This one is not going to be long. I am totally outraged at what just came out of the US Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision against President Trump. Its decision allowed Judge Juan Merchan and Alvin Bragg to pin the label of a “convicted felon” on President Trump. Trump is making the best of it in saying his case will be appealed to the New York Supreme Court, and, if needed, eventually to the US Supreme Court again.
The US Supreme Court should have taken the courageous step of throwing out the entire “Hush Money” case against Trump, but it did not. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett made the difference. Had they voted with the other conservative Justices, the vote would have been 6-3 in favor of Trump. The three liberal/Democrat Justices are lost causes on anything having to do with justice. They are woke.
The US Supreme Court was being asked to halt sentencing at least until higher courts hear his appeals claiming his conviction violates a legal doctrine, newly established by the US Supreme Court’s recent immunity ruling in favor of Trump.
So, the difference boils down to Justice Amy Coney Barrett and a weak Chief Justice John Roberts who blows in the wind. The one who should ashamed of herself is Barrett. But, I guess this should be of no surprise given she came from an academic background at Notre Dame in one of Indiana’s former Sanctuary cities, South Bend.
Come to think about it. Indiana has produced at least four total losers politically in the somewhat recent past. They are Pete Buttigieg (also from South Bend/Notre Dame country), VP Dan Quayle (Huntington), VP Mike Pence, and now Justice Amy Coney Barrett. There must be something in the water to produce these defects.
Trump is publicly upbeat, it seems. He believes he will win his case in the end. I hope and pray he is correct. As far as I am concerned, Bragg and Merchan et.al. should all be in jail. They have put our country at risk for their own petty political gain. And, maybe, Barrett should step down from the Supreme Court.
Who’s on First
The letter in the Kokomo Tribune on January 6th by residents concerning the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and the Kokomo electric vehicle battery plants, StarPlus, points out several critical issues. The primary one may be the functioning of the IEDC in Indiana. This “Corporation” is a child of the Indiana General Assembly. The President of the Corporation is Indiana’s governor, now Governor Mike Braun. All of the board members are appointed by the governor alone.
This “quasi-private government” entity has a lot of power and can operate largely in secret with millions of taxpayer dollars. That is, make decisions that seriously affect communities without full knowledge of the citizens therein ahead of time. The Stellantis-Samsung StarPlus electric vehicle battery plants in Kokomo are a prime example.
Now, late in the process, there are all sorts of questions coming up. There are questions about the available water supply, surface and underground, and what a draw of about 2.5 million gallons per day per battery plant might mean. There are questions about how waste water will be transported and handled and what chemicals such waste water will contain. If sent to the local waste water treatment plant, what impact on that plant will there be. There are questions about what other waste may be generated and how it will be handled.
We have already seen the expenditure of millions on the extension of a gas line to serve the battery plants. We have to wonder about the electricity needed and where it is to come from. Already, there was a proposal for a lithium electric battery plant nearby to store electricity for feeding back to the power grid in high demand times. It was denied so far due to safety concerns.
There is another company, Jaewon, that is building a plant next to the StarPlus plant. Jaewon is to handle certain chemical waste products from StarPlus. How much water will this operation require and what is to become of whatever products and/or wastes it will generate?
Cost numbers of all of this are in the billions with more to come. What is the cost per job generated? We already know that about half of the jobs at the battery plants will be held by Koreans, not US citizens.
There was a residential and commercial development proposed just south of the battery plants and the Jaewon plant. Now there are serious questions about the elevation of ground levels compared to the 100 year flood level. The development has been put on hold. There is land just recently rezoned to intensive industrial zoning for Jaewon immediately adjacent north to the land with elevation questions. How about the Jaewon land? Is it, too, of insufficient elevation above the 100 year flood height?
There is one more thing that has been reported about the Jaewon plant construction. Sources say non-union Korean electricians and non-union Korean pipe fitters are being used in the building of the Jaewon plant. Sources say shoddy work is being done and that a report of this will be submitted to OSHA.
