Good Enuf

 Here’s something to put a smile on your face. Decades ago, Americans were goaded into what became known as “recycling.”

I used the word “goaded” because we were shamed, badgered, even threatened with arrest, to separate our garbage into neat piles ahead of curb pickup.

Before that time, people would place their trash into a receptacle that eventually wound up on the curb to await a garbage truck for collection. Once collected, that spaghetti sauce covered plastic bottle, dirty jug, and greasy newspapers would make their way to the dump where it all was summarily buried.

Involved in this operation were the following: homeowner, garbage can manufacturer, garbage truck driver, garbage truck loader, landfill bulldozer operator, and some city or county supervisor. All this worked well for decades, generously employing all these honorable people who performed valuable services while paying taxes.

That tax money became a self-perpetuating operation resulting in a virtual zero-sum activity.

But suddenly, The Smart People rose to the surface of a well-oiled guvment activity to insist everything up to this point was wrong. End of debate.

These Smart People dissected everything mentioned above and did so cogently. From the garbage truck to the dump to the individual employees, each item was addressed seriatim before one city and county meeting after another.

Soon, television stations, radio media, and newspapers, alike, were proudly spreading the word that our new national religion was “recycling.”

Recycling is a system that involves the homeowner sorting their garbage before it makes its way to the curb. Sounds pretty simple, right?

Wrong.

Is seems garbage all has its own pedigree: cans, bottles, newspapers and cardboard, and miscellaneous trash are separate and distinct from one another. Now, the simple becomes the complex. Why?

The Smart People.

A very noble worker

The way it was explained was as follows: Landfills across the planet were filling up at an alarming rate. To prevent the soon-to-overflow dumps from, uh, overflowing, our trash was mandated to be sorted before disposal.

Let’s take a minor detour here. Decades ago I remember my Mother placing empty milk bottles into our milk box that sat on our front porch. Along with a note, those empties were normally exchanged for full bottles of milk or cream, butter, plus eggs, and other dairy products delivered to our door.

No milk or cream bottles were disposed of, rather they were reused or, in other terms: recycled.

One milk truck made its way throughout the town, instead of every car in town driving to the store. Sounds pretty efficient to me; less pollution, you see.

But The Smart People thought otherwise. Now back to the story.

Once the old wave garbage collection song was transformed into a symphony, everything connected therein became convoluted by adding new recycling bins: one for plastic and metal cans, one for paper, one for glass, and yet another for raw garbage.

All these added costs and steps needed another element added to this equation: one special truck for each of the sorted garbage bins. That hidden snag abruptly introduced many more trash trucks to the streets thereby polluting and causing more congestion for other traffic. Oh, my.

After a number of years, the populace was still apathetic about separating garbage and letting those expensive guvment-issued recycling bins sit idle, much to the chagrin of the guvment itself.

It was no longer an option to recycle in a growing number of those once-agog municipalities that eventually switched from optional to mandatory. Those simple color-coded plastic bins were re-issued with barcodes that became germane to discovering who was, and who was not, recycling.

Of course, thoughtful fines were added to tax bills to demonstrate the genuineness of this earnest effort to save Mother Earth.

And so it continued all the while the guvment and its official propagandist, NPR, repeated the mantra of “Reduce, reuse, and recycle,” as well as a catchy one from has-been actor Ed Begley, Jr., “If you’re not buying recycled products, you’re not really cycling.” How’s that for hard-hitting?

These references were to the re-manufacture of plastic bags and bottles into carpets and clothes, while glass bottles were transformed into sand. Wow! Who knew sand was in such short supply?

Still, this recycling effort quickly transformed into a grift which was clearly evident when, after thirty, or so years, the big announcement was made – nation-wide – that recycling glass was no longer an option; it seems a though recycling glass is much too expensive. Oops!

I’ll wait while you go back and re-read that last paragraph.

What once resulted in a lien possibly placed on your home for not recycling was magically transformed into a “good enuf,” shrug.

With that in mind, just what is America doing with all the rest of their garbage – sorted and otherwise?

Since you asked, plastic bottles are washed, melted, and reused for not only carpets and clothing, but also containers for such things as new shampoo bottles. The rub is that recycled materials are “three times as expensive as virgin, virgin being brand new plastic made straight from oil and gas out of the ground,” said Ernie Simpson from TerraCycle in Trenton, NJ.

He continued, “It costs a lot. There’s not a lot of money to be made from recycling to begin with, and it’s tough for recycled plastic to compete with virgin plastic made cheap by the boom in U.S. oil and gas production. And there aren’t nearly enough recyclers in the U.S. to handle the tsunami of new plastic pouring out of the petrochemical industry.”

This begs the question: What is the recycling industry to do with so much unused, unrecycled garbage in America?

It seems as though locally, the definitive answer is that the recyclables are being rightly placed in the dumps where they once were to avoid the continued “aesthetic and hygienic nuisance” of misused facilities, per the Wicomico County Executive Office, in Maryland.

I’m pretty sure no family members were involved in a scheme to extract guvment contract monies for their own benefit.

