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By Salena Zito
PORTAGE, Pa. — The pitch to the people of Cambria County when the Maple Hill Solar Farm was first announced two years ago was that the $200 million project would create 150 megawatts of electricity while eliminating 150,000 tons of carbon emissions that fossil fuel plants would have emitted — and that it would employ 250 workers at peak construction.
Even the Appalachian region’s reputation for cloudy weather was going to be overcome by technological advances that made the solar panels more efficient.
In short, the promise of the Green New Deal had come to coal country. In fact, the solar panel farm was to be constructed on an old coalmine strip.
With the exception of the reliably cloudy weather, though, none of it has lived up to its promise — to the frustration of the owners of the solar farm, climate change activists and the men and women who looked forward to new jobs to replace the ones lost in coal.
Climb to the top of the mountain where the solar farm is and you see thousands of racking systems spread across hundreds of acres that hold solar modules — but no panels.
The scene is jarring. The question is: Why?
The answer is Joe Biden — or at least that was the answer until a week ago, when Mr. Biden finally waived the tariffs on solar panels from Southeast Asia he had enacted after Auxin Solar filed an inquiry into whether China was circumventing tariffs.
The delay caused by the ensuing Commerce Department investigation has stalled solar farms like this one for months — others permanently — and threatened the climate change goals Mr. Biden laid out at his inauguration.
“The tariffs derailed renewable projects across the country,” said Tom Rumsey, senior vice president of Competitive Power Ventures, the developer behind Maple Hill. “Lifting the tariffs has helped, but here at this solar panel farm, we’re expecting it to go commercial second quarter next year.”
The uncertainty of the tariffs caused over 315 projects to be cancelled or delayed, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, the industry’s top trade organization.
On the same day Mr. Biden lifted the tariffs, he also announced he was going to use wartime powers granted under the Defense Production Act to ramp up solar equipment production to speed up American-made clean energy manufacturing.
That’s the other rub: We don’t make solar panels in this country.
“The capability to manufacture the amount that you’re going to need, well that’s going to take probably over a decade,” explained Mr. Rumsey.
“And it’s not just build them — then where are you going to get the raw materials needed that go into them? That’s the part no one talks about. Yes, you can assemble them in the United States. You’re still going back to China, to the mines that everybody hates,” he said.
Solar energy requires rare earth minerals, and China holds most of them, primarily in Xinjiang, where manufacturing is tainted by the use of forced labor.
The problem here is the problem everywhere with renewable energy: It’s just not ready for prime time — at least not ready enough to produce the energy needed to keep this country humming.
Energy has become just another polarized “us versus them” issue, with climate activists treating it with religious fervor. Statements like “the world is going to end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change,” by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., make it extraordinarily difficult to have a pragmatic discussion about how to balance an “all of the above” solution to energy.
The other less visible problem at this facility is wages. Shawn Steffee, the business agent for the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 154, said the jobs available for this solar farm are a slap in the face — and won’t help the power plant workers who lost their jobs. “We were told these jobs were going to be family-sustaining jobs. Well, $16 an hour is not a family-sustaining wage,” Mr. Steffee said, shaking his head. “I honestly don’t know anyone who has gotten a green energy job.”
Mr. Rumsey said you’ll never hear his company talk green jobs: “That’s a political statement. We never say ‘green jobs.’ Why? Because it takes a day and a half to put up a wind turbine and once you construct the solar projects — and there are construction jobs there, for sure — but once they’re constructed, that’s it. There’s no operating jobs. There’s nothing,” he said honestly.
Mr. Rumsey, who has spent years in the energy industry, said ten years ago he was telling Republicans that they needed to be adaptable on climate change — and eventually, he said, they were. Today he is having the same conversation with Democrats, who want full renewable use to have started yesterday.
“There is no technology right now that you can simply call that can come up quickly if you have a bunch of wind or solar cut out, or go away — because like nuclear, you start it and you’re running,” he said.
Steady supply is an issue, Mr. Rumsey said of the renewable industry: “Battery storage just doesn’t have the capacity duration. There is no technology that can do it, other than natural gas. Our struggle is trying to break through the mindset that any new natural gas is just more dependence on fossil fuel.”
The hard truth is that renewables aren’t ready to play the role in the national energy mix that activists and politicians claim. But instead of acknowledging that an all-of-the-above approach keeps our electricity going while reducing our carbon emissions, the Biden administration remains beholden to a Democratic base resistant to compromise.