Finally, there is yet another $7 billion in loans either offered or already taken down related to the battery plants. It appears billions and billions of dollars of taxpayer money are being risked in the development of all projects related to the EV battery plants. This is at a time when President Trump may well terminate the mandates of the Biden administration regarding electric vehicles.
Our new governor and the Indiana General Assembly need to take a careful look at the IEDC and what it has done.
Let Wind Blow & Sun Shine?
The headline in the article in the Kokomo Tribune on December 14th said, “Facing looming energy shortage, Indiana utilities slowly adopt battery storage”. In October 2024, the Kokomo Planning Board turned down a application from Spearmint Energy to build a battery storage system station on approximately 25 acres of now farm land near the intersection of Lincoln and Goyer Roads. Spearmint Energy said they would reapply in six months.
Citizens objected. The “No” vote was 9-0. The Tribune article said citizen concerns centered around the possibility of one or more of the batteries catching fire posing a safety risk to buildings and residents nearby. This has happened elsewhere. The article pointed out lithium ion battery fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish as the salts in the batteries are self-oxidizing, which means they cannot be “starved out” by traditional fire fighting methods. That and lithium battery fires release toxic gases including hydrogen fluoride (HF), hydrogen chloride, hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide. These gases can cause severe respiratory distress, skin burns, eye irritation, and even death.
But what is all the push for electric battery storage for in the first place? The reason shouts! The demand for more and more electricity supply is on the increase. And electricity is not something one can store up at home or in an office space or a data center or factory. The demand is instantaneous and the supply must be there then, not later.
On the other hand, electric utilities have been closing down traditional power generating plants, many of which were coal fired. They have been depending more and more upon unpredictable generating like wind mills and solar panels; neither of which can be depended upon continuously. Locally, look at the wind mills in Tipton County and the to-be solar fields in Howard County and Cass County. The answer to lack of instant electricity seems to be build large battery electric storage facilities that can feed electricity back to the power grid when demand is high and instant generating capacity cannot meet the demand. This looks a lot like a huge band aid solution.
We need an updated electric power grid to deliver electricity. We need full time dependable, instantaneous electricity generating capacity to meet demand; not battery storage band aids. We need utility companies to build new or refurbish old generation plants powered by dependable full time energy sources. Does this mean coal and natural gas….or, perhaps, nuclear plants? YES. Those until a better solution emerges. Wind and solar sources will not do.
We need to get off of the fascination with wind and solar farms. Neither are efficient or cost effective. Neither are dependable full time. Both start deterioration from the day they become operational. Time to rethink.
The Rest of the Story
There was a radio newsman long ago, Paul Harvey, that ended his daily broadcast with a saying: “And now you know the Rest of the Story.” The problem in Kokomo is we don’t know the rest of the story.
One has to wonder who thought it a good idea to bring a huge EV battery plant or two to Kokomo. Was it the Indiana General Assembly or the Indiana Economic Development Corporation or Stellantis and Samsung…. Or who? Who was it that brought a large diameter gas pipeline down Highway 35 from the Logansport area and north to Kokomo to serve two EV battery plants? Who was it?
And who was it that bought up large numbers of private properties at highly elevated prices, many of which were personal residences and most of which were highly fertile agriculture lands? And who was it that benefited financially from these purchases? And where did all the money come from and go?
And who was it that promised as many as 1,400 jobs per battery plant or 2,800 for two plants only to have it turn out that 700 of 1400 or 1400 of 2800 of those jobs would be for imported Koreans who would work for a time, then be recycled back to Korea? The result is the cost per job for US citizens is through the roof.
And who is it that did the planning for the operation of the EV battery plants? What materials would be inputs? Are any toxic and dangerous? What electricity is needed and where is that to come from? And maybe most importantly, what water is needed. It has been reported that over 2.5 million gallons of water per plant will be required. Where is that to come from? The excess availability of both surface and ground water to serve one plant let along two plants appears not to be available. The Indiana American Water Company is already casting about for one or more additional well drilling sites. What effect is to be expected on the water table below us? Has this been analyzed? There are already plumes of contaminated water underground from past industry such as Continental Steel Corp and General Motors operations. EPA remediation is ongoing.
