Legalectric

When will we ever learn?

It seems to me that a lot of this, the timing and the target, is due to the corruption of our former ASSet-in-Chief, who was bought by Putin and Russian money. Sanctions will bring some of the corruption into the open. Some of this I knew a while ago, but putting some, and not nearly all, of the details together is stunning.

How is it that someone so corrupt isn’t serving decades in jail? How could someone so corrupt run for President, much less be elected?

From House of Trump House of Putin, does this sound familiar:

How do we get back to media that reports facts, where spin is clearly labeled as such, where critical thinking is taught and practiced, and where liars are called out and held accountable? My time at KFAI taught me that truth needs to be pushed on people, we won’t just find it passively, ah, yes, days of “We Want You To Know,” and fighting a battle against MPR’s money and power for air space. This entire country needs an intervention, STAT. May that’s what Putin is giving us?

Trump was soliciting Russian attention, and more importantly, money, for decades. His Atlantic City casino was nailed with the largest fine in NJ for money-laundering (but a mere $450k or so), and that was decades ago, and millions and millions ago. He courted Russian money, and was severely compromised in the process. How is it that he was not arrested and jailed decades ago?

It’s not plausible that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is not connected to the change in administration here. I really want to see all the dots and how they connect.

Public hearings on last year’s gas spike on Thursday, March 3, 1p and 6p. SHOW UP!

Send written comments by 4:30 on March 3:

• mn.gov/puc/consumers/public-comments and scroll down for instructions
• consumer.puc@state.mn.us

Here’s what I filed today — this is gas, and not my area of expertise (NO COMMENTS, lil’ bro!), so I oh-so-strongly support the Attorney General’s Office — Residential Utilities Division’s earlier comments:

Oh, yeah, it’s a gas! A year ago, the Texas natural gas infrastructure froze up, there were massive gas production shortages coupled with sharply increased demand due to extremely cold temperatures. Result? Impacts way up here in Minnesota – here’s the electric situation:

The Public Utilities Commission started an investigation, but started off on the wrong foot, with a presumption that the increased costs should be shoved over to ratepayers. WHAT?!?! A general docket for investigation of the natural gas mess, G-999/CI-21-135, and four others for the gas utilities, G-008/M-21-138 (CenterPoint Energy); G-004/M-21-235 (Great Plains Natural Gas); G-002/CI-21-610 (Northern States Power Company – our gas here in RW, also St. Paul and other spots around MN); G-011/CI-21-611 (Minnesota Energy Resources Corporation).

The crucial document to read in this is the Office of Attorney General – Residential Utilities Division, which emphatically and in great detail explained why the gas companies’ shareholders should shoulder the cost:

Again, here’s their full comment, READ THIS, it’s very well done:

(I’m hoping that now that Ian Dobson has defected to Xcel Energy that this won’t go the same way as the SDNY investigation of “he-who-shall-not-be-named” and oh so strongly hope that A.G. Ellison is supporting OAG-RUD pushing to hold these gas utilities accountable.)

Anyway, hearings are Thursday, and the comment period, initially through Feb. 25, has been extended to March 3 — there’s nothing about that in the notices, but I do have it in writing in an email:

Prior Legalectric posts on this:

Texas — it’s a gas — natural gas… DOH! February 17th, 2021

It’s still a GAS! February 28th, 2021

AG’s Office tells gas utilities where to go! July 6th, 2021

Can someone explain how this ASSet was ever elected to office? And so many have not acknowledge their complicity, much less done anything to fix this mess. Worse are those U.S. electeds shouting out their support for Putin! As if the yahoos weren’t bad enough… Makes me nauseous…

I’d ordered House of Trump House of Putin (check this review, mostly noting it’s a rehash of old news) when it came out, some time in 2018, but it’s sat virtually unopened, only 60 some pages waded through. Why? Ages ago I had a U.S. and Soviet policy class at Metro State, circa 1988 or ’89, and it was dreadful, for some reason my brain takes to that as it does to algebra, it’s utterly unworkable, grey mush where grey matter should be. I barely squeaked through. I couldn’t bring myself to read this book.

This weekend, I am. A rehash of old news? It’s news that needs to see the light of day, right now, as Putin’s army stomps into Ukraine. We need to address the connections of Trump to Putin, to Trump’s influence over U.S. policy, of Trump’s ham-handed attempt at extortion of Ukraine, etc., etc., etc. How can anyone forget, or make light of, the public on-camera “RUSSIA, IF YOU’RE LISTENING…”

Then when living in Delaware part-time, after a trip to Atlantic City and seeing the bombed out look of the place, I got this book, Temples of Chance, which deals a lot with Trump and his ties to organized crime (note money laundering theme running through both books), and that did not have the same soporific effect as U.S./Soviet policy, maybe it’s David Cay Johnston’s writing (he twits a lot too):

Anyway, pulled out and dusted off House of Trump House of Putin, and can’t put it down. EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS. Old news? Sure, but necessary details to dredge up, details that should have been blurted non-stop leading up to the 2016 election. How the hell did that disaster ever happen?

You can pick it up at abebooks.com and it’s CHEAP!

That chart above is the big takeway that you should tattoo on your eyelids. The actual price spike lasted a few days. Gas companies want to transfer this cost to us, and transfer higher costs over a MUCH longer period to us ratepayers.

Are you concerned about the big increase in natural gas bills that we’re seeing? Well, here’s what the Attorney General’s Office – RUD had to say about that:

AG’s Office tells gas utilities where to go! July 6th, 2021

In addition to the PUC’s umbrella “investigation” in docket G-999/CI-21-135 (to view filings, go HERE, scroll down to “docket number” and then plug in 21 (year) and 135 (docket).

Public (virtual) hearings are scheduled for March 6th:

Be there or be square!

Xcel Energy’s SEC 10-K is out for 2021:

… and of course, peak demand remains DOWN from the 9,859 high in 2007: