China unveiled a new version PL-15 the most powerful air-to-air missile ...

Powell, Lagarde, Kuroda, Bailey Seek to Allay Inflation Concerns

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Rise by 11k to 362,000

"Skin-In-The-Game": When Glaring Conflicts-of-Interest Are So Obvious It's Time To Step Aside

It's about time that someone - anyone - asked. It's never too soon, but why so late at this breaking-point in time for approval of a Climate Action Plan that hinges on one vote?

Let's get right to Nitty Gritty: It’s not illegal for Senator Manchin to own millions of dollars of coal stock – indeed, it illustrates the old saw that the real scandal in Washington is what’s legal – but it certainly raises questions about his impartiality on climate policy.

> Should any lawmaker with such a sizable financial conflict of interest wield decisive influence over what the US government does about a life-and-death issue like the climate emergency? Shouldn’t there be public discussion about whether that lawmaker should recuse himself from such deliberations

 

The story: "Joe Manchin has never been this famous. People around the world now know that the West Virginia Democrat is the essential 50th vote in the US Senate that president Joe Biden needs to pass his agenda into law. That includes Biden’s climate agenda. Which doesn’t bode well for defusing the climate emergency, given Manchin’s longstanding opposition to ambitious climate action.

It turns out that the Senator wielding this awesome power – America’s climate decider-in-chief, one might call him – has a massive climate conflict of interest. Joe Manchin, investigative journalism has revealed, is a modern-day coal baron.

The pivotal Democratic senator owns millions of dollars in coal stocks. Shouldn’t he recuse himself from US climate talks?

Joe Manchin, America’s climate decider-in-chief, is a coal baron

Mark Hertsgaard

Joe Manchin (left) poses with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh in August, during a tour of a coal mine in Dallas, West Virginia. Photograph: AP

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About this content

Thu 30 Sep 2021 06.00 EDT

Last modified on Thu 30 Sep 2021 06.02 EDT

". . .Financial records detailed by reporter Alex Kotch for the Center for Media and Democracy and published in the Guardian show that Manchin makes roughly half a million dollars a year in dividends from millions of dollars of coal company stock he owns.

> The stock is held in Enersystems, Inc, a company Manchin started in 1988 and later gave to his son, Joseph, to run.

> Scientists estimate that 90% of today’s coal reserves must be left in the ground.

> No new coal-fired power plants should be built.

> Existing plants should quickly shift to solar and wind, augmented by reducing electricity demand with better energy efficiency in buildings and machinery (which also saves money and produces more jobs).

> This is not a vision that gladdens a coal baron’s heart. The idea of eliminating fossil fuels is “very, very disturbing”, Manchin said in July when specifics of Biden’s climate agenda surfaced. > Behind the scenes, Manchin reportedly has objected to Biden’s plan to penalize electric utilities that don’t quit coal as fast as science dictates.

> . . .Apparently keen to delay a vote on the bill – but not on the bipartisan infrastructure bill containing billions in subsidies for climate harming programs like making hydrogen from methane – Manchin asked on CNN, “What is the urgency?” of passing the larger bill. Like ExxonMobil, the senator appears to have jettisoned outright climate denial in favor of its more presentable, but no less lethal, cousin: climate delay. . .

 

In the realm of law, a judge who had anything like this level of financial conflict in a case would have to recuse and let a different judge handle the proceedings.

The legal profession’s code of ethics dictates this approach not only because a judge’s financial interest would tempt them to rule in their own favor. It’s also because the two parties litigating the case and the broader public could not have faith that justice had been done by a judge with such a conflict.

Why shouldn’t a similar standard apply to the American public’s faith in government policy, especially when what’s at stake is, you know, the future of life on earth?

(Manchin could still vote for the budget bill; he just couldn’t touch its climate provisions.)

Joe Manchin is surrounded by a gaggle of reporters whenever he steps outside his Senate office, and he frequently appears on the agenda-setting Sunday morning TV shows. With votes on the budget bill fast approaching and the Glasgow summit starting 31 October, it’s high time that journalists press America’s climate decider-in-chief about his glaring conflict of interest – and why he shouldn’t step aside from US climate deliberations."