Where is the water for proposed commercial and residential development to come from? We see expansion of all sorts of residential areas, hotels, meeting centers, and stores proposed everywhere around Kokomo.
What products are to be produced from the battery plants? Where are they to be shipped or stored? What waste products will result as well? Are any toxic or poisonous? What is to be come of the 2.5 million gallons of water per day required? Word has it that it is to be processed by our local Waste Water Treatment plant which is primarily designed for treating human waste, not industrial waste water. And how is that water to get from the battery plants to the treatment plant? Word has it that existing sewer lines are not adequate to handle such load on a daily basis. And what toxins or chemicals, if any are in the waste water? How would any be handled?
Why is there proposed a waste recycling plant near the battery plant as a separate company and operation? What waste and what toxic chemicals are to be handled and/or required? What is the final destination of waste? The Kokomo Plan Commission just recommended to the City Council the rezoning of a parcel to high intensity industrial zoning to add to land already zoned that for a waste recycling facility without concern about whether such land was suitable for such use. Word has it that there is exposure to potential ground water contamination from such use of this particular land.
And we know that there recently was turned down a proposed electric battery storage operation to be located east of the Lincoln Road and Goyer Road area due to concerns about safety of such a facility. Word has it the company will be back in six months with a new request.
Finally, a mention of the Engie Emerald Green solar panel farm is called for. The Drainage Board continued a vote for the water drainage plan that was submitted late. More incompetent planning, it seems, for a project that will begin to deteriorate the day it is put into operation. And it turns out Engie revised the proposed grading of 350 acres of fertile top soil to 17 acres after objection from Greg Lake, the county surveyor and stormwater administrator for the Howard County Stormwater District.
Both the approved solar fields and the approved EV battery plants appear to be hysterical moves and totally incompetently planned projects focused around the Biden mandates for so-called passive electricity and electric vehicles. What accompanies both is financial greed and power on the part of the State of Indiana, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, local officials and others. It is likely President Trump will pick a different direction.
The bottom line is we do not know the “Rest of the Story”. That will unfold in days to come. My prediction is that more and more incompetency will be revealed and more and more greed and seeking of power will come to light. Considering all, there is a deep concern our county may become unlivable. That would be the “Rest of the Story”.
The Fourth Estate
In the early 1800’s, the term, “The Fourth Estate”, was coined in reference to a free and unfettered press. The first three “Estates” are the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of the government. The Fourth Estate was seen as the last of the four cornerstones that uphold a free and democratic society. The recognition of the vital need to have and guarantee a free press was written into the Constitution by our country’s Founders.
Axiomatic to the exercise of a free press must be the reciprocal element of responsibility to the people. The public’s right to know is to be carried out by that free press. This principle has stood the test of time from the beginning of our Republic until the present day; but not without periods of failure.
In New York City over 100 years ago, the term “Yellow Journalism” came into being as a result of the battle between the New York Journal and the New York World for increased circulation. Critics attacked both newspapers for building circulation based upon sex, violence and crime sprinkled with emotionalism, inaccuracies, and exaggerations.
We seem to be in a period of resurgence of yellow journalism. Today’s yellow journalism finds fertile ground in would-be or pseudo journalists whose motives have little to do with social conscience, disclosure of injustice, uncovering wrong doing or giving voice to the voiceless. Rather these journalists-in-name only are self-seekers whose motives involve pride, profit, power and a practice of abusing the standards of journalism. Today’s journalists, particularly those of the electronic media, are becoming entertainers, celebrities and spokespersons for the rich and powerful. In short, they have failed the people.