The worst part isn’t just the wind whistling among the thousands of empty racks that make up Maple Hill or the temporary, low-paying jobs to install the panels: It’s the blackouts that, according to the Washington Post, could hit much of the country this summer.
Many of the coal fired power plants that for decades lit our homes and kept us cool in the summer have gone offline, having been driven out of existence. But the country doesn’t have reliable renewable energy infrastructure to replace it.
And if that wasn’t enough, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission predicts electricity prices will rise as much as 233% over last summer’s prices, which will go nicely with the prices Americans are paying at pump.
Maple Hill is a symbol of both promise and overreach. Eventually, it will be productive. But without clear minds to manage the energy mix, the financial pain and inconvenience Americans are experiencing will only continue, or get worse.
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More good news from Israel (edited.)
Israel and Israelis were bursting with oceans of energetic ideas, activities and projects this last week. It began with Israel, Egypt and the EU signing an agreement to bring Israeli natural gas via Egypt to Europe. Water and energy featured in a solar-powered water purification system, compressed air energy storage, self watering plants, a ship navigation system, and sustainable agriculture. Israelis have been electrifying roads in Italy, and setting paralympic swimming world records. A new pro-Israel advocacy group is called "Fuel for the Truth". And finally, the earliest evidence of humanity's use of fire has been discovered - in Israel, of course.
Please recommend www.verygoodnewsisrael.
Important - if this email arrives in your spam folder, please mark it as "Not Spam". Next week's newsletter will be published on Sunday 26th June.
In the 19th Jun 22 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
- Israel has opened its most advanced cardiology hospital.
- Egypt and Israel signed agreement to produce liquid gas for Europe.
- Three refreshing new Israeli water innovations.
- Huge private funds raised for investment in Israeli startups.
- Toyota racing is to use Israeli 3D-printed spare parts.
- Israeli paralympic swimmer breaks world record.
- Israeli archaeologists discover the earliest evidence of the use of fire.
- Please click here, to donate (a small or large amount) to help me publicize VeryGoodNewsIsrael.
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com
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Israel’s most advanced cardiology hospital. The new NIS 200 million Eyal Ofer Heart Hospital has just opened on the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa. Besides “normal” cardiology treatments, it will advance research into the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and disorders, benefiting the whole world.
https://www.jpost.com/health-
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
Coming soon - 3D-printed skin. (TY UWI) Hebrew University Professor Oded Shoseyov is developing Second Skin - a nano-thin 3D-printed film that mimics natural healthy skin. Burn victims or scarred patients can avoid painful skin grafts, simply applying the film like a tattoo.
https://www.israel21c.org/
Better heart imaging. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s DiA Imaging (see here previously) is partnering California's ScImage to integrate DiA’s LVivo Seamless AI-based automated cardiac ultrasound solution into ScImage's unique Cloud architecture and improve the efficiency of echocardiography (heart) analysis.
https://www.dia-analysis.com/
The stuttering birth of a special education learning startup. To treat the stutter of their son, Niv, Biomedical Engineers Yair and Shirley believed they could develop a hi-tech solution. The result was Israel’s Amplio (see here previously). Their groundbreaking system now helps hundreds of thousands of special needs children.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The first AI med-tech research institute. Israel’s Technion Institute is establishing the Zimin Institute for AI Solutions in Healthcare. Headed by Professor Shai Shen-Orr, it will research human health and medicine, using big data and computational learning. It aims to benefit hospitals, new treatments, home therapy and wearables.
https://www.technion.ac.il/en/
Heart ops on International Children's Day. Four children from different countries were brought to Israel on International Children's Day to undergo life-saving heart surgeries by Israeli NGO Save a Child's Heart. They were Florim from Kosovo, Robert from Ghana, Kauthar from Zanzibar and Kidus from Ethiopia.
https://www.ynetnews.com/
Land of milk, honey, and magic. In the same hour, volunteer EMTs from Israel’s United Hatzalah used their Epipens to save the lives of two Israelis who suffered anaphylactic shock from severe allergic reactions to dairy products. One paramedic was Aharon, whose main profession is a children’s magician (see here previously).
https://www.
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
More books by women than men. For the first time ever, female authors in Israel published more books of prose and poetry. Statistics released by the National Library of Israel just ahead of Hebrew Book Week show that of the 7,344 new books registered with the library in 2021, 52%, were credited to female authors.
https://www.