This story is published as part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of news outlets strengthening coverage of the climate story. Mark Hertsgaard is Covering Climate Now’s executive director

SPECIAL FEATURE TODAY: Back Home On The Arizona Fringe

You might just enjoy it all: https://blogforarizona.net/ 

Latest Posts

2909, 2021

• 

What is Paul Gosar Smoking or Drinking or Inhaling This Week

2021-09-29T19:54:42-07:00By David Gordon|

Following Arizona politics, it is sometimes hard to keep up with the wild, preposterous, and downright crazy statements and acts of some of the Grand Canyon states most "colorful" fringe

2909, 2021

• 

Corporate Democrats Should Not Be Rewarded For Their Bad Faith Obstruction

2021-09-29T15:17:13-07:00By AZ BlueMeanie|

Permanent musical accompaniment, A Matter of Trust, by Billy Joel (1986). Amanda Marcotte is exactly right: Centrist Dems broke a promise on infrastructure. They should not get their "bipartisan" victory

2909, 2021

• 

Sinema Sells out to Big Pharma as Retirees are Abandoned to Pay High Prescription Prices

2021-09-29T12:35:51-07:00By Clyde Steele|

This past week Senator Sinema threatened to derail President Biden's legislative agenda for lowering prescription drug prices meanwhile taking more than $750,000 in donations from the pharmaceutical and medical device

2909, 2021

• 

Arizona’s Legislative Traitors to Democracy Name Themselves

2021-09-29T11:26:51-07:00By Michael Bryan|

To the People of Arizona: A group of Arizona "lawmakers" have outed themselves as the enemies of democracy in an open letter packed with lies, misinformation, and insurrection. They call

2909, 2021

• 

CrowdPAC To Fund A Primary Challenger To Kyrsten Sinema Launched

2021-09-29T15:18:03-07:00By AZ BlueMeanie|

Yeah, that's a thumbs down to you, princess! Update to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema Is Facing A Vote Of ‘No Confidence’. They elected her to office, now she treats them with

2909, 2021

• 

The ‘Terrible Two’ Are Obstructing The Biden Agenda, To What End?

2021-09-29T15:18:50-07:00By AZ BlueMeanie|

Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman of the Washington Post make the point that I have been making for months, Memo to centrists: Progressives aren’t your problem. Manchin and Sinema are.:

Smacking-Some-Butts! Making Disgusting Sexual Advances at A Charity Events (Allegatiions made by Trashelle Odom, the wife of Idaho construction executive John Odom)

Political Action Campaigns - particularly those of the Trump variety - too often take titillating twists and turns that frequently grab headlines of the unwanted kind... Bottom Line they want their campaign donation refunded.

Trump donor: Corey Lewandowski made unwanted sexual advances

The longtime Trump aide harassed her at a charity event, a major Republican Party contributor alleges.

President Donald Trump watches as Corey Lewandowski, his former campaign manager, speaks at a rally. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo

By ALEX ISENSTADT

09/29/2021 12:29 PM EDT

Updated: 09/29/2021 09:15 PM EDT

 

The story from Politico late last night: "POLITICO |                        

“On the evening of September 26 in Las Vegas, Nevada, I attended a dinner to support a charity and spend time with wonderful friends,” Odom said in a statement to POLITICO. “He repeatedly touched me inappropriately, said vile and disgusting things to me, stalked me, and made me feel violated and fearful,” she said, referring to Lewandowski.

"I am coming forward because he needs to be held accountable,” Odom continued. “I am blessed to have a loving husband and family behind me. I want other women to know that you can be heard, too, and together we can stop terrible things like this from happening.”

Trashelle Odom, the wife of Idaho construction executive John Odom, alleges that Lewandowski repeatedly touched her, including on her leg and buttocks, and spoke to her in sexually graphic terms. Odom said that Lewandowski “stalked” her throughout the evening. . .

David Chesnoff, a Las Vegas attorney representing Lewandowski, did not directly address the allegations. “Accusations and rumors appear to be morphing by the minute and we will not dignify them with a further response,” he said.

Lewandowski, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment, has positioned himself as one of Trump’s closest and most loyal advisers — a role he has leveraged to gain access to top Republican donors and claim influence over the direction of the Republican Party. He was Trump’s first presidential campaign manager in 2016, advised him during the presidency and now is part of the circle of aides advising the former president. His duties included steering a pro-Trump super PAC until Wednesday, when Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich tweeted after the publication of this article that "Trump World" had severed its association with Lewandowski.. ."

Planet Earth Observations: Decades of Drought on Surface-Waters

Space may be the final frontier

Enlarge / Natural color images from March 1999, April 2005, May 2011, and April 2021 by Landsat satellites chronicle the shrinking Lake Powell reservoir and Lower Colorado River.

 

New NASA satellite to continue half a century of changing Earth observations

"Landsat has provided a critical reference for assessing long-term changes."

Eric Berger - 9/27/2021, 6:33 AM

Hold "A Delta rocket launched the small Earth Resources Technology Satellite in July 1972 with a simple mission: to capture multi-spectral imagery of the planet and assess changes over time.