There you have it. Problem unsolved, but good enuf.

Consumer Summary Report

 Here’s an opportunity for you to stop receiving influencer videos as well as magazine reviews for any and everything. I’m here to provide that data to you in an unbiased and cost-free venue that, by the way, is still gluten-free.

I need stuff and, rather than steal it like so many others, I buy it from stores. Living in a remote section of America, shopping choices are thin, to say the least. You need to travel 12-miles to make a one-way trip for gas, cigarettes, toilet paper, and so on. Some quick ciphering means you’ll travel 24-plus miles for pretty much anything.

Our Eastern Shore proximity to nothing is not unique; lots of tiny towns dot the United States requiring extensive travel to buy beer and rolling papers, and even visit an ATM. But living in such a far-removed situation from civilization is also a benefit. Crime can be low, and guvment oversight nearly non-existent.

In any case, today’s review is along the lines of an earlier story describing my adventure-in-commerce with a pizza joint whose name rhymes with Dominoes. Oh, heck, it is Dominoes, (but I’m too lazy to invent a rhyme,) and they should be very proud of their customer relations. After all, their customer relations plans worked in chasing me away – permanently.

I just recently finished building a front porch/deck on my house and needed to make the new pressure treated lumber stairs less slippery. Until staining time to occur in the spring – once the wood dries enough to accept the stain and wood sealer – I immediately saw a demand for stair treads with a rough face and self-adhesive back to keep visitors from making a trip to the hospital.

A stop at a little hardware store called “Lowe’s” for those anti-slip stair treads was, to say the least, fun. After traipsing through most of the Lowe’s my sainted wife and I were unable to locate any semblance of anti-slip stair treads.

The obvious starting point was flooring. There, we found carpeting, ceramic tiles, marble tiles, fake hardwood flooring, laminate flooring, plastic boot trays, among a compendium of glues and mastics, none of which were even close to our needs.

Off to the hardware department where there were screws and fasteners aplenty, but no anti-slip stair treads. The paint department was without a Lowe’s employee to ask. Plumbing, was also sans any hired help. Lumber was everywhere except nary a stock clerk to question on the whereabouts of our stair treads.

We even decided to maneuver the aisles of overpriced blue tools, to no avail. It was at this time my sainted wife thought it was a good time to check her iPhone.

For your information, our iPhones not only field phone calls, they also take pictures, videos, record voice messages, store music, plus have built-in GPS’ to enable you to see exactly how helplessly lost you are. It also has an app that monitors your health.

iPhone Health screen

Sleep rate, hearing, cardio fitness, walking steadiness, even menstrual cycles, are all notifications available on the iPhone Health app. Additionally, though, is something called “steps.” it seems as though steps provides an educated guess at how many steps a person takes while carrying your handy-dandy iPhone.

“11.7,” was my sainted wife’s comment.

“11.7 what?” I asked.

“11.7 miles!” she asserted. “We walked 11.7 miles inside this store today,” she claimed.

On the way out of the store we noticed a cashier looking very bored so, we asked her if she knew where the anti-slip stair tread could be located. She looked into our empty, soulless eyes and said, “No. Do we carry those?”

Evidently not. Which is why I’m wagering Lowe’s will be going out of business. Not for not carrying anti-slip stair treads, but for not caring about two customers walking through their store for about an hour, unable to find a knowledgeable store employee to question regarding where to find a product, then finally leaving that store empty handed.

In retrospect, our 11.7 miles walked amounted to us practically walking to the store from our home. I can assure you and Lowe’s that won’t happen again.

And that’s today’s Consumer Summary Report. Use that information wisely.

The Wheel

 If I correctly recall, August is a traditionally hot, humid time of the year – at least here on The Eastern Shore. But it’s been a year since the last dose of this normally blistering month, filled with ripening corn and watermelons, as well as last-minute vacations to the beach. And this year is not much different from the other decades full of ever-changing weather requiring us to adapt to our surroundings.

However, this year is being loudly and falsely announced as the “HOTTEST SUMMER ON RECORD.”

Meteorologists, TV weather babes, news anchors, even the barista selling you that over-priced cup of syrup and unrefined sugar disguised as specialty coffee, have all been talking about this alleged surprise increase in heat which is affecting nearly every American, and most of the balance of the world.

‘Sure, it was hot last year, but it is actually 0.004% hotter this year!’ is the way these inane conversations continue. This is the segue to a thorough lecture, followed by a stern talking-to about the dire situation of planet Earth on the precipice of spontaneously combusting.

Also recalling my time spent as a child, I fail to remember not wanting to go outdoors to ride my bike, play baseball, or simply hop into our modest above-ground swimming pool. It was, after all, summer.

During much of the summer – including June, July, and August – are all known for various activities and free-time, but not necessarily for their downhill skiing and ice fishing activities. Because it’s hot.

In third grade we learned the Sun was closest to the Earth during the winter months; conversely, the Sun was furthest from the Earth during the summer months. I know it sounds confusing and counter intuitive. But the closer the Sun is to Earth, the shorter the amount of time the sunlight can affect the weather so, it is less hot.