The best tech in the Middle East. Research firm Startup Genome has ranked Tel Aviv and Jerusalem together as the fourth best startup ecosystem in the world for agriculture technology in a global survey - the only Middle East country in the top 35. Tel Aviv was also ranked as the seventh best global tech ecosystem.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
https://startupgenome.com/
Egypt and Israel sign EU liquid gas deal. (TY WIN) Israel and Egypt signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Cairo that allows Israel to export natural gas to Europe via Egyptian ports. Israeli gas will be piped to Egypt, liquified to LNG and then brought to the European Union.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
EU President praises partnership. President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen was in Israel to strengthen the EU’s relationship with Israel. “I came to Israel to make our unique partnership even stronger, by deepening our bilateral cooperation on many topics, from energy to health and innovation,” she said.
https://www.
Food for preemies. The shortage of infant food in the USA is extremely serious for premature babies and for infants dealing with food allergies and sensitivities. Israel’s MyOr (see here previously) has applied to the US FDA for approval to ship 200,000 cans of formula immediately, with plans for a further 250,000 cans a month
https://www.jns.org/israeli-
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Superfood from fungi. (TY NoCamels) One of the Israeli startups showcasing its technology at Tel Aviv’s recent Vegan Fest was Kinoko Tech. At the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Kinoko team discovered a way to grow mushrooms into a product that has a meat-like taste and texture with high nutritional value.
https://kinoko-tech.com/ https://www.youtube.com/
https://www.
Solar-powered water purification. Scientists at Tel Aviv University have developed SoLED - a solar-powered UV LED-based water disinfection device designed to purify water in rural communities. The device uses UV light to change the DNA of microbe bacteria, preventing it from replicating. SoLED-treated water is harmless.
https://nocamels.com/2022/06/
Clean water initiative. Tel Aviv University has inaugurated the Asper Clean Water Fund, thanks to a $407,000 gift from The Asper Foundation, one of Canada’s largest private foundations. The funds will bolster the work of TAU’s Water Energy (WE) Lab that is developing the SoLED water purification system above.
https://english.tau.ac.il/
Plants that water themselves. (TY UWI) Israel’s TomGrow has developed Selfgrow - technology that self-waters houseplants and delivers all the nutrients needed for six months. Instead of soil, Selfgrow’s patented MediumX comprises gel cubes filled with water and nutrients that allows the plants to drink on demand.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/
https://tomgrow.io/ https://vimeo.com/548889956
Storing green energy. Israel’s Energy Minister Karin Elharrar visited Ashdod port to see the energy storage system developed by Israel’s Storage Drop (see here previously). It is the world’s first solar energy system to compress air to 80 bars (1 bar = atmospheric pressure) and provides on-demand, emissions-free electricity.
https://www.jpost.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Taking the helm. More about Israel’s Orca AI which is being marketed as “the Waze of the Seas”. Its innovative autonomous technology prevents ships from colliding, even in dense fog. There are some 4,000 maritime accidents each year, claiming lives and causing environmental and economic damage.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The best cybersecurity for railways. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Cervello was awarded “Best Solution in Railway Cybersecurity” by Cyber Defense Magazine at the Annual Global InfoSec Awards. Cervello’s system monitors a railway's mission-critical assets, alerting staff to counter cyber threats as they arise and avoid disruption.
https://www.prnewswire.com/
New radar system makes all others obsolete. Israel’s Elbit Systems has unveiled an innovative tactical radar, at the Eurostory exhibition in Paris. "Raketa" (rocket) can simultaneously detect and track thousands of objects. A small drone at 12 km, a person at 15km or swarms of drones and, of course, much larger objects.
https://www.
Radar to detect insects. (TY Hazel) Scientists at Haifa University have developed a first-of-its-kind radar that accurately detects the size and direction of insect swarms, to help forewarn farmers and save crops. It has been installed near the Agamon Hula nature reserve in northern Israel.
https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/
Brain science in space. If you were unable to join Ben Gurion University’s recent Zoom webinar “BGU’s Brain Science Launches into Space”, here is the link to the recorded event. Dr. Oren Shriki, head of BGU’s Department of Cognitive and Brain Science, describes his latest experiment with Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe.
https://americansforbgu.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Global impact challenge. The THRIVE Global Impact Challenge is a global search for the most innovative startups who are advancing a sustainable future for agriculture. The launch event was hosted in Tel Aviv, in partnership with Israel’s ICL Planet Startup Hub, THRIVE’s headline partner for the Challenge.
