Opinion Piece By Donna Westfall – June 12, 2021
We paid $3.19/gal to gas up our truck in Brookings, Oregon on Friday, June 11th. The Patriot station in Crescent City was $4.29/gal. Someone suggested we make Del Norte County an Enterprise Zone. What does that even mean? An enterprise zone is a geographic area that has been granted special tax breaks, regulatory exemptions, or other public assistance in order to encourage private economic development and job creation.
On the surface it sounds like a good idea, just like public-private sounds like a good idea and consolidating the City with the County sounds like a good idea. Let’s take retired Supervisor, Roger Gitlin’s idea of a public-private marina for a moment. In May, he suggested, “The Harbor District should sell off part of the Harbor and privatize into a public-private marina. The Harbor has proven time and time again, it cannot manage the Harbor.” But, how would a private enterprise make money at the Crescent City Harbor? Can a private owner manage any better?
Tit for Tat:
President Putin of Russia say’s he’ll hand over cyber criminals if the US does the same. Our allegedly illegal President Biden is set to meet with Putin on June 16th in Geneva. During their summit, the ransomware cyber attacks will certainly be a topic of discussion.
Speaking about allegedly illegal President Biden, his Attorney General, Merrick Garland was confirmed on March 10th. Is it true that he’s been threatened with prison by Arizona elected? The answer is YES. It sounds like AG Garland is letting Arizona know that any post election results will be scrutinized by the Department of Justice for any voting law violations. This he put on Twitter. Also posted to Twitter” Monday, June 14th, the hand count of over 2 million ballots from Maricopa County should be completed.” Coincidentally, that’s also Trump’s 75th birthday.
Arizona State Senator, Wendy Rogers posted, “You (referring to AG Garland) will not touch Arizona ballots or machines unless you want to spend time in an Arizona prison.” She went on that, “The Justice Department is one of the most corrupt institutions in the USA.”
Just in case you’ve never heard of Sen. Rogers before, she’s 66 years old. She achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the US Air Force. Definitely not a push-over.
Someone else that the DOJ may not want to tangle with is constitutional attorney, Matthew S. DePerno who posted this on Twitter, “A source tells me Merrick Garland and the DOJ are weighing two options: 1.) shut down the AZ audit by seizing everything now or 2.) allowing the results to be published. They are debating the anger of 72 million voters vs. the potential decertification of multiple states.”
Questions abound about what happens if or when the vote count was certifiably fraudulent? Is there a process to put Trump back into the Oval Office?
Meanwhile, protect yourself meaning prepare for the worst. Examples: Start a garden. Learn about food preservation and filtering water. Teach yourself what happens when runaway inflation takes hold and American currency loses value. Stock up because with shipping a disaster with humongous escalating costs, don’t expect there to always be food on the grocery shelves in Crescent City-Del Norte County. Take care of the basics.
I’ll put Money on Biden not meeting with Putin! …. Great article Donna!
Another excellent article Donna! Your conclusion is spot-on. The only thing that I could add is to encourage friends and neighbors to prepare for the worst also. We all saw the panic at the stores when the Pandemic was first announced. Just think how desperate people will be if the stores were closed. A garden takes a minimum of a month to produce the quickest yield of spinach, lettuce, kale or chard; two to three months for most other crops. Of course, that is assuming that the soil has been prepared to plant. Yields will also be diminished from lack of preparation, knowledge and skill. I cannot count the number of people who say they have a “Green-Thumb;” all they need to do is put a seed in the ground and it grows! Only problem is that none of these folks have gardens. Perhaps as children their parents let them plant a seed in mom and dad’s well maintained and fertilized garden beds to teach them self reliance; “See, you can grow your own food because you have a green-thumb!”
Food, a garden, water, security and defense, rechargeable batteries and an alternative energy source, medical supplies, alternative communications, along with practical tools, skills and extra resources to barter-with are paramount in times like these. Installing a bidet on your toilet can decrease reliance on toilet paper from the store; but don’t expect the water to flow during a sustained power outage since city water is pumped. Always have a non-electric alternative for every need.
We have three energy grids in the USA; East of the Rockies, West of the Rockies, and Texas, with all three are vulnerable to cyber-attacks and Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) from Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and EMP weapons. During the recent Super Blood-Moon Eclipse, we had two CMEs that hit the United States (unreported by mainstream media). If any of those huge transformers that support our power grids (Large Power Transformers LPTs) blow, we will be in a world of hurt. According to a report by the US Department of Energy, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability titled “Infrastructure Security and Energy Restoration,” the lead time to replace such a transformer is 12 months from a domestic manufacturer and 16 months from a foreign source; and that is just to manufacture the transformer. Transportation is also a major issue because our railways can only accommodate loads of 100 tons per rail car, and these mega-transformers weight two to three times that amount. There will also be an unspecified time to install the new transformer once it arrives.
Prior to 2010, the United States had no domestic capacity to produce our own LPTs; we now have three manufacturers, one in each power grid region. If all three grids go down, then we are stuck with a foreign source because it takes electricity to manufacture LPTs. Incidentally, the largest transformers in the world (1200mva) are manufactured by the ABB Hefei Transformer Co. in China; not a comforting thought if we go to war. Europe has manufacturers of LPTs; but they would still take 16 months to manufacture and even more time to transport.
FEMA recommends preparing for a minimum of six months of self-sufficiency in the case of an EMP grid-down situation. Worst case scenario, with one or more grids down, could lead to one or two years of hardship. Are you up to the challenge; or will you be one of those who chooses suicide or marauding upon your neighbors? Be prepared!