To attempt to drum this scenario into our heads of mush, the nuns would break out a model of a globe and a flashlight to prove their point. Of course, no one did figure it out, though.

With longer days of light, the warmer the days become. And when days get warmer, people plant and grow gardens of fruits and vegetables which require light for plants to produce foliage and eventually crops.

As previously mentioned, other parts of life are also affected by light: temperature. The warmer the air is, the less our home furnaces need to be run to warm us. It is highly unlikely we will freeze to death inside our homes in the summer season. Those months are especially welcoming to inhabitants of colder climates where gas, oil, electric, and wood, are among the ways people keep their homes toasty warm during those frigid days and nights.

For nearly a hundred years, engineers and scientists and amateur inventors have been struggling to make electricity and associated energy less expensive – even free.

Through solar panels, which are roughly 80-years old; windmills, that were used by the ancient Egyptians; and hydro-electric power which was in use in the late 1800’s, our woes of finding a sustainable form of energy seemed like a closed case.

Unfortunately, successfully run hydro-electric facilities – normally constructed along river banks with the benefit of dams – were the kings of clean power for roughly a century. Using clean, fresh-flowing water, hydro-electric facilities produce no “carbon footprint” which so many environmentalists now see as a scourge.

Why, if hydro-electric power is ideally clean and sustainable, is deemedso dangerous to society and nature in its purest form?

It seems as though a new crop of environmentalists have been busy wasting pencil lead “connecting the dots” of horror created by an inexpensive, efficient, and safe electrical generation, to draw the conclusion that hydro-electric dams are causing fish great difficulty swimming upstream to spawn.

Those environmental do-gooders have been systematically feeding perceived tales of woe regarding swimming strengths of a variety of salmon and trout, and their ability to effectively mate due to the restraints of greedy human needs.

This speculation does not necessarily translate into the plight of whales, however.

The earlier mention of windmills/wind turbines has risen to the surface of another dilemma: sea mammals. You see, whales have long-been the subject of certain demise because of avid hunting by varying native tribes, as well as Japanese whalers, whose ability to find and kill these slow-moving ocean mammals, is truly amazing.

Moratoriums have been in place for decades in an earnest effort to save this close relative of man from near-certain extinction. And quite a success this effort was.

You see, whales are directly affected by wind turbines strategically placed in the oceans far away from picturesque places such as the Obama Estate, Winfrey Estate, Biden Estates, and other wealthy influencers, in order to generate our much-needed electricity.

Unfortunately, it seems as though those wind turbines are affecting the whales’ abilities to exist with the constant drone and associated noise that is amplified in the oceans. As such, it is suspected those same precious whales are committing suicide. No lie.

That is until those same environmentalists thought it absolutely brilliant to reach into time before Christ to resurrect windmills in order to meet the electricity needs of the planet.

This is as good a time as any to ask the question: Why the sudden need for more electricity on the Earth? I’m glad you asked.

As of late, cellular telephones, laptop computers, electric ranges, refrigerators, electric vehicles, dishwashers, along with an array of rechargeable appliances, have created a demand for more electricity to power and maintain our newly-developed lifestyles.

To better coerce the world’s inhabitants to comply with more electricity consumption, those same environmentalists have used sleazy behind-the-scene tactics to outlaw everything from “inefficient” light bulbs, to gas-powered vehicles, to natural gas stoves, non-electric furnaces, plus air conditioners.

Of course any sane individual reading this would imagine how inane these pressures to squeeze their dangerous agenda of ‘saving the planet’ – much as they did in an attempt to ‘save the whales ,’ - is suddenly proving chaotic, at best.

The endangered whales are being found in droves, beached upon sandy coastlines of America by what some scientists believe are an act of whale self immolation. Dying by the literal hundreds, these majestic sea mammals are now collateral damage of non-deep thinkers gone awry on the stage of the environment.

Searching for easy answers that suit their sordid, nihilistic views of humans, environmentalists are again turning their attention to it being August – the prime time of hot, unforgiving, summer months in the United States.

As is apparent, once again the brain trust of stupid ideas is oozing out of that same cadre that gave you the previous twenty-six paragraphs.

Because of the lack of intellectual curiosity available in both the Fourth and Fifth Estates, “news” stories from 2016 are being exhumed to pretend they are fresh from the vine; they are not.

May 2, 2016, was the day an article appeared in yourstory.com with the title How a Giant Space Umbrella Could Fight Global Warming.

Not to disappoint, the brief article examined how this goofy idea was gaining acceptance from the likes of the European Union, and the Royal Society to NASA. “It’s even roused the interest of the most respected authority on global warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.” That doesn’t make me feel any better, though.

“A new study lays out the theoretical plan of tethering a giant solar shield to a captured space rock. Potentially, this contraption could protect Earth from the [sun] sic,” reads a week-old story from space.com.

As is evident, this hare-brained idea is not new, nor novel. It is like much highway debris known as road-gators. Those are the annoying pieces of retread-tires that wind up on American highways that closely resemble lurking alligators in a macadam swamp.