https://thriveagrifood.com/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Deficit drops to almost zero. Israel’s budget deficit as a percentage of GDP was a mere 0.04% for the 12 months till the end of May - the lowest in 14 years. Government revenues increased and expenditures fell amid the ongoing rebound from the coronavirus pandemic.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Dubai commerce comes to Tel Aviv. The Dubai International Chamber of Commerce is to open an office in Tel Aviv. Its President and CEO, Hamad Buamim, said that Israel was a “strategically important” market for Dubai, and was expected to become one of Dubai’s top 10 trading partners “within a few years.”
https://www.jns.org/dubai-
Billions to invest. Israeli financial companies have raised huge funds to invest mostly in Israeli startups. They include Titan Capital Partners ($100 million), US-Israel’s Greenfield Partners ($200 million), Israel Secondary Fund ($312 million) and Viola Credit ($700 million). More details of their plans in the following links.
https://nocamels.com/2022/06/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Partnering the Startup Nation. Israel’s ExitValley launched in 2015 (see here) as a mechanism for the general public to invest in early-stage Israeli startups. Seven years later it has dozens of successful companies in its portfolio. The founders say that Israeli start-ups are still a significant growth engine in Israel and globally.
https://www.jpost.com/
Travel insurance that really looks after you. The insurtech platform of Israel’s Faye (see here previously) for US citizens, includes a smartphone app that sends real-time alerts, 24 x 7 expert help, plus fast, digital claims processing. It will resolve missed connections, cancelled flights, lost passports and much more.
https://nocamels.com/2022/06/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Smart return of online products. Israel’s ReturnGO has developed an exchange-first returns platform for web-based retailers that simultaneously reduces refunds and waste. It offers to turn the returns process from a painful financial problem into a lever of revenue, and to improve the relationship with customers.
https://www.calcalistech.com/
Funds for cultivated meat. Israel’s SuperMeat (see here previously) has received a grant from Israel’s Innovation Authority. It will finance a high-throughput screening system for feed ingredients and supplements, plus cell scaffolds for cultivated meat, The project will benefit the entire cultivated meat industry.
https://nocamels.com/2022/06/
3D-printing parts for Toyota racing. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Stratasys (see here previously) has been named an official partner of Toyota Racing Development (TRD). End-use parts printed using Stratasys additive manufacturing technology will be used for production vehicles in the upcoming Toyota GR Cup Series.
https://www.businesswire.com/
Electric road for Italy. (TY Hazel) Israel’s Electreon (see here previously) has been testing a 1km recharging circuit in Brescia, Italy, since Nov 2020. Electreon is now on track to install an electric lane for shuttles and service vehicles at Milan Bergamo Airport. Maserati is also interested in using the technology at its factories.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Takeovers & Mergers. U.S. chip giant Qualcomm is acquiring Israel’s Cellwize for $350 million. Hong-Kong based Animoca Brands has bought control of Israel’s educational games startup TinyTap for nearly $39 million.
Investment in Israeli startups to 19/6/22: Aidoc raised $110 million; DealHub raised $60 million; Jit raised $38.5 million; Tabnine raised $15.5 million; FinOut raised $14 million; Canditech raised $9 million; Odeeo raised $9 million; ReturnGO raised $6.5 million;
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT`
Bocelli serenades Tel Aviv, and more. (TY WIN) World renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli performed to over 20,000 people at Bloomfield Stadium, including some famous dignitaries. He performed duets with two of his children, plus top Israeli pop singer Shiri Maimon. After the concert he visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-
Visiting Israel with children? The Children’s Museum in Holon, Southeast of Tel Aviv, is an ideal place for families wishing to cool off in the summer. There are special routes for children from two-and-a-half up to eleven. Adults and children over nine can have some exciting experiences in the dark, in silence, and in time.
https://www.childrensmuseum.
Comedy for Koby week. There are six opportunities to see four hilarious comedians perform in Israel in support of the work of the Koby Mandell Foundation and the Kids of Camp Koby. From Jun 20 – 28 (except Friday) they will perform in Modiin, Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Gush Etzion, Tel Aviv, and Raanana.
https://www.comedyforkoby.com/
Jerusalem Community Woodstock Festival. On Jun 23 outside the Silo Café next to First Station, Baka Jerusalem. Featuring music from the 60’s with live bands. Partnering the Emunah women’s organization, to help support their work with children and at-risk young women in Israel.
https://www.nbn.org.il/events/
Jazz band for religious women. Bereshit, a haredi all-female band, opened to a sellout all-women audience at the Khan Theatre in Jerusalem, with the rhythmic beat of American jazz. They played their own original compositions, plus hits such as “Stand by Me” and “No Woman, No Cry”.
https://www.
