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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TRUMP II: Yogi Berra Said it Best

 

            Eight years ago today, under the title: Trump: Seven Thumbs Thick?, I posted the following comments:

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"Anyone who grasps even the basics of what the end-result of being the biggest guppy in a gilded fishbowl all their life might look and act like is being presented with a case study on an almost hourly basis.

"Seven thumbs thick" is something I recall reading decades ago, and I believe that anyone who aspires to and attains a position of leadership in any setting needs to - as an absolute prerequisite - be able to stand the heat and exercise restraint regardless of the nature of the issue and the person raising it.

Donald John the Lesser has lived his entire adult life as the biggest guppy in a gilded fishbowl. Put another way; a classic schoolyard bully with a clueless cadre of cowering wannabes at his side.

So far, our new President has lived up to my expectations at every turn, as have his mouthpieces and the political sycophants clamoring for a spot in his slowly shrinking shadow."

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So here we are, eight years later, and to borrow a quote attributed by many to Yogi Berra:

"It's deja vu all over again."

I continue to be perplexed - borderline dumbfounded - by the number of folks who still can't see him for what he is.

   

   

Prodigal Son Returns?

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As I've been told by many that my hearing has diminished just a tad, I swear I hear - off in the distance - the faintest strains of 'The Fat Lady' warming up her vocal chords. 

For anyone offended by that colloquialism...deal with it.

For anyone who had to look up colloquialism...I know who you voted for. 

Later.  

ENCINA: MAYDAY!!! MAYDAY!!!

 

To my friends at Encina that stop by regularly: Your game plan is as old as the hills. 

And as predictable. 

As I watch your latest moves unfold, I feel as if I'm leafing through an NFL playbook from the 1940's. 

   

   

Respectfully, I am once again highly recommending that you walk away from your proposed plastics-recycling plant along the Susquehanna River near Northumberland, PA. 

If by high noon on this coming Friday, May 5th, I do not see a notice online in every Northumberland County newspaper that you have decided - for whatever reason you decide to make up - to scrap plans for this recycling plant, I will have no choice but to enlist the services of one of the brightest and most relentlessly ruthless environmental activists on the face of this little blue dot in the cosmos.

The thought of taking this action has me, pardon the seasonal metaphor, wetting my plants.  

The clock is ticking, and the next move is yours. 

   

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Earth Day 2023

     

When I breathe my last, after thoughts of my family flash before my eyes, the fact that - in the valley of my birth - the Susquehanna River still runs free will remain as one of my proudest accomplishments in life.  

Experience is the greatest of teachers, repeat: experience is the greatest of teachers, and having lived through over a decade of fighting the pipedream of a ~12 term U.S. Congressman to dam the Susquehanna, I can honestly say: 

Been there...done that. 

This planet is all we've got. What are you doing to protect it? 

   

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ENCINA: PREMATURE EMANCIPATION?!?!?!?

    

You know...there's a cure for that, along with your multiple grammatical errors, blatant miscues and other, umm, premature issuances. 

Hire some experienced & competent staff!

Speaking of killing: Ditch this project before it's too late. You know how Rupert Murdoch is feeling this morning? It'll be equally embarrassing for Encina unless you walk away now. 

Seriously...just make something up. You seem to have that down pat. 

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WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAMMING...

   

I posted the commentary below elsewhere this morning. I held off for ~48 hours for a variety of reasons, the least of which was not wanting the guys with the dark glasses and earbuds knocking at my front door...or to raise the ire of the mindless lemmings out there. 

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I had a long ride ahead of me Monday morning and, unfortunately, the news cycle was dominated by yet another mass shooting; this time at a bank in Louisville KY. I listened to the event as it unfolded from when it first hit the airwaves before 10a until the first scheduled update/press conference at ~3p.  At best, it was disturbing.

As I anticipated, it was only a matter of minutes before those scripted talking points asking for "thoughts and prayers" and offering "now is not the time" were uttered by folks stepping up to the microphone.