Understanding the concept of the Sun’s role in life on Earth is critical to devising a plan to block its powerful rays from reaching our planet. Many of the ideas floated herein are clearly disconnected from the reality of life the way environmentalism would like to see the Earth in the future.

Recall those aforementioned rechargeable phones, computers, electronic vehicles, solar roof panels, among other forced plans for future lifestyles. If that solar umbrella is, indeed, created and inserted between the sun and the Earth, how will we mere, dumb humans be able to charge and recharge our solar appliances, or allow our important food to grow?

There you have it. We’re clearly moving away from tried and true clean, efficient means of producing renewable energy. Unfortunately, too many non-deep thinkers are reinventing the wheel. And they’re all flat.

Accidental Monster

Today's story is a retread from an appropriate time - the 2016 Presidential Election.  It was as timely then as it is now.  Please enjoy it while you recognize the parallels in history.  Thanks for reading.

Part of my misspent youth was shaped watching movies on a local television show, Creature Feature. Evidently many local stations had adopted this kitschy theme of showing old, black and white movies at 11:30 on Saturday nights. I need to add that at this point in technology, there was no such thing as color TV.  But I digress.

One of my earliest memories of Creature Feature was a movie called “Frankenstein.” I was likely nine-years old and very impressionable. The darkness of the night combined with the eerie glow of the television, augmented by the occasional neighbor’s dog bark, made this weekly scare-fest extra scary.

If you’ve never heard of, or seen the book “Frankenstein,” it was penned by Mary Shelly in 1818. I’ll skip over most of the details, but the gist of her book was the danger imposed by man acting as God.

Dr. Victor Frankenstein was a doctor who attempted to give life to the already dead. Doctor Frankenstein sent out his money-hungry henchmen to the local cemeteries to exhume the recently deceased and return with those cadavers for the experiment.

He took pieces of various bodies and mixed them together to form a creature known as “The Monster.” A bolt of lightning during a violent electrical storm provided the energy – since there was no such thing as electricity at the time – to give life to The Monster.

The rest of the book twisted around The Monster’s trek through the local village and how he was hated simply for his appearance. Eventually, in my humble opinion, The Monster was misjudged for no particular reason other than he was, uh, different. And different he was.

In 2016, the Republican presidential primaries were filled with a horserace style of candidates. Not unlike previous Republican contests, dotted throughout were staunch Republicans as well as RINOs, Republicans in Name Only.

And because this was a contest, all candidates were vying for THE SEAT on the podium for a chance to debate the Democratic nominee, St. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

St. Hillary was the predicted shoe-in for President, no matter who the Republican nominee was. Standing firmly behind her, just as were her sins and nefarious deeds from decades past, were the main stream media (MSM). She couldn’t possibly lose. Amen.

The Republican list of contenders included Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Scott Walker, and lastly, Donald Trump.

It seemed an appropriate time to for the MSM to begin their awkward game of cat-and-mouse. In this game, the MSM began to magically find information and photos and tax returns and romantic buddies who would be damaging to any particular candidate.

One by one, the MSM started eliminating these candidates from the race by giving Democrat “experts” and pundits the stage. Each candidate was exposed for something, albeit trivial, quickly opening the proverbial exit door to oblivion.

The MSM has a gift for sneakily turning lies into “truths,” and for making a minor faux pas resemble an Earth-shaking tragedy.

Democrats have long excelled at mining this type of yellow journalism; Republicans, not so much, as they play by a different strict set of rules to maintain a sense of decorum. That’s too bad.

Imagine fighting a hungry 15-foot shark in the ocean, armed only with a stick. Now imagine who will win. Hardly fair. But I digress, again.

Eventually, the MSM arrived at the last standing Republican candidate, Donald Trump. Mr. Trump was many things including a real estate developer, builder, real property holder, hotelier, golf course owner, entrepreneur, TV show host, and all-around capitalist.

But one thing Mr. Trump was not, was a politician. He never dabbled in local, state, or federal politics, which left him at a giant disadvantage. And the MSM were prepared to pounce.

As the last man standing in a political race that was supposed to be one-sided, Mr. Trump seemed as though he was the easiest candidate to topple. He had no political experience, no insider knowledge, and no hope to overcome the garbage about to spread over his campaign and name.

MSM tripe magically surfaced about possible illegal activities, illicit affairs, unbecoming lewd behavior, while potential tax fraud began to dominate the air waves and print media.

Quiet words were leaking out of anointed intelligence organizations that Mr. Trump was under investigation claiming he was caught with a Russian sex worker with an affection for bodily fluids, while his personal attorney attempted to make restitution with nefarious figures for questionable activities.  Alas there were none.

Morning newspaper headlines and television news broadcasts bled sensational stories about Mr. Trump hating the military, disrespecting Latinos, and thinking poorly about Blacks. It was time for the voters to turn their backs on this fellow without a clue about running a country. After all, he was a game show host. Ha-ha.

Mainstream media creation

Meanwhile, St. Hillary decided to take a three-month respite from campaigning to appear on Leftist TV talk shows and radio programs geared toward intellectuals. Throughout this time, Mr. Trump took advantage to fight back against all the lies and hate, and began appealing to a large portion of Americans who weren’t as elite or educated as most Democrat voters.

Polls had St. Hillary ahead by a dozen points virtually assuring her a win for the Presidency to make her the first woman to be President of the United States. And the identity politics fight began to rage.

Although always there, with a win assured, women and wanna-be women began celebrating their victory. It was undeniable. It was undeniable.

Donald Trump was lambasted by Democratic pundits and MSM-types; the attacks were relentless. Day-in and day-out the smears persisted while anything positive was trashed as lies and fabrications.

Eleven days before the 2016 election, though, a major leak squirted out of the FBI Cone of Silence relating to St. Hillary’s illegal email system use. Alas, FBI Director James Comey’s days were now numbered.

But behind the scenes, that same FBI was using questionable information from fake dossiers and contrived quality assets to create a counterintelligence case against Donald Trump. Now Director Comey appeared more like a canonized elite member himself ready to save St. Hillary.

That intrusive MSM propped Mr. Trump up because they saw him as weak and unable to win. Their “free” advertising and countless hours of exposure, although negative, allowed potential constituency to get a better view of this guy with whom the voters could more readily identify. They liked what they saw.

The average American – hard working, honest, loyal, all inclusive, charitable, non-confrontational – overwhelmingly voted for the outsider, the non-politician, Donald Trump.

The day after he was elected in 2016 angry, hateful racists began to immediately call for his impeachment and a physical disruption in the daily activities of his supporters. Rep, Maxine Waters led the charge in an embarrassing rant that continues today.

Smarmy perpetual Democratic politicians such as Adam Schiff, Chuck Schumer, Gerald Nadler, Nancy Pelosi, Eric Swalwell, and the aforementioned Maxine Waters, eventually revealed the reason for impeachment: collusion by the Russian government to steal the election. Of course there was no collusion, only lies, lies and more lies from the Democrats.

Each day of vile fabrications divided a fractured nation even more, just to encourage hate and distrust among Americans. Their plan worked for a few long years until the truth about this massive deception escaped leaving President Trump virtually unscathed.

Count them: four-years of their bald-faced propaganda resulted in nothing but a severely divided nation which was compounded by an influenza pandemic.

Not unlike Mary Shelly’s story, the ugly townspeople represented by smarmy perpetual Democratic politicians wanted nothing more than to kill The Monster created by the MSM Victor Frankenstein. You see, The Monster was not like them in that he had no desire to be a career teat suckler; he only wanted to make past inequities right, then be left alone to live in freedom of the past.

But with the complicity of the MSM, his job was nearly impossible. His tenacity, drive, loyalty, conviction, and character proved unmatched by government established lawyers-turned-politicians who knew nothing about “getting the job done.”

Their specialty was slow-walking legislation or pandering for votes, usually against the will and wishes of their constituents. But they miscalculated and accidentally helped elect The Monster who, against all odds, survived.

RINOs stood by idly to watch The Monster be berated while the MSM cheered for his demise. But he was much too strong and was beholding to no one but his constituents.

One term – four-years – later he is leaving because he “lost” his bid for re-election.

And to this day, he refuses to die because he has hurt no one except those townspeople that were repulsed by his looks, his being different. Although he is gone, those vindictive townspeople are now chasing The Monster down the road out of town.

But it is not because they simply hate him, they also fear him. That fear is because The Monster is a much better person than the entire town as a whole.

This is the end of my story; I hope this is not the end of The Monster, though, as there is still much hard work to do. Time will tell.  And God Bless Donald J. Trump.

 

Above the Law

 January 6^th, 2021, is a day that will live in infamy. We know this because all the self-righteous Democrats and Republicans-In-Name-Only (RINOs) told us so.

It seems as though Donald Trump, the outgoing president, was somehow complicit in the overenthusiastic rally by his supporters to display their concerns about the questionable election of Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.

He made a modest speech before this rally began, in which he urged the masses to reign-in their ire and protest peacefully. Unfortunately, there were well-placed troublemakers among the throngs of rally participants, many of whom were videoed urging the rally-goers to enter the U.S. Capitol. And they did.

In the weeks and months that followed, hundreds of rally participants were identified by facial recognition software, using thousands of hours of videotape and cellphone recordings. Capitol Police, the FBI, and Secret Service identified and interviewed seemingly countless people who were on the Capitol grounds that day.

Mothers, fathers, parents with children, whites and blacks, and many, many others, were identified a complicit in what the eventual January 6^th Committee deemed “an insurrection.” Television pundits and oh-so-pious politicians – many of whom publicly cried aloud about how they escaped with their lives – desperately sought television cameras to validate their spongy stories.

Well-known Squad Members gleefully whored themselves before every media camera and/or microphone to point their crooked little fingers at MAGA Republicans, in general – Donald Trump, in particular. And what a show it became.