The firewall that used to exist between news and editorials has either faded or completely broken down. Whatever the medium, what distinguishes the best from the rest is the quality of objectivity and completeness in covering news combined with a clear, sharp line between news and opinion. In television, the distinction has disappeared completely. Advocacy reporting has become the norm. Ratings have become supreme.
The print media, newspapers and magazines, have not faired much better. The consolidation of ownership from many thousands of independently owned publications to fewer and fewer media groups or giants has made the profit motive supreme; not the telling of thoughtful, deep, complete, and accurate stories upon which the public depends.
Too many contemporary journalists, in a rush to be first in print or on air that has to do more with personal prestige than with informing the public, have overlooked two basic journalistic rules: 1) find a second, confirming source, and 2) check, check, and then recheck…. Then give the whole story as objectively as humanly possible to the public. The media owes the public an abiding sense of fairness and responsibility. A free press is only as good, and as durable, as its performance.
We are now in the early years of a new era: that of the Internet dissemination of news. Traditional media have an increasing presence there, but the real ground swell is from thousands who have chosen to communicate with their fellows what their own eyes have seen and ears have heard. They have as well chosen to express their own opinions about what they have seen and heard. We have another chance now to try to get it right. A free society feeds on an informed citizenry, not on talking or blogging heads broadcasting an undifferentiated mix of news and opinion.
Real, professional journalism is the effort to help the reader know the difference between fact and fiction. This requires a pledge to follow established practices of good journalism. This requires a pledge to state as clearly as possible what is believed to be verified fact verses a writer’s opinion or information that cannot be independently confirmed
We know the notion that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; and surely that will continue to be true where information freedom is concerned. The formal press and now the one person who transmits information to others must stand responsible — which is to say professional, conscientious, discreet, fair, and accurate. The health of our nation depends upon an accurately informed public. The right of the people to know must be a sacred pledge.
(The above largely from USFEVA.ORG; an organization no longer existing.)
Election Won
The election is over, but the fight continues…. and will. Yes, Donald Trump trounced Kamala Harris for the Presidency. The Democrats are in melt-down with many now plotting to sabotage the Trump administration whenever possible.
Republicans won the US Senate and US House majorities as well, but we learn now that Democrats and RINOs are maneuvering to block the Trump agenda when they can. The swamp rot did not and will not accept the will of the people.
In the Electoral College, 270 votes are needed for the majority and win. Trump earned 312 votes and Harris earned 226 votes at last count. The message is crystal clear. Even the popular vote was overwhelming won by Trump by the millions.
Now recently, there was an announcement by Democrat governors of states they will not support the deportation of illegal aliens as Trump has promised. They will not allow local or state law enforcement to help identify nor take into custody illegal aliens in direct contradiction to federal law enforcement about immigration. The answer: move as many illegal aliens as possible to those states and shut off any federal funds to them. Then we shall see what happens.
Even in the city of New York there has been change. The Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, has already announced there will be an end to rent vouchers for illegal aliens in his city. This was announced after the election results were clear.
Trump will have enforcement power in the form of who will get funding for what. The immigration laws of the United States of America are clear. Crossing the border of the US illegally is a crime. Those that cross are criminals by definition under the law. And, frankly, I suspect governors who subvert immigration law by direct actions are aiding and abetting criminals.
In Congress, we have learned Republican Majority leader Mitch McConnell is up to his tricks. He has called for a secret election to be held on Wednesday, Nov. 13th, to select the next leader of the Senate. Two of the three candidates he has selected are anti-Trump Republicans. I have to wonder how McConnell can procedurally do anything until the new Senate has been seated with several new Senators coming. McConnell and Trump do not get along. McConnell is a swamp creature that needs to go along with many, many others.
The swamp is and will be fighting back. It will not go peacefully into the sunset. President Biden has announced the transition to the new administration will be a peaceful one, but we have to wonder. The pressure will rise as inauguration day approaches. And, honestly, I have to wonder if Joe Biden really wanted Trump to win the election in the first place given how he was dumped by Democrats.
Democrat crying towels are out and the whaling by the liberal media is sorrowful. No sympathy from here. The fight is on for the saving of the United States of America.
