Legalectric

After this election, there are so many things to be concerned about, so many reasons to be utterly horrified… a Muslim database, Trump’s fraud trial to begin November 28th, promise of mass deportations, sharp increase in hate crimes, assaults and threats on the street and in the schools (and online, oh my!).  Trump’s “100 Days” plan was out in October, and has many points, full of words to decode, including a ‘clean coal’ reference, showing he’s clueless, just clueless:

Trump’s Contract with the American voter — the First 100 Days

In the 2nd and 3rd debate, Trump used those two words that have deep meaning to me, “clean coal,” because of Excelsior Energy’s Mesaba Project here in Minnesota, and because of the NRG proposed IGCC plant in Delaware, both of which were defeated after a long protracted fight.  There is no such thing as ‘clean coal.”

Coal gasification is one thing that my coal-plant designing Mechanical Engineer father and I had some bonding moments over, going over EPRI coal gasification reports from the 80s and the Mesaba application…  And I had the pleasure of meeting and working alongside my father’s boss’s son, who is also an engineer, formerly with NSP/Xcel, who knew what a bad idea coal gasification is.  Oh yeah, we who fought these projects have learned a lot about coal gasification, “carbon capture and storage,” and will not go there again (see Legalectric and CAMP – Citizens Against the Mesaba Project sites for more info).  We know it doesn’t work.  And experience with the few projects that did go forward, what a mess, cost overruns beyond the wildest SWAG estimate, inability to get the plant running…  Trump, don’t even think about it:

IGCC – Pipedreams of Green & Clean

IGCC, coal gasification, is nothing new.  And despite its long history, it’s a history of failure, failure to live up to promises, failure to operate as a workable technology, and failure to produce electricity at a marketable cost, failure to produce electricity at all!  On top of that, it’s often touted as being available with “CO2 capture and storage” which it is not.  That’s a flat out lie.  Check this old Legalectric post:

More on Carbon Capture Pipedream

A key to this promotion is massive subsidies from state and federal sources, and selection of locations desperate for economic jump-start, so desperate that they’ll bite on a project this absurd, places like Minnesota’s Iron Range, or southern Indiana, or Mississippi.  The financing scam was put together at Harvard, and this blueprint has been used for all of these IGCC projects:

Harvard I – 3 Party Covenant

That, coupled with massive payments to “environmental” organizations to promote coal gasification, and they were off to the races.

Joyce Foundation PROMOTES coal gasification

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation & IGCC – WHY???

VP-elect Mike Pence should know all about coal gasification, he’s from Indiana.  Indiana is coal generation central, and has had a couple of IGCC projects planned, construction started, and built.  Indiana’s Wabash Valley plant is a perfect example, a small IGCC plant that was built, and after it was “completed,” took 22 on-site engineers to keep it running, now and then, at a greatly reduced capacity.

Wabash River Final Technical Report (it was “routinely” in violation of its water permit for selenium, cyanide and arsenic)

When they tried to sell the Wabash Valley plant recently, of course no one wanted it:

Wabash Valley coal gasification plant closing!

And another Indiana plant, with huge cost overruns that never started operating:

Rockport coal gasification plant dies – Indianapolis Star

Coal News: $2.8B coal gasification plant in Indiana canceled

And then there’s Edwardsport IGCC plant, also in Indiana, what a disaster:

Edwardsport plant not at promised capacity

Settlement won’t be the last word on controversial Indiana coal plant

Duke Energy Edwardsport Plant Settlement Expanded

The original settlement in September was a response to the plant’s rising operating costs while failing to meet performance expectations.

In the new agreement, Duke Energy agrees not to charge customers for $87.5 million of the operating costs of the Edwardsport plant, $2.5 million more than the original agreement.

And note that problems with Edwardsport tie in to similar problems with the Kemper IGCC plant in Mississippi:

Indiana ‘cease fire’ could provide a model for Mississippi regulators

Yes, in Mississippi, the Kemper IGCC plant is proving to be a problem, and yes, folks, note the Obama promotion of IGCC — after all, Obama is from Illinois, a coal state, and had lots of support from coal lobbyists.  Check this detailed NY Times article:

Piles of Dirty Secrets Behind a Model “Clean Coal’ project: Mississippi project, a centerpiece of President Obama’s climate plan, has been plagued by problems that managers tried to conceal, and by cost overruns and questions of who will pay.

The sense of hope is fading fast, however. The Kemper coal plant is more than two years behind schedule and more than $4 billion over its initial budget, $2.4 billion, and it is still not operational.

The plant and its owner, Southern Company, are the focus of a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, and ratepayers, alleging fraud, are suing the company. Members of Congress have described the project as more boondoggle than boon. The mismanagement is particularly egregious, they say, given the urgent need to rein in the largest source of dangerous emissions around the world: coal plants.

Trump, just don’t.

Those supporting Trump, do consider the words and advice of Republican Ohio Gov. Kasich and the Pope, links below.

