Now We Need Ukraine's Help

Not long ago, President Donald Trump, joined by VP JD Vance, bullied Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy during a White House sit-down in which the latter was being bullied into caving on Russian demands. "You don't have the cards," roared Trump while a Trump-allied reporter made fun of Zelenskyy's military attire. 

It turns out that Trump was wrong. Zelenskyy does have the cards and has been playing them with great effectiveness. His drones have wreaked havoc on maritime shipping in the Caspian Sea and at Russian Wildberries outlets, which is their Amazon equivalent. This hurts both Russia's military and its economy. 

That's only part of the story. In addition to ramping up its offensive use of drones, Ukraine has been manufacturing cheap and very effective drone interceptors at costs of between $2,000-10,000 per unit, depending on whether the drone being intercepted is powered by a jet engine. 

Gulf states are quickly turning to Ukraine to acquire both interceptors and drone defense technology. This makes sense. Drones can be intercepted by SAMs or our own drones, but at a much higher cost than the drones themselves. I would hope that we are seeking some help from Ukraine as well. 

I know that one or two Navy warships are equipped with lasers than could take down a drone at a cost of about a nickel. But we've been far too slow in adjusting to a changing battlefield landscape. 

What's Next For Lamont McClure?

After falling short in his bid for the Democratic nomination to the Pa. 07 Congressional District, what has NorCo's former Exec been doing? He likes to take pictures of flowers and rocks and that kind of goofy stuff, but what does he want to do? He might want to run for DA next year, but I doubt he'd primary Steve Baratta. He might want to run for judge but will have to wait a bit if he does. He still has money in his state account, so he's obviously keeping his options open.

Here's what he says on Facebook, next to a picture of a flower: Many Friends have been asking me what I’m doing next. I think some people just might be tired of me posting pictures of flowers all the time. 😂 Over the last 30 years, I’ve had two very intense, successful careers that sometimes ran on parallel tracks. Like LeBron this is likely to be my last “Decision”, and therefore, I’m taking my time. 😀 I’m trusting the process too. 😂"

I personally think he's planning to open a flower shop.

Blue Wave in November? Don't Be So Sure

That's what CNN Data Chief Harry Enten tells PennLive, insisting that Democrats have a number of red flags. 

1) The GOP has more cash on hand because Democrats suffer from lackluster enthusiasm.

2) As bad as the GOP may be, the Democrats have a -24 net favorability. 

3) Democratic socialists have a new platform calling for noncitizen voting, a unicameral legislature, limits on Supreme Court judicial review and an end to deportations. This is completely out of touch with what most voters believe, including Democrats. But that does not matter because that is how all Democrats will be portrayed. 

UMBT Conducts "Special" Meeting To Discuss Those Evil Data Centers

About a year ago, warehouses were the bogeymen. Politicians loved to rail against them, and we all lapped it up as we continued ordering toilet paper through Amazon. But there's now an evil more evil monster lurking around every corner - the Data Center. Never mind that they've been with us for decades. Never mind that they are a critical national infrastructure to support both our economy and yes, our national security. They're bad, I tell you. 1,000,000 Facebook groups can't be wrong. 

On Friday night, I could have stayed home to watch President Donald Trump and our betters in the Washingtom press corps insult each other. I opted instead to travel to Angle country, where Upper Mount Bethel Tp was hosting a hastily called "special" meeting in an effort to put the brakes on yet another potential and very evil data center located on Pektor property by both the river and a power plant. 

I arrived a little late, so I missed the remarks made by His Eminence, the Right Reverend Ron Angle. But that's ok. Though Supervisors have limited Angle to three minutes, he manages to inject himself after nearly every speaker anyway, So I got the drift. He thinks a lot of the kneejerk opposition to data centers is misguided. But he's wrong. They're evil, I tell you, the stuff of nightmares and science fiction movies where the noise they emit are really some sort of radio frequenct that turns us into pods. 

I pulled into the parking lot of what is actually the public works garage because the second largest municipality in the goddamn state of Pennsylvania is unable to afford a frickin' municipal building. And that's pretty much because the people who live there - at least the ones with money - don't want anything that could actually help people who are working two or three jobs to make ends meet. The ruling class has decided that data centers are bad, and they know best. A year ago, they thought they were great, much preferable to an evil warehouse, but that was then. 

Before I walked into the garage, I looked over the packed parking lot. It was full of big-ass SUVs and those massive trucks with V-8 engines. Not an ebike in sight. These folks are very environmentally conscious, except when it comes to themselves. 

The reason for the rushed meeting was because the evil data center was just far too willing to work with the township. Supervisor David Friedman, who has previously botched up several negotiating sessions with Tam Pektor, was again spearheading the back-room meetings with Talen Energy. Talen Energy had offered a community benefits agreement of $25 million. Friedman reportedly said, "Make it $50 million and we have a deal," thinking this would be enough to send Talen away with its tail between its legs. Instead, after telephone calls with several Tallen execs, their ambassador came back and agreed.

What little is left of Friedman's head must have exploded. He was sure he had scared them off, but instead, they agreed. now, Friedman would have to break his word again, which obviously doesn't mean much to him as he also once promised to resign and then refused to keep his word. Friedman huddled with John "Voice of (some of) the People" Bermingham and came up with a plan that would scare away that evil data center for good. They decided to propose an amendment to the zoning ordinance that would impose all kinds of conditions on when and where they could be placed.

