System comes from the Tongass in Alaska, making it the biggest.  That amounts to about one and a half times the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted by the Unites States in 2018.  To prevent private transfers endangering the forest, legislation is needed insuring its protected status.  Last August the House passed the Roadless Area Conservation Act, but the legislation has not received a vote in a Senate gridlocked by the filibuster rule.

Educate AOC? She Already Knows the Facts

Repugnant Duncan from South Carolina told AOC to educate herself about natural gas in a recent committee hearing addressing her amendment to a bill to lease more land to the fossil fuel industry.  He should read this before telling colleagues to "educate" themselves about the industry.  The Intercept posted a recent article about the propaganda strategy used by oil and gas companies to great success.  Congress subpoenaed documents in November 2021 from four of the world's largest oil companies and their US trade association.  These included internal communications about their communications and media relations.  They show an industry dedicated to preserving their social license, subsidies, and political power.  In football terms, it amounts to calling the same play because it gains ground.

The strategy began using early market research  to identify natural gas as a "bridge fuel" or "clean alternative fuel" that would allow the nation to switch from more polluting sources such as coal.  Duncan's rhetoric against AOC reflects the success of this propaganda program.  Identifying methane as a solution to global warming is slightly preposterous, since it its eighty times more potent than CO₂. Other so-called "low-carbon" approaches intended to prolonged the life of fossil fuel combustion include carbon capture and storage.  Despite claims that the industry is not subsidized, internal communications from Shell show one executive saying that joining a carbon capture project with Exxon-Mobil is entirely dependent on the government doubling the carbon capture tax credit.  Instead of discussing taxing carbon emissions, the industry and government is discussing how large to make the subsidy for storing carbon.  The Shell executive writes that, "if government funding and regulation do not happen, Exxon's management team will not move forward."  Subsidies? Not so much.  Carbon capture is not a solution either, it is a pernicious enabler, just like Mr. Duncan.   To reduce carbon emissions they must have a negative incentive--like a tax.

If you cannot reach a goal, move the goal posts.  That is exactly what Chevron did in 2020.  It skipped pass the 1.5C rise in global temperature supposedly agreed to in Paris.  It turns out that the industry never really accepted that goal as valid.  As early as 2017 BP was pushing a 2℃ rise.  In a document put out by the industry's climate collaboration project, Chevron suggested that changing the goal "net zero emissions" to a more realistic "reduced emissions".  None of the five major oil producers invest more than 5% of their capital in finding alternative energy solutions.  

Shell has apparently done the most to transition to clean energy, but it is still concerned about maintaining its "societal license" to operate.  In a 2019 plan to protect its reputation, the company noted that the industry suffers from low credibility and trust with the public concerned about climate change. One of its goals said the company is to,“secure partnerships with credible external influencers and commercial entities that support and strengthen societal license to operate and grow at country and asset level.”  Translation: keep politicians like Mr. Duncan on their side.  Another of the targets of this propaganda campaign is college campuses. The industry has extensive ties with major universities in the form of research grants. According to one study, research centers funded by fossil fuel companies show a bias in favor of natural gas compared to research centers not funded by fossil fuel companies. BP’s former vice president and head of regulatory advocacy and policy, wrote: “These relationships (along with those we have with Harvard, Tufts and Columbia) are key parts of our long-term relationship-building and outreach to policy makers and influencers in the U.S. and globally."

Oil and Gas companies are not shy about confronting media they do not like.  Mobil's combative former VP Herb Schmertz once cut off the Wall Street Journal from any information from his company.   The House Oversight Committee which subpoenaed the documents referred to here did not have the time or resources to complete its investigation. Now that the industry's handmaidens are in control of the House, it is very unlikely that it will be completed says Ro Khanna (D CA), who previously chaired the committee.  So Mr. Duncan, perhaps you should be the one to do his homework, and get the facts straight.

COTW: Cop Beat

LOOK at this chart! It shows the comparative rate in wealthy nations of people killed by police per 10 million population. What is wrong with this chart is sickeningly obvious, US police kill more people than anywhere else in the developed world. You might say, well it is because of racism. The UK has racism too, but its citizens are sixty times less likely to be killed by their police.

The United States has to come to grips with basic facts: violent police action is an accepted form of social control.  The nation has an ingrained history of white supremacy in which non-whites are marginalized, and subjected to brutality. Our popular culture is immersed in the depiction of lethal violence as harmless entertainment. Hell, even our most popular sport is an analog for war.  The pervasive availability of firearms, especially military grade weapons, contributes to more lethal interactions with police who see themselves as unaccountable for their excessive use of force.  In Finland, the police fired just six bullets in all of 2013!  Cops in Pasco, Washington fired 17 bullets in one 2015 incident killing a Mexican orchard worker.

The quick decision to file charges against five Memphis policemen (all black) for the second degree murder of motorist Tyree Nichols during a traffic stop is surprising and unusual.   Tyree was literally beaten to death on camera.  Ask yourself this: would the charges have been so rapidly filed if the officers were white?  Hiring more black and brown officers who have internalized the oppressive police culture will not change the behavior.  Individual accountability is needed, but it is not the entire answer to police violence.  A fundamental change in the model of insuring public safety is what is needed in the United States. It is time to start over.  Defund the paramilitaries!