Israel joins the Invictus Games. Israel has joined the Invictus Community of Nations. The Invictus Games Foundation provides recovery and rehabilitation programs for wounded, injured, and sick service personnel and veterans. Israel will participate, with 20 other countries, in the Invictus Games 2023 in Dusseldorf.
https://www.jwire.com.au/
Israel plays Morocco at women’s basketball. The Moroccan women’s basketball team hosted their Israeli counterparts for the first time ever, in a friendly in front of invited guests. The match followed a recent agreement between the Royal Moroccan and Israeli Basketball Federations to develop sports exchanges.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Israel to host ice hockey championships. Israel has been awarded the hosting of the 2023 Women's Ice Hockey World Championship for Division III for the first time ever. The tournament is planned to begin on 27 March 2023 at the Canada Center in Metula in northern Israel.
https://www.israelhayom.com/
New world record for paralympic swimmer. Israel’s Ami Omer Dadaon won his second gold medal and set a new world record in the men’s 50m freestyle S4 final at the World Para Swimming Championships in Madeira. His 36.25 time was half a second faster than New Zealand’s Cameron Leslie who broke the record in the heats.
https://www.paralympic.org/
THE JEWISH STATE
Israel's new and growing breed of farmers. My friend Yoel is going from strength to strength with his mission to bring Jews to the Galilee. Here he interviews two new Olim from London who have bought land in Yavniel and plan to breed fish, and (after the Shmitta year) grow fruit and herbs. Kol Hakavod and b’Hatzlacha.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Fuel For Truth. The mission of US organization Fuel For Truth (FFT) is to empower young American Jews to stand by Israel, and to equip them with tools to combat misinformation surrounding the Jewish State. Its motto is “Israel Education for a New Generation”. Feel confident discussing Israel in the real world. Great video intro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Ancient fire discovered in Israel. Researchers from Israel’s Weizmann Institute have used advanced AI and molecular spectroscopy to reveal the earliest evidence of early humans’ use of fire. Evron Quarry, in the Western Galilee, contains Paleolithic tools that were deliberately heated - over 800,000 years ago.
https://www.
The Pilgrimage Road. On Jerusalem Day, the City of David and the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs produced this video to give an inside look at the never-before-seen Pilgrimage Road where the ancestors of today's Jews walked thousands of years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
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Sent to me by a Trump hater and memo reader:
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How Trump performed Jan. 6, was not in the ranks of actions that boost one's positive ratings for sure but Biden's various policies, most particular his failure to address the illegal flood of immigrants and protect our borders is doing more to destroy our nation as well as a certified reason to call for his impeachment. He has breeched his solemn pledge.
As for Dowd, she has been anti-Trump from the beginning. Her attached op ed is basically something I support but there are many instances where her bias shines through and some facts that I question.
One of the biggest problems, tearing at the fabric of our nation, is the Biden camp are committed and can find no wrong with him and everything is wrong with Trump. The Trump crowd are comparably committed to him and find nothing right about Biden. I admit I find some things disturbing about Trump and nothing redeeming about Biden.
Until a realistic look ,with respect to both, develops we will remain a divided nation.
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Hence, Mike Pence
By Maureen Dowd
Maureen Dowd Get an email as soon as Maureen Dowd’s latest column is published.
WASHINGTON — The fate of a sycophant is never a happy one.
At first, you think that fawning over the boss is a good way to move forward. But when you are dealing with a narcissist — and narcissists are the ones who like to be surrounded by sycophants — you can never be unctuous enough.
Narcissists are Grand Canyons of need. The more they are flattered, the more their appetite for flattery grows.
That is the hard, almost fatal, lesson Pence learned on Jan. 6, when he finally stood up to Donald Trump after Trump asked for one teensy favor: Help destroy American democracy and all we stand for.
Two new photos shown at a hearing of the House committee investigating Jan. 6 tell a shocking story — one of the most incredible in our nation’s history.
In one, Karen Pence is protectively pulling a gold-fringed curtain shut in the vice president’s ceremonial office in the Capitol, off the Senate floor, as Pence — sitting beneath a large gilt mirror — stares off into space, probably wondering where it all went wrong.
Mike Pence in his office in the Capitol on Jan. 6, as his wife, Karen, closes the curtains to keep the rioters from looking in. The Pences, including his brother Greg and his daughter Charlotte, awaited the securing of the building.