Good idea, but bad timing. Very bad timing. The evil data center, which I've told you is very bad, filed what is known as a "validity objection." In layman's terms, that is a giant FU to the township. It means that Talen can build a data center wherever the hell it wants and there's not a damn thing the township can do about it. It means that instead of a $50 million community benefits agreement, the township gets zero.

Great job, guys. 

But there was nevertheless a procession of NIMBY speakers who basically are unreservedly opposed to data centers no matter what the benefits might be.  They're bad, I tell you.

One heavy fellow wearing a "Jesus is King" T-shirt and who may have been thinking that Jesus is Burger King, claimed they are "out of control" and "poisoning the water supply." I've got news for Burger King. The people who live in Upper Mount Bethel are already poisoning our water supply with their own shit. Water tests done along the creeks on 611 show unusually high amounts of chemicals that come from residents' refusal to actually build a proper sewer. 

These are the same people who incidentally complain about sludge. 

Now I don't want to leave you with the impression that everyone in Upper Mount Bethel hates data centers. There were a few who said we should at least have an open mind and take a tour or two. 

But when I hear these phonies raise environmental concerns, I have to laugh. Though they are the new bogeyman, consider these facts: You could give up a lifetime of reliance on data centers and AI, and the amount of energy saved would be negligible compared to canceling just one trans-Atlantic flight or switching to a hybrid car; A request to ChatGPT consumes as much energy as one second of a clothes dryer; our 14,000 golf courses consume 550 billion gallons of water a year; we use 3 trillion gallons of water a year just to water our lawns.

But don't let facts get in the way. Data centers are very bad, 

NorCo Leases New DUI Center After Eviction by Bethlehem Tp

At their July 2 meeting, Northampton County Council approved a 10-year lease for a new DUI Center in Bethlehem Tp, next to the Skateaway at 4552 Easton Avenue. The monthly payment is $2,500 to Ridge Ventures, one of many companies owned by Abe Atiyeh. 

This seems like no big deal, except that NorCo was leasing the Coolidge House in Bethlehem Tp as a DUI Center. That is also home to a Bethlehem Area Public Library branch.

It could be that the DUI Center was getting to be a bit much for Bethlehem Tp, which actually filed an eviction proceeding against the county on July 1 for the recovery of the property. A hearing had been scheduled for July 27, but that has been postponed until August 18. 

Washington's Journalists Think They Are Hollywood Stars

On Friday night, I sallied forth from the foothills of Nazareth to the Slate Belt highlands to hear all kinds of people driving big-ass SUVs and trucks complain that a possible data center proposed in Upper Bethel Tp will ruin the environment. I'll have more about that later but wanted to write about something else first. Before leaving, I watched the beginning moments of the White House Correspondents' Dinner and saw numerous people who I had supposed were journalists posing for photos in tuxedos and fancy gowns on some makeshift red carpet as though they were Hollywood stars. Women's Wear Daily actually had photos of people who certainly seem to be a more than a bit out of touch with the real world. 

Since that time, I've seen numerous stories poking President Trump because he insulted the press, which presidents are expected to do when they attend these fancy galas. I've seen others claiming that his jokes fell flat during his rambling and lengthy exhortation. I don't know how they could stay awake. 

The whole thing disgusts me. It's a given that I find Trump is a boor, and that's putting it gently. But what really offends me is that the reporters who supposedly exist to speak truth to power instead cozy up to and are in an incestuous relationship with it. 

You want to have a dinner to pat yourselves on the back? Knock yourselves out. But drop the tuxes and gowns. Stop acting like celebrities with agents who negotiate your contracts and start acting like reporters. Instead of braying about Epstein every five seconds, start covering the very obvious corruption going on inside the Beltway cesspool. 

I think Trump's disastrous presidency is a big story. But the incompetence of the Washington press establishment appears to be a bigger story. Instead of covering the actual stories, they are too busy playing tit for tat with Trump. 

Freedom of the press? What press? 

Staff Intervenes to Prevent Possible Suicide at Gracedale

 According to CrimeRadar, EMS was dispatched to Gracedale yesterday afternoon for a potential suicide. 

The audio transcript is as follow: "Be advised, we have EMS going to Gracedale. It's going to be room Bravo [redacted]. A 70-year-old female attempted to hang herself. She put a stocking around her neck. She's currently awake and breathing."

NorCo Exec Tara Zrinski was informed by Gracedale administrators that there was actually no attempted suicide because staff intervened after the resident tied stockings around her neck. The resident was taken to the hospital. 

It's very disturbing to hear of a potential suicide at a nursing home or the jail. But this is actually a positive report about Gracedale. Staff intervened before this woman could hurt herself.  It is actually a credit to the people who work there.

At the jail, there have been two suicides where corrections officers were less successful. But I know from speaking to them that they have stopped far more suicides. We only hear about it when there is a rare failure. 

Obviosly, this Gracedale incident will have to be investigated by the state Department of Health, and I'm unable to rule out potential violations. But to me, the important thing is that they prevented a death.