Able to identify masked individuals through cellphone data, Smart Watches, airplane tickets, automobile tracking software, and anointed neighbors, created a dog-and-pony-show beyond belief. Hearings were held during primetime television, as well as daytime soap operas, much to the ire of countless regular viewers. And very few channels were exempt from this sordid exhibition.

Equally public trials were aired ad nauseum to ensure as close to total public saturation as possible. Professionally produced, these normally amateurish displays of self-aggrandizing appeared more like a Busby Berkeley production than a guvment operation – all in an effort to sway election opinions.

Eventually, the smart folks from the Big Three networks, as well as CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC, turned over seemingly countless rocks to find has-been politicians, former guvment agency heads, retired military experts, along with a few washed-up newspaper and television reporters, to ape tripe regarding this public display by Trump supporters.

This political gathering was gleefully compared to Watergate, the Civil War, and World War II, by anyone with an overly active imagination, augmented by a grotesquely large ego. And there were plenty. They seemed to ooze from the walls, from beneath rocks, and climbing out from underneath desks, while dusting off their dated, moth-bitten navy-blue suits. It was a spectacle to behold.

According to Blessed Saint Nancy Pelosi, then House Speaker, “No one is above the law!” It seemed as though that message should be carved in stone.

Even when an unarmed former military enlistee was shot by a Capitol Police Officer, it was deemed to be her – the victim’s – fault. Quite sordid, indeed. No one is above the law!

For over 16-months, trials continued, although public interest waned. Nonetheless, it was only following the mid-term elections that this ebb in punishing anyone voting Republican began to subside.

Fast forward to today, July 2023.

Surprising news surfaced a few days ago about an astonishing discovery at the United States’ White House: a bag containing cocaine.

WARNING: Please restrain yourself from getting ahead of this story.

Hunter Biden, first son, among his other array of talents, is a bona fide drug user. Yes, this business executive, international liaison, oil expert, train aficionado, artist, and gigolo, also adds drug addict to his résumé – along with photographic evidence. “No one is above the law!”

More nearsighted than blind

The United States Secret Service, the agency designated the protector of the president and other select dignitaries, located this package which was quickly tested and tested again, and retested to ensure it was legitimately an illegal drug. It was. “No one is above the law!”

Immediately, the games to identify the person who left this illicit package in the West Wing were on. Copious cameras were downloaded, storage boxes for cellphones were dusted for fingerprints, and a search for traces of DNA evidence was instituted. “No one is above the law!”

Collaboration to identify – without prejudice or error – the culprit responsible for leaving this cocaine inside the hallowed grounds of the most secure building in the country.

Recall the previous few paragraphs that highlight the hands-down speedy identification and apprehension of the so-called miscreants who invaded – during their “insurrection” – the Capitol in order to stave off a complete and total overthrow of America. “No one is above the law!”

With prison sentences of 7-years for trespassing, for first time offenders, it would only make sense the similar rules would apply to the clear snubbing of ones’ nose at the expected order at the White House. “No one is above the law!”

After all, with the massive influx of Fentanyl and other dangerous, deadly drugs freely overflowing the nation’s Southern Border, it would seem logical to interdict the possibility of an accidental overdose due to the use of a substance adulterated with Fentanyl, or another deadly narcotic; let’s at least protect the First Family.

Now this is where I, as an uninformed dumb civilian, would expect quick results to wrap up this illegal possession and act of embarrassment, from the Secret Service.

After less than a week “investigating” the facts of the mysterious cocaine discovery came to an abrupt conclusion, with the results being…

Inconclusive.

What? I thought “No one is above the law!”

It appears as though someone very, very wily – in fact, more clever than the entire cadre of the Secret Service out-smarted this elite federal law enforcement agency.

Although it would be difficult to handle a packet of a powdery substance without wearing gloves, to avoid leaving fingerprints, it would also seem unusual to not leave trace amounts of DNA on the package. Let us not forget the well-trained cameras in the visitor’s area of the West Wing, sure to capture at least a fleeting image of who used that cellphone cubby.

As it turns out, Representative Tim Burchett R-Tenn., lamented the Secret Service had lost any fingerprint data and DNA sampling inasmuch as they had already destroyed the less-than-one-gram package of verified cocaine, thereby making identification impossible. Not the stuff Sherlock Holmes was made of.

You’re free to draw your own conclusions.

But thank goodness “No one is above the law!”

Drilled Into Our Heads

 If the words “duck and cover” don’t strike a chord, you’re much too young. Good thing I’m here to help.

The Cold War – a military struggle between the United States and Soviet Union – began with a nuclear arms race in the 1950’s. Stockpiling of atomic bombs by both countries led to a see-saw effect of one-upmanship for decades, ensuring mutual destruction.

In an effort to assuage civilian fears of imminent death and destruction, a public service campaign was established to help Americans cope with this nuclear insanity.

An example of a 'duck and cover' drill

Using a turtle named Bert wearing a Civil Defense helmet, an animated public service announcement began appearing on the relatively new medium, television.