Mike Pence in his office in the Capitol on Jan. 6, as his wife, Karen, closes the curtains to keep the rioters from looking in. The Pences, including his brother Greg and his daughter Charlotte, awaited the securing of the building.
We learned this week that when the vice president fled down the stairs, followed by an Air Force officer carrying the nuclear launch codes, the marauding mob was a few feet from him.
In a second picture, taken after Pence was brought to a secure location in an underground garage, his daughter Charlotte is anxiously watching him. He is holding a phone to his ear as he stares at another phone showing a video of Trump professing love for the crowd, which included some who carried baseball bats and zip ties and chanted “Hang Mike Pence!”
In the early afternoon, as the crowd tore down barricades and fought police, White House staffers worried things were “getting out of hand,” as Sarah Matthews, a Trump aide, testified.
They thought that the president needed to tweet something immediately. At 2:24 p.m., they got a notification that the president had indeed tweeted. But it was not the calming tweet they had hoped for; it was one designed to drive the rioters into a frenzy.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify,” Trump tweeted. “USA demands the truth!”
As Matthews recalled in her deposition, “The situation was already bad, and so it felt like he was pouring gasoline on the fire by tweeting that.”
Trump was still steaming from the contentious morning phone call when he failed to persuade the vice president to reject some of the states’ electors so they could be replaced with fake electors who supported Trump. He had railed at Pence with emasculating epithets
As Trump recalled in a speech on Friday in Nashville, “I said to Mike, ‘If you do this, you can be Thomas Jefferson.’ And then, after it all went down, I looked at him one day and said, ‘I hate to say this, but you’re no Thomas Jefferson.’”
In the same speech, Trump had another line that was strikingly delusional, even for him. “For the radical left,” he said, “politics has become their religion. It has warped their sense of right and wrong. They don’t have a sense of right and wrong, true and false, good and evil.”
Trump sparked the mob to seek vengeance against Pence the same way Henry II sparked a crew to murder Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury, in 1170. According to legend, after Becket defied Henry by excommunicating bishops supportive of the king, Henry muttered something to the effect of, “Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?” Four knights immediately rode to Canterbury Cathedral and sliced up Becket.
The line became a famous example of directing loyalists with indirection, cloaking an order as a wish. Who will rid me of this meddlesome vice president?
A Times video, showing how the Proud Boys breached the Capitol, underscored that within the confederacy of dunces, there was an actual organized conspiracy. The group began plotting even before the election to take up arms for Trump. When Trump barked “Stand back and stand by” about the Proud Boys during his debate with Joe Biden, the Proud Boys felt as though they had received a directive, like Henry’s knights.
With each hearing, it becomes clearer that Trump has no plausible deniability. He put the lives of the vice president and his family at risk, as well as the lives of lawmakers, by sending a crowd, stewing in lies, into a frenzy.
Pence did not have the power to do what Trump wanted, and it’s good that he resisted the insane, illegal and unconstitutional plan of the narcissist in the Oval. But Pence still wants it both ways. He has steered clear of the committee. He wants to become president by staying on the good side of Trump supporters, but they’re never going to forgive him.
At the end of the day of infamy, John Eastman, the nutty lawyer trying to help Trump overturn the election, sent an email imploring Pence to adjourn the congressional certification so sympathetic state legislators could help with Trump’s fairy tale of a rigged election.
When Greg Jacob, Pence’s counsel, showed the email to the vice president, Pence said, “That’s rubber room stuff.”
The fate of a sycophant is never a happy one.
Maureen Dowd, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary and author of three New York Times best sellers, became an Op-Ed columnist in 1995. @MaureenDowd • Facebook
American politics, popular culture and international affairs.
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Putin and Xi speak on the latter's birthday ad pronounce their friendship and willingness to increase trade with each other.
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China Just Had a PHONE CALL With Russia – A Bad Sign?
(ConservativeHub.com) – China has refused to condemn Russia’s actions against Ukraine and appears to have no plans to do so. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a call on June 15, Xi’s Birthday. Xi maintained he would not endorse Russia’s actions but said he would not criticize them.
Reports from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the call reveal a neutral position by the nation on Ukraine and a push for uniting the two countries in a mutually beneficial relationship. The Ministry stated Xi told Putin he was open to more trade agreements and would like to maintain a cooperative relationship.
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Another painful Soros disaster in the making:
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The Democratic primary last week in Maine provided proof that the influence of George Soros over the election of local prosecutors... |
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