The Republicans could have had a viable candidate in Ohio Gov. Kasich, but noooooooo.  The good news is that Drumpf doesn’t have the votes to win tomorrow. Yesterday, he showed his hateful rejection of refugees, his plan to stop immigration, and it elicited cheers from the crowd — what would those supporters’ grandparents think of his vitrolic statements. I listened to the entire speech, if you could call it that — he used such disjointed, repetitive hook-laden inflammatory words, started with a bashing of the organizers of the event, outright lies saying Clinton wants to cut Social Security and Medicare — where does he get these ideas? It was also painful to listen to because he cannot speak, it was stream of (un)consciousness where he’d jump on one topic and just throw words out, and suddenly jump to another. I wish there were transcripts of his “speeches” to analyze, because I’d think, I’d hope, that supporters would try to make sense of what he says, because it can’t be done. There’s no substance. Only incendiary jumbled rhetoric of code words repeated over and over.

The Pope had a few things to say about this candidate recently:

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the gospel,” the Pope told journalists who asked his opinion on Trump’s proposals to halt illegal immigration.

“I say only that this man is not a Christian if he thinks like that.”

Trump’s responded, of course, he is unable to restrain himself, and he responded lashing out, not an ounce of reflection.

From Time on yesterday’s Trump visit:

Kasich has for a while been alerting voters about Trump’s failings, his shortcomings, and how unqualified and dangerous Trump is — that he is not fit or qualified to be President. A former POW says it well in this new Kasich ad about Drumpf:

Trump Foundation’s IRS Form 990-PF (Private Foundation) shows that he gives a “little” here and a “little” there (oh, say $2-25,000), but gives $100,000 to the Citizens United Foundation.  A little light reading from the Donald J. Trump Foundation as we approach election day — Clinton Foundation is next.  These three are the only available on GuideStar:

2014 IRS Form 990-PF Trump Foundation

2013 IRS Form 990-PF Trump Foundation

2012 IRS Form 990-PF Trump Foundation

State Attorney General Orders Trump Foundation to Cease Raising Money in New York

Trump Foundation ordered to stop fundraising by N.Y. attorney general’s office

Cracks in the Donald J. Trump Foundation: Report alleges self-dealing

Trump Foundation lacks the certification required for charities th

#makesniffsgreatagain

I’ve been concerned. I’ve been anxious. But much less so after last night’s “debate.” The good news about this election is that, as with all elections, the voting booth is private, and people can vote and there’s no need to report. My hope is that those undecided, and those supporting Drumpf, will consider last night’s “debate” and how unqualified is, that he is crass and flighty, blustery without substance, arrogant, unprepared and ill-advised. How many times did he say “I didn’t say that” when it’s documented that he did, over and over?

This isn’t about Hillary. I’m no fan. That’s public information. But I am assuredly against Drumpf and the view of “great” America he is pushing. It’s antihetical to all I’ve been working for, to my values, to the values and laws of this country, against the most fundamental tenets of Christianity, all those things that are, or should be, the determining factor in our votes. Things like the Constitution. I mean really, he touts “stop & frisk” when it’s been declared unconstitutional? And doesn’t cop to it when challenged? No, this guy has no business being President. Not on my watch.

And yes, after Feelin’ the Bern, this has been a horrible election season.  I don’t want to think about it, yet am drawn to the train wreck.  The prospect of voting for Clinton turns my stomach, there are so many reasons, and it’s disturbing that the Dems do not want to acknowledge the legitimacy of issues many of us have with Clinton, preferring shaming as an election strategy (just STOP it!).  That makes the prospect of voting for Clinton even worse.

Meanwhile, people I know, though not many, are supporting Drumpf.  I’ve been easy on them, really!  Holding back… Just minor interjections now and then, a little reality therapy a la Glasser.

This debate, though, and Drumpf’s performance and lack thereof, to me means that it will be pretty hard to justify a vote for him.  OH… MY… DOG!

And the coverage of this “debate” is so weird:

Words people looked up during Clinton-Trump debate

That people need to look up words like “stamina” and “temperament” is appalling.  Yes, “cavalier” is more than a Chevy… and how about “caprice,” capisce?

AP Photo – Seth Periman

There’s a good editorial in the STrib today about Donald Drumpf’s abject incompetence and nailing journalists for not reporting it, not holding him accountable, not exposing it, and the bottom line:

But the media in general haven’t really made enough of it. Journalists are quick to accuse him of bullying and bigotry (and rightly so), but he’s rarely called grossly incompetent for his basic factual understanding of the world, or even called out on his inability to speak coherently.

Here’s the full OpEd:

The scariest thing about Trump is his incoherent gibberish.

This headline puts it well, and “incoherent gibberish” is exactly the sort of thing we often heard from Sarah Palin.  It is just bunches of words, often code words a la Wallace’s hate speech, puked out and strung together, and it does not make any sense.  Read it.  Worse, read it out loud!

What does it mean when there’s such strong support for someone who cannot even speak sufficiently well to communicate a coherent thought?  What does this say about his thought process if this is what comes out?  And what does it say about media, where reporters do not raise their eyebrows, screw up their snouts, and say, “WHAT?”  “What did you say?”  “What do you mean?”  “What you said makes no sense, what are you trying to say?”  “What on earth are you talking about?”

Here’s the transcript of his meeting with the Washington Post editorial board, something that I want to preserve in case they disappear it, it’s that _________ (scary?  mind boggling?  bizarre?  inexplicable?).

A transcript of Donald Trump’s meeting with The Washington Post editorial board – The Washington Post

I’m confident that he will not be elected President, one way or another, but that he is regarded as a contender, and that he is commanding so much of our country’s collective time, OH MY DOG!