Bert demonstrated how to summarily survive an atomic bomb detonation by ducking down, covering yourself underneath your school desk. Developing minds such as mine openly accepted this guvment-approved method of surviving an explosive blast that was proven to melt steel and quickly turn sand into glass.

We school children obediently followed our teacher’s directions. Different survival methods were taught in the event we were not in school during an attack. Outside, we were supposed to face a building wall and crouch down until the blast was over. Still, the Cold War reigned and we dealt with it.

Eventually, that “peace through strength” concept used since the 2^nd century AD, by Roman Emperor Hadrian, waned when the Soviet Union dissolved. But it was due to disinterest that was largely responsible for the death of duck and cover drills.

Suddenly, a new threat was realized: fire. Just as with the duck and cover drills, we kids were instructed on the effective escape and survival of a fire. Either in a house or a school, were learned how to orderly leave our desks and line-up for a casual walk through the exits, eventually congregating outdoors to await further orders from our teachers.

‘Stop, drop, and roll’ was the latest phrase to help anyone finding themselves ablaze; this was a directive to prevent burning people from running, thereby fanning the flames resulting in more injury. But I digress.

The fire drills continued throughout our school years, lasting into our professional lives to keep everyone safe; let’s not exclude arson as a real threat of a fire emergency. It wouldn’t take long, though, to realize us United States citizens were not safe after all. Although diligence kept us relatively safe, we realized our safety awareness lacked on September 11, 2001.

On that infamous Tuesday morning, terrorists commandeered commercial airliners, literally cut passenger and crew throats, and subsequently flew those jets into buildings because they were psychological nutcase Muslims.

Resulting NYC skyscrapers and Pentagon fires were not yet extinguished when again, the federal guvment thought it prudent to engage its citizenry in something entitled terrorism drills. These drills were new while urging exercise in caution against finger pointing at any one particular race, religion, or other target class.

It didn’t seem to matter America and Americans were under attack once again. People were instructed to avoid taking any action in the event of a possible terrorist attack, instead reporting anything unusual to authorities.

A new slogan, “If you see something, say something,” was born. And it couldn’t come soon enough.

Suddenly, anyone appearing to be of Middle Eastern extraction was espied with suspicious eyes – and not unjustified from a victim’s point-of-view. Taking matters into one’s own hands was quickly becoming a sport. Since all the terrorist hijackers were Middle Eastern, identification appeared relatively easy.

But it was not necessarily accurate.

It seems as though a large portion of the American population is comprised of Middle Easterners, of which very few hold any ill-will against America or Americans. Terror drills were massaged to include how to quickly exit attacked spaces, along with tolerating people who appear physically different.

It took years for the mayhem to subside, just as duck and cover drills, and the fire drills.

Today we are amid shooter drills. Shooter drills can apply to anywhere and anyone who is both armed and/or dangerous. Schools, churches, hospitals, and a slew of other venues that have created “gun-free zones,” are more commonly targets of mentally ill assassins.

Of course, safety and security of those most vulnerable – the very young as well as the elderly and incapacitated – are of the utmost importance in terms of need.

The bottom line of all these exercises is that the duck and cover drills were merely propaganda. We were all lied to as vaporization of humans, and total destruction of brick and mortar structure was guaranteed with the use of an atomic bomb; we merely felt safe, but weren’t.

Fire drills, on the other hand, can be life savers. However, as witnessed both in school and the workplace, quick, orderly departures are exceptions, not the rule. Alas.

When it comes to terror drills, we are now urged to couch our suspicions of fellow Americans so as to not offend others. Clearly this is akin to whispering an emergency “Help!”

And when people wind up in places that refuse to accept legally-armed citizenry permitting the ability to protect ourselves, the danger of victimization rises dramatically.

In any case, as long as there is evil in this world, there will remain a threat of serious injury or death. We can never be truly safe inasmuch as other people have the will and desire to ignore the sanctity of human life and the law.

But then insanity is still a protected trait, allowing death and destruction to continue without end.

Vote accordingly.

More Leftist Lies

 Since the environmentalists began occupying the White House in 2021, our climate and the health of Mother Earth has greatly improved. Our planet is now free from pollution, dangerous weather, as well as financial insecurity, all thanks to sacrifices of every citizen and political leaders, alike.

I’m just kidding. Actually, through Executive Orders, America’s illustrious elected leaders have been paving the road to insanity with potholes and speedbumps. These same nut jobs are ardently attempting to outlaw gas stoves, washing machines, plus leaf blowers.

If ‘What?’ is probably your first thought of these wacky policy proposals, then you’re on the right track. Clearly these Left-leaning bureaucrats have way too much time on their hands if all they have to ponder is what modern convenience can they justify banning. A real job just might be in order.

Executive Orders being signed on day one

Not limiting themselves to appliance outlawing, the powers-that-be also, on day one of the Leftist Biden Administration, the then newly-sworn-in Commander-in-Chief, penned another Executive Order shutting down a major oil pipeline – a lifeline to supplying future fuel for our vehicles, aircraft, boats, toys, lawn equipment, and even home heating and electricity.