TWIT: The Ethics of Insurrection

It took two years, but the most important person in the coup conspiracy, next to the Ochre Menace himself, law professor John Eastman, is finally facing disciplinary action from his state bar association.  He was the author of the infamous "Coup memorandum" in which he outlined the strategy of using flaws in the constitutional order to overturn the 2020  election results  to keep his leader in power.  The California Bar Association announced the filing of eleven disciplinary counts against him that if sustained by clear and convincing evidence before the state bar court will lead to his disbarment as a member of the legal profession.  Trial Counsel George Cardona said in his filing, "There is nothing more sacrosanct than the free and peaceful transfer of power.  For California attorneys, adherence to the California and United States Constitutions is their highest legal duty."  Of the eleven charges one is failure to support the laws and Constitution of the United States, six counts of seeking to mislead a court, six counts of moral turpitude by misrepresentation and six counts of moral turpitude in violation of California's Business and Professions Code Section 6106.

Eastman, as readers will recall, wrote two memos invoking the Electoral Count Act as a means to allow the Vice President reject slates of electors from states in which Trump supporters claimed there was material vote fraud.  Those claims were proved false.  Some sixty-two state court cases and the US Department of Justice determined these claims had no basis in fact.  Eastman ignored those facts when he urged armed supporters to march on the Capitol where the counting was taking place on January 6th. He told the crowd gathered on the Elipse that “dead people had voted” in the presidential election, that Dominion voting machines had fraudulently manipulated the election results, and that Vice President Pence did not deserve to be in office if he did not delay the counting of electoral votes. These statements contributed to provoking the mob that participated in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol after the rally.  Georgia state election officials later determined that just four votes had been cast in the name of deceased persons, who may have been alive when the ballots were cast, not the 5,000 claimed by Individual One.

Defendants that are members of the "Proud Boys" militia said they will subpoena Donald J. Trump to testify at their trial taking place in Washington, DC.  If convicted of seditious conspiracy, they face up to twenty years in prison. Reality may be sinking in at last, thanks in large part to the historic record created by the House Select Committee on January 6th.

credit: P. Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune

Wackydoodle sez:  He wins golf tournaments without being there too!

TWIT: Frivolity Costs

More:  After being sanctioned in Florida federal court for bringing abusive law suits (see below), Trump dropped his appeal of the dismissal of his suit against New York Attorney General for investigating him and his company for financial fraud.  Letitia Jame's case against Trump is pending in New York state court where she is asking that Trump be fined $250 million and be permanently banned from doing business in the state.  Jame's cleverly dubbed Trump's deliberate inflation of his assets for the purposes of receiving millions in bank loans, "the art of the steal" after Trump's popular ghost-written book, "Art of the Deal".

{21/01/2023} The US judicial system is finally recognizing the fact that the Orange Menace is a serial abuser of  legal process.  A federal district court judge imposed nearly $1 million in sanctions on Trump and his lead lawyer Alina Habba for bringing a frivolous lawsuit against Hilary Clinton.  Allegedly, without substantial basis the suit accused Clinton and the Democratic National Committee of engaging in a conspiracy to "weave a false narrative" that he and his campaign were colluding with Russia.  The civil RICO suit sought $70 million dollars in damages.

Judge John Middlebrook of the Southern District of Florida dismissed the suit with prejudice in September of last year.  The sanctions were imposed Thursday.  He wrote in the first paragraph of his order:

This case should never have been brought. Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start. No reasonable lawyer would have filed it. Intended for a political purpose, none of the counts of the amended complaint stated a cognizable legal claim.

Thirty-one individuals and entities were needlessly harmed in order to dishonestly advance a political narrative. A continuing pattern of misuse of the courts by Mr. Trump and his lawyers undermines the rule of law, portrays judges as partisans, and diverts resources from those who have suffered actual legal harm.

US Person could not have said it better himself.  Beginning on page 21 of his order on sanctions, Judge Middlebrook discusses Trumpilini's previous pattern of abuse of process.  The question is, why did it take so long for his sociopathic behavior to be recognized by the bench and bar?  Ever since Trump tutored at the knee of Roy Cohen, he has used legal process as a weapon against his enemies. Habba appears to be filling the role previously performed by Cohen, and lately Rudy Guiliani and Sidney Powell.  She has aggressively defended Trump in litigation, including the Mar-a-Lago Papers case, and has appeared on television in his behalf.  If she thinks the publicity will do her Bedminister practice good, US Person thinks she is mistaken.  According to the Daily Beast, "she is the one Trump lawyer the rest of the Trump legal team loathes."   Meanwhile™:

credit: Ramirez
Wackydoodle sez:  He's got a special on cool folders!

Federal Regulators Just Say No to Diablo Canyon

In a long-running battle, federal regulators told the operators of California's last nuclear power plant, Diablo Canyon, that it would not extend the operating life of the reactor beyond its shutdown date of 2025.  This decision was made despite Governor Newsom's position that the plant should keep running to insure blackouts are avoided in the state's transition to renewable power.  The current operating licenses for the two reactors expired in 2024 and 2025

Newsom and the legislature voided in September an agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric in 2016 to close the plant, allowing the company to seek renewals of its federal licenses.  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission rejected the idea of going back to the original renewal application, saying do so would violate principles of good regulation and transparency. The agency said new information is needed to assess the current condition of the facility, which has been heavily criticized for its location over a fault zone at the edge of the ocean. PGE has said it is planning a new application for an extension of two decades.  PGE has warned that license renewal will require "new maintenance activities" and modifications of unknown cost.  Crtics depict the re-start plan as a huge financial giveaway to the giant utility company.

Newsom's decision to support extension of the plant's operating life shocked environmentalists especially since he had been at the forefront of efforts to close the plant.  Diablo Canyon produces only 9% of California's electricity.