Election Day
As I write, this is election day: November 5th, 2024! The road to today has been long since the day campaigning began. Democrats even substituted one candidate for President of the United States for another without any public vote. So, the campaign for President came down to Donald Trump verses Kamala Harris: a former President verses a current Vice President.
The last four years under the regime of President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been a nightmare for the United States of America. There have been so many things wrong, they are too numerous to list. The two most major screw ups are a totally open southern border allowing millions of illegal aliens to flood the country and the spending of federal money like a drunken sailor causing record economic inflation. In short, the country has been on the road to disaster for four years.
This national election will tell the tale of whether the United States will change course back to a strong, sane one or continue down the path to disaster in the form of socialism and communism. It will tell the tale of a return to power of the people verses power by the elites and the deep state. The fork in the road is crystal clear.
The Democrat candidate for President, Kamala Harris, is really a puppet. She comes across daily as being really stupid. One must think she is being controlled by others behind the curtain like Barack Hussein Obama, for example. And there are surely others.
The Democrat candidate Harris replaced, President Joe Biden, is demented. He hardly knows where he is most of the time. His most recent gaffs were at the White House Halloween party for children. Biden’s behavior included chewing on infant’s toes, biting legs, and getting right in the face of small children. How inappropriate, but this goes along with his earlier smelling of women’s hair and inappropriate kissing. What a creep.
In the last days of the campaign for the Presidency, we see Donald J Trump drawing tens of thousands of people to his rallies. We hear a message of hope back to economic stability and growth and back to rule by the people. We hear a message of a stop to the flood of illegal immigration. We hear a message of inclusion of all citizens of any race or ethnicity or religion. We hear a message of the stopping of transgender insanity and men in women’s sports. We hear a message of a return to being respected by other nations and the return to a strong, non-woke, military.
In the last days of the campaign by Kamala Harris, we see the trucking out of so-called celebrities from the music and movie industry. That is about it. And, frankly, who gives a damn what people think who can sing or play an instrument or those whose claim to fame is pretending to be people they are not. People who are swayed by these antics cannot be the brightest themselves. Too, Trump is a threat to those who have prospered under the Biden/Harris administration, but those are not the common folks of the United States of America.
Trump is the champion of the people. Harris is the champion of the elites and deep state. The outcome of this election will determine whether our Constitutional Republic will survive as a country of free, strong, and independent people…. And survive as the “Light on the Hill” for the world.
The Garbage Man Cometh
It seems the Kokomo Tribune is trying its best to get Kamala Harris elected. Her promotion is about all I see in the articles, letters, and columns on the Opinion page. But, guess what. It will not work. The Garbage Man Cometh!
We can be called Deplorables, Irredeemables, Nazis, and Garbage but the truth: We are true patriots who oppose what is and has been going on in Washington DC with the Biden/Harris administration and all its cronies for the past four years. No more.
No more open borders. No more support of endless foreign wars. No more spending us into high inflation. No more lawfare against political opponents. No more energy dependence on foreign nations. No more off shoring of our jobs and companies. No more high food costs. And soon to come, no more harmful chemicals in our foods. No more Big Pharma pushing unknown chemicals into our faces and into our arms.
When you have the team of Donald Trump, Tulse Gabbard (former Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee), Elon Musk, and Robert F Kennedy Jr (a generational Democrat), you have a team that will hold America First. It took great courage for Gabbard and Kennedy to leave the Democrat Party and join forces with the Republican Party and Donald J. Trump. They saw the rot in the Democrat Party and left it behind.
So, now we have the Garbage Man, Donald J Trump, collecting all the garbage folks, the patriots, and heading for Washington, D.C.. The rooting out of the swamp will soon begin.
Frankly, it is inconceivable to me how any person with one functioning brain cell could choose now to vote for Kamala Harris. She has proven herself over and over to be incompetent. The flood over the southern border of millions of illegal aliens is only one factor of many that she has supported and continues to support.
