All posts by BP

Monster slugs are devouring defenseless baby birds in nests

National, Uncategorized, , ,

slug.jpg.653x0_q80_crop-smartThat’s right, it is the month’s best (mostly) non-political headline!

It seems a certain type of slug has been found to be preying on young chicks of ground nesting birds in Europe. “The actual moment of slugs predating on nestlings isn’t easy to observe,” says Katarzyna Turzańska at the University of Wroclaw in Poland. “You are more likely to come across the traces of the ‘tragedy’: dead or alive nestlings with heavy injuries, covered in slime – and often slugs’ droppings found nearby.”

Scientists say this is an unusual but not unheard of behavior among slugs. Studies have recorded similar events before, and of course scientists observe that slugs do leave a slimy trail. “When a slug finds itself inside a nest – probably accidentally, or maybe by actively searching for this type of food – it just starts foraging on the living nestlings using its radula, or tongue covered in tiny teeth,” says Turzańska. “The nestlings are unable to defend themselves and are eaten alive.”Trumpslug

Luckily the resemblance Donald Trump’s hair and a slug-like caterpillar share was already made years ago, so it wasn’t toooo  big a stretch of the imagination to make a connection to this wildlife behavior. Notice that the tactics Trump used to take over and dominate the GOP presidential primary election are remarkably similar to those employed by the predatory slug for devouring ground-nesting chicks.

While in the GOP primary, accidentally, or maybe  actively searching them out, Trump was able to “devour” 16 rival Republican candidates. These were the GOP “nestlings” Christie, Rubio and all the others he defeated, who are now dead politically or alive  with heavy injuries – left covered in “slime.”

And if you need more evidence, look at the trail Donald Trump leaves behind – he is the alpha slug of the GOP.

What’s Phil Scott doing as acting governor this week?

local/regional, ,

psstagefright2aSince Sunday and until Thursday, Phil Scott will be acting Vermont governor. Performing official duties as acting governor is one of only three statutory duties the part-time Lt. Governor position has. Vermont is a stable democracy so the acting governor can’t abolish the legislature or lock the governor out of the statehouse — no worries there.

Governor Shumlin will be away attending an international governors’ conference in Boston, a climate summit in Mexico and a drug prevention conference in Nevada.

Over five years Lt. Governor Scott (Vermont’s “spare” governor) has been acting governor plenty of times before his upcoming stint. Scott tells WCAX News  that after his latest stint as acting governor, he has now filled in for Gov. Peter Shumlin for 368 days, a little more than one year of Shumlin’s five-plus years in office. [WCAX isn’t called WGOP for nothing]

Speaking of work — Scott didn’t supply details for WCAX on how many days over five years, as part-time Lt. Governor, he’s spent working on the other two statutory duties: presiding over the state senate and casting tie breaking votes. How many hours a year does he put in toward earning his $61,776.00 a year part-time salary?

But back to this week: since he is running to be governor, the work  Mr. Acting Governor Scott has chosen to do is to campaign for himself. He’s scheduled several call-in news radio programs and a public reception for the next few days. Clearly he’s working for Phil; it’d be a real stretch to consider his working in his own self-interest as benefiting the rest of Vermont.

Entergy Vermont Yankee takes a leak into the future

Business, local/regional, , ,

The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is shutdown, no longer generating power and starting the decommissioning process. And Entergy VY is still struggling with a persistent ground water intrusion problem (think very leaky basement) in and through the nuclear reactor turbine building.curleyleaks

Back when the plant was operating, there was, it seemed, always a steady drip, drip, drip of news coming out of the troubled plant — a high temperature electrical fire here, a decayed cooling tower collapse there, and forty mysterious underground pipes “discovered” as  the source of radioactive tritiated water leaks — just to name a few of the ‘highlights.’ So the current radioactive water intrusion is only the latest in a long history of mishaps.

Happily Vtdigger.com reports VY officials think they have gotten a handle on the rising tides: “Vermont Yankee administrators say they’re getting a stubborn groundwater intrusion problem under control and are no longer pursuing a proposal to discharge radioactive water into the Connecticut River.”

Early this spring Entergy bought homeowner-grade kiddie pools (the NRC actually approved their use for this purpose) to hold the overflow. The pools were then abandoned in favor of more durable rubber storage bladders; gallons of contaminated water were shipped out by tanker truck, an expensive task. And now reports suggest the company will no longer pursue state permission to dump its tainted water into the Connecticut River.

The aggressive flow of water, at its height in February, was as much as 3,000 gallons a day. Yet  officials maintain: “Simply sealing “a number of cracks” in the turbine building has helped.”

And the Entergy VY spokesflack brags: “We had a plan, we implemented the plan, and the plan worked.”FreeVYpoolz

Aw come on, “We had a plan!”  Bah! I think they are winging it –right from the time they rushed out to buy their first kiddie pool to capture overflows of radio-active water.

And now, what VY fails to mention and the reporter at Vtdigger.com definitely should have noted is that Vermont and most of the Northeast are in the midst of record-breaking drought!   Vermont has seen record low rainfall, with the drought  even more severe in Southern New Hampshire and Western Massachusetts.