Data from the polar-orbiting satellite proved so useful that NASA and the US Geological Survey renamed the vehicle Landsat 1 in 1975, and the organizations have since launched a succession of increasingly sophisticated "Landsat" satellites to continue observations. As a result, we now have a nearly half-century-long record of changes to the planet's surface—from farms and forests to glaciers and urban areas.

While the data from the Landsat missions has proved invaluable, it has also been somewhat depressing. The satellites have amassed an impartial record of tropical deforestation in the Amazon, verifying the claims of environmental protection organizations. They have also cataloged increasing water scarcity in the Western United States and chronicled ice losses across the vast majority of Earth's glaciers.

"Landsat has provided a critical reference for assessing long-term changes to Earth's land environment due to both natural and human forcing," scientists concluded in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment, in 2020. . ."

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RELATED CONTENT 2021

First-ever water cuts declared for Colorado River in historic drought

By Rachel Ramirez, CNN

Updated 8:30 AM ET, Tue August 17, 2021

(CNN)The federal government on Monday declared a water shortage on the Colorado River for the first time, triggering mandatory water consumption cuts for states in the Southwest, as climate change-fueled drought pushes the level in Lake Mead to unprecedented lows.

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the US by volume, has drained at an alarming rate this year. At around 1,067 feet above sea level and 35% full, the Colorado River reservoir is at its lowest since the lake was filled after the Hoover Dam was completed in the 1930s.

Lake Powell, which is also fed by the Colorado River and is the country's second-largest reservoir, recently sank to a record low and is now 32% full.

"It's very significant," Brad Udall, senior water and climate scientist at Colorado State University, told CNN. "It's something that those of us in the climate community have been worried about for over a decade, based on declining flows due to climate change."

With the lake expected to remain at around 1,066 feet of elevation into 2022, according to the US Bureau of Reclamation's latest monthly projections, the agency announced that the Colorado River will go into the first tier of water cuts beginning January 1.

Read More

"Given ongoing historic drought and low runoff conditions in the Colorado River Basin, downstream releases from Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam will be reduced in 2022 due to declining reservoir levels," the report said.

Lake Mead provides water to roughly 25 million people in Arizona, Nevada, California and Mexico, according to the National Park Service. Under the complex priority system, Arizona and Nevada will be affected by the tier-1 shortage.

Arizona will see an 18% reduction in the state's total Colorado River supply, primarily impacting agriculture. Although Nevada will need to adhere to a 7% reduction in its Colorado River water supply in 2022, the state had already reduced its deliveries and no change is expected due to the shortage, according to John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Additional cuts -- each tier with worsening impact on agriculture and municipal water -- are expected if Lake Mead continues to fall. The second tier of cuts, triggered at 1,050 feet, could come as soon as 2023.

More than 95% of the West was in drought as of last week, the largest area in the history of the US Drought Monitor

First-ever water cuts declared for Colorado River in historic drought

By Rachel Ramirez, CNN

Updated 8:30 AM ET, Tue August 17, 2021

 

The climate crisis is taking these farmers' most valuable resource

(CNN)The federal government on Monday declared a water shortage on the Colorado River for the first time, triggering mandatory water consumption cuts for states in the Southwest, as climate change-fueled drought pushes the level in Lake Mead to unprecedented lows.

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the US by volume, has drained at an alarming rate this year. At around 1,067 feet above sea level and 35% full, the Colorado River reservoir is at its lowest since the lake was filled after the Hoover Dam was completed in the 1930s.

Lake Powell, which is also fed by the Colorado River and is the country's second-largest reservoir, recently sank to a record low and is now 32% full.

"It's very significant," Brad Udall, senior water and climate scientist at Colorado State University, told CNN. "It's something that those of us in the climate community have been worried about for over a decade, based on declining flows due to climate change."

 

With the lake expected to remain at around 1,066 feet of elevation into 2022, according to the US Bureau of Reclamation's latest monthly projections, the agency announced that the Colorado River will go into the first tier of water cuts beginning January 1.

Read More

"Given ongoing historic drought and low runoff conditions in the Colorado River Basin, downstream releases from Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam will be reduced in 2022 due to declining reservoir levels," the report said.

Lake Mead provides water to roughly 25 million people in Arizona, Nevada, California and Mexico, according to the National Park Service. Under the complex priority system, Arizona and Nevada will be affected by the tier-1 shortage.