In an effort to modify the day-to-day behaviors of hard-working Americans, the Leftist Biden Administration thought it would be a terrific idea to ban cars and trucks using internal combustion engines.

To mansplain a bit: the internal combustion engine is a device that propels cars, trucks, and boats. It was invented around 1860 and is fueled by gasoline that is refined from oil. That’s all you need to know for today’s story so, I’ll spare you the time and pain. You’re welcome.

As previously alluded, also included in that list are recreational vehicles, snowmobiles, jet skis, yard equipment, personal aircraft, etc. But to justify the banning of these precious modes of transportation and critical tools, the Biden Leftists – but I repeat myself – enjoy spitting out numbers, as facts.

Remember the gas stoves?

“Comically, Biden’s Department of Energy is justifying this proposed requirement based on estimated savings to the consumer for gas cook tops of $21.89 over the next 14.5 years, which equates to a savings of just $1.50 per year. People are not willing to trade such substantially decreased functionality and features for minuscule savings,” U.S. Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), said.

Not to leave anyone behind, the Biden Leftists are maintaining that banning those nasty internal combustion electric-powered vehicles (EVs) is necessary to save our delicate environment. Once again, the ol’ razzle dazzle with ‘facts and figures’ seem to show that there’s plenty o’ bucks to be saved by ridding oneself of internal combustion vehicles.

And once again, the brain trust of the Leftist Biden Administration claim that somehow by trashing your old vehicle for a new EV – which currently hover around $75,000 – will be far more inexpensive to own and operate because you won’t be buying gasoline anymore. Yea!

Unfortunately, those same Leftists forgot to mention the charging equipment you’ll need to charge your car at home (or in your apartment complex,) besides the frequent roadside recharges required to get you both to and from your destination, all of which require buying electricity.

For more mansplaining, your new EV will carry batteries to store energy to make the tires and wheels go ‘round and ‘round to allow your EV to operate á la your old car that you were forced to give away. The batteries therein are currently being made from a mineral called lithium.

And exactly like your landscaping lights, electric shaver, cellular phone, robotic vacuum, and other rechargeable goodies, all of which operate on lithium-Ion batteries, have a finite life, eventually requiring replacement. The difference is an EV battery replacement, depending on manufacturer, costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $8,000. Nice neighborhood, eh?

So it seems as though all those monumental savings in buying gasoline will amount to literally nothing when battery replacement is nigh. Shucks, those Lefties must’ve forgotten about that little cost-saving fact.

Be that as it may, we must revisit our lithium supply and from whence it comes.

Because of the sudden desperate need of lithium for EV batteries, the supply of lithium is becoming scarce. But where does it come from? I’m glad you asked.

First, lets examine what the world uses lithium for. Batteries, lubricating grease, metallurgy, silicon nano-welding, pyrotechnics, optics, air purification, military arms, nuclear energy, ceramics and glass, and medicine, are all industries that currently use lithium, and are vying for more and more.

The US Geological Survey, in 2019, reported the four lithium producing countries as Chile, China, Australia, and Argentina. It seems the countries of Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina make up what is known as the Lithium Triangle. The Lithium Triangle is believed to contain over 75% of existing known lithium reserves.

As is evident, the United States is not in the top four countries from which lithium is mined; China, on the other hand, is. And all that means money.

Because of the wild up and down rides of the world economic conditions, since 1998 has been almost impossible to gauge. Back then, lithium metal was about $43/pound. However, since then, prices rose, then dropped by 20%. Nonetheless global consumption was estimated to jump to 300,000 metric tons from about 150,000 tons in 2012, to match the demand for lithium batteries. I’ll let you do the math.

All this is simply wonderful, and the Leftist Biden Administration deserves a standing ovation for taking the initiative to both save our planet and financially break the back of nearly every American citizen, all in the name of The Environment.

But here’s the rub: lithium is not at all like seashells on a beach. Lithium is mined.

“The manufacturing processes of lithium, including the solvent and mining waste, presents significant environmental and health hazards. Lithium extraction can be fatal to aquatic life due to water pollution. It is known to cause surface water contamination, drinking water contamination, respiratory problems, ecosystem degradation, and landscaping damage. It also leads to unsustainable water consumption,” per United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. 13 (UNCTAD/DITC/COM/2019/5).

That doesn’t seem to be the environmental nirvana our Lefty buddies promised us, does it?

Not being one to give up based on hard facts, ‘President Joe Biden last year announced an official goal of half of all new cars sold in the United States to be electric or other zero-emissions technology by 2030,” according to Joe McDonald of the Associated Press.

McDonald continues, “As sales rise, so does official anxiety, especially in Washington and Beijing, about access to lithium and other minerals and the potential for strategic competition.”

There you have it. Planet Earth needs us to change our ways from light bulbs and shower heads to washing machines and vehicles, in order to survive. But the pollution generated along with exorbitant associated costs will bankrupt civilization into oblivion.

Not quite the forward thinking one would expect from such a woke, diverse administration.