Ground water levels are low throughout the region — therefore groundwater intrusion at VY’s turbine building would be record low. No water = no leaks!

But Entergy is decommissioning and headed out VY’s back door, pausing just long enough to patch a few cracks in the ‘basement,’ bless Mother Nature for the lack of rain, and cross their corporate fingers. I wonder if part of their plan includes setting up the kiddie pools again next spring?

 

David Hall’s New Vista: “…a dead cow falling out of the sky.”

local/regional, , , , ,

deadcowfallAn informational meeting was held in Tunbridge on the 18th of August about David Hall’s ongoing efforts to create a futuristic community called New Vista. [There is a video of the meeting below and posted by Nicole Antal on the DailyUV.]

No doubt the Tunbridge gathering will be one of many meetings held over time as the Utah resident, Hall buys up land and pursues his utopian dream that happens to target four area towns. His ultimate goal is a radically designed high density residential community with a population of 15-20,000. The design includes plans for high-tech toilets that monitor a resident’s health and robotic storage systems that allow furniture to play hide-and-seek. […] The key concept of a NewVistas community is that a resident’s apartment would need to transform itself several times a day because each person would have only 200 square feet of living space.

The genesis of the plan has roots in the Mormon (Church of the Latter Day Saints, LDS) teachings of Joseph Smith, but the church recently has denied any involvement or endorsement of the project. A recent article in the LDS-owned newspaper, Deseret News, makes that clear and accurately reports the reaction here in Vermont:

“[…] in the rural slice of Vermont where Hall has focused much of his land acquisition, his scheme has landed like a dead cow falling out of the sky.”

“Well, I’ll eat my hat ! It’s Donald Trump.”

National, , ,

Donald Trump along with a small squad of body guards and plenty of cameras visited an ongoing Louisiana flood relief effort the other day. He actually handed out a box of food (and Play-Doh) to victims…reports are Trump was at this “tough” compassionate task for all of 49 seconds.

His visit came despite the governor suggesting he not visit the relief effort.

“We welcome him to LA but not for a photo-op. Instead we hope he’ll consider volunteering or making a sizable donation to the LA Flood Relief Fund to help the victims of the storm.”

He also autographed some “Make America Great Again” hats for the hungry.

Rutland Herald & Times Argus SOLD!

Business, local/regional, , , , ,

Two struggling Vermont newspapers, the Rutland Herald and Times Argus, have been sold to a Maine-based publishing company. stoppressingThere had been reports that The Herald was having problems paying employees, causing some to stage a walk-out .

The Herald’s longtime editor, Alan Keays, was fired when he ran a story on the labor trouble in the paper.

Prior to that, in June, the publisher announced they would cut back from seven to three days a week in their print editions.

The new owners are “Maine-based entrepreneur Reade Brower and printing and marketing executive Chip Harris.” Harris has a local connection, having founded the Upper Valley Press Inc. in North Haverhill, NH.

And by all means take notice of the link to the article: http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20160811/THISJUSTIN/160819917/0/OBITUARIES

Check the last bit in it…someone at The Rutland Herald is maintaining a sense of humor.

 

Blind trust in Phil Scott

Business, local/regional, , , , ,

Anyone who has had a radio on in the past couple days has probably heard Phil Scott moaning and sounding sooo hurt over how mean his gubernatorial primary opponent Bruce Lisman is being to him. Says Scott’s campaign: “For month’s Bruce Lisman has lied to voters about Phil’s record.” Philscottphilscott

In aggressive campaign ads, Lisman is raising the appearance  of a conflict of interest over Scott’s ownership in Dubois Construction company should he win election to the Governor’s office. Dubois does millions of dollars in contracted State of Vermont business: Since 2001, DuBois Construction has received $3.785 million  in payments from the state Agency of Transportation, The Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, and the Departments of Buildings and General Services  and Fish & Wildlife.

If elected, Scott says, he is planning to form a blind trust to handle his interest in the business, but Lisman and others are skeptical that this maneuver adequately addresses the ethical implications. The Vermont Democratic Party commented: “Scott would still be completely aware of where his private profits were coming from and which policies could increase them while he collects a state salary.”

I wrote a diary in May about how Scott has handled the issue in his past.  When he began his campaign Scott commented on his contracting ethics to Vtdigger.com:  When a project he has supported as an elected official goes out to bid, Scott said he makes sure his company does not seek the contract. So he said. But a closer look reveals that this hasn’t exactly been his practice.

As a state senator Scott served on the Senate Transportation Committee and successfully lobbied Senator James Jeffords (PDF p. 10) to put a certain provision in Federal  legislation for specific transportation funding.  Vermont (USA) Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT) credited Vermont State Senator Phil Scott (R-Washington County) with the provision in the new federal transportation legislation adding modern roundabout projects to the list of safety improvements eligible nationwide for 100 percent federal transportation funding.