Arizona will see an 18% reduction in the state's total Colorado River supply, primarily impacting agriculture. Although Nevada will need to adhere to a 7% reduction in its Colorado River water supply in 2022, the state had already reduced its deliveries and no change is expected due to the shortage, according to John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Additional cuts -- each tier with worsening impact on agriculture and municipal water -- are expected if Lake Mead continues to fall. The second tier of cuts, triggered at 1,050 feet, could come as soon as 2023.

 

Google Earth Timelapse (Google, Landsat, Copernicus)

Snaking its way through the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California, the Colorado River's volume have been dwindling due to extreme heat and drought.

T.J. Atkin, a cattle rancher in Utah and Arizona, described the toll the drought was taking on his family's business and his animals.

"Everyone else I've talked to says in 85 years, it has not been this bad," Atkin told CNN in June. "We have 85 years' worth of our own drought data that says we've never done this ... not to this extent."

At a news conference announcing the cuts, US officials said climate change is behind the West's water shortage.

A UN report released last week emphasized the role human-caused climate change plays in drought frequency and intensity. Globally, droughts that may have occurred only once every 10 years or so now happen 70% more frequently, according to the report. The link is particularly strong in the Western US, scientists said, which is currently in the grips of a historic, multi-year drought.

More than 95% of the West was in drought as of last week, the largest area in the history of the US Drought Monitor.

"There's no doubt that climate change is real -- we're experiencing it every day in the Colorado River Basin and in other basins in the West," said Tanya Trujillo, assistant secretary for water and science at the US Department of the Interior. "I think the best strategy for planning is to think about a broad range of scenarios and a broad range of potential hydrology, and to work closely with our partners in the basin to try to think through all of those scenarios."

Photos: The West's historic drought

Low water levels can be seen in the Hoover Dam reservoir of Lake Mead on June 9. Water levels at Lake Powell and Lake Mead -- the two largest reservoirs on the Colorado River -- have dropped at an alarming rate.

On average, the Colorado River's flow has declined by about 20% over the last century, according to a 2020 study by US Geological Survey scientists. Over half of that decline can be attributed to warming temperatures across the basin, researchers said.

Without any significant reductions to planet-heating emissions, particularly from the burning of fossil fuels, the study found the Colorado River's average discharge could shrink by 31%, compared to the historical average, by the middle of this century -- a theme consistent with the UN climate report.

The significance of the reservoirs' rapid decline cannot be overstated. The Colorado River supplies water to more than 40 million people living across seven US states and Mexico.

Lake Mead and Lake Powell provide a critical supply of drinking water, hydropower and irrigation for many communities across the region including rural farms and tribal nations.

 

As the climate rapidly changes, Udall said the West should prepare for more shortages.

"Climate change is water change, and many of the worst impacts we're going to see out of climate change are through changes in the water cycle," Udall said. "Not only do we have to plan for these undesirable water outcomes, but we also have to get our act together and reduce greenhouse gases as fast as we can."

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Lake Mead, Arizona – Nevada

Watch

Uploaded by: Google Earth, Apr 25, 2019

5.24K Views · 31 Likes

Earth Timelapse is a global, zoomable time-lapse video of the entire planet, from 1984 to now. Explore this location at: https://g.co/earthtimelapse/#v=36.07...

 

 

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Biz & IT —

How Google built a 52-terapixel time-lapse portrait of Earth

30-meter-per-pixel video of entire planet.

Sean Gallagher - 6/10/2013, 9:10 AM

A frame of Timelapse's view of the growth of Las Vegas, Nevada.

>> The report continues ". . .Over 40 years of NASA satellite data has been "ingested into Earth engine," said Sargent. "That's been married to Google's compute infrastructure, so you can detect deforestation or find land use changes."

 

Sargent and the Earth Engine team used 909 terabytes of data from the Landsat 4, 5, and 7 satellites—with each of the million images weighing in at more than 100 megapixels.

Landsat's polar orbit allows each satellite to take a full set of images of the Earth's surface every 16 days. But not all of those images are keepers due to weather and other factors. "It's not as easy as just lining up the pixels," Sargent said. "Most of the challenges involved dealing with the atmosphere—if it's cloudy, you're not seeing anything. And if it's hazy, you have to look through it. So we had to build mosaics that excluded cloudy images and then correct for haze." . .

Time Machine ingests very high-resolution videos and converts them into multiple overlapping multi-resolution video tiles delivered as a stream, using a manipulation of HTML5's video tag in a way similar to how Google uses HTML image tags to pan and zoom in Google Maps.

Previous Time Machine projects had handled videos with billions of pixels of resolution. But Time-Lapse Earth pushed the envelope for Time Machine because of the size of the data. The 30-meter-per-pixel video was generated from 29 Mercator-projected mosaics created by Earth Engine, and each frame had 1.78 trillion pixels.