The 2nd Amendment was ratified in December 1791. As a lifelong student of history, I know that - in 1791 - fresh in the memories of all the men that ratified the Bill of Rights were the French & Indian War, the Battle of Wyoming, the winter at Valley Forge, the Revolutionary War...and what it was like to be fighting the armies of several foreign countries with boots on the ground in North America.

I wonder how many children, teachers, moms, dads, grandparents - and folks looking forward to retirement - have to be slaughtered in schools, at work, and in places of worship before our elected "leaders" grow a pair and say 'enough'? As one of the folks talking about the event on Monday offered: 'They're not concerned about doing the right thing, they're concerned about losing their jobs in the next election.' I say vote them all out.

Here are just a few of our fellow Americans that we've lost in the past two weeks...

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The teacher pictured directly above - Dr. Katherine Koonce, 60 - ended a Zoom call when she heard the first shot and ran toward the shooter. She was shot and killed. I rarely tear up these days...but I do every time I look into her eyes. If only our elected 'leaders' had a minuscule fraction of her courage and resolve.

R.I.P., Katherine.  You will not be forgotten.

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ENCINA: "IT'S A LIE"

 

I caught this recent article from a Google Alert I have in place for anything with "Encina" in the title or text. 

Chemist questions Encina's recycling process | News | dailyitem.com

   If you take a few minutes to read the article, you'll understand my choice of the title for this post. If you don't have the time or the interest, here it is: 

"Encina says there are not going to be any air emissions from their facility.

“There is no other way for me to say it,” Mason said. “It’s a lie. If you are burning something there are going to be air emissions.”

As I've addressed previously, Encina has a little bit of a challenge when it comes to both proofreading and answering questions truthfully. It'll be interesting to see if Encina has any response to the points raised in this article by a chemist who appears to have expertise in both plastics and the recycling processes that Encina will be using. 

As it always does...time will tell. 

   

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ENCINA: Translation Please

           

Regarding their proposed plastics-recycling plant along the Susquehanna River, I snagged this recent Q&A post directly from ENCINA's website. The redlining is my add-on. 

Specifically, I was interested in what they had to say regarding the required archaeological study. Without further adieu:

I believe "Additionally" would have been a more appropriate opening to their response on this subject, as would a consistent spelling of archaeological. 

Not knowing what the heck a "resource exchange study" is, I looked it up using both Bing & Google and came up empty using those exact words, both in open and bracketed searches. I did, however, come up with this result on both:

"Resource exchange theory (RET) is the result of work by Foa and Foa in 1971 as a means for explaining reciprocal social interactions of humans. The core tenet of RET is that people exchange six distinct categories of resources: love, status, information, money, goods and services [6– 8] (see Table 1)."

Now, in this day and age of, umm, social enlightenment, I acknowledge there are a lot of beyond traditional partnerships out there. However, transparency and blatant obfuscation are - at best - bedfellows that just don't mingle...right up there with oil and water or matter and antimatter. Both are very messy, at best. 

I also spent some time this morning on PHMC's Pennsylvania Archaeological Site Survey (PASS) website. Again, in the time I had available, I could find no references to "resource exchange study". So, as of right now, this is what I think it means:

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   Some guy, gal or per$on of intere$t with a shovel and a degree found in a box of Cracker Jacks is going to do a quick walkaround the proposed site in Point Township, scratch up some dirt in a few spots, take a few photos, lick their index finger and hold it aloft to determine the direction and speed of the prevailing winds and declare the "resource exchange study" complete and submit the same declaring that - in the past ~14,000 years or so - there is no evidence of any significant and/or important human activity along one of the most ancient rivers on earth and that the Susquehannock, the Iroquois, the Nanticoke, the Lenni Lenape, the Tuscarora and any other Native Americans never set foot on this land.

Wow. Nary a rhyolite point or coprolite to be found. 

Go figure...

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Anyway, I'll be visiting the proposed site along Rte. 11 next week to experience, firsthand, what the area looks, smells, sounds and feels like. I have no doubt whatsoever that my NA ancestors will guide me. Until then my advice to ENCINA is:

• Do a much better job proofreading, and

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