The current US President, often apparently at a loss for words (or thoughts), uses “You know the thing” to escape his own mental entrapment. Once said, the thought becomes his communication to all because, well, everyone knows to what he must have been referring. In fact, faulting him for his brain freeze is slightly unfair though largely worrisome. Just about every human being suffers a momentary brain glitch. There’s so much to know and much to communicate, and we might properly assume that the head of the most powerful country has much on his mind. Nevertheless…
That the person called the “most powerful in the world” has brain freezes isn’t as worrisome to me as is his recapitulatory thinking. Mentally the product of an increasingly more Left-leaning Party, the President appears to foster growth on a tree of thought that finds its roots in socialist and special interest soils. His first acts in office demonstrated his philosophical bond to a generation born in fear: Fear of climate change, fear of social rejection, fear of financial insecurity, fear of political incorrectness, fear of labeling, and fear of just about anything that might be described as the successes of others who have forged fortunes from chaos. Or should I say “fear compounded by envy and ignorance”?
Take his closure of that famous Keystone Pipeline as an example of recapitulating the thought of his supposed political base. The pipeline had jumped every environmental hurdle and leapt through every environmental safety hoop. Its opponents had run out of options to halt its completion. It was deemed a safe option for transporting oil, as pipelines all over the world have demonstrated in the absence of sabotage. The pipeline industry had a history of complying with rules for the restoration of land disturbed by pipeline emplacement. The industry is safe and protective. I know this personally because I was part of 18-month study (1987) on right-of-way reclamation run by Argonne National Laboratory for the Gas Research Institute.*
Pipelines can be emplaced without much environmental damage, though as in all right-of-ways, where trees cover the surface, they must be cut. Any flight over eastern United States reveals straight swaths of bared ground through forests, where power lines carry their electricity from power station to homes. The right-of-ways are a necessary part of modern life and AC power transmission. And they are a necessary part of gas and oil transmission. Would the alternatives of DC power from localized power plants required by Edison’s grid in New York in the nineteenth century or trains from the North Slope in Alaska be as efficient for America’s large urban populations? Would using gas only locally be of any use to the nation at large? No, power and fuel distribution is essential to a large society with a third of a billion people.
But the “you know the thing President” decided that efficiently moving oil through a tried and true system was bad for world climate. Although I cannot say for certain, I’m guessing Biden has never been to a pipeline construction site or read research data on pipeline construction. I’m guessing also, that he seems to think that burning oil imported from Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and even Russia has no effect on climate and that by shutting down American energy supplies he has done his job to save the planet. Go figure. Or, should I say, “You know the thing.”
A brain-freeze President isn’t a model of intelligent decision-making. He is rather a puppet of those in that generation fearful of risks, ignorant of physical processes, and manipulated by special interest groups with socialist leanings. A brain-freeze President is not capable of seeing options, as the hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan demonstrated. A brain-freeze President cannot anticipate the consequences of his actions except in how they fulfill the wishes of those he believes he must please.
And a brain-freeze President cannot recognize where policy has failed and decisions have weakened a nation both domestically and internationally. Don’t look for rational explanations for policies emplaced by a brain-freeze President because, well, “you know the thing.”
*Zellmer, S.D., Taylor, J.D., Conte, D.J., and Gaynor, A.J. 1987. Erosion Control on Steep Slopes Following Pipeline Construction.
The optimum means of inhibiting soil erosion by water on steeply sloped pipeline rights-of-way is a dense vegetative cover. A field study, funded by the Gas Research Institute and conducted by Argonne National Laboratory, compared the environmental effectiveness of eight erosion control methods representing a wide range of economic cost on a 23% slope in southeastern Pennsylvania. Replicated plots were established over the pipeline and on the working side of the ROW after cleanup operations. Precipitation, runoff volume, and sediment yield were measured after major storms for 18 months. Vegetative cover and species composition were determined by the point intercept method at various time intervals during two growing seasons. These data indicate significant differences in sediment yield for some storms due to control method and ROW location. Total plant cover was not significantly influenced by control method.
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5661684 (Zellmer, S D, Taylor, J D, Conte, D J, and Gaynor, A J. Erosion control on steep slopes following pipeline construction. United States: N. p., 1987. Web.)