The garbage wave is coming. Harris supporters need to get out their crying towels.
Is Tren De Aragua Coming
If the words, Tren De Aragua, are meaningless to you, you need to pay attention. Tren De Aragua is a transnational criminal empire of Venezuelans that has, since 2021, infiltrated the United States of America. Aurora, Colorado, is the most recent city affected that has hit national news.
Tren De Aragua took advantage of the large-scale migration of Venezuelans across South America to evolve from a notorious prison gang into a transnational criminal empire establishing its presence abroad from about 2018. They, reportedly, did not exist in the United States until about 2021 and that came due primarily to the open US southern border.
Now it is reported this gang has spread to 15 US states including Indiana. Indianapolis is one of the cities now to have Tren De Aragua activity. Given what has happened to Aurora, Colorado; all communities in North Central Indiana must be on alert.
What prompted the formation of Tren De Aragua in the first place was the collapse of the Venezuelan economy followed by the fleeing of over 3 million Venezuelans out of the country from 2017 to 2018. The gang went into the people smuggling business. They began offering package deals to people escaping which provided transportation, accommodation, and food for whatever the entire journey was to be. Early on this was to be to Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile.
With the wide open southern US border, the gang has expanded into human and sex trafficking and drug smuggling into the USA. In our country, other cases have involved crimes like burglary or robbery. In Aurora, CO, the forceful take over of real estate developments marked another of the criminal enterprises of Tren De Aragua.
Most recently, we have learned Tren De Aragua is a state sponsored terrorist organization of the Venezuelan government against the United States of America. The goal is to destabilize our country via what is called “asymmetrical” warfare. So, alert we all must be.
Any suspicious criminal activity must be reported as early as possible to law enforcement. Tren De Aragua must not be allowed to take root in our communities. Indianapolis is not that far away.
Out!
We are told that now we have something between 10 million and 20 million illegal aliens in the United States, a part of whom are criminals. Donald Trump, if elected President again, has promised a mass deportation effort will take place. The numbers are breath taking. He frequently talks about the criminal element being rounded up and deported, but does not say much about others, the majority.
The others need to be talked about. There are ways to encourage self deportation back to home countries for people who have come into the United States illegally and, therefore, are criminals by definition under US immigration law.
What can be done? First, stop any monthly stipends being handed out. And, no more rent vouchers, subsidized housing eligibility, and no more eligibility for mortgages. And on we go — no welfare payments, no Medicare or Medicaid, no eligibility for Social Security, and no eligibility for any US tax payer supported benefits.
No more free medical services except for true emergencies. Our hospitals and health care systems are being highly stressed. Just one recent example came from Logansport. Dozens of cases of Tuberculosis have been reported. This emphasizes the fact diseases not significant in the US are being brought in my illegal aliens given no health screening.
And one highly important step is to require all employers use E-Verify to determine if a person is legally eligible to work in the United States. The claim by a huge percentage of illegal aliens, when asked, is they came looking for employment. Non-citizens without a Green Card or certain Visas are not eligible for employment in the United States. The responsibility for determining eligibility for work falls on the employer given the large cash economy in our country. Employers who circumvent work eligibility requirements for workers must be severely held accountable.
Taking all of these steps will result in significant self deportation of illegal aliens. It will reduce stress on all social services including schools, health care, housing, and more.
Other steps that should be taken. Local law enforcement agencies should be required to cooperate and support efforts by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency). So-called “Sanctuary Cities” must be ended. To his credit, our Indiana Attorney General, Todd Rokita, is already taking steps to end these in Indiana…. and there were at least three publicly known about.
We must take our country back. People who want to come into the United States to work and live must come in legally. The United States has always welcomed legal immigrants who will benefit the country and not be or become a burden on it. The United States has always welcomed people who will pledge allegiance to the United States Constitution and live under established law. Just running across a border of the United States is not acceptable.
Our borders must once again become impenetrable allowing only legal immigration.