The Power of One: SURGERE

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"From maple syrup and agricultural production beginning in the late 1700’s to the lumber and coal industries of the 19th and 20th centuries to the current day Marcellus Shale play, the extraction of the Susquehanna's natural resources has provided revenue to fuel both the earliest years of this new nation and, on a much larger scale, the Industrial Revolution that catapulted its growth into the present.

From the Journals of the Officers and Soldiers of Sullivan’s Campaign in 1779 to James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales to Robert Foster’s Tioga Waltz and Camptown Races to Sheshequin’s Julia H. Kinney Scott’s heartfelt odes to the Susquehanna, those past experiences spanning centuries can still be re-lived today through their words, poetry, and music.

Unless you have paddled the Susquehanna for thousands of miles and in every season, or travelled its highways and unpaved rural roads for more than half a century, or broken bread with those who live along the way...you cannot adequately begin to grasp the essence of what once was, what has been lost over the past three centuries, and what we can learn from all of their successes and failures." -

 DJW on 12/24/2024

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The passages above are from a letter I wrote in support of an environmental issue a few months ago. The last paragraph - in whole or in part - should provide anyone with the perfect context for my epitaph, and "you cannot adequately begin to grasp..." is a blatantly intentional understatement. It was my way of saying "you may be clueless".

And now, I'm witnessing the prelude to the next great rape of our nation's natural resources...and that is what I believe to my very core. 

So much for a quiet retirement...

March 6, 1944

 

On this day, I always take a few moments to remember a young man I never met.

He was born in the Georgetown section of Wilkes-Barre, PA. He died while establishing a beachhead on an island in the South Pacific during WWII. He is buried in Arlington. 

He was a member of the famed First Marine Division-Reinforced. 

He was my mother's older brother Raymond, and he died at the age of 21. 

He served with honor. 

There are those who feel men and women like him are "suckers and losers". 

Hopefully, sooner vs. later, their day of reckoning will come. 

We have not forgotten 

Semper Fidelis, Uncle Ray. 

Which Are You?

 

The question is simple enough...but I'll ask it again.

Which. are. you? 

Lumbering Looney Tunes - 2025

  

As the saying goes: Just when you think you've seen it all...

Now...imported lumber is being identified as a national security threat. 😶

The solution? Cut down more American trees. 

And yet...the MAGA crowd will buy this latest B/S hook, line and sinker. 

My opinion? 

Here's a screenshot of the headline. 

I wonder how many chainsaws will be sold this week? 

This is truly beyond Looney Tunes. 

   

T.T.T.

And that would be Tag.Team.Trump. 

For over four decades, I worked for some of the largest financial services corporations and law firms on this little blue dot in the cosmos. At one point in my career, my responsibilities were global...as in 11:30 p.m. conference calls with the Beijing office global.

 I've seen people from all walks of life and just about every social stratum at their best...and at their absolute worst. I think it's safe to say I've been in thousands of meetings and an equal number of teleconference and/or video calls.

At this point in my life, "reading the room" is second nature and, many more times than not, fairly accurate. 

The meeting on Friday at The White House between 

Tag😼Team😼Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a true display of the participants' character and a thinly veiled and poorly executed game plan that, ultimately, devolved into a cluster-😡 witnessed globally. 

One man was a true leader. The others: human flotsam.

For me personally, it was confirmation a hundred times over, but as an American...it was embarrassing beyond words.

The 'Emperor's clothing" of red, white and blue doesn't exist. It never has, and it never will. It's more along the lines of green and yellow with a backdrop of red...and to not see that is truly blind.

Quo Vadis, America?

Careful: Your IQ is Showing

 

I truly do try to learn something new every day. No subject is off limits. So, albeit somewhere between enlightening and completely exasperating at times, I regularly take a peek at conversations in FB or elsewhere which originate from and/or include comments by the 'forever Trumper' crowds. 

This morning, I learned a new slant/slur against those who exercise their right to speak freely that may not quite align with the MAGA intelligentsia. 

DEMONCRAPS? Yep, yep...I've pretty much come to expect and experience nothing less. 

In closing for today, here's a meme I found recently that sums up my view on those that seek to trash others instead of trying to understand their perspective or engage in meaningful as well as respectful dialogue. 

Character counts! Happy Friday!

Senior Advisor...at 19?

Early this morning, I caught the headline in the screenshot below and felt compelled to comment.

I was 19 once. My wife and I raised three children - all now 30-somethings - that were 19 once. During my career, I was responsible for recruiting, hiring and mentoring dozens of 19-somethings as part of Drexel University's student co-op program.

Referencing and reflecting upon the headline below, I have yet to meet a 19-something that would be remotely qualified to be appointed to this position in DOGE as a "senior" advisor. Not even close, and if you think a 19-year-old should be in a position to make decisions affecting your life, or those of your parents, your children or your grandchildren - or have access to your personal/financial data...consider yourself to be, IMHO, completely and irrevocably clueless.

   

The Lights Are On...

I do wonder, from time to time, what it would be like to intentionally lie 24/7. Put another way: to make stuff up on the fly, throw it against the wall - with no basis in fact or proof whatsoever - and hope it will stick well before it begins to stink.  

Additionally, on the receiving end, I often wonder what it would be like NOT to know the difference. Put another way: To not know you're being bamboozled. 

By nature, nurture, education, experience, grand design, divine intervention or - perhaps - sheer dumb luck...I suffer from none of the above. 

Donald John the Lesser's plans are to enrich himself and his billionaire buddies at the expense of everyone else and, if needed, take America down in the process. 

And to complete my title: ...But Nobody's Home. 

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Yep.

   

From Dictator to King

 

  Well...that didn't take long. 

HIS Words. HIS Thoughts. HIS Actions. 

Quo Vadis, America? 

  

No One Is Above The Law

  

For folks that follow such things, you probably did not miss yesterday's post on Truth Social by none other than Donald John the Lesser:

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"He who saves his Country does not violate any Law."

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Over the past ~8 years, I've found that getting into a conversation - more accurately any conversation - with any class or caliber of "Trumpeteer" out there is a waste of my time. They are brainwashed beyond reproach or repair...and I'm not even sure redemption is a possibility for some.

However, I do endeavor - from time to time - to set my sights a little higher.

Almost a year ago, I wrote to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The first paragraph of my letter is below. To date...no response. Go figure.

Letter #2 is coming together nicely.

No one is above the law. No one.

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