There are about 2,000 research articles on pipeline construction and gas and oil transmission. How many do you think the opponents to the Keystone Pipeline have read?
That the person called the “most powerful in the world” has brain freezes isn’t as worrisome to me as is his recapitulatory thinking. Mentally the product of an increasingly more Left-leaning Party, the President appears to foster growth on a tree of thought that finds its roots in socialist and special interest soils. His first acts in office demonstrated his philosophical bond to a generation born in fear: Fear of climate change, fear of social rejection, fear of financial insecurity, fear of political incorrectness, fear of labeling, and fear of just about anything that might be described as the successes of others who have forged fortunes from chaos. Or should I say “fear compounded by envy and ignorance”?
Take his closure of that famous Keystone Pipeline as an example of recapitulating the thought of his supposed political base. The pipeline had jumped every environmental hurdle and leapt through every environmental safety hoop. Its opponents had run out of options to halt its completion. It was deemed a safe option for transporting oil, as pipelines all over the world have demonstrated in the absence of sabotage. The pipeline industry had a history of complying with rules for the restoration of land disturbed by pipeline emplacement. The industry is safe and protective. I know this personally because I was part of 18-month study (1987) on right-of-way reclamation run by Argonne National Laboratory for the Gas Research Institute.*
Pipelines can be emplaced without much environmental damage, though as in all right-of-ways, where trees cover the surface, they must be cut. Any flight over eastern United States reveals straight swaths of bared ground through forests, where power lines carry their electricity from power station to homes. The right-of-ways are a necessary part of modern life and AC power transmission. And they are a necessary part of gas and oil transmission. Would the alternatives of DC power from localized power plants required by Edison’s grid in New York in the nineteenth century or trains from the North Slope in Alaska be as efficient for America’s large urban populations? Would using gas only locally be of any use to the nation at large? No, power and fuel distribution is essential to a large society with a third of a billion people.
But the “you know the thing President” decided that efficiently moving oil through a tried and true system was bad for world climate. Although I cannot say for certain, I’m guessing Biden has never been to a pipeline construction site or read research data on pipeline construction. I’m guessing also, that he seems to think that burning oil imported from Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and even Russia has no effect on climate and that by shutting down American energy supplies he has done his job to save the planet. Go figure. Or, should I say, “You know the thing.”
A brain-freeze President isn’t a model of intelligent decision-making. He is rather a puppet of those in that generation fearful of risks, ignorant of physical processes, and manipulated by special interest groups with socialist leanings. A brain-freeze President is not capable of seeing options, as the hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan demonstrated. A brain-freeze President cannot anticipate the consequences of his actions except in how they fulfill the wishes of those he believes he must please.
And a brain-freeze President cannot recognize where policy has failed and decisions have weakened a nation both domestically and internationally. Don’t look for rational explanations for policies emplaced by a brain-freeze President because, well, “you know the thing.”
*Zellmer, S.D., Taylor, J.D., Conte, D.J., and Gaynor, A.J. 1987. Erosion Control on Steep Slopes Following Pipeline Construction.
The optimum means of inhibiting soil erosion by water on steeply sloped pipeline rights-of-way is a dense vegetative cover. A field study, funded by the Gas Research Institute and conducted by Argonne National Laboratory, compared the environmental effectiveness of eight erosion control methods representing a wide range of economic cost on a 23% slope in southeastern Pennsylvania. Replicated plots were established over the pipeline and on the working side of the ROW after cleanup operations. Precipitation, runoff volume, and sediment yield were measured after major storms for 18 months. Vegetative cover and species composition were determined by the point intercept method at various time intervals during two growing seasons. These data indicate significant differences in sediment yield for some storms due to control method and ROW location. Total plant cover was not significantly influenced by control method.
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5661684 (Zellmer, S D, Taylor, J D, Conte, D J, and Gaynor, A J. Erosion control on steep slopes following pipeline construction. United States: N. p., 1987. Web.)
There are about 2,000 research articles on pipeline construction and gas and oil transmission. How many do you think the opponents to the Keystone Pipeline have read?
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