And then, first while Scott was a state senator and later as Lt. Governor, Dubois Construction  submitted bids on contracts  receiving this particular federal funding when the monies became available in Vermont. Total potential worth of the bids on these projects: $15 million.

Over several years, Dubois Construction bid on at least three Vermont state roundabout projects, including two since he became Lt. Governor.

One bid in 2008 was worth $1,388,412.00 [CONTRACT ID : 04B198], one in 2011 worth $1,754,788.83 [CONTRACT ID : 08B126], and in 2013 (what would have been a biggie) worth $11,953,592.58 [CONTRACT ID : 78D082]. All his bids were in the middle of the pack, but not being the lowest bid, none was awarded to Scott’s company.

But the important point is he did bid on them  after lobbying for specific funding; taken together, the three bids would have been worth over 15 million dollars to Phil Scott and Dubois Construction.

Scott’s tax returns indicate that the bulk of his wealth is tied up in Dubois Construction. He has said he would temporarily distance himself from his construction business should he become governor, but he wants to return to it afterward.

Phil Scott may not like Lisman questioning his possible business conflict in the primary, but it is fair game. And regardless of his promised temporary blind trust arrangement, a good hard look at his company’s past and future state bidding is likely inevitable in the general election.

And, as Phil Scott himself asks in his response tv ad to Lisman’s attack, “Who are you going to trust?” wherein he cites Governor Jim Douglas’s support as proof of his trustworthiness. Shall we trust Phil Scott, who promised his company wouldn’t bid on contracts he was politically involved in? Or the record of Dubois Construction’s bids on at least three such major contracts?

Trust shouldn’t be blind.

Trump’s recent twitter insults compiled

National, ,

It is the Wrath of Donald in 140 characters.

The New York Times compiled and has now updated a list of hundreds of people, places, and things Donald J. Trump has insulted on Twitter since he began his run for president. You have got to love the Times – they even thoughtfully highlighted the most recent of his insult tweets on the listing. trumpshoe

Trump’s rage knows no bounds, he even took an Oval Office presidential lectern to task on Twitter: “looks odd” …“not good.”  This problem with furniture must be a Republican thing. Who can forget Clint Eastwood’s historic interview with an empty chair on primetime TV at the 2012 GOP convention?

Few things are spared Donald’s limited-character wrath on Twitter. Those most recently insulted by the GOP presidential candidate include: Joe Biden, Cory Booker, the Democratic National Convention, hacked/leaked D.N.C. emails, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Tim Kaine, the system, Elizabeth Warren, the American delegate system, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Bill Clinton Democrats, The New York Times, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Megyn Kelly, Republican presidential candidates, the mainstream media, CNN, and Juan Williams.

For now, Trump has backed off the Oval Office lectern – but it was warned. Can you believe that some dare say Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be president!

Off the top of Trump’s head

National, Uncategorized, ,

I’ve been offline and not able to read or listen to any extended news the past couple days. While catching up this afternoon I realized how numb I had become to the fast, furious, and crazy pace of the 2016 presidential campaign news. It is like returning to a street corner to find Trump, the wild-eyed man, from days before still perched on his little soapbox, ranting crazily and demanding more than his share of attention.trumphead

Donald Trump urged Russian agents to “find” his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s emails and release them, an unprecedented move by a candidate for president encouraging such a foreign breach.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you can find the 33,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,” he said at the presser.

And that remark prompted Senator Harry Reid to suggest Trump not be given the usual security briefing. But if he must be briefed Reid advises: I would suggest to the intelligence agencies, if you’re forced to brief this guy, don’t tell him anything, just fake it, because this man is dangerous,” Reid said in a Wednesday interview with The Huffington Post. “Fake it, pretend you’re doing a briefing, but you can’t give the guy any information.” [added emphasis]

Trump’s comment is alarmingly weird enough, but it is even more so after my stepping out of the news cycle even for short time. This is clearly not a normal election.

Trump’s GOP rules of order

National,

At the GOP Convention hall last night Senator Ted Cruz gave a speech and failed to endorse Donald Trump, as he was hoped to do. Cruz was booed more lustily during his own speech than Hillary Clinton was during Mike Pence’s. From the floor,  just in front of the booing crowd, it felt anarchic, as if anything could happen.

cruztrumpThe ferocity of Trump’s followers’ reaction caused security guards to bundle Heidi Cruz offstage to safety

“People behind her were getting very ugly and physically approaching her and [Cruz’s father] Rafael,” he said. “It was not a pretty situation, and the decision was instantly made to not talk to media and get immediately out of the arena.”  Ken Cuccinelli, a former Virginia attorney general and a close Cruz confidant who was sitting with Heidi as her husband spoke, told reporters he saw Trump supporters accosting her.

Let’s review then: Monday night’s GOP Convention theme was Make America Safe, Tuesday’s underlying theme ( I think ) was “Lock up and/or Shoot Hillary Clinton” night. And Wednesday’s theme seems to have been “Let’s Throw Ted Cruz’s Wife from the Stage.”

What on earth could the Trumpsters do for Donald’s  finale tonight, no doubt played out to the theme from Rocky ?